~~Hock Manor, Bekenstein, Year 2185~~
"So...Do ya think he's compensating for something?" Naruto chuckled out as he looked over the large metal/electron-shielded door standing between them and Keiji's black box. Kasumi giggled at his joke and the blonde grinned back at her. 'Solomon Gunn' looked up at the statue of the rouge Spectre, Saren, making him scoff.
"So Shepard killed this ugly baka, huh?" he mused, walking around the statue before sighing and scratching his head, "Man, wish I wasn't on the assignment with the SB...Fighting a Reaper would've been fun, even if I had to deal with Alenko..."
"The 'SB'? Who's that?" Kasumi asked as she examined the door crafted to defend the elevator that'd lead them to her deceased lover's black box while ignoring the growl at the mention of the Alliance lieutenant. Her heart clenched as she thought of Keiji, as it usually did; before she looked at Naruto in an effort to distract herself. The blonde was opening the hidden compartment and getting his supplies out, checking a few kunai for scratches.
"SB stands for Shadow Broker," Naruto replied with nonchalance, as though it was an everyday occurrence to discuss the infamous crime lord/Blackmailer. Naruto felt a stare on his back and looked over his shoulder at his assigned teammate, arching a brow as his golden eyes locked on her wide brown ones, "What?"
"Y-You worked with..."
"For," Naruto corrected as he grinned at the astounded thief, "I worked for the Shadow Broker, Kat-chan. He paid my quite the hefty sum for my work. Shame about that Salarian though...Ah, well, can't dwell on the past all the time! What're we working with here?"
He asked his question as he walked back to examine the door with her, now dressed in his usual attire, making the thief wonder how he changed clothes without her noticing. Kasumi snapped out of her confused daze and activated her omni-tool with a simple thought, as most did, before 'tsking' in disapproval. She snorted in amusement before she spoke to her partner, "This is just pathetic. While appearing as an 'invulnerable' safe, it really is only made up of a few simple components. Such as the seven inch thick steel door we're looking at."
"The big metal thing is that one, right?" Naruto asked in a smartass manner, earning him a smack upside the head, "I'll take that as a yes..."
"Baka," Kasumi smirked before looking at several small metallic boxes parallel to the safe door with annoyance, "There's a vocal register on the left wall above some sort of obvious lock. The two on the right are DNA and visual registers. Not to mention the electronic shield covering the whole thing. That's not the problem though."
"And here I thought this was going to be a walk through the park. So what's my part, again," Naruto said with a crack of his knuckles, "I gotta get the passcode, right?"
"I highly doubt there is one," the thief mused before sighing, "Then again, with Hock being as paranoid as he is, he probably installed one just because he's a psycho. That and he probably expected me to try and break in, so it was just added to push my buttons."
"Well we can't have that," the blonde sighed out with crossed arms, "I'm the only one allowed to push anything on you, or rather, in you."
"...Pervert..."
"Don't act like you don't love it, Kat-chan." That earned him a hard punch in the shoulder from the blushing thief, "Ow..."
~~MSV Hugo Gernsback interior, Aeia, Year 2185~~
"This is pointless," Miranda growled out as she tossed a shattered E-Pad aside, "Absolutely nothing was untouched by the crash..."
"I've got a broken audio recording," Shepard said from his spot at a console with a shattered screen, "Nothing clear enough aside from a few sentences concerning a newcomer. Man, ten years..."
"Damn!" Jacob cursed, jumping back as an old screen blew, glass flying through the sky, "There goes my last clue..."
The three suddenly jumped, their military training kicking in as they pulled out their weapons, when they heard what sounded like a gunshot. Shepard and Jacob piled up on the door, the former priming his assault rifle while the latter prepped his shotgun. Miranda waited until Shepard nodded and headed out, her machine pistol steady in her hand as she slowly crossed the bridge forged from scrap. The raven haired biotic stopped at the end of the bridge, keeping her eyes moving before gesturing for Jacob and Shepard to join her.
Shepard and Jacob looked at each other, nodded, and then began moving to Miranda's position. When meeting up with her they began to advance towards the beach, locking their eyes on a random pile of boxes. A tuft of red hair stuck up and a human head popped up shortly afterwards. A female human head that looked slightly malnourished and a little ill.
"Hold your fire," Shepard said as he lowered his weapon, "It's a survivor."
"Who are you?" Jacob asked, approaching the woman, who flinched at his movement.
"Ah, um, came for gatherings before they came," the woman said, "Saw you come from the sky. Sky-fallers. You sky-fallers, yes?"
"Yeah..." Jacob uneasily replied, "You could call us that. Do you know Ronald Taylor?"
"T-Tay-lore?" the woman repeated with a furrowed brow, as though the name was familiar, "Yes...Yes! Tay-lore brought us here, protected us. Until they spoke out against him..."
"You keep mentioning they," Shepard said, getting the woman's attention, "Who are they?"
"They are the Hunters," the woman whispered, "And they seek to kill us!"
"Hunters that want to kill," Miranda said with an eye roll, "That's certainly a new one..."
"Hilarious Miranda," Shepard deadpanned before looking over at a ridge near the other end of the beach, "Did you hear that?"
"They found me!" the woman whispered fearfully, "The Hunters see me come look for you! Help me!"
"Don't worry, we'll protect you," Shepard reassured her softly before readying his rifle and looking at his squad, "Alright, Jacob; You take a position at those forward containers. Miranda, you take a position on those rocks. Miss, you stay with me behind these containers. Don't move until it's over, ok?"
The woman nodded as Shepard gently lowered her behind the containers, while his team went to their positions. They waited a moment before an incoherent shout got their attentions. Shepard readied himself and took a small intake of breath when the first Hunter ran out, a basic rifle in his hand.
"NOW!" the commander exclaimed, his team unloading rounds at the approaching Hunters. The woman crouched near Shepard screamed in fear and stood to leave, getting the commander's attention.
"No, wait!" cried the concerned Spectre. His cry was too late, as when the woman turned to face him, a blast caught her in the head, killing her instantly. Shepard sighed sadly for a millisecond before looking back at the Hunters and firing with precision.
He'd get answers soon enough, for the woman with no name and for her family that he was certain she had.
~~Hock's Manor, Bekenstein~~
"So...I gotta get Hock to yak it up, get some of his DNA, and shut the power to the system down?" Naruto asked as he henged his appearance into his formal wear before smirking at a slightly displeased Kasumi, "Aw, Kat-chan's sad she didn't see me naked again, I'm touched! Kat-chan thinks I'm sexy..."
"S-Shut up!" Kasumi embarrassedly hissed as she punched his arm, "Just do what you're told, Naruto-kun..."
"Funny, you didn't say that last time," joked the blonde before a slap across the back of the head made him stop, "Ok! Ok! I'll stop!"
"...Baka..."
"You wound me, Kat-chan!" dramatically exclaimed the blonde merc as he placed a hand over his heart, "Right here..."
"Just go get the bastards voice recorded!" Kasumi barked before she activated her cloaking device. Naruto smiled and put his hands in his henged pockets before walking away from the room. When out of the room, he walked up the stairs and began mingling his way through towards the host.
Donovan Hock.
The last time Naruto encountered this man was when he had to play bodyguard for an heiress. A Salarian heiress, so he wasn't really into the job. Hock was trying to get the heiress to buy some of his company's stock in an effort to build up more control; she did despite her butler/financial advisor's advice, Naruto wasn't sure what the man's official standing was. A week later, Naruto was explaining to the contractor why the heiress was killed in a lynch mob after the planet's stocks plummeted. Many, Naruto included, thought that Hock arranged it all so that he could use the 'pity' ads to get more investments.
"Ah, Mr. Sullivan," Hock greeted as the tuxedo-clad blonde approached with a grin, "How are you enjoying yourself?"
"Quite fine, Mr. Hock," the blonde replied as he took a glass from a passing Asari waitress, sipping it before looking at Hock with an arched brow, "Hm, early twenty-first century? Good year."
"The Finest for the finest of people," replied the host with a smug smirk. Naruto swirled the wine as he smirked back.
"If you wouldn't mind not flirting with him..." an annoyed Kasumi hissed into his comm. The blonde chuckled and looked over at a pillar where she was hiding, his eyes flashing yellow from their disguised blue. Kasumi jumped in her place slightly as he looked back at Hock. Those eyes were unnerving sometimes, and inviting at others...
"Might I ask just why you are throwing this party?" Naruto inquired to his host, getting a confused look as a response, he continued, "Well, if I may take notice, your stocks have...been falling for a few years now and then out of the blue a party."
"Well I never," Hock growled but was interrupted by a raised hand.
"No, no, you misunderstand," the blonde said placating the man's growing fury, "I merely find it odd, and from one 'benefactor' to another, might I ask why the party is being thrown?"
Hock blinked a few times before understanding crossed his face and he leaned forward and whispered, "Yes, well...let's say I've finally taken care of a little 'infestation' problem that's been affecting my company."
"Ah, celebrations are definitely in order!" Naruto exclaimed, getting the party's attention while he fought the urge to strangle the man due to his referring to his deceased friend as a 'infestation'. Naruto gestured towards an embarrassed Hock, "I was just informed by Mr. Hock that the company's stocks are going to have risen by nearly four-hundred and ten percent by the end of the day!"
The party clapped and hooted, before calming as Naruto raised a hand, "Quiet, let there be quiet! I'm sure our friend and host would love to give a speech...?"
Hock looked at the blonde incredulously before a party attendee started the usual "Speech" chant. Hock recomposed himself quickly and sent a glare at the blonde, who sheepishly shrugged, before he gave a long speech over how 'better we are than normal folk' and how 'the wealth of my friends only increases as our friendships grow'. Basically the usual on the spot speech.
Once the hubbub died down, Hock turned to Naruto with a glare, "If you ever do that again to me tonight, Mr. Sullivan, I will have you escorted out of the party."
"My apologies," the blonde said in feigned sincerity, "I was so surprised by your...infestation problem's resolution that I couldn't control myself...Part of the reasons that my fourth wife divorced me."
"You couldn't control yourself?"
"No," Naruto said with a chuckle, "She called me an infestation problem!"
Hock barked out a laugh, patting the blonde on the shoulder, before walking away. He stopped next to another investor and began another conversation while Naruto went outside. He chuckled as he avoided a pebble being thrown his way by feigning a yawn.
"Now, Kat-chan, that wasn't nice," Naruto whispered into his mic.
"You got the recording, but did you have to mention an ex-wife and make nice with him?" Kasumi grumbled back.
"Well, I had to lose any suspicion I might have gained," replied the blonde with a feigned smirk to another investor he met on a previous assignment, "but I didn't think you'd be so jealous, Kat-chan. Besides...I've never been married."
Kasumi muttered in Japanese under her breath as she silently followed her partner, who suddenly stopped by an opening to the lower floors. Naruto looked around before looking right at the cloaked Kasumi with piercing red eyes that nearly caused her to scream in fear. The plus-like pupils being absent as a slit pupil took their place.
"What's wrong, Kat-chan?" Naruto asked as he arched a brow and his normal iris color and pupil shape returned, "See something?"
"What did you just do?" Kasumi asked with a frown, her dark eyes staring at her amused partner with suspicion.
Naruto tapped her nose as he dropped his henge, reverting to his normal 'work' attire, and replied, "A master should never reveal his secrets...especially if one is La Volupe."
"I didn't know you spoke French..." Kasumi mumbled with a small pink tint on her face. Naruto waggled his brows as he casually backed up to the edge of the opening.
"Imagine that, neither did I," he cheekily replied before jumping backwards into the hole, "Catch ya on the flip side, Kat-chan."
~~Aeia~~
"Well, that could've ended better," Shepard mumbled as he closed the eyes of one of the dead Hunters, "Find anything?"
"Nothing good here, Commander," Jacob sighed out with a hand on his face before muttering, "Dad, what did you do?"
"Well, let's go see if we can't find out where our mystery woman came from, shall we?" Miranda suggested. Shepard and Jacob nodded and kept their weapons ready in preparation for the worst. The three then ran ahead towards where the Hunters had come from.
"Shit, get down!" Shepard barked as something opened fire on them. The three dropped, Shepard quickly unloaded rounds into the attacker and he was rewarded with the sudden explosion of a security drone. Miranda and Jacob followed their commander's example and made quick work of the opposing drones.
"Well," Miranda said as she got to her feet, "That was...fun."
"Yeah," Jacob scoffed, "It's always a blast when someone decides to use me as target practice."
"Enough chatter," the strawberry blonde said with a small smirk, "Let's go find your dad, Jake."
"Yeah, maybe he can explain why I'm killing psychos and destroying mechs," the biotic grumbled as he followed his friend and superior. The three continued up the path, occasionally taking out a group of security drones along the way, before stumbling across a small camp.
"Ho-ly shit..." Jacob whispered in awe as the occupants looked up. Some recoiled in fear while a few raised weapons at them.
"Well, this is quite the welcoming committee," Miranda murmured quietly as she raised her own weapon in response. Shepard held an open hand up as he lowered his rifle.
"We don't want any trouble," the commander started only to be cut off by a woman that cautiously approached Jacob.
"Y-You have his face," the woman growled, "Why we should trust you?"
Easily deciphering the broken English, Jacob holstered his weapon and raised his hands in surrender, "I don't want trouble...I'm just looking for my Father."
The woman blinked before lowering her weapon slowly, "You're...truth telling."
Truth telling? Good god what happened to these people? Shepard asked himself before stepping forward, "Please...can you tell us how this happened? How you and these people...got here?"
The woman nodded slowly, turning around and leading them into the camp, "Yes. Come...we talk in The Circle."
~~Hock's Manor, Bekenstein~~
"You just had to touch the clock radio, didn't you?" Kasumi asked her partner in exasperation as she took cover behind a leather/steel couch as the Eclipse mercs that were alerted to their presence in the room shot at them. Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously.
"Yeah...That's my bad," he said with a chuckle before pulling a small circular device out, "But no worries. Just stay down."
"What are you going to do?" Kasumi asked out of unease as he pressed his thumb onto the device's center. Blades popped out along half the edge of the device and Naruto grinned at her, his eyes taking on a mischievous gleam.
"Remember the movie we saw that night?" he asked, making her blush as the night before she met Keiji was one of her favorite memories. When she nodded the blonde grinned, "Let's just say I was inspired by the 'classic' film."
Naruto quickly hopped up and tossed the small bladed device like one would throw a discus or small hoop. The Blue Suns took no notice to this and continued to fire on their position before the two were decapitated by the circling device. Naruto's right hand shot up and caught the weapon without harming himself. He pressed the center again and the blades retracted. Storing the weapon away, he looked at the awed Kasumi and grinned.
"Yeah, I made the Predator Shuriken," Naruto said with a shrug, "I was inspired."
"...I want one," Kasumi said, making the blonde merc chuckle as they both stood to resume their search. Naruto found a datapad and whistled twice to get the thief's attention.
"Lookie here," he said, waving the object in his hand once he got the girl's attention, "Ole Donny's been busy."
Kasumi rolled her eyes and took the datapad from the merc, scanning it with her Omni-tool. With a happy ping, the thief looked at her blonde friend with a smirk, "Well...that just leaves the security code."
"I'm thinking the honcho of this band of Suns has it," Naruto replied as he went to one of the headless Eclipse mercenaries' corpses and searched it. After a moment, he stood and exclaimed, "Bingo! Distress beacon."
"Must you press it?" Kasumi groaned as the blonde twirled it around in his fingers. He hummed and his thumb hovered over the activation button.
"...Yes!" Naruto replied with a smile as he pressed it and a silent alarm triggered in the Blue Suns' Omni-tools. Kasumi shook her head and activated her cloaking device, jumping away while the blonde sat down between the two bodies. The door was kicked open and a small team of heavily armed Eclipse mercs rushed in, a redheaded woman leading them.
Naruto's eyes widened and he allowed sweat to fall down the side of his head as the woman looked at him with wide eyes.
"Hi, Roe-chan!" Naruto greeted while internally he was thinking, It just had to be Roe-chan...Why? Why is it that the one woman I fucked over, literally and figuratively, is in charge of the Eclipse mercs here? Why God?
"I should shoot you now," Roe growled, "Just for what you did to me..."
"N-Now come on, Roe-chan..." Naruto replied nervously as he willed himself to stay put, "I-It's not entirely my fault that nothing else...erm, fits."
Kasumi watched with an arched brow at the turn of events she was witnessing. Roe, whoever she was, had her pistol locked on Naruto's sweating head. And even though they had spent one night together, Kasumi was confused as to how the blonde 'wrecked' the redhead when she turned out fine.
Roe remained silent before looking at the man next to her, "Go back, inform Hock that everything's fine and resume your normal patrols."
"M-Ma'am?" the Eclipse merc asked questionably. Roe's eyes narrowed dangerously and he swallowed before nodding. He looked to his fellow mercs and said, "You heard her! Let's go!"
The Eclipse mercs left the room and, once she heard the second set of doors hiss shut, Roe jumped the blonde. Naruto and Kasumi felt their eyes bug out of their head when she suddenly kissed the blonde merc passionately.
"Oh god," Roe groaned once the kiss broke and she started grinding her hips against Naruto's waist, "I need it...two years is too damn long..."
"Uh...Roe-chan, you are being paid to head security..." the blonde merc shut up when a pistol was pressed against his head.
"Fuck Hock's orders!" Roe snarled as she pushed him down on his back, "I've been waiting too damn long for this. Do you know that not even an Asari can get me off? I've tried everything short of tracking you down."
"Heh," Naruto laughed nervously, "How lucky for me..."
"Yeah, lucky," Roe replied in a humorless manner, pressing the heating weapon barrel against the side of Naruto's head before sternly ordering, "Undress. NOW."
~~Aeia~~
"Thank you," Shepard said to the woman that had given them the datapad with the first three month's logs post-crash, "We'll find him."
"And I'll kill him," Jacob growled as he clenched his fist, "This man isn't my father. Not anymore..."
"Jacob, you need to relax," Miranda said, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder, "We'll get answers."
"Damn right we will," the biotic growled as they left the camp. Shepard stored the datapad in his built-in storage unit before activating his com-link.
"Joker, I need you to contact the alliance and have them send a medical ship to Aeia," the strawberry blonde said as he led his team onward, "We've got hysterical people, so tell them it's a level 3 priority."
"*zzt* Yes, sir, Commander. Oh, here's a head's up. Kelly wants to talk to you when you get back. Joker out," the pilot of the Normandy II said. Shepard sighed quietly before looking to his current team.
"Alright, the alliance should be sending a medical team out here to help them," he said, making Jacob release a sigh of relief. The commander noted that and decided to have Jacob talk to Kelly after he did when they got back. He pulled his Victory rifle out and primed it, Jacob getting his shotgun ready while Miranda readied her machine pistol. They moved in a triangular formation, Shepard leading, and paused when they came across fresh human corpses and a destroyed camp. A speaker system activated.
"Thank god. They've gone rogue!" an older man's voice said over the system, "My security drones are malfunctioning and killing everyone after I tried to reprogram them to defend us against Them."
"He must mean the hunters," Miranda noted. Jacob scowled and readied his shotgun, firing at an approaching mech and destroying it with a single shot.
"That's my dad's voice," Jacob said with distain, "But he's lying. He reprogrammed them alright. He's trying to cover up his tracks!"
"We don't know that, Jacob," Shepard sternly said before kicking a crate open, "Here, ammo boxes. Reload and save some. I doubt they malfunctioned, so let's be ready for anything."
"Yes sir/Right," Miranda and Jacob replied with nods, gathering the ammo they could before a small group of five drones started to open fire. Jacob took position behind the crates while Miranda and Shepard dropped to their knees to take out the attackers.
"Jacob, we got a grenade left?" Shepard asked over the gunfire. The African-American looked at his commander before grinning with a nod.
"You could say that, sir! Give me a sec," the biotic replied, focusing on the last drone and extending his arm out. He crushed his hand and pulled the drone forward so that it stood between the four others. Releasing his hold over the mech, Jacob dropped to the ground along with Shepard and Miranda before the mech exploded, the biotic overload causing its internal drive to self-destruct, and destroyed the four other mechs. The squad stood, Shepard and Miranda looking over at Jacob in approval.
"Nicely done," Miranda complemented. The biotic smirked back at his friend before looking at the smiling strawberry-blonde.
"Come on, then," Jacob said as he went onward, "I wanna have a 'Father-Son' heart to heart..."
~~Hock's Estate, Bekenstein~~
After a forty minute delay, Naruto and Kasumi were in the elevator towards Hock's personal collection. Neither were looking at the other and an awkward silence filled the room.
Until Naruto broke the silence when he spoke, "So...Did you enjoy the show?"
Kasumi's face flushed bright red and she looked away, "Shut up."
"Aw, come on, Kat-chan!" Naruto said with a smug smile as he interlocked his hands behind his head, "You know you liked it...you're curious now, right? 'Did he stick the whole thing in me? Why did Keiji still get me off? How am I not addicted to that masterful prick?' Ow!"
"You're pushing your luck, Naruto..." Kasumi growled after punching the blonde in the ribs, her dipped head hiding her furious blush. Naruto chuckled before looking at Kasumi.
"Well...I'll answer one anyway," he said, making her growl, "Keiji got ya off because he's just a wee bit smaller than me. Not by much...but just enough."
"..."
"Aw, Kat-chan's so cute when she's embarrassed–OH!" Naruto fell to his knees cupping himself before whimpering, "Kat-chan's so mean..."
"Naru-baka's a pervert," grumbled the now flushed Kasumi as she looked away.
AN: WHOO! Got chapter four done! And now to begin chapter five! Hopefully I won't make you wait half a millennium...unless you like it like that...
OH GOD! MASS EFFECT 3 COMES OUT IN 5 DAYS!
Review if you want me to continue...cuz if you don't I'm going to be camping outside GameStop for my collector's edition.
PEACE.