"Talking"
'Thinking'
"A.I"
"Translated foreign Language"
Chapter 3: The hunt begins
Back at the Mother of Invention, Naruto, North and York are in the Freelancer locker room with their helmets off. It has been a few hours since the Sarcophagus mission.
"List changed again." said North. "Yep, lots of things changing these days." agreed York while walking over to his locker.
Naruto was looking at the ranking board through the window, he could see South in the other room not looking to happy. The ranks now starts with Texas at first, Carolina at second, York at third, Maine at fourth, Wash at five and Naruto at six. 'You're disappointed, aren't you Kit?'
'Yeah the first mission where I'm in charge and I failed the team, I got Wyoming shot and we didn't get the case. Tricked by a decoy, that hurt my pride.'
'Don't worry Kit, at least your comrades made it out alive. The mission was still a success and I've been with you long enough to know that you should be on the top of the crap of a ranking system.'
Naruto chuckled 'Wow becoming an A.I must of done some damage to your mind. I remember back when you only cared about yourself.'
Kurama let out a chuckle himself 'True but it wasn't that A.I stuff that made me this way. It's all thanks to a Blonde, Knuckle headed, annoying, loud mouth, ramen obsessive..'
'Okay I get it.'
'But I wasn't done." Whined Kurama "But I guess to cut it short it was the work of my first friend who showed me that I didn't have to stay into the darkness of hatred.'
'Thanks Kurama.'
"California?" Naruto felt North's hand on his shoulder giving him a worried expression on his face. "Are you okay you were zoned out for a while."
Naruto nodded "Yeah I'm fine I was just talking with Kurama. Sorry were you talking to me?".
"Yeah I asked North if we are the 'good guys'. With all the cops shooting at us and everything." explained York.
"I don't know York. I mean Kurama has been having doubts as well about this whole thing. That somethings not right..."
Naruto was then cut off by the A.I known as F.I.L.L.I.S on the speakers "Agent York please come to the Medical center at once."
"Well wish me luck guys." York said before leaving.
"Wait why does York have to go to the Medical Center? Is he sick or something?" asked Naruto.
"Have you forgot already? Todays the day they start implanting the A.I's."
"Really they're starting today?" North nodded "Yeap, soon you're not the only one who's having an A.I in their head."
"Seems fair."
Almost a month later and York and his new A.I or Fragment named Delta seem to be getting along alright. Delta himself or nicknamed "D" as York likes to call him sometimes is likeable, and always sees things from a logical point of view. Naruto and Kurama both meet the A.I and got to know each over. Naruto being himself got along nicely with Delta but Kurama on the other hand only made small talk with the new A.I and coming up with one conclusion, that he's far more superior than Delta. This being true since Delta is a Fragment and while Kurama even though use to be a living mass of Chakra with a mind of its own, is now a full A.I. That and Kurama still sees himself as tall and mighty ego like when he was with the other Tailed Beasts.
Now Naruto and Kurama find themselves inside a Pelican with Freelancers C.T, Wash, North, South and Carolina. They are about to jump out into deep space with Jetpacks and hunt down the Insurrectionists leader. The weapons Naruto had on him was two basic S.M.G's on his hips and currently holding some odd new weapon.
"So whats this thing called again Wash?" Asked Naruto nervously eyeing the gun in his hands.
"The makers called it the S.A.W if I remember correctly."
"And why did they give it to me?" North steps in hearing the conversation "Because its a new prototype and the makers need a guinea pig to field test it. And they thought California was just the right person for the job."
"But I haven't had any experience with this gun! Couldn't they get someone who's used this before gun before?" asked Naruto not wanting to be the "guinea pig".
"They haven't had anyone tested it yet, you're the first. So you should be honored California." said North with a shit eating grin behind his helmet.
"Thanks." Naruto muttered. "Kurama what's the chances of this thing blowing up in my face?"
Once again an small orange holographic image of the Nine Tails appeared next to Naruto's helmet. "Well Considering its a prototype and never been used before I would say 65%"
"That doesn't seem to bad."
"That it may jam and fly into many different pieces."
"Well thats just great!" Naruto said in a annoyance "Is there any info you can give me on this gun so I'm not completely in the dark?"
"The M739 Light Machine Gun nicknamed SAW standing for Squad Automatic Weapon is a powerful machine gun capable of taking down most enemies in small bursts and has a fire rate of 920 rounds per minute. Recommended using at medium to close range."
"Thanks Kurama thats good to know." Naruto said before the fox disappeared and the Pelican's main doors opening.
"Right, altogether." C.T said while looking at the team.
"Use your packs sparingly. Course correction only. You don't want to end up like Georgia." suggested Carolina.
"Wait, what happened to Georgia?" asked Washington.
South answered back "Nobody knows! They never found him."
"Are you sure these things are safe?" Wash asked regretting having the jetpack.
"Now!" Carolina commanded with North ejecting a spent round and Naruto turning off the safeties. Once the Pelican made a tight turn the Freelancer team jumped out flying towards the Insurrectionists base's hangar. Once they made it inside they were greeted with many Insurrectionists soldiers behind cover shooting and some taking control of the Insurrectionists warthog turrets. Grabbing the SAW tighter and pulling the trigger started firing waves of bullets at the enemy soldiers. The kick was the first noticeable thing that Naruto discovered about his new gun. But after half a round was use, he got used to the slight recoil and was able to kill many insurrectionists with ease.
Then out of nowhere "Uh oh, that's not good. Hey guys, things might get a little... floaty." Wash shouts. Suddenly the gravity systems went offline causing the Insurrection soldiers and objects around them to float in the air. Naruto using this to his advantage jumps from the floor sending him to the top of the roof and enabled his grav-boots to stick to the ceiling upside down still firing away turning bodies into lifeless floating ragdolls.
When the shooting stopped and gravity was back to normal Carolina started giving out orders. "They know we're inside. Wash, North, secure that hallway. South, see if you can access the leader's location, we don't leave without him. California you….? " after looking around the room she sees him still upside down standing on the ceiling. "California get down here right now and take care of any Insurrectionists that are still breathing! C.T get me... Where the hell is C.T?!"
"What do you mean the leader's not here?" Carolina asked South "Exactly what I said. His last check in is upstairs in the main deck, but his callsign just appeared in their internal frequencies. He's broadcasting from out in Bone Valley."
"Meaning he's not here?" With South replying "Gee, you're starting to sound like a broken record."
"Fine. Change of plans everyone. We're heading into the junkyard." Carolina, Naruto and the others all line up in front of the hangar. Naruto thought he saw something flying towards them at a fast speed. Adjusting his zoom in his helmet Naruto could tell it was his best friend York. Naruto had to quickly sidestep out of the way to avoid getting hit when he crashed into the hangar. "Ugh! You would not believe the time I had getting back. It's nuts out there."
"Let's go people." Carolina anouded before leaving with South.
"What? No welcome back?" North chuckles before patting York on the back and saying before leaving "Alright, welcome back."
While Naruto help York up he asks "Where are they off to in such a hurry?" witch Wash answers "Found the leader. He's hiding out in Bone Valley."
"We're going all the way over there, after what happened to Georgia?" asked York in disbelief "Would someone please tell me what happened to Georgia?!"
"Dude, you do not want to know." says Naruto jumping off with York back into space.
"I really do though!"
"I don't get it, everything stopped." said Carolina.
Naruto couldn't agree more all the fighting has just stopped. No ships, no guns firing, nothing.
"Maybe they're retreating…" suggest North.
"Why would they just give up so easily?" asked Naruto.
"Nothing left out here but a bunch of junk." said York evading another scrap of metal floating in space around them.
In the distance a ship starts flying out of a large scrap ball and starts opening fire on the Mother of Invention. The battle didn't last long due to the Insurrectionists ship warping away. Then Naruto got a message from Four Seven Niner. "Guys, get out of there, they've outfitted that piece of junk with nukes!"
"Go!Go!Go!" Carolina shouts.
Naruto and the others increase their jetpack speed and mange to get inside the Pelican, all except one. "Wash, what are you doing? Get in here, use your jetpack." York shouts out to his friend.
"I-I don't want to end up like Georgia!"
"Oh for God's sake." Carolina uses her grappling hook at Washington's crotch plate pulling him into the Pelican with Wash screaming. The inter time Kurama was laughing uncontrollably inside Naruto's mind, Naruto himself was having a hard time trying to hold his own in. 'Thank god I'm wearing a helmet.' thought Naruto as the Pelican doors close with the nuclear bombs exploding behind them.
"What the hell just happened people? Tell me you accomplished your mission." the Director asked over the radio.
Carolina was the one to answer the call "Negative sir, their leader escaped."
"Well, looks like the enemy lives to fight another day." says North.
"Again." South finishes.
"Don't worry guys we'll get them next time." Naruto says trying to cheer everyone up.
"That is most unfortunate. Are all agents accounted for?" the Director asked still on the radio.
"All except C.T., sir. She's gone."
"Define "gone," agent."