"Another 18 locations hit, though it seems we have a leak somewhere given that 7 other locations were empty by the time we got there." Jane seemed annoyed at this, making Naruto feel slightly guilty at his clandestine operations the other night, her tone and glance across at Pallin made it clear where she thought the blame lay.
"Given my agents only knew where C-Sec would be targeting and your targets were the ones that were cleaned out Commander, I wouldn't be looking at me like that." That was a point, and given Jane's startled glance over to him Naruto got the feeling she hadn't realised that either, so she was now going to be paranoid about them being spied upon or betrayed.
Naruto would tell her eventually, probably when he had done something useful enough that she wouldn't get overly angry, but the money had been far too useful an addition to ignore. The fact that it wasn't in either his or Jane's account meant it wasn't going to be tracked by the Council either, which given his clones were still having to distract some of their agents when they were on the Citadel was a forgone conclusion.
"We can look into it after this taichou, we haven't been the most cautious when speaking over the comms after all." It had been a security flaw that Naruto had already noticed with his comrades back on Therum, but it was a good enough excuse to distract Jane for now.
"Still, the fact that those areas were cleared means that the gangs will have been forced to reorganise in a hurry, this may actually help my agents in the long run with infiltrating their networks. So Commander, in regards to payment..." Naruto zoned Pallin out at this point as memories suddenly appeared in his head, obviously one of his scouts had found something...
His eyes widened even as he could suddenly hear the high pitched whining noise getting steadily louder and louder, shifting forwards as fast as he could to throw both Pallin and Jane against the nearest wall with one hand, his left hand wrenching the executor's table from its floor mounting despite his muscles screaming protest at the stress such an action put them under. He wouldn't be able to shift himself into position in time, that much he knew for certain as he shifted the table so that it would provide a modicum of cover for the two still recovering commanders.
"Kyuubi!" The fox would know what was up, even when the Bijuu was sleeping the thing's danger sense was attuned to the point that Naruto was surprised the warning hadn't come from the fox, but even when the beast was being 'friendly' he often had to be firm to get his requests heard.
"*Sigh* Fine brat, but this is going to hurt a lot, make sure you find who did this afterwards, I want to make them suffer more!" Naruto felt the Kyuubi's chakra encircle him just in time, the sight of the missile impacting against the bulletproof window of the Executor's suite the last thing he saw before he turned, ducked his head and closed his eyes, the world exploding in pain and fire around him moments later.
Kyuubi's chakra didn't protect him as such, certainly not in the same way that his kinetic barriers tried for a moment before failing dramatically, but that wasn't why Naruto had asked for some of the monstrous power. Instead it deadened the pain and replaced it with anger, regenerating his body even as shrapnel and fire attempted to end his life, meaning that as the blast subsided he was up and moving towards the now gaping hole in the ambassador's building.
Someone had just tried to kill him, him and Jane-chan, and he was going to find out who and why before he let the pain overcome him...
*Line Break*
Jane's head was still ringing from the explosion as she forced herself to her feet, her concern for Naruto far outweighing the unpleasant feeling that came with her inner ear still recovering from the blast. Given the lack of a body or any blood she was confident that he had survived, but that merely meant he was probably off doing something stupid again, such as chasing after the one who fired the missile.
"Commander!" Pallin's call went ignored as Jane rushed to the window, easily spotting her crew member as he darted through the rapidly gathering crowd and towards the other side of the Presidium.
Unfortunately, whilst Naruto could just shrug off a 3 floor drop after a rocket attack and then just run off like nothing had happened, Jane wasn't so indomitable. So quickly checking that the Executor was okay, which he was apart from a few scratches, Jane made her way to the door as fast as she could. It took her two precious minutes to fight her way to the building's entrance, and another 30 seconds for her to make the crowd part in front of her to allow her through, meaning that the slowly returning sounds of gunfire and fighting that she could hear had faded away by the time she had crossed the large bridge that bridged the two main sides of the Presidium.
"Naruto? Naruto, where are you?" The first sign she had to follow was a dead Salarian mercenary, gaping chest wound making it clear that Naruto had reverted to his spear rather than bothering with the pretense of guns any more.
The trail of blood worried her though, obviously a sign that Naruto had been injured in the fight or had in fact not come out of the rocket attack unscathed. Two more corpses were visible leading up through the small marketplace and Jane quickly confirmed that they were the same group as the first, one of them probably their attacker given the rocket that was lying next to him with the main body of the weapon reduced to little more than scrap metal.
The thrum of a sky car had Jane jump and raise her shotgun, it took off from in front of her to the left, in the same direction as the blood trail. It accelerated away from her too quickly for her to do anything about it though, and heading in that direction she laid eyes on the sort of scene you would see in a horror movie.
"Naruto... Naruto!" Her companion was barely able to stand, his weight resting heavily on his spear and the wall, armour cracked and scorched from the heat.
"Huh, oh hi Jane-chan... Could you give me a hand? I'm feeling a little..." And then he fell sideways, making Jane's heart freeze in her chest for a precious moment before she rushed forwards whilst activating her earpiece.
"Normandy, Naruto is down in the Presidium and we have been attacked, alert everyone and get them back to the ship now!" Whilst she would have preferred to have the rest of them come back her up, only Naruto and herself were probably still armed and armoured given they had finished their raids hours ago.
More concerningly with this attack and something that was praying was just her paranoia at this stage, was that if she and Naruto had been the target, then they probably weren't the only targets the assassins would have in mind...
*Line break*
Ashley knew she was being followed, three heavily armed and armoured mercenaries were not very good at blending into such a crowd on the Presidium at the best of times, and had done her best to surreptitiously shake them for the last five minutes or so. However, given the crowded streets she couldn't afford to be too obvious about such an attempt, if the assassins had explosives or heavy weaponry and decided to open up the collateral damage could be...
The sound of an explosion caused her to pause in her thinking as the crowd started to panic, concern that the explosion was related to her pursuers rising as the three of them started to close in on her a few moments later, meaning she had to make a rather hasty decision. Pushing through the crowd towards a small side street, Ashley regretted the decision to wear her casual uniform out on her little shopping spree, it meant that she only had her pistol and nothing in the way of armour to speak of.
Shaking her head to clear her mind before she started telling herself off for being unprepared, Ashley ducked into the side street that contained several doorways and items that she could hide behind or in if she really needed to, though they would be the first places the mercenaries would look for her no doubt. With only a few moments before the mercenaries reached the entrance to the alley, Ashley saw what she was looking for and gave a small smile even as she started running towards it.
The first mercenary arrived a few moments later, shotgun up and ready as he scanned the alleyway, though he didn't enter until the other two arrived several seconds afterwards. The three of them were obviously more than the usual rabble they had to deal with then, calm and disciplined even as they moved down the alley slowly, covering each other as they checked every doorway and hiding spot.
"Where is she?" The third mercenary, a young human armed with an assault rifle, was obviously the least experienced of the group as he broke the silence first.
"Either she managed to fool us into thinking she went down here, or she is still hiding somewhere down this alley, neither outcome is helped by your speaking human." The Turian who had been leading the group spoke with a dismissive and abrasive tone, that either implied he hated the human for his inexperience, or merely the fact that he was human.
"Quiet both of you, one more sweep and then we get out of here, her head isn't worth us being caught by C-Sec." Perched on top of the little overhang above one of the doors, barely risking breathing in case they heard her, Ashley was glad that she had seen Naruto use this little trick earlier during the raid on the gangs.
For a moment she thought that she would get away with it, the the mercenaries passing underneath her without comment, when suddenly her comms activated. Whilst not loud enough to give her away directly, Ashley knew it would be enough to make the mercenaries suspicious and lead to her discovery, meaning that she swung into action even as Joker's voice filled her ear.
"Alert, Normandy crew under attack on the Presidium, all crew to report back to the ship for security reasons immediately!" Even as Joker finished speaking Ashley leapt down and slammed the heels of her feet into the human's unarmoured head, sending him crumpling to the floor even as she continued to fall, raising the pistol so that it was pressed directly into the Turian's chest.
Firing three rounds at that range, where his kinetic barriers couldn't activate due to the proximity, took the Turian out before he could even react, body flying back into the wall as Ashley tried to swing her pistol round to deal with the Asari. However her last opponent was prepared, knocking her pistol aside with her free hand and raising her own, though thankfully Ashley grabbed the arm and managed to force the muzzle away from her.
Then the Asari's eyes glowed blue and Ashley felt the biotic lift take effect, the Asari managing to free her arm as Ashley tried to bring her gun to bear in zero g.
"You have skill, I will give you that human, though I suppose it did not matter in the end. Saren paid us to send the new Spectre a message, and your body will do nicely..." The Asari raised her pistol once more, only for a noise to cause her to jerk in it's direction, Naruto stood at the entrance to the alley with a grim look on his face.
"Another of our targets, I will enjoy my pay after all of this..." The Asari fired three times, Naruto dodging each shot even as Ashley felt the lift's power begin to fade.
Shifting as the lift failed entirely, Ashley took advantage of the last few moments of weightlessness to swing her body so that her legs could push off the wall behind her, sending her careening into the Asari and causing them both to tumble to the floor. Not giving the Asari any respite, Ashley let her anger at the fear she had felt in the lift take control, unleashing a flurry of vicious punches into the Asari's face and upper torso.
"Ashley, that's enough!" Naruto's call, followed by his firm grip a few moments later, brought her back to her usual self, though given the bloody mess that her opponent's face had been reduced to their newly acquired prisoner wouldn't be talking anytime soon.
"It's okay Ash, it's okay..." As Naruto pulled her off the Asari and into an embrace, Ashley realised she had begun to cry, the hot tears slipping down her face as the adrenaline faded and she realised quite how close she had been to dying and being unable to do anything about it.
"Thanks Naruto, but I am okay honest, just the shock. Not that I am ungrateful, but how did you end up being in the perfect place to distract her?" She had a suspicion as to why Naruto had been there, which was bolstered by the slightly awkward shrug the ninja used to try and avoid the answer, but she wouldn't press.
The boy, or at least his clone, had just saved her life with his arrival. Given that she would forgive him a little spying/stalking, especially because the commander almost definitely already knew about it and could well have ordered it, Naruto's earlier comments about a 'little bird' telling him things making a lot more sense now.
"I won't press Naruto though you should probably work on a more reasonable excuse, in case you have to step in for one of the others, I'm certain Tali might get the wrong idea about her white knight..." It wasn't hard to tell the Quarian had feelings for their ninja, though as he blushed through a stuttering denial Ashley could see why, he definitely had his heart in the right place if nothing else.
Maybe next time she wanted some shore leave she could have him accompany her rather than guard from a far? Would definitely make his life easier, and he definitely wasn't the worst person she could be seen with at dinner...
*line break*
It had been pandemonium on the Citadel since the attack almost 36 hours beforehand, an assassination attempt on both the C-Sec executor and humanity's first Spectre in broad daylight making every news broadcast and communications briefing that Jane had heard, even the Council had been forced to weigh in and assign 2 other Spectres to 'assist' in the investigation.
Jane knew the real reason for the added Spectre presence, serving to both pacify an alarmed populace and also to minimise the impact she could have on the investigation. Honestly, she didn't mind overly much, her main source of information was lying unconscious in front of her so it wasn't like she would have been very productive anyway.
It wasn't as if vengeance hadn't already been dealt, the boss may be injured but Naruto's clones were quick to act, more than a dozen mercenaries found either dead or crippled with bounty information on her and her crew easily found on their bodies. The warning was obvious, even as C-Sec interrogated her entire crew to try and find out who was responsible for the killings, and would hopefully put off any further attacks in the near future.
"You do know I can't stand gloomy girls right Jane-chan? Did I miss something whilst I was out?" The scratchy and weak voice dragged Jane's attention to the deep blue eyes of the man who had probably saved her life for the third or fourth time now, a smile coming unbidden to her face even as she did her best to glare at him.
"You mean apart from Ash almost getting assassinated, someone shooting a rocket at us and YOU getting BLOWN UP?" Her voice was a little louder than she had intended, and Naruto's guilty wince made her feel a little bad, but then a determined look crossed his face and he raised a still bandaged arm.
"What was I supposed to do taichou? There wasn't any time after getting you and Pallin into cover..." Jane was about to object that he didn't need to protect her like that, but Naruto shook his head even as she opened her mouth, obviously guessing what she was going to say next.
"And yes, it is better that I got hit than protecting myself first rather than you Jane-chan, the only person who can probably take an explosion like that better than me is Wrex and even he would have been down and out after that one. With my... unique abilities it's better that I..." Jane didn't realise that she had let her anger get the better of her until it happened, the slap connecting and sending Naruto's head reeling before she embraced him in a hug.
"Don't you dare, do you realise we thought you were going to die?" Doing her best to get a grip on her emotions, Jane pulled back and fixed Naruto with a direct gaze.
"I understand what you mean, and I know you are right that you can survive more than I can, but that doesn't mean that we should just accept that should be the way things happen. You are too important to all of us for you to keep trying to get yourself killed..."
"Aww, now if you could only admit that you are angry because YOU care, and that you have barely left his bed side for the last two days we might actually get somewhere." Her inner voice would normally have ruined her mood, but for once Jane didn't actually feel the need to try and disprove or ignore the points it had made.
"...Hai, you aren't the first one to tell me that Jane-chan, but I don't really know any defensive jutsu other than just cloaking myself in chakra... There wasn't really much time for structured learning after the invasion..." Despite the initial claims Naruto had made to Anderson and the Council, Jane was getting the feeling that he hadn't been anywhere near as proficient a ninja as he had claimed, especially with things like this.
"Well, can we work on creating some then Naruto? Because whilst I do not know 'jutsu' there are enough biotics on this ship that you could modify your abilities to act like theirs for the time being, certainly the biotic barrier that they all learn would improve your defences." As Naruto's face lit up, Jane decided she didn't care though, he had his rights to secrets just as she had hers.
"Making new jutsu? That will be so cool! Maybe I could make it bigger and..." As Naruto started to brainstorm in his usual manic manner, Jane felt relief start flooding her system, at least the explosion didn't seem to have done any lasting damage that she could tell.
"Naruto, we can work on it later with Kaidan, for now I better go tell the others you are up. A certain engineer has been very concerned about your well being..." She moved away, ready to stand and head for the door, when Naruto did something unexpected.
Rather than be embarrassed about her inference to Tali's crush on him, which was so obvious now even he would have trouble missing it, Naruto instead frowned before a blue wave of his chakra erupted from his body. The wave flowed through her and the walls moments before the alarms started blaring throughout the ship.
"Commander, energy readings just went through the roof! Trying to pinpoint where it came from in case it was Geth in..." Jane cut off Joker's report even as Naruto suddenly shifted out of bed, summoning his spear to help him stand.
"Joker, the readings came from our asset, stand down." Looking across at Naruto, who was throwing on his normal clothes as fast as he could, Jane couldn't help but be slightly concerned as he asked a rather out of place question.
"Jane, where are we?" His tone was strangely demanding and fierce, Jane quickly opening up her omnitool as she replied.
"We have just taken orbit over a planet named Feros, there were reports of a Geth attack on the colony and it is as good a lead as any in regard to Saren." Opening the small galactic map on her screen, Jane showed Naruto where it was in comparison to where else they had been.
"We were about to launch a ground team when Dr Chakwas said you might be waking up..." Naruto nodded and then pointed towards the door.
"No time to waste then, we need to get down there now!" Normally Jane didn't mind Naruto's little quirks and changes in personality, but this was too different to normal for her to just ignore.
"Naruto! You've just woken up from being sedated for 2 days, and now you want to join the boarding party despite the fact your armour is in pieces..." She grabbed his arm and made him turn to face her, his eyes studiously avoiding meeting her own.
"You're hiding something, and I won't have you endangering the mission or yourself by trying to keep it from us." There seemed to be something of an internal struggle inside Naruto's head for several moments before he sighed and gestured down and to his left.
"I can sense chakra Jane-chan, it is very weak, but I can feel it down there. It is one of my friends... It has to be..."
A/N: Mwahahahaha! I bet you didn't see that coming! I felt that given Jane's team are messing up Saren's plans, it would only make sense for Saren to try and take her out, and if not her then some of her team. Naruto took a hit for the team there, Kyuubi chakra helping him survive before then going on a vengeance spree.
Of course, big reveal is Naruto sensing chakra from Feros... Is it going to be one of his friends, or an artefact the Protheans recovered, or something else? Let me know what you are thinking people!
Defias Out!