Stumbling over the rocks and roots that littered this passage to the surface, she suddenly felt rather than saw the flesh's arrival, appearing behind her in a burst of speed to knock her to the ground. She tried to crawl away, perfectly aware that the feeling of powerlessness she currently felt was something the old growth had relished causing in others, but a foot stomping down hard on her back put an end to that attempt quickly enough before it relented for a moment and flipped her onto her back.
"P-please, I mean you no harm..." It was ironic, her first words were the same as the ones that the old growth had ignored pitilessly so many times before wrestling full mental control of his thralls, even as she looked up into the deep blue eyes of her executioner.
"Interesting..." But the blow didn't fall, no sharp pain or ripping of flesh from bone as he had done so easily with the old growth's flesh clones, the flesh merely looking at her with a mixture of curiosity and determination as if weighing up whether she was worth the effort of killing.
"I am not the old growth flesh..." Pausing in her speech as the flesh's eyes narrowed, she frantically tried to work out what she had done wrong, holding her hands up pleadingly.
"Please, I do not know what else I should call you..." It was strange, she found herself wishing that she was right about her guess in a way that the old growth had never really understood, it had been something many of it's thralls had memories of doing before it had taken control.
"Convince me that you are not or ever plan on being like the Thorian again, and then I may tell you my name." A name, that was what the flesh called their specific designations, just like they referred to the old growth as this 'Thorian'.
"Thank you, though I do not know how I can convince you of such a feat... I am not sure what I am myself." It was strange, the leftover instincts from the old growth were screaming at her to lie, promise that she was nothing like the old growth in order to ensure the flesh would let her live.
But instead of that, or the violence it demanded in place of talking, she chose to follow the strange feeling she had gotten the moment she had first made eye contact with the flesh. It was different from the old growth, making her feel that telling anything but the truth would end very badly for her, even if her unsure answer had her mentally awaiting the summary execution she had initially expected.
"Huh." The single syllable from the flesh seemed to change it's entire demeanour, removing the boot it had placed on her... chest? and shifting backwards slightly, stabbing the spear it held into the concrete next to where it was stood with frightening ease.
"So no memories or urges from the Thorian? No spores currently trying to take control of my mind and turn me to your will?" He sounded doubtful, but if he had truly not believed her then her body would already be fertiliser for the ground, so she was glad he was giving her even this half chance.
"There are these feelings that are screaming at me to... I think your race calls it lying?" At his slow nod she continued, urged on by the strange but familiar nudge in her mind.
"But there is another, strange to me but known at the same time, which seem to... tell me, tell me that if I tell you anything but the truth I would be reduced to food for new growths before I could possibly react. And from the fragmented memories I have from the growth that was, I put more faith in this feeling than in the being who foolishly stood against you." Whilst there were spores still in the air, she was far too emotional right now to do anything more than focus on herself.
"Troublesome..." The single word seemed to bring back a plethora of memories from the back of her mind that she hadn't even realised were there, the sheer magnitude of the onslaught making her cry out in pain due to the mental anguish she was suffering from.
"Not quite the response I was expecting, but it proves that Shikamaru was screwing with the giant teme's plans even at the end I think..." The memories were so new that it took her several moments to realise that she now knew who the blonde in front of her was, the dark haired flesh that had offered itself to the old growth in return for protection somehow knowing of the old growth's plan for... birthing her, and deciding to use the last of his strength to provide her with a small facet of his memories.
"Naruto... That is your name?" The changing expression on Naruto's face made her feel warm inside for some reason, and then knelt down so that the two of them were face to face.
"Shika was always too damn clever for his own good, though why he decided to save you is a mystery for another time I imagine. Now, assuming that you are telling the truth, I think the boss is going to need to come and decide what to do with you..." Before she could get too worried, memories from this 'Shika' allowed her to realise that the use of the word 'boss' merely meant that she was going to be taken to the original Naruto and meant the one who had nearly ended her short existence was merely a clone...
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"She isn't any part of the Thorian or it's possible survival plans..." The sudden outburst from Naruto after Shiala had said her piece about being offered to the Thorian by Saren in exchange for what it knew about the Protheans was welcoming, but at the same time the surety with which he spoke meant that he knew something that they didn't, not that this would be the first time.
"How do you know that? Did it tell you whilst you were having all the fun on the lower levels?" Wrex was back to his usual moodiness Tali noted, though it was so natural for the warlord that she honestly could say that she found it more amusing than irritating most of the time.
"I was right about you wasn't I?" The quip, and the almost unilateral moment of pause before chuckling erupted from the weary group broke the tension that had been building ever since they delved into the ruins beneath Zhu's Hope, even Wrex nodding in appreciation at Naruto's point whilst Tali could only smile.
The change that had occurred in Naruto when he had found the stone leg had been more than slightly unnerving to Tali, especially with how he tore through the creepers and the Asari clones with such disregard for his own safety. Whilst she still couldn't fully reconcile that Naruto with the humorous and self-assured young human stood in front of her, Tali was just glad that the Naruto she had grown to... like so much, was still there at the forefront.
"Why do you believe me so easily though human? Not that I should complain given the alternative, but given what you did to the Thorian..." Naruto glanced at Jane after this questioning statement, the two of them managing to convey what must have been a small conversation at least with just several minor head movements and eye twitches, Jane finally shook her head before speaking authoritatively.
"Let's just say we have our methods Shiala and leave it at that, though just because you are not with the Thorian doesn't mean that your other allegiances are not in question. Let's head back to the Normandy, I would prefer to continue this conversation away from possible eavesdropping." Given Naruto's statement, as well as the silent conversation between the two of them moments before, Tali could tell that there was probably something waiting for them back at the ship for them to 'discover' that Naruto had found with his abilities.
"Should we not wait and help Naruto find whatever it is he was searching for first? Given the situation, I am sure that there is probably more than enough here for our salvage crew to be here for several hours even with our help." Garrus' question was similar to the one Tali had offered earlier, and though Tali was still not entirely sure of the Turian's motive, the point about the salvage was valid at least.
"Don't worry about that Garrus, I found what I was looking for when I was down there..." Tali wasn't the only one to be a little shocked by the revelation, especially given the way Naruto had acted before upon finding the leg in the rubble, though given his open smile she could only hope that whoever he had found was still in good enough condition for him to bring them back.
With the matter settled, even if Garrus was still clearly intrigued by what it was that Naruto could have found, they made good time back to the Normandy as even Wrex admitted he could do with a shower after several hours of fighting.
That was one of the things that did peeve Tali slightly, given the lack of Quarian orientated facilities aboard the Normandy she would have to wait until they were back on the Citadel to cleanse herself of the sweat and gunk she had built up, they were trying to install them aboard the Ontario but that would require several days in drydock that they currently didn't have. It probably sounded immature, but she felt sticky enough just from Naruto's training without actual combat being taken into account, was it too much to ask for the chance to feel a little bit more like a lady at times?
"Tali-chan!" She was drawn from her internal monologue about the unfairness of being a Quarian on combat missions by an arm wrapping around her shoulder and pulling her into a one armed hug.
"I found some Geth tech at the tower that I didn't think we would want to leave for Exo-Geni, given how they've gone all defensive about us seeing what else was inside there, so do you want me to leave it with you or transfer it to the Ontario if they have space? Given the fact we destroyed that Geth transport ship I imagine most of the Ontario's storage is going to be filled with that rather than anything else..." There was silence for a moment, both at Naruto's vastly improved mood and what Tali assumed was the shock of everyone else realising the Geth ship debris had completely skipped their attention, given the revelations regarding the Thorian the thought of all the Geth tech had skipped their minds.
"We're going to have to secure the ship before the Exo-Geni teams get here aren't we?" Ashley's tone was more than slightly dejected, one that Tali couldn't quite bring herself to sympathise with as she watched the entire groups demeanour change at the prospect of several more hours without being able to clean off.
"That ship is the first one of it's kind we know has been brought down, even with the damage from the fall and the crash it will give the Alliance Tech guys years of possible research to pursue..." Jane's tone was the kind of tone that Tali recognised for when she was trying to motivate herself into doing something she really didn't want to do by stating the reasons why she HAD to do it, even if she didn't want to.
"So if you guys do that, I will escort Shiala back to our ship given I need to go to the med bay anyway, though I will need Tali-chan to help me with the security systems of the little brig we have set up, I don't want to accidentally put the ship into lock-down..." Naruto's suggestion was met with several barely audible sighs of disappointment, having beaten them to the chance to offer the escort back, and because he also had the most legitimate reason to return, given the blood that still occasionally leaked down his arm from the rather excessive use of his 'biotics' from earlier.
The fact that, even after Shepard had given her assent and the rest of the team had started trudging back towards the tunnels where they had left the Mako, Naruto had started walking back with his arm still around her shoulders was something that had Tali doing an internal mental jig. She was sweaty, tired and starving, but she now got to relax back on the Normandy rather than being on guard duty for the next few hours with her favourite non-Quarian.
Perhaps there was a chance that they might even get some alone time, perhaps she could offer some 'personal lessons' on electronics, or persuade him to let her see what he had found down in the depths of the Thorian's lair...
"You okay Tali-chan? You've gone awfully quiet..." The question from the object of her thoughts made Tali glad that she had gotten to the point where she didn't automatically show her embarrassment in her body language, though given the increased power draws of her suits cooling systems she was surprised Naruto couldn't feel her blushing from their personal contact.
"Sorry Naruto, it's just been a long day. You know, that erm, thing you offered..." She wanted to straight up ask about the possibility of a massage after he had offered her after that evaluation session, but she was already struggling to repress the thoughts that were surfacing in her mind and to be so blatant about it would be beyond the pale in terms of what her mental imagery could handle right now.
"You want to do more training when we get back? I would have thought you were too tired but I admire your determination Tali-chan..." Tali almost panicked, the idea of Naruto's training now, after all she had already been through today? Then, she caught the smirk on the blondes face, before he squeezed her shoulder reassuringly as it twigged that he had been playing with her.
"I'm joking Tali-chan, I wouldn't let you train now even if you were mad enough to want to for whatever reason..."
'That...That boshtet!' Despite the ever increasing blush on her face, and the urge to sock the annoying man in the face for riling her up like that, Tali couldn't help but lean into his embrace slightly as they carried on walking back up to the Normandy...
"You two, you do remember you are meant to be escorting me and making sure I don't run off anywhere?" Shiala's slightly tentative and shy voice broke the 'magic' of the moment, and Tali felt embarrassed that she had forgotten the ex-Asari commando had been there, though Naruto's amused chuckle managed to alleviate some of the embarrassment she felt.
"If Jane-taichou decides we can trust you, then you might understand how I can say I have had my eyes on you the entire time..." The response obviously confused Shiala, but she was intelligent enough not to fall into Naruto's obvious trap and ask him what he meant...
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"Are you sure about this Naruto?" Jane's question was one that had been rattling round in Naruto's head for the last couple hours, ever since the crew had returned from guarding the Geth transport, the Exo-Geni team arriving just after an Alliance frigate pack so unable to do little more than secure the main body of the tower.
"Well Jane-chan, given the plan when we get back to the Citadel I don't think we can really expect to hide what's going on from the others much longer. Better that we tell them then force them to go digging for the questions..." Or, in ninja speak, Naruto wasn't at all happy about having to reveal his true past to anyone else.
Even if Wrex and Garrus had proven themselves on the battlefield, the potential number of leaks was already too high regarding his abilities, abilities that would become a lot less effective against the Geth if they knew what to expect from him. Still, it was becoming more difficult to hide what was going on out in the field, let alone when he started bringing stone statues on slabs aboard as 'personal items'.
Turning to his right, Naruto smiled at the peaceful expression on Ino's stony countenance from where she was placed in the Normandy's meeting room, a small chuckle breaking his moment of peace as Nirali offered up her two cents. The former service woman had fitted into her role as medical assistant to doctor Chakwas very well, as well as providing him and Jane with some much needed administrative support with their 'unofficial' businesses that he was slowly expanding.
"Naruto's right Commander, it is going to be hard enough keeping operational secrecy regarding Naruto from the Ontario's crew, if we are having to keep some of your strike team in the dark as well that can only mean trouble in the long run. Besides, it's not as if Naruto doesn't already track our every move off the ship after the attack on the Citadel..." Nirali paused just long enough to throw a 'I don't believe you' look as Naruto put on his best questioning glance, whilst it was probably obvious to most people that didn't mean he was going to admit to such things anytime soon.
"As long as the crew don't know Naruto is following them, then if they are compromised it will be easy for Naruto to find, uncover and apprehend them, or at least lead the rest of the team to them if needed." A good point, but Naruto's training and instincts were still screaming at him to maintain as much secrecy about himself as he could.
"I know what you mean Nirali-chan, but just because the risk is minimised doesn't mean I should just relax, given the level of the threat we are going to need every advantage we can get." Jane seemed to be of the same opinion, but as Dr Chakwas finished her examination of Ino's stone form she added her two ryo.
"Then don't tell them everything, it's not as if you have told the rest of us everything given you haven't told us how this is even possible..." She gestured at the statue in front of her with a measured wave of the hand before turning to give her assessment.
"It looks to be as clean a break as would be possible given the unusual circumstances, though we cannot be sure as to what effects such damage might have on the stasis you seem to have somehow maintained over her using these... Seals? For all we know she could be long dead when you do whatever it is you need to do to unlock it."
"She is still alive, the chakra coming from her form would have long since faded if this was not the case, it's why Jiraiya-Sensei had several back up seals imprinted on the slab bases, just in case something like this happened." The firm statement didn't come from Naruto, as even he was turning to eye their newest shipmate who had spoken with far more conviction in her voice than anyone who didn't know her full backstory would believe.
The new Thorian looked like an Asari, at least on the surface, but her body was an amorphous mix of plant cells that could shift and respond to her desires, she had under his directions already altered her skin colour from the leaf green she had been when his clone had first encountered her to the more usual deep blue of the all female race, and Naruto doubted her powers ended there.
Whilst she didn't have his old friend's mind for strategy as far as he could determine so far, the new Thorian had inherited a large amount of Shikamaru's memories and had a far hand to play when strategising for combat, or socially if the need arose. She was going to be the other big reveal for the day he had planned.
"How is it that someone who was 'born' less than a day ago knows more about your methods than we do?" Jane already knew the answer to her own question, but as the elevator dinged open to reveal the rest of the crew, Naruto managed to resist the urge to say something that was probably unprofessional.
"You called us Commander?" Garrus seemed to be the only one willing to show a level of professionalism as he, Wrex and Liara stepped out of the elevator, which given most of them had only been back on the ship for an hour after the Geth ship debacle was unsurprising.
"Please don't tell us this is more training..." Liara's muttering was too quiet for the others to pick up, but Naruto was passable at reading lips like most ninjas were taught in the academy, and he stepped forward to belay that concern.
"No training, not today at any rate..." Liara looked up sharply and blushed when she saw him looking at her, but he carried on in an attempt to avoid losing his momentum and possible will to carry on with this revelation.
"As some of you have probably realised, the Commander and the other Alliance members have been somewhat... vague when it comes to your enquiries into me, regardless of how subtle or well meaning your intentions have been." Garrus had the decency to look a little embarrassed at the obvious point that their probing had been noted, whilst Wrex merely scoffed and crossed his arms in his usual confrontational manner.
"You're surprised? In the fifty years that I've encountered and fought humans I've not met more than half a dozen of your kind who could keep up with me in a fight for more than a few minutes, then you and Shepard come along at the same time? At least hero over there has a background that lives up to her skills, yours couldn't scream cover story more if that was the opening title, though it has gotten better recently..." Staring down his unofficial partner, as a silence settled in the wake of the longest single period of talking any of them had heard from the mercenary warlord, Naruto suddenly broke out into a smirk.
"This has really vexed you, hasn't it?" Wrex didn't deem his question with a response, though the twitching eyebrow gave it away how much the lack of information was annoying him, Garrus taking over before the Krogan either lost his patience or tried to fight Naruto verbally, both of which would end badly for the cargo bay in general.
"At the risk of pointing out the... Hippo in the corner? I assume this all has something to do with the human statue and the Asari I've never seen before? Cause if they had been here earlier I would definitely have noticed." Typical Garrus, always ruining a good bit of fun with logic and reasoning.
"Well, kudos to you for noticing both of them Garrus, but before we go any further we have some forms for the three of you to sign..." It took a moment for his words to sink in, Wrex's eyes lighting up with fury as Tali separated herself from the other non-humans and stood off to one side.
"You knew?!" A moment later something akin to recognition gleaned in the Krogan's face, Tali having moved next to Naruto in that time before he extended his arm to push her slightly behind him, Wrex's fury one of the most possible results of the situation that came with such an onslaught of revelations.
"Haha..." The wheezing throaty laugh that erupted from the Krogan's throat a moment later most definitely wasn't one of the anticipated outcomes, the Krogan equivalent of rolling on the floor laughing lasting almost fifteen seconds before Wrex managed to get himself under control enough to speak once more.
"I've had contacts combing every dark hole and illegal facility in the Terminus trying to work out where you were sprung from brat, yet little Ms quirky here probably knew from the day we rescued her..." Still unsure whether this was merely a prelude to Wrex finally exploding into violence, Krogan were almost as unpredictable as Sakura-chan on her period after all, Naruto gave a quick nod when it became clear Wrex was waiting for a response.
"I thought the 'smoke bomb and grapnel hook' story sounded a little far fetched, especially as I've not seen you use either since." Wrex suddenly smacked his own head with his shotgun, making several people including Naruto flinch. "Relax kid, that was for not realising earlier that she knew, she was the only one of us 'aliens' who didn't ask questions about you... Now, you said you had papers."
As Naruto gestured towards Nirali, who had thankfully brought all the paperwork down with her, Jane spoke up to make it clear it wasn't just him that was still awaiting the inevitable explosion.
"Not that I'm complaining, as I like my cargo bay intact, but are you sure you are okay with this Wrex?" The Krogan shrugged and grabbed one of the three piles of paper.
"Of course I'm not okay, this whole thing has cost me considerable time and resources trying to find any leaks on the brat that needed plugging. But as you know I have been travelling the galaxy for over half a millennia, and you don't stay a merc that long without picking up secrets of your own. I could topple governments with the skeletons I have buried around the galaxy, and that's just since humanity decided to join the big quad club, so whatever this story is going to be I doubt it will be the worst I've heard."
"Wow, I definitely can't complain about this if Wrex is going to be the mature one for once, though I suppose as he is the oldest of us here he had to act his age at some point..." Whilst Garrus chuckled at his own joke as he grabbed his own copy of the agreement, it was surprisingly Liara that caught the amused glances the alliance crew in Naruto's direction, her eyes widening as something obviously clicked in her head even as Naruto mentally ummed and ahhed about taking the reveal moment for himself.
"Impossible, whilst I know little about human culture I know the basic facts, the oldest living human recorded has only reached 165 cycles. But the Thorians comments..." Her comment seemed to finally remind Wrex of that particular shouting match, glancing up from the notes to eye Naruto quizzically.
"She has a point, the Thorian definitely made it sound like it had encountered humans a long time ago, which should have been impossible..." Naruto shrugged non-committedly before a cough from Jane made it clear she wanted the three of them put out of their misery.
"Let's just say that, depending on how you look at it in terms of age, I should be the one calling you a brat Wrex..." The shocked look on the Krogan's face made his entry into the story all the sweeter, it would still be heavily edited of course, but perhaps Wrex wouldn't be quite so eager to fight him all the time if he learned what he had done to those robots on his home world...
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"Liara, enough, let Naruto rest for now, I'm sure you can ask him some more questions later..." Jane was slightly surprised that it was the formerly shy archaeologist she had to order to leave Naruto alone, she had been concerned that Wrex would have wanted a 'proper spar' after Naruto revealed his greater than human capabilities, but the warlord had merely chuckled to himself before declaring he needed a drink and moving back to the elevator.
Garrus had questions, but he had been content to ask Ashley regarding the pressing ones, the C-Sec agent understanding how difficult it had been for Naruto to discuss the fall of his world once more. Liara however, once roused from her shocked state at the revelations given to her, had almost physically thrown herself at the exhausted ninja.
"But commander, this is potentially the biggest find since element 0, in fact it could be even bigger! The fact that Naruto and this Ino were discovered on different worlds, Prothean colonised worlds, points to the fact that they are pre-Prothean in origin! Given the almost barren records we have of the Protheans themselves, proof that they weren't in fact the first major space faring race is something scientists can only speculate about!"
As good as it was to see so much life in the sometimes withdrawn Asari, Jane was having to resist the urge to snap at her for her lack of sensitivity, the joys she was exhibiting about the race that committed genocide on Naruto's people was either a show of complete emotional obliviousness or a lack of caring about what Naruto had been through.
"Liara-San, that race committed themselves to wiping out the entire population of a world, a population that couldn't have given due cause to such an action as we hadn't even come technologically close to space travel when the invasion began..." The blunt interruption by the new Thorian, who had asked to be named Mari based on the memories she had received from Naruto's friend, seemed to break through whatever wall Liara had up that had prevented her understanding Jane and the others subtle attempts to steer her away from the topic.
"By the goddess, I'm sorry Naruto, I was just so excited that I didn't think... I'll just go." The abject look of horror on the young woman's face was actually slightly reassuring even as Jane winced at Liara's dejected tone.
"It's fine Liara..." The quiet interjection from the target of their discussion was the first thing he had spoken since he had finished describing being put into stasis, Jane having taken the opportunity of using Nirali's perspective to given Naruto something of a break.
"I made peace with what happened weeks ago, I mean we are talking at least 50,000 years ago, so the fact we are here now means that those robots bit the dust somewhere along the way as it is. As my teacher liked to preach 'There's no point in holding grudges against dead men, for they will always have the last laugh.'" It was a side to Naruto that she hadn't seen before, even as he stood and pulled the still apologising Liara into a comforting hug, and it struck her that this was probably as close to the real Naruto as any of them had ever gotten.
"Still, I think we could all do with a rest after today, I will get Joker to set us a course for the citadel now that the Alliance have things under control." The comment about their next destination caused Naruto to look gratefully in her direction, which brought a smile to her lips even as they all started to make their way to the elevator.
'One smile and you're feeling giddy? You need to get laid girl, and judging by the way Liara's not let go of him yet, your competition just went up by one.'
And of course, her inner voice just had to speak up and ruin the mood, even if Jane was still fighting the urge to ask Naruto to come to her quarters for a 'private debriefing'...
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It had been a challenging month, even by Miranda's high standards, since she first breezed through Citadel security with a fake name and identity. Given the nature of the two tasks the boss had given her, which were almost conflicting given the skills of the target in question, she had been forced to miss the first opportunity to infiltrate the Normandy to instead put focus on trying to find her preferred infiltrator for the easier of the two tasks.
Given this Naruto's ability to infiltrate the gangs on the citadel, for which he undoubtedly made use of those copies he could summon at will, it was doubtful that he would leave the security of the Normandy anything like as sparse as it had seemed when she did her initial recee. That meant that she couldn't use any two-credit thief from the lower wards if she actually wanted to succeed, and there were only a few thieves of the sort of calibre she had set the bar at that would even consider allowing themselves to work for a tarnished group like Cerberus.
"You can decloak and stop wasting our time whenever you like Ms Goto, if you weren't interested in what I'm offering you wouldn't be here to begin with after all..." It was a calculated guess based on her gut feeling more than anything else, Goto was quite deserving of her shadowy and almost mythological reputation that came with the grey world of high class thievery, so there had been no alarms or reports of anything out of the ordinary from her security crew to back up the feeling of being watched.
"And given that one of your donors has recently come into possession of an item that I would quite literally kill for, you will excuse me for not assuming this is a trap intended to protect your interests..." The young woman's tone was filled with emotion, something that surprised Miranda based on the few action reports she had of the thief in action, the mixture of anger and grief making it clear that this was a topic to tread around very carefully.
"If you would prefer, I could have someone speak to whichever donor has this item and make it payment for the mission instead..." The Illusive man had made it clear that this mission was of top priority to Cerberus, and he would be more than happy to risk upsetting one of their donors to ensure the mission's success if it came to it, though the Illusive man could be very persuasive if he needed to be.
Suddenly there was the feeling of cold steel at her throat and Miranda had to resist the urge to activate her barrier reflexively before unleashing biotic hell upon her hidden attacker, who spoke from by her left ear a moment later.
"Unless Cerberus has an assault force big enough to take down Donovan Hock and his assorted scum to hand then you will have even less luck than I have had, that man wouldn't trade his prize for anything. So, I will continue doing things my way in dealing with him, the question is of course, what should I do with you? Your efforts haven't gone unnoticed by the people looking for me, so you have potentially put a whole lot of trouble on my tale, even if you are telling the truth about this meeting not being a trap..."
This meeting was definitely not going the way Miranda had prepared for, obviously a mission had gone wrong for the master thief recently and whatever the losses incurred had been were still heavily affecting her emotionally, making her a far more dangerous potential opponent compared to the playful thief that was indicated in the reports.
"And regardless of whether I am telling the truth or not, you have probably done enough research and spying to know who I am and who I report to. So, the actual question is whether you want Cerberus helping you evade your pursuers, or whether you want us actively hunting you down as well?" Despite the rapidly derailing script, Miranda wasn't one of Cerberus' top agents for her looks, regardless of what some of the lower ranks said at times.
Whilst the blade at her throat would make quick work of her body suit, it was unlikely that Kasumi would act with sufficient certainty to beat her barrier if push came to shove, and despite not wanting to die Miranda had spoken the truth before. The Illusive man cared about his top agents, and would make Kasumi a very obvious example of what happened to those that hurt Cerberus.
"This must be one hell of a job for the Illusive man's hand to be running it herself... I suppose it will be a good distraction if nothing else, as long as the price is right of course." Not exactly the best reasoning Miranda would have wanted from an operative for accepting a job, but as the blade was removed from her throat she decided that she had heard worse reasons as well.
"So then Operator Lawson, can I call you Miranda-chan?" The forced cheerful act annoyed her, which was probably it's purpose, but given the situation Miranda knew she would have to be diplomatic and not bring the insolent thief to task for her lack of professionalism.
Given the potential catastrophe that would occur if Kasumi was captured by her target, she needed Kasumi as cooperative as possible before the mission started...
A/N: That seems as good a place to stop this chapter as any, especially given that it is competing for longest chapter in the story :P So, we have a plant being with Shikamaru's memories, Naruto's big reveal to the three non-human crew members that didn't already know about his past, AND the big meeting between Miranda and Kasumi.
Aren't I a nice author for giving you all of these things?
Kasumi's life has just gone south, with the mess with Donovan Hock and Keiji's death very clearly affecting her and making her a very different person emotionally, and professionally compared to how we see her in ME2 and ME3. Even so, she is still reputed as one of if not THE best thief in the galaxy, which means that she would have been top of the list for the plan to infiltrate a Spectres ship (and that's even without considering Miranda's concerns about Naruto's abilities, Spectres are feared throughout the galaxy for a reason.)
So we will have Ino awaking next chapter, along with more of Naruto's activities on the Citadel. I really want to have him unintentionally making all of the remaining gangs on the Citadel effectively turtle up and bolster their defences by the end of ME 1...
Let me know what you guys think, as always, see you again soon
Defias