Maelstrom Effect Book 2: Shadows of Crimson

by godospartan the Kitsune

After Soverign's defeat, the sibling Commanders left to clean up the mess it left behind. But one of them was struck down by an unknown force. The next 2 years they go in search of the ones responsible, unknowing that a secret group is bringing their sibling back to life to fight the Reapers again. How will they react when they meet again? NaruxTali, Shakarian, Mature content later

5. Awaken, Naruto! Cerberus is Calling!

XxX ~xx ~ XxX ~ xx ~ XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Naruto groaned once getting off what looked like an operating table. Every inch of his body protested in moving an inch but ignored the pained gazing at the room. Was this some kind of medical lab, certainly had everything Dr. Chakwas would ever want. The blond released another groan but this time from the headache of the emergency alarm blaring.

"Uzumaki you need to focus and get out of that area immediately," Once more came that woman's voice with an Australian accent over a speaker.

Steadying himself via the table he laid on the blond shook his head; "Who the hell are you and where the hell am I."

"My name is Miranda Lawson, chief scientist of this station. This is currently being attacked by our own hacked LOKI mechs. I would love to tell you more but at the present, clearing this place of hostiles is more pressing than chatting." Impatience rang in her voice. "There is an SMG pistol in one of the lockers nears the door, grab it and start moving."

Well, she sounded cheerful, the blond grunted before gaining his bearings and walking near the auto slide doors to the lockers. Going through them he found what he was looking for with ammo on the locker shelf. The blond also saw the logo on the weapon which he soon took a look at the clothes he was wearing. They too had the same logo as Cerberus...

"...Fuck..." Slamming the locker closed once grabbing the gun and loading it the blond left the room to a lounge area.

'Alright, now why the hell would I be in a Cerberus lab, and more importantly who hacked their mechs to attack them? LOKI? If they are effective models, I was out for a while.' He was trying to figure out what was going on, as his head was pounding even worse. He narrowly missed as he was shouted at from the speakers again, alarming him to look around and notice gunfire catch his arm with just a glancing graze.

Getting behind the barricaded table, he summoned up his Biotics, his aura red and flowing. But his head started to hurt even worse, as he focused on covering himself in a biotic barrier. The strain was harsh but he pushed through it and rose to fire back, the SMG had a rather high fire rate and some kick to it, but with controlled bursts, he managed to hit the Mech firing at him from the stairs down to the area he was defending. His clip overheated on the eighth burst, causing him to take cover. Looking the weapon over he had to check where the eject was and found it easily. Slipping the next thermal clip in, he rose to see the thing still slowly charging him, one arm gone.

Not wanting to waste any more ammo on the thing, the blond ran around, his Barrier still up as he charged the mech to take it out and take its ammunition for his uses later, but what happened as he rounded the barricade and had a straight shot towards the mechanical enemy was a complete shock, as his body lit up and he found himself smashing right into, and through, the LOKI mech in an instant, causing him to trip over himself and fall into the stairs. "What... the fuck... Did I just do?" Huffing in exertion, Naruto could only stare back at the ripped in half mech fall to pieces. "...It worked though."

Shrugging it off the blond kept moving from the lounge he came into a much larger hallway fill with at least several LOKI mechs patrolling the area; "Of course Cerberus had to buy a dozen of these things." He had gotten to cover just in time before being noticed. "Now what."

Gazing at the SMG it looked like a new model, the design was different from what he has seen. His ears perked hearing one of the mechs strolling in his direction. "This will be getting noisy fast."

Straining to keep his Barrier up, Naruto peeked from cover and steadied his aim, bracing for the high recoil as the SMG fired rapidly in bursts with every trigger pulled, the first two lining up and taking out the chest and head of one Mech, and the third and fourth burst taking out an arm but not the head, giving the LOKI Mech's ample warning and the damaged one time to turn and fire his way.

With a strange confusion, Naruto noticed as he generated a Warp field and tossed it into the damaged mech that it was much easier than the Barrier. Creating a forceful wave of energy at the Mechs, the biotics fields collided and caused the swirling energies to become volatile and then erupt in power, destroying most of the Mechs, and causing only one to take severe damage and still survive.

Running up fast, and with another jolt forward that winded him a brief moment, Naruto got up close and emptied the rest of his current clip into the thing's head. Finishing the mechs he sighed in relief for a moment. Though he was called out from the voice of Miranda. "Nice work, Uzumaki. Now, get moving. Your path is clear for the time being."

Gathering all the ammo he could carry, the blond kept his willpower going, pushing through the strain his barrier was currently putting on him. "What the fuck is wrong with me? My Biotics are out of control..." Moving into the next hallway, he could see through a window as someone was running from, and firing at, a rather large mech, much bigger than the LOKI, and it fired a rocket right into the human and made them a mess on the window. 'Cerberus is shitty... But no one deserves that happening to them. Gotta move.'

Going through a hallway he came to a stop at a research office with several large desks, computers, and several Omni-Tool devices he was quick to take one. Turing it on it looked like even these had gotten an upgrade cause they looked much smoother and polished than before. He noticed while going through its data there were several audio files that all said the same thing. Lazarus Project; what the hell...

Shaking his head the blond left the room to round another corner, further ahead he could hear the deep rough voice of a man shouting; "That all you tin cans got!?"

That voice sounded... Familiar.

Dashing ahead Naruto entered a large area with several segmented hallways. On the path, he was on crouched a well-built Ebony skinned man in full black and white fatigues, crew-cut hair, and goatee firing at several LOKI mech on another hallway opposite of them. To avoid being shot at once the mech sighted him, Naruto was quick to the other man's side. Recognition soon glowed in Naruto's eyes; "Jacob Taylor!?"

"Shit so it did work," Jacob partially gawked staring at the blond before shaking his head; "Long time no see Commander."

Naruto was silent for a full minute; "You served under Major Derek Izunami. You were also with the Corsairs, we did at least several missions together."

"Yeah," Jacob chuckled; "That feels like a lifetime ago. Safe to say a lot has happened." The man growled just avoiding a bullet from a LOKI; "I'll answer whatever you want after taking care of these assholes."

"You better, the symbol on these clothes have a lot of explaining needed. Now, combo time? You get them close, I'll put them down." Naruto knew the man's prowess with Biotics, though rougher than most in his memory it was still effective.

With a light scoff and smirk, the former teammate nodded and came from cover to pull one of the mecha over the ledge of the far balcony, where Naruto curved a biotic field that tossed the target from free-flying to falling rapidly to their destruction. Not done yet, Naruto lifted one target into the air with a field, that was large enough to lift three of the mechs into the air. That gave the darker man the big gap to throw into the mix a Warp field that erupted the field and caused the LOKI to scrap and become nuts and bolts in the ceiling from the force of the lift fields empowered blast.

With only two left, each of them took a target and fired, Jacob's pistol plinking off the LOKI's chest plate before taking their head and destroying their processing cores, with his resurrected partner's SMG railing the body of its target with two full bursts fired shots that caused the core to rupture and cause the thing to melt with a fire in its chest to dysfunction. As the last mech fell, the two put their weapons away. Jacob laughed softly. "Never got tired of seeing your work. Always a battle plan.

His laugh turned to concern observing the blond slouch forward holding his head in pain; "You alright?"

"My biotics are going wild on me." Naruto hissed before the pain subsided and stood back straight. Taking a deep breath he turned his gaze to Jacob; "So what's going on, you turned to Cerberus? You're not xenophobic last I checked."

"Still not, I joined up with Cerberus because they are getting more done than the Alliance," His old partner lamented; "Not to say I agree with everything they do around here. I don't, but outside of that they have been doing everything they can since the battle at the Citadel."

Naruto's gaze turned dry; "You'll forgive me if I don't take that at face value."

"I wouldn't blame ya, but they did bring you back. So that's something right?"

At that the blond stood stock still; "The last thing I remember was losing oxygen and watching the Normandy burn from an attack." Naruto leaned forward placing a hand on the hallway railing; "I was... Dead..."

Jacob grew quiet before nodding; "Yeah," He lightly paced; "I saw your funeral. The Grand Asari Matriarch, surviving Normandy crew, and your old gang the foxes were there. And not long after the damn council called your words on the Reapers delusional ranting. Worse, the Alliance gave no response back."

Outrage grew on Naruto's face before calming himself; "They were going the safe route. We had no concrete evidence on the Reapers. Let me guess, called Sovereign a Geth ship?"

"Yup..."

Naruto scoffed shaking his head; "Jacob...How long was I gone?"

That was the big question Taylor knew was coming; "Two years, seven months, eighteen days."

Closing his eyes, he tried his hardest to remember exactly what happened to him. He pushed himself upright off the railing as his last sight was clear. "It would take two years... I used every strain on my biotics I could handle just to survive atmosphere entrance, I was a burning hunk of living flesh before I crashed into the white. It was a cold tundra region, maybe just an ice planet in general. I'd have been in bits everywhere."

"When they wheeled you in, and I got that first look at you, you were meat and tubes. Whatever you did to keep yourself intact worked, because the important bits were still in one place, maybe rearranged and broken though." Jacob shuddered from the memory of that sight.

Groaning in frustration, the blond could only pace before going into needing more information. Thankfully Jacob confirmed that the crew mostly made it. Though he wondered who didn't. "What were the loses on the Normandy?"

Recounting the articles from the event in question, Jacob bobbed his head to remember the number. "Give or take a couple? Around twenty were unaccounted for from the survivors, mostly just the human crew, Pressly as well. Damned good navigator I heard. Everyone else, including all the nonhuman crew, made it."

"Alright..." With a heavy sigh, Naruto was both relieved and heartbroken to hear that. " So, for the next question... Two years, bringing me back? Just me? And what are we talking about here? Cause I feel some very annoying differences to normal." He was right, his left arm seemed stiffer, and his chest a little tighter. He even felt like part of his jaw was numb."

"Miranda tried explaining to me all the tech lingo but went straight over my head," Jacob quipped; "I just know they used the most advance state of the art cybernetics I have ever seen to help piece you back together." He paused; "Can have her look you over if she is alive."

"She is, she has been directing me via the speakers."

Relief washed over Jacob; "Some more good news, alright let's get going."

Naruto nodded; "You know this place, will follow your lead." His old partner nodded before both started out of the hallway. "Besides the LOKI, what is that giant mech."

"That's a YMIR, heavily armored and shielded. Anti-infantry," Jacob commented as they went through a doorway near several offices. "They can take a beating and dish it out."

"Lovely."

Just as they started getting through the area, Jacob's comms lit up, one man was calling for help. "Hello!? Anyone on this frequency?! Mic check!"

Familiar voice yet again, this one less so but Naruto knew it somehow. Jacob knew it though, and he stopped to call in. "Wilson, that you? What's going on, where are you? Commander Naruto Uzumaki just woke up and is with me on our way through D wing."

"Wait, he's awake?! The hell is... Never mind that, you need to get out of there! D Wing's a mess, you need to get him out of there! He's our top priority, after all. Get him to my current location, Network control. Hurry!" With that, a loud bang was heard over the comms and then silence.

"Wilson?! Shit... Alright, detour. You with me, Commander?" Jacob checked his gun one more time as they turned in the other direction.

"Yeah... He sounds like the dude I heard talking when I woke up one time, sedating me and something about numbers being off." Naruto frowned though. 'If this guy was with Miranda, then why isn't he with her right now? And what's his position here?'

Going through the hall past the offices they were met in a room with more LOKI mechs, possibly stragglers that were coming to flank them after their friends before fell to their biotics. With another sudden jump forward, Naruto collected himself, having accidentally shifted past and through potential cover to ram into one mech. Without a second thought, he rammed his gun into the chest of the mech on his side and gunned it through at point plank.

Covering his back, the darker-skinned soldier pulled the LOKI from turning around and getting the Commander and grabbed its neck from behind the equipment blocking them right now, causing it to fall. Quickly rounding around, Jacob looked surprised. "You weren't kidding, that couldn't have been on purpose."

The blond shook his head; "Feeling like I'm a teenager barely in control again." A frustrated growl escaped his throat.

"We could try your friends in Thessia?"

Naruto shook his head; "It would take too long trust me. Even with my standing with the Grand Matriarch, Asari can get big sticklers on certain protocols."

A conceded nod came from Jacob; "Alright, we'll figure this one way or another."

Cutting their chatter they resumed their journey to find Wilson. They knew they were getting close upon hearing the man shouting mixed with gunfire in a room ahead. Both charged in once the doors opened seeing three LOKI mechs drawing their weapons to a fallen bald man on the ground holding his leg. His eyes lit up upon seeing the two; "Taylor! Uzumaki!"

"We got it!" The blond yelled garnering the attention of the mechs.

Said LOKI mechs turned to fire at them, but thankfully Naruto had risen his biotic shield, out of reflex. Said reflex caused him to grunt from the strain as the fire from the enemy bots snapped across his field. Using this time in cover, Jacob used his pulling field to bring a bot in close and double-tap its head, taking it out as the others started rounding the central canisters.

Seeing the Mech's start to take some cover behind them, Naruto groaned as he strained his shield to keep up. "Anyone got a damned tech combative Omni-tool? Blow those things up!"

Thankfully, they did with Wilson, as he groaned from his pain to peek behind his cover and blow the canisters in the room, causing the LOKI mechs to malfunction and one to erupt within its power core. The other just blasted enough to cause inoperability.

Putting his shield down, Naruto huffed before regaining himself. "Gonna have a big fucking headache the moment I get out of here..." Coming up to Wilson, who was still in major pain from three wounds in his leg, he looked around. "Alright, let's get you fixed up. Where's the nearest medical bay?"

Wilson shook his head while he hissed; "No time," He pointed to a box on the wall; "First-aid kit with medi-gel, patch me up and we can get the hell out of here." Jacob went for the kit as the bald man looked to Naruto who knelt in front of him; "Guess this makes us even?

"You and that Miranda brought me back right." Wilson nodded; "I am beyond grateful, thank you."

At that Wilson gave a rueful grin as Jacob came over with the kit and started working on the injured leg. "As I said, we're even man. Just glad it worked. But noticed your biotics flared wildly there for a minute." He sharply groaned as the needle from the medi-gel syringe hit his flesh. "We checked everything."

Naruto shrugged; "Maybe because I died things acted up. Being a natural Biotic and all I might be different than most."

"Right," Wilson grunted putting some bandages on his leg. "How's the station?"

"Fucked over six ways to sundown," Jacob quipped.

"Damn..." Getting up on his good leg, as the Medi-gel did its thing, the injured man sighed. "Was trying to get to the network and shut these bastards down, but whoever did this fried the system to the last binary code. Can't reverse this mess."

Jacob crossed his arms. "Didn't ask what you were up to here, but why the hell you even have clearance for the mechs? You were Bio wing."

With a glare at the soldier, Wilson was not about to take that talk. "Yeah, I'm a medical engineer, former combat engineer remember? My main job was getting this guy back to the living but I've got clearance for any device on the station. You may not have asked, but I was trying to tell you we can't stop this hack of our mechs. So either we get the hell out of here, or we take them all down. And so far, I've heard mostly static on every channel but the one you picked up on. Do you want to get suspicious of me for trying to stop this shit? Then you better interrogate anyone else we find alive in this station."

Before they could continue that train of thought, the blond shouted. "Enough! We're not getting anywhere talking like this. As far as I am concerned, the station is lost and I'd rather not stick in the company of Cerberus. So until we hit an escape shuttle, we work together. Got it?"

"...Yes Commander," Taylor gave a curt nod while Wilson offered a thumbs-up before limping over and taking one of the pistols from the LOKI.

"Jacob, where are the emergency hangers?" Naruto question checking his SMG.

"This way, come on."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Keeping their pace brisk but manageable with Wilson's limp, the trio soldiered through the station. Along the way, Naruto asked a few questions about what was used to bring him back. The former combat engineer did his best in explaining all the tech but received thousand-yard stares from both Naruto and Jacob.

"It just works and we'll leave it at that," Wilson grunted with a deadpan.

"Amazed a control chip wasn't put it in me."

Jacob gave an uneasy look along with Wilson; "Miranda wanted to, but the boss said no." The blond's old partner confessed.

Now that was caught Naruto by surprise; "Your boss said no?"

"The Illusive Man gave explicit instructions you were not be altered in any way. My guess is he wanted to show you weren't being forced to be in Cerberus." Wilson lamented.

Jacob nodded; "The boss is a complicated dude. REALLY complicated," the man stressed.

"Speaking of, Miranda's still MIA. She woke me up but after a while, she just went silent." Naruto hummed a little, wondering if she was dead by now.

Jacob turned to the blond and explained. "Broadcasting takes her further into D wing than we were, if it's still as messy as we left it she's in for a fight. But I wouldn't worry, she's a tough one. Biotic, combat effective, intelligent. She'd give me trouble, and I'm supposed to be top billing for the security team under her command."

With a scoff, the blading engineer opened the next door through. "I wouldn't call her invincible though. Maybe she made it, maybe she didn't, but we're not waiting to get the hell out of here any longer than we need to. The ice queen can be left behind for all I care."

"Ice Queen?" Oh, that was just lovely. Hopefully, though this Miranda was nothing like Lt. Commander Samui, Goddess is that woman a cold hard ass; "We will find out once getting to the escape hanger. Beggars can't be choosers Wilson."

"You might not think that after meeting her," the bald man droned but kept quiet as they continued.

Reaching an elevator the trio enters a junction connecting to the Escape hanger. This annoyingly was filled with a dozen LOKI mechs and one YMIR. Jacob was not kidding when he said those things had thick armor, and unlike the LOKI their hands were both weapons, with once looking like a missile launcher.

"Does the universe hate us or something?" Wilson muttered before they flew to find cover. "How the hell do we get around all these buckets of bots and not get turned to paste?" He whispered to both men.

A low groan came from Uzumaki; "Might not have a choice in the matter. How's our ammo?"

Jacob checked his small pack. "Three clips full, half being used. Don't think I can hit that thing with any heavier biotics after the endurance I pulled getting since the attack started."

"One spare, but my Omni-tool isn't military combat grade, I can't really sabotage their systems." Wilson started working to find alternative methods of getting them out.

As the team stayed in cover, they began thinking of options. Each having their own plans, each thinking independently given their situation. The recently restored Commander had five mags, so he slipped two and tossed them to Wilson with a call. "Get ready to blast... My own biotics are all over the place, I can maybe do some simple things like pushing special dark energy around in any directions, but nothing like a Singularity."

"So, that it? We sit here and wait till someone has something more powerful?" Looking to the blond, Jacob was wondering what was going through his head... and he started to look a little concerned given Naruto's eyes flashed in energy, and his stare was a mile long. He only saw that once, and last time it happened, things were chaos. "Hey, don't go getting any crazy ideas!"

"Already got one." Looking to the engineer, Naruto nodded. "Can you cause one of the ones near the big guy to emit its energy? Make it volatile?"

"And if I can?" Getting a grin back, Wilson was surprised. "Wait, you're not thinking of going in there are you?"

"Exactly..."

"Are you nuts!? You just got back on your feet!" Jacob hissed out

Wilson even looked wide-eyed; "Do you want to die again?!"

The blond shook his head; "Nope, but I'm flying off the seat of my pants right now. All I can do. Get ready."

"You're insane!... Geez, fine. But hold on. If you want one big virus, I'll have to overload my Omni-tool, it'll short out after so be ready. You got one shot..." Wilson grunted and started working on bringing out every last bit of power into creating the virus to do as needed.

Coming up to Naruto, Jacob was worried. "Think you can do this? We didn't bring you back just to get you killed again."

"Yeah... As much as I would like to get out alive, I'd rather save as many from this brutal attack as possible. When I get in there, you'll be biotic support. Hit the big guy with a Warp field the moment I call it, till then take out the small fry as best you can." Turning to Wilson, he asked the same thing. "You too, after you pop the tank of one so I can start my part of the plan, you hit the rest where it hurts."

"Just get ready. Man, my ass is going to get chewed so badly if I get out of here... Got it, now go!"

Getting out of cover, Wilson spotted the nearest LOKI next to the huge YMIR mech, and his Omni-tool sparked and broke apart after sending the surge of data through, causing him to recoil. Though it worked, as the Loki's body started to undulate and then spark with an overloaded core, it's body beeping in danger.

Seeing this happen, Naruto took a breath and ran in, and activated his biotic aura. After it happened twice, he knew some conditions for the new trick to happen, and thankfully he succeeded as he launched himself into the middle of the mass of LOKI mechs. Though he didn't slam into the mech he wanted to, so he improvised. As the growing strain continued to make his head pound in pain, he growled and spread his aura and generated as large a field of anti-gravity around him as he could, and unbelievably to the two with him, it lifted every mech, including the Ymir.

Thanking his luck that the mech was still twitching in overload, the blond shoved it against the Ymir, which was trying to turn its big rocket arm at him. "NOW!"

Neither was shooting, but Jacob snapped out of his stupor as he created a ball of energy and tossed it into the center of the red field of energy lifting the Mechs, several boxes, and even their cover slightly being in range. The Warp ball struck dead center, and as the energy core was leaking against a biotically lifted mech, the three energies collided and swirled together into a very high dense force that exploded with such ferocity that Naruto himself was thrown back and hit against the outer railing of the lower platform.

The explosion also happened to throw many of the other Mechs all around, half of them down to the lower levels of the station off the side of the bay's platforms, but the Ymir was still functional, as it slowly stood back up, electrical malfunction sparking across its wide-open chest. It rose it's rocket arm and fired at Naruto, missing form calibration errors in its code as the rocket flew up high and hit the ceiling.

As it aimed lower, Jacob quickly fired until his clip overheated into the chest of the thing, hoping to rupture the core. "Wilson, the Ymir! Take it out!"

Getting in on the action, Wilson fired his SMG and got several shots in but the core was heavily shielded. As the two fired, it managed to take its second shot, the rocket flying closer to Naruto, this time hitting off to the side. Grunting, Naruto grabbed his SMG and started firing as well, with the combined fire from their weapons, they finally took the Core's shielding down, and then the core itself sustained damage until popping like a firework and causing the Ymir to finally fall.

The LOKI mechs remaining were in several states of disrepair and malfunction, so it was just a matter of Wilson and Jacob coming to take them down fully. After they took the last one down they came to Naruto, and Jacob was fast to see the problem. "Shit, Naruto!" Running up and checking on the blond, he could see blood coming from the Commander's nose and eyes, his body twitching. "Biotic overload... Not good." Some of the openings to his chin they could see some of the cybernetics flashing red in an attempt to dissipate the neural backlash.

Limping over Wilson held the blond's head by the chin to look; "I need to get you looked over. Fuck..."

"Not going to keel over am I?"

"No but you seriously did some havoc to your body," Wilson reproached.

The blond shook his head freeing himself from the other man; "You can do that on the shuttle. Let's get going." He groaned as he began to stroll for the hanger.

"Stubborn as always," Jacob quipped before following with Wilson.

Entering the hallway to the hanger Wilson went to the controls; "Nearly there."

As soon as the door opened, it did so to a slightly battered but still very lively voluptuous woman with long jet black hair, her eyes turning to the engineer with a scowl as he was very surprised seeing her. "Miranda! I-" He never got to finish, as she was lightning quick to pull her pistol and shove it against his chest before pulling the trigger twice, blowing a hole straight through him through his back, causing him to drop dead.

"Thought I was dead? Not quite..." She stepped around his body as Jacob came around, going down to check on him.

Naruto had pulled his gun at her, though he was not exactly seeing fully straight at the moment. "What the hell are you doing?"

Not even fazed, and putting her pistol away as if she respected not to get shot, the woman looked his way. "My job."

"Wilson was one of us, you didn't have to shoot him, Miranda!" Though the darker-skinned soldier had a tone as if he almost suspected she had a reason why.

Turning to stare down at her right-hand security officer, Miranda frowned. "Of course I did. He betrayed us all."

Not personally knowing the guy, Naruto was not about to accept that. "And here we are with him dead, and no evidence. Could be wrong, you know. He got us here without shooting us in the back, what's saying he would do so when getting off the station?"

"And we could argue about it all day," Miranda reproached with impatience; "This station is compromised and we need to leave."

Jacob was quick to be at Naruto's side; "She does not do anything without a reason I can vouch for that."

However, the blond was silent keeping his SMG pointed at the lovely brunette who did not back down either "I want all of Wilson's files and other items brought to me once this place is cleared."

"And what exactly are you-" Miranda's words stopped once Naruto stepped forward with his face inches from her own.

"Not up for a debate," Naruto growled; "Am I clear?"

Jacob only looked wide-eyed as neither his old partner and current one glared at one another with neither flinching. "Understood Commander," The former Corsair heaved out a sigh from Miranda's word noting the icy tone.

'I should have stayed in bed,' Jacob mentally grumbled.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Climbing into one of the shuttles Jacob took the helm starting it up. Taking a seat from either side of the other Naruto and Miranda kept their glare at each other. Jacob was just happy the Uzumaki had lowered his gun at the woman. But saying the atmosphere wasn't tense would be the biggest load of bull ever.

Knowing full well the situation he was in, Naruto tried to ease the tension just a little bit. Though he was not happy with Miranda's actions, he couldn't blame her for them. 'Cerberus ties up loose ends, period. Standard protocol. Whether she did it on her own or was ordered, it's just how it is. Might as well keep the bridge for now…' A sigh came from him as he tapped his foot on the floor. "I'm assuming we're not heading to Alliance controlled space? If we're hitting a Cerberus facility, at least tell me what we'll be doing there."

"You know we're Cerberus, which tells me Jacob couldn't keep his mouth shut about it." Miranda crossed her arms and legs as she sat back in her seat. "Ahhh, Jacob..."

Hands up in defense, Jacob shook his head. "Hey, I said nothing about Cerberus. Even if he didn't already know, I'll admit I'd have told him straight. But he knew the moment he came to. You forget he was a Corsair in training too."

Pulling on his outfit to emphasize the symbol, the blond biotic scoffed. "Dead giveaway."

Deciding to speak for his side of the lane, the Cerberus soldier took a breath. "You're right, though. We're heading to one of our transitional bases, where we get our orders and our gear prepared before heading out. Whilst we're there, we'll be gearing up for our next mission, while you will be given a small variety of gear to choose before you talk with The Illusive Man himself."

"Wait..." That got his attention real quick. "I'm talking to the big boss of Cerberus himself? He'll be there?" Naruto had several scenarios in his head, wondering what traps and tricks were attached.

Though the focused stare of the woman with them was still on him without fail, she could see he was having some thoughts, though she could only guess what they were. "The Illusive Man brought you back to life, taking two years and billions of credits. The Lazarus project was my life the entire time it began, he wanted you back on your feet, restored as if reversing what happened to you entirely. He wouldn't attempt to kill you now, and you should know we always take steps in case of... clever ideas from potential hostilities. He's not going to be seeing you in person, it'll be through long-range transmissions."

Sighing, Naruto could only slump forward and shrug. 'Well, eases my mind a minute, but I would have liked to punch the guy in the face at least.'

"But before you see him, I want to run a few questions by you. We need to be sure we've succeeded before presenting you to the Illusive Man."

"Miranda, you spent years on this project. His memory, and fighting abilities, are all intact and I can vouch for them. He remembers our time on the missions we had, he has his unique red aura of biotics, and he's still a reckless badass taking out more than any one of us could chew off alone. He's good, I don't think a Quiz is going to prove anything else than success so why bother?"

Miranda glanced to the former Corsair; "That sure eh?"

"Commander," Jacob always was respectful; "Our first mission."

"Hades Gamma," The blond grunted; "Didn't Admiral Hackett call the mission routine?"

A loud snort came from the former Alliance soldier; "If you call getting into a firefight with a fully armed to the teeth Batarian slaver group 'routine'. I distinctly recall Private Jackson yelling-"

"WE ARE SO FUBAR!" Both men chorused before breaking into a laugh.

"Hmm," Buxom Brunette cocked a brow as the two men settled down; "Well it seems your mind is in working order." She got up from her seat coming over to Naruto's side. Her eyes focused on the minor faint glow of the cybernetics on his face and neck. She also saw the dried bloodstains on the man's eyes and mouth; "Why were you bleeding?"

"Overuse of my Biotics, which are running a bit wild on me."

"...How? You're the first human natural biotic," Genuine confusion glowed from her face.

Her question was met with a shrug; "Your guess is as good as mine."

"His biotics are all over the place. A side effect of being dead?" Jacob inquired.

Miranda tapped her chin; "I... don't know. We can check once we reach the station. Rather not try here and end up blowing the shuttle in half."

Even the blond could agree with that idea.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Naruto was not even sure where they were exactly, but gazing out through the window he saw an utterly massive space station orbiting in the darkness of space. Jacob heaved out a sigh; "We can rest up, get your gear up and running Commander. Was able to call in a favor and get something I'd know you'd love."

"Hopefully better than this," Naruto held up his SMG; "The recoil on this is atrocious."

"First model Shuriken, was top of the line a year ago as a fully functioning SMG, that was until others came along to improve on the design. Some modifications and that thing will sing, but the base model isn't getting you anywhere." Jacob hummed in thought. "Think ERCS has a model up, will check into it."

It did not take long to dock in and get through the small security room. Following the Cerberus duo through, Miranda got him into the small clinical area to check on him. Activating her Omni-tool she ran a diagnostic. Getting some towels to wipe the blood off his face, Naruto groaned from the stress headache. "Tell it to me straight, how bad?" He suspected he was not going to be using his biotic prowess very much for the time being.

After several moments of silence, the scientific mind of the woman put two and two together. "Your system is in total overload. I'm not sure what you know about cybernetics and biomechanical surgery, but to put it simply your showing signs of distorted neurological functions. The cause of which is still unknown, but your implants are saying your feedback has increased exponentially. Seems to me the revival process has been a double-edged sword for you." Clicking her tool off, she crossed her arms, shifting her stance. "Your biotics seem to be even more powerful than we'd imagined. The implants we've fixed you with are there to supplement your recovery, we made sure they could handle L4 biotic potential, even Asari commando level power. They seem to be strained as if you have at least three times the power of their maximum limits. Thankfully, they are designed to adapt with the user, so as you continue to use your biotics they will repair your system to use them at full power. Problem is, you're so powerful they cannot keep up, so I suggest using your biotic powers at a minimum until you've fully recovered."

"Great..." The blond grumbled in disappointment. That would limit his options from now on, and right now his best option was his combat training with actual firearms.

"With your N7 regiment, Spectre, Asari Commando, and Basic Justicar training I'd say you are well off," Miranda shrugged pausing for a moment; "Exactly how were you able to even get the last one? That always got me curious."

"...A commission sent by the Asari trainer I had. Turns out it was my Biotics that were just too wild back then. Justicar basics helped me get control."

Miranda walked backed so the tall blond could get up; "That could not have been easy."

"It's not. There is a reason only so few Asari become Justicars, and fewer survive. How I survived the basics was luck, all I can say on that. There is a reason Justicars are just as feared as Spectres."

The doors of the medical opened as Jacob strolled inside with one large case in one hand, a smaller one in the other; "My connection pulled through, got your new armor and weapons." The man grinned; "Oh, and you will love these."

Opening the smaller case, Naruto saw his armor. Jet black and orange accents, it looked like an advanced version of the old Colossus armor from the prototypes they received. Fitting it on, Jacob explained. "Kestrel , lighter than the older model but with enhanced shielding capabilities, interfaces with biotic amps for barriers instead if the wearer desires. The helmet has the latest targeting UI and connectivity through Omni-tools to see through a sniper scope. Should be a good fit for your abilities.

Getting the entire thing on his body was quick, and looking at the rather strange helmet, the blond could only wonder if he should even wear it, not being one for helmets usually. "Well, it's pretty fitting so far. Not a fan of the helmet design but its functionality might be useful later." Checking his new Omni-tool, he noticed it had a higher bandwidth processing unit and enough memory to multi-task twice what he was used to. "Guessing they made some leaps and bounds with combat grade tools. Good to know."

Putting the larger case up, the equipment specialist clipped the locks open. "And for your selection of weapons..." As the case opened, Jacob smirked. Grabbing the first item, he presented them one by one. "Your standard side-arm. Just in case you find the SMG a little on the weaker side. Alliance issue Phalanx, light, and packed with some power. Managed to grab a shipment a few months back." Seeing Naruto check it out, he chuckled. "We've loaded it with something that can beat out armored opponents."

The blond nodded in approval before Jacob handed over another pistol but much sleeker and longer. "M-9 Tempest, top of the line from Elanus Risk Control Services. Fires in bursts, recoil in better than the Shuriken. Don't try using it for long-range though. Not the best for heavy armor or shields." The man thumbs over to Miranda; "Her favorite gun of choice."

"Liking what I see partner," Naruto grinned before his keen eyes spied something very nice in the case. "New Sniper rifle."

"Rosenkov Materials M-97 Viper."

Knowing his way around Snipers, the Commander picked it up and gave it a once over, full check of every moving part. "Light, but sturdy. Not a flex on the thing. Sights are scaling which is a great feature, and it's got itself a quick-eject modification. Don't see those on many rifles."

With a nod of agreement, Jacob continued the run down for specs. "Low recoil, high rate of fire with no timed trigger whatsoever, and it'll fire about a dozen rounds before the clip starts smoking from the overheat. Folds in itself very well, small footprint when it's holstered. The same model's been released for marksmen for over a year with improved parts and services over time, it's been the go-to rifle for snipers."

The grin was wide on Naruto's face, collapsing it and putting it on his back. The final weapon was a little bigger than the rest, by a good amount. As it unfolded, and the round piece in the middle slipped up, the large gun was a surprise to the Commander. "This isn't your standard-issue weapon... Unless I missed more than usual."

That had Miranda explaining. "Two years, Uzumaki. As more and more weapon systems gained a higher degree of defense systems, such as heavier plated armor or generator-powered shields, the need for heavier firepower in the hands of soldiers was growing. Now there's always at least one Heavy Weapons user in a squad."

"This means, you'll need to get used to this thing. Standard issue M-100 Grenade Launcher. If you're not comfortable with it, you can always ditch it and ask me to carry it, but I'd like it if you gave it a try." Jacob was smiling, knowing that the spiky-haired individual would find it an enjoyable experience. "If nothing else, you might need the training under your belt for later."

The blond paused before shrugged; "What the hell, why not." Jacob chuckled as Naruto placed it on his back as it collapsed into a reserved state.

Not long after the doors of the room opened with a man dressed in science gear walked in; "The Illusive Man would like to speak with Commander Uzumaki."

So came the time to meet the man himself, Naruto took in a deep breath before eyeing his old partner; "As I said, Boss is complicated."

Complicated...Right

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Following the scientist, the blond walked past a station then turned going down a long ramp; "Do I have to call him Sir or boss?" The condescending tone thick in his voice.

The man in front of him only shrugged; "I was told you may address him however you like." They stopped at the end of the ramp to a door that slid open; "Please enter."

Grunting, Naruto strolled inside a mildly dark room save for a dimly lit platform. Coming to the platform he soon stands on it, which seemed to trigger a scanner. Within moments the blond found himself standing in a large glass room with a view of a massive star outside. Inside at the room center were a dozen if not more monitors. In front of that sat a man Naruto has only ever heard about.

Lighting a cigarette the illusive man stared with cold glowing blues; "Commander Naruto Uzumaki." He spoke in a calm cool patient voice.

"I'd call you by your real name, but doubt many even know what that is anymore."

"You would be right," The boss of Cerberus faintly chuckled.

Thanks to the rather obnoxious lighting, Naruto could only really see some slight features on the side of the face, the fact he was smoking a cigarette, and the big item on curiosity's list was the glowing freaking eyes. He'd have to ask about that later. Right now, Naruto was not in the mood to mince words. Cerberus knew him, they would know he's not happy about this. "After all these years, the attempt on my life from way back on Akuze, the experiments you put my old squadmates, Toombs, though, killing an Admiral... And so much more. If I had my way I'd ask them to nuke this station if it meant you were here."

"And yet, I know that mindset very well and enough so to keep our distance. Seems you're memories are intact, that's good." Putting his half-finished smoke out, The Illusive Man kept his eyes on the blond. "Though, I'd like to mention the group you took down that murdered Kahoku went rogue. Their primary experiments were to understand the differences between many dangerous subjects to find resistances to their unique biological attacks. This included Thresher Maws back during the Akuze incident, although your team was not the target. It was the Batarians, but the Alliance had arrived in the trap instead. If they'd have followed their orders, the Admiral would still be alive today."

"And believing you is plainly the epitome of stupidity." Crossing his arms, Naruto was not happy about this. And nothing he said would do anything for his advantage. Sadly, his cards were rigged to lose before his eyes even opened. "Cut to the chase, what the hell is going on, and why did you revive me?"

"Cerberus isn't as evil as you believe, we just do things very differently. Where the Alliance will waste soldiers on small missions that don't amount to much in our favor, Cerberus will only sacrifice its resources when it's worthwhile for all of Humanity. That includes bringing you back from the dead. Not an easy task, mind you. And the reason we did this, was because you are unique in ways that benefit humanity as a whole. You're the reason Sovereign was destroyed, and why the galaxy as we know it is safe from Reaper threats."

The man knew how to give a speech; "I won't say the Alliance is perfect. Hell, nothing is perfect. But they are doing what they can. Moreover, while I'm all in favor for humanity growing. It should be together with the other races. There so much we can learn from their experience."

"While I agree to some extent, humanity must find its own path just like Asari, Turians, and others had made for themselves."

Naruto tapped his foot; "Since we'd be here all day arguing morality. I'm guessing you brought me back because of the Reapers. Otherwise, you would have tried to reach out to someone else."

"Your correct, and while that option was open to us. They were not you. Not even your sister." The Illusive Man took a drag from his cigarette. "You rallied people of all walks of life in your effort to stop Saren and bring down Sovereign. You're more than a man, you are a symbol. And that kind of power could turn the tide for what's coming. Thus why I brought you back, knowing full well you would never agree with our methods. Yet I'm willing to give all my resources to you in stopping the Reapers. That alone we can agree on at least."

With a small scowl, the formerly dead commander could only agree as well. "I'm all for making sure that the Reaper threat is neutralized, that's a given. As much as I hate how the Council blasted me, I heard from Jacob, who knows if that was just a social tactic to keep panic down. Two years and nothing since? Even you have to admit we shouldn't keep the public worried for years on end." He decided to change the subject and not let this very strange man try to come back with any logic that he knew was just silver tongue attempts to persuade him. "But that's neither here nor there. You brought me back and now I'm here. What's been going on with the Reaper front since I died?"

Even if Naruto knew The Illusive man would try to persuade him, it didn't stop the glowing-eyed figure from trying. "Cutting to the chase, human colonies, and only human colonies, have gone missing. Now, usually, that does not cause for concern by normal means, especially in the Terminus. But about twenty colonies have vanished, up in smoke without a single trace of them leaving. Some scenes suggest that people were cooking their barbeques for summer and just up and ran out of the colony without even turning the fire off, and no there was no sign of any kind of panic or pandemonium where the entire colony ran out of there in a wild destructive sprint. It's as if they just turned into dust and flew away in the wind, not a single sign of any struggle or movement at all."

That took the blond by surprise. 'Alright, that is the weirdest shit I've heard so far... But why would it seem of little concern to everyone? I mean, Terminus of course but... There's more to this.' He had to ask. "Sovereign said that its goal was harvesting the galaxy, but a few small colonies going missing isn't exactly on the level he suggested here."

"You're thinking it's only four or five colonies with only a couple thousand people missing. There have been fifteen colonies, all with increasingly numerous people on them. The last count of missing colonists since the most recent one is in the hundreds of thousands, more than two hundred thousand colonists gone in the span of a year. I'd say that can define a harvest."

Naruto could only frown at that, but he couldn't exactly disagree, that was much larger in number in such a time. "That many gone, in that timespan, and only terminus human colonies… Much harder to wave off as random attacks."

The leader of Cerberus nodded; "I agree, what is going on is highly irregular but given these colonies are at the border or inside the Terminus Hardly much is being done."

"That can't be right. Even before dying, I heard all the human colonies were going to be getting major protection details."

Tapping a bit of ash from his cigarette into a tray the illusive man sighed; "Sadly that has been a touch and go process despite efforts from Admiral Hackett and councilor Anderson. Colonists at the border and inside the Terminus have remained resistant to Alliance help. While parts of the Alliance is dragging their feet on the matter."

Naruto dryly deadpanned; "I shouldn't be surprised should I?"

"I'll give Hackett and Anderson respect for pushing hard as they have for the effort. But sadly while this is happening."

"Colonies are disappearing..."

The Illusive man nodded; "And I have the latest colony for you, Miranda, and Jacob to inspect. Freedom's Progress, Everything went dark less than eight hours ago. The Alliance has not sent a patrol given this colony is based in the Terminus."

Sighing, Naruto knew he was going to go and check. He could tell the boss here knew him well enough, that proof was required. And it went both ways, Naruto needed the proof from The Illusive man if he was to believe anything the leader of Cerberus had to say, ever. "Ok then... We both know I'm going to see exactly what's going on, whether you were going to give the order or not. But let me make this perfectly clear, I don't answer to you. This is not you volunteering me just because you got me back on my feet. So if your very tight bodysuit wearing project lead there tries anything funny again, as she did with Wilson, I'm not going to be happy."

"I figured as much, and I won't push Commander."

Naruto gave a curt nod before leaving the platform ending the communication. Blowing out a plume of smoke, the Illusive Man faintly smirk; "Felt like I was talking with Kushina all over again."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Going out of the room and up the ramp, Naruto saw Jacob waiting for him; "So how'd it go?"

"Exactly like you said, that man is complicated," Naruto quipped back.

"Yeah, guessing he filled you on the next mission of Freedom's progress?"

"And then some... Look, I'm not with Cerberus, I don't trust them, and I will never trust them. But throughout your record and what I've known of you, honesty is the one thing everyone agrees on. So fuck your boss, but I do trust you." Looking over to where Miranda was getting ready, he groaned. "Her on the other hand..."

Knowing full well the Commander's issue, the former Corsair crossed his arms. "Miranda's a very strict case by case. She believes in her work and believes in working to make things better for everyone involved, but she's not about to let those who hate Cerberus get in the way, and will definitely kill someone for betrayals. Can't really say if Wilson deserved to be shot, but if Miranda believes he betrayed us in that station, then I'm not going to second guess her."

Giving a look to his old partner and then to Miranda who turned to face them; "A shuttle is prepped and ready to leave for the colony." Without another word, she left for the hanger.

"All business with her eh?"

Jacob grunted; "You got no idea."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Checking his new weapons and armor, Naruto sat in the shuttle with Miranda and Jacob who started up the engine and begun their way for Freedom's Progress.

The ride was long, and the silence was a little rough, so Naruto decided to try to make sure what was expected of them. "Alright, so who's in charge of this thing? Miranda? Because I'm not exactly happy about this arrangement. I think I made it clear I don't trust you." Giving the woman a dry stare, he could tell she didn't either. "But I'll play nice if we're there to make sure what the hell is going on."

"Actually, Commander, you're the one in charge. The Illusive man has put his trust in you, and we're here only to support you." Miranda said with a tone that strangely gave the impression she was completely indifferent about the arrangement, not against such it seemed.

Nodding, Jacob agreed as he leaned forward. "Four and change billion credits, over two years of putting your ass back together. It was expected you'd lead the charge, whether we were in your team or not. We didn't bring you back to tell you what to do. Much to Miranda's protest when the subject of that control chip came up."

Miranda's cold facade broke for a moment to glare over at the former Corsair; "You told him that?"

"He's my old partner, and I've always liked him. And Naruto alongside his sister Shepard are what's good for the Alliance."

Well, the blond was happy in hearing that Jacob did not leave his principles behind when joining these guys. But was still taken aback by one thing; "I was given full authority over this?"

"Yes," Lawson spoke evenly.

The surprise was short-lived as the pilot of the shuttle called in they were nearing the colony. Deciding to put on the commanding role, Naruto took a breath and spoke with the authority granted him. "Primary mission is the investigation, that includes finding any survivors. If there are none, and it's a ghost colony, then so be it. But we give it as much of a look for survivors as we can."

"That would be nice for a change, no survivors are ever reported."

"Though highly unlikely." The dark-haired woman crossed her legs and arms. "There was an anomaly at one point, Shepard once found an abandoned colony that had only a single person left on it. The incident wasn't connected at first, but taking into account everything else we know it might be the only report of a survivor at this time."

"Even if we find only one, it's better than there being no one." Miranda conceded with a shrug before the shuttle made landfall.

Night had settled over Freedom's Progress and greeted Naruto and company once the shuttle landed and exited the ship with weapons at the ready. Around them were a dozen buildings and equipment meant for agriculture. But present all was silence throughout the area. "I hate it when it's this quiet," Jacob muttered.

Activating her Omni-tool Miranda lightly frowned; "Everything is still in working order."

"Save the people who run it," Naruto quipped as they began moving out.

The colony was seemingly set up to take advantage of natural defenses and formations, as the tall thin mountains and hills were built through and upon, and the water system took from the nearby rivers and lakes. Though as they moved through one building, down into a courtyard, and through the first big door, Naruto did not feel at ease one bit. "These people were taken, vanished... When you said it was like in smoke, I didn't think it was going to be this bad. Food still on plates, it's very strange."

"So far, same MO, even from Alliance reports. Can't even imagine what they think is the reason why it's happening." That was the last thing to be said before they were caught with gunfire, and Naruto shoved Jacob to the ground and up against the nearby railing, Miranda followed suit on her own. "HOLD YOUR FIRE! WE'RE FRIENDLY!"

"These bots don't agree with you!" Naruto got a glimpse before they hit cover. "LOKI Mechs, I didn't see anything but them."

The trio kept their cover as the mechs kept firing; "These guys could not have turned on by themselves." Miranda deduced.

Naruto figured the same; "So there has to be least someone around here."

"Then let's start looking;" Jacob pupped his shotgun; "I'm am getting real tired of these tin cans."

Jumping from cover, Naruto reflexively sent out a warp field that hit against one of the mechs, thankfully it wasn't an excruciating process, but it did sting for a second to accomplish the task. As he grabbed his SMG, he noticed as Miranda activated her Omni-tool and managed to overload the mech's systems, the same one that was being altered by the Warp field, and the electrical discharge caused its core to vent and disrupt the biotic field and cause it to erupt in biotic power that sent its nearby allies to the ground, though it was not the usual explosive force.

Jacob could hear something, and as he turned to look around them, saw two mechs that were quadrupedal and running straight for them. "FENRIR Mechs! Watch out!" With his shotgun, he pulled one of the Mech dogs to him and blasted it to shrapnel as the other jumped for him. Getting ready for the hit, the Cerberus soldier braced for impact.

Never came, thanks to Miranda quickly causing a high gravity field to slam the thing into the ground, pinning it in place as she, and Naruto, both fire into it with their SMG's. As the FENRIR mech lay destroyed, Naruto was caught by a shot to the shoulder, but thanks to his Shields, opting to have his armor not pull from his biotic strain currently with barriers, he was unharmed. "Damn it, three left I think? We've got to get through them quicker!"

"Then how about using that launcher? It'll do the trick!" Jacob said as he blindly fired over the railing at the mechs. They were running out of time to take them down before they rounded the corners as the dog mechs did.

"Alright, but let's hope it won't destroy any of the buildings!" Swapping out to his new grenade launcher, the Commander rose and aimed, taking some shots to his shields as he got the shot just right and fired. The grenade had launched with force and impacted the mech in the middle of the group, and on impact, it blew up and took all three mechs out, and with minimal damage to the surrounding area.

Shock etched on the blond's face before staring back at the weapon in his hands; "Damn..."

Raising from his cover a whistle came from Jacob; "And that's how you clear the field." He pats the blond's back once coming over.

Walking over to a partially active destroyed LOKI Miranda scans the bot; "They were hacked. But can't find the source."

"Then we keep looking," Naruto addressed as the trio searched through the area and every building around them.

"Wonder what kind of defenses the Colony got, before the attack. Whoever hacked these things, they may have done so to every one of the defenses. This could be a problem." Leading through into the next building, Jacob could only wonder.

Exiting the building after the sweep, Naruto hummed and started down some steps, looking around them. "No clue, it seems rather light for the time being. Wouldn't protect against a raid from a Terminus criminal group yet."

It did not take long before they were met with a new force, this time five FENRIR at once, all charging and going to flank them. Again, the biotic powerhouse went for his abilities but thankfully stopped himself. Taking his launcher again, he fired and took out three of them in the middle, but the other two had flanked either side of him.

The skinsuit wearing fighter quickly sent a signal to sabotage the mech on the right side before lifting the thing in the air with her biotics and slamming it down instantly, busting the canine mech to be inoperable.

Shotgun in hand, Jacob continued the tried and true method so far, lifting and pulling the FENRIR in the air close by and then blasting it in the optics with a good blast of shrapnel. As it flew off and fell into the nearby water system, the team slowly walked to the next building. "Alright, so they've got mostly crowd control systems. But if this is their first line, I wonder if they've got anything bigger near their last."

"Likely need to save from using the launcher for whatever that will be." Naruto summarizes putting away his heavy weapon to his SMG.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Sweeping through several buildings with no signs of life save a few LOKI and FENRIR mechs which took good teamwork to bring them down. But the moral of the blond and his former partner grew grim with finding no one around. Miranda kept an overall indifference while she hacked some terminals but gaining nothing.

"The terminals were wiped?" The blond questioned as the trio hide out in a lounge building.

"Scrubbed clean. As if whoever did this made sure no one would find any evidence," Miranda paced with her arms crossed under her bust; "That's beyond being thorough."

"Seen a few professional assassins go to those lengths. The ghost of the Terminus comes to mind," Jacob spoke up checking his shotgun. "And we only ever learned the assassin was a woman who used only swords, unsurpassed martial skills, and damn powerful biotics."

Leaning against a wall Naruto tapped his foot; "We have to find something, and whoever is controlling these mechs."

Jacob got up from the seat he sat on rolling his neck; "Then let's keep moving, enough R&R." All agreed as they finally left the lounge.

As the doors behind them closed a ping came to Miranda's Omni-tool. Looking at it the brunette raised a brow; "I'm getting several living signatures in the building ahead."

"Survivors?" Jacob whispered

Naruto however kept a stern face; "Or some cleaners of whoever did this."

The team came in close, getting ready to open the door which was strangely locked, and unbelievably so with the kind of firewall Naruto's only ever seen one time. "We'll open the door, storm in. Keep your guns trained on them but no lethal damage unless fired upon got it? Whoever this is, maybe good." Finding the in, the blond grabbed his SMG and nodded to them.

As soon as the door was unlocked, they opened it and ran inside, guns out and ready. What they witnessed was a surprise, as five or so Quarians were gathered around a light, but four of them had their weapons out the moment the door came open and was training on the group as well. "Who are you?! What are you doing here?!"

"That's our question," Miranda demanded with weapon raised.

A female Quarians who was at a terminal sharply turned with a shotgun at the ready before nearly dropping it as her eyes stared in shock at the man leading the group of human; "Naruto?!"

In a flash, the commander recognized that voice anywhere; "Tali?" He motioned to Jacob and Miranda to lower their weapons. Tali was quick to follow suit order the other Quarians to do the same. She looked maybe an inch taller, and her Envirosuit looked new but overall the same style as her old one.

"I-is that really you?" Tali could barely hide the tremble in her voice.

"We went to the Armstrong Nebula find that giant Geth outpost. Did all the information we found help for your pilgrimage?"

At that, the savant engineer and hacker outright dropped her gun before walking over and embracing the human man in the tightest hug she could give. "You're alive," Her voice cracked.

The blond returned the hug with a grin; "I'm back..."

The scene was exceptionally surreal to everyone around, especially the other Quarians as one came up. "Wait, Tali, what's your Commander doing with Cerberus? Those two are clearly from their ranks!"

Giving a checking eye to the two with her former commander, she knew her one teammate was right, but she knew Naruto fully. There had to be a reason. "Then maybe ask, instead of making assumptions." Doing her best to collect herself, she stepped back from the blond but looked less tense. "What are you doing here, and with Cerberus at your back?"

They had faced against Cerberus cells together and knew everything that went on. Naruto looked back at them. "Cerberus was the ones who revived me. I'm not with them, more like they are sticking to me like glue since they got me on my feet." Turning back to her, he nodded. "You can trust me when I say things are extremely complicated and with a lot of string attached right now. But to answer the question on what we are here for? I'm here to see exactly what's going on with Human colonies out in the Terminus. Investigation and see exactly what is causing the strange disappearance of everyone without so much as a chair being flipped over."

Tali hummed, she knew Naruto would be worried about them, and knew very well Emily also was investigating them every so often. But she would withhold what she knew of his sister. He would no doubt find her soon enough. "Alright, that would make sense."

Seeing the other Quarians start to talk in whispers and hand signals, behind Tali's back, the Commander was worried. "What is your team talking about there?"

Picking up her gun Tali let out a sigh; "We're looking for a Quarian who was on his pilgrimage. Veetor'Nara, his last know communication was here at this colony. The people here were nice enough to let him stay and work on their equipment to bring back tech to the Flotilla."

Jacob came over to his old partner's side; "Maybe that's who hacked the security mechs?"

"Could be." Naruto thought for a moment; "What can you tell me about Veetor?"

At that one of the other Quarians spoke up; "And why should we tell Cerberus anything?"

"Prazza," Tali sharply turned to towards the man; "We are telling Commander Uzumaki, not Cerberus."

That only seemed to make the male Quarian scoff before walking off. "We don't need the help from the likes of them." That was all Prazza said before walking over to a terminal.

The blond glanced towards Jacob; "Anything happened between Cerberus and the Quarians while I was gone."

"Sadly yeah, we had gotten into a scuffle over some human girl with Biotics as nearly as powerful as yours."

News reached him at one point, the Ascension project's biotic division had claimed it had a young girl who had extremely powerful biotics with little to no feedback from the intense stress on the nervous system. Sounded a lot like... "Something Cerberus would definitely be after..." He turned to Miranda with a slight glare.

Quick to retort, the human woman crossed her arms. "We were trying to get her back before anyone got hurt. The attack on the Flotilla was not an ideal method, but it was necessary given the hostilities of entering their air space."

"Oh, so that's why a couple of Cerberus agents and an exiled traitor were attacking us? To save a human child that was trying to get away from the experiments your organization was doing on her? Such a misunderstanding then." The rolling of her eyes was almost visible as her head shook. "Regardless, this is neither the place nor time to discuss this. Prazza, we're going ahead. And we're going to let Naruto Uzumaki distract the remaining defenses. If you don't like that plan, then you can go wait by the shuttle."

The authority shown by the young Quarian woman was a bit surprising, as Naruto never knew her to take such a stance before. "Was going to suggest we handle the defenses. Maybe you can get Veetor to shut them down so we can just talk it out."

It was that Naruto noticed Tali tensed somewhat; "We will... Have to be careful with Veetor. He um, suffers from what your people, ah what was it again..."

"Not sure if it was Dementia or Schizophrenia," One of Tali's team spoke up.

Naruto and Jacob's eyes could not have gotten any wider; "Neither one is good." Jacob muttered.

"You let a mentally unstable Quarian wander through space," Even Miranda was shocked by that.

Tali was quick to rebuke; "He does take medication. And it has kept him functioning for years, but right now we don't know if he is off of them or not."

A long sigh escaped the blond's lips; "Then we need to be careful when confronting him. So as you said, we split up and cover more ground. And hopefully, find Veetor."

"Yes," Tali gave a nod; "I'll contact you if we find him first." She ordered her team to move out but looked back to the blond; "I'm glad you're back with us."

"Me too."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

"I'll need to find a way to contact some people who are not Cerberus who know what happened... And Miranda? If I find out that Cerberus took such an action against the Quarians, it'll just make me trust Cerberus even less." Probably knowing his words were on deaf ears, he chose to let that sit with them. "Trust is a two-way street, and they keep fucking it up by doing something bad and calling it for the greater good, or have some sort of fucking excuse. I'm getting really tired of it."

"Understood, Commander." The tone was calm but also weirdly non-aggressive. Not knowing her at all, Naruto would have almost suspected she heard something strange from the previous exchange. But their thoughts were interrupted

"We're moving through the buildings along the waterways, keeping out of sight. It seems Veetor's got drones patrolling the area ahead. We saw two heading your way." Looking up, they did notice one passing by the higher cliff, but it was fast and silent. "Be careful, they've got tougher shielding. You may need to sabotage the unit's protection battery."

"Got it Tali," Naruto spoke up on his comm. "We're likely getting closer to him now."

The trio kept their pace brisk. But soon got to cover at the sight of several drones and LOKI mechs patrolling the area. Annoyingly the area was crowded with no a lot of ground to use for them. "We might have to play this by ear," Jacob commented.

"Agreed," The blond gave a nod; "Think we can pull that trick we did back on Hades Gamma?"

The former Alliance man gave a wide-eyed look; "Serious?"

"Worth a shot."

Miranda's brow cocked; "Care to fill me in?"

"Better to show you," Naruto smirked and got to work on his Omni-tool. It had been a while since he hacked anything, though to his mind it was barely a year since his last attempt. And this new model was three times more powerful. Using all his previous skills, the blond got the program into his system and aimed for a drone. "Get ready."

In an instant, he sent the virus to take control of the Drone on the upper cliff, and for a brief moment, it went rigid and twitched irregularly. Putting in the commands, the blond's grin almost turned feral feline as the drone whirred and launched itself up high, circling as it rained down powerful blasts against the LOKI mechs.

The hostility protocols from the mechs down below were slow to catch on, but when they did they fired up at the drone, and the two others started to give it chase. The firefight was fierce in the air as the controlled drone swooped down and blasted two LOKI mechs through with its powerful energy blast.

The attack continued, with the Drone under Naruto's control was losing its shields rapidly, but managed to take down half the ground force before the protection went away and the other drones were starting to damage it heavily. With a second command, the controlled drone suddenly swept around and in a kamikaze move slammed right into one of the enemy drones, and with an overheated energy source, it exploded and took the drone out.

With that finished, Naruto got his Sniper. "Miranda, care to take the shields off the final drone? Jacob, you get in closer. I will keep you covered."

"Roger that." Buffing his barriers, Jacob went down to the chaos below and lifted a mech into the air. Getting behind cover, he took fire and with three shots managed to rip the LOKI in the air with shrapnel.

Taking her orders seriously, the impressively dressed woman took Tali's advice, sabotaging it's shield systems with a frequency signal overload. As its shields went down, as it dived for Jacob, Naruto fired and blasted its core in a single shot, causing it to just fall and crash to the side. Thanks to the Sniper's impressive recoil control, Naruto was able to then aim down and take a shot to another mech's head, again making a clean kill.

As the field was getting thinner, the forward charging soldier reloaded his shotgun with a fresh thermal clip and ran in, punching the nearing Loki in the face. As it fell, he jumped and stomped its head under his heel to get closer to the next mech, and fired into its chest to send it flying back, it's systems failing. Turning to the last one, Jacob got ready to fire before it suddenly had an internal explosion, and looked up to see that Miranda's tool was lit up. She had overloaded its core and caused it to burst.

Gazing at her Omni-tool Miranda gave a nod to both men it was clear. Slowly the trio rose and walked through the path where now the destroyed mech lay. Moving on Naruto's comm blazed up hearing Tali swearing in Khelish; "Bosh'tet! Prazza is ignoring orders and going off ahead!"

The resounding sound of missiles and heavy explosions caught their attention.

"They are getting slaughter by an Ymir mech!" Tali cried out.

In a flash, Naruto dashed towards the gunfire with Jacob and Miranda at his tail.

Thankfully, after the huge fight with nearly every mech left, their path was clear coming to the door. With hand gestures to point the two behind him to flank the door and get ready to go in, he started hacking into the door to open it up. Tali came back on the comms. "You get ready, I'll handle the door."

"Leaving it to you then, Tali." He grabbed his Sniper and got ready to fire.

As Jacob and Miranda flanked the door, they got their weapons out and were ready to fight. Seeing this from her position, she got the door open in a hurry and ran to get a nearby building ready for emergency medical treatment, knowing the YMIR would almost certainly deal a number on her team.

The doors opened and the team ran in and closed the door behind them. They saw the Quarians running around, trying to dash in and out of cover and buildings as they were chased by the giant mech. It fired a rocket and blew two of the Quarians down. One of them was helped up as the other was left to get up on their own.

Seeing the Mech come up, Naruto quickly fired two shots in quick succession at the things head unit. The thing had its shields up, and the shots pinged right off. It got its attention though, giving Tali the chance to rush into the fray and grab her teammate, dragging them behind cover before the YMIR mech could catch her.

Another shot was deflected by the shields of the confused YMIR mech. "HEY! Over here, you bastard!" Seeing the Quarians were gone, the mech started stomping its way towards the human group and revved it's chain gun to start firing at the blonde that attacked it.

Naruto got behind some cover quickly, grabbing a hold of his pistol and SMG. "Alright, its shields should be getting low, hammer it the moment you got a shot, and aim for its optics. If we cut off its sight, I can get in and try to disable the thing."

Miranda gave a nod along with Jacob.

Over with Tali, she worked quickly trying to save her wounded teammate; "S-sorry Tali-"

"Shut up, you're not dying today!" The young woman declared tending to the wound before looking up. Her teammate was still, the chest no longer moving. Grief claimed her for a moment till rage flooded her being; "Kill that thing Naruto!"

"ON IT!" He had to yell as a rocket blew up near the door, having missed the cover he was behind. As soon as it had fired, he turned and fired into the thing with his SMG and pistol, on his mark of doing so he was aided by Miranda and Jacob taking their weapons and turning it on the thing.

Thanks to his shots earlier, the shields were indeed weakened, and the constant fire finally broke through. The shields being downed gave the team their chance. Or so they thought, as they concentrated fire at the optics to find it was ineffective. It was still walking closer to them and revved its Chain gun again.

Seeing this, Naruto ran and pushed Miranda out of the way, causing the rapid-fire weapon to miss its mark as he got her up and she ran for the next cover. Having dropped his pistol, Naruto just dropped his SMG and quickly grabbed his grenade launcher. "Fine, TAKE THIS!"

As the grenade was launched, the YMIR mech turned its body to aim the rocket at him, but Naruto's explosive hit its mark, exploding right at the top of the chest, blasting into the things head unit. The armor of the Mech was almost unscathed besides the burning around the impact, but the explosive force managed to break the bulletproof glass that was covering the optic sensors, and the top of the chest was blown off by a decent chunk.

Seeing this chance, Jacob fired the remaining 3 shots he had before his pistol overheated into the eyes, the red lights turning out and static discharge covered the front of the head unit as it started to shift and look everywhere. With its sensors gone, Naruto got his chance, finally.

Racing in and getting behind the giant mech, the Commander jumped and climbed up onto the things back. He found the access hatch for maintenance and opened it up. Activating his Omni-tool, he activated the arm blade and shoved the thing into the systems, twisting and sending a harsh electrical discharge through the entire things systems. This caused the YMIR to suddenly jerk and twist around in malfunction before the circuits finally overloaded and it fell limp, dropping on its front.

Smoke was billowing from its back as the blonde combatant was coughing a storm and getting out of the way. "That should do it..."

Raising from her cover Tali numbly came over to Naruto resting her head on his chest; "Those three are dead… Why didn't they listen..."

The blond wrapped one arm around his Quarian friend who shuttered in grief. Peering over to Miranda who came close he saw the woman work on her Omni-tool; "Got a life signature in that building." She points to a security building.

The remaining Quarians who had stayed with Tali were quick to her side offering their own comfort.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Walking up the steel platform and reaching the door, Lawson made a simple hack that opened the door. Inside was a dimly lit room save only a red security light glowing on the wall. In the room center was a lone Quarian sitting on a chair gazing at a slew of monitors while typing on a console.

"The monsters...They'll come... The monsters will come back, they will. Mechs will keep me safe, safe, safe, safe." The Quarian faintly rocked as he muttered to himself. "They won't take me. No, no, no, no, no, no...Swarm won't find me. I'll be safe. I'll be safe..."

Jacob leaned over beside Naruto and Tali; "I think he's off his meds."

Ignoring the Cerberus agent, Tali walked over; "Veetor," She spoke softly once standing at the side of the chair; "Veetor, it's me Tali."

Almost robotically Veetor glanced to the woman; "Tali?" He shook his head before looking back at the monitors; "No, an illusion. Tali wouldn't be here. Only I'm here, only me..."

Deciding to show that the illusion was not what he was seeing, Naruto decided to quickly deactivate the monitors with a wave of his Omni-tool. This had Veetor looking at them erratically for a second. "Giving a nod to Tali, Naruto put a hand on his shoulder. "She's here, Veetor, she and others came here to see if you were ok."

He turned to him and stood slowly. Looking at everyone inside the place, he was still unsure of what was going on. "But how... How didn't the swarms find you? The monsters took everyone away..."

"What monsters?" Jacob questioned gently.

However, Veetor spoke in ramblings; "The monsters... The monsters were here, took everyone but me. Everybody was screaming, then came the swarms, swarms, swarms... Everyone went quiet and taken away." He swiftly went to his Omni-tool; "Record, recorded, recorded it all..."

In a flash, one monitor came to life. Horror etched on the faces of the groups as they saw every human attacked by a massive swarm of bug-like creatures. The image flicked before they next saw bipedal insect beings gathering up the people.

Recognition shone in Miranda's eyes; "Collectors..."

As the videos played, Naruto couldn't believe it. He knew of them, anyone who did work in the Terminus usually had rumors or stories to tell, but not once had the Commander lay his eyes on one before, so when Miranda was able to tell, he was quick to question. "That's a Collector? That is what the weird slave traders of the Terminus are? The ones with the homeworld beyond the Relay of doom?"

"The very ones." Jacob couldn't believe it himself, but he turned to Naruto to clarify. "They started getting much more aggressive in black market deals and back-alley trades. What used to be random genetic anomalies amongst several of the species in space, turned into a strange focus on humans. They still take the occasional Salarian or Krogan, but they've done more deals with human transactions than not ever since you died."

As the footage rolled further and further, Naruto noticed some very strange things. "It seems that everyone is just... frozen, they aren't moving even when the Collectors are grabbing them. So that's why nothing ever seems out of place, but how?"

Veetor knew the answer, and he spoke up. "Seeker Swarms. They find you, sting you... They... They freeze you, stop you from running away. It was horrible, everyone just... they just never stood a chance. They take you away when you're frozen."

Naruto glanced over to Jacob; "Make of a copy of that feed."

"You got it, Commander."

The blond turned back to Veetor who was still shaking; "Tali, get him home. He's had enough of this nightmare." By the look on Miranda, she wanted to protest but kept quiet.

Tali gave a nod as she told the others to take Veetor back to their ship. Turning back to the blond she gestured for him to follow. Doing so they came back outside the building. "Thank you." She muttered as they watched Veetor being taken by the remaining Quarian team. "I doubt those other two would have allowed us to even take Veetor back with us."

"Miranda most likely. Jacob... He was Alliance and my old partner once upon a time. And so far he's been completely honest with me."

The Quarian tech wizard turned back to the human soldier; "Once upon a time, but now he's with Cerberus, don't take anything they have to face value."

"You know I won't," Naruto remarked leaning against the railing; "Now what will you do?"

"Take Veetor home. Then prepare for another mission to the Dholen System. We have gotten strange activity over its Sun."

Naruto gave a nod; "Part of me wants to ask you to join us, but know what you're doing takes priority. Especially taking care of Veetor."

"I would happily join you in a heartbeat, but you're right. I need to get to this mission and Veetor." Tali reached over and clasped her hand with the blond's; "Please be careful out of there, don't think I could take it if you died again. And don't trust Cerberus."

Naruto gently squeezed her hand back; "Don't plan on dying again anytime soon. Drop a message whenever you can."

Garnering a nod Tali quickly turned and jogged back to her remaining crew.

As they left to their ship, his Cerberus teammates came out. Miranda was not exactly happy about the outcome. "We could have gotten more information from Veetor before they left."

"We have what we need." Turning to her, he glared. "Tell me, what would it look like? Cerberus takes someone mentally unstable after a horrific event happened to them, and interrogates them when their own people are trying to help them? Seems to me you're not thinking about how others see your actions until the deed is done. And you wonder why others don't trust you guys at all." Crossing his arms, he continued. "The mission given was to investigate the colony and find out what happened. We've done that, and have a video feed of exactly that. Mission completed, so what business do we have taking away a Quarian from his people when he's in need of medical attention? None."

Leaning against the door of the building Jacob crossed his arms; "I agree with Uzumaki, Veetor told us enough of what he could. Now he needs healing. I doubt our guys would be that kind."

Miranda glared back at the man and could tell she was outvoted in this; "Fine, we got the video feed and information on what we're dealing with."

"We need to head back and tell your boss I'd gather?" Naruto quipped

Jacob gave a nod; "Yeah, let's get out of here."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX ~ xx ~ XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Godo: Merry Christmas all! Been a hell of a year but I hope this story has kept your spirits up! And now, we get into the meaty bits of the actual game! Some of you, I know, have been less than pleased with 4 chapters of intermediary stuff. But it was all for a purpose! Enjoy!

Arch: Happy Yule to all. Hope you enjoy. Stay safe and be careful!