Chapter 7: Dungeon Bypass.
Five brave heroes stood in a semi-circle, squaring off against a massively hulking, rock-armored monster in a suspiciously quarry-like battleground. A pink-clad figure in the front pointed a bow at the creature, an arrow of energy materializing. "What you did to Black Phoenix was unforgivable, Granidar, but he will rise from the ashes, and you haven't broken our spirit!" She yelled, the other four warriors around her nodding in agreement. "Now get ready because we're taking you down!"
"What… are you watching?" Labrys yelped as the rather confused voice came from behind her, looking up from the datapad she was holding in her hand as Garrus looked over her shoulder. She was once again sitting on a crate in the cargo bay, which was her home for the foreseeable future. Especially while there was an alliance engineering team examining EDI's AI core from top to bottom one deck up.
"Anyone around here ever knock?" She demanded as the figures on the pad leapt into a highly choreographed, spark-filled battle.
"For some reason they never added doorbells to the cargo bays and the bulkhead's half a foot thick," He replied. "Also, no one knocks to enter storage spaces, it would look suspicious."
"Okay, point," She said, turning off the pad. "As for what that was, I'm searchin' for any leads I can find on a group I met, and someone from it apparently acted on the show. The pink one."
"That's… not nearly the strangest thing I've heard from you," The Turrian admitted.
"I've been watching the show for almost a week to track her down," The synthetic deadpanned. "Three seasons with 49 episodes each is…a lot, I can almost predict the cheesy speeches by now."
"I stand corrected," Garrus said, before dropping a sheet of paper with poorly written Japanese characters on the crate next to Labrys'.
The silver haired girl picked it up, turned it a couple of times and squinted. "Wow, his writing's… really terrible."
Garrus nodded. "So I've heard," He crossed his arms in front of his armored breastplate. "Any idea where he went?"
"Yeah, actually," Labrys replied, getting a startled glance from the alien. "But If I told you, you and the Spectre would probably make things worse."
The Turrian made a few, strange clicking sounds that her omnitool didn't seem willing to translate, before grating out, "Worse… how?"
"Potentially causing an intergalactic war if I understood it right." Labrys stated, tapping her datapad, turning it back on and closing the video. She then started swiping at the screen, navigating to something.
"What… How do you know this?" Garrus demanded.
Labrys held the pad up, where an ended video stream was shown. "Ranma's Citidel Tour, last streaming: 6.4 hours ago."
"He's… had that going for the last week?" Garrus asked faintly.
Labrys nodded. "Pretty sure he's… really… really bad with tech." She frowned slightly before she continued. "But if I had the ability, I probably would have gone too."
"Right," Garrus said. "Damn it, I knew the kid was impulsive but he seemed too street smart to fall for a sob story about the galaxy being in danger."
"The Reapers," Labrys returned immediately.
"I… wha… Alright, that's… Are you telling me you bought a story like that from a thief who was spying on us, too?"
Labrys shrugged expansively. "I mean, Yuuno went with him too, which…now that I think about it, woulda been a better argument before I learned he stayed up for three days straight because he had to read the whole Citadel Library."
"Sounds about right," Garrus muttered. "So, where were they headed?"
"Can't remember," The Anti-Shadow Weapon responded, instantly.
"Labrys…" Garrus said, slowly and skeptically.
"Look, it's hard ta remember the specifics when I've been marathoning this brain dead show." Labrys said, before switching back to the video window in her datapad, finger pointing at the brightly colored suits and smoke.
Garrus brought three claws up to rub at his crest just above his monocled eye. "...Why," He muttered quietly to himself.
HR.
A flashlight swept from left to right in the dimly lit hall as an armored figure slowly made his rounds, reaching an intersection and tapping on the side of his helmet. "Area 3-B clear," He reported for the tenth time this afternoon, going through a mind-numbingly repetitive patrol that only didn't drive him crazy from boredom because he was well used to it. Whoever claimed the mercenary life was exciting owed him a pretty big apology.
He turned on one foot, ready to start down the next hall, when something brushed just on the edge of his hearing. He was half-way through reaching up for his headset to report an anomaly when his head rocked to the side, and he heard a rapid fire staccato of cracks as if someone was firing an assault-rifle by his ear. "The… hell?" He mumbled as his helmet cracked open from the comm unit out, falling away just in time for him to see a fist racing at his face.
"You done?" Ranma gently lowered the guard to the floor as the stealthy figure rippled into view next to him.
"Hey, I wouldn'ta almost gotten caught if this armor you gave me hadn't squeaked," He mumbled. A small tan Ferret poked its head from where it was curled up around his neck.
"Another patrol will be coming through here in fifteen minutes, we have to keep moving," It said.
"I'm… never going to get used to that talking animal mascot act," Kasumi muttered. "How does one conserve the mass on shapeshifting like that?"
"It's magic, which does what it wants." Ranma noted. "And given he's some kinda wizard, he can do whatever he wants."
"I… I mean, there is actually an explanation, but it would take half an hour, a whiteboard, and a basic understanding of the workings of a Linker Core to explain, so…" Yuuno said a little sheepishly.
"Or we can leave it a mystery because magic is bullshit and doesn't need explaining or make sense." The martial artist said, sidling up to the next intersection.
"You… are the least curious person I've ever met," Yuuno grumbled.
"Messing with magic has only made my life harder. I've learned to avoid it when I can." Ranma said bitterly.
"You know that energy you use to augment yourself is raw magic, right?" The ferret stated, only for Ranma to turn his head sharply to glare at him, eyes narrowed to slits.
"Okay, Okay! Enough chitchat you two." The Phantom Thief said. "How much farther? This isn't the route I originally planned."
The ferret known as Yuuno narrowed his eyes. "We're coming into the vault through one of the maintenance areas, so, just a few corridors to go, we need to head east."
"...Right," The female thief mumbled. "I'll scout ahead." She then faded back into invisibility.
HR.
Kaname groaned and pulled the pillow over her face as the knock came at her door again. She was trying to relax and binge read the last five novels of a light novel series she'd been interested in, since she had nothing better to do, only to get interrupted every half-hour or so. As the knock came again, she flung the pillow across the room and rolled out of bed. "If this is…" She started, tapping the door control only to finish her sentence in a groan. "...Tomo."
The girl in question didn't seem to notice her bad mood, only holding up a datapad. "Hey, so, you were so good at the other stuff, could you…"
Kaname yanked the pad out of her hand. "If this is like that economics problem, I swear, compound interest isn't that hard a concept to grasp…" She trailed off as she got a look at the notation on the screen. Some of this looked like college level work, put together in combinations that she had trouble tracking. Calculations within calculations within a structure that almost looked like a low-level programming language. "What… is this?" She asked, faintly, a mild headache developing.
"Magic," Tomo chirped happily. "Yuuno said it is, anyway."
The teal haired girl opened and closed her mouth several times before shaking her head slowly. "I… don't even know where to start."
"Oh, that part's easy," Tomo returned. "Here, up at the top. You've gotta sort of focus on these patterns in a certain way, and it… tingles, a bit?" She trailed off at the end as if uncertain of her own words.
Kaname huffed and stepped back. "Come on in," She gestured the shorter girl forward. So much for that book. "So this whole thing bears some resemblance to Assembly, in a way. So, it might be best to start thinking about it like a program."
Tomo listened intently as Kaname, while still not terribly certain what the individual parts meant, began breaking down the structure. She was in the middle of trying to determine if a particularly dense section was some sort of array when there was a firm knock on the doorframe.
"Am I interrupting something?" Yomi asked, looking from her friend to Kaname with a confused expression.
"Oh, hey Yomi, Kaname's telling me about arrays and memory registers and stuff." Tomo waved, only to get a slowly raised eyebrow from her brown haired friend.
"I… uh… see?" The girl with the thin-rimmed glasses said, slowly. "Dropped the magic thing already, huh?"
"Nope!" Tomo said, holding the pad up victoriously. "Magic's secretly computer stuff."
"I… it's a bit more complicated than that, I'm pretty sure," Kaname said hesitantly.
"Right," Yomi shook her head. "Have you read those brochures yet?"
Tomo flopped down on Kaname's bed and waved a hand. "I'll get to it later, we've got plenty of time."
"Tomo," Yomi gritted, teeth clenched in frustration. "We don't have plenty of time if we want to be able to get assigned to the same spot. Especially since neither of us can send in our applications until you decide."
"What are you two thinking about?" Kaname interrupted Tomo's most likely response, seeing an argument brewing and not wanting it in her room. Besides, since she had no chance of taking advantage of them, she was a little curious about what opportunities the others had.
"A school on earth's offered us pretty good scholarships because we'd be a good source on Earth as it was 200 years ago," Yomi explained. "But I was also thinking of signing up with the Alliance military academy."
"Space marines!" Tomo pumped her fist.
"Operations, actually," Yomi returned with a long-suffering sigh. "I wasn't half-bad at it on the Normandy, according to Joker. But I want to go wherever Tomo's going, so I'm waiting for her to make up her mind."
"Hey, if you think that would be cool, you should do it," Tomo said, her expression strangely serious. She then immediately ruined it by adding "I'll train as a magical girl with Yuuno."
Yomi let out a short, huffing sigh, her head lowering until the light out the window glinted off of her glasses, and stalked forward, reaching up and grabbing Tomo by the shoulders, shaking her slightly. "Have you even asked him about this crazy idea, you idiot?" She growled. "This is serious, we're only going to get placement assistance once, and you need to figure out what you want. So, just read the da-" She cut herself off with visible effort, running a hand through her hair. And raising her head so the glasses cleared. "Look, just… ask Yuuno about that plan before you hitch yourself to it, alright?"
"Sure, I get it," Tomo said. "I mean, Yuuno already said he might train me if I get this figured out, but a fallback's important, I guess. Going back to Earth sounds pretty boring, though. I mean, we're on a space station… colony… thing. And you seem to like the Alliance idea, so let's do that. Space marines!"
"I'm starting to wonder if teaching you basic programming concepts is a good idea," Kaname said quietly, almost to herself, as she looked between the other two girls.
HR.
"Still trying to figure out how it works, huh Kennith?" The Scotsman looked over his shoulder as Gabby stood looking at his console, where a readout of what could barely be called a computer system was shown from several angles.
"Thing just ain't right," He grumbled. "I feel like a civilian starin' at a Mass Effect core. This is bloody magic."
"They aren't denying it," The other engineer responded. "We had one guy onboard who claimed to be an actual wizard, remember?" Kennith was about to reply to that when he heard one of the doors to the engine room slide open. Turning, he saw a slightly older man with a buzzcut, wearing a systems Alliance uniform stride in, his eyes flicking around the room. A moment later he made an approving grunt.
"Who in blazes are you?" The Scotsman demanded. "If yer with that computer crew you're in the wrong spot."
The Alliance man nodded at him. "Just transferred in from the SR-1. Greg Adams, new chief engineer." He looked around again, and let out a quiet whistle. "Care to show me around this monster?"
Ken glanced at Gabby. "Why are we the last ones to be told about this stuff?"
She gave him a pained look. "Did you not check your priority messages this morning? Or were you too busy being distracted by the magic synthetic?"
Ken gave her a slightly nervous look, before Adams chuckled. "Kaidan briefed me, not the strangest thing I've seen by a fair amount. Now, about this engine core. How did you manage to solve the instability issues when you scale a Tantalus style drive up to that size?"
Gabby winced. "We didn't. It's… a bit of a maintenance nightmare."
"Of course it is," The slightly older man said in a resigned tone. "Not surprised this is a Cerberus design."
"Oy!" Ken exclaimed, irritably.
HR.
Ranma and Yuuno, who was now back to human form and also wearing similar stealth armor to Ranma, kept careful watch as the phantom thief worked on hacking a truly massive door, one among many in the labyrinth of containers, shelving units and palettes that contained enough weapons to arm a small military.
"Next group in a minute and a half," Ranma reported, getting an annoyed grunt from Kasumi.
"Bastard's upgraded since the last facility," She mumbled out of the corner of her mouth before a set of three beeps came from her omni-tool and the door slowly slid open.
"That's… different," Yuuno said as the three walked into the room beyond, which appeared to be full of statues, artwork and other items, placed on individual displays rather than the orderly rows everywhere else. After some very quick hand gestures, the mage created a couple more balls of magic light to help analyze. "The amount of works here… a lot of this is very old, Human, Asari, and Turrian mostly. Including some artifacts I recognize." His eyes widened. "Wait, is that the Statue of… never mind. I really need to read up more on Earth's recent history…"
Ranma snapped his fingers in front of the younger boy's face. "Hey, focus, do you see anything that might be this Greybox thing?"
The mage's eyes unfocused for a moment, and he nodded. "I'm not sure exactly what we're looking for but the more technological stuff is over this way." Ranma fell in behind him as Kasumi vanished into her cloaking field. She seemed to do that as easily as breathing, and stay cloaked far longer than one of those fields was supposed to last, as far as the blonde boy knew.
"She does know both of us can still tell where she is, right?" Ranma asked.
"That's not a fair contest. We can both sense magic." Yuuno stated, not bothering to look up from his magic displays.
"It's not magic, it's…" Ranma trailed off. "Never mind." Sure enough, the contents of the vault soon gave way to more utilitarian devices, from guns to a few datapads, each probably taken as a trophy of some sort.
"Well, I found it," Kasumi said, materializing next to a Ranma who was completely unsurprised. "But you aren't going to like what comes next."
The two boys followed her gaze to a pedestal sitting in the center of the room, holding a small device with a jack on one end and what looked like an antenna on the other. "That's it?" Ranma asked, tilting his head. "How would you fit that thing in someone's skull without cuttin' out a chunk of brain?"
"It's a containment and access device," Kasumi clarified. "The actual Greybox is inside, but that's not the problem here. How it's placed, and some of the systems here, it's bait. Hock knew we were coming. If I so much as scan it an alarm's going off."
"And I imagine the pedestal is also rigged with an alarm, so if we take it the alarm will still go off." Yuuno followed up, raising a hand to his chin.
Ranma's eyes narrowed. "You knew this was gunna be set up like this, didn't you?"
The thief shrugged, unrepentant. "There's a reason I brought you, Zenigata. Do you think I couldn't get in here by myself? Getting out's the real issue."
Ranma winced. "This is startin' to remind me of my old man's schemes. So, grab it and run?"
Yuuno raised one hand as if to stop the action. "If the alarm will go off either way, then you should scan it to make sure we've got the right thing. If he knew we were coming he could have put out a fake."
Kasumi sighed and nodded. "I know how this guy thinks, so we should make some preparations first. Zeni, do that… vanishing… thing you do and hide by the door, Yuuno, could you set up one of those traps like the one you hit me with?"
It took only a few minutes to get set up, before Kasumi stood before the greybox, one hand shaking slightly. She brought up her Omni-tool and began a scan, the interior of the containment vessel appearing bit by bit even as the security systems around them went live. "I can't confirm the contents, but there's definitely a greybox in there," as if the words were a trigger, the audio alarms went off, and a holographic screen sprang up in front of the Greybox. A Mass Effect barrier tried to activate as well, but an EMP from her Omni-tool made quick work of that and she reached out to snatch the device.
"Ah, Kasumi Goto, how predictable, you-" He was interrupted by the thief activating her stealth field. "It's useless to hide, you know," He snarled, the door at the end of the room sliding open, and a group of eight men in heavy armor marching in. "Search the area, find her!"
The group fanned out, two members keeping watch on the door as the others made their way through the room, scanners active on their omnitools. Just as the leader reached where the Greybox had been held, chains of shimmering golden energy lashed up from the ground, binding him and several of those around him, before the door closed with a rather final sounding thunk and a sizzling sound.
HR.
The circular steel door opened with a hiss of hydraulics, and then closed a few seconds later. A moment after, the figure of a man started to shimmer into existence in a statickey haze, before the cloaking field failed completely and Ranma shook his head. "That still feels strange."
"Well, we've made it outside." Kasumi stated, also appearing standing next to Ranma, looking at the Omnitool on her left hand.
The martial artist took a quick look around at the landing area they'd arrived at, dozens of crates and waist high barricades scattered almost haphazardly along the platform. Said platform was sticking out from halfway up the side of a mountain. In the distance he could see the lights of civilization as well as quite a few giant skyscrapers. Or were those very tall exhaust towers? He couldn't really be sure.
"I know we scouted this place out before, but how…and why did he build it in a mountain?" Ranma asked
"I try not to question megalomaniacs," Kasumi returned. "Easier that way." As if in answer to her statement, the sound of engine turbines roared to life somewhere nearby, and a gunship, its external armor actually glowing from the power of its mass effect barriers, appeared from somewhere above.
"We could have done this the easy way, Goto," Hock's voice boomed from a loudspeaker on the craft. "Allow me to show you the hard way."
"I don't think we are going to get through that shield with just the small arms that we have." The ferret on Ranma's shoulder noted. "DUCK!"
Ranma was moving as he spoke, though the warning was useful for Kasumi as the gunship's main gun began peppering the platform with fire, tearing holes in some of the flimsier crates as the two armored figures dove for cover. Ranma popped up for a moment after he'd rolled to safety, emptying a couple of dozen shots into the ship, before wincing. "Yeah, don't think it even felt that," He grumbled. "I guess it's time for the Saotome Secret Technique."
"Oh," Kasumi's voice cooed in his ear. She'd already faded back into her cloak. "You going to blast it out of the air with a Kamehameha?"
"Am I… what? Don't be ridiculous," Ranma shot back, surprised. "You've watched way too much anime." After making this comment, the martial artist reached down, grabbing the crate he'd been hiding behind and with a spin, pitched the metal crate at the gunship. As the gunship's miniguns tore through the crate, Ranma charged across the platform, grabbed the still camouflaged Kasumi up into a princess carry and vaulted over the edge.
"Not again!" The thief yelled indignantly, as Ranma's feet came in contact with the steep mountainside, kicking up dust as he began running down it, juking and dodging out of the way of spindly trees and rocky outcrops.
"Uh, he's turning to follow," Yuuno called as he clung to the other boy's armored shoulder for dear life, actually lashing himself in place with one of his chains. A moment later, mass accelerator fire began kicking up its own plumes of dust nearby as Ranma began varying up his course more, springing between trees as he weaved and dodged.
"We could've planned this better!" Kasumi yelled as she shifted in Ranma's arms, tapping at her Omnitool before reaching down and removing a few small black objects from her belt, which she pitched off to either side almost at random. "When I give the signal, cloak! Both the suit and your spooky voodoo thing!"
"What's Voo-"
"Now!" There was a pulse and a sort of sizzling sound from all around them that made the martial artist's teeth ache, even as he tapped a button on the gauntlet of his armor, concentrating and manipulating his aura at the same time. Abruptly, all presence of the two running figures vanished, at the same time as a massive burst of electromagnetic noise flooded the area. Unaware of the specifics but getting the general idea, Ranma leapt off to one side, doing his best to pick footholds that wouldn't kick up too much dust as he moved on an angle from his original course.
The Gunship flew right over him as the nose jerked from side to side, the pilot clearly looking for a target, before a long burst of gunfire and a couple of missiles blew up a nearby tree. "Goto, where the hell have you run to?! I will find you!" An enraged voice yelled as the thieves sneaked away.
HR.
Half an hour later, in a small residential alleyway a few kilometers away, there was a soft sizzling sound as the vastly overtaxed cloaking field Kasumi had been manipulating finally blew and two figures, one carrying the other, shimmered into view. "Pretty sure he won't be finding us here, and even if he does, he won't be firing into a suburban neighbourhood," The thief said in a smugly pleased tone, before stretching a bit. "You know," She continued, "I could get used to this, it's surprisingly comfortable." She reached up half-jokingly to wrap her arms around Ranma's neck, only to find herself unceremoniously falling to the ground with a thud as the martial artist backed away.
"No." the martial artist said surprisingly firmly. The ferret leapt off of his shoulder, shimmering and growing back into a blonde boy in similar stealth armor.
"I haven't been able to find out much, but he had some… interesting girl trouble," He explained, apologetically.
Ranma snorted and muttered something about understatements, before Kasumi shrugged, stood and brushed herself off. She reached into a pouch at her waist, producing the small device the three of them had done all of this for. "Just a second, let me make sure Hock didn't pull a fast one," She started, plugging the greybox into a port on her armor's wrist. A holographic visor slid over eyes, and she stood looking into the middle-distance for a few moments, her expression shifting first to triumph, then darkening. The Visor slid away, and her eyes were watering slightly. "Yeah… This… This is it."
Ranma frowned in worry. "You alright?"
"Yeah." She cleared her throat, before removing the device and holding it in her hand, looking at it as she turned it in her fingers.
"So what do we do now?" The pigtailed martial artist asked. "If that thing's got the data in it, should we just smash it?"
"No!" The outburst was sharp and sudden, Kasumi holding the device closer to her chest before shaking her head. "S-sorry, I mean… it's got more than just the data on it. It contains Keiji's memories, messages from him… a lot."
"Oh," Ranma scratched the back of his head. "Sorry 'bout that." The three fell into an uncomfortable silence for a moment, before Yuuno spoke.
"We should probably keep moving in case Hock sends out search parties." The others nodded and headed out.
Ranma opened and closed his mouth a few times, finally blurting out "Thanks, this was… fun." The last word came out almost as if he were just realizing it, as he smiled genuinely at Kasumi.
"Fun, huh?" She asked as she slipped their prize into a pouch at her belt. "Never let it be said that I don't entertain!" She said smugly.
The dark haired boy shrugged. "Did something that's supposed ta' save the Systems Alliance, put some of the sketchier stuff Pop taught me to a good cause, and didn't shoot anyone. Long as you weren't bullshittin' us, 's a good day."
The girl in the hood grimaced and shook her head. "Glad you had a good time, but we got ridiculously lucky. Hock couldn't have predicted your grass-hopper leaping, or Yuuno's magical scanner or ferret trick. A heist going off this smoothly was rare, even when I was working with Keiji's intel."
"Oh, I know," Ranma agreed, flicking the datacard Kasumi had given him in one hand. "But lucky's not impossible."
Kasumi's lips twitched, and she let out a small chuckle. "Interesting attitude to have," She began. "Well, Zeni, Magic Kaito, feel like becoming my new partners in crime?"
"Who's Kaito…?" Yuuno began in a half-startled, half offended tone while glancing at Ranma, before raising a hand nervously, "Hey, wait a-"
"Don't worry about it," Ranma interrupted. "More tempted than I should probably admit," He started. "But nah. I've got a pretty huge bone to pick with Cerberus."
"I was fine with stealing this…greybox because it was important, but I don't plan on becoming a thief." The young mage stated, taking Ranma's advice.
"Besides," Ranma gestured at the pouch where she'd stored the greybox. "Think you've got some stuff to get over with your last partner."
The thief winced, eyes downcast for a moment. "... yeah," She started, before covering, "Yeah, picking a fight with a massive terrorist organization like Cerberus isn't on my 'to do' list." Shaking her head, she gestured at the entrance to the alley. "C'mon, let's get you guys out of that armor and on a shuttle back to the Citadel."
HR.
"Man, that shuttle had the least comfortable seats," Ranma whined as he stretched his arms over his head, the martial artist and the mage, walking out of a passenger arrivals gate at the Citadel. The blond next to him said nothing, silent as he had been since he zoned out on the shuttle ride, probably lost in reviewing his magic scanner stuff. "Hey, you ain't startin' on another single-minded research binge, are you?" The martial artist raised a hand, preparatory to knocking the shorter boy on the head if he didn't answer.
"What? I… oh, no," Yuuno shook his head. "No, I was just going over the…" He furtively looked around. "The results from Hock's compound. I found out some stuff…" He trailed off, but Ranma just waited, recognizing the look of someone trying to gather their thoughts.. He was surprised a moment later, however, when the younger boy blurted, "We could have been killed! That weapons platform Hock was flying… It had the largest Mass Effect core I've seen outside of the SR-2, and that mass accelerator cannon on the nose could have punched through all of our armor in less than a second of concentrated fire. That's not even talking about the high explosive warheads in the missiles, and-"
Ranma raised a hand, looking a bit confused. He understood panicking after a stressful situation, but Yuuno didn't really seem the type. "Yeah, but we got out of it," He cut the other boy off. "Kasumi and I moved before he could get a good shot."
The blond boy groaned in frustration. "Yeah, and I did nothing," He said after a moment of silence. Ranma was about to say something when he continued in an unusually harsh tone. "Just curled up on your shoulder when I could have thrown up a shield, at least, or teleported all of us out of there."
The thought had crossed Ranma's mind, honestly. The shield, not the teleportation, he had no idea Yuuno could do that, but he had no idea how the other boy's school worked, so he'd refrained from saying anything. "Okay," He said in his characteristically blunt fashion. "So, why didn't you? I mean, things turned out fine anyways, so I don't see it as a big deal."
The shorter boy looked around for a moment, and pulled the two off to a small rest area to the side of the loading area. When they were off the beaten path, he gestured a bit helplessly. "It's… kinda hard to explain," He started. "But magic, like the kind I use, it's… people aren't supposed to know about it. I've been using it pretty freely so far, because a lot of people were in danger, but I could get in a lot of trouble from…" He groaned and shook his head.
"So your magic's a secret style," Ranma filled in. "And you're mad because you held back, thinking things weren't a big deal and they turned out to be worse than you thought?" His tone at the end was very tentative.
"...Yeah, let's go with that," The mage said with an explosive sigh and a shrug of his shoulders. "That's not even getting into what Cerberus would do if they found out about some of what I can do."
Ranma crossed his arms, and tilted his head, thinking for a couple seconds. Then, his eyes narrowed slightly. "Teleport, you said? What's that about?"
"It's… one of my more complicated spells," Yuuno started slowly, obviously puzzled at the shift in the line of questioning. "It can take some time, depending on distance, but today I could have set up an anchor outside of Hock's place and moved us out right from the vault."
The martial artist's voice was resigned as he asked, "Could you have gotten Ryoga and the others off the Cerberus base back then?"
Yuuno's eyes widened and his face went pale. "I…" He started quickly before his mouth snapped shut. His eyes closed, and he was obviously giving it serious thought. "Probably," He said after a few moments. "Given the correct circumstances."
Ranma let out a breath through his teeth as the younger boy looked at him nervously. "Yeah," He said, eventually.
"You can punch me if you want," Yuuno said quietly.
Ranma immediately lashed up with one hand faster than the younger boy could follow, the fist stopping millimeters in front of his nose before one finger flicked it. "Woulda knocked you on your ass again, wouldn't it? And there'd be a buncha magic crap I don't understand that'd make it riskier." He sighed. "Look, your secrets are yours. We made it out all right, and you'll know what to look for next time. You're overthinkin' this, and that can screw you up worse than anything else. And probably best that Cerberus did not see that teleportation stuff."
Yuuno nodded, rubbing at his nose. "That… actually helps," He said after a moment.
Ranma smacked him on the shoulder. "I got good advice, sometimes." The two headed back onto the main path from the shuttle port. "So, you got any idea what we do with this thing?" The martial artist held up the chip he'd gotten from Kasumi, before wincing. "Crap."
Yuuno followed his gaze to the corridor leading to the lifts further into the citadel's arms, only to wince himself as he saw Spectre Alenko and Garrus standing beside the doors, arms crossed.
HR.
"This is getting to be a habit," Garrus drawled as, once again, he was glaring at Ranma Saotome for doing something stupidly impulsive and dangerous. The fact he was joined by Kaidan and that Yuuno was sitting next to the pigtailed martial artist, looking sheepish, didn't really help his mood. They had elected not to go back to the ship for the time being, setting this new little interrogation up in the common room of the refugee dorms. "So you've got no evidence of this whole universe-altering crisis?"
"Kinda defeats the purpose of destroyin' dangerous information if we copied it," Ranma pointed out.
"Right, so you just left it in the hands of a self-confessed 'Phantom Thief.'" The turrian made little air quotes with his hands. "See the problem here? What if she decides to turn around and sell it herself?"
"I doubt it," Yuuno chipped in. "A lot of her story checked out, especially her reaction when she got the box. I had scanning spells up the whole time, and if she was faking crying over it she was a scarily good actress. That box was precious to her, on a personal level."
"You've got a lie detector?" Ranma asked incredulously.
"I think you two are just that gullible," Garrus countered. He then turned to Kaidan and shrugged.
The Spectre looked between the two of them, and groaned. "I checked in with Alliance Intelligence, pulled some data on Hock and his facilities," He started. "I still have no idea how you managed to breach a special containment vault in the center of his compound without firing a shot, so I'm kind of in an awkward position here. You're unpredictable, Saotome, and so is Scrya, apparently, who I had a better opinion of before this."
"Hey!" Yuuno yelped, indignant. "That's rude."
Kaidan rolled right over his objection, continuing his line of thought in a strained, irritated voice. "I almost want to cut you loose but I don't want to unleash a couple of idiots with that kind of infiltration capability on the galaxy. Especially if she recruits you again."
"She did offer," Ranma noted. The Spectre immediately started coughing into his hand.
"You're not helping, kid," Garrus said tiredly. "I-"
"Hey guys, check this out!" An excitable black haired girl dashed into the room, flailing one hand and making strange humming noises. Projecting upward from a glittering circular symbol in the palm was a beam of light which she appeared to be pretending was a sword.
"What the hell?" Kaidan asked, his voice pained.
"I… that… how?" Yuuno stammered, before Ranma turned to him.
"I thought you were tryin' to keep your magic low profile, why'd you give her a spell that works?"
"It shouldn't have!" The mage retorted. "I gave her some basic channeling calculations that she should have needed a few years of education to use at all."
"I can even change the intensity!" Tomo exclaimed before circling her free hand around the rune, the light slimming down to the size of a laser pointer beam. "Cool right?" She said, waving her laser hand around and pointing at things randomly.
"Another one…" Yuuno muttered, his hands reaching up to cradle his head. "What do they feed people on your planet?"
HR
"They're not so bad, the guy's got a bit of a mouth on him, but they take things seriously when it matters," Kaidan nodded at the assessment from his ship's new chief engineer as he leaned against the wall of one of the citadel's damnably slow elevators, an image of the other man's face projected above his omni-tool.
"So you can work with them, got it. How long before we can undock?" He asked, tapping something into a datapad with his other hand.
"Intel guys finally cleared the last of their stuff out of the computer core… maybe twelve hours for a final diagnostic, so long as we're going straight to earth," Adams replied after a moment's thought.
"We are, get on that diagnostic," The Spectre ordered as the elevator slid to a stop. The other man gave him a salute before the communication screen snapped off. He looked down at the datapad, giving the dubious list there an uncertain look before entering the Systems Alliance Embassy. He was cleared to see Admiral Anderson quickly, and after an exchange of nods, slid the pad across the older man's desk. As Anderson read, his eyebrows slowly rose. "Some of these names…" He shook his head. "The ones who immediately jump out at me are Tokino and Mizuhara. I understand they're close and one of them assisted with operations on the way here, but surely she's not that indispensable?"
"She's not the one I need to keep a hold of," the younger man sighed. "Mr. Scrya apparently gave Ms. Tokino some busywork that, he swears, she shouldn't have been able to figure out. Unfortunately for all involved, she did, demonstrating aptitude for the same kind of abilities he had, and then showed it off to everyone in the refugee dormitories."
"So you want to keep them together to see what we can learn," Anderson nodded. "Assuming that Scrya is going to continue teaching her."
"I… Y-Yes sir, that's exactly what I was planning," Kaidan straightened. The man at the desk narrowed his eyes at the Spectre for a few moments. It looked like he was about to move down to the next name, before he sighed and looked the younger man straight in the eye.
"Spectre Alenko, I would have assumed you'd have realized this by now, but I'm going to reiterate it for your benefit. You cannot save everyone. I'm sure some people would appreciate the kindness you are showing these two, as well as the chef and his friend," the Admiral said gently. "But according to your most recent info, you are planning to go through the Omega 4 Relay, which, as far as I am aware, is suicidal."
Kaidan's jaw clenched. "I don't do suicide missions," He said, firmly. "We won't be going through the relay until we're damned ready and I'll offload everyone I can."
Anderson looked at the man for a few seconds before and glancing back at the list. "And… you're sure about Saotome?"
Kaidan resisted the urge to groan. "Being honest, sir, no. But his talents are pretty impressive and I wouldn't put it past him to find a way to go after Cerberus on his own if I let him leave. Which would probably end in his capture, and them getting ahold of those talents."
"That's… not the worst reasoning I've ever heard," The admiral chuckled. "But in the end this is your call, you're the Spectre. With the reports I've gotten, you're aware you could have him imprisoned?"
Kaidan winced this time. "I'd give that a fifty-fifty shot of working, and if it didn't he'd never trust the Alliance again." The man paused for a second. "And if it did work, I'd say there's a good chance that Goto breaks him out, which would be disastrous."
Anderson gave him a long look, before reaching under his desk and producing a glass bottle. Two shot glasses followed a moment later, which he placed on the table before filling both. "Denying is a reasonable strategy, but I do not envy the discipline problems you are going to have on that ship. Becoming a highschool ship is a choice."
Kaidan didn't say anything in response, he just reached out and knocked back his shot.
HR.
Labrys stretched her arms over her head, letting out a relieved sigh as she finally exited the cargo bay she'd been stuck in for several days. Sure, she was still restricted to the ship, and specifically the lower 3 floors, but that was about twenty times more space. Immediately, she made a beeline to the elevator, though when the door slid open she saw Ranma standing inside, a duffle bag slid over his shoulder. "Oh, hey, you're back," She said, giving him a wave.
"Yeah," He nodded. "Captain's calling back everyone who was recruited and I was just tryin' to figure out where to set up."
"Couldn't you go wherever you were the first time?" She asked curiously as she pushed the button for the crew deck.
"Eedee says she doesn't want me camping out in the supports over the landing bay."
"You were… no, never mind, that checks out," Labrys smiled. "Yeah, even my cargo bay would be more comfortable than that."
"Yeah, well, she mentioned some sleeping pod things, I'll see if one of those works." The door opened to a surprisingly lively scene for a ship that had been pretty empty for a week. Ryuuji was bustling around the kitchen, arranging a bunch of new supplies, his short assistant holding an open supply crate next to him. Garrus was sitting at the mess table with Sousuke, having an animated conversation over a half-disassembled rifle of some sort.
"Look, Sagara, some of the hierarchy's best engineers have been trying to figure out how to combine both systems, I don't think you- Oh finally a distraction, welcome aboard, kid."
Ranma waved, looking over the parts scattered on the table. "Yeah, what's going on here? And what's with him?" He gestured to the other end of the table, where Yuuno was sitting, staring a little vacantly at the ceiling, mouth agape and slouched back.
"I think it's still the thing with Tomo," The Turrian answered the second question while deliberately ignoring the first. "From some of the muttering I've heard he's sort of terrified of your planet now, which is unfortunate given we're going there. Also kind of strange for a native."
"Yeah, he's been saying strange things all day, tried to tell me I use magic, earlier. For more than the curse, I mean."
"Looks like magic ta me. You sure it's not?" Labrys commented teasingly.
"Yes, absolutely," The martial artist said, coming just short of glaring at her.
"Oh, right," Garrus said, tapping his eyepiece. "I got an interesting notice from some of my mercenary contacts. Whatever you did pissed that weapons dealer, Hock, off pretty badly. He's just put out a bounty on Kasumi Goto large enough to buy a Turrian frigate."
"Yeah… I'm pretty sure she'll be fine," Ranma shrugged, as Kaname came around the corner from the elevator. "Sousuke, you're still at this? Give it up already, we need to get our rooms set up."
The brown haired boy gave her a long look, before simply saying "Negative, I'll sleep in the sleeping pods, they're more secure." and turning back to his work.
"Huh, I thought you would be paranoid about that since they can probably be locked from the outside." Kaname noted.
"Hmm, I hadn't considered that… I'll prepare some breaching charges." Everyone at the table turned and stared at the mercenary aghast.
Garrus was about to speak up when Kaname beat him to it. "In a space that small? They'd kill you!"
"I will be cautious." At this point everyone's head was swinging back and forth as if they were watching a tennis match.
"Do you have any idea how expensive those things are?"
"No?"
"Well neither do I, and I don't wanna find out." After a moment of neither side making a move Kaname turned to Ranma. "'Scuse me a sec," she said as she pushed her way past the martial artist, grabbing the military minded boy by the collar and dragging him off while loudly calling the boy an idiot. Sousuke for his part just stared longingly at the hardware being left behind.
HR.
"Okay, that's pretty impressive, but don't you think five hours at that pace is enough?" Ryoga asked as he ran next to a woman on a set of treadmills. The woman in question, mid-length red hair pulled back into a ponytail, was the one he had met a few times that went by the name 'Shepard'.
"What… you're… doing it," She returned between laboured breaths.
"Well, yeah, but I trained-" He cut himself off, tilting his head. "Actually, it's more like the world tried to kill me for over a decade and I kept living, now that I think about it. But you're still not going to get the same kind of endurance in a few weeks of training."
She was about to respond when her inattention cost her, a foot slipping, and she hit the ground. "Maybe… maybe you're right," She gasped, trying to get her breath back as she let the treadmill carry her to the floor. "Gah, suddenly everything hurts."
"Yeah, you need to cool down." Ryoga stepped off of his own treadmill, desperately trying to ignore the fact that he was kneeling next to a sweaty, attractive girl in a black and yellow running suit as he demonstrated a few stretches. "Move along with me or everything's going to be pain tomorrow."
The two of them stretched in silence for a few minutes, Ryoga taking a few quick glances to ensure that Shepard was following his lead, before he finally spoke. "Why are you throwing yourself into this so hard? You've never missed a day since you asked me to train you."
"Every day… yeah," She said faintly, leaning back and letting her head rest against the wall. "I… There are a lot of things, but I want to be able to make a difference with Cerberus, to be able to help humanity. Managing to learn a few tricks from someone who fought an operative in full armor to a stand-still with his bare hands would help a lot with that."
"Help humanity…" Ryoga recalled the cold, uncaring looks on the faces of the scientists when he'd been fighting a swordsman who seemed to be willing to, at least, maim him. He wasn't as confident in Cerberus' proclaimed goals as she was. But then, they'd also rescued him, revived him from stasis and were letting him have free roam of the station, so maybe those particular scientists were just jerks. "Well, I've got nothing else to do, I guess." It felt stupid, dismissing such a lofty goal like that, but it was the truth. Everyone he'd ever known was gone, save, of course, Ranma Saotome, who had apparently been driven insane by some sort of evil aliens and went rogue. "So how do you sign up for Cerberus anyway?"
Shepard's head raised and her expression was clearly surprised, but she was interrupted before she could answer as the door to the gym slid aside, a woman in a white lab coat, carrying a clipboard, stepping in. "Ms. Shepard, you'll need to report to TAROS chamber 1 for your next session."
"Oh." Shepard winced, before shakily hauling herself to her feet. A strange look flashed across her face before she gave Ryoga a smile. "I'll be back tomorrow, bright and early."
HR.
"Alright, system online and ready for input," A cool voice echoed in the small, red-lit pod as Shepard leaned back in the padded seat. "Today we'll be introducing N-7 trials and preliminary training. Please close your eyes and count down from ten."
She took a deep breath, and then began, a humming sound building around her as a tingling sensation spread through her skull. "...2 …1."
Images, from countless angles, the same woman. Red hair, a confident expression, and an alliance uniform. Flashing through her mind in roughly chronological order. She grit her teeth as yet another session began.
END.