Sakura Haruno walked into her apartment with a sigh. Another long day at work- Which was weird considering she only worked 4 hours today. School felt shorter today and she was there 8 to 3. She walked into the kitchen to find a note left on the counter. She opened it and read through it. When she finished she sighed once again.
"House to myself for another week or so," Sakura muttered. She threw the note away and made her way into the den.
She sat down on her couch with a tired smile. True today was stressful but now she had the rest of the night to herself. Plus, it was Friday, so she didn't have to get up early for school the next day. Bonus! Sure, she had homework, but she'd get through it quickly.
Nothing could ruin her mood right now.
Crash!
Hold that thought…
Sakura opened her eyes at the sound of her front door, opening abruptly. She came face to face with two teens. One that she recognized immediately. The outfit was different, black, but there was no way she could mistake the lightning symbol for anything else.
Kid Flash was standing in her house.
"Of all possible people it just had to be him we had to fight," Kid Flash groaned. He glanced over at his companion that he was carrying in. "Are you ok?"
"Not really?" The teen answered. Sakura noticed he had bright blond hair and seemed to be in regular clothes. "Why didn't anyone ever tell me bullets hurt,"
"You've been shot?!" Sakura shouted out in alarm. Kid Flash and the teen looked up at her in surprise. "Ummm Hi," Sakura greeted uneasily, realizing they probably never meant for her to see them.
The blond gave her a pained stare while Kid Flash looked like a deer caught in the headlights.
"Batman's going to kill me,"
"K-Kid Flash," Sakura called, as if trying to confirm what she already knows.
"Hey, so is there a fire escape we could go out the back of by chance?" The fastest teen alive asked.
Sakura having fully come to her senses shook her head in denial.
"That's too bad," Kid Flash groaned. "We'll just be on our way then," He got ready to leave but the blond chose that moment to groan in pain and seemed to sag towards the floor. "Or not apparently,"
"Quickly bring him over here," Sakura commanded as she began to run on instinct. She lifted to blond teen from the other side and kicked her door closed and began to lead to two into the kitchen. With Kid Flash's help, they placed him on the table.
"What happened to him?" Sakura asked.
"He was shot," Kid Flash answered simply.
"I can see that!" Sakura scowled. "Why was he shot," Kid Flash looked at the girl in surprise at her response, but before he could answer Naruto decided to speak.
"Your h-hair i-is p-pink," Naruto said with ragged breaths.
"Y-Yeah," Sakura responded staringing at the teen currently bleeding on her kitchen floor.
"H-How did y-you do that," Kid Flash could only sigh. At least his teammate was still his usual self.
And to think this mission was supposed to be so simple.
18 hours earlier.
"This past fourth of July, simultaneous attacks by Mister Freeze, Icicle Jr, Killer Frost, and Captain Cold were all intercepted and the culprits easily apprehended," Batman explained as he looked at the gathered team. "Perhaps too easily," He finished with narrowed eyes.
"The day we became a team," Kid Flash muttered. "What a great day,"
"If you don't count the whole fighting against our mentors while they attacked Naruto," Robin chuckled.
"I could have taken them," Naruto growled.
"Wait seriously," Artemis asked her eyes fixated her fellow blond in surprise. "They attacked you,"
"Yeah, just after he crash-landed in the middle of our escape with Superboy," Robin explained.
Artemis glanced over at Miss Martian for confirmation but by the look on her face, this was also her first time hearing this.
"Ok, you are so telling us about this," Artemis looked at the boys who all shrugged.
"-But perhaps later," Aqualad added indicating that Batman was staring at them.
"Ah…right…continue," Kid Flash said looking sheepish. Batman narrowed his eyes but said nothing else on the matter.
"Cold and Frost were immediately sent to Belle Rêve penitentiary, a federal prison designed to house supercriminals," He continued. "The 17-year-old Icicle Jr. was sent to a juvenile facility, Mister Freeze to his usual cell in Arkham Asylum," The Dark Knight shifted through a few images of said villains. "But Freeze petitioned the court to be declared legally sane, and Junior sued to be tried as an adult. As a result, both await transport to Belle Rêve, which seems to have been the goal all along,"
The three who had originally been sidekicks glanced at each other skeptically. They had never thought about it before, but it was weird that the Ice family all decided to attack when they did. And as they recounted the fights, they realized it had been particularly easy. Too easy, from the looks of it.
"I'm sending the two of you in to find out why," The hero of Gotham said looking over at Miss Martian and Conner. "You'll be disguised as the Terror Twins that we'll be apprehending later today.
"Who will be their contact inside the prison?" Aqualad asked.
"No one," Batman answered. "We can't be certain the prison staff isn't compromised. So you and Red Tornado will be in standby in the bioship to pull them out if and when it becomes necessary," The three nodded acknowledging they understood what their mission was.
"So, looks like we're free this time around," Kid Flash sighed. "Anyone up for some celebrity hockey?"
"What's hockey?" Naruto asked. "Does it have anything to do with Power Rangers,"
"We gotta expand your horizons, my friend," Robin smirked. Artemis simply shrugged not caring either way on it.
"Not quiet," The teens turned to look over at Batman in surprise.
"The rest of you will be with me in Gotham,"
…
…
…
A pin could have dropped in that moment and it would have been louder than a nuclear explosion.
Robin's jaw dropped to the floor, Artemis's eyes nearly bulged out of her head, Kid Flash looked ready to just run out of the room and never come back, Naruto simply blinked.
Even Red Tornado gave his comrade a longer than usual stare.
Naruto glanced at everyone's reaction in confusion. He tapped Kaldur on the shoulder getting his attention.
"Why's everyone reacting like this," He asked the leader of the team.
"Because Batman is allowing other people into his home," The Atlantean answered.
"So?" The blond lantern asked.
"Batman never invites other heroes into his territory professional or otherwise," Robin explained.
"The only reason he tolerates me is that my family moved to Gotham," Artemis added.
"Doesn't seem that big a deal," Naruto shrugged.
"Him inviting us into his city is like you offering to share one of your possessions or giving it away,"
"Oh," Naruto spoke. Then the words sunk in and his eyes widened. "Ooooooooooooooohhhhhhhh,"
…
…
…
"Yeah, we're gonna die,"
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"We have to keep, pressure on the wound to slow the bleeding down," Sakura spoke gazing over at the ginger-haired speedster.
"I'll call you an ambulance," Sakura spoke as she reached for the phone, but Kid Flash stopped her.
"You can't!" He exclaimed.
"Why not?!" Sakura countered.
"Because they know he was hit, and I didn't exactly get far," He grunted out.
"How couldn't you get far?" Sakura asked. "Aren't you supposed to be one of the fastest people around?"
"I am," Kid Flash agreed. "Just…not right now," He answered with a slightly pained look
Sakura glanced at the teen in front of her questioningly.
"What happened exactly?" Sakura questioned. "Better yet, why are you in Gotham?" As far as she could remember no other hero ever appeared in Gotham. So why was a sidekick of another here?
Kid Flash looked at the girl his age before turning away.
"It was a simple mission,"
The two turned to glance over at Naruto who tried to sit up.
"Stay still," Sakura commanded.
"I'm fine," Naruto commented. "See," He pointed to his wound to see that it was glowing blue. "Healing ability, though it's going to take a while,"
"I didn't know Lanterns could do that," Kid Flash muttered.
"We can't," Naruto answered. "Or at least, not all of us,"
"Then how," The fastest teen asked.
"Blue,"
"Oh," kid Flash answered lamely. Naruto, Conner, and Megan had told him and the rest of the team about the encounter with the Blue Lanterns. "Still can't believe I missed that,"
"Wait, there's more than one color of Lantern!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Yeah seven," Naruto answered.
'Why are you telling her this,' Kid Flash screeched mentally eyeing his partner.
"Seven," Sakura muttered. She seemed to be pondering something. "Like the colors of the rainbow," Kid Flash blinked.
"Yeah that's right," He answered.
"What's a rainbow?" Naruto asked.
"Tell you later,"
"We can get to all that later," Sakura nodded. "Right now, I would like to know why your bleeding in my kitchen.
"Oh right," Naruto muttered remembering the original question. "Well see-"
"You can't just tell her why we're here," Kid Flash scolded with big eyes.
"Why not?" The wounded hero asked.
"Because Batman will kill us!"
"Wait Batman actually brought you here?" Sakura turned towards Kid Flash who turned white.
"Oh, he is so going to kill us," Kid Flash cried anime tears.
"So if we're gonna die we can tell her then," Naruto pointed out. "My names Naruto by the way,"
"Dude secret identity!" Kid Flash yelled.
"But you said we're gonna die," Naruto said. "So I should be able to introduce myself,"
"That's not how it works!" The teen speedster hissed his eyes big.
"Well, how about I hide you out?" Sakura countered.
Kid Flash looked between the other two teens before groaning.
"We're dead anyway," The speedster grunted.
"Jaka," Naruto cheered before wincing. "It started like this…"
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Kid Flash sat next to Naruto as they looked down at a supposedly abandoned building in the middle of Gotham. By all accounts the mission was simple. Supposedly, there was a major supply of Venom in Gotham that was going to be delivered to an unknown buyer.
What made it so concerning was the fact that Bane was still in Arkham. Therefore, wherever this Venom was coming from wasn't from him. So, for the past day Artemis, along with the dynamic duo, was performing stealth. Meanwhile, Naruto and Kid Flash watched over the warehouse, their present location, and reporting when a vehicle would leave or enter.
Batman realized that there was a major buyer in the city because while it was a lot of Venom, it was all in one location. Theoretically, it was a rather simple operation. What concerned him was the fact that someone wanted to by an obscenely large amount of the strength-enhancing drug in one go, and he didn't know who the buyer or seller was.
So this was to be a two-pronged attack.
Batman along with Artemis and Robin would wait for the buyer, having already pinpointed the location of the transaction, and break it up. In the meantime, Kid Flash and Naruto would destroy the Venom left in the warehouse and take out anyone who was guarding it.
A fairly simple mission that shouldn't be too hard. Even if they were on Venom, it wouldn't last in the guards' systems as long as it did a hard-core user like Bane's. That, and he doubted they could take a full-power hit from Naruto.
"Hey what kind of phone do you think I should get?" Naruto asked, gazing over at Kid Flash.
Kid Flash jerked up in surprise and glanced at the blond momentarily before going back to scouting the warehouse. "I didn't even know you knew what a phone was,"
"I don't, but Artemis told me I should get one, since I made friends at school and I could call them," The Lantern explained. "I don't really get it, though," Kid Flash got ready to explain but another voice stopped him.
"Alright the mission begins in 20 seconds," Batman spoke into the coms.
"I'll tell you about it later," Kid Flash quipped as he focused on what Barman was saying.
"Are you two ready?"
"Ready," The red head runner answered.
"I want a phone for this," Naruto responded.
"Move," Batman responded.
"Don't ignore me," Naruto scowled with a tic mark as he grabbed Kid Flash and flew them to the ground.
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"So, you infiltrated this place that had the last Venom on the streets?" Sakura asked.
"Pretty much," Kid Flash confirmed.
"But how do you know it won't ever appear again,"
"It might," Kid Flash relented. "Just not for a while,"
"Why not?"
"Because we fraking wrecked that place!" Naruto cheered before groaning from overexerting himself.
"What?" The pink haired girl asked with a confused stare.
"Story for another time," Kid Flash answered quickly. "Anyway, we had just infiltrated the place," Kid Flash said, picking up where Naruto left off
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Naruto and Kid Flash entered the building with ease as they began to observe their surroundings. In the center of the large room were 4 crates, most likely filled with Venom.
"That seemed easy," Kid Flash muttered.
"Wanna head over to help the others after we destroy those crates?" The blond lantern asked.
"Sure, we could speed this whole thing up if we help,"
"But then, who's going to help you?"
Naruto and Kid Flash looked up as they realized neither of them had spoked those words. Then a pair of arms wrapped around Kid Flash before he could move.
"This might hurt a bit," A tanned skinned man with a buzz cut said. Then his hands began glowing and Kid Flash screamed.
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We assumed the body guards would be on Venom," Kid Flash grunted. "We weren't expecting anyone else with powers, much less him,"
"I see," Sakura muttered.
"-And that petaQ was the absolute worst opponent for us," Naruto admitted.
"Why is that?" Sakura asked, mentally filing the strange words Naruto kept using away. Kid Flash held up his head and looked her straight in the eye,
"Because he had the ability to drain energy,"
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"Kid!" Naruto shouted as he leapt towards his friend to get him away from his attacker.
"No stop!" Kid Flash warned but it was too late. Naruto thrusted his fist at the man's head, but he managed to catch the offending appendage with ease. The man's hand began to glow and that's when Naruto felt it. He was draining Naruto's energy. No not Naruto's…the RING'S!
"Man, you got a lot of juice!" The man grinned. "This should keep me going for a while!"
Kid Flash chose that moment to make his move. Since he no longer had two hands draining him, he managed to escape the man's grasp. He kicked him back and grabbed Naruto, pushing them both away from the man.
"Let me at the Shizno!" Naruto shouted as he held his ring out.
Only for nothing to happen.
"What?" Naruto whispered bringing the ring to his face.
"Crap, he drained you!"
"Who the frak is this petaQ?!" Naruto roared glaring up at the man.
The man grinned as he held his hands out. Naruto watched with rage as Orange lightning coursed between his palms.
"Call me Blackout,"
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"So, this Blackout drained you both of your energy?" Sakura asked as she looked over at Naruto who, despite his claims, didn't seem to be getting better at all.
"Most of it at least," Kid Flash explained. "I didn't have the energy to run far," He held his hand out and began vibrating it only for it to stop moments later. "That's about all I can manage right now,"
"Wow, so he really 'drained' you," Sakura whispered hollowly.
"And when I get my hand on that guy," Naruto groaned. "I'm gonna blurk ,"
"Fortunately," Kid Flash picked up. "I can recover my speed since it's an internal power source, and he didn't fully drain me," He then gazed over at the blond. "Unfortunately, the same can't be said about him," Naruto responded by growling and looking away. Though a glint seemed to enter his eyes. However as quickly as it came, it disappeared.
"He completely drained him," Sakura assessed.
"Not completely," Naruto responded. "I have enough for maybe a one construct, but it won't last long unless I can absorb energy,"
"And his power source is external, unlike mine," Kid Flash added.
"Well mostly," The civilian girl pointed out. "He can apparently heal himself,"
"Still technically external," The yellow speedster said. "Long story," He finished, noticing the pinkette's stare.
"What happened after he 'drained' you?"
Kid Flash looked over at Sakura before he began to speak.
"Naruto didn't take it well,"
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"I don't care who you are, you grock-loving shizno!" Naruto roared. "Give me back my energy!"
"Sure," Blackout chuckled. "Hope you can handle it," He then sent arcs of orange lightning at the blond Lantern, but Kid Flash was quicker. He grabbed Naruto and pulled them down as the blast buzzed over them causing their hair to stand on end.
"We gotta get out of here," Kid Flash scowled. "This guy was the worst opponent for us," He growled.
"I can take him," Naruto grouched.
"How?!" Kid Flash asked comically glaring at the confident but weakened lantern. Then he heard the bullets. "Oh, great and now he's got back up," The red-headed speedster looked over at his ally with an aggravated stare. "So, what do you suppose we do now genius," Kid Flash hissed.
Naruto didn't say anything at first. He simply gave a knowing grin and held up a disk that Kid Flash instantly recognized. One of Robins batarangs.
Scratch that.
Multiple batarangs.
And Naruto was grinning way to broadly.
Kid Flash wanted to cry.
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"So, what did you with the batarangs?" Sakura asked looking over at Naruto. The blond simply grinned and she could put it together. Kid Flash's groan only confirmed her thoughts.
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BOOM!
BAAM!
KA-POW!
"We were supposed to be subtle," Kid Flash moaned as tears ran down his face. He threw a couple of batarangs. "I'm getting blamed for this I just know it,"
"HAHAHAHA you thought you could take my energy without any CONSEQUENCES!" Naruto laughed madly as he continued throwing the batarangs he had. Kid Flash honestly had no idea where he was storing so many.
Bright side, all the Venom had been destroyed in the chaos.
Down side, they were still getting shot at and- oh yeah…NO POWERS! Though Naruto seemed to be doing fine.
"You never take what is MINE! HAHAHAHAHA"
At least he was having fun.
Kid Flash chuckled to himself as he took down another villain. So enraptured that for a brief moment he became unaware of his surroundings. So much so that he missed the gun aimed at him. Naruto didn't.
"Kid!" Naruto shouted as he jumped in front of the speedster. A moment later the gun fired, and Naruto felt an immense pain in his side. He let out a pained grunt in response before crashing to the floor.
"Naruto!" Kid Flash shouted seeing the Lantern in pain. He grabbed his teammate and managed to pull him to safety. "Come on man," The stealth-mode speedster grunted as he began checking him over. He soon came across the wound in his friend's side. "Oh no," Kid Flash whispered.
It was bad.
"Batman we have a problem," Kid Flash said into his com only to receive static. It must have been damaged when he was drained.
This was not good. Kid Flash picked up Naruto and swung him over his shoulder, holding out two batarangs. He threw them towards Blackout and the thugs, creating an explosion and distraction which allowed him to get Naruto and escape. He ran as fast as he could, but it was nowhere near his real speed. He managed to get about three blocks before he slowed down.
"Gotta find a place to hide," The stealth speedster muttered. That's when he noticed the building in front of him. If he had taken a moment to think he would have realized that it was an apartment building, but Kid Flash wasn't thinking straight. His friend had been shot and was bleeding out on his back.
He needed to find a spot. So without a second thought, he ran towards the building and kicked down the first door he saw.
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"I think you know the rest from there," Kid Flash finished while the high-school girl nodded.
"So, you have no way of getting in contact with the others?" Sakura asked.
"I could try contacting Flash, but there's no guarantee," The speedster admitted. "All I can do is wait for Naruto to finish healing and have him use the last of his ring's power to signal Batman to come and help us,"
"Yeah, about that," Naruto muttered catching the duo's attention. "I don't think it's working,"
"What?!" Kid Flash exclaimed as he and Sakura got to their feet. They rushed over and Naruto positioned himself so the wound could be seen. Just as he said the wound didn't seem to be healing for whatever reason. "Why isn't it working ?!"
"Frak if I know," Naruto growled. "It normally doesn't take this long for a wound this size,"
"Did it hit any major organ and we didn't realize?"
"That's not it," Sakura spoke up. "The wound is just short of the pancreas, and if that had been hit, we would definitely know," She explained. "No, we're looking at this the wrong way," She muttered. "This could be an auxiliary effect since you no longer have the ring's energy, which is causing your healing to slow down. But even then, the pain would have subsided unless…" Sakura's eyes widened in realization. "The wound wasn't a through-and-through! It's the bullet! Your healing is being halted by the bullet!" She glanced over at the two heroes excitedly.
Said heroes were giving the high school girl shocked stares.
"Wow that was impressive," Kid Flash muttered.
"I didn't understand half of that," Naruto added. "But I feel that I should say it was Jaka,"
"Shut up," Sakura mumbled looking away with red cheeks.
"So, the bullet's interfering with the healing," Kid Flash inferred, bringing them back to what they were originally talking about.
"It's a guess," Sakura admitted. "But it makes the most sense,"
"I bet," Naruto snorted looking at her.
"Don't make me punch you," Sakura growled with red eyes. Naruto gulped and began nodding vigorously. "So, what do we do about the bullet?"
"We're gonna have to pull it out," Kid Flash answered grimly.
"We're going to what?!" Sakura nearly screeched.
"Well, more me than you," Kid Flash reassured.
"Do you even know how to do that?" Sakura asked.
"Not really," The speed teen admitted. "But we've caused you enough trouble, and it's only going to get worse if we don't leave soon,"
"What do you mean?" The pink haired girl questioned.
"Blackout drained me mostly," Kid Flash explained. "And he was originally an enemy of my mentor, so he knows I won't recover my power instantly,"
'And I don't have access to the speed force like Flash so it might take even longer,' He thought mentally but didn't voice this.
"And with Naruto injured, he knows we didn't get far," Kid Flash finished. Sakura quickly saw where this was going.
"So there's a chance they could come here," She whispered. Kid Flash nodded grimly.
"Not a high one, but it's still there and I've already endangered you,"
"We've already endangered her," Naruto corrected. "We're here because I got shot," Naruto corrected.
"But only because you took the bullet for me," Kid Flash argued.
"Doesn't matter," Naruto said. "Right now, we need to get this thing out of me and make a plan of action,"
Kid Flash blinked while giving his comrade a long gaze.
"What?" Naruto asked seeing the face he was being given.
"You seem…different somehow," Kid Flash answered. "I thought it was because of the wound but this seems way out of character for you,"
"We can think about that later," Sakura interrupted. "He's right, now we need to get that bullet out of you fast,"
"Like I said, we got this," Kid Flash protested.
"No, I can do this," Sakura said. "You need to focus on a way to get your speed back," Sakura pointed out.
That was a good point but…
Unfortunately, he wouldn't have time to contemplate it.
"We haven't checked this block,"
Because it seems a group of them had made their way into the area.
"Well trawp," Naruto muttered.
"What do we do?!" Kid Flash exclaimed in a low voice. Sakura looked around frantically. The situation was getting worse and worse.
"We're gonna win," Naruto said, gaining the other two's attention. "There is no way we are losing to those fraking wastes-of-space out there," Naruto grunted. "I'll get this bullet out of me with my bare hands if I have to. And then I'm going out there and blurking those petaQ's, Ring energy or not," Sakura and Kid Flash glanced at the blond Lantern before both coming to their decisions.
"You won't have too," Sakura stated as she got up and headed deeper into the house. A few moments later she came back with a pair of latex gloves on and a kit of some kind. "I'll get the bullet," she said. "I've been studying to be a doctor, so I should be able to get the bullet out,"
"Should?" The speedster questioned.
"It's mostly self-study," Sakura admitted. "I'm only 15 after all. But as long as I get the bullet out, then the regeneration should kick in properly." Sakura looked over at Naruto for confirmation.
"Yeah," The whiskered teen nodded.
"Do you have wool of any kind?" The speedster asked.
"Your speed runs on electricity," Sakura questioned.
"Yeah, as long as I focus on it," Kid Flash nodded and Sakura smirked.
"Then, I'll do you one better. Check the drawer by the fridge," Kid Flash raised an eyebrow but did as he was told. He opened it and saw a bunch of different trinkets. What could she be- then his eyes found the Taser.
"If I had known you had this, I would have told you how my speed works earlier," Kid Flash smirked.
"I think the batteries low so you might not get a lot,"
"Do you have any food?" Kid Flash questioned.
"I was going to Big Belly Burger tonight," Sakura answered.
"Oh, can I go with you?!" Naruto asked, stars in his eyes.
"After I get this bullet out of you, we can talk about it," Sakura muttered.
"You're taking this awfully well," Kid Flash pointed out eyeing the teenage girl.
"I live in Gotham," Sakura stated.
"Fair enough,"
"Still don't get that," Naruto muttered. "Alright, let's do this," Sakura held out a pillow for her would-be patient.
"Don't have anything to numb the pain, so it's going to hurt," She warned. "A lot."
"Scream into it if it gets to be too much, or bite down on it," Kid Flash explained. Naruto nodded seriously.
"Try not to get caught until I get out there," Naruto smirked.
"They'll never catch me," Kid Flash promised. The speed teen nodded at Sakura one last time before making his way to the door.
"Ok, ready?" Sakura asked shakily. She gazed at her hands and noticed they were shaking. She was nervous. Could she really do this? What if something went wrong? What if she hit an organ? What if he died from shock? What if- "Hey,"
Sakura looked up to see Naruto giving her a reassuring smile. "You can do this. I trust you,"
Sakura eyed the blond teen in surprise before coming to her senses. She took in a deep breath and let it out.
"Ready?" Naruto asked.
"Ready," Sakura confirmed.
Then she got to work.
YJYJYJYJYJ
KF managed to get out of the apartment without being spotted. He quickly moved away from the building and moved to the other side of the street. Now, they couldn't locate Naruto or Sakura.
Now he just needed to think.
It seemed that this block was empty of civilians. By some miracle, Sakura was the only bystander. But at the same time, Naruto was nearby, and he was injured. Should he let them go to the next block and fight them there?
But there was no guarantee that it would be empty of civilians as well. And he wasn't at full speed yet, which only increased risk. No, he would have to fight them here, but he would wait till they got a little farther away before he would attack. Hopefully, Naruto would be ready before Blackout showed up and they could signal Batman and the others to come and aid them. For now though, he had to do something about these guys.
Suddenly he felt his hairs stand on end. He rolled to the side just in time as a blast of lightning passed by him.
"There you are, Little Speedster," A sinister voice spoke.
Great, the biggest problem just showed up. Kid Flash turned to see Blackout walking towards him.
"So, shall we pick up where we left off," The villain asked.
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Sakura could hear the sounds of a fight not that far from her. It seems Kid Flash didn't get that far after all. How it happened, she didn't care. She was dealing with something else entirely.
"MMMGHPH!" Naruto roared into the pillow he was biting down on. The Lantern was in major pain as she slowly opened the bullet wound to get a better view inside.
"Please bear with it a little bit longer," She whispered as her hands moved as quickly and carefully as they could. "I'm sorry it hurts so much,"
"MMMPPGHFH!"
"I-I can't do this," Sakura panicked as she began too, back away. Naruto suddenly reached out and grabbed her hand.
"It's ok," Naruto said shakily. "I've had worse," Sakura gave him a scared look.
"But you were screaming,"
"Oh no, that was me saying how I was going to get that chombeck,"
"Chombeck?" Sakura questioned, but she shook her head getting back on point. "Are you sure you'll be ok?"
"Yeah," Naruto reassured. "Let's finish this so I can go help my friend. He sounds like he needs the help,"
Another flash and sound of electricity flying through the air could be heard in response to his statement.
Sakura glanced at the boy before nodding and getting back to work.
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"Hey, so where's your friend?" Blackout asked.
"He had better things to do," The redhead runner snapped as he rolled under another blast.
"Nah, I don't think that's the case," Blackout said. "I saw him get shot, and I know you carried him out the warehouse,"
"What of it?" The speedster grunted.
"You didn't get far obviously," Blackout pointed out. "So that means your friend is nearby,"
"You talk too much," Kid Flash retorted.
"So he is," the draining villain drawled, smirking. "My guess is, he's in one of these apartments,"
Kid Flash ground his teeth and charged forward at the villain. But he was ready. He fired a blast of energy.
"Gah!" KF yelled in pain as he was thrown backward. He fell to the ground but before he could get up, he heard weapons cocking. He looked to see 6 goons with their weapons aimed at him from up close.
"Now, let's continued," Blackout grinned. So is it door number one?" Kid Flash didn't react. "Door number two," Kid Flash held the villain's gaze. "What about door number 4?" blackout asked skipping the third door. The speedster blinked.
"So, it's this one!" Blackout pointed to the fourth door. "All right then," Energy began to course through Blackouts hands. "And look at that, I see a light on,"
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Sakura looked up at the window as a shadow stood there. She couldn't hear everything, but she had a feeling that that wasn't Kid Flash.
That wasn't good.
"We're out of time,"
YJYJYJYJYJ
"No!" Kid Flash roared as he sped towards them. But it was too late.
"Nighty-night, kid," Blackout smirked and sent a powerful blast through the window.
The smirk soon vanished as Blackout noticed something odd. A blast that powerful would have disrupted the house in some way. So where was the explosion?
"What the hell?" The villain grunted. His questions were answered a few seconds later when he noticed a faint orange glow coming from inside the house. The glow seemed to be getting brighter and closer. Then Naruto walked through the broken window
"Thanks for the charge," Naruto grinned looking up at Blackout with a sinister smile. "I needed it,"
(The Offspring - You're Gonna Go Far, Kid)
Then the Lantern charged forward and punched the villain in the face. Blackout flew backward into two of his men. Naruto pointed his ring upward and shot three blasts of energy that exploded in the sky. Then he charged into a group of thugs and pushed his way through them, spreading them out.
Some of them took aim, but they all felt a hard force hit them in the face. Then the force came back and hit them in the stomach. Kid Flash was back in action. He wasn't at full power, but they still couldn't catch him. Soon enough, the two heroes stood back to back as Blackout and the other crooks surrounded them.
"Glad to see you back in action," Kid Flash smirked.
"Oh yeah," The lantern agreed. "I need to pay back that energy draining petaQ,"
"He's all yours," The speedster stated as he put goggles on his eyes. "So, you ready?"
"Let's frak these shizno's," Naruto grinned.
"Took the words out of my mouth!"
Then the two were off.
(Chorus)
Naruto created a giant hammer and swung it into some of the thugs, sending them flying into a nearby brick wall. Not done yet, he flew towards another and proceeded to give him a roundhouse kick to the face. He heard the familiar sound of guns cocking behind him.
Naruto turned around to see four more goons aiming their guns at him. But it was short lived as a blur kept passing by them and hitting them before they could react. Seeing that Kid Flash had it under control, Naruto turned his eyes to Blackout who was glaring at him.
"Me and you have unfinished business," Then Naruto leaped at the draining villain with a cocked fist.
Kid Flash continued zipping through the thugs, punching them and knocking out a few of them. And with every pass, he could feel himself getting faster and faster. Slowly but surely, he was regaining his speed. With a grin he slid onto the ground, tripping a plethora of the crooks and knocking them down.
"Strike," He exclaimed. He got up and got ready to run towards another goon but stopped as a shadow appeared behind him. He turned to see one goon with a gun aimed at him and a sinister grin. He got ready to pull the trigger; but before he could, something hit in the back of the head. The goon turned away. That proved to be a mistake.
Kid Flash sent a sped-up punch to his temple, knocking him out instantly. He glanced at the object on the ground that had saved him. A hairbrush.
'Thanks Sakura,' He grinned as he ran to take care of the rest of the goons.
Naruto ducked under a punch and sent one of his own towards the villain, but it was easily blocked. Naruto kicked him in the chest but that to was blocked. However, Blackout wasn't prepared for the power behind it and was sent skidding backward.
"Going for the brute-force approach," Blackout whistled. "Smart,"
"You can only drain my energy if you touch the ring," Naruto commented. "But it also enhances my physical prowess, you shizno,"
"I don't know what that is," Blackout grinned as he sent a blast of lighting at Naruto. Only to be shocked as it was absorbed into the ring. "So, you can absorb energy too,"
"Yeah, and unlike you," Naruto answered before charging forward and sending a kick into the villain's chest. "I don't need to touch the source!"
Blackout recovered and sent another blast towards Naruto only for it to be absorbed. "That won't work anymore!" Naruto roared. He created an orange fist construct, sending it at Blackout. Grinning, the villain attempted to block it.
He was sent soaring. But before he could even hit the ground, he felt launched up into his stomach. "I'm not done with you just yet," Then he was punched, then jabbed, then kneed, punch, knee, jab, kick, knee, jab, punch, punch, kick. The onslaught continued, each blow sending him higher into the air.
Soon enough it stopped, but Blackout found he couldn't move. He looked down to see that Naruto was using a hand construct to hold him tight while he was on the ground.
"You shot at my possession," Naruto's eyes began glowing. "Let this be a lesson to never do that again,"
Then he pulled the villain down to him and punched him in the face. He was out like a light.
(Song end)
"You done with the rest?" Naruto asked looking over at Kid Flash who had just tied up the last minion.
"Of course," The fastest teen alive grinned. The two heard a door open and turned to see Sakura running towards them. A moment later she enveloped the two in a hug.
"That was great!" She cheered. "I'm so glad you guys are alright,"
"It was no problem Sakura," Naruto grinned. Then his eyes turned to stars. "So, about that Big Belly Burger,"
"I'm cool with that Naruto," Sakura smiled. "What about you Kid Flash,"
"Yeah before that," Kid Flash began. "We have to make sure that Batman never finds out how involved you were," He explained, missing the shadow that passed by him. "Seriously, if he found out, he would kill me." Naruto and Sakura just kept staring at the roof. "Especially since you know Naruto's secret identity now Sakura,"
"Kid Flash,"
"Huh?" The speedster asked. He looked at the teens in front of him and noticed their faces. "He's standing on the roof behind me, isn't he?"
Kid Flash wanted to cry.
YJYJYJYJYJ
"So, let me get this straight," Artemis chuckled. "Out of all the doors on this block," She emphasized spreading put her arms. "You went through the one door that actually had a civilian in it,"
"Yeah pretty much," Naruto nodded. Kid Flash wanted to groan.
"You're not helping Naruto,"
"But I'm explaining the situation," Naruto blinked. "Is that not helping?"
"Oh no, this had been very helpful Naruto," Artemis grinned as she swung an arm over his shoulder.
"Oh good," Naruto returned the grin. Kid Flash glared at the two blonds before sighing.
"Whatever, Batman will chew us out later," He muttered, as he looked over at the Dark Knight and Robin as they talked to Sakura. "First he has to get her situated I guess,"
"So, she's cute," Artemis stated looking over at the pink haired teenager. "Did you and her get acquainted?" The archer teased.
"Acquainted?" Naruto asked.
"That answers that," Artemis smiled.
"She means, do you like her," Robin explained as he walked over while Batman said something to the civilian girl privately.
"Oh yeah," Naruto admitted. "I'm making her mine,"
"What!" The three other teen heroes nearly shouted looking at the lantern in shock.
"What? I mean, I made all you mine," Naruto frowned. "What's the big deal?"
"Oh," Kid Flash sighed. "You meant possession,"
"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "What else would I mean,"
"I'll tell you when you're older," Robin said sagely.
"Ok then,"
"You're younger than him!" Kid Flash said looking at the boy wonder with big eyes.
"I'll explain it to him," Artemis said. "Though, only when he's ready,"
"I'm ready now," Naruto defended.
"I'll be the judge of that," Artemis chuckled.
"Judge of what?" The heroes turned to see Sakura along with Batman walking towards them.
"Nothing," Artemis dismissed. "Just getting him ready for the outside world," She joked. Sakura raised her eyebrow but didn't comment.
"So Sakura, when can we go get Big Belly Burger?" Naruto asked.
"No," Batman was the one to answer. "We have other matters to attend too,"
"But I'm hungry," Naruto groaned. "And since she's mine, she gets to show me stuff,"
"Wait, I'm what?!" Sakura asked looking at the blond.
"Context!" Kid Flash stepped in quickly with a sweatdrop. "It's not what you think,"
"I was promised Big Belly Burger," Naruto growled looking the Dark Knight, a dangerous glint of orange entering his eyes. Kid Flash looked at the orange lantern strangely, noticing his reaction. Batman narrowed his eyes as he stared the unflinching teen down.
"It's ok Naruto, we can do it another day," Sakura reassured. Then her eyes widened. "Oh I mean Orange Lantern," she corrected looking around at the cops hauling the villains away.
"It's ok," Robin reassured. "The bad guys are all in the van," He said pointed towards the police truck.
"Oh good," The pink haired girl sighed in relief. She then looked over at Naruto. "Sorry we can't go get something to eat, but we'll go another day," She smiled.
"Jaka!" Naruto cheered. Sakura giggled before looking over at kid Flash. "You can always come too," The speedster smiled and gave a mock salute. "Well, I have to go give a statement to the police about what happened. See you guys soon I hope,"
"You know it!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Count on it," Kid Flash smiled. Sakura gave one last smile before heading to a policeman to talk to him.
"So, wanna head back to the cave?" Robin asked. "I heard that celebrity hockey is still going on,"
"Sure," Artemis shrugged. "Besides the others should be done with their mission by now,"
"Wait, I was promised a cell phone," Naruto pointed out.
"Batman never answered," Robin pointed out.
"Oh, he's getting me a cell phone," The lantern disagreed. Then he stormed over to the Dark Knight with a determined look.
"He's not hard to read," The green archer joked. That's when she noticed the frown on Kid Flash's face. "What is it?"
"When Naruto was low on power," The speedster began. "He seemed…calmer, he didn't once make any kind of comment about wanting something."
"Yeah, so?"
"When doesn't Naruto want something?" Kid Flash pointed out. That caught the other two off guard.
"Do you think the ring has something to do with it?"
"Maybe," Kid Flash answered. But he wasn't sure, It felt like something else was amiss, he just couldn't tell what.
"He's getting me one!" Naruto cheered as he ran back to the others. "I can't wait!"
"Congrats," Artemis smiled. "I'll help you pick one out,"
"Jaka!" Naruto cheered. "Now let's head back for some Power Rangers!"
"I still say Celebrity Hockey," Robin added.
"That's if it's still on," Artemis pointed out as the group began walking away. Kid Flash eyed Naruto for a moment thinking about that strange act. It was almost like…
He'd worry about it later. Right now, he had more important things to think about.
"How about The Simpsons?" The speedster spoke adding in his two cents.
And done! Sorry it took so long. I've been thinking about a few things. I'm going to ask all of my readers. So as I was away from fanfiction for a while, I'm finding it hard to come back and begin writing all of my stories lie I had been. So I'm going to focu on one story for awhile until I fully get my groove back. And I want your opinion. Tell me which story you think I should focus on for now until I'm ready. UMPR, Rise of Orange, Enigma, or Just Sing. You guys let me know. Go to the next chapter for more details.
