I do not own Naruto, Teen Titans, nor any other element that may or may not appear in this story!This story is for entertainment purposes only.
Silent as the...
Chapter 18: Encounters
Room 309, Summer Hotel, Jump City, night
No rasping of a whetstone on a blade, the amount of exercise that could be freely done within an apartment, nor even the taste of ramen could abate a disquieted mind obsessed with the prospect of ending the hunt once and for all. He was certain he found the location of the Konoha hideout, the furthermost warehouse from the waterfront and the road connecting to the pier but the question was the same: How was he to do it? Three, four at worse, shinobi lived there at this point. No matter how he entered it and what his plan was he would have to contend with at minimum three shinobi, two of which were jonin...
With a groan he laid back onto his bed and closed his one good eye. "If I'm lucky then I'd at least knock one of them out right at the start, but that isn't much of an advantage." He ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. "Sometimes I miss the old days where willpower counted more than..." He stopped, opened his eye and proceeded to blink in contemplation. "Logistics, maybe?" He frowned. "Firepower? Odds?" He sighed again and resumed where he left off with his hair. Again he stopped without warning, heralding in part the shifting of his head to look 'up' at the encased poem resting on the nightstand with a small smile. Though with passion his hand left his head in a listless manner as if to pick it up only to be stopped by the distance between his grasp and the frame itself. It pressed itself forward to no avail and continued to do so even as a frown creased his lips.
"I can't stand it anymore," he quietly murmured. Rolling over, he morosely crawled to the headboard, plopped himself down and gently clasped his hand around the frame which he brought to his chest in a precious hug. "Not without you..." He brought the poem out from his chest and smiled slyly at it. "I did make a promise after all, and you know I always keep my promises."
With determination and resignation he got out of the bed, made for his cupboard and begun to clad himself in his suit. There was only one way to truly even the odds in his case short of roaming about the world for some kind of shortcut, though a shortcut it was in actuality to achieve his ends. While true he had his reservations, most of which of the mistrustful sort, the prospect of "reacquainting" himself with an old friend should buy enough loyalty from him for at least fight or two. While risky his chances stood better with him, albeit slightly, than all by himself considering Riko wasn't fond of the idea of being involved more so than he had already.
As a precautionary measure he took out two scroll and unfurled one.
Poof!
An incomplete tower, the top of which shaven to its core, of American dollars stood before him once he laid the scroll on the ground. His hand easily slipped underneath a outer portion of the tower's dwindling top and with practiced ease he lowered it onto the ground just before the tower vanished into the scroll once again. Unfurling the other scroll he sealed the collected money away like its giant counterpart and stashed the scroll in question into his belt. "Just in case," he murmured.
Closing his cupboard, he made for the window after double checking the locks on his door.
XVX
Vault foyer, Lexcorp Research and Development Wing
Out from the shadows a pair of hands reached out and grabbed the unsuspecting mouth, as well as the head of the unsuspecting guard.
Snap!
It took the offender's fast acting wit and experience to support the dead weight against himself and dragged it into the unrelenting shadows.
In another hallway a similar act occurred with a kunai. And in another, and another, and another did a unwitting guard fall victim by some means that was as silent as it was lethal. Nor were the rooms safe, more specifically the guard rooms and armories. Short of a expert safe cracking team by original design, none would enter them again. Was it unnecessary? Perhaps, but precautions must be made. Luxuries had to be sacrificed lest they tempt oblivion. The only real obstacle to their mission, thus far, was the vault door itself; titanium, five feet thick and electrified thanks to the last robbery the corporation suffered, let alone speak of the reinforced cement walls reinforced with titanium as well. Were it not for the blueprints and the loose lips of an informant, they would've found this to be... difficult to say the least as far as stealth was concerned. Especially since the only means of opening it were two separate consoles, each equipped with a slot for a keycard. To their misfortune none of the guards had either of them, leaving the electrified manual lever within the hulking door's defenses as their most apparent hope.
"Bomb tags?" Guy asked.
"Too risky; for all I know there's still a guard on duty somewhere to sound the alarm," Kakashi uttered as he continued to eye the vault door.
"Huh... Perhaps lightning fist could create some sort of immunity?"
"I suppose. If we had a voltmeter on us or something we'd be able to pull that off. Be interesting to say the least if we got it to open manually like that."
"Vents?"
The silver haired man looked up to see if there was an available grate as his hands dug into a pouch in his flak jacket. Producing the paper, he tilted his gaze to the blue prints in his grasp. "There seems to be a few air ducts that leading to the vault." A hand went to his ear. "Sakura!"
"Yes?"
"Is there an air vent by your location?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Can you open it up and see how large it is? With luck we can use one of the air ducts to crawl past the door."
"Got it." A brief pause. "I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei. It's too small. Looks like we may have to find another way in—CLANG!"
"Sakura? Sakura!" The silver haired man turned to his teammate with a covered scowl. "I'll see if I can find a generator and destroy it. If that doesn't work then we'll have to scrap the mission now," he calmly bit out.
"I'll find Sakura then and see if she's alright then," he readily agreed.
XVX
Laboratory wing
BOOM!
"Argh!" Few things could actually put so much as a scratch on him. Yes there have been times when his limbs have been broken but those were few and far in between. On that note however he had yet to recall a time when anyone, enemies as strong as Cinderblock included for example, had ever left a fist sized indent in the center of his chest!
"Ooof!"
Joining him on his pile atop a ruined table was Starfire sporting a similar injury to her stomach, albeit less noticeable than his own.
"I believe the expression is that she "hits like a truck," yes?" she groaned.
"Yep," he groaned in return. "More like a tank though this time around."
"Hyaaah!" BOOM!
"This is gonna be one of those nights," he grumbled as Starfire climbed to her feet. She offered him a helping hand which he gratefully accepted as his free arm transformed into a sonic cannon.
Bam!
Immediately a small lamp light popped out of the titan's shoulder when all sense of light had been lost. "Please tell me there's a backup generator about to kick on..."
"AAH!"
Not even a quarter of the way of swerving the sonic weapon around did Cyborg feel a fist collide with his face with enough power to send him flying, landing this in time on his teammate in a daze.
"Starfire! Cyborg! We could use some help over here!"
XVX
CRASH!
It was a narrow dodge but a valuable one all the same. He can only imagine how it came to be. A fracture of an error on her part when the lights went out? Perhaps, but it was valuable nonetheless. In any event it afforded him breathing room by reaching for his collapsible bo staff and swiping at Sakura who in turn jumped back the second she heard the telltale clicking of the device being primed. With his experience in likewise situations in the darkness, without benefit of detective vision, he dodged a kicked trashcan aimed at him in retaliation.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"
Unfortunately in all likelihood she had her own experiences as well. She easily dodged the mess of ruined, lifeless electrical cables jutting out from the ceiling with a trio of back flips even as the cables pursued her in the dark. Again she dodged their lunging attack by jerking to the side in time for the heads of which to pass her, her hand grasping a kunai from the holster tapped to her hip. With a quick attack of her own she 'decapitated' the cables in a downward slash, flipped the knife's pummel into her grasp and flung it in short order at what she suppose was the source. A split second later she armed herself and deflected a birdarang in the dark, otherwise missing a dark, slithering being sneaking by her right foot till it was too late, when coiled muscles of a boa constrictor had enwrapped her in a crushing hold that bound her arms to her person, effectively making the kunai useless in her defense.
"AGH!" CRASH!
Even when startled Beast Boy didn't relent while Robin twirled towards the direction of Raven's scream with grit teeth and his weapon bared in time to raise it for a last minute punch from her assailant. The defense held though ultimately it bent the staff to a severe degree yet the attack didn't stop. The hand retreated back into the immediate shadow and out came a spinning kick, again blocked by the damaged staff, warping it even further under its sheer force and tilting it out of the way for a spinning back kick that slammed into his head, sending him crashing into worktable and destroying it in one stroke.
"Sakura, anata wa daijōbudesu!(*1)"
"Hai watashi wa daijōbudayo! Watashi ni chōdo orokana hebi!(*2)" Sakura shouted back in time for a figure to slam into Guy, smashing him into the wall with a vengeance with her eyes glowing a fierce green.
"Raven!" Though his shoulder lamp was turned off, his robotic eye found her groaning form all the same.
"Please tell me that was his best shot," she dryly mumbled, taking the offered hand up.
"Getting whacked by him myself I'm betting he was more concerned about Pinky over there than ending this. Starfire's got him distracted at the moment, you knock her out and I'll go check on Robin!"
She nodded, enveloped herself within a shell of her power and vanished only to appear in front of the still struggling Sakura.
"What do you want?!" she growled. She angrily eyed the ashen teen whilst she clutched her side and brought a pointed finger to her forehead. For a brief moment the Titan's eyes became blank, a void of white, and not a second later Sakura's head dropped without warning, all pretense of a struggle forgotten in favor of a limp state as the snake turned into Beast Boy.
"Hey Raven, are you alright?"
Boom!
Both diverted their attention to a smoking hole in the wall, the sounds of a fight beyond it hinting as to how it came to be.
"I'm fine, go help Starfire!" Beast Boy gulped but nodded anyway just before turning into a wolf and bounding towards the new entrance. Raven, meanwhile, darted to a kneeling Cyborg and a still unmoving Robin.
"He's alright," Cyborg said without looking up. "He won't be getting up for awhile though."
Boom!
Scowling he diverted his attention away from their unconscious leader. "Think we should call her in?" he asked solemnly.
For a moment, just a moment, her hand was tempted to flee to the backside of her own belt where a cell phone was hidden away, a requirement she had demanded of Naruto in case of an emergency regarding his ward, and call up the shinobi in on the other line considering it was aligned with his half spoken objective... She grimaced and reached for her communicator instead.
XVX
Pier Nineteen
"You know we really should have a reunion party of sorts. A little celebration party between you, me and ol' Bunkai, especially since considering your little experiment was essentially a success. Unintended in its result but a success nevertheless."
Of the two Naruto didn't respond as his more unnatural eye carefully inspect each of the back tier warehouses they threatened to pass.
"You know it usually takes two people to carry on a conversation. Furthermore considering you asked for my help I believe I'm entitled to being entertained a little."
"Can't I just suffer in silence?" Naruto grumbled, earning an amused snort from the weapons dealer.
"No I'm afraid you can't. Back to the topic on hand though, and knowing you, I'm fairly bet she would be titillated to find her husband had bothered to organize a "Welcome Home" party."
"True," Naruto murmured. "She might even enjoy cracking open a Sēji piñata."
The man himself sighed drearily. "Out of the two of you you're the one with a sense of humor... or at least is the more forgiving."
"You're just lucky that I was duped into taking a three year trip with the pervert sage. If anything I built up a tolerance for that stunt you pulled."
"You still put three of our guys into body castes you know. We had to delay our plans for about... eight months was it?"
"As oppose to being sliced up?"
"Touché... " he hummed. "Still, I'm a little amazed that you lasted this long before running back to her already."
"What can I say? I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to her."
Again the other man hummed. "Fair enough. I suppose jealous spouses have a right to make the other happy and safe where they can."
When Naruto stopped he stopped too, the both of them ended up staring at each other, one of who was glaring at the other. Raising a finger at him, Sēji stated his only defense to the matter, "Entitled."
The glare lasted a minute afterwards yet in the end they resumed their walk. That is until they reach third from the last warehouse available on the furthermost row from the ocean.
"Oh? Found something have you?"
"Mhmm..." Whoever they were they wore all black save for metallic boots segmented only by lines, gloves of the same design, a utility belt and a shoulder encasing mantle that ringed their necks. The only other sense of color to them however was a large noticeable dull orange spot fixed to the middle of their masks. And while he didn't know who they were, he did know who they were gathering around, one of whom using a gun-like injection device to pump a solution of some kind into his arm.
"Well I don't see Kakashi, Guy or Sakura anywhere but we did at least find Sasuke... surrounded by a group of guys injecting him with something."
"Oh?"
The Uchiha's eyes opened with the flare of a spinning sharingan and immediately he leapt to his feet only to duck and sweep kick one of the closest of the men. As the others hunched over and drew guns, 'blasters' actually upon closer inspection as some had called them, Sasuke already flipped away, slammed through an office door into the warehouse proper.
"So should I handle this or would you like the 'honor?'"
Sighing, Naruto cracked his neck. "Give Kakashi my regards if he shows up," Naruto rumbled as he made for the door.
"Will do!" Sēji replied with a grin. It grew a little larger as he witnessed Naruto,, instead of walking through the door, vanish from sight by sinking through the ground.
XVX
Laboratory, Lexcorp
Robin had been evacuated as well as Sakura after binding her arms behind her as a preventative measure. Only three outside of herself were still here, two of which were engaged with her former teacher: Cyborg, who was hanging back in reserve. Starfire who, for all intents and purposes, battling Guy and Beast Boy in a likewise role...
She took a deep breath and made sure her equipment was sure. This was not going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination, especially since she would have to alter her own fighting style quite a bit for the sake of remaining anonymous... to which she couldn't help but groan. Of her known styles a close quarters fight had to be her less proficient of which. She was confident in her ability to do it, just that her teacher was better, and did it unarmed no less whereas she would most definitely use a weapon regardless of its versatility...
"Open up, Moku." With his abilities combined with her skills, coupled with by the strengths and abilities, it should be a fair fight.
XVX
Bamf!
Destroying an apparatus of unknown purpose, Starfire groan and yanked herself out of the crushed heap in time for an axe kick to finish its destruction. Twirling about, the tamaranean flung a starbolt in midair only to miss the man who strafed to the side whilst arming himself with a pair of nunchaku .
"OOH-HA!" Smash!
Again he dodged an attack, this time in the form of a green gorilla whose fists now rested on rubble. With a grunt he twisted himself to face the creature who knew to be a shapeshifter from his excursion thus far, and he was not disappointed in that aspect. He twirled his weapon about in a brisk pace as the gorilla warped into something else, a lizard for all he knew of colossal size with a muzzle that could swallow a car and teeth as dangerous as shorts words. When it opened its maw is bellowed a roar befitting of its menacing stature and charged at him in a head butt, not daring to use its teeth by being the hero that he was... a small part of Guy couldn't help but smile a little at such youthful conviction to not kill. Regardless he leapt at the beast and landed upon its forehead as it dashed to the nearest wall available, and again he jumped forward once there was no room left to run on. In midair he turned himself however towards another onrushing enemy, the alien girl from before, and brought down his still spinning weapon on the teenager with enough force to elicit a cry from her as she was swatted back down to earth.
"Hm?" Acting on the last second as he fell, he turned himself once more and spread his nunchaku out in a poor defense all things considered. Though he grimaced he wasn't the least bit surprised by an apparent whip slipping past his improvised shield to grab a hold of his chest in a tight coil. Without waiting the slackness of the silver whip was yanked to a taut state as both the weapon and the victim were hurtled across the room in open air, leaving him open to precision fire from a high pitched wave of blue firing from the shadows that slammed into him and sent him crashing into the far wall.
"Ha! Now we're even!" Cyborg cried as Tenten, garbed in her vigilante gear, dropped to the floor and raised her silver gauntlets up in a defensive fashion.
Like Starfire before him he wormed his way out of his crater and landed onto his feet, his form and nunchaku at the ready for whatever may come. He wasn't left waiting. From above a hail of green bolts screamed down, pelting what it may sans a jonin on the run, dodging another blast from Cyborg along the way.
A part of her wanted to run to him, stop him if she could but she halted herself and looked to her gauntlets as a flicker of an idea struck her. Kneeling down, she slammed both hands into the ground and the pools of liquid metal lurched forth from there, forming a thick vine which quickly turned into chains that eagerly burrowed into the floor. Meanwhile Beast Boy brought himself back, this time in the form of a rhinoceros bearing down on the jonin who turned to him, his nunchaku at the ready once more.
Boom!
To his credit that, while surprised, he didn't flinch in the least as chains attached to drills wrapped themselves around his ankles. At most he relinquished the momentum of his nunchaku to hold up his arms like a boxer's defensive stance...
"Oh crap..." Immediately her hand went to her communicator without impediment from the chains and sternly hissed into it, "Don't do it Beast Boy!"
It was too late. A column of displaced air, of chakra made manifest, encased Might Guy and within it his eyes became milky white, yet not blind as she knew from experience, veins began to bulge as a greater influx of blood rushed through them and in turn turned his a darker shade in red. Yet that was not the end of it. While it was terrifying enough to realize he may have already been fighting with two of the eight gates unlocked, or perhaps worse yet he forced his way open to the third gate, the radius of the column expanded even further, indicating yet another gate was opened... and Beast Boy was blindly charging towards the only one who benefited from it, even if it was only short term in the grand scheme of things.
CRACK!
For all the natural defenses of a rhino it still failed to withstand the sheer force of a simple right hook to its face, sending the changling off as an unconscious missile to crash into the far away floor.
"Cyborg!" Tenten hissed, during which Starfire warily clenched her fists as she sternly stared at the man who in turn easily tore through the chains that bound him in place. "Is there any way to call for backup or something?"
"... He's that dangerous?"
"The Eight Gates technique... basically he's not only unleashed the latent potential of the human body but he's getting stronger with each "gate" he unlocks! He could level the whole building if he wants to right now."
"Aw Robin is not going to like this at all... how long can you hold him?"
Her lip quirked in a self depreciating grin. "A minute at most if I go all out."
"Damn, I'm on it!"
Without her having to will it the broken chains returned to their gelatinous form on her gauntlets without the slightest interruption as she dug through her belt for her scrolls. Guy, meanwhile, once again slide into a stance, tucking the free end of his weapon into the crook of his arm as he eyed the two of them and the shadows before enacting his first move. An instant later he vanished entirely. A pillar of what used to be a support column crumbled under the non-gentle touch of a foot kicking off it and a moment later he appeared above the tamaranean who gaped at him, her arms raising themselves only on instinct with each hand clutching a starbolt as he brought down an axe kick down on her head.
BOOM!
And down she went, straight through the floor to never rise again for the rest of the fight and the kunoichi knew it for a fact. Regardless Might Guy was descending once more, his target the opening he made and surely the foe he sent through it if his rotating form indicated anything; with no means to reach a more active enemy, finishing off a current one was a viable option...
A tether shot out from each orb belonging to her left gauntlet, each attaching themselves to the other gauntlet even as she raised it up as if to smash it through the ground. The gelatin metal soon completely abandoned her left hand and joined forces with the pools of her right, spreading themselves out and encasing the entirety of the armor and her forearm, effortlessly forming a silvered hammer for a fist and a piston at the back of her elbow just before she made contact with the ground. The second she touched the ground, cracking it even with the initial blow, the piston kicked into action by injecting its own velocity into the blow.
BOOM!
Again as she fell the liquid-like metal acted seemingly of its own accord to return to its more natural state if only for a moment, like before chains shot forth from the its origin and snapped into action with a fling of each arm towards her downed comrade. Like living snakes they found her, wrapped themselves around her and yanked her back into the relative safety offered by the kunoichi just as Guy finally came into view, crashing into the floor without the benefit of an enemy to crush underneath.
Grunting, he faced her and flung his nunchaku about without letting go as his opponent brought her hands into the T-shaped seal of the shadow clone, conjuring forth a copy that took a listless Starfire into her grasp as the original armed herself with a pair of scrolls much to the man's evident curiosity, irritation and hesitance by knowing such a style. The double absconded with Starfire to the safety of the shadows, leaving the two to square off as the original unfurled her scrolls...
She jumped before he could even blink. Flipping herself, she landed feet first on the ceiling and planted herself there as she whipped her scrolls into action, unleashing their payloads in a wide pattern in hopes of pinning a provoked Might Guy. Unfortunately it only succeeded in proving he was on the move: whilst the weapons fell upon him Might Guy charged, the improvised defense provided by his own weapon of choice was more than enough to deflect the kunai, the shuriken, spears, swords, axes, anything with a blade given his current state with unfettered agility even while on the move. Before she knew it he was directly 'atop' of her, hunched over and looking straight at her with a steely determination promising to end this fight. All she could do was abandon her spent scrolls in turn and wait for him.
He did not disappoint.
At the last minute she leapt out of the way, out of the punch's path and into the relative safety of the air as Guy demolished her last spot. In the end however her hopes were tarnished— held back enough of his strength to recover far too quickly for her liking and used it to catapult right into her, shoulder first, sending her crashing into the weapon covered ground and leaving her sprawled out while he landed not far away.
"I'm sorry about this," Guy murmured as he approached her stilled form, "but in the face of a grave threat we can't afford to be courteous." He stopped and spied her clenching her hand in her own agitation. His eyes widened when he noticed something else, countless silvery strings as thick as spider threads reached out from the kunoichi's gauntlets and spread themselves into the veritable forest that was her spent weaponry. With a sudden jerk she whipped her hand in his direction and with it a wave of everything but spears were ripped out of their resting place to be use against him in a wave; getting up she lashed out with her other arm and with it another likewise wave rushed to meet him. Effortlessly he retreated via a leap back, again tucking the free portion of his weapon under as he carefully eyed the woman masterfully twirling one host of weapons above her in a protective circle as the other arm rested at her side, the weapons belonging to it, in contrast, rested on the ground...
He took a breath and cracked his neck, the arsenal above her gradually began to tilt in anticipation. Like before his chakra manifested itself to the naked eye in the form of displaced air, of power increasing beyond the body's natural limits to which she paled at yet stood firm nevertheless... there was a little point in running. Yet that wasn't the end of it and she knew it as the radius increased and an aura of blue enveloped him, in truth it was discolored sweat being evaporated the very second it was formed by his overheated body; gate seven, a gate typically used only in truly dangerous situations.
Knowing full well she couldn't dodge him if she tried at this point she glanced about for some indicator as to why he would go into such an advanced stage. Surely her skills alone wouldn't be reason enough to push him over the edge... Was it to save Sakura? Did he think there was an enemy waiting for him in the dark? Or perhaps he already spent a good deal of his energy before she was teleported here and he was running on fumes at this point, turning this into a suicide run as far as his own tactical analysis were concerned?
Regardless, her greatest hope in surviving this lie in her offensive capabilities. It was far too late for him to turn back now; once he left this stage he would barely have the energy to stand let alone the have the simple ability to do it. Whisking her arm forth, the dormant horde flung at Guy with renewed life only to miss him by a mile by his sheer disappearance alone, forcing her readjust those above her and letting it drop from there... Not even half a second later when she stopped to let gravity do its work did he reappear not two feet from her, to her side, his open palm cocked back and thrusting with the other following the hand itself... for all that it was worth the strings retreated to their base and as globules tethered together to formulate a large, thick round shield in the barest hope of surviving the killing blow.
KA-BOOM!
In the light and in the abrupt tsunami that was the sheer power of the blow itself she hadn't even realized she was flying, not until her back smacked into something that wasn't the wall yet held her all the same as the roaring wind. She could hear nothing, see nothing but the savage roar of the wind yet she noticed a distinct detail about her self— she wasn't hit. Or at least the pain hadn't set in just yet. That and if she squinted and squinted hard she could make out a blurred figure in the light, his or her cape struggling to remain on their person through it the tinted glass of her goggles, difficult though it was. As with all things. however, the explosion of pure might eventually faded and with it came the full restoration of her senses, albeit sluggishly thanks to the natural workings of the human eye in particular.
"Are you alright?" It was a gruff voice that spoke, deep, commanding but concerned all the same. Whatever it was that she was stuck to moved and lowered her to stand on her on feet though it didn't remedy her current blindness, even removing her goggles didn't help in the least.
"Sure... yes," she said quietly as she strained her ears to find some clue as to Guy's status... "I didn't die did I?"
An amused scoff came from her left. "No. Zatanna there managed to put him to sleep, and you're lucky the big guy took that hit for you." He paused. "Hey Kal! Is everything alright?"
"Yeah," someone else replied with just the barest touches of a groan in his voice. "I'll admit that was a lot more than I expected... Excuse me miss but is he even human?"
With a frown she turned in the direction of the voice. "Yes... At least as far as know... why do you ask?"
An audible smirk came from her left. "You seem pretty calm all things considering."
Her frown deepening despite being hidden, she turned to the first voice. "Come again?"
There was a pause... "You do realize who you're talking to right?"
Resisting the urge to scratch at the back of her head she squirmed in discomfort. "I'm having a little trouble seeing at the moment..."
"Ah, let me help with that," a third voice, a woman's voice, spoke up. "Ees reh stel."
Like a muted light her vision returned with such force she blinked just to make sure it wasn't an illusion. Blinking again just to be extra sure, she slowly shifted her gaze to whom she guessed to be the first one to talk to her: a dark skinned man with a dome of short curly black hair tapering to a peak on his forehead, a goatee, glowing green eyes and a suit of black and green featuring a symbol at the middle of his chest that was of a circle cordoned off by another one, the smaller of which was adorned with two horizontal bars at the top and bottom of the symbol. Shifting her gaze to the black haired woman who wore a black top hat, a black suit jacket covering a single breasted shirt that was loosened to show off a scandalous amount of cleavage, high heels, fishnet stockings and what appeared to be the bottom half of a leotard without legs. The third...
"Holy crap..."
"I was wondering when she'd geek out," the woman giggled as Tenten's jaw threatened to break through her face mask upon identifying one of the most identifiable members of the Justice League, not to mention of course her own self chastising for not recognizing the Green Lantern of all people beforehand.
"Hey Bell!" Clamping her mouth shut yet retaining her deer in the headlights look she robotically turned to Cyborg rushing down a ruined yet still stable set of stairs. "Are you alright?!" Mechanically she nodded at him as the other good naturedly chortled at her.
"I think meeting us is the worst thing that happened to her tonight," Green Lantern offered, earning a small grin and nod from Superman. The grin however faded as he adopted a more concerned grimace.
"I'm sorry to pressure you but I have a question." If it could her neck would've creaked like rusted steel being moved as she faced him, yet his attention was on Cyborg.
"Yeah?"
"You wouldn't by chance know what they were after do you?"
A contemplative scowl crossed Cyborg's lips. "All I know is that this place at least use to hold a lot of xenothium..."
"Big white room? Circular? Has a glass pedestal in the middle to showcase a sample?"
"... Someone broke in it and took everything, didn't they?"
"They blown straight past the vault door; I imagine they had to use everything they got to make a man size hole in the wall when the backup generator kicked in for the door itself."
"Damn..." The cybernetic teen grimaced as he looked to Tenten. "You wouldn't by chance know anything about xenothium, would you?"
"Huh? Xenothium? Sorry?"
Leaning over, Zatanna whispered softly into the Lantern's ear, "I think she's still a little star struck."
"And I agree," a mechanical voice teasingly wheezed, unheard by all but one.
"Sorry, I honestly don't know what this xenothium stuff is!" Tenten replied with a small, albeit forced laugh whilst she folded her hands in front of her; a finger lightly flicked against one gauntlet as frustrated retribution on her part.
"Well if it's all the same to you do you mind if we asked you a few questions?"
Frowning, she collected enough of herself to look past them all to witness her former sensei on the ground as if he simply collapsed. His skin was back to normal and thankfully it was evident he was breathing... "Sure..." she looked to Superman. "Would you mind if I checked on my friends first?"
A gentle smile applied itself to him. "Sure. We'll meet you at your tower if that's alright."
"Uh sure... right?" she looked to Cyborg only to find him staring at Zatanna. With a nudge from a mildly amused Green Lantern he snapped out of it. "Huh? What? Uh... sure! No problem!"
"Great. We'll meet you over there then." Without further ado they left. The men took to the air, the Green Lantern of Course lagged behind to capture the fallen shinobi with the power of his ring the magician of their team took off her hat, reached in it and produced a want to which she 'drew' a doorway. As she left though the kunoichi could've swore she saw a scowl on the woman's lips...
"Hey Ten?"
"Yes Cyborg?"
"What did I just agree to?"
"... Maybe an hour more to be in the same room as your 'girlfriend'?"
"I have no regrets then."
On their own accord they made for the stairs with only a mild sense of awareness for any at all rubble that may fall upon them thanks to Might Guy's attack.
"You don't suppose she's willing to autograph a picture of her do you?"
"Doesn't hurt to ask. Hey, what happened to Starfire and Beast Boy?"
"Don't worry. Raven came back for them."
XVX
Konoha Hideout, an hour later
Hollow was the best word to describe how he felt. No reports came from Guy as of late, not since he started planting bomb tag after bomb tag onto the wall to conserve his energy. One teammate was gone or else being brought back at that very moment for all he knew, though the chances of that were slim at this point. Another teammate was missing, either suffering the same fate as Sakura or else forced into hiding himself, only time will tell which was true. But regardless, he was alone now with nothing but the destroyed shells of what used to be humanoid robots for company and a note to reject the notion that Sasuke simply woken up and left half of the building's contents to just burn...
Running a hand through his hair he groaned. Without Ino there wasn't a means to force him to reveal the jutsu that brought them here. Without Kurenai there wasn't a means to tricking him into revealing it. His own eye, as far as he knew, was nothing short of a destructive force that lead to nowhere. And torture... was out of the question; aggression towards capture was one thing, to maim a person of interest was another subject entirely. If anything then there was just one option left for him, a test of wills really. The offer was still valid and not necessarily confined to its original target. From there it was just a matter of trial and error. If nothing else then there was this so called "magic" so called sorcerers practiced and even then there was advance technology offered by species not of this world. If he was lucky then there was a mad scientist or two who might have the capacity to bring them home.
She smirked a solemn smirk. There was an issue to be addressed first before he could take that path: Might Guy's status. If he was alive and well but forced into hiding then it would take him some time to get back. While he, Kakashi, could handle Naruto by himself it never hurt to have an ally to increase the chances of success.
He pulled out a kunai, a pencil and a piece of paper. He quickly scribbled "B点 (*3)" onto it, jabbed the kunai's tip through it, got up and walked over to the nearest wall stud available to which he jabbed his own note onto it before walking away with a finger pressing against his still active earpiece. "Guy, if you can hear me then meet me at the second rally point."
"If you don't show up then I'm going to go on ahead of you."
XVX
Alleyway
"How-how didsh that one shong go again? Hic!"
"I-uh... Fuck it! Let'sshhh shing it one more time!"
Together two drunken shinobi raised up a beer bottle for each as they stumbled their way through the alley, singing together as they navigated the treacherous obstacle of discard paper, trash cans jammed to the sides and a homeless man haunting the very entrance to the alleyway with nothing to aid them then the support of one another. "Tis half passsht three and the chill is gone, it's the longesssht binge I ever been... Hhooooow'd it go again...?"
"... What do you do with a drunken sailor!" Sēji started up only to pause and gain a vacant look to his already plastered features. "Uuuuhhh..."
"Toss 'im out da window?" Naruto offered before tagging a swig.
"I-I-I think it involved ssshhaving him or something..."
"You sheeeeerrr are drunk!"
"Yes I am!" Like a victory toast they downed their drinks in record time.
It wasn't that long ago that Sēji had essentially dragged him against his will in a dive bar, after stowing away his Grave suit and left a drugged, bound, blind folded and gagged Sasuke in the most convenient guarded hideout the weapons dealer had available of course. That's when he saw it: a special news bulletin of "NINJAS IN JUMP!" Once more the regional office and laboratory of Lexcorp and been broken into, a number of its security staff murdered this time around. While a representative tried to deny claims of a theft in the building it was leaked however of two shinobi that were both sighted and caught by the Teen Titans and, interestingly, the Justice League: Sakura and Might Guy...
All that was left now was to capture Kakashi and end this feud. Though premature a celebration party was most definitely in order, leading to the second time in his life that Naruto was officially drunk beyond a reasonable doubt. It was however the first time that he wanted to kiss a woman outside of his beloved though, Lady Luck herself or at least his own made manifest in a woman's form. If it were a guy then to hell with his 'savings,' the night was solely for him, yet alas he had to make do with the man he could tolerate at best, a room full of strangers, and himself of course.
"Seems like you two are having the times of your lives."
"Huh?" Turning around with Sēji in tow he spotted the homeless man, a man in a tattered rain coat, patchwork blue jeans, scavenged blue shirt, graying hair and a full beard standing near the entrance. "Yeah!" Naruto replied as the other leaned in, a open hand acting as a shield for a whisper. "He'sh been drinking a lot!" he 'whispered' conspiratorially. "Don't tell him that though! He hates drinking!"
"I am not!" Naruto declared. "I'm just mildly...! Mildly..." He looked to the sky as if to ask for help. "I'm really happy! Hic!" he cried, taking a swing from the bottle and falling onto his back in the process, taking a giggling Sēji with him who sprawled out on his own accord and promptly nodded off. The older man sighed and shook his head however. Without being prompted to he walked over to them, his hand digging into a coat pocket and producing a stun gun with a large yellow rectangular barrel garnished lightning bolts for each side.
"Kids these days," he sighed to himself. "On the other hand though this makes it all easier." He knelt down, gun primed and halfway from reaching its victim. It was only on the last second that he pulled back and stepped away from a hand that snapped up to ensnare his own.
"I may be drunk but I'm not defenseless," Naruto growled in a surprisingly sober tone just before staggering back to his feet.
Smirking, the older man shook his head. "Be that as it may you doused yourself in enough liquor to make you an easier target. Kudos though. I don't often met people who have enough sense to bait their enemies while they're drunk." He grinned a little as the blond before him grabbed for something, most likely a weapon that was supposed to be at his waist and seemingly be confused by the fact he was grasping at air till he looked down. "Even for shinobi that's a bit of a rare trait, especially in an ambush," he added.
As if it had some sobering effect on him the one eyed teenager glared at him. "Just who are you?" he growled once more.
The grin became a little more dark in nature. "I'm Cassandra's father."
His cerulean eye narrowed. "Sorry, I don't think I know a Cassandra."
The man stowed the stun gun away and replaced it with a nine-millimeter handgun with a silencer. "She never did talk much; she never even said a word to me." He pulled the gun's chamber back and let it slam back into place with a satisfying click whilst his opponent dropped his bottle.
"You still didn't identify yourself," Naruto stated, cracking his neck not long afterwards.
"Sorry but I'm not into the habit of giving out my name." Pew!Bam! Nowhere near startled by the sudden appearance of a trashcan where his target stood, he immediately he swung the gun around, his free hand ripped out a collapsible night stick as he brought his sights to bear on the blond behind him who was now armed with a kunai. The blade and the stick clashed in a small flurry of sparks and a free hand grappled with the wrist of the gun bearing hand, jerking the barrel away from its intended target to the wall at their side.
"I take it your with those shinobi that were in Gotham?"
"You could say that." A knee jabbed forth yet the younger man countered by stepping to the man's side at the cost of sacrificing the draw between their weapons. Smirking once more the man stabbed at a hidden button on the stick's handle, a switch that let the metal pole spark to life with electricity which he jabbed at him in a feint before swinging it in reverse to twist himself to swipe at the blonde's head. Again he missed however by the shinobi's ducking underneath the stun baton and retaliating by stabbing into the man's gun-arm. To his credit the elder man only gritted his teeth without letting go of his second weapon nor did he yield, especially when the option of a counterattack was kept in check by a twist of the knife. More so however when the shinobi forced him to rotate his position so he was a bodily shield between the one-eyed teen and the world just beyond.
"See him do you?"
Silence was his answer.
"Then you should also be aware of the team at the other end." As if on cue a shinobi dressed like those Naruto encountered in Gotham stepped into view with a submachine gun aimed, modified only by a silencer like the pistol of his captured comrade.
"So who is she?"
"As I said, she's my—"
"Not Cassandra," he sternly said in favor of a warning. "Just by looking at you and what you're armed with Cassandra is more of a bonus." His blue eye narrowed even further. "This is more of a contract than anything else."
"Really?" He chuckled slightly. "Quite a bold conclusion for a kid."
"You're not denying it."
He sighed. "It was a contract," he admitted. "Unfortunately too many unexpected factors robbed us of our only opportunity."
A smirk of his own played across Naruto's lips. "The Justice League by chance?"
"Correct." A sardonic smile creased the man's lips. "Against people like yourself there wouldn't be too many questions as to how they died after all." A frown took over his visage. "Yet our only viable distraction to this, however, was grounded."
"And since you were in the city you might as well collect your daughter, am I right?" At his still visible grin he prodded once more, "Again, who is she?"
"No one of consequence," the other man stated.
"Excuse me for not taking that at face value," the blond retorted. "The guns don't really help your case either."
"Point," he murmured. "All the same though it's rather poor conduct on my part to reveal my client now wouldn't it?" The knife twisted even more into his arm yet he continued to stand his ground. "Besides, I can do this all day..." He level a serious gaze upon him. "And this can end one of two ways as you know." The other shinobi aimed the barrel of his gun at the drunk en sleeper on the ground, blissfully unaware of the happenings around him. Its desired effect though was nowhere to be found in slow dangerous smirk affecting the blond. "What are you planning?" he half rumbled.
"Just praying a little that my more unfortunate traits aren't genetic." He snapped his hand away from the gun bearing wrist, drew it back just long enough for a swirling orb of blue chakra. "Rasengan!" He jammed it into the man's chest and as expected he was sent flying, his senses too engrossed with pain to even recognize his situation let alone the smashing of his back through a glass door of a store which in turn sounded the alarm. Not missing a beat he swung himself around and let the kunai loose with a marksman's precision at the would be gunner.
PWT! "RRRT!"
He wouldn't grant them the satisfaction of acknowledging the wound to his shoulder. If anything it would've slow him down from taking out a smoke pellet originally sewn to his sleeve.
POOF! PWT-DING!
Thanks to the newly born haze the second sniper round missed him by a mile, not to mention kept the gunner's replacement at bay long enough to grab a hold of the unconscious merchant, loop his arm around his comrade's neck. "Let's get you home, shall we?"
In a flicker they were gone, leaving the shinobi behind to take their wounded and disappear.
XVX
Room 309, Summer Hotel, twenty-nine minutes later
Were it not for his byakugan he would've been simply be deemed as righteously paranoid to don his suit once more upon simply spying a light coming from his room. Now though he could simply be accused of being something of a prideful moron to hide away his still healing wound so not to be babied, killing what was left of his good mood between the mild revelation of Cassandra's father and his subsequent ambush as well as what it inferred. Only that man knew how long he was to stay here and even then there was the matter of when he would make his next move...
But that was for later. Right now, aside from finding Kakashi, he needed some sleep. Or rather see to his unexpected guests before getting to sleep. "Raven." He nodded at the little girl in lieu of a greeting with a small smile on his lips. As usual she seemed to read it despite his helmet being in placed and gave him a small smile in return.
"I'm a little surprise I didn't see you earlier," Raven murmured without looking up from one of small assortment of tomes.
"Let me guess, the break in at Lexcorp?" She nodded. "I was at the other side of town when that happened."
"Oh?" she asked, looking up at long last.
Nonchalantly Naruto went to his cupboard, retrieved a scroll and made for his bathroom. "Managed to capture Sasuke. Admittedly I was expecting everyone that was left to be there rather than him..." He stopped halfway and looked to her with a frown. "Everyone's alright, aren't they?"
A small grateful smile adopted itself on Raven's lips. "Everyone is going to pull through." As he continued his trek she spoke up again, all but forcing him to stop in shock. "In the interest of full disclosure however, Tenten did take part in the fight as well." He looked to her as if expecting her to elaborate. "She's a little sullen but she's going to be okay."
He nodded and finished his journey, leaving her to draw her attention to their frowning ward who was staring intently at his form... her spirit troubled with worry. With a scowl of her own she got up and walked to the bathroom door just in time for it to be locked in place.
"So out of curiosity Raven," his voice back to normal, "how is it you found my room?" A pause ensued as Raven tried to find a proper answer to that... "Scratch that; why the sudden visit if I may ask?"
She sighed in relief and placed a hand on her beating heart.
"The tower received some guests from the Justice League not that long ago..." she answered. "One of them isn't exactly... fond of my heritage." She looked away despite the door shielding her person, jerking back only upon a pained hiss successfully snuck through it despite his best efforts.
"I understand," Naruto replied. "So you're here for a couple of days then? I have to warn you though, I pretty much stocked food pretty much for me here so... there's that!"
A small mirthful smile afflicted her as she shook her head. "I understand... and thank you."
"You're welcome." The door opened to reveal Naruto only in an orange shirt and gray sweatpants if his blindfold was to be ignored, his garnished katana in hand. "Hopefully I can turn you into a ramen convert before the night is through."
"I'm more of an atheist."
"You just love dashing my hopes and dreams, don't you?"
"You make it too easy to not dash them." Her gradual smirk faded however as she stared at him, he himself frowning upon realizing she wasn't intent on moving on his behalf. To his mounting apprehension she began to eye his body with a frown as if she were searching for something. Gradually she narrowed onto his left shoulder and his pallor paled slightly.
"Bed," she simply ordered.
"Um... why?" he asked as incredulously as possible yet her countenance brooked no argument. With a sigh he marched over, sat down at the lip of his bed and sulked as Raven soon joined him by knee-walking onto his bed and having him strip his shirt off once she was behind him. At Cassandra's worried expression he flashed her with what he hoped was a reassuring grin while Raven scowled at and picked at freshly laid bandages.
"How did this happen?" she asked suddenly, deepening her scowl once her eyes sized up the bullet hole. It gained a bit of a perplexed edge to it when she noticed it was knitting itself shut, the bone and muscle underneath was slowly but surely regenerating themselves at an almost unnoticeable pace. Meanwhile Naruto looked to the young girl and flashed her another smile which she barely, weakly returned.
"If it all the same to you though," he said after deliberately looking away from Cassandra, "would you mind if I explain that later?"
Catching his drift and glancing at the youngest among them she relented. During which she gently placed her hands next to his wound and willed her powers to pour into the wound, cloaking it in its typical field and coaxing it the close as the originally slow process of recovery sped up tenfold.
"Doesn't that tire you out? I mean I suffered worse injuries than this you know." She only rolled her eyes as she finished up her work. "The amount of energy required always depends on the seriousness of the injury itself. If anything I had my workout by patching up just about everyone earlier." He hummed softly.
"... So, supper?"
"Already ate."
"Both of you?"
"Yes."
"... You are aware I already introduced ramen in her life, right?"
"And I'm still working on repairing the damage that caused."
"... You, madam, are an evil woman, you know that right?"
"I have to get my kicks somewhere," she quipped with a smile.
A/N:Sorry for the late entry, and on Christmas no less (Yay)!Last month not withstanding I would've had this out sooner but frankly the chapter I written precursor to this I did not like.So I had to redo it and made sure it made a lot more sense than the first incarnation did, not to mention of course make it relatively believable.I hope you enjoyed this and happy holidays!
Google translator (Because I do not speak other languages much to my regret):
Japanese: (*1) "Sakura, are you ok?!"
(*2) "Yes I'm alright! Just a stupid snake on me!"
(*3) Point B
Monkeybandit2, making off with your attention!No refunds.