Chapter 7
Last Time
Lord was brought out of his trip down memory lane when the doorbell rang. He got up and opened the door to see Supergirl standing there.
"Welcome, Supergirl. Come on in. We have work to do." Lord said as Kara walked in robotically, Lord having a dark smirk as he closed the door behind him.
Chapter Start
A few hours later, Kara regained consciousness. She looked around, not recognizing where she was, before realizing she wasn't wearing what she had worn when she last remembered anything. Looking at her body, she realized she was wearing her Kryptonian Military garb. But she hadn't worn this since the Red Kryptonite incident! What was she doing, wearing this? And better question, how had she gotten into this garb and why couldn't she remember anything?
"Good, you're awake" Kara heard, going still as she turned her head towards where the voice originated, recognizing Maxwell Lord as he stepped out of the shadows.
"Lord, what is this? Where am I?" Kara demanded of him.
"Well Supergirl, you are at my house. Now, how you got here is another story." Lord trailed off ominously, concerning Kara with how he was speaking.
"Lord, what happened to you after Myriad?" She asked.
"Well Supergirl, after you gave me the Omega Heydron, I started to play around with it, experiment with it. After playing around with it some, and by complete accident, I discovered that I had the ability to control minds." He revealed, to Supergirls shock, her mind jumping to conclusions that that was what he did to her, as well as how she got here and why she couldn't remember anything. He made her forget all of it.
"No, that's impossible. Kryptonian's can't be mind controlled." Kara said, remembering what J'Jonn had told her.
"Yes, that was a bit of a problem at first. It took a little bit to control your mind, given that Kryptonian's have far more complex minds than an ordinary human. But eventually, I was able to understand your mind and find a way to control you. After all, I have telepathy and from that, stems my mind control, so I know that currently you're thinking and commanding your body to use your super strength and push me up against the wall and demand answers but subconsciously, your mind refuses to obey." Lord explained, to her shock, because that was exactly what she was thinking and trying to do right now. "Of course, it's not perfect. I can't just sift through your mind freely like the Martian can. It has to be thoughts you are presently thinking, but in time, I'll fix that."
"But how? I haven't seen you since Myriad. When would you have had time to even start trying to control me, if what you say is true and it took you much longer to control me?" Kara demanded, as that part of all of this did not make any sense. She also did her best to stay focused on Lord, and not think about Naruto or anyone saving her. Her one saving grace might be that Lord didn't seem to know of Naruto. At least, she hoped that was still the case. Lord may have already made her tell him about Naruto, but she had to pray that wasn't the case.
"Well that's just it, I bought the apartment next to yours. You probably thought that you knew who was living there, but the people in the apartment are my slaves, mind controlled to ignore what's going on. Meanwhile, I set up equipment that would allow me to use my powers on you from afar, so you would never guess that while you slept, I was slowly scanning your mind, understanding how it works, and figuring out how I would have to relax those natural defenses you have in order to control you." He explained.
"What do you want from me, Lord?" Kara demanded.
"Well Supergirl, I want you to be a better hero." Lord said, confusing her.
"What?" She asked in confusion. That didn't make any sense, given what he had just admitted to doing.
"Yes, Supergirl. You see, I always thought you could do better. Both you and Superman. The world has actual problems that need solved. Global warming melting the ice caps and raising the sea levels, oceans polluted with plastics and oil spills and the like, deforestation by governments which contributes to global warming, wars that don't need to be fought by greedy governments, etc. These are actual problems that need solved and yet, all you do is focus on National City's problems. The aliens, the metahumans, the day-to-day stuff to earn the applause of the people around you; all the while ignoring the real problems." Lord explained, getting almost angry as he explained. "And soon you will understand that." Lord grabbed something from one of his work bench's.
"What are you doing?" Kara asked, seeing the device that he was prepping in his hands.
"What, this? Well, to start with, I need a sample of your blood." Lord said.
"I'm invulnerable, Maxie. You won't be able to get a sample of my blood." Kara taunted him. She didn't feel confident though. He already knew so much about her, but she had to try and throw him off. Get him to make a mistake.
"Yes, I'm fully aware of that pesky invulnerability of yours. That's what this device is for. You see, this device will force you to use your heat vision, and quickly force you to drain most if not all of your solar energy reserves. You might be wondering how I know how your powers work. I remember the day about a year ago where you were missing. After I gained my powers, I started hacking into the government and noticed that you had fought one of Sam Lane's robots. Turns out you had used a lot your solar energy through your heat vision to destroy the Red Tornado in a fit of rage and anger. After the DEO scanned you, they realized you had emptied most of your natural reserves of solar energy doing this, which led me to surmise that the fastest way to get you to use up your solar energy reserves, and therefore, temporarily relieve you of your invulnerability, was to force you to empty them via heat vision expenditure." Maxwell explained to her, to her horror, as he DID know how her powers worked.
"What do you need my blood for?" Kara demanded of him. Him wanting her blood couldn't mean anything good.
"Let's just file that under the 'You've got bigger things to worry about' category." Lord said, as he approached her.
"Lord, stop. Let me go. You don't have to do this." Kara pleaded with him, hoping there was still some good left in the man she once knew.
"You don't have to worry Kara." Maxwell Lord said has he put his hand on her shoulder, almost comfortingly. "I don't want to kill you or hurt you. I want you to be a better hero. Together, the both of us are going to save the world together…" For a moment, Kara almost believed him. Almost.
Then his tone grew dark, "…but before that, you're going to help me kill a lot of people. Starting with all the aliens and meta-humans on this planet."
"I'll never help you murder all the aliens and meta-humans in the world!" Kara declared with a snarl, defiant despite utterly powerless in the face of his mental control over her.
"You won't have a choice, because once I'm done with the sample of your blood, I'm going to control you for the rest of your life. You will do my bidding and help me save this world. Though I will have to tear you down and build you back up the right way first. Now then, let's get this attached and start the draining process." The device was put on Kara's head, and Kara didn't really have a choice, as subconsciously, Lord had given her mental commands to follow his orders to the letter, even if her sub-consciousness was her own and not being controlled by him. She had no choice as she started using her heat vision on the device around her head, starting the process of emptying her solar reserves so that Maxwell Lord could continue his sinister plan of making her a better hero, by making her his slave.
DEO
At the same time
Naruto had been in a bit of a funk ever since Kara left him alone in the park last night. Telling him that she needed space had been the thing that he had hoped she wouldn't say. He knew telling her all about his past was a risky move. There was a chance though, that she might be able to look past the mistake that he had made or rather his failures toward the end of the Shinobi World War, and see that deep down, he was still a good man that was forced to make several impossible, no-win decisions. If he were being honest with himself, Naruto thought that what really made Kara decide she needed space was not killing his friend, or rather former friend, or even accidentally killing his old sensei and his other team mate. What really had got to Kara was the fact that he had known that his attempt to remove chakra from humanity, although successful, would result in some of the human population dying as a result. He had known this, and still, he had pressed on with his plan, believing that the only way to make it so the next war that humanity fought would not be so destructive and they would stop fighting world wars, was to take chakra away from humanity. His reasoning was sound; after all, the easiest thing that humanity knew how to do was fight and kill itself. The world he was living on now was full of history of humans killing each other for power, for greed, for territory, whatever the reason. One would only need to look at the case of World War One, where old alliances dragged the European continent into a war that escalated well beyond what any of them thought was possible. Naruto compared his decision to take chakra away to taking away the nukes from humanity. Because the way he saw it, humanity having chakra would eventually lead to their mutually assured destruction. And while he had to quell the war and chaos that soon erupted after he had taken chakra away from humanity and left it so only he had it, he still knew they would fight. It was just a reality that he had to accept at this point.
Still, maybe he should not have told her about chakra. He sincerely doubted she could do anything about it. He hadn't explained how it worked, just that it existed, so without a deep understanding of it, the DEO wouldn't be able to do anything about it. He had promised to answer her questions and he had been honest with her. Lying would do him no good, she would be able to tell when he was lying if his heartbeat fluctuated. And he wouldn't have lied to her anyway. He had given his word and he wanted her trust, more than anyone else's.
Naruto sighed as he got up for the morning. He could either lay in bed all day sulking about the girl he liked clearly wanting nothing to do with him, or, he could go and get some shit down. He had the next 3 days off, so he decided to go out into the city and take his mind off Kara. He had gotten his new apartment finally, and was going to move his stuff from the DEO in. The apartment was about 5 city blocks down from where Kara was.
He moved what few things he had from the DEO into the apartment. Mostly just clothes, a laptop(which he had already removed all the garbage the DEO put on there was slowing it down and letting them spy on him), and books. Naruto looked around the apartment, taking note of a 3 person couch, a tv stand, a wood table with 4 chairs, a coat hanger, a door mat, and in the bed room, a King-sized bed with a couple layers of sheets and two pillows. he had bought most of this stuff yesterday after his talk with Kara.
'Hmm, that fridge could use some food.' He thought as he looked in the fridge.
Naruto went to a local grocery store and got a lot of food for the fridge. Putting it away, Naruto looked at his phone and saw no messages from Kara. He sighed. It was a slim hope that she would get over it within a day but he had still hoped.
Maxwell's House
Meanwhile, at Maxwell Lords house, Kara had just finished draining herself of solar energy as her heat vision beams fizzled out.
"Ah, good. About time you finished." Maxwell said as he took the device off her head and set it down. Pulling a syringe out, he uncapped it and stabbed it into her arm, causing Kara to groan as he filled it with her blood.
"So, you got what you wanted. Now what? Want to try and fail to make more of me?" Kara taunted, hoping he might explain what he wanted her blood for anyway.
"I have no interest in making more of you." Maxwell said as a masked man walked into the room. Maxwell had no interest in trying to create another Bizarro clone. Kryptonian dna was impossible to completely decipher with current levels of medical tech and trying to fill the missing gaps would lead to less than adequate results. And besides, why waste time on a clone, when he could already control the real deal?
"Deliver this to Cadmus at this address." Lord said to the man as he placed the syringe in a briefcase along with a written address and the man nodded and left.
"Cadmus!? You're working for them?" Kara feared the implications here. Lord knew her secret identity, so obviously, Kara was afraid he had told them her secret.
"Working for them? No, they work for me now. I met with their leader some time ago. And immediately enslaved her with my mind control the second she was in my line of site. They have the right idea but are misguided. They need direction. My direction." Lord explained as he pulled out some kind of weapon. Kara was not sure how to feel about what he said. On one hand, Cadmus didn't know her secret, thank Rao for that. On the other hand, now Lord was basically controlling them like puppets, which might make them even more dangerous.
She was brought out of her thoughts when he shot her with a ray of red light. It didn't hurt or leave a mark, which made her incredibly suspicious.
"What was that? What did you hit me with!?" Kara asked in fear.
"Oh, nothing much. Just a concentrated shot of Red Kryptonite radiation." Lord said almost gleefully, and Kara wanted to cover her mouth in horror. "It took you several days to go mad after just a brief exposure to its radiation. Imagine what a concentrated shot of the stuff might do." Kara could imagine it. And that was why she was so terrified right now.
"You'll need to refill your reserves and be at full strength, before you are ready for the next phase of my plan. It's nothing personal, Kara, but Cadmus isn't the stealthiest organization that ever lived. They want to be out in the open too much, and I don't have the patience or the ability to mind control everyone into doing what their told yet. And I need a distraction for the DEO and populace so they can work in the background. A return on power mad Supergirl ought to do the trick." Max said as he let her out of her restraints, knowing that with his mind control, she couldn't do anything he didn't want her to do.
"Now, it's noon right now. I'll release you tomorrow night. Go stand on the roof and get yourself recharged." Lord ordered, and Kara could only obey, as she prayed somebody could help her while she tried to figure out if there was anything she could do.
'Somebody. Please help me,' Kara pleaded mentally, as Maxwell's commands prevented her from doing anything.
Naruto
Next day
Naruto let out a sigh as he turned off the TV. He had spent the first morning of owning his new apartment goofing around on the internet, just reading and learning stuff and he had switched it up to watch some TV, but quickly grew bored with that. With that in mind, he grabbed his coat and walked out the door, ready to go out and meet some people.
"Naruto, what a surprise." Naruto heard as he walked out of the apartment. Turning towards where the sound came from, he was surprised to see who it was.
"Lena?" Naruto asked, seeing the Luthor heiress in front of him. "Well, this is a surprise. I didn't expect to run into you."
"neither did I? Is this where you live?" She asked.
"It is now, just moved in today. Was just about to go explore the local joints." Naruto said, wondering if she really did just run into him by accident or if it was one of those 'accidents' where the girl pretended it was a surprise and meant to run into him. Hey, he might not be very skilled in the girls department, but he was smart enough to know bullshit when he heard it.
"I happen to know this one place a block down the road. If you're interested" She offered.
Naruto shrugged and said, "I am now." And with that, the two walked to the restaurant.
Restaurant
The two were currently enjoying their food and discussing various things, sort of like how their first meeting had went. Although, Naruto got the distinct feeling that Lena had a different view to this supposedly casual dinner and actually was treating it more like a first date. Was she interested in him romantically? Naruto filed that away for later as his phone rang.
Looking at his phone, Naruto noticed it was Alex Danvers calling him, causing him to narrow his eyebrows. Her number was one of several DEO numbers that had been in his phone when the DEO gave it to him. Now, he had gone in and removed all the tracking software in it, because he was very tech savvy thanks to his time on Daxam and figuring out how to get in the phone and alter it was easy enough. And he had been tempted to remove those number's but didn't. Still, if she was calling him…and considering what happened last time she had called him…
Naruto looked apologetically at Lena. "Sorry, I gotta take this." Naruto apologized as he answered the phone. "What?"
"Where are you right now?" Alex asked.
"I'm at a bar close to my new apartment, having a drink with a friend." Naruto said.
"When did you last see Kara?" Alex asked.
"I haven't seen her since two days ago. Why?" Naruto asked, wondering what this was about. Why would she be asking about Kara? Those 2 sister's were thick as thieves. She should at least have a general idea of what her sister is doing during the day.
"James told me that she didn't show up for work the last two days." Alex said. "Did she tell you where she was?"
"No, she didn't. Look, she and I aren't exactly talking right now. After our talk, she said she wanted space, so I'm gonna give her space." Naruto said, before his own train of thought started going off in another direction. "Although, she loves being a reporter, it was her dream job. Can't believe she'd actually miss work over our talk."
Naruto pinpointed Kara's heartbeat, given that he had memorized it by now. Once he found her, he turned his emotion sensing back on and his eyes widened in shock with what he felt, almost dropping the phone. Instead of the warm emotions he had come to expect from her, or even a twinge of sadness, all he felt was malice, burning anger and rage. 'Something is not right. That's Kara, but it doesn't feel like her. Something is very wrong here.' Naruto realized.
"Stay where you are. You're closer to her right now. I'll meet up with you and we'll get her out of this mess she's in." Naruto said as he shut off his phone and looked to Lena. "Sorry, I have to go. A friend of mine got herself into some trouble and I need to help her out."
'Never had a chance with him, did I?' Lena pondered to herself, suspecting the friend he was talking about, 'He's completely enamored with Kara Danvers.'
"You'd drop everything to go help someone in need?" Lena pondered.
"It's someone I care about. And it's the right thing to do." Naruto said as he grabbed his coat.
'Kara Danvers better not wait too long to discover what a good man she has in her corner,' Lena thought to herself as he said goodbye after paying for their drinks and food and walked out of the bar. 'Because I certainly see it and wouldn't hesitate to snatch up someone like him.'
Naruto quickly made himself scarce and flew to where Alex was, landing in the alley she was in. "We need to find her." Alex said.
"I already found her. I'll take you there now. Grab onto me." Naruto said as he grabbed her waist and she grabbed his shoulder and flew them pretty close to where Kara was, which was another alley. Looking at Kara, she was dressed differently, wearing a full-body Kryptionian Military Garb with the House El emblem over her left breast, and she was beating two criminals bloody. Like really bloody, she had blood on her hands. She held the one she had been beating to a pulp aloft and it looked like her eyes were channeling heat vision, ready to burn him to crisp.
"Kara!" Naruto shouted, getting her attention as she turned to both of them. She had heat vision shining in her eyes. Naruto also saw the red glow under her skin.
"Alex. Naruto. So good of you to come and see me." Kara said maliciously as she dropped the guy she had been previously wailing on.
"What's that red glow under her skin?" Naruto wondered out loud.
Alex didn't see it at first but when Kara threw the guy she was holding down, Alex finally saw the glow under her skin. "Oh no."
"What? What is it!?" Naruto asked as Kara stalked toward them.
"It saves me the trouble of having to track you down!" Kara said with a raised voice as her steps became flying through the air.
"She's been infected with Red Kryptonite!" Alex said as Kara punched at Naruto's face. Naruto caught her fist before he threw her down to the ground, keeping her arm behind her back and keeping her pinned down.
"You wanna tell me what that is!?" Naruto shouted, as he held her down.
"Mm, getting rough with me already, Naruto?" Kara asked as she looked back at him, equal amounts of madness, wrath, and a small amount of lust clearly showing in her eyes. "At least wait until after the first date before we get to the fun stuff!" She tried to break free and throw him off, but Naruto was stronger and held her down, pushing her further into the asphalt.
"Short answer? It removes her inhibitions, magnifies all of her bad traits, and turns her into a corrupt version of herself." Alex said.
"How'd you stop her last time? Naruto asked in grunt and as he tried to keep her in check.
"What's wrong, Nar? Don't like it when I'm being out and open with you!?" Kara shouted as threw him off her and slammed him into the side of one of the buildings, grabbing his arms and pinning him there.
"I thought you would have liked that." Kara whispered as she bit on his ear lobe, before trying kiss him, only missing his lips because Naruto moved his head to the side, her lips touching his cheek instead.
'Of course I would, but you're clearly not yourself. I'm not gonna take advantage of you while you are not in control of your own actions.' Naruto thought as he threw her off by headbutting her, causing her to groan and he pinned her against the other building.
"We had gun that purged it from her system, but it's back at the DEO!" Alex exclaimed as it would take her forever to get the weapon from the DEO.
"This gun, you saying when you shot her with it, it undid the effects of this…kryptonite?" Naruto asked and Alex nodded. 'So, this Red Kryptonite behaves like a sickness in the body, with whatever energy this gun produced acting like a vaccine. Maybe I can remove it from her with a seal.'
Naruto's free hand flashed through several hand seals before stopping on the Tiger seal.
"Illness Purging Seal!" Naruto said as he placed his hand on the back off her neck, a kanji appearing. Kara thrashed and shouted and tried to break free from Naruto, but he held her firm and soon, a red cloud oozed out of her body, rising into the air.
Once the smoke was gone, Naruto stepped away from Kara carefully, backing up so he was in front of Alex, ready to protect her in case this didn't work.
Kara stood on her feet, confused and not understanding what was going on.
"What? How did I get here?" Kara asked, before looking at herself, starting to panic. "And why am I dressed in this again?"
"Oh Rao, did I-" She asked when she remembered what had happened last time and immediately jumped to the conclusion that she hurt someone.
"No. Aside from those two crooks right there, you haven't hurt anyone and nobody knows you're here. Far as I can tell." Naruto said as he created 2 Shadow Clones earlier during his tussle with her and had them turn invisible. They were currently implanting false memories of the event, so they wouldn't remember what happened. They destroyed the phones as well, making sure there was no evidence of what happened.
"Kara, what happened? What's the last thing you remember?" Alex asked,
"I…don't know." Kara said as she struggled to think about what happened. "The last thing I remember was my talk with Naruto. I went back to my apartment and set my stuff down on the counter. I was gonna lay down but then my phone rang. I…don't remember anything after that." Kara was trying desperately to let them know that it was Maxwell Lord that did this, but the words wouldn't form in her throat. Lord must have done something to make it so she couldn't speak the words and rat him out. She'd have to find some way to get the message across to Alex and Naruto. Alex looked at Naruto with a concerned look, worried about whoever had done this to Kara and what they wanted. Naruto was concerned about it as well, but right now, Naruto was more worried about Kara.
Kara felt emotionally and mentally drained as she struggled to tell them the truth, struggling against Maxwell Lord's mental commands, stumbling forward and lost her balance. Naruto, seeing this, caught her as she fell forward, her body falling into his strong arms.
"You're okay. You're safe, Kara," Naruto whispered, even though he didn't believe it. Whoever did this to her was still out there and he knew how to get Kara. He would hunt them down and punish them for hurting her. Kara, for her part, knew she told Naruto she needed space to sort out her feelings for him and the conflicts she had with him now that she knew more about him, but decided to forego all of that for the moment. It felt nice to be wrapped up in his powerful, strong arms built through years of training and battle. It felt nice to be vulnerable and weak for a moment, and know she was still safe and protected.
Eventually though, after a moment, Naruto pulled away, knowing that they couldn't stay out here in the open. Someone might see Kara, and they couldn't allow that. "Come on, let's get you home."
With Lord
10 Minutes later
Maxwell Lord was sifting through the local news media, looking for any signs of Supergirl causing mass mayhem. Seeing nothing, and knowing that the people he had sent to her location should have found her and started live streaming her Red Kryptonite episode to the internet, but they hadn't reported in yet. He figured Alex or the Martian must have rescued her. They did have a way to undo the Red Kryptonite infection, after all. He gave them the technology back when he was still an ordinary human.
He turned on his computer and switched the display to a camera, seeing a live feed of Kara's apartment, just as Naruto, Kara and Alex walked into the door.
'Hmm, wonder who that is?' Lord said, not familiar with this new face who apparently knew Supergirl's secret, then realizing that with what he planned, it didn't matter.
"Too bad you had to go and get yourself rescued, Kara Danvers." Maxwell Lord said as he walked over to his desk after seeing that Cadmus had reached the location for the Fortress of Solitude. "Time for plan B, then." With that, he pulled out some kind of microphone, and began turning it on.
Kara's apartment
"If you need anything, I'm just a call away." Naruto said to her and Kara nodded, so with that, knowing he was not welcome at this time, he closed the door to her apartment behind him. He sighed in frustration as he did. Just because he wasn't welcome in her apartment, didn't mean he wouldn't be sticking around to make sure she would be okay tonight.
"I'll stay with you tonight." Alex said to her sister, her voice stern, not willing to take no for an answer. Her sister needed her support right now.
"Okay, I'll just change out this." Kara said as she turned to go to her room and Alex nodded, knowing it's been a trying day for her and Kara needed a moment to herself.
Kara walked into her bedroom to change and closed the door behind her, sighing after a very stressful day. She slid against the door, slipping down until she was sitting on the ground, wanting so badly to cry right now due to her free will being ripped from her, but finding herself unable to. Had Lord taken even that from her?
Suddenly, her ears started buzzing as she heard a piercing sound. She groaned as she covered her ears but she could not block the sound out. In the stairway, Naruto groaned as he heard the sound as well.
'Supergirl, good. With the sound proofing I installed in the apartment building, you are the only one in that building who can hear this.' Came Maxwell's Lord, causing her to shudder and Naruto to become concerned.
"Lord." Kara growled in anger at the man who was controlling her.
'I don't know how you managed to undo the effects of the Red Kryptonite, Supergirl, but it matters little. You will go mad and destroy everything you care about. Luckily, I was smart enough to implant mental commands so that you couldn't reveal what happened to you earlier.' Lord said.
"You won't get away with this, Lord." Kara growled.
'I already have, Kara Danvers.' Lord said. 'No one will ever learn of my control over you, because everyone will be too busy trying to stop you from killing them. I was going to let you destroy yourself gracefully with the Red Kryptonite, but you just had to go and get yourself cured of that. Now, I shall make you into a feral animal, incapable of any thought except killing and destroying everything in your sight. Starting with your adoptive sister.'
"N-NO! Please, don't make me do this!" Kara tried to exclaim but she couldn't even shout because Lord was controlling her from a distance and preventing her from warning Alex.
'I've got to get back up there!' Naruto thought as he was on the bottom floor and rushed back up the stairs.
'Go mad. Murder every single living thing that crosses your path, Supergirl. Black Sun.'Lord spoke and with that, Kara's true self was forced firmly into the back seat of her mind as her body on the outside became feral.
Kara's body burst through the door to her room, breaking it to pieces in the process. Alex covered her eyes as debris flew by her. She looked in Kara's direction, stunned that her sister had done that.
"Kara?" Alex asked wondering if she was okay. Kara turned to her, a feral snarl escaping her throat, and flew as Alex faster than her eye could see.
Kara flew at Alex, her arm cocked back. Alex, despite her shock at Kara's attitude, was a trained professional and realized her life was in danger and tried to dodge but Kara, due to her being mind-controlled, was not holding back and flew at a speed Alex couldn't track. Her fist was on a collision course with Alex's face, and if it connected, Alex's head would be turned into red paste.
At the same time Kara was flying toward Alex, a voice was heard off to Alex's side. "Get down!" Alex heard as she found herself being pushed toward the ground, her face only just dodging Kara's fist by an inch. Kara's fist then connected with her sink, breaking the counter and sink in two. As she collected herself, she found Naruto on the ground next to her.
The feral Kara turned to Alex and roared as she sent an erratic blast of heat vision at Alex. Again, Alex was saved only by the skin of her teeth as Naruto moved at a speed her human eyes couldn't track, the heat vision beam slamming into him and exploding. He was burned slightly, but otherwise fine. The kitchen was burning though, and some of the heat vision had hit Kara's clothes rack, setting them on fire as well.
"Kara! Get a hold of yourself!" Naruto shouted, as he flashed in behind her and locked one arm behind her back and held the other one with his hand.
"What's wrong with her now!?" Alex asked.
"She's being mind controlled!" Naruto said as Kara smashed the back of her head into his face and smashed them through her refrigerator.
"How!?" Alex demanded and Kara looked like she was gonna use her heat vision on Alex again. Naruto slapped his hand over her eyes and his hand took the full brunt of her heat vision, though the close proximity of her heat vision caused her to burn her own eyes, giving Alex and Naruto a small reprieve as Kara rubbed her eyes while they healed.
"No time to explain! Call the DEO and tell them to lock down! I'm getting her out of the city before this gets further out of hand!" Naruto exclaimed before he grabbed Kara and disappeared in a yellow flash before Alex could say anything.
Alex looked around, noting the amount of damage the fight had done to Kara's apartment. Kara wouldn't be happy when she came out of it, assuming she came out of it. She got the fire extinguisher out and put the fires out before calling the DEO.
Desert outside of National City
In the desert outside of National City, the two aliens reappeared in a yellow flash, tossing Kara to the ground. There was no life for miles around and now, Naruto could fight her without holding back. Or rather stall until he found whoever had done this and undid it.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto said as he created 100 clones. "Find whoever that was that gave those commands to Kara. She mentioned something about Lord. Find him and bring him to me, alive!" The clones obeyed and flew away to carry out the originals will.
Kara pulled herself to her feet, snarling at him. "Well Kara, this is not how I wanted to start our training out here, but this will have to do." Naruto said as entered a fighting stance and motioned for her to come at him.
Kara flew at him, throwing punch after punch, Naruto expertly dodged and weaved thru her blows. When Kara overextended herself, Naruto attacked, punching her in the jaw with a powerful blow that sent her flying into the ground, the ground breaking as she hit it. She groaned, the unusual experience of feeling pain permeating through her. The last time she had felt actual pain was with her battles with Metallo.
She flew at him, trying to take him by surprise. He weaved around her before grabbing her by the ankle and smashing her into the ground. Naruto picked her up and threw her through the air, smashing her through a large rock. Kara groaned before Naruto dropped in front of her, the Earth shaking at his hard landing.
Screaming in anger, the female kryptonian flew towards him with a surge, moving faster than he anticipated, before punching him several times, sending him crashing into the ground. Used to pain from his training and vast experience, Naruto quickly recovered and hopped to his feet. Kara flew at him and punched him, but Naruto caught her fist with his one hand, the impact of their hands colliding causing a sonic boom that sent dust flying everywhere. She tried to punch him again, but Naruto caught her fist again, creating another sonic boom and sending more dust everywhere. Naruto held her there, using his superior strength to crack her bones and keep her focused on him. Seeing her cry out in pain, he almost let up. Almost, since he was only being on the planet that he knew of besides Martian Manhunter and Superman that could stop her. Kara's eyes glowed, her feral rage plain to see and Naruto's eyes glowed in kind, before both unleashed their heat vision against each other, the beams colliding and clashing for a moment before the point where the two met exploded outwards, sending them skidding back.
Naruto shook his head clear and dodged a haymaker from Kara before quickly creating a one-handed Rasengan and slamming it into Kara's stomach, the attack not damaging her flesh, but tearing a hand-sized hole in her suit and sending her flying upwards into the air.
Kara was sent high into the air and eventually recovered.
With Maxwell Lord
Lord was a bit annoyed right now. He had been watching the news for the last 5 minutes, hoping to see something about Kara going nuts and still nothing. First Kara gets cured of her Red Kryptonite radiation, and now, despite the fact that she should be a feral animal, there has been nothing on the news yet. Lord was usually calmer than this but he was starting to get very frustrated with the lack of progress.
"That does it!" Lord exclaimed as he grabbed a microphone, which was connected to an earpiece that was disguised as an earring he had put on Kara earlier.
Back with Kara and Naruto
A screeching was heard by Naruto and Kara, as Lord spoke, the both of them hearing Lord's words through an earpiece in Kara's left ear.
"What are you doing, Supergirl!? I haven't seen any death and destruction yet! Whatever you are doing, stop it immediately and start destroying National City!" Lord shouted into the microphone before he cut the connection off.
She took her attention away from the fight as she stared back at the city, dozen's of miles away.
"Oh no, you don't!" Naruto exclaimed at he flew towards her as she flew away. He caught up with her and wrapped her in a hug, and flew them into the ground, pile driving her into the earth. She got up, trying to fly away and carry out her master's orders, only for Naruto to grab her by the cape and throw her in the opposite direction, straight into a mountain.
Naruto slammed down hard right in front of her, making the earth shake. She got up and threw a punch at him, and he deflected it. Every punch and kick she threw was met with one of Naruto's own, and every time they connected, a shockwave was produced, until soon, the mountain around them was reduced to rubble.
Back with Lord
Unfortunately for Maxwell Lord, one of Naruto's clones nearby heard Lord's shouting with his superhearing. Homing in on where the sound came from, the clone first scanned the building, finding the all the camera's and recording equipment that Lord had in his home, deciding to remove those first. The clone turned invisible and smashed the power lines that fed electricity to his home, before killing the backup generator that Lord had.
Lord was now getting concerned. His power just went out. The back up generator did kick in for moment but now that seems to have gone out as well. He pulled out his phone but before he could do anything with it, a blur smashed through the roof, grabbed him, made him drop his phone, and flew them both into the sky.
"Maxwell Lord," The clone said as Maxwell finally got a look at his captor, "Your presence has been requested by the boss. Don't worry, your cooperation is not necessary."
"Put me back on the ground!" Maxwell shouted, trying to use his mind control. The clone relaxed his grip on Maxwell, and for a moment, Lord thought he had mind controlled his captor successfully. This notion was quickly blown out the window when Naruto's clone smashed Lord in the face with its fist, breaking his nose.
"Sorry, punk, I'm a clone. I actually don't have a mind to manipulate." The clone said as it created a clone of itself to immediately poof out of existence, letting the real Naruto know that Lord had been found. "Now, lets be off." The clone said as he flew back to the boss with his captive in tow.
With Naruto and Kara
Naruto's eyes widened for a moment as the knowledge of the clone passed through him. The momentary distraction caused Kara to successfully land a punch, sending him back a dozen meters. Naruto recovered in mid air and dug his hands into the ground, skidding to a stop. "I'm ending this." Naruto stated as he dashed in front of Kara, slamming her with his fist, sending her flying over a dozen meters, causing her to roll to a stop.
"Can you hear me in there, Kara? I want you to know, this nightmare that you are suffering from will be over soon. And when you wake from it, you will still have a home here on this planet! Your adoptive sister will still be alive, and you can still be the hero that you want to be! Because I was here for you! Remember that when you come out of this! I care for you deeply and I will not let you fall! If you believe nothing else about me, then believe that!" Naruto proclaimed as they both rushed at each other, their fist's connecting, the force they generated so great that it broke the ground beneath them and caused dust to fly out all around them. Naruto followed it up with a punch to her face, smashing her into the ground, causing a giant spider-web like crater to form where Kara hit the ground as a cloud of dust shot up almost 100 feet into the air.
Kara walked out of the dust cloud, looking for Naruto. He flipped through some hands signs and sent a giant Fireball at her from above, exploding in flames around her. It didn't hurt her, obviously, it wasn't meant to. As she was distracted, he appeared beside her and punched her hard, knocking her to the ground.
Getting up, the feral Kara dodged a punch from Naruto and tried to uppercut him, but Naruto swatted her fist away and punched her in quick succession with two punches, causing her to skid back. Naruto didn't let up, dashing in front of her as she pulled herself back up, punching her in the face and then upper-cutting her so hard that she was sent flying straight upward. Naruto then teleported behind her in a yellow flash and slammed his two hands down onto her back, sending her crashing back into the ground, kicking up dust and dirt.
Naruto teleported back to the ground near her, creating several Shadow Clones. Those clones slammed their hands onto the ground, exclaiming loudly. "Adamantine Sealing Chains!" Golden spiked chains made of their chakra rose out of the ground around Kara, wrapping around her legs, arms, and waist. The feral Kara tried to break the chains, but her strength was useless, as Naruto could seal away her physical strength with the chains, making her as weak a human. The real Naruto slowly stood up once he saw that the chains were holding her there.
At that moment, the clone landed with Maxwell Lord, throwing the bastard to the ground. "I found him, boss." The clone said.
"Good job, now dispel. I'll handle it from here." Naruto said, the clone nodding and disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Maxwell Lord picked himself up and looked at Naruto, noting he was the same person from Kara's apartment. "I don't know who you are, but I won't let you ruin my plans for Supergirl. Bow Down and serve me." Lord said, using every ounce of mind control he had to try to make Naruto subservient to him. It hadn't worked on the clone, but this was obviously the original creator of the clone, so Lord figured that he should be able to affect this man. Lord thought Naruto was a human with special powers, so he shouldn't have to try too hard.
Naruto looked at him funny, before punching Lord in the face, making the man shout in pain as he broke his nose, before summoning more Adamantine Sealing Chains to grab Lord and hold him hostage, nullifying his ability to mind-control other people, just to be safe.
"Did your interaction with my clone not teach you anything, fool? My clones don't have living brains to control, and I've long protected myself from outside mental influence." Naruto said, as he had developed countermeasures against mental control after freeing Kurama. He currently had a sealing array painted on his skin that would knock him out of whatever mental control he was under if someone was mentally influencing him. "Alright, start talking. Who are you and what did you do to Kara?"
"I'm not talking." Lord said.
"Wrong answer." Naruto created two clones and they forced his mouth open and held his tongue out. Naruto touched Lords tongue and applied a seal to it. He made a brief handsign, the kanji on Lord's tongue glowing for a moment before returning to it's usual black color.
"Let's try this again. Who are you?" Naruto started.
"My name is Maxwell Lord." Lord said, to his own surprise, as he was actively resisting telling the truth, but the words came out of his mouth freely. Curious, Lord thought, and concerning.
"What is it that you do for a living?" Naruto asked. He already knew, but he needed to establish a baseline to make sure the seal was working.
"I'm a Ceo of a large tech company, worth billion's of dollars," Lord said before he asked it up with a question of his own, "Now, I have a question for you. Why am I telling you all of this when I'm trying everything not to?"
"That seal I put on your tongue is called the Truth-Bearing Seal. It will force the truth from your lips, and you can't resist it. Now, what did you do to Kara?" Naruto demanded.
"I've mind controlled her. I was going to make her a better hero-" Lord started but Naruto interrupted him.
"By mind controlling her into murdering a whole lot of innocent people? Doesn't seem like an effective plan, since she would lose all her goodwill and not be accepted by the general public anymore. She wouldn't be a hero anymore, at least in the public's eyes." Naruto pointed out.
"That was only the first step. Once she had killed some people, all of the aliens and meta-humans aside from myself and her were dead, and she destroyed her good will her at home, I would come out a week or two later and publicly announce that I have cured of her condition and we would be working more closely to help the world, as she publicly atones for her sins by saving the whole world, not just one city. Though no one would know that she is completely under my mental domination." Lord said.
"Why go thru all this trouble to make her kill innocent people? What's your end goal?" Naruto wondered.
"Let me answer that by asking another question. Does Supergirl really help anything? She may protect National City, but what is she protecting the city from? Aliens that don't belong here? Metahumans that have a grudge against her and hurt people because they want to hurt her? She may protect National City, or claim to, but she is part of the problem. And the world continues to burn. Global warming melting the ice caps, the oceans being polluted by humanities greed. These are problems she could help with, but chooses not to." Maxwell Lord said, revealing to Naruto what he had told Supergirl previously.
"Great, so you're one of those climate alarmist's that think the climate is going to change irrevocably in 30 years, then." Naruto groaned, as it was starting to sound like Maxwell was some climate alarmist that thinks that humans were killing the planet. He knew better. Until humanity starts trying to tap the Earth's core for resources, they weren't actually killing the planet. Just damaging it. "Trust me pal. You humans aren't killing the planet until you start tapping the planet's core for resources. What damage you do up here on the surface can be fixed, it just takes a while."
"You are wrong, but that's beside the point. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, Supergirl doesn't get all the blame. It's just all aliens and meta-humans in general. She's so focused on the Meta-Humans and Alien problem, that she fails to see there are actual problems in the world that she and Superman should help with, but choose not to. I decided I needed to remove her distractions so she could help with the real problems. In doing so, she would be a better hero." Lord said, while he slowly used his telepathy on himself, since he couldn't use it on Naruto and Kara right now, closing his eyes for a moment.
"So, the next piece of you're big plan was to kill all the aliens and the meta-humans somehow, I gather. I'm guessing you have that Cadmus organization mind controlled as well. What's their plan?" Naruto said, as Lord opened his eyes again.
"I don't know." Lord said, confusing and concerning Naruto.
"What do you mean, you don't know? You're controlling them, surely you have some idea of what they are up to." Naruto pointed out.
"I did know their plan up until a few seconds ago. You may have made it so I can't use my powers on you and Supergirl, but I found out a moment ago I could still use it on myself. So just now, I made myself forget their plan." Lord said, as he had planned ahead for this. Naruto, scoffed, angry for not anticipating that. Seeing he wasn't gonna get anymore out of Lord on that front, he tightened the chains on Lord, and made it so he couldn't use his powers at all.
"Lovely, so, back to Supergirl, what is it that you believe she can help with exactly? She's a smart woman, for sure, and super strong, but what can she really help with?" Naruto wondered. He got the impression that Kara was not all too interested in using advanced tech to help the planet, maybe because she didn't know how or didn't think it would help much if at all. Probably the latter, in Naruto's mind.
"Her ability to help was never part of the equation. Once our 'partnership' was secured, I would be the one developing the technology to clean up the world, and she would deploy it." Lord said. Technically, he also would have used his unrestricted access to the Fortress of Solitude through her to get the technology to clean up the world, but he had removed that part of the plan from his mind as well.
"And let's say you do clean up the environment, clean up the ocean, reduce emissions down to zero. What then?" Naruto asked.
"Kara would make sure that no one else would pollute the environment ever again." Lord said. There were plenty of governments polluting the environment, after all. Kara would be used to either keep them in line, or destroy them utterly.
"Delusional much, aren't you?" Naruto pointed out, as it was completely deluded, what he wanted. He would have destroyed the way the world worked, just to make his crazy plan come to fruition, a plan that may not even work. It's not like the planet had not historically gone thru periods of extreme cold and warmth before. His plan was purely speculative. Sure, humanity probably could do better, and would when a better option presented itself, but that option didn't exist yet. But Lord didn't care. All he cared about was what he wanted, not how his stupid plan would ruin billions of lives, just so he feel better about himself about protecting the environment. "It was never about helping the world, you just wanted to remake it in your image, make it run the way you thought it should, and you were gonna use Supergirl to do it. She would have been a slave, your super-powered slave and enforcer to carry out your will and impose it on the world. You would have tried to basically control the world from the shadows and then in the light, once it became obvious to everyone that Supergirl was following your lead. You would have destroyed all the world's technology so they couldn't pollute the world anymore, sending the world back to the stone age, making it so they could never fight back against whatever twisted scheme you came up with next." Naruto figured that out from Maxwell Lord saying that no one would pollute the environment ever again.
"You can see my brilliance after all." Lord said, as Naruto had figured out his plan, at least as far as Maxwell Lord had thought ahead of. He didn't actually know what he would do when he got to that point, but he'd figure it out when he got there..
"More like sheer madness. Is there any contingency plans you have?" Naruto asked.
"One. There is a transmitter connected to my heart beat. If I die, I'm taking Supergirl down with me. The moment my heartbeat stops, it will send out a signal that will upload all of Supergirls personal information to the internet. Her personal life, her identity, all of it." Lord revealed.
"Where is this information stored at?" Naruto asked.
"On my personal computer at my house. That is the only place I have it stored currently." Lord said, and Naruto created a clone.
"You know what to do." Naruto said and the clone flew off back to Lord's house.
10 minutes later, the clone returned and handed Naruto a USB disk. "Well, boss, we copied everything he had and wiped his computers clean, but just to be safe, we melted all of his equipment and blew up the house." The clone said before it dispelled.
"Damn you," Lord growled at Naruto as his plans all fell apart right in front of him.
"I've heard enough out of you. Release Kara from your control. NOW." Naruto demanded, his heat vision glowing in his eyes as he pocketed away the USB stick.
"…Fine." Lord sighed as until he could get out of these chains, his powers were useless, so he let Kara go. For now.
"Rising Sun." Lord said, as he spoke the command phrase that would undo his control over her. Kara stopped struggling in Naruto's chains as she regained control of herself.
"…N-Naruto." Kara groaned as she looked around and saw Naruto with Lord.
"Good to see you again, Kara." Naruto said with a smile, happy to know she was still in there, but he knew right now, that Lord could turn her back to that animal at any time.
"H-He made me watch. Turned me into a rabid animal. I saw everything I did. I-I almost killed Alex." Kara said, her emotions running high, and tears starting to fall from her eyes.
"It's over now, Kara." Naruto said, before he turned to Lord, as he was forced to answer the truth. "Isn't it?"
"No, it isn't." Lord said, making Kara turn back to him. "You may think it is over, but you are wrong. You cannot keep me bound by these chains forever. And next time, she'll kill Alex…or her adoptive mother…or you."
Naruto glared at him, but Lord continued. "You think that I have lied to you. But I have not. I am incapable of it right now. She is mine. I will never let her go."
"You will." Naruto declared as he gripped Lord by the throat, lifting him high into the air. "Tell me how to free her from your control."
"So long as I live, nrgh, she remains mine." Lord stated, and Naruto knew what he had to do. So long as Lord was alive, Kara remained his slave.
"So be it," Naruto said as he let Lord down onto his knee's. Lord was surprised for a moment, thinking that maybe he was going to get out of this. His delusions were cured when Naruto placed his hands on either side of Lord's head, and twisted with all his might, twisting Lord's head 180 degrees and breaking his neck, killing the mind controlling mad man instantly.
Naruto let the body flop onto the ground. He had wanted to do a lot more to Lord, to punish him and make him suffer for stealing Kara's free will and liberty from her, but she was already anxious around him. Best not to have her see him torture someone or beat them until their head is smashed to pieces.
Naruto unsummoned the chains, dispelled the clones and let Kara go free as he knelt down and closed Lord's eyes. Kara looked at Lord's broken neck and was horrified, covering her mouth. "What have you done?" Kara asked, as she was of two minds about this. On one hand, Naruto had saved her life twice today. He protected her reputation, her sister's life, and Kara's free will. He had dealt with a very dangerous threat to her life and the live's of everyone she cared about. On the other hand, she was still trying to come to terms with everything she had learned about him. And now he had killed someone right in front of her. What little hesitation he did have for doing it, was probably that he didn't want to be overtly brutal in front of her and had killed Lord in a more humane way.
"Kind of a silly question, don't you think?" Naruto scoffed as he turned to her. "He was a threat to you, to the life you've built here on this planet, to everything you've ever cared about."
"But you killed him." Kara said. She, of course, understood that as long as Lord had his powers, he could still control her, but they could have taken him to the DEO, they could have used J'Jonn to keep him sedated until they could have found a way to take away his powers. "We could've found a way to take away his powers. We could've found a better way to deal with him than killing him."
"Better way?" Naruto questioned, stopping himself from scoffing, but his tone still portraying how ridiculous the idea of a better way was when dealing with Maxwell Lord, "What's your better way, exactly? Take away his powers and turn him over to the authorities, and hope that the justice system put's him away forever or that he changes his ways?"
"It's not our place to decide who lives and dies, Naruto, that's why we have courts for that" Kara argued.
"And you think they are any more qualified? A bunch of civilians that have never interacted with him, have their own feelings on the matter, or have been harmed by him, and would demand a harsher sentence? Their judgement is flawed no matter what their opinion is." Naruto argued, "And by the way, Lord was a threat to you as long as he lived. You heard him. He was never going to stop, he was never going to give up until he accomplished his demented goals. Even if you took away his powers, he'd find some other way to accomplish his wicked plans for you. He was a mad dog. You don't wait for a mad dog to bite your jugular out, Kara. You put it down."
Hearing Naruto argue in favor of killing Maxwell Lord, she knew she wasn't going to win this argument. He didn't want to see it her way. Or maybe he did, and thought she was naïve. Either way, she didn't have the energy to argue with him right now.
"Thank you, for saving me." Kara thanked him earnestly. Regardless of her conflicted feelings about him, his action's tonight had saved her life, her reputation, and everything that she cared about. Had he not been there, her sister's blood, and the blood of a lot of innocent people would be on her hands. That being said, she still needed time to sort her feelings out.
"Don't mention it." Naruto said. He didn't have to think twice about helping her.
"That being said, I still haven't had time to come to terms with how I feel about being around you." Kara said and Naruto groaned. "I didn't really have time to think about it while Lord held me captive, Naruto. I need you to give me some time to sort things out."
"Fine," Naruto said as he ran a hand through his hair. He saw her point, she hadn't had enough time to process everything yet, given her ordeal, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
"What are you gonna do with Lord's…body?" She asked hesitantly.
"Don't trouble yourself with that. No one will ever find his body. That's a promise." Naruto said, as he picked up Lord's body and flew away to dispose of it for good. Kara sighed as she watched him fly away before she flew back to National City, wondering what she was going to do about her conflicting feelings. One thing they both knew, she couldn't keep putting this off. Sooner or later, she would make a decision.
Chapter End