A/N: Still here~!
Aaaand there we go, got everything updated that I needed to update this month. Wish February wasn't so bloody short! T_T
Now then, we're still following the Ember's Rule here. Sadly, that's no joke.
Really, it isn't. If folks don't like this...well, it won't be continued. Every bit of feedback helps. YOU determine what stays and goes. Reviews are the fuel which keeps me writing in these crazy times. With my tight schedule, two jobs, and a load of paperwork. I simply don't have time to write a story folks don't like. Without them, my inspiration cannot take wing and I can't write a word. So by all means, speak up!
Now for your questions:
Q: Gimme more mafia Naruto!
A: Well, you're about to have your wish; because Naruto takes after Silco in this chapter. Whether that's a good or bad, thing, well; he's been taught by a criminal mastermind who's just as broken on the inside as him.
Q:...is Marcus screwed?
A: *zips lips*
Q: Wait, wait, wait! Hold up! If the Firelights failed to stop Silco's shipment...then how is Caitylin investigating/getting Vi out of Stillwater prison?
A: Come now, I can hardly spoil that. Lets just say...life finds a way.
Q: Silco seems a bit more mellow in this. Is...is that a good thing?
A: Naruto's influencing him, but in the same vein, he's influencing Naruto right back. Not to mention having potential chakra-tech at their disposal.
Q: So are Naruto and Jinx intimate now, or...?
A: They've only just started as of last chapter. Thought I made that obvious...? No worries, I don't mind clarifying it.
Q: You're about to kill someone off, aren't you! Don't do it! Mercy!
A: There is no mercy.
Q: How many chapters are left in this story?
A: Not all that many, really. Ten maybe? Nine? Depends on the reception, I suppose...
Alright, I've kept you long enough.
As ever, I own no references quotes, themes or memes.
So in lieu of a long authors note...here...we...go!
"You don't seem to understand. There is nothing I wouldn't do for her. Nothing.
She's suffered enough. I ain't gonna stand by and let it happen twice.
Try to hurt her? I'll end you. That's your only warning.
~?
Dirty Little Animals
"You said you could control them!"
Marcus burst into Silco's office with a roar, uncaring of the scene he made behind him. Rage emboldened him, lending him strength he might not have otherwise had. Bouncers were thrust aside; when one tried to bar his path he cuffed the man on the jaw and laid him out flat. He paid no heed to the chair facing away from him; his anger burned too hot, too bright, to even consider the ramifications of what might happen after this. By the time it did, it was already too late to step back.
He bulled forward instead
"I lost six officers!" he slammed a bloody badge down on the desk. "Six! They pushed it too far this time! The council's up in arms!"
The chair turned. And the world stopped. His fury guttered out.
Because you see, Silco wasn't sitting in it.
His son was.
"Sit down, Marcus." Naruto swept a hand to the seat opposite him. "We have a lot to discuss.
He squared his shoulders. "I'll do no such thing."
A hand hit his shoulder from behind.
"It wasn't a request."
Marcus made the mistake of looking back, then. A familiar face smiled at him. Wait, why were their two of him now-no. Not important. This man and that little floozy of his had killed six enforcers. There must be blood for this. Anything less would spit on the memory of those brave men and women.
"You're a monster." he tried to surge upright, only for those strange copies to hold him back by the shoulders. "Those were my enforcers! They were good men and women! Fathers, Mothers, sons, daughters...!"
"And we killed them. I make no excuses for it." Naruto bobbed his head, contrition flashing across his face. "Its not something I'm proud of. I think my team would've been ashamed to see what I've become."
"Friends...?"
"I'm speaking in the past tense, of course." he held up a finger and as Marcus looked on, a tiny blue sphere sparked to life upon the outstretched digit. It danced there, a candle in the wind before he blew it out. "But while we're on the topic, lets talk about yours, shall we?"
Marcus gnashed his teeth, clinging onto his anger even as it slipped "I'm afraid I don't understand."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Of course you don't."
"Silco knows about this?"
"He's the one who gave me permission to set up this little meeting in the first plce." A pause as he regarded him. "Granted, that was before last night's...incursion, but still. Lets lay our cards on the table." Clasping both hands before him, the blond leaned back in his borrowed chair, reclining like some long lost king. "I have a few questions for you. You're going to answer them."
"And if I refuse?"
...we don't need to be enemies, Marcus." A hand drummed against the desk. "Tell me what I want to know, and I'll be on my way."
His gaze strayed into the shadows, half expecting that crazy girl to leap out. When she didn't, he gulped. "Where is she?"
"Jinx is...occupied." Naruto's smile was thin. "And likely breaking the news to the old man...
(.0.0.0.)
"Half a dozen enforcers dead. Enforcers! Dead!"
Jinx grinned. "Yeah."
A building blown to pieces.
Her head bobbed."Yuuup~! Did that!"
"Do you have any idea what you've done?!
"Actually," Jinx held up her prized gemstone, "I do. Look what we got~!
All of Silco's anger withered away.
(.0.0.0.)
...but enough about her. Lets talk about you."
It was the way he said those words that chilled Marcus. Not the delivery rather-a lack thereof. No fear. No hesitation. Cold confidence personified. A statement of neither anger nor rage but rather simple...disappointment, as though he'd somehow expected more of him and been left wanting.
"Why did you do it?"
A seed of fear sprouted in the sheriff's heart. This was going to end poorly, wasn't it?
"Do what? Your father needs me." he spoke quickly, stumbling over the words in his haste to explain himself.
"We've accomplished a lot together, Marcus. Sheriff." he leaned forward. "I had hoped you would continue to remain a part of it.
"Had...?" Marcus found himself blinking, somewhat taken aback by the word. "I beg your pardon?" Gun. He should have brought his gun...!
"I really wanted us to get along, you know?" Naruto's expression didn't waver, not an inch. "We could have have been such good friends, you and I. But you've been keeping secrets." A finger wagged at him. "More than that," he leaned forward, eyes aglow in the low light, "Embezzling funds, taking bribes, playing both sides, and not just for us...you've been protecting someone. All this time."
Light fled from the Sheriff's face, bleeding into a dark pit in his stomach. "I...don't know what you're talking about."
"And now you're playing the fool." Naruto wagged a finger at him again. He'd changed gears; hell, he was speaking like the old man now, Silco made manifest. "If you're going to be like this, then of what use are you? I thought you'd at least be competent.
Anger had him surging to his feet. "I don't have to listen to this you little shit-
Something dark flashed across the blond's face. "Sit down, Marcus. We're not finished."
His knees buckled, resolve faltering in the face of that cold look. It was like gazing into the abyss. And the abyss stared back.
Naruto waved his free hand and another copy of himself materialized from the shadows to deposit a heavy manila folder on the desk. It landed with a heavy thud. Naruto murmurred his thanks and began to leaf through it as one might an old book
Marcus shied back from it with a grimace.
"I looked into you, sheriff." his tormentor prattled on. "Quite the past you've had. And look where its led you."
Don't speak. he hissed at himself. Don't give the little shit any more ammunition...
"I began to notice things." he stabbed a finger down on one image among the others. "Frequent trips to Stillwater prison. Not to drop off prisoners, no." those whisked cheeks dimpled in a scowl. "Every three months you swing by here. Like clockwork."
He knew. Or suspected at the very least.
"Whatever you think I'm doing," he paused, choosing his words with infinite care, "You're mistaken."
"No." he jolted as a hand came down crashing down to rattle the desk. "It is you who are mistaken, Marcus. About a great many things." the young man before him continued to smile, but it was sharper now, and it no longer reached his eyes. "Tell me about Jinx's sister. Don't spare a single detail. Because if you lie, well...
He reached below the desk. A knife came out, laid blade first toward him.
...that would make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."
"You can't do this."
"Can. Am. Have." Naruto drawled.
His throat began to close. "I have a daughter...
"So you do." Naruto's head bobbed in faux agreement. "Adorable little thing, that one. You would do anything for your daughter wouldn't you, Marcus? Just as I'd do anything for Jinx." his smile seemed almost sad, just then. I respect that. You would climb any mountain for her, delve to any depths if that meant keeping her safe. You'd make a deal with the devil, so long as she could live a happy life."
...is that a threat?"
A blond brow quirked. "What do you think it is?"
"..."
"I know what its like to be an orphan." the whiskered warrior stood abruptly, circling the desk to meet him. "The pain, the loneliness, the hunger...well." he tutted once and patted his shoulder, brushing away a bit of dust there. "Its not a fate I'd wish on my worst enemy. Rest assured, no matter what happens here, I'll see her looked after. But before that...
"Ooomph!"
Marcus was still trying to think of a way out when Naruto threw an elbow into his solar plexus. Breath burst from his lungs and he doubled over with a wheeze. Firm fingers caught him by the hair and ripped him upright, tearing at his scalp. He reared back and struck him. Blood splashed across the floor.
Naruto closed his blue eyes.
...we all have a monster inside us, Marcus."
They opened again a heartbeat later, bearing sinister scarlet slits. "Its time to let the monster out."
Marcus slammed backward. "I don't know anything. She's dead! I swear."
Red eyes locked on him.
"Swear to me...
(.0.0.0.)
Caitlyn considered the web of red strings before her.
It was all connected somehow. The raid, the attack, the theft of the jewel.
She was a Kirraman. She would persevere. She would find a way. It was all she knew.
Realization dawned. The Firelights. Silco. Were they the key to this? And if so, how to find the Firelights...?
The answer dawned quickly. Where else would criminals be kept...?
(.0.0.0.)
"She's back."
Two little words, and yet they threatened to rip the rug right out from under Silco. Under any other circumstance he might've found it remarkable...if he weren't so bloody furious. A cigar creaked ominously in his grip, but he forced himself to breathe, to inhale and let the smoke fill his lungs as the water had so long ago. He exhaled slowly, deliberately, willing the anger to depart with it. Only then, once he was calm, did he dare to raise his gaze and give an answer.
...from the dead?"
"Not quite." a folder slid across his desk. Naruto flopped down beside it with a sigh. "Your little sheriff sang like a canary once I put the screws to him. That sister of hers? She's alive."
Silco listened with half an ear as he leafed through the documents. They painted a damning tale. Marcus had been dirty to begin with, but he'd had his uses. The information before him painted a damning picture of the already corrupt sheriff; one he suspected wouldn't live much longer.
His dark eye flitted toward Naruto. "Did you leave him in one piece?"
A blond brow quirked. "Did you expect anything less?"
He sighed. "Of course not."
"Where's Jinx?
"Occupied with Sevika." he waved a hand absently as he flipped to another page. "Something about explosions and braiding hair."
Naruto winced. "Poor girl...at least they're getting along now.
"Speaking of along," Silco twitched at the reminder, "What the two of you did last night? That was reckless."
His boy crossed both arms before his chest. "There was a reason for it, old man."
"And I'm sure you'll tell me all about it momentarily."
That aside, they had another problem to deal with. Vi. Vander's girl. A ghost, thought long buried, back from the dead. Jinx would never forgive him for this. She'd think him a liar. But he hadn't known. That Naruto had been able to ferret out the information so quickly bothered him more than he cared to admit.
...were you tempted to lie?"
Blue eyes rolled. "Not even a little."
...you do realize, she cannot be allowed to resurface."
"See, you say that, buuut...!" The boy rolled over, tucked both legs beneath him to sat up. Rocking back and forth on his haunches, he glowered at him. "Dad, if you try to bury this, its gonna blow up in your face." his left hand mimed an explosion, fingers flailing. "So don't bury it. Use it."
He knew that tone. Lad had learned his lessons well.
"What do you propose?"
"Go and tell Jinx what I just told you." he stopped rocking long enough to favor him with a grim look. "Make it clear that Marcus was behind her disappearance. Not you."
Easier said than done. Jinx had believed her sister dead for years. They all had. To suddenly be confronted with the possiblity that she wasn't...
"She'll break down."
"She's already breaking down!" Naruto snarled, the first true sign of anger he'd seen from him in quite some time. "Her nightmares are getting worse every day! She thinks you don't believe in her anymore." a finger hit his collarbone. "That she's weak!"
Dismay dawned. "I said no such thing."
"Doesn't matter what you said," blue eyes rolled, "You know how she is. You need to tell her. Explain it to her. Otherwise she'll go stir crazy. She wanted to prove herself. I fave her that chance."
Father and son stared one another down. Eventually, the latter yielded.
"I know you want to protect her." Naruto leaned back at last. "I do, too. More than anything. But if you keep this from her and she finds out...she'll hate you."
An unfamiliar feeling gnawed at Silco's chest. He disliked it. "And you?"
"Me?" That drew a blink from the boy. "I could never hate you. Sure, I'd be disappointed, but hate? Nope." he shook his head and smiled. "No can do. After all, you'd never betray us."
He wouldn't. The sudden realization humbled Silco. When had he come undone? "Jinx...her sister...she was fond of her."
"I know." Naruto clapped him on the shoulder. "She told me."
...I killed her father. Vander's blood is on my hands.
"Know that, too. Do you regret it?"
The silence was his answer.
"There you go!"
"Brat," he halfheartedly slapped his arm "If it comes to a fight, who will you choose?"
Naruto tilted his head. "Do you really have to ask?"
"I want to hear it." He needed to.
"You, of course." the boy stuck out his tongue. "Thought that was obvious. Why would I take the side of some crazy pink girl?"
A thorn of confusion pricked at his black, black heart. "And yet you want Jinx to be reunited with her."
"I do, because I want her to get over her." His smile slipped away like water off a duck's back. "She told me everything. Vi hit her, called her Jinx, then left her to rot." a low note of fury crawled into his words, bubbling up like so much red chakra. "Family doesn't do that. I want Jinx to meet her, sure, but then I wanna smack that no-good-bitch upside the head for what she did!"
His reasons weren't as altruistic as he thought, then. Good. "You feel that strongly about it, do you?"
"You and Jinx are both family to me." a shrug. "She ain't. You know I never knew my parents. Hell," Guileless blue eyes gazed up at him. "You're probably the closest thing I've had to a dad."
"And what of Jinx?"
Naruto looked away. "What about her?"
He really was too easy to read. "...you care for her, don't you?"
"Yeah." Naruto looked away to hide the head in his cheeks. "I think I do."
Silco found he had no qualms against it. They were hardly related by blood after all. If two troubled teenagers wanted to take comfort in one another, then who was he to stop them? Let them be happy. They'd all be far, far better off once this loose end was...snipped.
"She'll choose you." there was no room for doubt in those words. "You took her in when no one else did. Raised her. Gave her a home. You're her family, too. Same as me."
The boy gave him too much credit. His motives hadn't been at all altruistic...at first. Now? Things had changed.
He sighed. "I started the chain of events that led to her losing everything in the first place...
"Maybe so, but you're a better man, now. You feel guilt. That makes you good."
He really wasn't. Softer, weaker, more prone to sentiment perhaps. Only a few years ago he would've scoffed at the very notion of it all; really, raising two children? Only a fool would do such. Love was a weakness, chains to hold one back.
Now...?
Just like that, the onus of choice was in his hands. He planted a palm on his head with a sigh. "I'll tell her."
The hope in Naruto's eyes was almost too painful for him to behold. "Great!"
"After I see her myself."
His son scowled. "You won't try to kill her?"
"No."
And he wouldn't. But he wasn't above having a few words with her. Convincing her to stay behind bars, warning her of what her fate would be should she ever dare venture beyond them. After all, whose side would Jinx take; her family, or that of some madwoman in a cell? He wanted to believe he knew the answer. He really did.
"Good." Naruto hopped off the desk, grinning from ear to ear. "I'm going with you."
"Who's going where with what, now?"
Silco soul stilled. Naruto craned his neck with a forlorn sigh. Both saw Jinx, now poking her head through the doorway as a curious child might. Guileless blue eye blinked back at them as she raised a glass of water to her lips. Silco wanted to believe it was water; but the faint scent of whiskey said otherwise.
"I thought you were out with Sevika?"
"Yeah, but some guy barged into the Last Drop; said there was a big prison break in Stillwater." she drained the glass and flung it over her shoulder, leaving it to shatter over a wall. "Firelights and stuff. Though you'd want to know. Don't we got people in there?"
Silco's blood ran cold as an ice flow. "Come again...?
"Dunno. Some Kirraman lady caused it. That a big name or something?"
Silco and Naruto exchanged a glance, sharing the same thought, the same emotion, in an instant.
"Waitaminute. You were talking about something else, weren't you?" Jinx whimpered like the little girl she wasn't. "You...you wouldn't lie to me, right?"
Silco bit down on a snarl. Blast that girl's sister. How could one brat cause so many problems...?!
...'cmere." Naruto waved her forward. "There's something we need to tell you...
Jinx stepped into his arms without hesitation and nuzzled close.
"Alright." she beamed at him. "I'm listenin'. Whatcha got?"
The words that followed would break her heart.
A/N: We're hurtling toward destiny...or is it disaster?
Either way, its gonna be one helluva ride!
As ever, we're following the Ember's Rule here. That's no joke. Really, it isn't.
If folks don't like this...well, I won't continue it. Every bit of feedback helps. Reviews are the fuel which keeps me writing in these crazy times. With my tight schedule, I simply don't have time to write a story folks don't like. Without them, my inspiration cannot take wing and I can't write a word. So by all means, speak up!
As ever, reviews are my lifeblood. Without them, I cannot write.
So In the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Revieeeeew, Would You Kindly?
They keeps an old man alive.
And enjoy the previews.
As ever:
SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!
PLOT DETAILS AHOY!
YE BE WARNED!
Seriously!
Obvious references are obvious~!
(POTENTIAL!) Previews! What can I say? I've been busy.
"No...no that can't be right...!"
"Where's my sister?! Where is he keeping her?!"
...why the girl?"
"Why Jinx?" he held the glass up, watching the whiskey swirl within, diluting his reflection. "Most people believe that it is only great power than can hold evil in check. And perhaps it does." he looked up. "But that is not what I've found. I have found that it is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk, that keep the darkness at baby. Simple acts of kindness and love. Why her? Perhaps it is because I am afraid. And she gives me courage.
"Good job!" he swayed back, letting her fist sway brush his nose. "Keep trying. You look happy. Want me to praise you?"
Jinx grinned and swept his legs. Or rather, she tried.
It was like kicking a concrete wall.
Monster. This kid was a monster.
"Hey what's the matter?" Naruto leaned over them with a frown. "You're not done already, are you? I thought a "monster" was tougher than this.
Groaning, they tried to force themselves upright. Try, being the operative word.
Red eyes creased in a smile. "That's it. Come on, try harder.
He stomped down on their face.
Rubble pressed into his spine, weighing him down.
No.
Somewhere in the smoke he could hear Jinx crying; no, he could see her now, sprawled out beside him, whimpering in pain, pinned by something even worse, shoulder run through by a metal beam. Blood pooled beneath her in vivid relief as she gasped for air.
No. Not like this.
Footsteps drew closer in the haze.
...find them!" a furious snapped. "Finish them off."
He planted his palms on the ground and heaved, ignoring his wounds, the rebar piercing his stomach and legs. The rubble gave way to his desperate strength, but slowly. More. He needed more power. Now! POWER! Something snapped in the back of his mind. Blue eyes boiled red. Scarlet light flooded up at his command, rising from his stomach, and quite suddenly, the rubble weighed no more than a feather's brush. He shrugged it aside with a snarl. Bleeding. Had to stop the bleeding. He wasn't healing fast enough. Protect her. Had to protect her.
"You're alright." He knelt, holding her still form. "I can fix this! Just hold on...please...don't leave me alone...
An enforcer waded through the smoke, baton in hand. Saw a humanoid silhouette. Charged. Something struck him, sending him slamming back out the door in a twisted mass of arms and legs. Another shuffled forward, unwilling to risk himself, his fellows shying back as they realized their "victims" still had some fight in them. Silence stretched into oblivion. And then. Something screamed. No. Someone.
"Not...again...!
That was their only warning.
Then a Beast stalked through the smoke.
R&R~!
