Injustice: The Path to Hell.
Book 2: Darkness in the Light.
Chapter XII – Displaced.
"Normal Speech."
'Normal Thought.'
"Demon Speech."
'Demon Thought.'
"Other Speech variants."
Location/Time.
Saturday 1st November, 08:00.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
Gotham Heights.
It was early morning, the sun rising into the sky and casting light on the city.
Laying comfortably in bed, Naruto let out a groan when he felt light begin to creep up his body till it reached his eyes. He groaned out, turning his head and scrunching his eyes further shut as he turned away.
It was then he rolled into another body that let out a tired moan of discontent and slowly, his eyes flickered open. Instantly there was a mop of red hair that greeted him, and Naruto lifted his head off the pillow. There, he found that a naked Barbara laid next to him, her head resting against his chest one arm resting on his waist.
Remembering the night before, Naruto laid back with a smile on his face, Barbara herself not even waking up. Last night had been enjoyable, to say the least, scratch that, it was downright amazing. 'I can't believe that happened.' He knew that Barbara hadn't been drunk, she drank enough to fit in, but like always, she avoided drinking to excess. She didn't want to be robbed of her mental faculties, paranoia that she could be attacked at any moment was the reason behind it.
So what had happened between them was consensual on both their accounts which was a reason Naruto still struggled to understand. They were dating, sure and he wasn't a virgin either, but it was Barbara and her willingness, her eagerness that caught him off-guard.
'Though I'm certainly not complaining.' He chuckled lowly to himself and slowly sat upright.
His gaze caught pieces of their clothing scattered all across the room. It had been a mad dash to jump each other's bones as soon as possible and he could see that his shirt was slightly ripped.
Seeing Barbara still asleep, he moved towards the curtains and pulled them fully closed so that no light was peeking inside and reached down, pulling on a pair of boxer shorts and his pants. As for his shirt, he just picked it off the ground and placed it over the chair, the hole was bigger than he had expected, and it almost resembled a V-neck shirt rather than a t-shirt.
Then, he made his way downstairs to get something to drink. While his enhanced body enabled him to combat and become immune to poisons, alcohol was a little different in the sense that it still made him dehydrated like it would for any normal person. His mouth was dry, and he needed a drink to quench his thirst.
Making his way down the stairs, Naruto paused just momentarily to see that Jim's door was open and his bed was made. 'Thank God he's gone to work.' He and Barbara hadn't exactly been quiet the night before, they had tried in the beginning. But much like his time with Crystal, things had gotten a little out of hand the more it had dragged on. They had gotten a little bit too passionate and lost themselves in the act, eventually resulting in them gradually growing louder and louder over the course of the night.
Running one hand through his hair, Naruto let out a light chuckle. "That would be awkward."
"What would be awkward?" Naruto quickly jerked up, looking to find Jim sat at the kitchen table.
"Jesus Christ!" He cursed out, fighting his instincts to slip into a fighting stance. Jim was a perceptive guy and Naruto had no doubt he'd start asking questions as to why his first instinct was to attack whoever it was. "Jim, you scared me. How long you been there?"
"A while," Jim answered vaguely and Naruto cautiously moved forwards, trying not to let anything show on his face and to avoid what could be an awkward conversation. "Have a good night?"
Despite himself, Naruto felt a light flush come onto his cheeks. "Eh, y-yeah, it was a good party."
"Hmm, I'm glad you had a good time."
Naruto looked at the clock. "Shouldn't you be at work at this time, you usually leave by around half seven, don't you?"
Jim looked to the clock as well and made a mock show shock. "Well, would you look at that? Guess I am running a little late." Rising to his feet, Jim walked by, placing his empty mug into the sink. "Well, I'll see you later Naruto, hope you're not too tired."
As Jim turned and left, Naruto released a sigh. 'God that was awkward.'
'That was fun.' Jim on the other hand had a very different view of what had just happened, a smile on his face as he pulled on his shoes.
Saturday 1st November, 09:00.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
Gotham Heights.
Pushing open the door to the room, Jason, carrying a tray of food, entered to find Don sat up in bed. It had been a shock when Ted had called him, asking for his help and he had briefly explained that Hank and Don were injured. Jason hadn't thought much of it at the time, it wasn't uncommon for heroes like them to get injured in their line of work.
And Ted hadn't provided much in the way of information on their states.
It was only when both Don and Hank were brought to him that he reevaluated it. Hank was by far in the worst condition of the two brothers, one of the biggest worries was that if he reverted and stopped using the power of the Hawk, then he could very well die.
Jason had at first put him under a stasis spell, which kept his powers active while also putting him into a sort of coma-like state. This act alone would prove to be the very thing that saved his life, but Hank was still in need of medical attention. Don on the other hand seemed to be less injured, with a few cuts and bruises but other than that was fine.
"Good morning." Jason greeted, Don, turning to him and smiled gratefully.
"Morning." Don returned, gratefully accepting the tray of food. "Thank you for this, and for healing us."
"Don't worry about it. You needed aid and I was able and happy to provide it." Jason returned, pulling out a chair next to the bed and sitting down. "But your brother is not out of the woods yet, his injuries are severe, and he will need to be treated for another few days before I can comfortably allow you to leave. But first, I'd like to know what happened."
Don released a sigh, looking down, he'd been tight-lipped about what happened. Even when Ted had come, helping him and his brother get to Jason, he hadn't explained what had happened. "Before I explain, can you promise me that Naruto won't know?"
Jason looked at him questioningly. "Naruto? This individual or individuals who attacked you, they weren't there for you, were they?"
"No." Don shook his head. "He didn't give a name. Me, Hank, Naruto and Barbara went to a party. Hank had a lot to drink and when we came back, I found our apartment door unlocked. I locked it beforehand, and it seemed off, I went inside and was attacked. I barely had a moment to react before I was done. He told me that he was there to send a message, that he was an old friend of Naruto's. That's when Hank came in and…"
Don trailed off, not needing to say anymore and Jason nodded his head. "I see." He muttered. "Can you describe this individual who attacked you? Any discernible feature?"
"Tall, well-built, incredibly skilled. He had gloves with claws on them and a bird-like mask." This made Jason pause, noticeably tensing up and Don picked up on this. "Why? What is it?" He questioned.
"How much do you know about Naruto's past?" Jason returned.
Don shook his head. "Not much. He gave a brief outline that he used to be a hero of sorts and has been on and off for about two years. That he's Maelstrom and former member leader of a team of young heroes."
"Not much then?"
"Hank and I never pressed," Don answered. "You know, we don't wanna be those guys who pressure someone to talk about something they don't want to and Naruto, just seemed to not want to talk about it. Kind of like he was trying to distance himself from his past and what he did. And you know, we knew that if he wanted to, he'd tell us but whether he did or not, it didn't bother us."
Jason sighed. "You're right on that front. Naruto's done things he's not proud of, killed people and while many deserved it, the act of killing someone no matter how monstrous that individual may be is difficult. It changes you, twists you and I think, that after what Naruto has been through, he was scared of what he was turning into." Jason explained.
"He was changing?"
"Yes, and in his eyes, I don't think it was for the better and I agree. What you have to understand is, Naruto has been exposed to some truly monstrous things and individuals from a very young age. His father died when he was seven, killed by Black Mask. His mother died when he was eleven from exhaustion. He was an orphan and forced by Black Mask into fighting in the Underground Fighting Arena. I don't know if you've heard of it before."
Don nodded his head, a frown on his face. "I have, we haven't encountered it, but we've heard of it from guys on the streets. How old was he?"
"Young, too young." It was all Jason had to say and Don's frown deepened. "Eventually, as he grew up, he reached a breaking point and Naruto donned the mantel of a hero, Black Hood."
Don's head whipped up; eyes wide in shock at hearing his friend was one of his greatest role models.
But Jason carried on. "Naruto started his journey not as most heroes did by gradually fighting stronger and stronger foes, but instead by jumping straight into the deep end so to speak. It was sink or swim for him and Naruto struggled greatly. He fought and fought, killing those who worked for Black Mask and he built himself up. It wasn't simple, it wasn't easy, but Naruto was determined. But what you have to understand, he did these acts with good intentions, but as the saying goes, the path to hell is paved with good intentions."
"That's when he started changing, wasn't it?"
"It was, yes." Jason agreed. "It wasn't noticeable to many, but he became more violent. Started to be unable to discern between those who truly deserved to die and those who didn't. Naruto would kill those who killed and raped at first. But robbers and those who at most, did battery, he just returned the favour. Beat them up and let them go. He had a clear line in which he operated, but the line became blurred. It was sometime after the Court of Owls made their appearance and were defeated, he started to kill not just murders and rapists, but robbers. What you have to understand is, in Gotham, especially the East End, sometimes the only way to feed your family is to steal and they came with no intention to hurt people, just to take the money and go."
Don sighed out, looking away having never looked at it that way. People had been so caught up in the news that a hero was killing criminals, that he was cleaning up the East End that no one looked at those he killed. That some men and women were just trying to feed their families and came with no intentions to hurt people. That in the grand scheme of things didn't deserve to die.
"Fuck." He let out a little curse. "I never knew."
"Not many do," Jason replied. "Naruto eventually broke away, disappeared for half a year in which he trained under Deathstroke to become a mercenary. It ended badly for him and eventually, he was given to Cadmus, to be experimented on. When he came out, he was changed, I think he realised what he'd done and wanted to distance himself from what he had started becoming."
"Who is this person? What does he have to do with Naruto?" Don questioned.
"The individual from what you've described matches the description of the Talon," Jason answered. "He trained Naruto for a little while, tried to recruit him into becoming his successor. It ultimately failed and no doubt he wants revenge for what became of him."
"And what did become of him?"
"What always happens when a villain and hero meet." Jason posed. "I have no doubt he's here for revenge and your part of that scheme of his."
"That's why I don't want to tell Naruto," Don argued. "Me and my brother, when we recover, we'll get stronger."
Jason didn't answer right away, but he nodded his head. "Then I'll help you in any way I can if you're certain this is what you want to do."
"It is."
Sunday 2nd November, 12:00.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
Gotham Heights.
Strolling down the streets, Naruto rose the phone to his ear and let it dial, the beeping noise sounding out from the speaker. "Hey, Naruto, what'd you need?" Don's voice sounded from the other end.
"Hi, just wondering if you're heading down to Teds, I'm going down there now to get some training in," Naruto told him. "Jason was out for the day, so I thought I'd get some extra combat training in." And that had been the biggest shock to Naruto, usually, he'd train four days with Ted before spending the other three days training with Jason. Most of his efforts were focused on improving his basics, while he'd spend the remainder of his time with Jason, focusing on his demonic powers.
So it was a surprise to Naruto to find Jason not home without having been told beforehand. But he liked to think he had a good enough understanding of Jason to know that he wouldn't have done this without proper reasoning.
There was a pause on the other end. "Sorry, Naruto, me and Hank are on our way to Washington."
"Washington, how come?" As soon as he said, a sly smile came on his face. "Did you talk to Dawn? Is that what this is about?"
"Eh, yeah," Don muttered, and Naruto laughed out, earning a few looks from people but he ignored them.
"Dude, congrats!" Naruto sighed out. "Man, that moved quick, guess she missed you."
"Yeah, I guess, she did. So, Hank and I are heading to Washington today, he's gonna meet some friends there and eh, yeah, I'm gonna meet Dawn." Don explained and Naruto smirked.
"Well, I wish you, luck man, you might lose that pesky virginity of yours if you're lucky."
"Asshole." Naruto chuckled lowly as Don gave that last word before hanging up.
Sunday 2nd November, 12:30.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
Gotham Heights.
"Asshole," Don muttered, hanging up on the phone and chucking it back on his jacket. Cracking his neck, Don flexed his fingers and looked towards his brother, both of them were covered in numerous bruises as a result of their sparring session.
"What'd he want?" Hank asked.
"Wanted to know if we were heading over to Teds for training," Don replied, moving towards the centre of the training room where Jason was sat meditating. "Told him we were heading to Washington."
As the two brothers came to a stop, Jason rose to his feet and turned to them. "If you are ready, gentleman." Fire burst to life in his hands and rose it towards them. "Let's continue."
Sunday 2nd November, 20:00.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
Dockyard.
Sitting quietly in the backseat of his SUV, Tony Li, looked out the bulletproof window towards the recently arrived ship. He could hear the clambering of men, of shouted orders being given, but Li focused more on the cargo container being lifted by the crane.
"This is the container, yes?" He turned to the man who sat beside him, his eyes locking onto the owl mask of the Talon.
"It is," Talon responded calmly. "In it, you'll find the weapons and the soldiers that my organisation has promised towards this endeavour. Be careful, however, some of them have very…eccentric personalities and could be quite easily insulted, it'd be a shame if one of my partners died because he couldn't keep his mouth shut."
Li scowled at that, glaring at him out of the corner of his eye. "Be careful you don't do the same." He warned lowly. "Don't forget, I own these docks and the men here, work for me. Insult me again, and you'll be riddled with bullets before you get a chance to even so much as blink, let alone escape."
Talon chuckled lowly. 'Such bravado.' He thought to himself but indicated for the man to get out.
The two stepped out of the SUV and moved towards the container, a small group of half a dozen armed men following behind them. All around, men with guns patrolled, keeping a watchful gaze on their surroundings.
"Open it up," Li ordered, his men tensing up and guns partially raising them in preparation for a possible attack. And when it opened, he found nothing in there but was struck by an awful smell. So bad in fact that he heard two men behind him throw up and even Li himself felt bile rise his throat. Even so, he managed to stop him, but his eyes watered, and he rose one hand to pinch his nose.
Angrily, Tony turned to Talon only to find the man had gone, as if never there in the first place. "What the hell?! Where'd he go?!" None of his men could answer and Li glared at them all. "Find him!"
"I wouldn't bother, he's just like Batman." Li looked up, finding a man stood on top of a pile of shipping containers. "Once he disappears, you won't find him till he wants you to."
"Deadshot." As someone as he laid eyes upon the mercenary, Tony realised that this was a trap. He had been a part of this game long enough to recognise these things, but for now, he didn't feel overly concerned. From the looks of things, Deadshot was the only threat he could see. Of course Talon was also someone he kept in the back of his mind, yet besides those two he could spot no one else.
"No hard feelings, Li, but you know how it is, business is business," Deadshot said.
Tony scowled. "It's kind of difficult, not to take this personally."
"Understandable, but don't worry, I'm not here to kill you, well, not yet." This got more than a few people to tense up, but no shots were fired just yet, waiting for Li to give the order, but their guns were trained on him. "I'm just here to make sure that you do die, though the main honour for that belongs to someone else."
"And who would that be?"
"Ever heard of the nursery rhyme, Solomon Grundy?" There was a widening of the eyes from Tony who turned back to the shipping container and it was in that moment a large, grey-skinned figure charged out towards them.
"▄▅▄▅▂▂▃▃▄▄▅!"
Sunday 2nd November, 20:30.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
Dockyard.
"So, what's the plan now?" Deadshot asked, looking towards his current employer, Talon. He had initially had his services purchased by Sofia Falcone, but the Talon seemed to have a connection to several people that Deadshot owed a few favours to. As a result, he was working for Talon while pretending to work for Sofia, not the worst situation he could have found himself in, despite being well-aware of just what effect this could have on his reputation.
In his professional career, Floyd had gained a great deal of experience and his instincts had been honed. It was these instincts that determined what made a good mercenary and a great mercenary. Floyd wasn't arrogant, but he knew very well that he was counted amongst the latter group and it was purely down to these instincts. They allowed him to know when to press his advantage, when to spot a trap and when to call it quits. That was the only reason that allowed Floyd to survive as long as he had in this business.
Skills, intelligence, power, none of that mattered so long as you couldn't recognise when you're outmatched.
And Floyd right now was recognising that if he hadn't left Sofia's services when he had, that he would be outmatched. There were near four dozen men scattered across the dockyard, many having been torn apart into numerous pieces by Solomon Grundy who was currently sat calmly on a pile of bodies, his pale grey form soaked with blood.
Grundy alone was a figure that Deadshot did not fancy his chances against. Could he escape? Yes, but could he win? Floyd wasn't sure, but he didn't like his chances. He knew enough about the undead creature and besides the fact that you effectively couldn't kill him, there were times in which he had been thoroughly destroyed, some say even having been thrown in the sun by Superman himself. Yet, Grundy was still alive and each time he made an appearance, his strength could vary.
In his weakest versions, Deadshot fancied his chances and would be more than willing to go up against the undead creature. But anything other than that, well Floyd would prefer to be as far away, especially when he knew that the undead creature had once beaten the entire Justice League alone.
No, it was safe to say that Deadshot would prefer to be on the same side as Grundy rather than against him. Though he would prefer to just not be involved, he didn't know everything, but he knew enough to know that whatever was about to happen was about to make waves.
"Meet up with your partner, continue to play the part of being under Sofia's employ," Talon said. "She'll be making her move against the Yakuza tonight, she wants to deny them the chance of calling in aid from other branches across America." Floyd nodded his head, recognising it for a smart plan.
"And when do we eliminate her?"
"When she's no longer of use to us," Talon replied simply. "Grundy, with me."
Wednesday 5th November, 17:45.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
East End.
Crouching down on the edge of the building, Naruto looked out over the bustling streets below, his gaze tracking the movements of those wandering about. Things had been tense the last few days, to say the least.
The prediction that a gang war about to break out was proven correct in perhaps the most surprising way possible. Surprising in the fact that it was not as bloody as many had expected. Oh, there were deaths in the dozens, gunfire reported for hours on end in various parts all across Gotham City. Police were in a constant state of high alert, oftentimes having just returned from a firefight to suddenly be sent out to another.
But the most surprising aspect was the lack of civilian casualties.
The gangs despite going to war with one another seemed to be conducting it with some measure of care. Nonetheless, things were still bloody. There seemed to be a coalition between the Hammer, the Yakuza and the Lucky Hand Triad against the Falcone Family which had absorbed the Maroni family into it early on.
Things were certainly heating up and Naruto had been constantly working hard, helping police break up fights, but to be entirely honest, it was almost like it was when he was Black Hood again. Crime had certainly been on the rise since he had disappeared, but it went to show just how big of an effect Black Hood had on the criminal element of Gotham City that a gang war was the thing that brought the crime level back to what it once was.
As a result, Naruto had been working day in and day out, fighting consistently against dozens of armed gangsters with barely a few moments rest before moving on the next.
"▄▅▄▅▂▂▃▃▄▄▅!"
Head whipping round, Naruto looked upon the sight of two men being thrown out a window. From their getups and the guns they held in their arms, it was quite obvious that they belonged to one of the various criminal organisations in Gotham and considering the area they were in, Naruto knew they belonged to the Lucky Hand Triad.
"▄▅▄▅▂▂▃▃▄▄▅!"
Hearing another roar followed by gunfire, Naruto knew that whatever inside was far from finished and so, as he had been doing for the past few days, burst into action.
Wednesday 5th November, 18:00.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
East End.
'That's it, Naruto.' Alton thought to himself with a smirk as he watched his forearm apprentice move to stop Grundy. 'Keep rushing around and trying to stop the war, the more you attempt to stop it, the more you help me.'
Everything was going exactly as he had planned and very soon, he would control the Gotham underworld. Sofia Falcone would overextend herself and be killed by the very mercenaries she had hired. But that was not before she took out the Yakuza, Hammer and Lucky Hand Triad, the three biggest crime organisations in Gotham. With them eliminated and Sofia along with it, Talon would control the largest crime organisation in Gotham.
So large that if the others didn't submit to him willingly, they'd be too weak to stop him from taking them over by force. He'd be strong enough that the Light would have no choice but to offer him an executive position.
"Hmm." Slowly, Talon crossed his arms behind his back and looked out over the city. "You're not very good at hiding, you breath too hard and you're not very quiet when you move either."
Hearing movement behind him, Talon's smirk grew wider, and he turned around. There, stood across from him with hands raised in defensive guards and narrowed eyes, were Hawk and Dove. They hadn't been seen for a long while and Talon knew they hadn't told Naruto, if they had, the young man would have reacted far differently from the way he had.
"It's been a while, you're both looking well." He mocked. "Much stronger, much more…ready."
Neither of the two brothers said anything, just slowly stepping in opposite ways, intent on circling him. Talon did nothing, just remaining where he was, gaze flickering between the two while keeping his arms clasped behind his back.
"Well then, you both seem eager to get revenge, shall we?" He posed and both brothers paused just momentarily before rushing him.
Wednesday 5th November, 18:15.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
East End.
Ducking his head, Naruto avoided the powerful blow that put a hole through the wall where it had once been. Feeling his back peppered with drywall and debris, Naruto rolled along the ground and rushed down the corridor, hearing the thumping of feet behind him as Solomon Grundy closed in on him.
It had certainly been a surprise to come face to face with the villain known as Solomon Grundy. Then again, the undead villain did have a habit of gravitating towards this city, especially considering according to Batman's detective work, had uncovered that the man was a former Gothamite of the criminal persuasion.
The man had since come back as a sort of zombie after being killed in the Slaughter Swamp, with each time his levels of strength varying. From what Naruto was seeing, the man was certainly stronger than Superboy, which in turn put Grundy above himself if he were to access Three Tails of power, but he didn't have the strength to take on the Justice League as he had shown in the past.
That was something he was grateful for.
Sliding along the ground and through a small hole, Naruto braced his feet against the wall on the other side, wincing when it dented showing just how rotted this place was. Even so, he came to a stop and just as Grundy burst through the wall and Naruto rolled along the ground out of the way.
Grundy continued, unable to stop himself and burst through the wall and into the next room.
Rising to his feet, Naruto reached behind his back and pulled one of his blades from its sheathes. 'He's strong, very strong, but he's not very fast or smart.' He noted moving forwards cautiously.
However, Naruto barely had a moment to notice the bulging of the wall before his instincts took over. Eyes widening, Naruto bent his back, watching as a table was thrown through the wall, missing him by mere inches. Unable to keep his balance, Naruto rolled backwards and onto his feet but by that point, Grundy was already on him.
A large fist swung round, and Naruto barely managed to raise his arms, pushing backwards off his feet as the blow struck. Even so, it was incredibly powerful and no matter how much distance Naruto put between him, nor how he attempted to absorb the impact, it still carried immense force behind it. Enough to pick Naruto off his feet and launch him through the air.
One wall broke, then a second and then a third before Naruto found himself outside the building, body flipping in the air as his eyes looked around. 'Maybe he's not as dumb as I thought.' He realised a little too late.
Grunting out, Naruto slammed into the outside of a building across the road, body bouncing off it and dropping down to a car parked on the curb. Glass shattered and the roof bent under his weight and Naruto laid there stunned, his blade slipping out of his fingers and clattering on the ground. 'He's stronger than Connor that's for sure, I don't think if I went three tails would be enough to stop him.'
Pushing himself up with a groan, Naruto looked up when he heard a roar, seeing Grundy standing in the hole his body had made. Pale fingers digging into the sides, crushing rock into a fine powder before he jumped down.
"▄▅▄▅▂▂▃▃▄▄▅!"
"Yeah, yeah." He groaned out, reaching down to pick up his blade while reaching for the other. "I heard you the first time." Cracking his neck, he spun the blades round, warming up his body and rushed forwards. One thing he had recognised that despite holding a large advantage in strength, Grundy was not only suffering from a limited intelligence, but also a lack of proper speed.
He had strength, durability and endurance.
But in terms of speed, Naruto was fairly confident that he held the advantage. It was difficult to tell at this moment in time as both had been limited by the walls and narrow corridors of the building. Yet in the open, he wasn't sure how it would go.
Closing the distance between them quickly, Naruto ignored the shouts and screams of people around them and instead focused entirely upon his opponent. Blades flashed catching the sunlight before he swung them around with quick and precise slashes that cut through the air with ease. But when they came into contact with Grundy's skin, it didn't cut very deep, nothing more than a paper cut, and Naruto had only a momentary pause before leaping into the air.
One foot extended, resting on Grundy's right arm that intended to backhand him and timing it perfectly, pushed off. His body shot through the air like a bullet, Naruto flipping through the air and landing on the side of a building.
Knees bending to absorb the impact as cracks appeared, Naruto pushed off and once again shot towards Grundy. With a shout, he thrust both swords' forwards, piercing into the chest of the undead villain. Black blood splashed through the air, splattering onto his costume, but Naruto was far from concerned. Grundy had survived being thrown in the sun before and had returned, so he was fairly certain he didn't need to worry about killing blows.
'Even so, I could probably end this fairly quickly if I used my demonic powers.' He noted pulling his blades free and lashing out with a kick to Grundy's face before leaping away. 'But I didn't train with Wildcat and leave the team just to rely on them the moment things get difficult. Green Arrow and Batman have taken out Grundy before, I should be able to do the same.'
Wednesday 5th November, 18:25.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
East End.
Face whipping to one side, Hank stumbled backwards as a result of the backfist that struck his cheek. Spitting out some blood from his burst lip, he glared at Talon, watching as the assassin masterfully toyed with his brother, one hand still held behind his back and easily dodging and parrying everything Don threw at him.
"Come now, Hawk, Dove, this can't be all you're capable of?" Talon taunted, leaning his head to one side, Don's fist passing by and stepped into his guard. As he did, Talon slammed an uppercut into his stomach, Don gasping out and falling back.
Hank let out a snarl, charging forwards and threw powerfully, but controlled punches attempting to break through the defence of Talon through brute force. However, no matter how hard or fast his punches were, Talon just avoided them with ease. Even when his brother, despite the grimace on his face joined him again, they didn't make a dent.
Talon was just too skilled, too fast and just too experienced to be overcome in this way. Parrying Don's right cross to one side, Talon stepped in and slammed an elbow into Hank's face before coming round and swinging a second uppercut into Don's side.
Even then, the combo didn't end there, and Talon swung a roundhouse kick into Hank's head, dragging him face-first into the ground.
As he stood there, Talon let out a low chuckle. "Well now, I honestly expected more. Didn't you avoid telling Naruto and spend all this time training just to fight me again. And what do you have to show for it? Nothing but disappointment."
"Fuck you!" Hank growled out, going to push himself up only for Talon to stomp down on the back of his head and drive him further into the ground. His head cracking the ground as Talon kept one foot there, grinding him further down into it.
"You know, you remind me of Naruto," Talon noted amusedly, as he looked down at Hank. "So stubborn, so raw and unwilling to give in." Hank let out a groan as his head was pushed further and further into the ground. "But the fact remains, you both share the same crippling weakness, you're not good enough."
That seemed to be the last straw for Hank who let out a shout of anger, pushing up with all his might and forcing Talon to jump backwards. Quickly getting to his feet, Hank charged forwards and wrapped both arms around Talon's waist, driving him back towards the edge and succeeded in forcing them both to plummet to the ground.
Calmly, Talon dug both hands into Hanks, the claws on his gloves digging into the skin to the point Hank reflexively loosened his grip. Using this to his advantage, Talon swung his hips round so that it was Hank that was falling back first and placed both feet on his chest.
There was a momentary widening of eyes from Hank as he began to realise what was about to happen, then Talon jumped up. The extra push flung Hank down at a quicker pace where he smashed back first into a van, it folding under his weight. Talon meanwhile was able to dissipate his fall and landed lightly in a crouch, eyes scanning the area.
Hank was unmoving and Don didn't make a move from upstairs, the liver shot no doubt keeping him down for some time. And there, a little ways away was Naruto fighting against Solomon Grundy.
Unlike what he had expected, Naruto was holding up quite well and not only that, but he also wasn't using his demonic powers either. 'It seems I underestimated his improvement; he certainly isn't the same young man who I met.' Grundy was certainly the stronger of the two and at least possessed enough intelligence to use his surroundings to his advantage. He was picking up cars and light posts and using them as weapons.
Speaking of which, Talon had to quickly move to one side, avoiding the car that flew through the area in which he once stood. 'But no matter how intelligent Grundy is, he doesn't possess enough to be aware that in a close-quarters combat situation like this, Naruto has the advantage. Nonetheless, Grundy is doing his job well-enough.'
"Move into position," Talon ordered, pressing one hand to the communication device in his ear. "It'll begin any moment now and then we eliminate Maelstrom."
Wednesday 5th November, 18:30.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
East End.
Narrowing his eyes, Naruto swung his swords around, cutting into the skin of Grundy. It was deeper than it had been previously, the change in his grip and shifting of his body enabled him to cut a little further. However, it wasn't as much as Naruto would have liked, especially considering that Grundy just didn't seem to acknowledge them.
'If I had fought this guy before when I was Black Hood I would have lost instantly, perhaps even as Marauder.' He thought to himself, leaping backwards to avoid the backhanded swipe.
In terms of strength, Grundy was stronger than Killer Croc and while weaker in terms of durability, his regenerative ability allowed him to circumvent that. No matter what he did, Grundy just didn't seem to feel any of his slashes and just constantly moved forwards. Unlike other villains who could feel pain, Grundy just continued to push on forwards, forcing Naruto on the backfoot.
But despite that, Naruto was able to manoeuvre around Grundy with ease.
Grundy roared out angrily, bringing his hands down in a doublehanded hammer strike, Naruto diving to one side as it came down. Even then, the blow caused the ground to the crater, buildings shaking precariously.
A quick swipe of his blade cut into Grundy's side, but as soon as it appeared, it closed up again. 'Damnit, this is getting fucking annoying.' Naruto cursed, a frown coming onto his face as he quickly closed the gap between them in an attempt to catch Grundy off-guard.
It worked, as Naruto took a running jump, feet bracing against Grundy's shoulder as he drove one blade directly into the zombie's eye. This proved to be a weak point, the blade sliding easily through Grundy's head, bursting out the other end as it was buried to the hilt. And for the first time, Grundy made a sound of discomfort, though perhaps it was more one of anger than anything else. Naruto wasn't quite sure as he attempted to pull his blade free only for the socket to grasp onto his blade tighter.
'Is he manipulating his muscles to hold it in place?' He questioned disbelievingly, unsure whether that was happening or just a coincidence. Despite all that though, Naruto had just a momentary bout of inattentiveness that resulted in his ankle being grasped in one large hand. "Shit!"
Naruto let out a noise of surprise as he suddenly found himself swung through the air, slamming back-first into the ground below. He could feel the wind rush out of him, his vision momentarily blackening and the concrete caving underneath him.
Then he was picked up again and just thrown away like a ragdoll, crashing into the ground and rolling a good few yards before coming to a stop. Hands bracing against the ground and pushing off and landing in a crouch a little further away.
"Damnit." Slowly, Naruto pushed himself onto his feet, glancing towards Grundy who reached up, pulling the blade free from his eye. And, with a growl, crushed it in his hand, letting it clatter against the ground. 'I've improved my skills far more than I have done before, but I've forgotten how to fight without powers. It's all about equipment and I just don't have anything that'll give me that extra power. I'll have to speak it over with Batman when this is all over.'
"Maelstrom!" Looking up, Naruto saw Dove leaning over the edge of the building above him. "Behind you!"
Not even hesitating, Naruto spun round arms raised which proved to save his life as two clawed hands dug into them. But as soon as he laid eyes upon the masked figure that stared back at him, Naruto's eyes widened in shock before they narrowed in anger.
"Talon!" He snarled out angrily, twisting his wrists to grab hold of Talon's forearms and pulled, slamming his head into the former assassin of the Court of Owls. Only for Talon to lash out with a sidekick into his stomach as he fell back, both rolling away and to their feet. Yet Naruto was quickly forced to leap to one side when he heard the loud thundering steps of Grundy rushing towards him.
As he once again rolled to his feet, Naruto heard Dove drop down beside him, but he never once turned his gaze away from the two villains across from him. "It's been a while, Naruto." Talon greeted calmly.
"Not long enough in my opinion." Naruto shot back, reaching behind him to pull a cylinder from his back. "I wondered where you'd been hiding after you broke free from Belle Reve, I'm surprised you hide like a coward all this time."
Talon chuckled lowly. "Oh, you do amuse me, Naruto. As always, you let your mouth run without thinking about the words and the consequences that could come of them."
"Oh I think about the words and I meant them." He replied, letting his staff extend fully while Dove remained quiet, eyes flickering to where his brother was laid unconscious upon the back of the van. He was worried, that much was for sure, but he also didn't fancy his chances going up against the two villains right now, especially not Talon again. So he was more than willing to let Naruto and Talon share barbs if it helped buy them some time.
"I've missed this," Talon muttered lowly. "It's been so long and it's like you haven't changed at all, but you have, and I must admit, I'm quite disappointed in you. You were such an interesting individual, ready to take a life for the greater good, but now look at you, you're just like every other hero out there."
"Disappointing? You act like you think I would care what your opinion of me is." Dove watched as Naruto slowly began to inch forwards.
"Naruto?!" He whispered out urgently, trying to figure out what was happening.
Neither Naruto nor Talon paid attention though. "But you should," Talon replied. "You couldn't beat me when you were willing to kill, do you believe you can do it now when you don't have that nerve?"
"This isn't going to be like a year ago, Alton. You kicked my ass enough times that I know how you fight. You like to cut them up until they slow down enough for you to land the finishing blow, it's how you beat Batman. But you see that shit won't work on me because guess what? I heal, asshole."
"You might do, but are you sure that's going to be enough?" Talon taunted and Naruto could just tell he was smirking behind his mask. "Sure, you have your powers and your cloak is certainly a wondrous little thing, I imagine that it could do anything you wanted, so long as you have the imagination, but do you really think it'll be enough?"
Naruto grit his teeth, his grip on his staff growing tighter. "Enough of your words, let's end this, once and for all!"
"Gladly."
"Naruto, are we doing this?!" Dove asked urgently, recognising that if Naruto was going to be fighting Talon, then he'd have to fight Grundy. But Naruto seemed to be too focused on Talon that he didn't even hear him as Naruto rushed forwards.
Yet just as Naruto went to swing his staff round to smack Talon in the face, Talon seemed to disappear. Too busy focused on attempting to knock the lights out, Naruto stumbled forwards and rapidly looked around in an attempt to find out where Talon had gone. But all around him, Talon, Grundy and Hawk were gone.
"What the hell?!" Dove's words summed it up.
Wednesday 5th November, 18:50.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
East End.
As soon as Naruto disappeared from his sights, Talon froze, eyes narrowing in confusion as he tried to figure out just exactly what happened. "Hmm? Well, that was unexpected." He noted, turning to Grundy who just looked around in confusion. "Strange, the spell Klarion talked about should have made sure that those over eighteen remain in one world and those beneath it in another."
Talon's eyes trailed across the surroundings, taking note of adults beginning to peek their heads out of windows and from around corners, each of them gone for cover as soon as the fighting broke out. Eventually, his gaze landed upon Hawk who was still laid unconscious on the back of the van.
"Curious." He once again noted. 'The question remains, why is Naruto not here? The whole plan was to separate him from those close to him. The Justice League themselves would be too busy dealing with the panic and trying to figure out what happened to give them any help.'
Raising one hand to his ear, Talon looked to the rooftops. "Fall back to the safe house. Todays a failure, focus our attention on the Church of Blood." There were affirmatives on the other end and Talon once again turned to Hawk. His initial plan may have failed, but he might have a way to salvage something from this situation. "Grundy, bring him to me."
There was a grunt from the zombie who lumbered forwards to the unconscious form of Hawk. Just as he went to reach out, Grundy was suddenly struck by a powerful green blast of energy that threw him back, smashing through a line of cars and into the bottom floor of a nearby building.
Talon turned, looking at the area in which Grundy had disappeared to and then back to where Grundy had been previously. "Well, that was certainly unexpected." He murmured, looking up to see a man clad in green pants and cloak and a red shirt with a green lantern symbol surrounded by a yellow circle in the middle. "I must say, it is quite a pleasure to meet a hero such as yourself. The first Green Lantern, a hero of the All-Star Squadron and Justice Society of America. But while it's a pleasure, it is getting quite annoying to have my plans interrupted all the time."
"You will leave the boy alone." Alan Scott, the first Green Lantern and wielder of the Starheart ordered, floating in the air with his right fist extended. Attached to one finger and glow a light green, was a ring, big and bulky compared to the Lantern Ring wielded by the current Green Lanterns but holding the same glow.
A glow that irked Talon ever so slightly, a reminder of his past failings. "And if I refuse?"
"Then you'll find that a young upstart like you will be in a very difficult situation." Talon turned to his right to see Wildcat stood, arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his lips. "Lantern might be a bit more forgiving, but I won't. You harmed one of my students, I'll make you pay for that."
Instead of being intimidated by this show of strength, Talon instead laughed. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. What a predicament I've found myself in, I wonder, whatever could I do?" He mockingly asked. "Oh I know, how about I call in a little backup?" Talon rose one hand up and clicked his fingers and all around, figures burst out from nearby building windows and dropped down from the sky, some leaping directly towards the Green Lantern.
Talon himself burst towards Wildcat who quickly found himself under assault from five figures, the Talon amongst them. And just after a short few exchanges, Wildcat knew something was different.
'I've read the report Jason gave me on the undead Talons, but these guys.' He thought to himself, slamming a fist into one before ducking and weaving between numerous blows. Even as cuts began to open up on his body, Wildcat didn't hesitate and landed a few more combos. 'They're far stronger than what was reported.'
Ted doubted that Batman would lie about the strength of the undead Talon, nor that Jason would alter the report when he requested it. Which left only one option, 'the undead Talons have been strengthened.'
They were not only faster, but their movements were more fluid, and their strength was nothing to scoff at either. On top of all that, they didn't feel pain and their bodies seemed to regenerate as well, there was no denying that Ted was in a difficult situation.
On the bright side, Alan Scott seemed to be fairing better, the power of the Starheart aiding him in keeping the undead Talons at a distance. Even Grundy who was throwing cars and large chunks of rock and concrete weren't stopping the Green Lantern. 'Which is probably why the Talon is targeting me, he wants to take me out now before focusing all of his attention on Alan.'
Despite this, Ted felt a smirk come onto his face, eyes tracking the movements of his opponents and spun around. A right legged back kick threw one undead Talon back into two of its compatriots, but at the same time, Ted also threw a powerful cross to the man who had approached him from the back.
The Talon just barely managed to lean his head to the side, Wildcats fist scrapping past the mask, slightly dislodging it, his sneak attack suitably failed. Even so, he stepped in, attempting to dig his claws into Ted's stomach only for his eyes to widen and quickly cross both arms across his chest. This was because Ted swung his right leg back through, slamming a front kick into the hastily formed guard.
It knocked Talon back, Wildcat stepping back into a stance, fists raised in a loose guard. "What's wrong, that can't be all you've got?" Wildcat taunted. "I may be old, but don't look down on me, boy."
Despite his earlier amusement, Talon felt his lips twist into a frown. "I think you old-timers have overstayed your welcome."
Wednesday 5th November, 17:00.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
East End.
"What the hell!" Dove exclaimed, looking around urgently to try and figure out what was going on. Grundy, Talon, Hawk, they were all gone it was like they were in a ghost town, everyone was gone. "Hawk?"
'What's going on?' Naruto asked himself, looking around just like Dove. Whatever was happening, they were still in the same place, but no one was around anymore. It's then he felt his earpiece go off and he rose one hand to his ear to answer it. "Maelstrom here."
"Naruto, thank god, you're okay." Barbara exhaled on the other end.
"Batgirl, what the hell's going on here?"
"We don't know. All we know is that all the adults are gone. That's the most we've figured out. We can't get into contact with any one of the Justice League." Barbara explained. "We're still trying to figure out what's going on, but all we know is that we're in the world with all the children. Who are without parents."
Naruto didn't need any more information than that to figure out what would happen. "Don't say anymore. Dove and I will take all the kids here to Gotham Academy, do the same in the other cities."
"Don't worry, Kaldur's already given the order." She told him and Naruto nodded his head, pleased to see that things were still good on the team without him. It made him feel happy that he made the right decision to leave, god knows what he would have felt like if it turned out that the team went to shit after he left.
"Alright, thank you. And let me know when you've managed to open communication with the League again." With that last thing, Naruto shut off the call, turning to Dove who'd been looking to him. "You take Gotham Heights, direct anyone over the age of sixteen to help get all the younger children to Gotham Academy, I'll do the same here."
"It's a big city, Naruto, are you sure we'll be able to cover it all," Dove asked unsurely. "And what about Hawk?"
Naruto shook his head. "We don't have time to focus on Hawk at this moment in time, there's nothing we can do to help him out at this moment in time. All we can do right now is do our best."
Thursday 6th November, 00:30.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
Gotham Heights.
Grunting out, Naruto braced his feet against the floor and lifted the car. As soon as he did, a young fifteen-year-old girl rushed underneath, grabbing hold of the young boy and pulling him out. As soon as the two were clear of the car, he let it dropdown.
"Get to Gotham Academy, you'll be safe there." The young girl nodded her head, holding the young child who had found himself stuck underneath the car somehow tight to her before running away. As she did, Naruto released a sigh, running one hand through his hair tiredly, they'd been at this for hours and it didn't seem like there was going to be an end in sight.
Once again his communication device went off. "Naruto, we've got some more information that you might like too here,"Barbara said over the other end.
"Alright, fill me in."
"Well, to start things off, it's confirmed. The world has been split in two, one for kids below the age of eighteen and another for adults over the age of eighteen. We know that a group of magicians are behind this and Zatana's located where they are, we're going to head there now and end this."
Naruto nodded, pleased to have some good news at last. Though he did have questions as to why he was in this world then, but by the fact Barbara didn't bring it up meant that as mysterious as it was, it's wasn't top priority at this moment. "Before you do, tell Kid Flash to remain behind. Me, him and Dove will continue to help kids over the world."
"Understood." There was a momentary pause from the other end. "One last thing, Captain Marvel is here. Apparently, he's actually a kid, but when he transforms he turns into an adult, so we've opened a secure line of communication."
Naruto quickly tensed up when he heard this, his mind replaying the memory of what happened mere hours prior. "Send him back! Tell the Justice League that Hawk is in danger! He needs help. Grundy and Talon are there and the last thing I remember before we got separated as he was unconscious."
"A-alright, I'll tell him." As the line went dead, Naruto clenched his fists and looked around. It had taken them hours just to finish up most of Gotham and there were still parts here and there in the city that were still a mess.
As much as he realised that stopping whoever was behind this and reverting the world to normal was important, he also knew that a huge amount of pressure would be placed on those who didn't go. They would have to work even harder to try and bring order to the world while most of the young heroes went to sort out the world.
'Damnit, there's still not enough of us and I can't access more of my demonic powers because of the cloak.' He thought to himself, teeth-gnashing together, Naruto was already in his Tailless Form and despite running around the city as fast as he could, he was struggling. If he went further, then his cloak would come into play and that meant being unable to grab hold of other people and bring them to safety without seriously hurting them.
Not only that, but anything he touched would also begin to break apart.
'Fucking hell! My cloak is just a hindrance in this situation, and I can't even just dismiss it either. Which means I'm stuck in just my Tailless Form. This is a fucking joke.' Clenching his fists in anger, Naruto shook his head, dismissing the negative thoughts in his head, trying to think of something he could do. 'I could try rapidly switching between my Three Tailed and Tailless Form, but that's incredibly tiring on me physically. I don't know how long I'll be able to keep doing that for and this is an endurance event.'
"Your cloak is certainly a wondrous little thing, I imagine that it could do anything you wanted, so long as you have the imagination, but do you really think it'll be enough?" Talon's words ringing in his mind and Naruto felt an idea begin to form.
'It's crazy, but it might just work.' Closing his eyes, Naruto let his powers flow throughout his body, a cloak bursting to life around him and three tails quickly forming. 'Concentrate. Don't lose focus. Just breathe in and out.' He breathed out, focusing purely on the image in his mind and nothing else.
Unknowing to him, his tails began to curve round, tips gently placed against the ground. And slowly, the tails began to bubble out rapidly, growing wider and wider, the colour becoming darker and more vivid.
'Come on, don't lose focus now.' Naruto scrunched his eyes up tightly, a bead of sweat becoming to form on his brow.
Slowly, one by one, the tails began to disconnect from Naruto's body, their bubbling forms beginning to take shape into the form of a human. As soon as the final tail disconnected from his body, the cloak surrounding Naruto dissipated and he collapsed to one knee, chest heaving.
Looking over his shoulder, Naruto felt his lips twitch into a smirk. 'They're not exactly human-looking, but they'll do for now.' Naruto thought, looking at the large, disfigured looking creatures his tails had formed into. One had two large arms and smaller legs, another had one leg being longer than the other with one arm being incredibly short and the final one had a huge bulging chest and tiny head. 'I'm definitely going to have to work on this, but for the first attempt, it's not half bad.'
He then looked down at his arms, noting he was still in his Tailless Form and despite his efforts, couldn't reach any further. Naruto had reached the limit of his ability to control his powers.
'So I can create three clones of myself, but that's my limit and I can't access any more of my powers. Does that mean they each represent one tail of my power as well?' Despite the questions in his mind, Naruto shook his head and instead focused on the task at hand. "Let's go." He ordered, his three clones following after him.
Thursday 6th November, 00:35.
Rhode Island,
Happy Harbour,
Mount Justice.
Quickly turning off the radio, Barbara rushed through the Cave to find Billy currently engaged in a conversation with Kaldur. He, Robin herself had been busy coming up with a plan while the rest of the team had been out in cities all over in an attempt to help as many children as possible.
But currently, with the information that the splitting of their world was due to magical intervention, the team were now all gathered together and preparing to complete the mission. They had already sent out video messages all across the world, using satellites to hack into TVs, computers, phones and anything with a screen and connected to the internet. The message itself was simple and told children not to panic and making their way to their nearby school.
This was the most they could do while they focused all their efforts on fixing their world.
"Captain Marvel!" She exclaimed, attracting attention towards her. "You need to go back now, Hawk's in danger. Talon and Grundy are both there, they'll kill him!"
"Eh, oh yeah." Billy stuttered, completely caught off-guard by this sudden turn of events. But he recovered himself and exclaimed the words needed to access the great power lying within him, "Shazam!" And as a bolt of lightning struck him, Billy was gone.
"What's going on?" Artemis asked, she and the rest of the team grouping together.
"Right now, it's nothing we can do anything about," Kaldur ordered, taking control of the room. "Are you all ready to move out?"
"Yeah, let's finish this." Wally eagerly exclaimed.
Barbara quickly put a stop to that though, remembering the other thing Naruto asked of her. "Sorry, Wally, but you won't be coming with us. Naruto asked that you stay behind and help anyone in need of aid. I have to agree with him on this, with your speed, you should be doing this instead."
Wally clicked his teeth in annoyance, feet kicking the ground. "Damnit!" Despite him wanting to fight those responsible for splitting the worlds apart, he hated himself for understanding why he should remain behind. But he wanted to fight the villains and save the day more than anything.
"I agree." Kaldur concurred. "Wally, you continue to help people in the nearby cities. The rest of us, let's go."
Thursday 6th November, 12:00.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
Gotham Heights.
Sirens sounded across the city, panicked people rushing all around the city. It was chaos unlike anything seen before. A chaotic sight seen throughout the world as parents dealt with the sudden disappearances of their children.
Yet amongst the chaos, a great battle was coming to an end.
As people rushed around in an attempt to figure out the sudden change in the world, many let out screams of fright when Solomon Grundy flew through the air and smashed into the ground which exploded outwards, showering the street in debris and rubble. There was a momentary pause from all those around, a moment in which peace returned to the streets as they watched with bated breaths as the smoke cloud began to slowly dissipate.
A big hand wrapped around the top of a large uprooted rock and used it to pull Solomon up, the rock cracking and being crushed in his grip. Fearfully, all those gathered around scrambled away to opposite sides of the street, attempting to stay as far away from the zombie.
Seeing something in the air, Grundy launched the large chunk of rock through the air. Up above, Alan Scott fired numerous blasts of energy down at the Talons on the rooftop below, providing support to both Wildcat and the newly awakened Hawk. The young man had awoken about an hour after the Wildcat and Green Lantern and quickly joined the two in fighting against the Talon and his men.
Things had not been easy with Green Lantern having to take point on numerous occasions to give both Wildcat and Hawk a moment to recover their breaths. Especially when the Undead Talons and Solomon Grundy didn't require any rest at all.
They just kept coming while they needed to rest and so the fight seemed to see no end with both sides gaining the upper hand on numerous occasions. When fully rested, Talon and his forces stood no chance against the heroes. But on the other end, when Wildcat and Hawk began to tire, this would present an opening for the Talons to attack, targeting this weakness and forcing Alan to intervene.
It was a constant back and forth that seemed to have no end in sight.
Quickly spinning around, Alan Scott went to summon a shield to block the rock only for a blur to come flying down and catch it mid-air. Down below, Talon looked up with a scowl, looking upon the figure of Wonder Woman who stood holding the rock in one hand.
With a shout, she threw the rock back, smashing it Grundy and smashing him back into the ground. "I'll deal with Grundy." Wonder Woman said before flying back down towards Grundy, landing feet first gently as to not cause any further damage to the ground, just as Grundy himself got back to his feet and releasing a roar of anger directed at the Amazonian Princess.
A powerful fist was swung round, slamming into her open palm. Despite the force throwing Wonder Woman's hair back and a shockwave exploding out and breaking the ground beneath their feet, Wonder Woman didn't even budge, just calmly standing there.
Without even a word, she gripped hold of the fist tightly crushing the bones in the zombie's hand instantly. Then, she pulled Grundy forwards, swinging her free hand round and ramming it into the side of his face while at the same time, releasing hold of his hand. This impact threw Grundy through the air, bouncing off the ground repeatedly before slamming into the side of a bus, it crumpling under his weight.
Meanwhile, Talon watched this all go down, teeth-gritting in anger as he tried to figure out a way to circumvent this situation. His gaze flickered around, looking towards Alan Scott and then to Wildcat and Hawk. He was well aware that he was in trouble, his big plan had backfired and now, everything was going downhill.
The initial plan was to have Sofia Falcone take out the various crime families in Gotham while Talon and his men would first eliminate Naruto and then move to quickly take out the Church of Blood. There was of course the trouble of the Justice League and the team of young heroes, but that would have been solved by the splitting of the worlds. Talon had also taken Wildcat, Hawk and Dove into his plan, which is why he had initially intended to have his forces gathered and take them all out in one go. A quick, easy mission before moving onto the Church of Blood, but that had changed when Naruto had disappeared before his eyes.
That had not been part of the plan.
Especially considering Naruto was eighteen which meant he should have been unaffected by the spell Klarion had cast. So, as he looked around, his plans falling to pieces, Talon focused purely on the figure of Hawk. If he was to get out of here he needed to gain the upper hand.
Friday 7th November, 09:00.
Poland,
Silesian Region,
Katowice.
Waving his hand as he directed the children into the school gymnasium, Naruto looked around at the children already gathered inside. Most of Katowice was gathered throughout the school, upperclassmen having taken on the responsibility of keeping order amongst the younger children.
As the last group of children in the city piled into the room, Naruto began walking away, one hand raising to his ear and activating the commlink. "Dove, prep the Zeta-Tube for the next city on my list."
"Naruto, don't you want to take a rest?" Dove asked over the other end from where he was situation in the Mount Justice. He had gone there soon after securing all the children in Gotham at the nearby schools. His speed was limited in comparison to Naruto and Wally so to make it more smooth, Don had headed to Mount Justice where he would operate the Zeta-Tubes.
It had taken a little time to teach him how to do so, but once he got the hang of it, Don had lined up several cities for both of them. Wally due to his superior speed made quick work early on, however, he had to stop on several occasions to rest and get food. Naruto on the other hand hadn't taken a single rest, not to eat, not to sleep or even take a momentary breather.
"Can't, we've managed to secure all of North and South America, but Europe isn't fully finished nor is all of China and Russia on Wally's end." To cover a wider area, Naruto had worked in North America and then headed east towards Europe. Wally on the other hand had worked in South America, then headed West to Japan, Australia, Russia and China.
"Naruto, you need to rest, you're pushing yourself too far. Just at least take a moment to rest and recover."
Naruto ignored this and instead headed straight towards the phone box where the Zeta-Tube was set up. "Prep the Zeta-Tube, I'm closing in." He didn't receive an answer but as soon as he entered the phone booth, it lights up.
"Recognise: Maelstrom, B07." The autonomous voice sounded before Naruto disappeared in a flash.
So hope you all enjoyed and as you can see, Talon's plan didn't exactly go as he expected. Solomon Grundy has appeared in one of his weaker iterations and Deadshot has also made a reappearance. As we can see from this fight, Naruto's skills have progressed to a point where he is easily holding Grundy at bay just lacks the necessary firepower to put him out which is purely down to equipment, something he has recognised and will rectify.
Hawk and Dove also show that while improved, are still no match against Talon while the long-awaited reunion between Naruto is cut short by the unexpected disappearance of Naruto. However, Alan Scott the first Green Lantern has arrived to help save Hawk's life. Overall, I'm quite happy with this chapter and I hope you enjoyed it as well, but as we can see, we're reaching the end of Season 1 and now begins the buildup to the finale.
Hope you enjoyed and now, let's get onto the questions:
Sultan Asil Arslan: No, Naruto's depression won't remain the case forever and in fact, he's already getting over it thanks to Hank, Don and mostly Barbara. The Team also helped, but Naruto is getting over it. Yes, they will. Minato and Kushina of this universe will remain dead, but their impact on this story is not over.
Yohnos: Just wait and see my friend, Naruto may have taken the road of no killing, but as Jason explained, Naruto started going down a very wrong path. He started being unable to discern between those who were deserving of death and those undeserving of it. That's the reason for Naruto's reluctance to kill once more, but that will not always be the case. No, Naruto's relationship with Barbara will not be tested during the gang war, but it will be in the future.
anoyak111: Well, I understand what you're saying, but honestly, I don't see the huge problem with it. I'm showing that Naruto has been having an influence on the DC world around him, which is a key aspect of a crossover. I can't just introduce loads of Naruto characters for the sake of it, I need to select characters not purely to show that this is a crossover, but for a purpose that suits the story. Konohamaru and other characters would do the former, but not the latter. Besides, if you think Naruto doesn't have his own villains then again, you've missed several key points.
Yes, the majority of Naruto's villains have been Batman and Justice League villains. But every DC villain has been enemies to other heroes. Black Mask, Talon and Deathstroke are major villains for Naruto and the former two are Naruto-centric villains comparable to the likes of Joker being a Batman villain or Lex Luther a Superman villain. This is Naruto's influence on the world which is what a crossover should be, not a mad dash to introduce Naruto characters left, right and centre.
AnimeIsLife0407: I'm glad you agree with me, I can understand people wanting to give Naruto loads of powers, but to be honest if it doesn't serve a purpose other than to make Naruto stronger and doesn't fit in with the story at that time, then what's the point? And don't worry, the Adamantine Chains will be introduced, I've been giving it some thought and I think I'll be introducing them. Though they will be purely an Anti-Demon weapon. Having too many powers is not a good thing so Adamantine Chains will be something that only works against Demons and no other beings. This makes it a situational power.