A/N: I want to point out I started this, story earlier in the Fall than I did with my other crossover: Arashi Uzumaki of the Blue Plague, but still no where in the beginning, so if you want to know what happened in Blue Plague series before the point I used, you got to read the actual books. Just don't let kids read it.
I'm also censoring curse words as it's too many used in more than just saying usual ways that I can't ignore them all. At least with censoring I'm not going against my usual way of avoiding curse wordsof the Blue Plague series Tomas W. Watson, whose wife is Tina Watson. I should also tell you Watson always based a character after himself in his books, and in the Blue Plague series that's Bruce.
Finally, I don't own the Blue Plague series or the Naruto series or it's characters. But I do know the wife of the writer of the Blue Plague series Tomas W. Watson, whose wife is Tina Watson. I should also tell you Watson always based a character after himself in his books, and in the Blue Plague series that's Bruce.
if you see letters with '-' that's me sensoring curse words in case none of you realized that.
If you haven't read it yet, read this first:
Blue Plague's Nine-Tail Fox's Son: The Fall
Invasion of the Gang's Camp
The clan gathered outside the northwest livestock pasture for the funerals at sunset. Only those on duty were absent. Several huge oak trees shaded the area. Bruce came running up in clean clothes before Father Thomas started the service. Bruce moved to the front to stand by Debbie, Stephanie and the kids. Naruto Sakura Sai Yamato Temari Konohamaru Moegi and Udon were still dressed in combat vest, but instead of BDUs they were wearing black clothing with permission from Mike Debbie and Nancy after they explained they dressed in black during funerals back home.
Five graves had been dug, and the coffins were sitting beside the graves. Only one coffin had people standing by it and that was Angela, holding Cade, and looking down at Alex's coffin. Bruce sighed when he saw little Angela holding Cade. Cade was almost half her size but she held him close.
Bruce whispered to Debbie and Stephanie then he walked over to Angela, taking Cade from her. Angela knelt beside the coffin, kissing Alex one last time; then she stood up, wrapping her arms around Bruce's waist.
Grabbing Emily and Sherry's hands, Debbie walked to the second coffin with the twins and stood beside it. The rest of Bruce's family filed past Debbie and the twins. Stephanie, holding PJ with Buffy beside her, stopped beside the next coffin. Danny and Jake went to the fourth coffin, and Steve with his new family stopped at the last one. Now each person who had made the ultimate sacrifice for the clan had someone to witness their last journey.
Father Thomas gave a nice service and went to each group and said a prayer. He came back to Bruce and Angela. "Bruce, will you say some words for our fallen brethren?" Father Thomas asked him.
"Not today, Father, I'll say something tomorrow," Bruce told him. He could feel the rage in his blood. He was still riding the wave, knowing he had broken the rules.
"Father Thomas, may I say something?" Naruto asked.
Father Thomas turned to Bruce who just nodded, glad someone was willing to in his place. "Yes, Naruto. You may," Father Thomas said.
"I never spoke in behalf of someone in a funeral before, much less five, so bare with me. That being said, not only as a shinobi I witness death, but I even been to funerals for those that sacrificed their lives for the village they sworn to protect, just as these five have done for this clan they sworn to protect. This isn't a speech I made myself but one made by a great man who gave it when the leaf village was mourning the lost after we were caught off guard and attacked, but I changed a few things to better fit these five heroes and our current situation. We suffered loss, but we're still here because of them. They died fighting so we can carry on their will, and as long as we keep the will of fire-the will to protect those we care about and the this place we call home in this treacherous times-burning, their deaths, our memories of being with them, will never die. As long as it lives their deaths will never be for nothing." Naruto took a deep breath. "That is all. Thank you."
There was a moment of silence. Then Sakura started clapping as did Sai and Yamato followed by Temari, then Bruce and Mike and their families. Soon everyone started clapping.
Father Thomas walked up and took Naruto's hands and shook it. "Thank you Naruto. I'm sure these five appreciate your kind words from heaven."
Naruto nodded and stepped down. Angela let go of Bruce and hugged Naruto.
"Thank you Naruto," Bruce said. "I wouldn't have said those words exactly but my meaning would have been the same as yours."
Naruto nodded. "Thanks goes to the Fourth Lord Hokage. He's the one that gave the original speech and reminded me of it again when Pervy Sage, who trained both of us at two different times, died. It just felt right to use his speech for this evening."
Bruce nodded and let Angela go and knelt by Alex, patting his chest. Then Bruce stood, wrapped his arm around Angela. Angela looked up at Bruce. Hugging him was like hugging a rock, Angela could feel the energy radiating from him and it was intoxicating. Looking at Bruce's face, a shiver ran down her spine then she smiled. H- was coming and Bruce was going to deliver it.
Bruce then moved to the next coffin with Angela and patted the man's chest. Then Angela leaned down and kissed his forehead. They repeated the gestures at each coffin, and when they had finished at the last coffin they looked back and the entire clan was stopping at each coffin, kissing or patting the fallen heroes.
Tears rolled down Bruce's cheeks. He did feel loss but these were tears of rage. He had fed off the anger, unleashing the hate. He knew he shouldn't but he hadn't cared as the wave surged through him with each scream of the gang members pushing the wave higher. He'd wanted them to feel pain just for his own joy, for hurting his family. He had been awake for over thirty hours but he felt strong and ready. Bruce wanted to kill and bring pain on those that had attacked this family.
When the last person finished paying their respects, Bruce led Angela to the Community Center. Alex had wanted the Center open so the clan had gotten it ready to serve its first meal for Alex's and the others' wake. Naruto and Yamato both worked together to make sure of it. Bruce pulled Angela to the table that he'd moved from the house to the Community Center. He set Angela and Cade and went to get them a plate, but Millie was already bringing them to the table.
Bruce sat and ate and then just watched as everyone ate and talked. Seeing his chance, Bruce got up and left, heading to his room. Lying on his bed was a notebook that Stephanie had transcribed from the recorder. Bruce started going over the notes then pulled out the map, studying it. Debbie and Stephanie were the next in the room. They came over to the bed with Bruce. Danny, Mary, and Buffy came in next, followed by Mike and Nancy. Matt, Jake, and David joined the family to prepare for war. Team Kakashi and Temari joined in, and Steve and Conner were the last two in, leaving Tonya and Susan watching the kids.
Bruce stood up. "Okay. let's go over this again. The small island is a hundred yards off the bank. Matt and Jake will provide sniper cover, with Mary watching their a-; they are team three. Temari and Sai, I want you in the air as team four as our aerial support. Team one, my team, will be me, Buffy Steve and Naruto. Team two will be Debbie's team: Debbie, Danny, Yamato, and Connor. The park is on the west side of the lake on a peninsula with a fourteen-foot fence cutting the area off. That part of Lake Bistineau still has water, so the only way for the blues to attack is at the fence. There are ten sleeping cabins; each can hold forty people for sleeping and one large hall where they eat and party. Cabin nine and ten hold the hostages, cabin four houses the leader and his captains, cabin five houses weapons and supplies."
"Now, thanks to the information the sniper was kind even enough to give us, we know from Naruto's and my attack and Connor blowing out of the ambush that we killed a hundred and thirty-six gang members. If that wasn't good enough news, those groups had most of the military members. The leader and his captains are just gang members, ruthless and dangerous, but undisciplined."
"You mean a bunch of former trained soldiers fell for our traps even with the carnage you left in one of the houses?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah. I was surprise myself," Bruce said.
The door opened and Angela walked in and stopped in her tracks.
"I'm sorry, I'll go to my room," Angela said, turning to leave.
"Angela, stop and close the door," Bruce told her. "You're part of this family. I was letting you have time to grieve, but you're here now. Watch us plan revenge."
Bruce continued the briefing as Angela quietly joined him. "The remaining gang might be undisciplined, but they're vicious. Now the bad news: There are a hundred and twenty five left. We will be out numbered , but we can handle the odds easily. We will set charges on buildings one through four, six, seven, eight, and the hall. Then we will pull back to the water's edge and blow it to h-. If something happens, I want everyone but Naruto to pull back to the water. Naruto, if it comes to that, I want you to release your most devastating jutsu on them and wipe them completely off the earth, then meet up at the rally point. Team one, our rally point is the north, team two, yours is to the south. Team Four, you are to follow the closest team from your position to the rally point. If charges have been set, keep them in the buildings until we blow them. Each cabin will get five, four pound charges and the hall will get ten charges. Place your charges on windows or doors, not on the logs, or you just make an escape hatch. Remember, we are going there to kill the gang members, not rescue hostages. If we can, we'll rescue them, okay, but if it goes to s- we will have to sacrifice the hostages to kill the enemy. There are anywhere from fifty to eighty hostages. All of the people I talked to agreed that the gang kills them and replaces them so fast it's hard to keep track."
"Now, if we rescue the hostages, Mike will send a convoy for us with Sakura in case medical jutsu is needed. If it goes to tee-total h-, that is when Naruto will unleashed his most powerful jutsu as we leave the way we came. Use your claymores around your Rally point. Matt and Jake, you will have to provide your own cover, and Mary, you must cover their a-. The gang does send patrols out on boats so stay alert. Temari if you have to, focus on your wind style jutsus on the lake so you can use the lake to your advantage. Attack will start at 0300. I want charges set by 0330 and fireworks by 0350. Mike has operation control. David will run the UAVs. Backup will be the convoy with Strykers and Hummers, which will be under Nancy and Sakura. They will brief her team at midnight. Questions, comments?" Bruce asked, finishing the briefing.
"Why not take more of us?" Nancy asked.
"Nancy, for this kind of attack you either go in heavy or light. We don't have the manpower for heavy, and light is one squad," Bruce told her.
"Don't you think twenty pounds of C-4 per buildings a bit much?" Mike asked.
"No, I want them dead. I can't do what I want to them, so this will have to do," Bruce told him.
"Okay, that's good enough for me," Mike said.
"How are those of us on land going to get to base if we're using the lake?" Naruto asked.
"We're using rubber rafts and paddle our way there," Bruce said.
"Why don't I just create shadow clones for each raft and use the Rasengan to propel us forward?" Naruto suggested. "That way shave off time giving us more time to prepare."
Bruce thought of it and had to admit Naruto's idea was faster. "Okay. We'll use Naruto's plan," Bruce agreed. "Anything else?" No one else spoke up.
"Get some rest. We leave at midnight," Bruce said.
Everyone left to get ready for the attack. Bruce lay down in the bed. Debbie lay on one side of Bruce and Stephanie the other. Angela climbed onto the bed and looked at Bruce.
"What is it, Little Foot?" Bruce asked her.
"Bruce, you're different. This is nothing like I've seen from you before," Angela told him and Debbie shook her head at Angela, telling her to drop it.
"I'm ready to kill some a-," Bruce told her as he drifted off to sleep.
At 2300 Debbie woke Bruce up and he got dressed, checked his vest then his weapons. Then he headed downstairs and tried not to step on anyone laying on the floor as he went into the kitchen. The dining room table had been moved to the kitchen, freeing up a lot of room for people to sleep. Blocks of explosive were laid out on the table.
Bruce checked the blocks to see if they were wired up correctly by his kids and all were ready. Everyone loaded packs with explosives and headed outside. They piped in to Nancy's SUV except for the ninjas who took Sai's birds by air and started off toward the lake. Everyone had NVGs on so they drove without lights. Taking the road that followed east side of the lake, they stopped directly across from the park on the west side of the lake. The lake was barely three quarters of a mile wide there since it was mostly drained. With equipment and teams, Bruce was figuring twenty minutes to paddle across the lake in three rubber rafts.
When the SUV stopped, everyone piled out, keeping alert as the birds carrying Yamato and Naruto dropped them off. They were now way out of patrol zone and blues were about. They moved down to the lake and inflated the rafts using the CO2 cartridges. Putting the rafts in the water, the teams not surveying the air climb in as Naruto created two clones for the other teams. With Naruto and his clones at the back of each raft, they each created the Rasengan and slammed it into the water, propelling them forward.
Bruce thought it would be hard to find the camp, but he could see fires and lights on the west bank where the park was located. They were either very brave or very stupid, Bruce thought. He favored the latter. The gang was surrounded by infected and had been hit hard a day ago, yet they still left the lights on.
Bruce had Naruto stopped halfway. Buffy was in the middle of the raft with the thermal scope on her M-4 scanning the far bank to see if anyone was watching the lake. Buffy just shook her head no. Bruce flipped the voice switch.
"Big Daddy Two, talk dirty to me," Bruce said softly.
"I charge $4.99 a minute; do you have a major credit card?" Mike answered smartly.
"D-, you better be good," Bruce replied, grinning.
"I'll make you melt," Mike said, breathing hard in the microphone.
"Okay, now I'm horny, Big Daddy Two, better shave your legs. What are the party poopers doing?"Bruce asked.
"We have the three roving patrols with two guards each and six on the fence just like the sniper said," Mike reported.
"Mama one, what does your gut tell you?" Bruce asked Debbie.
"These guys are idiots," Debbie replied.
"Big Daddy One, Arial Team see group of fifteen in ambush position mile down the road," Temari said.
"Okay, so they did change something. Not so dumb. Stay over them Arial team and report any changes. Big Daddy Two watch the camp and lake with UAV," Bruce told him.
"I have two on station now and will rotate them out with third," Mike said.
Matt and Jake pulled into land to get set up on the small island and cover the land teams. Naruto change position to steer the boat toward the rally point. There was a boat dock with several party barges and ski boats in the middle of the rally points. When Bruce's raft stopped he got out, followed by Buffy Steve and Naruto. Naruto pulled the raft up on land. Bruce could hear music coming from the large hall. He glanced at his watch. It was 216.
"Mike where's the patrol?" Bruce whispered.
"One is heading for you now, following the fence water's edge," Mike told him.
"Steve and Naruto, you take right, I'll take left. I fire first," Bruce said as he raised his pistol up.
It took the two guards several minutes to make it to them and Bruce rested his sight on the head of the guard on the left. Bruce squeezed the trigger when the guards were ten yards away, followed a split second by Steve's suppressed fire. The guards dropped to the ground like their strings had been cut.
"Debbie, did you hear that?" Bruce called on the radio. Debbie was a hundred yards away.
"Hear what?" Debbie asked, answering Bruce's question.
"Mama One, patrol headed your way," Mike called out.
Several minutes later Mike was on the radio. "Nice shot, guys. Why didn't you wait for them to get closer?"
"I'm ready to hit these f-," Debbie growled. Bruce smiled. Mama was on the wave.
"Where is the third patrol, Mike?" Bruce asked.
"Just sittin' behind cabin number three, smoking," Mike said, making Bruce smile. Cabin three was on his side.
"Naruto with me, everyone else hold. Two of us have 'em," Bruce said and he ran up behind cabin nine as Naruto jumped behind. Bruce worked his way up to Cabin Five and stopped as Naruto followed. There were roughly thirty yards between cabins and that was a long shot or a long run. What the h-, let's walk, Bruce thought as he waved for Naruto to wait.
Naruto looked at Bruce in confusion as Bruce stepped out, holding his pistol behind his leg and walked toward the two guards. The guards noticed him at twenty yards and called out to him in quiet voices. Bruce just waved with his left hand and the guards started smoking again. When Bruce was five feet away he raised his pistol and shot each one in the head. Then he headed back to the rally point for Steve and Buffy signaling Naruto to follow.
"What the h- was that Bruce? Why did you just stop Naruto walk up to them and shoot 'em? You can do that from a distance. You do have a gun and it shoots over a distance," Mike informed him.
"Thought I knew one of them and he owed me some money. I was gonna get it before I shot 'em, but it wasn't him," Bruce told Mike.
"Oh, well that's okay then," Mike replied. "Are you going to execute the mission early? You're head of schedule and it's not even 0300 yet."
"I sure the h- ain't going to wait. It's not my fault Naruto decided to use an extra chakra boost in halfway through the trip, throwing off my timetable. THey just have to die sooner," Bruce replied, almost back to his team.
"Hey, I was trying to make up time because your wife decided to destroy one of my clones because the boat wasn't going fast enough!" Naruto argued.
"Naruto, you seriously need to spend less time with Bruce," Sakura called over the radio.
Mike laughed. "Go ahead and kill the bad guys early then," Mike called back.
Bruce and Naruto rejoined Steve and Buffy then radioed Jake. "Jake, do you and Matt have shots at the guards at the fence?"
"Yep, we have all six," Jake responded.
"What's the distance?" Bruce asked.
"The closest is three hundred eighty yards and the furthest is four hundred twenty yards," Jake replied.
"Temari, how does the ambush team look?" Bruce asked.
"Still in their position," Temari said.
"Temari leave the ambush to Sai and fly over to the lake to be ready for some Water spouts. Sai, stay over them incase they decide to move when the fireworks starts. Jake, take 'em," Bruce ordered. The words were barely out of his mouth when Bruce faintly heard the first cough of rifles. The coughs were followed by successive shots in rapid successions.
Jake called over the radio, "All down."
"I'm at position." Temari said.
"Team two, let's move," Bruce called over the radio.
Team one moved along the north side placing charges, while team two moved along the south. They placed the charges along the hall then moved toward the cabins. Most of the cabins had the doors and windows cracked open, which made the team's jobs a lot easier. In twenty minutes the teams were pulling back to their rally points.
Mike called out, "One coming out of cabin five."
Followed by Matt calling out, "He's down."
The teams reached the rally point and Bruce pulled out the remote detonator. Then he called out over the radio, "Get low and cover your head and ears. This is gonna be loud," Bruce lay down and flipped the switch, setting off almost two hundred pounds of C-4 spread out among the cabins.
The charges went off together as one in a thunderous ka-boom. Then the shock wave hit him, pushing the air out of his lungs. As he tried to take a breath, bruce felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder as debris landed around them. Bruce shook his head and looked at the area as the dust started to clear. The buildings with charges were all collapsed, and cabin five was missing a door and all its windows. Cabins nine and ten were intact but the windows were gone.
Bruce called out, "Sweep the area. Get the hostages to stay down, but don't risk yourself." Bruce stood up and started to lift up his weapon when pain in his left shoulder sent him to his knees. Looking down where the pain was coming from, Bruce saw a six inch piece of wood sticking out of the top of his shoulder. Reaching over, he felt the wound. The piece had hit him in the deltoid and Bruce could feel the other end where it had come out the back of his arm, right above the triceps. It felt like it missed the joint but it still hurt like h-. WHen he tried to move his arm, he wanted to pukem not to mention the end of the stick would hit his face.
"Naruto, get over here!" Bruce said.
Bruce felt air swirled as Naruto appeared over him.
"What the heck, Bruce?" Naruto responded seeing the wood.
"Break off the end but don't pull it out or I'll bleed to death," Bruce told Naruto.
"No duh! You realize injuries like this is why Lady Tsunade trained Sakura to work in the field, right?" Naruto asked as he took out the knife strapped to his back, sharpened it with wind chakra and cut the board in half. Bruce expected more pain but Naruto cut the wood easy.
"What did you do?" Bruce asked.
"I used wind chakra to cut the wood in half," Naruto said. "Less painful than breaking it."
Team one advanced to cabin nine to get the hostages as a man came out, dragging a teenaged girl by the hair. Naruto disappeared and reappeared behind him and slammed a Rasengan on him sending him flying as he let go of the girl. Another man came running out and this time his upper body vanished as the torso took another step before falling.
"Nice shot, Jake." Naruto called.
"What are you shooting them with?" Bruce asked.
"My present," Jake replied. Then the wind started whipping around heading toward the lake.
"Temari must be dealing with the ambush team," Naruto said as they barely heard loud shots come from Jake.
Bruce's team had advanced to the cabin with the hostages. Steve took the right, Buffy took the left, Naruto disappeared and reappeared above the roof as the two started firing short burst as they entered. Bruce was fixing to tell them they only had to shoot the hostages if the enemy was close, not just blow them away.
"Two down," Steve reported.
Followed by Buffy reporting, "One down" as Bruce came into the cabin and Naruto stood guard. Bruce saw naked women and kids staggering around the long cabin. Several had cuts and were shaking. They all turned their heads toward Bruce as he walked in.
Bruce yelled out, "Get in a line, we're rescuing you! We have p- your hosts off big time, so please do what we ask so we can get the h- outta here. Now follow my daughter; she'll stay with you to protect you while I talk to your host about your abysmal treatment." The group just looked at Bruce like he was insane until Bruce added, "Unless, of course, you want to stay here."
As one, the group formed lines between the rows of bunks. "Buffy, you take lead and get them to our rally. Steve, tell Naruto to stay here and watch me as you watch their a-," Bruce flanked the group as he heard several loud shots from Jake. Then Bruce heard full auto suppress fire behind him behind him. Turning around to help Steve, Bruce saw two figures fall and three more behind them disappeared as he heard three loud successive shots.
"Jake, that's f- cheating, at least let me shoot one every now and then!" Bruce yelled over the radio.
"Shut up, Dad. This is fun," Jake called back as Bruce heard a shotgun blast to his left. Bruce dropped back down as he turned toward the shot.
Bruce saw a man wearing only blue jeans aiming and firing a shotgun at the island Matt and Jake were on. You are a d-, thought Bruce as he raised his rifle, ignoring the pain in his shoulder. Naruto then reappeared and slam a rasengan into the man.
"Dang it Naruto! I had that one!" Bruce shouted.
"Shut it Bruce or I'll radioed Debbie and let her know about your shoulder," Naruto said.
Bruce shut it as he know Debbie will end the fun if she knew about the shoulder. Bruce ran back to his team, with Naruto following. His sleeve was soaked in blood but the wound was clotting off as Bruce looked down at his shoulder. "I have business to attend to, you better keep working," Bruce told his shoulder.
Mike called over the radio, "Sai just reported that the ambush team is coming back, they're in four trucks."
"I guess that wasn't them coming by lake," Naruto said.
Bruce called over the radio, "Team two take south. Buffy and Steve stay with the hostages. Naruto, we have the north. Naruto, I want you to take care of the vehicles. They will probably going to ram the gate and try to stay mobile so take that away fast. Wait until the vehicles are inside the fence before you engage.
Bruce kneeled down at the corner of the remains of cabin one, hearing the trucks approach.
Naruto took out a scroll and Made the hand sign. "Fox Transformation: One-Tail."
Naruto turned into a human size one tail fox and formed a chakra bomb as the trucks were gate was about fifty yards away and looked pretty impressive to Bruce. It was a chain link gate that ran on tracks to slide open but there were a lot of metal plates attached to it. Making a rough guess, Bruce was putting the weight at over half a ton. Surely they are not tat stupid, Bruce thought, hearing engines roaring toward them.
The first truck hit the gate at seventy miles per hour and did managed to knock it down, but the truck flipped forward, catapulting the people in the bed of the truck through the air. Bruce watched in amazement as one flew toward him, flapping his arms like he was trying to fly. The man hit fifteen feet in front of Bruce, feet first. Fascinated Bruce watched as the six-foot man shrank to four foot as the bones in his legs shattered in hundreds of pieces. "Cool!" Bruce said out loud as he shot the new dwarf in the chest and sung his rifle toward the gate, still ignoring his shoulder
When the second truck sped past the down gate Naruto swallowed the chakra bomb and released a blast that hit the truck head on pushing it back toward the third truck and finally the fourth truck before causing a massive explosion.
"That was awesome!" Bruce hollered.
Then he heard groaning from the new dwarf. The man was holding his chest where Bruce had shot him. "You're one tough mother f-," Bruce told the man as he shot the Dwarf in the face.
Mike called out, "You have blues coming."
"How many?" Bruce asked, sooting wounded gang members from the first truck.
"A lot; the guards reported that they heard the explosion here very well and we are over thirty miles away," Mike told him.
Bruce looked at the destroyed gate and the wreckage of the three trucks. Well, those f- might have killed us anyway, Bruce thought. "How long do we have?" Ten, maybe fifteen minutes until the first arrive, but the UAV is up to three thousand feet and there are a s- headed to you," Mike told him.
"Sai, get Jake and Matt over to those party barges started. Boys see if you can get them started. If you can't we're going to have to padd;e them across the lake. Buffy get me a count of the hostages we have to give a ride out here. Team two, watch the front gate. Temari cover the gate from above and Naruto cover it from the ground. Steve, provide backup if needed." Bruce called over the radio as he ran to the dock.
Reaching the dock, Bruce saw three party barges, two over twenty feet long. Bruce ran to the closest big one and didn't see the keys so he ran to the other and it didn't have keys either. Bruce had never hotwired a boat but he was fixing to try. Four birds land with team three and Sai.
"We're going to have to hotwire them," Bruce told them.
"No we won't, Dad, you can start them with a thin bladed knife," Jake told Bruce.
Bruce knowing better than to doubt Jake, replied, "Well do it then. I really don't want to be here when the blues get here."
Matt and Jake each went to a boat and went to work as Bruce called Buffy, "Buffy, how many and where are you?"
"Fifty-two, Daddy, and I'm at Mama's rally point," Buffy replied.
"Grab the paddles out of Mama's boat and bring that group here and put them on the boat Jake is on. Sai, go to my rally point and get the oars there." Bruce told them. Sai got on another ink bird and flew off Sai returned with the paddles as the hostages arrived. Bruce was already directing the hostages to Jake's boat.
"Naruto, Temari, Steve, get back here to the dock we're leaving," Bruce called the radio.
Naruto appeared in a flash with Steve and few minutes later Temari landed.
Once the hostages were on one barge, Bruce's group headed to the other. Bruce pulled out his machete. He cut the lines and pushed the boat into the marina. Bruce turned toward the camp and could see four figures running toward him.
Mike radioed, "The first group of the blues just entered the gate." The two boats started their engines causing several roads to erupt from the camp which was good. Bruce's shoulder was screaming from cutting lines and pushing boats. He was still on the dock, but Naruto appeared beside Bruce grabbed him and they disappeared and reappeared on the boat.
"Temari, now!" Naruto shouted.
Temari waved her fan and summoned a wind blast that send a small powerful waves back at the docks where Blues were appearing. Everyone else started firing at the blues. At first they seemed to have slowed down, but Temari's wind gave the barge a burst of speed for a while until they finally slow.
"Keep it slow, men, the lake is low and a lot of logs are out there. I really don't want to swim across," Bruce told them over the radio.
"You're turning into a sissy in your old age, Dad," Jake said.
"Yeah, he would've made us swim the lake for this assault in his younger years," Steve said as he stepped up to Bruce's right. Danny was to his left with her Galil.
"You two can still swim if you keep it up," Bruce said, turning toward Steve.
"What's that, Dad? You're breaking up real bad," Jake called over the radio as Steve headed to the back of the barge smiling.
Bruce smiled as he watched Steve walk off, then heard suppressed shots from the front. Turning around, Bruce saw Danny leaning over the side, aiming back toward the dock despite the distance. Bruce guess there was blues still there. When her mag ran dry, she stood up, replacing it as Bruce looked at her. Danny had a small grin and her eyes were filled with ecstasy; her breathing was shallow and steady. Bruce smiled at her as the wave rushed through Danny's system.
"Save it, sweet pea. We have started a world of s- and will need every round," Bruce told her. Danny just broadened her grin and found a place to kneel down. Bruce called over the radio. "Stop the boats."
They were in the middle of the lake as Bruce called Mike. "Talk to me, brother," Bruce said, taking off his vest and dropping it to the deck. His shoulder was screaming in pain and threatening to go on strike because it was tired of being ignored. Bruce waited on Mike's reply.
"Wondering when you were going to call. The west side of the lake looks like a European soccer rally. If there aren't over five thousand at that cam right now I'll kiss your a-. It looks like there'll be around ten thousand in an hour. On this side it isn't as bad, but we have a lot of movement. A group of thirty or more is right where y'all left the SUV," Mike finished.
"Great, I hate this lake and we're stuck in the middle of it," Bruce said, taking off his ACU.
"What are you doing?" Debbie asked as Bruce struggled out of his t-shirt. Then Debbie saw his shoulder. "What is that and how did it happen?" she yelled running to Bruce.
"Shrapnel from the hall, I suspect," Bruce said, looking at his shoulder as Danny came over to check on him.
"Bruce, there's three inches of wood in your left shoulder and you didn't tell me!" Debbie screamed, looking at the wound.
Well there was six inches sticking out until Naruto cut it off," Bruce told her.
"Good boy on not pulling it out," Debbie told Naruto.
"Bruce told me not to, and I wasn't going to argue," Naruto said. "Sakura is the medical ninja of the team, not me."
"Well, what's going on?" Mike called over the radio.
"Shut up, Mike, Bruce is hurt, talk to you in a minute. Jake, bring me the first aid kit Mary is carrying," Debbie said over the radio.
"You need me to come-" Mike started to say as Debbie cut him off.
"Mike, in a minute. A woman can only listen to one man at a time. Men usually say stuff to p- us off and we need to know who to be mad at," Debbie said over the radio as Jake brought the other barge alongside.
Danny grabbed the pack as Jake, Steve, and Matt tied the barges together. "I need a flashlight; these monocular NVGs suck for first aid. Everyone, turn them off," Debbie warned as she turned on her flashlight, blinding everyone.
"D-," Bruce heard Danny say. Bruce turned to look at his shoulder. The shard was about half an inch in diameter and the skin around the edges of the shard was purple.
"It's not that bad," Bruce lied, looking at the wound.
Debbie slowly looked up at Bruce. "Say another word and I'll cut your arm off and throw it in the water." Bruce didn't think Debbie would do it, but he wasn't sure with that look on her face so he shut up. Debbie examined the wound, pushing on the edges and sending pain pain shooting through Bruce's body, but he didn't move. "Does that hurt?" Debbie asked probing the wound.
"F- yeah that hurts!" Bruce yelled out.
"Well, you didn't move or say anything," Debbie shot back. Bruce raised his right arm, holding his hand up.
Debbie just looked at Bruce holding his hand up till she realized what he was doing. "What do you want to say?" she asked him.
Bruce lowered his hand. "You want me to tell you how to fix it?"
"I'm a nurse too, Bruce," Debbie snapped at him.
"You birth babies," Bruce told her. Debbie just looked at him.
"Sometimes I could just slap the s- out of you but it would only hurt my hand." Debbie said.
"Bruce don't say anything else. Debbie I'll guide you the best I can," Sakura said over the radio. "Naruto already clued me in on the condition as did Stephanie about Bruce's medical history with medicine."
Naruto grinned impishly.
"Tell Stephanie that's fine. Thank you Sakura." Debbie said.
"Get the hemostats, grab the shard put it out the front. Get the twenty cc syringe and irrigate the wound with saline. Then wet some gauze and pack the wound. Then lay a gauze dressing and wrap the shoulder tight with an ace wrap. Since I'm not there to remove any remaining shrapnel and heal the wound you'll have to leave it open," Sakura said.
"That's really going to hurt," Debbie said in a concerned voice.
"Just do it. This really hurts,": Bruce told them trying to ignore the pain and losing big time.
"You can hold my hand, Daddy," Danny offered.
"No baby, I might break it. Help your mama," Bruce said as Debbie gathered the supplies.
When Debbie began pulling out the shard, Bruce almost passed out as the pain flooded his system. But Bruce barely moved as Debbie pulled it out, blood flowing down his arm. Then Debbie started irrigating the wound. Everytime she shot saline into the wound Bruce wanted to throw up. Several of the hostages did, but Debbie continued the irrigation. When Debbie started packing the wound Bruce was sweating despite the cool night air. Debbie put the dressing on and stepped back.
"Thank you, baby," Bruce said as he reached down, grabbing his ACU top and t-shirt and throwing them to the two naked teens sitting across from him. "They're a little bloody but put these on," Bruce told them, fighting the nausea from the pain.
Debbie watched the teens put on the bloody clothes. "Everyone, take off your tops and t-shirts and give them to the youngest ladies first. If anyone has spares, pass them out. Danny, Marry, Buffy, and Temari, keep on your sports bra or whatever you use Temari," Debbie told the teams as they started stripping. Bruce reached toward his pack to get the extra t-shirts out as Debbie slapped his hand
"Sit back and don't make me tell you again," Debbie said as she reached in his pack grabbing the clothes.
When they were finished only five were still naked but Naruto took care of that as he unsealed extra clothes he had sealed up since returning from the journey from the hospital incase they pick up someone that needed clothes.
It was 0350 when Bruce radioed Mike. "Well, has our situation improved any?"
"Are you alright, brother?" Mike asked with concern.
"I'm good, brother," Bruce told Mike, lying.
Debbie keyed her radio. "He's lying, Mike. Wake every mother f- up and roll a convoy to get us.
Bruce looked at Debbie with hard eyes. "Debbie, quit it," he said, then keyed his radio. "Mike, she's exaggerating. What's going on?"
"There are several really large groups passing the SUV but they are circling the lake. When I say really large, I mean a thousand plus. If you can hold on, by dawn the area should be clear enough to get you without starting a war and some following us back," Mike told him.
"If we get lucky, prey might pass by and clear the area quicker," Naruto said.
"I still wait to dawn just to be safe," Mike said.
"That's good Mike, we'll wait," Bruce said as he laid down on the deck. The night air was starting to get him cold.
"See you at dawn, brother," Mike replied.
Naruto unlatch his pouch. "Here Bruce. Although not comfortable our pouches can work as pillows if we need to lay our head on something." Bruce lifted his head as Naruto put the pouch under his head. Sure enough his head was a lot more comfortable. "Thanks Naruto," Bruce said before closing his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
A/N: You will get to see a little bit of why Bruce wasn't given pain medication in the following chapters, but the real reason won't make itself known until the seventh book.