Fragments by Jeff Williams.
Chapter 14 - ...Now Die in It
The ramshackle palace was poorly lit, and an oily smoke assailed Naruto's sensitive nose as he was dragged inside. His shins scraped across rough, splintery wood that had likely never seen sand paper as the two goons huffed and puffed their 'catch' further into the ramshackle town hall. The hall was lit by flickering, weak torches on either side, pieces of wood wrapped in soaked cloth that bitterly fought the encroaching darkness that seeped from the corners of the hall.
Naruto stumbled and skidded as he was hauled down the hallway and around a corner, where another door stood in the way. His two thug escorts stopped at the door, lit by another flickering torch as they roughly threw him down to his knees. Naruto effected the scared traveler, keeping his eyes down and his hands raised. The armed man on his left pressed the barrel of his pistol to the back of Naruto's head, nestling cold steel in the blonde's hair. It was a stupid move; if Naruto so chose, he could have slipped to one side and get the weapon away from the man before he could react fast enough to pull the trigger. But instead, he sat with his hands up and remained quiet while the other thug rapped on the door loudly. Judging from the sound, steel had been attached to the door as a last minute attempt to armor the room. After the thug knocked, there was a moment of silence, and then a metal rasp as a view port slid open.
"Whaddaya want?" The man on the other side asked, his voice slurred somewhat. Whether the impediment was from alcohol or injury, Naruto couldn't tell, but the thug doing the talking likely didn't care.
"We caught a guy traveling on the road, coming in from Grecia. I wanted to bring him to Stick." The man barked. If the doorman was impressed, it didn't show in his voice. His thick drawl was a little wet, as if he had respiratory issues. Considering the state of the area, it wasn't an unlikely story.
"You can't bring in every poor slob wandering the road, Nelson. Stick will have kittens if you waste his time." The doorman cautioned, gruff and apathetic s he did his duty to warn the thug. The now named Nelson's face scrunched up in a snarl and he struck the door with a fist.
"Just get him, ya drunk! This guy's got a COG research coat. He could be worth something." Nelson growled. The doorman didn't respond at first.
"Or he could be cold." Clearly the doorman was tiring of the conversation. "Whatever. It's your funeral if you piss him off."
A serious of metal locks and bars could be heard from the other side, clicking a sliding as the doorman unsecured the hatch. Once that was done, the metal and wooden door swung open to reveal a portly man dressed in ragged clothes, a knit cap covering a greasy mop of brown hair. The man's cheeks hung sallow and his eyes were jaundiced, another indicator of hard times. The room he stood in high a decently high ceiling, and looked to be the bitter remains of a small library. The bookshelves had been torn down and used for kindling long ago, and the books themselves were likely sacrificed for toilet tissue. In the place of the large wooden shelves, a rough chair had been carved into the wooden wall, with a torch sconce on either side of the carved chair. Seated in the chair was a man of middling build, wearing a thick bomber jacket over a white tank top. His pants were thick and brown, likely army fatigues stolen from COG stores. A dark Mohawk sat on top of the man's head, and his features were sharp and predatory. Ice cold blue eyes stared out from under thick eyebrows at Naruto, before they surveyed his captors with similar scrutiny. It was clear that this was Stick.
"So, what have you brought me that's so important, Nelson?" The man asked darkly. His tone implied that he didn't really care for whatever his sentry had for him, and it was the response of a tyrant secure in his power. The attitude grating Naruto's nerves, less because he was the powerful person on the continent and more that those who behaved in such a way were almost always terrors to their constituents. Having fought and bled for his own village, seeing those in power squander their influence on personal gain and neglect those they should care for made Naruto very angry. However, he quelled thoughts of tearing the man limb from limb; there was still a story to be heard.
"This guy's wearing a COG science coat. There was supposed to be some kind of secret lab or something up in the hills, heading towards the Hollow. I figure, maybe we can ransom him to the COG, get some supplies out of it." The guy seemed pleased with his assumption, and Naruto wagered that if the COG knew exactly who he was, then they would have paid a hefty sum indeed for his retrieval. But Landown was in the heart of COG territory: were these people rebels, or a part of an occupational party? They were too scruffy for any kind of army regulars, but the possibility of a militia or terrorist organization was present. The Hammer strikes still needed to be answered, but he couldn't advertise that he didn't see them fall.
"You figure the murdering bastards that burned most of the planet are going to drop what they are doing and come here for a guy in a lab coat." Stick's deadpan response had its desired effect; a nervous tremor passed through the hand gripping Naruto by the back of his neck. Nelson stepped back slightly, away from Naruto and his unnamed comrade.
"Well, I mean, that lab had to be important, right? If he's from there, they may risk it." Nelson stammered. If Naruto wasn't sure that he'd be struck for it (not that it would hurt), he was certain that he'd see sweat running down Nelson's face. He kept his voice level, but the sentry clearly felt that he had made a grave mistake. In this, Naruto observed the master plan: Stick would demoralize his minions and their choices, and only see fit to reward them later if something good came of their haul. It meant that, regardless of value, they would dump whatever they found at his feet and leave, for fear of wasting his time. Whatever was going on here, it had occurred before the Hammer strikes. There was no way one man could instill fear to this level in a few days.
"If they come anywhere near here, Nelson, they won't be toting food and medicine. They'll bring enough ammo to put everyone here in the dirt, and make off with their prize. If they don't just kill him too." Stick waved a hand, and probably felt some sick feeling of amusement as the two flinched. "Get outta here, and leave the meat. I'll call for you later."
Nelson and his unfortunate friend stepped away from Naruto, releasing their hold and sprinting for the door. Naruto remained on his knees until the door closed again, before looking up at the man in the chair.
"Idiots." Stick muttered loudly. With nothing other than the crackling torches and his silent attendant in the room, Stick's voice carried in the abandoned library. Naruto looked at him with a hooded gaze, keeping his face as unreadable as possible. In this case, he would let Stick make the first move. The man stood from his carved chair, stretching his arms over his head with a faint series of pops. At his full height, Stick was maybe six foot, just a few inches shorter than Naruto. The leader of Landown's new population adjusted his bomber jacket and stepped forward, and Naruto noted his boots were COG issue. Judging from his comments earlier, as well as his choice of attire, the man was either ex Army, or hated them with a passion. Given his appearance and attitude, Naruto was banking on the latter.
"I don't know what brought you here, but I highly doubt you are some big boss man scientist. After all, everyone important was escorted back to Jacinto." Stick made a lifting motion with his hands. "Come on, stand up."
Naruto took the order and slowly lowered his hands, looking around the room and playing the part of the scared traveler. The room was equipped with a decent spring mattress and bedside table in one corner, as well as what looked like a desk salvaged from an office or school. Several damaged paintings hung on the ramshackle walls, the overlapping layers of wood and sheet rock giving the area a patchwork feeling. Naruto slowly stood up, appreciating his forethought to conceal his whiskers. Stick appraised his form as best he could, Naruto's thick mismatched clothing concealing most of his body. His lack of a backpack and the torn lab coat caught Stick's attention, and the man frowned.
"You've clearly been on the road for a while, but you have no pack. So that means you really are a scientist, or you have the best luck in the world. Everything ended a week ago, and here you are; no signs of starvation, you still have all your teeth, and you haven't lost anything to frostbite. I have to say," Stick stroked his chin and his eyes widened in an expression of approval. "I'm impressed."
"Well, I always was a lucky guy." Naruto said with a shrug of his shoulders. He looked down slightly on Stick, and the man narrowed his eyes slightly. His suspicion set Naruto on edge. The blonde shinobi had not been exposed to the man long enough to give him any considerable tells, and Stick clearly wasn't a part of the Dawnbringer project: his profile and demeanor were both criminal in nature. That being said, there was an intelligence to him, one uncommon in the standard scum Naruto was familiar with. And the way he had said everyone important had been evacuated raised some concerns as well.
"I could use some luck like you. Resourcefulness should always be rewarded. As you probably saw, the people under my care aren't doing so well. We desperately need supplies, food and medicine more than anything. That coat is a lab coat, the kind you usually see in research stations and hospitals. You don't look much like a scientist, so I don't suppose you have any meds on you, do ya?"
"Afraid not." Naruto deflected successfully. "There was a big explosion a few days back, different from the Hammer strikes. I was coming up here to get away from everything in the mountains. Found some extra clothes scattered around up in the hills."
"I see. And where were you coming from?" Stick began scanning Naruto's clothing, looking for any evidence that would contradict Naruto's story.
"I was on my way here from Mercy. Figured the COG wouldn't hit the smaller, less populated areas." Another shrug. "Turns out I was right."
"Mercy is closer to Jacinto that Landown; why didn't you try to make it to the Coalition's doorstep?" Stick turned his back and walked back toward his little throne carved in the wall, though Naruto could tell he was listening intently, waiting for the blonde to move.
"Any time you get a lot of people moving to one spot, there's a back log. I figured by the time I got anywhere near the city, I'd still be in the kill zone." Another carefully crafted lie; his comment about the mountains was taken from the assumption that the Hammer strikes had targeted certain cities. Stick's question had revealed that Ephyra, or just the Jacinto plateau in general, was a safe haven.
"That's smart. Much smarter than the average civilian. There's no way you're some super important researcher, but you reason like a Gear. Are you COG?" The question was aggressive, and Naruto saw the hatred towards the Coalition. His status as a guinea pig for the past few years sapped his sympathy for the COG, but soldiers like Victor Hoffman and Samuel Byrne cemented his belief that the leadership was at fault, not each individual soldier. It seemed that Stick had not learned that particular lesson.
"No. I have friends in the army, but I'm no Gear." Naruto denied. The best lie was the one that was entirely true. He may have been considered property of the Coalition by Chairman Dalyell – the mere thought of the man behind Dawnbringer made his blood boil – but he was never enlisted. Stick stared at him for a few seconds, his fierce gaze wandering over Naruto; his stance, his slightly clenched hands, and the way he bladed his body toward Stick all gave a sense of martial readiness, and it was a trained response that Naruto barely noticed. It also showed that he had military training of some sort.
"You're no COG, but you stand like a soldier. You're not an Indie are you?" Stick started pacing, his posture and demeanor mirroring Naruto's. The silent attendant that had first opened the door took a few steps back, anticipating a fight to break out between the two men. Naruto began to circle as well, not willing to cling to his helpless refugee persona now that things were about to get nasty.
And things did get nasty, but not in a way that either man anticipated. From outside the roughly put together walls, a rising wail pushed through Landown, an alarm of sorts. Stick and his attendant both looked up slightly as they heard it, and the mohawked man waved his hand at the portly doorman. While Naruto backed off slightly, Stick and his cohort retrieved two Lancers from their resting place near the bed and the desk. Naruto noticed with some apprehension that Stick's personal Lancer sported a thick, nasty bayonet that seemed rated for stabbing elephants, not men.
"If you're human, then we're allies at least for the moment. They only send up the alarm for Locust." Stick ran past Naruto and pulled the door open. "Fight, or get the hell out of my way." With that, he was gone. Naruto looked back at the attendant, who seemed to be cursing quietly as he grabbed extra magazines for the new Lancers. A bit lost at going from nearly a fight to being completely ignored, Naruto dropped his ravaged lab coat to the floor and followed Stick out the door. The hallway he had been dragged down was crossed much more quickly under his own power, and a boot to the door leading outside welcomed him to a much more brutal sight of Landown. Where previously he had been forced to keep his head down, Naruto now took in the defenses of Landown, or at least what he could see from the makeshift city hall. The shacks and shanty houses were all topped with barbed wire and sand bags across their roofs, and many had a resident behind the fortifications firing towards the west. Naruto also noticed that the women and children – the same scared, hungry faces he had glimpsed on his way in – were huddled in special fortifications. Tires and thicker wooden boards created small safe spaces, more resilient to gunfire and explosions. Three feet of dirt had been excavated as well, granting the vulnerable civilians a protective bunker, if a bit cold.
A bullet nearly threaded his shoulder blade, and Naruto cursed in his native language as he ducked underneath another volley of shots aimed at him. The shinobi moved quickly – for a regular human – from shack to shack as he approached the west, his coat underneath the rags and covers ready to supply him with weapons if necessary. Three 'streets', pathways through the shanties approximately eight feet wide and comprised of packed dirt, separated him from the front line. He zigzagged through the streets, ducking past running and scared people and passing a few bodies. One particular corpse clutched a Lancer similar to Stick's, though this one's bayonet was of regular size. Almost as an afterthought, Naruto scooped up the rifle and patted the downed man's pants pockets for any magazines. Cooling, sticky blood clung to his fingers on the man's right side, seeping from a large entry wound in his side. Naruto retrieved a clean magazine and stashed it in his pocket, and muttered a quick prayer for the man as he wiped the blood onto the snow streaked path. Now believably armed, Naruto found his way past a few more buildings to the western gate of Landown, where he saw Stick gesturing wildly toward the trees as his thugs returned fire. The man proved unshaken by the rounds whizzing by him, more concerned on ordering his men into positions to maximize their effectiveness. It was a bold and risky thing, but the sight of their indestructible leader barking orders and firing down range seemed to bolster the thugs and their flagging courage. They were more afraid of Stick than the attackers.
Naruto caught the mohawked man's gaze, and they shared a nod of mutual respect before Stick ducked behind cover almost casually to avoid a large caliber round that went whistling into a beam of wood, sending splinters flying through the chilly air. Naruto made sure no one was watching him, a totally believable concept considering everyone was either firing west or ducking out of sight, and jumped straight up to the top of the wooden and iron barricade. Once there, he saw the troops that were advancing from the treeline, firing into Landown with a considerable amount of rounds. Expecting another army or maybe a rival gang, the closest soldier was twenty five yards away, firing from behind a downed tree.
Instead of a helmeted soldier or some ratty, barely armored thug, a strange gray skinned creature with a mouth full of teeth and a bad attitude hurled hot lead towards the citizens of Landown. Its skin was pebbly and scaly from what Naruto could tell, and the strange creature wielded a rifle and wore leather armor. The shinobi watched as several rounds punched into its arm, earning a pained snarl as it ducked behind cover. A few seconds later, the creature emerged again, only one of the holes in its arm actually bleeding as it favored its weak hand. Thick skin, for sure.
The Locust. That had to be what Stick had meant. They clearly weren't human, that was for sure. Far tougher than the average human being, and clearly evolved for fighting. As Naruto scanned the treeline again, more Locust of varying size and armor configuration advanced steadily. A few found their end from Stick's forces, but there seemed to be two for every one shot down. It was clear that the encroaching creatures would make it to the gate eventually. This point was reinforced by the appearance of a taller, fatter Locust toting a rather large weapon.
"BOOM." The large creature uttered in a deep, guttural voice. As if he was announcing his weapon, the gun belched a single, smoking projectile that hummed toward the gate at an arc. It didn't take a genius to figure out the payload. Naruto ducked to the extreme edge of the balcony, and the projectile landed twenty feet from where he had stood, impacting dead on with the front of the gate. The resulting explosion threw shrapnel everywhere, both from the projectile itself and the gate that splintered away in both directions. Two of Stick's goons had been standing on the top of the gate, firing from light cover when the round hit. Now, there was nothing left to indicate their passing but a black burn mark tinged red on the support columns, the stout spread of the wall shattered.
Boom indeed. Naruto thought grimly. The explosive round – Naruto could hear the word 'Boomshot' being yelled as the goons struggled to rally – silenced Landown's guns momentarily, and the Locust pushed forward from the treeline, choosing to advance while the defenses were down. Unfortunately for them, the defenses were sturdier than they realized.
A louder rifle than usual spoke over the rest of the rabble, and a high caliber round streaked across the field and turned the large Locust's head into a fountain of blood, bone, and brain. The large creature shuddered as its body processed the loss of control, before it slumped forward to the ground. An angry growl echoed from the charging Locust, before another met its end from the same rifle. Naruto looked back at the gate, and saw Stick wielding a Longshot and sending rounds downrange as quickly as he could rack the bolt.
"STOP THEM FROM ENTERING THE VILLAGE! TEAR THEM LIMB FROM LIMB, OR I'LL HAVE YOUR HEADS!" The man howled, iron authority in his words as he pushed defiance at the monsters daring to enter his territory. To their credit, the goons near him stopped groveling and rallied, picking themselves up from the blast and joining their leader in sending hot lead towards their attackers. The majority of the Locust still found themselves in the middle of the field, with little choice other than to sprint into the oncoming fire. One by one, the creatures took enough rounds to go down, some crawling on their knees instead of dying. They returned fire as well as they could, but it was clear that Stick's counterattack crippled their assault. From Naruto's count, twenty eight Locust had attempted to push into Landown. Only eight made it to the gate.
A click and a frustrated growl echoed from below, and Naruto watched Stick grasp his Longshot by the barrel and swing it into nearest Locust at full force. The blow was clearly very heavy, but it did nothing more than stun the creature. A few more strokes ruined the rifle and sent the grub to the ground, Stick grunting from the effort of each swing. With his enemy on the ground, the leader of Landown's new citizenship pounced onto his prey and drew a nasty dagger, glinting sharp in the fire left behind by the Boomshot. A few slashes dropped the grub's flailing hands, before the wicked blade sank deep into the Locust's throat. A gargled growl of aggression seeped from the monster's mouth along with a clout of blood. The Locust fell still, and Stick pulled his dagger clean with a wet sucking sound. The leader panted from his exertions, and turned to face the oncoming grubs with a gulp of air. The closest one roared its anger and charged him, shoulder tucked and ready to bowl him over.
Naruto pulled the trigger three times, sending three rounds into the grub's back, arm, and head as it passed under him. Instead of plowing Stick to the ground, the attacking creature slumped to dirt and did not rise again. Stick looked up from the grub and locked eyes with Naruto.
"Get your people clear." Naruto barked. "I'll handle the rest." Stick inhaled another greedy gulp of air and nodded shakily, before turning around and ducking behind the nearest shack.
"Everyone, fall back to the inside street! Cut down anything that comes through! WE! WILL! HOLD!" He bellowed, and the few surviving men grabbed their rifles and ran for the inner line. The few shacks closest to the destroyed gate would now provide cover, and they had been built sturdy in the event of a breach. Naruto watched them go, then slung the Lancer across his back. The shinobi dropped down in front of the gate from his balcony, landing silently using chakra. The remaining six grubs came at him together, having grouped up and to the side to avoid gunfire that had cut down their brethren. As the group approached, the rear two fired their last rounds at Naruto. The blonde blurred around the bullets, side stepping just when he heard the shots and displacing himself long enough for the rounds to pass harmlessly by, then placing himself right back where he had stood. He was not fast enough to see the rounds fly through the air, but he could take an approximation of where they were headed and step out of the way. To the Locust, it looked as if the rounds had passed through him. As the first came within striking range, Naruto's stolen eye flashed its rings for a split second.
"Shinra Tensei." The six grubs expected to tackle Naruto to the ground and pummel him to death with their assumed superior strength. Clearly, flying across the snow covered field in six different directions wasn't in their itinerary. But they did it anyway. A sphere of gravitational force blasted outward from Naruto, a semi circle of power sending his assailants flying backwards. Their rifles fell from their grasp as the Locust were sent flying, the furthest one entering the tree line in a tumble. The remaining five still in the fight stood slowly. The one that had been closest to Naruto had attempted to pad his fall by throwing an arm out. As all five stood, the closest one rose to his feet with his arm at an awkward angle, and his pained hiss confirmed that the appendage was broken. The wounded Locust held back as his compatriots charged again, though he decided to scrounge for a better tool: the Boomshot his larger brother had absentmindedly (get it?) dropped.
The four that chose to fight bare handed came at Naruto, and the opening punch that he blocked was more powerful than expected. He still inverted the Drone's kneecap and crushed his throat with a pair of powerful kicks, but the strength present in the creatures outmatched a normal human being. The next two engaged him at the same time, swinging their clawed hands in an effort to send him reeling. Instead, the weathered shinobi ducked underneath the combined strike and grabbed their arms. He then crossed them over each other, breaking the joints in the process with a nice series of cracks and pops, then booted the one on the right dead in the chest with a straight kick. The force of the blow and their conjoined injuries sent the grubs spinning away from him, just in time to take a charging tackle from Locust number four. The bare chested Grenadier pushed him back a ways, but Naruto's superior strength allowed him to halt the advance. Once they were stopped, two hammer fists to the shoulders sent the Locust to the ground, and Naruto delivered a savage axe kick that shattered the grub's head entirely.
Once the able bodied Locust were taken care of, Naruto looked around for the one with the broken arm. He found the stubborn grub wrestling with the Boomshot, another magazine taken from the corpse of the Locust Stick had slain earlier. A mechanical clank echoed across the snowy covered expanse, and a grunt of success – or at least, that's what he assumed it was – came from the crippled grub as he held the Boomshot out one handed. Naruto watched the powerful arm shake slightly from the weight of the launcher, but it was clear that he was the target. His arm flew from his side, sending a dark shape straight towards the Locust.
A kunai knife sank deep into the grub's throat, a little bit of wind chakra proving more than sufficient to slice through the creature's toughened hide. Blood flowed freely as the grub's arm weakened, dropping the Boomshot to rest on the ground. His finger twitching was probably a mercy.
The explosion sent dirt and meat up in a thirty foot radius, and dug an impressive hole where the Locust had been standing. Naruto watched the debris fall back down from the sky with an amused expression, then turned back to Landown. The gate was an unfortunate loss, and several of Stick's men had died defending the village, but on the whole it was a successful battle. The town still stood, despite its flammable composition, and so far casualties were low.
Another volley of fire attracted Naruto's attention, and he ran deeper into the village. Through the same streets he had run before, there were fewer bodies. He followed the lines of packed dirt into another snow streaked line of plywood and sheet metal on the north side. This time, the Locust were already through the gate, firing from precarious positions just inside the north wall. Several bodies littered the hole in the wall, though this one seemed to be the product of disrepair, not a Boomshot. Naruto brought his borrowed Lancer from his back and tossed off several short bursts, stitching three Locust with rounds before his rifle clicked empty. All three fell to the ground dead as he quickly reloaded, closing the mag well and chambering the next round as he scanned for more hostiles. Several other Locust were struggling with the dilapidated remains of the north wall, but a few bursts from Stick's men sent them scurrying into the forest. Stick himself came trotting up behind Naruto, a hand on his hip as the mohawked man struggled to control his breathing.
"You know, for a guy that got captured, you really can fight." Stick said in between gluttonous gasps for breath. Naruto shrugged and offered his own savage grin, tossing his Lancer to one of Stick's regulars along with the magazine he had emptied.
"What makes you think I wasn't trying to get captured? Small place like this, the boss man handles a lot of problems personally." Naruto figured there was little point on disguising his intentions now that the Locust had paid a visit. He had discovered the world changing phenomena that had brought down the Hammer strikes, though he wasn't expecting a militant race of lizard people. Their complexions actually reminded him of Kabuto, eerily enough, but with more teeth and less intelligence.
"Smart man. Smart and dangerous, and the COG never got a hold of you." Stick cocked a brow. "Or did they?"
"New Hope Research Facility. Once a research institution for furthering science and understanding of the human body and its limitations. Now, it's a crater." Naruto bowed extravagantly. "I have a habit of turning places that detain me against my will into craters." Stick nodded slightly, running the information around in his head, before he closed the gap between the two of them and extended a hand. Naruto took it without hesitation and shook it firmly, noting with some approval that despite defending his subordinates, Stick's grip was solid and strong.
"Okay, I gotta ask: why Stick?" Naruto asked with a cheeky grin. Stick laughed at that and released Naruto's hand, adjusting his bomber jacket as he broke eye contact.
"The name's Steven Icarus. I earned the name Stick from a few too many visits to the big house. Once we became Stranded, I figured the name might be worth keeping. It let's the riffraff know whose turf they're on when they come sniffing after my people." Stick looked around at the village, where men, women, and children alike stared at the two men in a mixture of apprehension and wonder. He did so with no small amount of pride, and his possessive nature could now be seen as protective, no tyrannical. Now that Naruto had the big picture, Stick's method of handling his constituents made more sense. Without the COG in place to maintain order, crime and vice had ruled the day in areas like these. To keep a bunch of lawless scavengers together and cooperating, he became the big bad monster that everyone was afraid of. No one was going to be singing his praises, but precious few Stranded would mess with anyone living in Landown because of Stick's nasty reputation.
"I'm guessing you got the nickname from using things like that toothpick I saw you use earlier." Naruto said, pointing towards the dagger hidden underneath Stick's jacket, sheathed on his left side. The Stranded boss drew the knife from its sheathe easily, giving it a few practice slices before returning it to its home in one fluid motion. It was clear that he had drawn and used the cutting tool many times, and was very comfortable with it.
"Yeah, that and my name. I knocked off a few people in prison, earned the haircut, and made a bit of a reputation for myself in the process. When the COG abandoned everyone, I just stepped in and did what I do." Steven cast a hand around to indicate Landown and its inhabitants. "I guess I did something right."]
"Yeah. I guess you did. Funny, I never-"
Naruto's next question was cut off by deep pounding coming from beyond the north wall, and a sentry came running from along the perimeter.
"BERSERKER!" He cried, running full on past Steven and Naruto as the rest of the regulars shouldered their rifles. Almost immediately, Steven became Stick once more, and waved his arm downward.
"Conserve your ammo! Bullets will just piss her off! Mikey, Riley, get the cocktail bombs ready, we're gonna fry this whore! MOVE!" With their fearless and scary leader barking orders, the Stranded jumped into action. Three or four of them ran toward the town hall, while others began digging around in nearby shacks and coming out with bottles stuffed with rags. Whatever they were preparing for was likely flammable.
As if to answer their efforts of preparation, the thudding became louder and faster beyond the north wall. Stick backed off from the wall, leaving Naruto standing by his lonesome. Once the thudding could be felt in his knees, the north wall exploded in a cloud of splinters and rent metal as a nine foot tall Locust plowed through it as if it were a field of clover. The immense beast was muscled, covered in natural armor plating, and sporting one hell of a bad attitude. The Berserker came to a stop just in front of Naruto, and he could hear vicious snorts of air as she inhaled quickly, trying to categorize the odors that assailed her senses. Despite the creature's size and apparent strength, she didn't seem to be able to tell exactly where Naruto was. As the Berserker cast her head around, Naruto realized that she was checking more for sounds and odors than she was looking with her eyes. To test this, Naruto kicked a few shell casings toward the towering monstrosity. In response, the Berserker turned her head immediately toward the clinking brass, and began charging towards him with a blood curdling scream. Talk about a train of ugly...
Baird didn't complain about the ten to fifteen times they stopped to clear the intake filters, mainly because his own ingenuity kept the 'Dill from breaking down miles away. He didn't gripe when they climbed a steep mountainside to locate a secret research base that had its existence denied by every official channel until the previous day. But when the entire trip was made in silence, with none of the warm camaraderie that had seen Lima through the sixteen months since Emergence Day, and Sam staring resolutely out the cabin...he had to speak up.
He wouldn't call her out in front of Cole and Pad. Cole was always supportive, and apparently Pad was a family friend, but this was going to be between Baird and Byrne. Since hearing that her father had escaped, or been found, or maybe even killed – whatever the circumstance might have been – Sam had been short and cold with the rest of the squad.
The mountain was cold, and what fell from the sky was genuine sleet and snow, not the char grilled ash that they had all grown sick of over the recent week and a half since the Hammer strikes. As the hatch rolled forward and allowed for them to disembark, Baird got his first good look at New Hope Research Facility. It was a giant, granulated and pulverized hole in the ground. At first, that hadn't been all that impressive. But when Baird got a closer look at the fine, black sand that covered the immense crater, he began to understand just what had happened. Unless they were standing on a volcano that miraculously erupted and then cleaned up everything but the sandy byproduct, New Hope had been destroyed and compacted into a very fine, very compact powder. As he held up a few grains to the weak sunlight streaming through the dense clouds, he realized that had the research facility been entirely carbon based, he'd likely be sitting in a bed of diamonds.
This Naruto guy was the real deal.
Cole and Pad broke off the check for any survivors, and pick through what had been thrown clear of the explosion instead of incinerated. This left Sam and Baird to examine the crater. As per usual these past few days, Sam said nothing, but picked over every possible detail with frenzied zeal. She clambered down into the bottom of the crater with reckless abandon, scanning for any sign of her father. Baird followed after at a more subdued rate, confident that Cole and Pad were far enough away.
"Sam, slow down." His usual biting tone was absent, as was common when it was just the two of them. Normally, Sam appreciated the change in behavior, knowing that she was the only one he rolled the sass back for. Unfortunately, today was not a day for Sam to be receptive.
"I've got the crater. You check the edges. Something could still be near the foundation." She said it quickly and with a no nonsense tone, lacking the warmth and mischievous spark that had drawn him to her so long ago. Her abilities and knowledge had been a point of interest, yes, but Sam's personality and her past had always been a focal point for Baird, even when they were on separate assignments. If Baird hated anything about Sam, it was when she became Sergeant Byrne.
"News flash from the edge of the crater: everything was flash burned and ground into tiny grains of rock. I left my microscope at home, so nothing doing there." Baird's snark came out at her dismissive order.
"Then go help Cole and Pad. We've got plenty of ground to cover, and I don't want to lose his trail." She still didn't look at Baird, her eyes examining every contour and striation in the black grains, as if a path would suddenly appear to her if she stared long enough. Sam walked out to where the crater leveled off, heading towards the center of the hole. Baird marched quickly behind her, trying to catch up as their boots crunched in the black sand.
"Sam, stop and talk to me. We can work out where he went once you've cooled your head." Baird was many things, but a philanthropist was not one of them. Sam whirled on him, setting a gaze of cold fire on him that made the mechanic uneasy. This was a side of Sam that he had never seen. She had always eagerly followed leads to find her father, but now she seemed obsessive, maybe even unstable in her pursuit of Naruto Namikaze.
"The more time we waste, the more likely he could slip through our fingers. Stop following me like a lost fucking puppy and move your arse, Baird!" She snarled. Baird frowned and crossed his arms, planting himself resolutely in front of her, standing between the Kashkuri woman and the crater's center.
"Not until you get a grip on yourself. This may be a mission from Hoffman, but you've said shit to your teammates since we left Jacinto. He may be your father, but we're your squad, Sam. You and me have been tied at the hip since he went missing." Baird grasped her arm tentatively in an attempt to calm her, a rare form of contact outside of the hugs and high fives they had shared over the years. To his fading surprise, she shrugged herself free of his grasp as soon as he touched her arm, recoiling as if she had been stung by a wasp.
"Don't lecture me about how I treat people, Baird. Yes, I've taken it personally. That might be because it's my fucking father we're out here hunting, the one the Chairman blackmailed into becoming a damned guinea pig just for the sake of science!" She pointed a finger at Baird in anger. "Don't you dare question why I'm out here." Baird held his hands out from his sides in a gesture of peace, backing off slightly as she laid into him.
"Hey, Sam, I know you're looking for him. We've both been- whoa!"
Whatever Baird had tried to say, he lost as his heel struck a strange metal object, stuck dead in the center of the crater. Sam watched him fall and her eyes widened, the woman flashing forward quickly and grasping his outstretched arm to soften his fall. Baird's weight nearly brought Sam with him to the ground, but her interference made the difference between his considerable weight slamming into the ground and a light thud. When he landed, he winced at the blow and blinked rapidly. When Baird's eyes focused, Sam was standing over him, grasping his hand still as her hair fell forward, framing her face in a way that caused an uncomfortable heat to bloom in his chest. Sam's expression was one of concern, and she pulled him up quickly back to his feet. Baird landed solidly, and felt her gloved hand brush off his back to clear the black sand that clung to him.
"You should be more careful, Baird. Who knows what all is buried around here. You could find a stray needle, or worse." Gone was the fierce and angry persona he had contended with; Sam's words were just as mirthful and concerned as they had always been. It seemed that she hadn't been as wrapped up in the chase as he had thought. And he had made himself look like a fool.
"Sorry about that, I should have been looking where I was going." He apologized, a faint red tint on his face as he brushed off his backside. "What the fuck did I trip on?"
Both Gears looked down at the ground, and saw a metal rod topped with a ring roughly the width of a finger in diameter sticking out of the ground. Baird didn't recognize the strange object in the slightest, but as Sam stared at it, she realized that she had seen it before. Or rather, she had seen something like it before.
"Baird, you daft genius!" Sam said with a grin as she knelt down next to the object. "This is one of dad's knives!" To prove the point, she grasped the protruding handle in a solid grip, her knuckles digging into the dirt slightly. She had to enhance her muscles with chakra a fair bit and wriggle the blade slightly, but after a few seconds of struggling, a three pronged knife emerged from the blackened dirt, its tip gleaming in the weak sunlight.
"Yeah, I gotta say: that's a pretty unique looking knife." Baird admitted. "But why was it dug into the ground like this?" Sam flipped the Hirashin kunai around a few times, looping her finger through the hole as she stood up. She continued to spin the blade around absently as she walked in a circle, her focus on the trees surrounding the crater as she contemplated the move. Why had her father planted one of his special kunai here? No one outside of Dawnbringer – which, according to the Chairman, had been completely wiped out sans a few operational agents – and Naruto's small pool of friends recognized the blade for what it was. In fact, it was almost as if he had planted it there for that very reason – that only Hoffman, Pad, or Sam herself would recognize the blade.
"I think he left it here for me or Vic. We're really the only ones that know what these things do." Sam said in wonder, tossing the kunai in the air several times as she marveled at its balance. She had seen Naruto use them numerous times, but had only ever held one on two previous occasions. It was no wonder he could throw them with such accuracy. Baird watched her toss the knife, not willing to tell her to stop so soon after her temper tantrum she had thrown at him.
"It's a knife. It cuts things. Unless Mr. Magic figured out something else for a knife to do." Baird snarked, his hands on his hips as she continued to toss it.
"Well, Dad always said that if anyone needed him, throwing one of his kunai was a good way to get him there." Sam said. She grasped the blade in a reverse grip, the way she had seen Naruto throw them multiple times. She looked up into the gray sky, and figured it was as good a target as any.
"Stand back, Baird. I don't want this to come down on you." She warned, and Baird retreated a few paces at her words.
"Didn't your dad teach you not to throw knives up in the air?" Baird asked tentatively, then realized what he was saying. "Oh who am I kidding. He probably taught you how to do it properly."
Sam laughed at his comment and looked back at him, all twinkling eyes and flashing teeth as she tossed a knife like a circus performer. The sight sent that warm glow through Baird's chest again, and he shook himself to quell the feeling. He didn't need confusing warm fuzzies to distract him right now.
Sam grasped the kunai one last time and let it fly into the sky, arcing it at an angle toward the 'Dill where they had come from. The kunai flew straight and true, not tumbling through the air as Baird had first assumed it would. When the blade made it to the zenith of its climb, a yellow light flashed in the sky.
"You're coming with me, ugly!" A voice Baird had never heard before cried, as if from the air itself. The words echoed for a moment, as if he was hearing them from a far away place, yet they were as clear as if they had been spoken right beside him. The blonde looked up, and the yellow light flashed again. Time slowed down as the flash revealed a man in a ragtag collection of clothes and layers hanging into the air, with a Locust Berserker of all things caught in a head lock. The nasty female creature had its claws up around the arm that was arresting its breathing, an inhuman screech cut off into some pitiful whine as the two hung in mid air for a second. Baird was truly shocked at that. Not only was there a guy that had been teleported to their location – bright flash, suddenly things in the air that weren't there before, he was calling that as he saw it – but he had one of the most ferocious creatures in the Locust menagerie tied up in a head lock as if they were having a playground scuffle.
As if realizing that it was supposed to go at normal speed, time resumed its standard march as the two fighting beings fell towards the crater. The clothed figure altered his grip and dropped intentionally, angling his descent to where the Berserker's head would impact the ground first in a kind of aerial power slam. Baird heard a grunt of effort as the figure altered their path, and when the two landed, an audible BOOM echoed through the surrounding area. Baird swore he felt the impact in his feet.
It seemed that Baird and Sam had interrupted a fight in progress, as the two continued their brawl as soon as they landed. The Berserker rolled to land on its chest after the impact, groggy and disoriented though it was. The female Locust rose to one knee and shook its head, only for Naruto to land two powerful haymakers to its face before delivering a straight kick that had enough power to send the Berserker rolling. Problem was, it came rolling straight towards Baird. Oh crap. Baird lifted his arms to shield himself from the armored loser of this fist fight, but was shoved out of the way by a smaller body as the Berserker rolled ten more paces through the black sand. Baird landed on the floor of the crater for the second time that day, only this time much harder as he had a passenger on top of him. A flutter of cloth caught his attention as Naruto leaped over the two on the ground, his attention solely on the Berserker that dared attack him. As the two continued their fight, Baird looked down to see Sam's tanned, smiling face.
"It's usually best to stand aside when Dad starts a fight." She offered with laughter in her voice. "He tends to cause collateral damage otherwise." The fact that she was not bothered in the slightest by the Berserker told Baird two things: how happy she was to see her Dad, and how royally fucked that Locust was. The two scrambled from their place on the ground as Naruto continued assaulting the Berserker, never giving the creature a chance to collect itself in the wake of his brutal assault. The Berserker shrieked and tried clawing him away, but Naruto blocked one swipe and ducked the other, before leaping over the creature's head and wrenching its arm behind it as he went. As the two struggled, Baird noticed several scorch marks on the Berserker's armor, as if it had been burned earlier in the fight. The shriek of rage became a howl of pain as he torqued the arm even more, causing the Berserker to lurch forward and claw at the ground for purchase in a vain attempt to get away. Naruto cranked down on the hold even more, then held a free hand up in the air. To Baird's amazement, a swirling vortex of blue energy roughly the size of a softball appeared in Naruto's hand, creating the sound of a howling vortex as it disturbed the sand all around Naruto and his captured beast.
The Berserker pulled harder than ever to escape, and managed to roll over onto its back and negate Naruto's hold on its arm. The large creature snarled and snapped its teeth as it flailed, but Naruto slammed the pulsating ball of energy into its chest. The Berserker wailed in pain and pushed its free arm against Naruto's, struggling to free itself of the painful energy that slowly ate away through its natural plating. It managed to get a hand underneath his attack, but the armor and flesh melted away from the swirling ball of energy, until there was nothing left but a bloody stump. As the resistance fell away, Naruto reared his arm back and slammed the ball forward with all his might, punching straight through the Berserker and into the ground behind it. The Locust's shrill cries ceased immediately as its lungs ruptured and its spine was destroyed, a faint shock wave echoing through the ground as his technique exploded. Naruto sighed as the Berserker twitched in its death throes, before releasing its captured arm and digging his own out of the creature's chest with a wet sucking sound. The Berserker continued to twitch as Naruto stepped away from its cooling corpse and towards Sam and Baird.
Sam let go of Baird's hand – which, had he realized she had been holding it, would have probably made him even more nervous about meeting the beast of a man that was her father – and rushed towards the slightly gore covered man in rags. A happy chuckle emerged from the blonde man in rags as he wrapped Sam up in a hug, spinning her around as he had during her childhood not too many years prior.
"Dad, I'm so glad to see you again!" Sam said cheerily, the hardened Locust fighting sergeant gone for a moment as she reunited with her father again. Naruto set Sam down and held at arms length for a moment, taking in her features to see how she had changed. After a few moments of gleeful observation, he crushed his daughter to his chest in another hug as he continued to laugh.
"I wasn't worried, sweetheart. I knew you'd find me again. You always were tenacious." Naruto said with a wide smile. He flicked Sam's armored shoulder and the sergeant's stripes that ran up the metal, an eyebrow raised as he did so. "And look at you: a few years away from your old dad and you're already giving orders to scared little soldiers." Sam blushed at his praised and looked away for a moment, and in doing so focused on Baird. The blonde Gear stood with his hand half on his Lancer, likely a delayed reaction to the Berserker that he now didn't have to fight.
"Well Dad, I wish I could say I did it alone. But if it weren't for my friends and my squad mates, I never would have found you." Sam said, and she stepped away from Naruto to cast a hand towards Baird. "That's Damon Baird. He and I have been looking for you since boot camp." Baird waved weakly as she said this, wide eyed and still a bit shell shocked from watching a Berserker get its ass handed to him by the father of the woman he had been around for three, going on four years. Naruto took in the gawking man's appearance with an amused smirk, before thumping Sam lightly on the back of the head.
"Barely seen me after almost three years, and you're already bringing a guy to meet me. For shame, Samantha." Naruto teased with a wagging finger. Sam's blush flared up fiercely as she looked at Baird with a mixture of embarrassment and something else that he couldn't quite place, before slapping Naruto on the chest in a bashful manner. The look sent a chill of Baird's spine like nothing else, but as it did so his brain began to thaw from the inexplicable brawl that had happened before him.
"Dad, stop. You'll break him." She muttered, and Naruto laughed again. The two separated and finally focused on Baird, who now felt the entire brunt of the conversation hit him. The guy that had wrestled a Berserker to death not only existed, but thought that he had special feelings about Sam? And she hadn't even denied the tease, though that whether that was because she wasn't denying the feelings or that she knew it was fruitless to argue with her father wasn't for Baird to say.
"Uh, yeah...it's nice to, ah... oh boy." Was the intelligent response Baird had for the tease. Naruto and Sam both chuckled at his response and walked towards him, leaving the still twitching Berserker corpse to cool in the crisp mountain air. When they reached him, Baird released his rifle and offered a hand to Naruto for him to shake. Sam stepped to Baird's side, closer than he expected in the wake of everything, and Naruto grasped Baird's gloved hand in his own in an insanely strong handshake. Baird winced slightly at the pressure, but Naruto's sharp grin – my God, he actually has fangs?! - widened as he released the appendage and nodded approvingly.
"Yeah...he'll do." The shinobi said with a smirk. Sam scoffed and swatted him on the chest, earning a chuckle in reply as Baird shuddered under the teasing. Normally, he could go back and forth with the best of him, but the emotional and logical sides of his brain currently had the poor mechanic in a deadlock as he struggled to grasp the events that had just transpired. Before he could get his mental feet underneath him, Naruto's gaze shifted to something above Baird and to his left. Together, the three of them turned toward the crater's edge.
"Hey, Pad! Long time no see!" Naruto cried good-naturedly, waving an arm as Pad and Cole stood at the edge of the crater. The pale Islander offered a wave in return, but Baird noticed with growing concern among his mental numbness that both men had their rifles in their hands.
"Get the lead out, you three! We've got a settlement under attack!" Pad yelled. Suddenly, the brain lock on Baird and the cheerful reunion between father and daughter came to an end. Baird and Sam pulled their Lancers from their backs as Naruto let a kunai fall from his sleeve. Proper introductions and greeting could wait for later: Lima Squad had a town to save, and Naruto was all for a good old fashioned slaughter.
Berserker beat down. Gotta love it.