Disclaimer: I don't own blah blah. You get the drift by now. ^_^
Published: January 4, 2016 (Happy New Year, folks)
Notes: It's been a while, friends, but I didn't want to leave my stuff abandoned, so here I am. I feel that this chapter isn't as strong or dramatic as my last update, but too much constant chaos is exhausting to write and/or read. As always, suggestions and criticism are not only accepted but warmly welcome. I've gotta speed off to work (hence shoddy proofreading), but I hope to have heard from a couple of you guys when I get back. Have a nice 2016, guys!
Chapter Five
Bad Things Come in Threes
Last Time
"You said that mortals can't understand your magic," Naruto said. He felt suddenly reckless and mischievous, as he had been so long ago before the war. He dropped his illusion, bland features flowing away like water. He grinned, puffing up his whiskered cheeks confidently. "Try me."
"In position," Shikamaru whispered into the radio. He peered down at the gathering below through the thin slats of the vent cover, keeping an eye on potential threats. Sure, they were all technically civilians, but it wouldn't do to get sloppy. From the corner of his eye, he saw a lower-level flunky with suspiciously platinum colored blond hair sit down at one of the consoles.
Ino acquainted herself with the security console within a few minutes. It wasn't really so different from their own camera systems. It was, thankfully, also easy to guess the password, which had been scribbled on a sticky note in the pocket of her stolen uniform: the perks of infiltrating a brand-new facility.
I've got eyes on everything, she signed. Shikamaru nodded. "Ino's in position too. Backup?"
"Sai and I are in place," Kakashi answered. "Be prepared; these guys are looking pretty jumpy."
"Roger," Shikamaru answered. "Radio silence."
With that, Shikamaru turned off the microphone and settled down for the long haul. The vent was suspiciously large, as if it were designed to be a viewpoint for the bridge. There was enough room for him, an adult male of average size, to sit comfortably with room to spare. He could fully extend his arms to either side if he wanted to.
Despite this, there were no cameras or alarms.
"Something's not right," Shikamaru muttered.
~ oOo ~
With Loki contained and the Avengers gathered, Naruto was doing his level best to keep out of the way. Of course, this wasn't his natural state of being. Even a few years ago, asking him to fade into the background would be impossible. All things considered, however, he thought he was doing pretty well.
He couldn't afford to draw too much attention. He'd already made a blunder somewhere. He'd known, deep down, that a world without ninjas couldn't possibly use the Hidden Village government model, but it hadn't occurred to him what they might have used in its stead. He'd heard of other forms from some of the civilian villages, but he never really saw that in action. There were those times he'd been around a monarchy for escort missions, but not for long. He had no idea what a democracy could be.
Heavy footsteps echoed across the metal floor.
The minute that Fury entered the room, Naruto knew that he wasn't a man to be trifled with. He wasn't a ninja, but he had the gleam in his eye. Naruto knew, immediately, that he could have been one. Here was a man who knew everything about everyone. If this Fury had been trained, he could have been extremely dangerous. As it was, however, Fury knew less about him than the Bingo Book did.
"Welcome," he addressed the group, "to the Avengers Initiative." After letting that sink in, Fury turned his eye to the ninja in the background, emitting an aura of wariness. He bypassed his established plans and cut immediately to the most enigmatic person in the room, himself excluded.
"So," Fury said, dangerously calm. He leaned over the table and stared straight into Naruto's eyes, undaunted by the stand-offish attitude that had managed to keep even Tony Stark at arm's length for a few minutes, "Would one of you care to enlighten me as to what the heck is going on here?" And Naruto was sure that Loki wasn't the current object of discoussion.
So much for keeping a low profile and sticking to the sidelines.
Naruto blinked, ending the staring contest that Fury was using as a mild intimidation tactic. To be honest, on a ship filled with trained agents who would attempt to kill him at the first sign of trouble, such tactics were really unnecessary. He couldn't raise his guard any further than it was unless a Missing Nin suddenly dropped on board.
And that wasn't exactly very likely at the moment.
All the same, with all the hints he had unwittingly dropped, he wasn't looking forward to the verbal sparring that the Director of SHIELD seeming to be gearing up for. Even worse, Naruto thought, noting the others' sudden silence, his current tentative allies wanted to know too. And he couldn't tell them. His loyalty was to his Village first. A Village that, for its own safety, didn't exist to these people.
He walked to the table, face as bland as he could make it.
"What do you mean, Director?" he asked, purposefully dull.
"I mean," Fury stressed, face carved from stone, "Loki appears from wherever and kills eighty people in two days. Then, a short time later, you appear and fight toe-to-toe with him. You don't have a birth certificate, driver's license, or credit card. Heck, even Cap has more of a digital footprint."
At this, Steve ducked his head, embarrassed.
"So I want to know, son," Fury continued. "Are you a threat? Or not?"
"And you need documentation to be certain," Naruto said understandingly. He smiled soothingly, whiskers puffing up on his cheeks. He truly did understand. There was only so much good will Naruto could win with a world domination scheme hatching from the Helicarrier's glass holding cell. And then he said infuriatingly, "You're not getting it."
The Director paused, considering. The others looked between the two, unable to decide who they were rooting for. Yes, Fury was a gossip who needed to worry about his own business. All the same, they couldn't just trust someone who didn't officially exist until two hours ago, when SHIELD had created a file on him.
Naruto let out a breath and closed his eyes. The outer world might have seemed somewhat peaceful, filled with novelties and games. But it was just as suspicious and back-stabbing as the Elemental Countries. He had purposefully avoided conflict, but it seemed as if the world had other plans in mind.
As it was, Fury might place him in a cell right next to Loki. Right after his boastful drama, too. That was just plain uncool.
"I wonder," he said, looking out the front window. He carefully allowed his form to go slack in apparent surrender. At the same time, he mentally prepared himself to charge forward and break the glass. At this height, the wind pressure would prove a hinderance to everyone save perhaps Steve and Thor. If Thor and Loki were brothers, they would probably have comparable skill levels.
"Now wait a minute here," Tony Stark interrupted loudly, interjecting himself between them defensively. "Are you seriously going to arrest this kid? I mean, come on," he said, looking across the table at the others for support. "He held off an alien long enough for us to arrive! He's in my good books at least."
The glass was probably reinforced, but a good Rasengan would fix that. He would be in free fall for a little while, but he had full confidence that Sai would conjure a ink creature to pick him up. Even if that weren't the case, folding himself in Nine Tails Mode would prevent fatal damage even from this great height. From there, the Nine Tails could provide him with healing chakra. It would be painful, but he would survive.
"We don't know for sure," Romanoff suggested with a glance at the silent teenager. "It's possible it was staged." She almost seemed reluctant to suggest it, especially in light of the recovered footage of their discussion, but it had to be said. What were the odds of two metahumans meeting at just that moment?
In other situations, Naruto allowing himself to get captured was a legitimate option. He'd done it before when he was just a genin. But he had a village to hold up. He could not die until he had an heir. Lying in a cell made death much more likely at this point.
"C'mon, Banner, you can't let this happen. You're not a soldier; you're a scientist. Bad guys go in cells, not kids. Innocent until proven guilty has worked pretty well until now, I'd say," Tony argued passionately.
Banner winced, removing his glasses and pinching his nose. "I . . . Just. I don't know, Stark."
Captain America rolled his shoulders. "If he's really clean, he has nothing to worry about. Right, guys? He won't be away long." Still, he looked worried.
Tony's shoulders drooped in disappointment but the others remained resolute. Naruto was saved from his choice just as he began to swirl wind chakra around his fingers.
An explosion rocked the Helicarrier, and everyone grabbed onto a nearby fixture to steady themselves save for Naruto, who subconsciously focused chakra onto the soles of his feet.
Fury raised his head and roared, "What was that? I want to know what's going on, now!"
"We have a visual, sir!" some uniformed minion replied. "An aircraft dropped off a squad onto the front launching zone!"
A fuzzy camera feed popped up onto the window. It quickly adjusted to the light of the wreckage flames and cleared up a bit. There was a small group of black-clothed men led by a blond man with a bow in his hand. It was difficult to make out any details, but it seemed to be enough for Romanoff.
"Clint," she murmured under her breath, horrified. As quickly as hurt dropped onto her face, it was gone.
"There's an alert from the holding cells," the same minion reported. "Loki's trying to escape."
"Let's shelve this for later!" Steve called out as he ran for the door. "I'm off to stop Loki!"
"I'm with Stars and Spandex!" Tony called out, following.
Naruto reached out his senses, trying to pinpoint the intruders. This task was made much more difficult by his unfamiliarity with his surroundings, but it was still possible to locate sounds of violence. "Team 7!" he commanded, striding out of the main bridge after Rogers and Stark. "Two after the invading force, two with me! We can't let Loki escape!"
Ino, disguised as a nameless minion, shed her restrictive SHIELD body armor in a heartbeat and shook her hair out from the tight bun into its usual ponytail. "Yes, sir," she said, singularly focused. "Shikamaru! Get your lazy butt down here!"
"Ah, man," the strategist complained, kicking the ventilation cover off and dropping ten feet onto the meeting table. With a casual nod toward Banner, Fury, and Romanoff he stepped off of the table and rambled after the others with half lidded eyes and a stretch of his arms. "I was just getting comfortable, too."
~ oOo ~
Loki sat in his cell, palms resting on his knees as he listened carefully to the commotion above. The humans were such fools. Did they really think that his hearing and influence were so weak?
His plans were accelerating faster than he had ever anticipated. Hawkeye had told him enough about these Avengers to account for most of their movements thus far, but the Uzumaki child was proving far more unpredictable. Loki had thought that it would take hours more before the power of his scepter could turn them against each other. He had originally planned to exaggerate Banner's distrust toward SHIELD and Stark's distaste for Rogers. The spies were already suspicious — it was only a matter of tipping their paranoia into imbalance.
Adding in a powerful new player, however, had pushed up the plan considerably. At this rate, he would be out in mere minutes. Selvig wouldn't be quite ready by the time he arrived.
He focused the feelings of those aboard not into distrust for each other, but instead onto Uzumaki. In turn, faced by sudden suspicion, Uzumaki would be made powerless. The world's greatest heroes would turn on each other, and Loki would sneak away with ease.
The enigma would prove to be an unwitting help to him.
And, alone in the den of spies and soldiers, Loki smiled, eyes gleaming wickedly. Everything, as planned.
~ oOo ~
"Guys, this way!" Naruto called. If Loki conquered Earth, it was only a matter of time before he found the barrier. He could not be allowed to threaten the Elemental Countries.
The route to the holding cells was a bit convoluted — probably to dissuade escape. He'd seen similar in ninja prisons back home. Naruto ignored the established hallways in favor of tearing holes into the metal walls and bypassing the maze entirely.
It was SHIELD's fault for designing it that way and not providing him with a map, anyway.
Shikamaru and Ino followed close behind him, while Sai and Kakashi quietly helped on the other side of the ship. Naruto had revealed two of people, but leaving two more in the shadows could prove to be very useful soon enough.
~ oOo ~
Ah, there he was. The little Uzumaki king. He was approaching extremely fast for a human, leaving chaos in his path.
Loki focused on the scepter and its malevolent whispers. Now, to plant the final seed. A healthy dose of indignation, a dash of hurt, and just a drop of anger. All the ingredients Loki needed to spark a destructive flame. Loki gathered the emotions up, curbing them to be accepted as natural. It was sloppy, by his standards, but it would fulfill its purpose.
Then he wedged open the human's mind to sew them.
Instead of that poisonously addictive blue energy of the scepter, Loki sensed pure red. The red of blood, of ancient war drums and death.
"Little sorcerer," echoed deafeningly inside his skull, at once both amused and annoyed. "Leave."
Loki squeezed his eyes closed and let out a sound of pain. Agony seared through him, and he severed the connection.
What on any of the Nine Realms was this creature named Uzumaki Naruto?
~ oOo ~
"Careful, Naruto," the Nine Tails rumbled in warning. "The sorcerer plants thoughts into the minds of others."
The worst sort of opponent, as far as Naruto was concerned. The type of opponent who turned comrades against each other. "I'm fine because of you, right?"
"Yes. His power is old and well-constructed, but rusty. It's not very strong," the Fox replied, almost sounding bored. "It only raises the flames of already existing emotions; it cannot create them anew."
"Suspicion," Naruto murmured. "He's increasing the suspicion of everyone on board. He wants them to turn on each other."
"And it's working. The humans are falling for it hook, line, and sinker."
"Guys, Loki's trying to manipulate negative emotions," Naruto warned. "Don't do anything rash."
Shikamaru sighed. "Man, what a drag."
Sorry I couldn't get to everybody. Anyway, review replies!
Kail990 - Thanks for the advice, I'll make sure to do that!
Voxination - Currently I'm only working on the original Avengers movie, though once I finish I might expand onto the other movies (not very familiar with Agents of SHIELD though).
Utena-Puchiko-nyu - We'll just have to see how that goes - Loki doesn't really want to be saved, but Naruto can be wickedly stubborn when it comes to redeeming people.
buddhabro2 - I suppose it would look something like this: o _ o . Excuse my pitiful emoji skills. FF won't let me use the at symbol for confused eyes.
Wonjis: Thanks, I really wanted to keep Naruto's quirky nature, but I think that a world war would change anyone's personality a bit. I laid it on a bit thick in the first chapter though, so if I ever get finished with this I might want to revise that.
RandomPerson44: Thanks a lot! I did do well on that test, and I got my grade for my finals back (I managed to just squeeze an A and I was so proud of myself). And then I did well on my next semester too, because I'm super slow and lazy and I never update . . .
swirftrabbit: Thank you. I debated on whether or not to have Naruto reveal his powers to Loki (that doesn't seem very strategically sound) but this is Naruto. Subtelty is not exactly his strong suit. And it made for a pretty good minor clash - hopefully only a foreshadowing of things to come. I'll do my best at least!
Wordy Blackbirdy: Thanks a lot! I tried my best to make that one of those scenes that make an impression.
Alibi Nonsense: Wow, it seems everyone's pretty happy with that Loki and Naruto banter. I'm really glad I kept it.
Cerulean Knight: Yeah, I think that's his greatest strength. He's been there, he knows what it's like to be despised and alone. And he knows what it's like to rise above it, to be in that struggle. Other people can sense sincerity in him.
TakeYoCookie: Thanks for being understanding. It doesn't seem like it would be hard to work on writing, but somehow there never seems to be the time or will.
anon: The United States is definitely only one slice of the world - and I'm glad it is. The world is better for its diversity, and no government system can ever be perfect. In fact, there are lots of monarchies around. I know that, and you know that. But they're aliens and Naruto's clueless. He didn't even know the names of the other major ninja villages and nations when they left on their escort mission.
wielder of the purified shadow: Yeah, you have a good point. I don't actually want to follow canon too closely, though. I would like to see what I can do to make a difference and flex my creativity a bit. Naruto still might have a bit of a problem taking on a whole army though, you'll just have to see.
Blue. : Thank you so much for your kind review! Muchas gracias!
Narutoske: Thanks for reviewing! I had a bit of a struggle trying to express how Naruto got through security so easily, but yeah. I figured that he could do it. He's a ninja. I might have to tweak that a bit if I ever finish this.
Gordaime: I don't think I'll be able to make that happen for real. Natasha will probably try to mess with Naruto's head, but I don't think it'll happen for real. Sorry. :(
Gold Bearded Dragon: Thank you for your kind words, I can only do my best! And I gladly accept the magic brownies. I'm a bit peckish.
Saricaykes: Yeah. I mean, I'm a fan of Naruto being awesome as much as anyone, but we have to remember that he's a human (theoretically, being a fictional character and a ninja and having Kyubi stuck in his stomach and I'm just going to stop now). And despite what we all like to think, no one can be awesome 24/7. Not even Naruto. It's just not healthy. Especially for character growth.
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