# Action Pack Issue 9

July 4, 12: 35-New York General

Kushina pushed her tray away from her as she finished up her meal and supplement drink. She's had a hard time going to the washroom in her room, as it was awkward since she had to keep her hands on the wall to make it there. Though the thought of getting out of the hospital made her put up with all this; she'd never been very patient, and she certainly didn't like feeling weak.

Her situation with her children was at the forefront of her mind; if she'd been awake sooner she could have stopped them from ever getting hurt, not to mention she probably would have burned Konoha to the ground herself if given the chance.

Speaking of which, she thought she might still do that.

She heard the door open and Doctor Reyes walked in. "And are you ready to start your physiotherapy?"

Kushina nodded and pulled the blanket off her as she had put the robe on during her first trip to the washroom. She allowed the doctor to help her out of bed and hoped she had retained some of the healing factor she once had to help move this process along quickly.

She felt guilty enough about missing out on her children's childhoods without missing anymore.

New York Mall, 12:45 pm

The first thing Kira understood about mall economics was that the lunch rush was like a shark tank.

He was also glad that he thought to bring his own lunch with him as he really didn't want to touch American fast food. It had nothing to do with the food itself, but from his experience with ramen it showed that his body burned off calories very fast and he ended up hungry almost an hour later.

It was the reason that he and Naruto ate so many bowls of ramen when he couldn't get his hands on a real meal.

"It's so busy, don't you think?"

Kira glanced up at Sharon as she saw down in front of him, smiling beatifically, but her scent still gave him trouble. She smelled too much like a cat for his taste. "Yes, it is."

"So you don't buy anything here?" Sharon asked curiously.

Kira shook his head. "No." he stated bluntly.

Sharon pouted at his blunt reply as she didn't get anything else out of him before digging into her sushi meal. "Mmm, this is good, sure you don't want soooome?" she sang.

Kira leaned back as she wagged the roll in front of his face and gently pushed her hand out of his face. "No, I don't."

"You're no fun, why is that?" Sharon persisted.

Kira raised a brow. "We don't know each other, so it stands to reason that I wouldn't tell you that."

"But we could know each other." Sharon said smirking at him, and Kira saw her fangs peeking over her lips before brushing it off again.

"I'm not sure I want to know you in the way you want." Kira shot back and Sharon's pout deepened.

"You're no fun, don't you know how to live a little?" she questioned and Kira's eye started to tick.

Is that why she was bugging him about this? He didn't like people on principle, but he especially disliked annoying people. It was the reason he didn't like Sakura so much, that and she hit his brother all the time in the past.

He felt a pang of guilt at that. He was going to need to have a serious talk with Naruto that it was okay to tell him things that were important-like if people hit him or hurt him in any way-and he wouldn't get angry. At him, anyway.

Kira was a lot of things, and has been called just as many, but no one can ever say he's not a good brother.

"I'm not really into, 'fun.'" Kira replied after a moment of thought.

Instead of deterring her, Sharon merely smiled wider. "Well I guess now that we're co-workers I can change that."

"And the reason you've taken to hanging around me is…?" Kira trailed off to give the girl a chance to explain herself.

"That's easy; you're the only dude working in the store." Sharon replied rolling her eyes. "And that matters a lot to female customers."

"I fail to see how." And Kira really didn't get it, because when you're a ninja, you don't generally care about who sells you your things so long as they're good to last.

"You're so oblivious." Sharon said sighing and Kira felt vaguely like he should be insulted.

Park, 12:50 pm

"Huh, what's everybody doing?" Naruto questioned as he looked around at the people setting up some kind of contraption.

"They're getting ready to launch the fireworks." Kitty explained. "It's the Fourth of July."

"Yeah, I know that." Naruto replied, but his expression was still blank. "Why is this day so special that you only get to use fireworks now?" Granted, even back in Konoha he still couldn't use fireworks, not when he and Kira had to rebuild their apartment after some drunken villager shot a fire into the place on one of the Kyuubi festivals.

Kitty decided that since Naruto wasn't from America originally that he might not know, she just broke it down into one simply sentence. "It's an American holiday is all."

"If it's a holiday, then why are there still people working?" Naruto questioned.

Kitty blinked in confusion. "That's…that's a good question actually." She said before shrugging. "Maybe it's an exception or something?"

Naruto nodded along absently before glancing over at where the fireworks would be let off. "What time does this start anyway?"

"Later at night." Kitty said and brightened up. "Hey, maybe I'll even see you there; I'll be going with my parents."

Naruto doubted that Kira would let him go to see fireworks with someone he had just met as much as he was sure his brother wouldn't let him continue to fight crime if he knew what he was doing when he was supposed to be asleep. "Maybe, but I doubt it."

"Well, if you can make then I'll save you a spot on the grass." Kitty said smiling and Naruto found himself smiling back.

"I'd like that."

#9 "Iron Maiden"

Hotel, 3:20 pm

Yugito started to bunch her hair up into its bun before putting the metal plating on herself and jutsuing her hair black. She adjusted the visor on her face before picking up the blue prints she'd nicked from posing as a worker at the park earlier in the afternoon.

She looked it over and saw that with all the people that would most likely be there, it was the perfect place to stage her final appearance as Iron Maiden.

Her plan was relatively simple, lure Naruto out and make him fight her with everything he had, Kyuubi's power included. Of course to lure him out she had to do something that would draw enough attention that would need 'superheroes' to intervene.

Yugito eyed the area where the fireworks were going to be let off. A lot of explosions could be caused with just the right amount of pressure. She wouldn't actually need to do anything destructive since she could just make it look like she was blowing things up, but it needed to be very realistic, and she had no idea how things might go here.

Naruto wouldn't show if she didn't put people in real danger after all. And after his low growl before smashing her camera with his kunai, she was actually looking forward to just how much he matched up to her in terms of power.

By all means though she knew that if she went into the fight at full power there was no contest by the sheer fact she had the experience to use Nibi's chakra whereas Naruto most likely didn't.

But she digressed; she was going to lure him out with explosives, all that needed to be done was hijack a suitable news station for her to broadcast the challenge as she wasn't trying to be subtle in the least about getting Naruto's attention.

And while she might not be able to work the cable herself, it didn't mean that she couldn't get some techie on staff to do it for her. After all, people will do anything if they think it will let them live.

Now was the time to act.

New York General, 1:43 pm

"Mrs. Uzumaki, you're making rather remarkable progress." Dr. Reyes said in slight awe as Kushina had managed to walk the line without needed assistance for the second time.

Kushina grinned sheepishly. "Well, I've always been a bit of a quick healer." Understatement of the century. And while she wanted to contribute her drive to walk without wobbling to being able to leave with her children, she knew in actuality it was Kyuubi's remaining power in her that was the cause.

But that still didn't mean she didn't want to see her children any less of course. Because she did, and the sooner she was able to leave the hospital the better.

"Will I be able to leave soon then?" Kushina asked excitedly.

Dr. Reyes gave the woman a kind smile. "If you keep up the good work then you'll definitely be able to."

Kushina smirked and continued to do just that.

New York Mall, 3:14 pm

After Kira's shift was over, he stuck around to search out some clothing that might fit his mother until she could be able to go buy the clothes herself. And seeing as he'd once let Naruto outside in the atrocious orange jumpsuit, he didn't exactly have the best taste in clothes.

Or the most money to pay the unfair prices, but that's what a five-finger discount was for; and all things considered he could have done something much worse to the store merchant. A lot worse, but he wouldn't dwell on that.

Right now it was about finding something his mother would like.

Kira picked up a soft material garment that looked like a safe bet as he recognized it as a t-shirt in a deep red. Well, it matched his mother's hair at least. He looked over the neatly folded stacks before pulling up a pair of kakis that his mother might be able to fit.

The brunet made his way over to the counter where Lara was manning the register. He really didn't want to talk, but he knew he had too. He'd already been given a warning earlier for brushing off customers simply because he didn't feel like having an idle chat with them.

"How much for these?" he questioned handing the woman the clothes.

Lara grabbed them and looked them over before putting them through the register. "With employee discount it comes to a total amount of…$20.50."

Kira paused in retrieving his wallet and remembered what Sharon had told him about the high prices for some of these things.

"If you want low prices, go to the bargain bin or something." She'd said, reminding him distinctly of how the merchants regarded him on with what he wanted to buy back in Konoha.

It was one of the reasons he didn't exactly like the woman despite the girl's best efforts to do otherwise.

Kira bit back a retort as he wordlessly paid the woman behind the counter and received his change in reply. He took the back and headed for the exit, not bothering to offer a thank you, nor had Lara seemed to be expecting one either.

The brunet walked through the mall, wondering what to make for dinner, but as soon as he got outside he ran to the nearest alley and took to the wall, running up the nearest building side to avoid having to waste any more money while he had two perfectly functioning feet to get him where he wanted to go.

He put up the default Genjutsu to keep people from seeing that it was a person jumping across the rooftops should they look up and made his way down to the backyard of his home when and stopped the Genjutsu the moment he entered the house.

"Naruto-kun, are you here?" he called, but received no reply, so he assumed that his brother was still out with his new friend.

Who just happened to be a girl.

Kira set the clothes down on a chair and began taking out a package of chicken, thinking of making chicken stir fry with rice and curry. It'd give him something to do anyway.

Uzumaki Residence, 4:23 pm

Naruto opened the door to his home, the smell of chicken making his mouth water and he heard his stomach growl. He'd spent an awesome day with his friend, and now he was home with his awesome brother and about to eat an awesome meal.

"Kira-nii, I'm home!" he called closing the door behind him and taking his shoes off before setting them on the shoe rack. He walked into the kitchen and noticed the bag on the chair. "What's that?"

Kira looked up briefly from the stove to see what Naruto was pointing at. "Clothing for Kaa-chan to wear when she's able to leave the hospital."

"Oh, and how much did they cost you?" Naruto asked curiously, but from the way Kira stayed steadfastly silent told him it must have been expensive.

Or, expensive for them as Kira had to store most of the money he'd made with his scratch ticket winnings in the bank to pay for the hospital bill.

"How long until dinner's ready?" Naruto questioned.

"Not long." Kira replied and noticed that Naruto had started fidgeting. "What do you want?"

Naruto glanced up innocently. "Why do you always assume I want something?"

"Because you fidget." Kira said bluntly.

Naruto silently cursed. He never knew he made it so obvious with how he must have wanted something, but he also knew that it just wasn't also his brother he was nervous around when he wanted something. He only fidgeted because he was afraid they'd turn him down.

But not Kira, he'd always give him anything he'd wanted.

"Um, there's this American tradition of letting fireworks off tonight, so I was wondering if I could go?" Naruto asked hopefully.

Kira didn't even glance up. "No."

With that one word, Naruto stared in shock at his brother. "What? Why not? Kitty's going to be there and she's saving a seat for when if I went!"

"Then I guess she won't be too disappointed when you don't turn up." Kira replied. "I'm not doing this just because; I'm doing it because I don't feel comfortable with letting you outside at night. A lot of things can go wrong."

Naruto clenched his fists at his sides, wanting to scream about how unfair Kira was being when his ire lost its fire quick. All his life Kira had been fair with him; he'd let Naruto go to the Academy, despite his best tries to dissuade him from it, he'd let him go outside period when he knew that nothing good would come from it.

Kira really had let Naruto do a lot of things he didn't want him to, so he supposed he could lay off just this once. And perhaps it was a long time fear, but he'd also always been afraid of Kira just up and leaving him if he ever did something bad.

"Alright." Naruto relented and realized how close he'd come to be a spoiled brat. He was spoiled yeah, but he wasn't a brat. "I understand."

Kira nodded before turning his attention back to the stove. "Glad you do."

Channel Six News Station, 6:00 pm

Iron Maiden looked around at the downed personnel that had been getting ready to report the news. Well she had other plans regarding this. The woman looked over at the cowering techie she left conscious and smirked. "Just get me on the air and you get to live, simple as that. No tricks or traps."

It was true, she could have easily just killed these people if she wanted to, but her mission wasn't to do that and instead test Naruto. But if he didn't beat her or show up then she really was going to blow up some buildings to teach him a lesson.

The techie nodded in fear before he started to bring up the live feed and Iron Maiden appeared on camera. "You're live." He croaked out.

Iron Maiden smirked again before looking at the camera. "Hello, citizens of New York. I have interrupted this news broadcast to bring you an important announcement." She grinned, her 'fangs' showing more prominently and being the picture of malicious coyness. "I have rigged several explosives up to buildings and they will be detonated at exactly 7:30 tonight.

"That is unless," her grin widened and became a certified 'Cheshire-cat smile,' "The superhero known as Black Fox gets this warning as I will accept no other challenge. Oh, and any authorities who attempt to stop me, here in the news station, will be killed on sight."

Iron Maiden suddenly looked like the picture of innocence as her smile turned less psychotic and more Shirley Temple. If Shirley Temple wore an armor suit that is. "That's all folks." She sent the techie a glance and he got the hint to disconnect the feed.

"You're crazy." He whispered, but Iron Maiden's hearing still picked it up.

The woman smirked at him, her eyes narrowing behind her visor. "Oh, I know that, now you better get going before I change my mind about letting you live." She growled and the techie needed no more motivation to get his legs moving toward the exit.

Iron Maiden looked at the members of the remaining staff and grabbed each one by the back of their collars and proceeded to shove them into storage closets to keep them from interfering with her fight and out of her hair. She glanced at the clock and her grin returned.

'Better hurry Naruto, the clock is ticking and I play for keeps.'

Uzumaki Residence, 6:04 pm

Naruto quickly changed the channel as Kira came in from his trip to the washroom and he got off the couch and handed him the remote with a nervous smile. "Gonna go get a head start on sorting my things out for school!"

"But school doesn't start for another month." The brunet pointed out, but Naruto was already rushing up the stairs. Kira rolled his eyes before sitting down on the couch and looking back at the television. He knew Naruto wouldn't go to the fireworks show so there was nothing for him to worry about.

Naruto pulled on the black jacket and pants before pulling the hood up as there was no need for him to hide his true form in the house. He opened the window and took out the map from his pocket, always carrying it so he could find where he needed to go on the dot.

The blond found where Channel Six Station was and jumped out the window, grabbing the top of the window and flipping himself to the top the roof before running off to stop Iron Maiden. He didn't bother with the Genjutsu to keep himself covered and soon enough the reason why showed up to swing along the buildings beside him.

"You saw her message too huh?" Spidey questioned.

"Yup." Black Fox replied as he didn't take his eyes off the roof top. "It's time to finally take Iron Maiden down."

"You said it Fox." Spider-Man replied.

Black Fox glanced at him from the corner of his hood. "Fox?" he repeated.

"Uh, sorry, just a force of habit." Spider-Man said sheepishly. "I nickname, get it?"

Black Fox blinked slowly before smiling slightly. "Yeah, I get it." He said before the smile was wiped from his face as he noticed the building coming up. "Just in there is the solution to all of this."

"That's one way of looking at it." Spidey muttered, but Black Fox really couldn't rebuke him on that.

Iron Maiden might have caused this mess, but he was the reason she was doing this.

And really, he felt guilty enough as it was.

"So how should we do this? Attack her head on or be stealthy instead?" Spider-Man suggested.

Black Fox didn't even pause. "It doesn't matter, she knows we're coming so stealth is out." He paused in thought. "But she doesn't know you're here. Okay, so here's what we do..."

Channel Six News Station, 6:20 pm

Iron Maiden stared at the security footage that was centered on the building and she grinned upon seeing Naruto arrive on the roof, his face rather serious for a 12 year old. But that wasn't her problem, no, what she had to do was 'disappear' as it were and head back to Kumo to give her extensive report on Naruto.

It was only a shame she couldn't test the demon's power though.

Well, one thing at a time as the saying goes.

Iron Maiden rose from the seat to go and meet with Naruto. "You actually came." She didn't sound surprised in the least because if he hadn't come…

"You're damn right I did; no way I'm gonna let you hurt anyone!" Black Fox snapped.

Iron Maiden held up a hand and did the 'bring it on' gesture. "The try and stop me."

Black Fox shot at her with his enhanced speed, but the woman still saw him coming and she casually backhanded him across the face and sent him reeling back. The teen held his cheek from the stinging and glared at Iron Maiden, who only kept on smirking at him, this time looking more condescending.

"Is that really all you can do?" she mocked.

Black Fox got back to his feet before his glare turned into a slow smirk. "Actually, no, now!" he shouted and Iron Maiden turned on her heeled, only to get webbed up and her arms pinned to her sides.

The woman's surprise faded quickly and she laughed mockingly. "Fool, do you really think this is enough to hold me?" she asked before trying to tear the webbing off, but frowned as he still stretched out, only it didn't break. "What…?"

"Yeah, isn't that a nice little surprise?" Spider-Man quipped. "I made that especially for you."

Iron Maiden growled. "How nice." She hissed sarcastically.

"Now why don't you be a good little psycho and make this easier for all of us and say how to stop the bombs." Black Fox said.

Iron Maiden paused in her struggling to smirk. "Okay, I'll tell you…" she trailed off. "It's right…here!" she yelled before her hands crackled with electricity and bolts of it shot out at the two superheroes.

"Man, what does it take to bring this woman down?" Spider-Man muttered as he and Black Fox regrouped.

"We restrict her movement and she still manages to get one up on us." The blonde agreed. He then blinked and the idea came to him. "Whether she can't electrocute herself doesn't matter as her suit is still made of metal! We can shock her!"

Spider-Man glanced down at him. "And how do you suggest we do that when we won't be able to get near her without being shocked ourselves by her?"

Black Fox still had the audacity to smile. "That's easy; you go out and distract her."

Spider-Man shook his head. "No way, Fox; I'll get electrocuted."

Black Fox rolled his eyes. "Then just don't, and you are the best trash talker between the both of us." He shrugged. "Just rile her up."

"If I get creamed, I'm blaming you." Spidey muttered before swinging into the fray and landed on the ceiling above the woman. "Know something, you're not so tough when you're down there!" he said mockingly.

The woman looked up before sending a bolt of electricity at him that sent a whole through the wall.

"Okay, I stand corrected." Spider-Man said nervously as the shot almost took his head off.

Black Fox scurried over to the power lines connected to the cameras and pulled the sparking wires out, activating his rock armor to absorb any rebounding shocks to him and silently moved to the back of Iron Maiden as she was busy trying to electrocute Spider-Man.

He noticed something attached to the belt of her suit and in one leap, he jumped at her and shoved the wires into a crevice in the shoulder and swiped the device at her belt. He jumped away as sparks started moving along her armor and she let out a scream and the sparking grew worse and worse until she was little more than one big sparking blob and the electricity flared out and the armor clattered to the ground and the electricity shot into the sky.

Black Fox frowned as he looked at the smoking armor. "I wanted her stopped, but not like this." He whispered. He'd never taken a life; he'd watched it get taken back in Wave, but not by his own hand.

Spidey gently clasped his shoulder. "She's stopped," he tried to sound supportive, but it still came out shaky himself, "the bombs."

Black Fox nodded slightly and looked down at the device in his hand and saw the numbers counting down before pressing the button on it and the numbers stopped. This victory felt hollow and he felt a bile rise in his throat. He ran over to a garbage basket and threw up the contents of his stomach.

Black Fox was hyper aware of the fact Spider-Man was still with him and he groaned. "Don't look at me." he whispered.

The red and blue hero ignored this and started patting the blond on the back. "You're still just a kid, I shouldn't have let you do that." he said softly.

Just a kid…

Black Fox clutched the bin and threw up again, the feeling of self-loathing coming back with a vengeance. "My fault, don't blame yourself."

And even now, it still was his fault.

New York Airport, 8:00 pm

"Good evening Miss, are you comfortable?" The flight attendant asked.

The blonde smiled as she took a sip of her water and swallowed the sushi. "Actually, I am." She said beaming.

Yugito found that things worked out so much better if you just sent a lightning clone to do the dirty work for you. The end result was the same every time.

(# Action Pack Issue 10: As the summer moves on, Kira notices the odd change in Naruto's behavior and soon thinks it's time for a talk just as their mother is ready to be released from the hospital. Though when yet another assassin is ready to try and claim the bounty, it's time for all secrets to come out into the open.)