Disclaimer: I do not own this Disclaimer. This Disclaimer has been Disclaimed, as have Naruto and Marvel, which are owned by Masashi Kishimoto, and Disney and Fox.
"Behold. I am smiling."- Person Talking
'I feel the need.'- Person Thinking
[Bang]- Specific noises
:Line Break:- Line breaks
The thing roared, before bounding towards Naruto's position.
'It's ok,' Naruto thought as the creature ran closer. 'He can't climb and I'm out of his reach otherwise, so this should be just a quick-'
The scaled monstrosity jumped, and caught itself on the ceiling, digging it's talons deep into the stone.
"Why can't anything go according to plan?" Naruto bemoaned before leaping back down to the ground, avoiding a swipe from the creature's tail by a hair's breadth.
Landing in the murky water, Naruto is immediately forced to dodge back still further as the scaled monstrosity dove after him.
'All right mother fucker.' Naruto thought his right hand forming a massive hammer's head. 'Let's do this!'
The abomination roared, it's voice carrying far down the corridors. Naruto stood still, letting it wash over him, his face taking on a determined cast. Raising his hammered arm Naruto charged his opponent.
The creature rose to meet him with a slash of it's massive claw.
Ducking under the swipe, Naruto rose and swung his hammer down on the creatures snout, the force of the blow sending the creature into the muck encrusted wall of the sewer even as the henge dispersed.
Naruto charged in again, hoping to finish his opponent off, before being backhanded by the creature into the opposite muck encrusted wall. Channeling chakra to his arms and legs, Naruto performs a chakra enhanced leap, barely vacating his previous imprint on the wall before the creature was upon it.
Coming out of his leap, Naruto whipped around, part of his knife collection finding it's way to his hand. Whipping his arms forward at high speed, he caught the monstrosity twice in the head, and three times in the chest.
'Aim to make any academy instructor weep.' Naruto thought with a note of pride as the creature roared in pain, clawed hands grasping at the intruding items in its chest and face.
'Yeah, good luck with that.' Naruto thought, watching on as the scaled monstrosity began ripping the knives out of itself, in particular on of the large bladed knives that had chewed through part of its skull.
The creature roared it's agony as Naruto began to smirk. "I'll bet that's gonna scar."
Focusing once again on it's foe, it stared balefully at Naruto, allowing the blond haired ninja student to see the once open and freely bleeding wounds on its face rapidly close.
"Oh you have GOT to be F-" Was all Naruto had time to get out before the battle was on again the monster coming in with a pouncing over hand slash. Replacing himself behind the creature, Naruto formed another hammer hand halfway through a punch to the creature's spine before it was dispelled, just as quickly, by the monster's devilishly quick tail.
Springing back to his feet twenty feet away from the creature, Naruto held a hand to his ribs. 'Gonna feel that one tomorrow.'
Watching the monster turn to face him, giving another growl, Naruto thought quickly. 'Blades don't work, and the hammer hand is a half measure. I'd say it's time for something truly devastating.'
The claws of the beast scratched the floor as it fell to all fours for a four legged run. Quickly closing the distance between them, the beast leaped upon Naruto…who stood completely still.
In a flying tackle, the beast threw Naruto to the ground and descended upon him. Moving quickly now, Naruto grabbed the biceps of the beast and planted his feet on its chest. Then he overloaded his the souls of his feet with chakra.
The muffled explosion rattled both parties, as Naruto and his victim were thrown thirty feet each, in opposite directions.
Standing up shakily in the murky depths of the sewer water, panting hard in exertion and pain, Naruto looked to see if his opponent fared better than he.
The abomination sat upon it's tail, grasping at what used to be its chest, but now was only a smoking ruin the scales blackened and the chest forced inward.
"Yeah, that's right!" Naruto shouted in elation. "You got nothing! First you were all like 'Tssss! Tsss-tsss!' Then I was like BAM! You don't have a chest anymore! And-"
Naruto continued to shout, closing his eyes in his victory, and not seeing his foe staggering to its feet.
"You should have known better than to pick a fight with ME! I'm Naruto and I'm the toughest guy you've ever fought!"
Done shouting his victory, Naruto's eyes fell upon his opponent again, right in time to see the last hole in the beasts flesh being covered with a new set of scales. The creature raised it's head from its injury, and yellow eyes met cerulean blue.
"Do not pressssume to mock me, boy!" The monster hissed out in rage, standing to his feet, the tatters of his former lab coat fluttering abit as he moved.
"That is SO unfair." Naruto said leaping back to avoid another hail of strikes.
:Line Break:
Fifteen minutes had passed and neither contender had gained an advantage. Both stood, facing each other, panting hard and holding down injuries.
Naruto held twin slices, bloody furrows gouged out of his chest when he didn't dodge a swipe quickly enough.
The lizard-like creature stood tall, holding an arm that had been recently torn, shredded and exploded off his torso.
'He heals too fast for me to get him down for anything more than a few seconds, and anything that gets him down for that long hurts me enough so I can't take immediate advantage of it!' Naruto thought quickly, determined to use this rare space for breath as time to develop a plan.
'And what's more, he is learning fast enough so I'm starting to have trouble even hitting him with those suicide techniques!'
Further thought was interrupted as the beast charged Naruto again, pushing off of the sewer wall for a small boost in speed.
Naruto sprinted two paces and slid along the water, transforming his hand as he went, and delivering a sharp blow to the creature's navel.
Sent tumbling again, Naruto was rewarded with another couple of seconds of breathing time.
'I've blown up three arms, four legs, and six chests and an innumerable number of that fucking tail, and every single time he has healed from it. I've wasted chakra and if it keeps up much longer, I might waste something a bit more valuable.'
'I don't want to run! I can crush this guy! I'm going to wear him down and crush him!' A small voice sounded in the back of Naruto's mind before our blonde hero ruthlessly crushed it. 'I can't afford to keep thinking like that. I am not the toughest or strongest thing out there, and if I keep believing I am, I am going to die.'
Naruto's thoughts were once again interrupted by a flying tackle, which he avoided with a quick replacement.
'Keep my mind on the fight. How do I stop this thing? Or get away? This thing is too fast to just run away and I doubt he would be in a very nice mood when he caught up.' Naruto jumped high over the next charging attack. Coming down behind the beast, he was forced to duck quickly to avoid the clawed backhand. Naruto jumped up, placing his feet on the creature's chest before being knocked away by the tail.
'And its learning…' Naruto thought getting up quickly, before his opening was taken advantage of. He was once again forced to give ground under the relentless assault of the much larger, much stronger being.
'Come on, Naruto! THINK! You have to find some way out of this!' He thought, swinging around the beasts arm, and blowing up part of its spine with a burst of super-condensed chakra.
'You can't keep doing that forever.' Naruto told himself getting to his feet. 'You have to find some way to leave this fight. But how? I can't gain an advantage over him one on one, and I don't have the technique to bring him down!'
Naruto squinted at his opponent, already regaining it's feet, crisped flesh knitting back together. 'I can't beat him...but I don't need to. I just need to find some way to level the battlefield. Or is it level the playing field? But why would anyone need to level that? No! Focus!'
Naruto slid to his right to avoid a flying rock. Looking back at his opponent he saw the creature had ripped a chunk wholly from the wall he had landed on.
'The rock here must be no stronger than the stuff in my training room.' Naruto thought. In fact, looking around, Naruto could see a great many rents and tears in the stone that came as a result of his fight.
'This place looks like it's ready to come down.' Naruto thought…before slapping himself in the forehead.
'IDIOT!' Naruto thought before trying to remember which path he came down to get here. He was once again interrupted by the lizard like monstrosity dashing forward grabbing him by the neck.
"I will crusssh the life from you!"
The things grip was vicelike around his neck, but that didn't stop Naruto from having the last word.
"I'm going to have to take a rain check." Naruto gasped out before disappearing from the clawed hands of the monster.
Whipping its head about, the creature found Naruto crouching down on the ceiling, a strange haze gathered around his right arm.
Naruto focused hard, pushing more chakra outward than he had ever before even reached for. The haze around his right arm began ascension to corporeality, taking on a light blue color, that even as it formed began to emit brilliant light.
The creature below Naruto was frozen stiff, unaware of what this phenomenon might be, or what the goal or nature was.
Finally, when the brilliance of his chakra filled the entire tunnel with light, and Naruto could push out no more chakra, he turned all of that solid power towards the bottom of his palm. And it hovered about an inch or so below the ceiling that he clung to. Naruto turned his eyes for one final time to his opponent, who stared straight back at him, slitted eyes wide in the bright light.
"See you later, Alligator!"
And Naruto pressed his palm to the ceiling.
Naruto rocketed into the floor, screaming as he felt his arm burn and break, the murky water around it turning to steam. Opening his eyes through the pain Naruto saw what concentrating that much chakra had done.
The ceiling above him was gone.
Not crumbling.
Not exploded.
Gone.
There was no trace of the rock he was attempting to use as a trap.
Above him lay the bared city of New York, buildings lining either side of hole in the ground, their lights illuminating the people gathered at their windows, all of whom were trying to glean what was happening.
Rolling his head, Naruto saw the lizard taking off back into the darkness of the sewers as the sides of the tunnel Naruto was in crumbled and fell, blocking off Naruto from pursuing, or escaping back down his own tunnel.
'I gotta get up.' Naruto thought sluggishly, his arm hurting him even through the shock and dizziness. 'I gotta get outta here.'
Naruto pushed to his feet with his uninjured arm, before noting with some despair that he had to take the overland route, his previous one blocked off with cement.
Quickly, or as quickly as a person in his condition is able to move, Naruto jumped out of the former sewer and ducked into an alleyway. Determined to get home and away from the prying eyes of the men and women who were already gathered at the site of the 'explosion'.
Once several blocks away from the scene, Naruto grasped his arm, bent at an angle it certainly wasn't meant to be, and began to cry small tears of pain. He only hoped though, at that moment, that no-one saw, or recognized him climbing out of that hole.
:Line Break:
"Director!"
A tall dark skinned man paused mid-step down a long, gun metal gray corridor as a voice came on over his earpiece, before speaking back in a low, gravelly voice.
"This is Fury, go ahead."
"Sir, we have a hit on a super human in New York City." The agent spoke again over the line.
"Why is it always New York?" The man grumbled to himself, massaging his creased forehead. "What's the situation?"
The agent coughed before speaking. "Well, it seems we have one previously tagged superhuman, and one not, both in the area of an explosion on fifth and main."
A lone eye narrowed. "I need descriptions agent. What kind of explosion. What superhumans? Is this that Spider-Man, or someone else? One of Magneto's crew?"
"Sorry sir." The voice on the line immediately apologized. "The capes involved are one blonde kid, referred to as 'Naruto'. He was the one involved in that Hydra mess not so long ago, under a hospital?" The voice trailed off.
Fury nodded, knowing that the agent couldn't see him. "Continue."
"The other one involved is what witnesses describe as a large, green, lizard like creature, walks on two feet, stands somewhere between eight and ten feet tall."
The director sighed mentally. 'Another big, green guy. Already had enough trouble just with the one. San Francisco was still going through the damages.'
"And the explosion?" Fury finally said aloud.
"It seems something was strong enough to nearly obliterate a ton and a half of cement and asphalt. Fifth and Main is nearly completely gutted, the cement between the street and the sewer is gone."
The director thought quickly. If either was an actual threat, it wouldn't be acceptable if his division couldn't mount some kind of reprisal.
"Sir," interrupted the agent. "recommendation?"
"Send a squad to reinforce the police and SWAT already there, along with additional weapons. If these capes go at it again, and they probably will, they might be in a more public place, and I won't risk any further damages to the big apple. It already weathered two attacks and I and any further activity makes it look like we aren't doing our jobs."
"Yes sir! Any recommendation for the squad."
Fury knew what the man was really asking. Did he want to send one of his personal assassins to take out the problem before it arose again.
"No." Fury said resolutely. "Data supports the kid having no real disposition for violence."
'And Hawkeye is away right now anyway, dealing with that Russian Spider.'
"Dispatching a squad now sir." The agent reported dutifully.
"Excellent. Make me aware of their progress."
Ignoring the affirmative response of his agent, The tall, dark skinned, bald, one eyed man continued down the corridor of his Helicarrier, the clacking of his boots echoing authoritatively off the walls.
:Line Break:
Naruto stepped gingerly down the path separating the Water Treatment Plant with home.
He barely even made it to the door, almost collapsing into the steel frame.
Trying the handle he found it locked. 'Sarah was probably worried.' Naruto thought, knocking on the door with his good arm.
"Hey guys!" He slurred out, exhaustion and shock taking their toll on his normally abundant energy. "It's me!"
The pitter pattering of tiny feet was heard from beyond the door, followed by several loud [CLUNK]ing noises.
'Good to see the locks being put to use.' Naruto thought idly as the door swung open.
Sarah's eyes were large and puffy, as if she had been crying recently. Upon seeing Naruto standing outside the door, she gave a small gasp, ran up to him and tackle-glomped his chest.
'PAIN!' Naruto thought, cringing at the little girls actions, and the repercussion it had on his now undoubtedly broken ribs.
"Why did you take so long?" Sarah said, her voice muffled by gasps and Naruto's own shirt.
"I was pretty busy out there." Naruto gasped back, forcing away his pain. "Come on, lets get inside."
Extracting the little girl from his chest, Naruto made his way inside of his home base, specifically over to his bed. To his dismay, he saw that each one of the tots was up, despite it being well past their bed times.
"Naruto!" Came the cry in unison from the boys hopping of their respective beds.
"Heya everybody." Naruto said, still making his way over to sweet salvation.
"You look like you lost a fight." Came the ever socially repugnant Sidney.
Naruto snorted. "You should see the other guy."
Nick tilted his head to the side, slightly confused. "Why? Is he worse off than you?"
"No, I mean you should have seen him, he was huge!" Naruto said, reaching his hand up to illustrate before slowly lowering it when his ribs exploded with pain.
"You mean he isn't gone?" Sarah asked, her puffy eyes looking fearfully over clasped hands.
'Fuck me.' Naruto thought glancing down at Sarah.
"No, he isn't gone, but I did give him a beatdown he won't soon forget!" Naruto said aloud, adding mentally 'I hope.'
"All this means is we have to pretty careful around here from now on! No wandering the sewers without me." Naruto continued. "From now on we have to stay pretty quiet around here, and those doors," Naruto paused to indicate the steel doors leading back into the sewers and away from his hideout. "have to be closed and locked at all times, starting tonight."
"But what if I gotta pee?" Sidney said waving his arm in the air.
Naruto suppressed a sigh. "Then wake me up, and I'll escort you, or we all go in a group, but no heading out by yourselves. Understand?"
The kids nodded at Naruto's downplayed 'teacher voice'.
'Don't think I didn't learn nothing from you, Iruka-sensei.'
"Ok guys, if that's it, Imma head to bed." Naruto finished, already turning around to his intended destination.
"WHAT? Aren't you going to tell us about the fight?" Sidney shouted after him, stone feet clacking on the hard rock.
"I'll let you know tomorrow." Naruto said. 'Provided I am in less pain.'
"Total letdown." Sidney replied, letting out a childlike sigh that was almost a groan.
"Yeah well, I fought a talking alligator today, so I think I'm entitled to a little shuteye."
"WHAT?" the rock head shouted, scurrying back to Naruto's side. "It talked? It was an Alligator? There are really Alligators out there?"
"Yes, pretty sure, and obviously if the second one is correct. No go and lock the doors with Nick, then head back to bed."
"Awww…" The energy visibly drained from Sidney as he followed his pseudo big brother's command.
Taking off his clothes, a process he had to get used to doing in front of other people these last few weeks, peeled off the wet, rank cloth, trying to move his injured body as little as possible.
When he finished, he lay down on top of his sheets, and took the dagger out that he always kept under his pillow.
Getting it out, he quickly stuffed it right back under as he saw that Sarah hadn't left his side yet.
"Hey, Sarah." Naruto said in a lilting voice. "What's up?"
Sarah looked at him, her puffy eyes wet again. She tried to talk, but at first, all that came out was a wet hiccup.
Naruto remained quiet as the silence stretched on and on.
At long last, Sarah finally spoke, in a voice that Naruto had to strain to hear.
"You got hurt because of me…"
"No, no, no" Naruto interrupted warmly. "I got hurt because I needed to beat the bad guy up."
"But if I hadn't heard anything you wouldn't have gone out there!" Sarah cried, tears flowing freely now, and nearly every other word interrupted by a hiccup for air. "An-an-and you wouldn't-have gotten hurt!"
"No," Naruto said kindly. "We all would have gotten hurt, because no one would have heard him until it was too late. I'm lucky- We're all lucky that you did hear it."
"But what if he comes back?" The pink haired girl asked, coming out of her crying fit.
"Well, I guess I'll just have to beat him up again, until he learns his lesson." Naruto said with a mock serious look.
Sarah giggled at that, and Naruto smiled at her. "Now you go to bed, and I promise, as a special reward for being so good, we'll all head up tomorrow and do something fun, ok?"
Sarah vigorously nodded, before hugging Naruto agonizingly tight.
Naruto was more concerned with the stars he was seeing the next moment than paying attention to Sarah scampering off back to her bed.
Carefully sitting back down, so as not to aggravate his injured ribs, Naruto pulled out the dagger once more. Placing the hilt of it in his mouth, Naruto grabbed the wrist below his broken fore arm with his free hand, and bit down on the dagger's hilt hard. And then gave a wretched pull.
The dull, muted [crack] and scrape of bone over bone would have almost made Naruto vomit if he hadn't been screaming into the leather and metal.
Rolling onto his back, the sharp pains from his ribs dully muted the pain in his arm.
Spitting out the dagger, Naruto was rapidly falling unconscious before he could even hear the clatter of the blade on the floor, leaving Naruto time for only one last thought before blissful sleep claimed him.
'Maybe I'll drop by a hospital as well.'
:Line Break:
Doctor Curt Connors held the rags of his once prestigious lab coat with his rapidly detoriating hand as he slogged through the muck and shit of the sewer, quietly seething.
'How DARE a man do that to me?' He thought, even the tone in his head took on a menacing tilt. 'Not even a man, a BOY!'
Two upsets inside of a week had driven the once calm and collected scientist to the limits of his rage. 'First on the bridge by that Spider-Freak, saving Ratha! Now even in the dwellings of my own home I am confronted! Assaulted!'
'No Connor's' a rational voice said, the remnant of the once feared intellect of the one of the most brilliant men on earth. 'We cannot focus on revenge. Revenge is too small a goal. Too petty.'
'Blood spilled in anger is never a waste.' The angry voice of the lizard spat back. 'And they have ridiculed us. Humiliated US!'
'And they will learn the error of their small minded ways…in time.' Argued Connors.
'In time? Whose? And how long?'
'In our time, and soon, very soon, all will see what an accomplishment this work is! What advancement!'
'How will this be so?' Thought the Lizard, voice ebbing away as the rational mind of Connors asserted itself.
'A little aerosolized dose can go a long way with Oscorp tech…' Connor thought with a guttural chuckle.
'Yesss, all of them will see my genius!'
'No, they will BE my genius, my creations, and all of mankind will reap the benefits!'
Curt Connors stalked forward into the darkness a sickly grin forming on his face.
He had work to do.
:Line Break:
Naruto lay in bed listening to the snores of the children, all having gone to bed hours ago.
Getting up, Naruto made a round, checking on all the doors into and out of the water treatment plant. He had moved the children into it two days past, once he realized that it was actually a lot easier to defend or escape from if big green and scaly came knocking again.
'It's been terrible for Nick though,' Naruto thought, eyes lingering on the wolf boy. 'He can hardly go through a night without waking up five or six times. The loud noises of the city play merry with his better senses.'
Turning away, Naruto continued his round, rubbing absentmindedly at his formerly broken forearm, still itchy from all the bandaging that had been placed over it for days.
Walking around the area aimlessly, Naruto set into the routine that he had developed ever since he had woken up after the fight in the sewers. One of not sleeping, near endless boredom, and making sure that nothing was getting through him or past his doors without a fight.
Admittedly the only thing that had both gotten through the doors and wanted a fight was a giant rat about the size of his torso, but Naruto wasn't risking it. Something had come too close to home for him to be able to just fall to sleep at night without making sure somebody else was awake.
Stopping at each of the children's beds, Naruto made sure they were still sleeping before heading back to his 'listening post'.
Lying down on the bed, Naruto settled down, listening to the sounds of the world around him.
The cute snores of the kids.
Birds calling off in the distance.
The chopping of air coming from the helicopters going past overhead.
Loud [Cracks] and screaming in the distance.
The obnoxious [Beep]ing of horns.
Naruto frowned, quickly getting out of bed and running up to high window of the Water Treatment building, looking for the source of the screaming.
Off in the distance, several helicopters roared around a massive black cloud in the sky shining great beams of light down below.
Naruto tried cycling through the distinct noises he was hearing from off in the distance.
The sirens coming from all of the emergency vehicles.
The cries of help coming from the wounded.
The echoing retort of gun shots.
…And familiar hissing.
It took him a moment to place were he had heard it before. Then his eyes widened, and he jumped off the wall, leaping down amongst the kids again.
Nick was already up, staring at Naruto as he made his descent, large ears back and flicking.
'He probably woke when he heard the gunshots.' Naruto thought before speaking "Nick, I need you to wake up the others."
Nick gave a frantic nod of understanding before going to Sarah.
Naruto kept his eyes on the doors, his hands already charged with chakra almost hummed with the power pumping through them.
"C'mon Sarah, Naruto says to get up!" Nick said, gently shaking the little girl awake before going to do the same with Sidney.
"Sidney c'mon, get up!"
"Don't wanna" came the reply, muffled by the sheets the rock boy pulled over his head.
"You have to!"
"Nuh-uh."
"Naruto said so!"
"No he didn't."
"Yes he did! He asked me to get you guys up!"
"…Don't believe you."
Dispelling the chakra from his fists with a roll of his eyes, Naruto strode over to Sidney's bed, yanking the covers off of his protesting form.
"So not cool." The rock head grumbled, rolling to his feet.
Naruto used the waiting time until all of the kids were in a decent state of dress and somewhat alert to outfit himself, as best he could. On came all of his toughest clothes, and into vaious pockets and holsters came the knives and one machete that Naruto couldn't recall where he got it from. Once the kids were ready, Naruto dove right to the heart of the problem.
"Ok, guys, about ten minutes ago I heard the hissing of the Alligator man out there, so I'm going to have to go and make sure that it's him. And if it is him, I'm going to beat him up, and come back." Naruto said, keeping his speech to the bare essentials. "If he gets here before I do, I want you all to stay calm, keep together, exit the building, and run for the nearest shelter. I'll find you after that."
He boys nodded, all very awake now, but Sarah looked like she had something to say.
Naruto knelt down in front of her, and looked her in the eye. "Do you remember my promise?"
Sarah paused before giving a quivering nod, Naruto gave a nod of his own before hugging her tightly.
Getting up, Naruto moved to the door unlocking it with a solid [Clunk].
"Hey Naruto!" Sidney called out, forcing the blonde to turn around.
"Don't do anything stupid!"
Naruto chuckled. Then leaped onto a nearby building, rushing off into the darkness.
:Line Break:
Naruto soared over the lights of the city below, caught in a moment of vertigo midleap as he raced through the city
Not distracted by the lights however, Naruto vowed to himself to make it back to the kids as quickly as possible.
Hitting hard on the gravel of another roof, Naruto quickly forced chakra through his legs, exploding off of the rock coating, sailing once more through the air. Throwing one of his knives out ahead of him, Naruto broke the glass of the sky scraper's window.
Folding himself, Naruto hit the floor with a roll, gathering up hi thrown knife and throwing open the door of the office he found himself in, followed shortly by the one across the brief, but luxurious hallway.
Crashing through the opposite door, Naruto saw a very surprised looking dark skinned man throwing himself backwards behind his desk, and a very attractive redhead rolling off that same desk.
Taking a quick glance at the woman's open blouse, Naruto picked up one of the knick-knacks off of the desk, whipping it through the glass window, jumping through the opening a moment later, the broken glass and confused shouts the only sign of his passing.
Hitting the next rooftop hard, Naruto rolled to disperse the force of his landing. Righting himself he made his way to the edge of the building looking down over the street.
'Well, it looks like I've found the source of the gunshots.' Naruto thought, barely even able to form cohesive thoughts with all the noise coming from below.
On the nearer side of the street were over three dozen officers, manning a make shift wall built out of what looked like several cars and a dumpster. They were seemingly led by five individuals, all wearing black armor and holding a large looking gun with a lot of lights and tubes on them.
Behind them were a few more officers holding very large boxes that were shooting what seemed to be fireworks that made very large explosions
All of those officers, and those five leading individuals, were firing down the street at their enemy.
The enemy in this case being a swarm of the same alligator's that Naruto had fought in the sewer.
They bounded down the street, they climbed the sides of the buildings that lined the street, all trying to get closer to the line of very noisy officers firing back at them, scattering an blowing them to bits, even as they reformed, both their limbs and their group.
'How are their so many of them?' Naruto thought worriedly, thinking very hard about whether to just give up now and head back to the kids, locking down tight. Then Naruto saw a green fog drifting up lazily from between a pair of buildings not two blocks away.
'…Ok,' Naruto thought, backing up several paces from the edge of the building. 'I'll go there, check it out, see what's what, but then it's straight back to the kids!'
Sprinting towards the edge Naruto once again was sailing through the air, this time only for a few seconds or so before coming down on the side of the building, lacing his feet with chakra in order to cling to it's skin.
Naruto could see bodies lining the street and one of the creatures running out of the fog, but little more than that at his present distance.
'I need to get closer.'
Naruto jumped off the stone, pebbles raining down behind him as his perch crumbled to dust. Airborne for a few moments, Naruto landed lightly on a streetlight, giving a nice view of the chaos happening below.
Most of the street was hard to see, obscured by vicious looking green gas. Shop windows had been broken in and glass littered what little ground Naruto could see. One streetlight was laying on the ground, emitting sparks every few seconds.
The street was filled with the running screaming citizens of New York City. Some wounded men and women scattered around, lying on the ground, their bodies horribly mutilated. Even as the wounded screamed and called out for help, however, Naruto noticed that the wounds were closing.
Narrowing his eyes, Naruto saw one man almost fully engulfed in the green gas with a great gash open and oozing blood on his chest. The longer he was in the gas though, the more things began to change.
The bleeding stopped first, followed by fresh, healthy looking skin forming throughout the gash, leaving the area unblemished. Then the man started thrashing around, flailing his limbs like a great shock was going through him. The man's hands began tearing at his clothes.
'No,' Narto thought looking even closer. 'He's tearing his skin off.'
The man pulled hard as his flesh, tearing it away in great chunks, and even as the muscle and sinew showed underneath, the skin was replaced by hard, green scales.
A tail spurted out of the man's back as the man continued to tear at himself with newly grown claws. Almost completely covered in the green scales the man/thing rocketed to his/its feet, shrieking in a high pitched tone, and bolting down the street stopping only to wrench at a red octagonal sign it passed, pulling the sign completely out of the ground.
'Well that was mildly disturbing.' Naruto thought, the shrieks of the alligatored man fading into the distance. Naruto shortly entertained the thought of helping the men and women on the ground, but quickly shook it off.
'If this gas is in more locations than just this, than its possible that there are a lot more alligators running around these streets. I should get back to base and lock down tight. Let someone else deal with these things.'
Nodding Naruto charged chakra to his legs, about to take off. He stopped abruptly when a scream sounded close by.
A woman with shoulder length spiky hair, dressed in leather vest, and jeans, came sprinting out of an alleyway, all but dragging a man in a trench coat behind her.
The man screamed again, his hand coming up to his head as he collapsed in what seemed to be agony in the middle of the street. The woman tied to move him again, but soon paused.
Out of the same alleyway she had come sprinting out of, dark green blurs streaked through the night.
Throwing herself and the man she was with to the ground, they barely avoided the monsters that soared over head.
Regaining her feet quickly, the woman found herself facing off against four of the scaled menaces.
"Stay down, Caliban." She ordered the man beside here whom still lay whimpering into the pavement.
Looking up, her eyes roved around the still growling monsters before her, the street around, the buildings lining the street, and the even over one blonde shinobi hiding in the shadows. She smiled at Naruto, before looking back at her opponents.
'There's no way she could have seen me…' Naruto thought in vain as one of the lizard-people fell to all fours below, finally signally a start to the combat.
"All right kiddo's" the woman said in a low husky voice that Naruto had to strain to hear. "which one of you wants to die first?"
The middle two of the ring of lizard men sprinted towards the women together.
Naruto saw a flash of steel and a spurt of blood as both of the men clutched slowly regenerating amputated limbs.
Looking back at the woman, Naruto saw that she now held two long knives, each stainted with tinted green blood.
"Was that really all you had?" The woman taunted her back foot sliding into a ready stance.
The two uninjured monstrosities heeded the taunt rushing into the mix, claws poised dangerously.
The first lizard man swiped at her head, a move solved simply by a duck and a slash at the beasts Achilles tendon. The second beast aimed for a downward slash at her ducking form, again, simply solved by a roll and a slash at the creature's Achilles.
By that time, though, the downed creatures had already begun to rise, their hands made whole again, and began to attack the woman in leather.
Through a bout of athleticism that Naruto had scarcely seen in this world (aside from that weirdo in tights) the woman proceeded to simultaneously dodge the monsters wicked claws while temporarily crippling her foes with sharp cuts and slices of her dual dirks.
It was poetry in motion.
Every twist, dive, roll, and counter was so perfectly timed; it was more like a well-choreographed dance than a fight…albeit one with blades.
Naruto stuck to the wall, high away from the fight, in awestruck silence. He couldn't believe that this woman was handling these creatures, FOUR of them at that, when only one of which had given him so hard a time in the sewers.
Then a little thought ground into his head that evaporated his stupefied look in an instant. 'Why is it that every time I start getting good, I immediately find someone better?'
His negative thoughts were soon interrupted though, when he heard harsh scraping coming from the rooftop opposite him.
Looking up, Naruto saw another Lizard man on the edge of the roof of a two story building, its talons digging into the stone fiercely. It had on it the tattered remains of what looked like a dark, bulky black jacket, and matching pants, goggles placed precariously over its brow and drawn tight looked down upon its fellows getting clobbered by a woman weighing 130, tops.
The creature angled itself towards the party, spreading itself out and bracing itself on all fours, before leaping out, diving onto the fray.
"Watch out!" Naruto shouted, trying to alert the woman to the impending monster.
Naruto shout was in vain though, as the creature's slash finally broke through the seemingly perfect stride the woman had up until that point.
The cut on her arm bled freely but it seemed as if she paid it no attention focusing instead on the even greater onslaught of the lizard men that she now faced.
Slashes and tail swipes rained freely down upon her as she tried to dodge, her injuries continuing to mount after the first. She began to slow, and began to tire.
On the next bout of combat, she brought her blades up in a cross to block one of the lizard mens double handed downward strike. But she had misjudged its strength. The block shattered under the power of the strike and the claws of the beast rent through her flesh. She screamed and staggered clutching at her eye.
Then she was hit with a follow up tail slap from one of the beasts. Sending her skidding along to lay beside the bawling man, forgotten by both the creatures and Naruto alike.
The lizard men circled now, tails flicking in the night air, eyes intent upon their downed prey. The woman tried to struggle to her feet, but gave a shout of agony, falling back to the ground.
While this was going on, Naruto was having a ferocious two sided debate.
'What are you waiting for?' Voice one said, speaking bravely. 'Get down there and save her! She obviously needs your help!'
'Yes, she does.' Said Voice two, speaking in a more quiet tone. 'But how many others did we pass on the way here that needed our help? How many more will we pass on the way back? We can't save everyone.'
'But this woman is right here in front of us!' Voice one retorted. 'If we can save her then we should. It's no less than Iruka-sensei would have done.'
'Yes, Iruka-sensei was a friend, possibly the only one we ever had in Konoha.' Spoke voice two in a voice lacking brashness. 'And what about our dear friends here? Nick, Sarah, Sidney? What happens to them if we go down there to rescue some stranger and share her grisly fate?'
'What if we get her out? If we could do it why shouldn't we? Why damn a woman we know nothing about?' Voice one spat.
'What if we DON'T? What if we do the very noble, and very stupid thing and die trying? For a woman we know NOTHING about?' Voice two shouted. 'I don't know if you've noticed any kind of pattern here, but we are losing fights! How long ago was it that we barely held our own against one of these things? And now against five? Has so much time passed, have we improved so much that we would eagerly jump into that Death-match?'
'We can't just leave her to DIE!' Yelled Voice one.
'WE CAN AND WE WILL!' Screamed Voice two. "WE WILL IF IT MEANS STAYING ALIVE! IF IT MEANS KEEPING THE OTHERS SAFE! WE'VE HAD FEW ENOUGH PEOPLE WHO LOVE US IN THIS LIFE AND WE'RE NOT GOING TO START THROWING THEM AWAY NOW!'
There was a pause as the voices calmed and digested that.
'They'll be no coming back from it.' Voice one protested weakly.
'…No. There won't be. But the kids will be worth it.' Voice two said.
Naruto closed his eyes, a tear of frustrated rage rolling down his face at the unfairness of the situation.
Looking down on the circle of lizard people closing on the pair below one last time, Naruto stood on his street lamp.
And he turned away.
And then there it was, at the very edge of his hearing.
Hushed. Spoken in near silent tones, lapsed over with desperation, hope, and pain.
"Help me…"
Naruto turned back around.
The woman sat there, one arm straining to hold herself up, the other still clutching at her eye. Her other eye, unmarred, stared directly at Naruto.
"Please, help me." She whispered, almost masked by her companion screaming out again.
The circle of lizard people closed tighter, the lead lizard man standing over the woman, raising its hand back for a final stroke.
'Well fuck me.' Naruto thought, sending chakra to his legs.
Leaping off of his perch, Naruto was flying towards the lizard, his fist leading the way.
The monster on the ground paused in it's final attack. Its tongue flicking out once, then twice. Then it turned its head to look at Naruto, literally milliseconds before Naruto's fist landed.
The [CRACK] of the lizard man's jaw echoed up and down the street, drawing the attention of the gathering of lizard people even more than Naruto dropping in in the first place, and certainly more than when Naruto, continuing his motion, rolling to disperse the force of the landing, and to keep his momentum, jump kicked the lizard person on the edge of the circle into a nearby street lamp.
The lizard leader staggered a bit on two legs, holding its jaw as Naruto walked around between the lizard group and the fallen woman.
The lizard leaders jaw [Crack]ed back into place with the dull scraping of bone, its eyes turning balefully onto its blonde haired menace.
Getting down to all fours, and the pack around him mimicking its movements, it growled lowly in the back of its throat.
Naruto took out a wide bladed knife.
"Motherfucker, step off, or I swear to the spirits the only thing left of you will be the smear of your scaly ass on the pavement!" Naruto spat, remembering the intelligence of the last lizard man he faced.
Swat Gator just growled though, gnashing its teeth at the threat.
A bead of saliva dribbled down from the swat gator's lip, down its snout, before falling.
The creature was in motion before it ever hit the ground.
The Swat Gator lashed forward with its fore claw towards the space Naruto's chest formerly occupied. Ducking underneath the blow, Naruto slammed his wide bladed knife home between the creatures ribs, with enough force for it to bend with the blow.
Using that to his advantage, Naruto quickly pushed chakra to his legs, grabbing the lizards underside with his free hand, Naruto leapt skywards, the Swat Gator in tow.
The lizard man began flailing in Naruto's grasp, as Naruto grappled with it, pushing himself on top.
The leap skyward crested at around forty feet, and the lizard man sas trying to get a good swipe in at Naruto. Naruto, for his part, ripped out the blade, and then using the opening of the creature one again bowing, this time in pain, to channel the chakra formerly in his legs to the soles of his feet, explosively launching Swat Gator back earthwards as Naruto was sent towards the top of a five-story brick building.
Falling down a bit before he made it, Naruto clung to the side of the building while the lizard man hit the pavement, and a fellow lizard person, hard enough to crack the ground.
The rest of the lizard people quickly swarmed towards his building.
'I have to think this through if I want to live past tonight.' Naruto thought, trying to recall his prior encounter. 'All right, now that I am in an open environment, I can use that environment for better movement and I can try to use it against them if there were weapons laying around.'
Glancing at the now ignored woman and screaming man Naruto came to another conclusion. 'As long as they are fighting me, they will be too distracted to take advantage of the wounded.'
The lizard people had reached the base of the wall and were quickly scaling it towards Naruto.
'I have to keep them engaged, so they don't attack the wounded, and I have to use the area and my mobility to keep from getting swarmed, while avoiding the bits covered in the noxious green gas.' Readying himself Naruto's last thought was 'I hope it's as easy as I'm making it sound."
The first lizard man was upon him swiping a hand low on his leg, and close to the wall on which it clung.
Hopping over the strike, Naruto landed on the beasts back, grabbing the tail with chakra laced hands before the creature could strike him with it. Another hop carried him below the creature, and with a twist of his hips and a great heave, Naruto pulled the lizard by its tail, swinging it down into another of its ilk, and forcing them both tumbling down to the pavement below.
The remaining lizard on the wall with him dug one of its hands into the stone, aiming for a one handed horizontal slash (vertical for the sideways Naruto).
Naruto leaned backwards onto his supporting leg, dodging the strike and returning with a fast kick of his own.
His foot connected solidly, going as far as to whip the creatures head with the force of the blow. But then Naruto's back leg was undercut by the beasts tail.
Free from the building and falling towards the now revived monsters below, Naruto focused quickly, teleporting to the middle of the street below.
'Wall sticking is good for a change up,' Naruto thought, immediately being set upon by the four creatures on the ground. 'But I need something that will give me an edge here.'
The creature that reached Naruto first attempted what Naruto could only assume was a flying tackle. Trying something unexpected, Naruto slid under the creature, grabbing hold of it's shabby black vest, and swinging the creature headfirst into the pavement.
Then Naruto heard aside from the mighty [CRACK] of the beasts girth hitting pavement, something [Clatter]ing to the ground.
Naruto couldn't look immediately, having to roll to avoid a downward swipe of a tail, and the pounce of Swat Gator. Finally teleporting away from the melee, Naruto looked back to see what had clattered to the ground.
On the pavement, being battered around by the lizard people's talons, there lay a black stick, [clatter]ing over the hard ground.
Naruto's eyes narrowed, curiosity peaked. Taking a running start, Naruto cleared the distance using a short, chakra reinforced jump, passing over a pair of gator men on the way to the stick thing.
Rolling on his landing, Naruto passed underneath the legs of a third, and picked up the black stick thing by the handle. It was a piece of black metal a good bit longer than his forearm, with a leather wrapped handle sticking out 90 degrees from the stick, about four or five inches from one end.
Spinning around, Naruto lay the main length of the instrument along his forearm and gripping it by the handle. Angling the stick above his head, Naruto met full on the force of the lizard man's downward swipe, its claws scratching uselessly against the hardened metal.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Naruto laid his off hand on the creature's stomach, overcharging it with chakra.
The ensuing blast rocketed the beast into two of its comrades, and sent all three into the side of a low brick building, the walls buckling with the force of the projectile.
Naruto smiled before quickly teleporting himself, another claw coming down in the space he had only moments before occupied.
'Ok,' Naruto thought, swinging his newfound tonfa freely, staring down the gator pair rocketing towards him. 'Advantage A found; means of blocking.'
Ducking left and rolling right, Naruto ducked under the flying side swipe of the first lizard man, and leaped into the second, the long tail of his weapon leading the way.
The hard steel punched easily into the soft scales around the lizard man's chest. Flipping the tonfa around, so that the short end was extending from his fist, Naruto proceed to punch the downed lizard in the face as many times as he could.
The dull [thwak]ing of the tonfa embedding itself into the flesh, and the dull scraping of the metal as it slid over bone. Transforming his off hand into a hammer, Naruto laid into the beast with that one, each dull impact leaving a rather satisfying impact, pounding the creature's snout slowly back into it's face.
Breathing hard, Naruto got a look around quickly.
'SHIT!' Naruto thought, dispatching his hammer hand and rolling the compacted lizard onto himself in time for its body to meet its companions claws.
Forcing chakra into his hands, Naruto knocked both bodies high into the air, the conscious one screeching loudly as it flew up and away.
Standing, Naruto stumbled, his hands finding his knees as he doubled over panting hard in exertion.
'All the chakra I've been throwing around is really starting to take it out of me.' Naruto thought, feeling somewhat empty. The dull [crunch] of impact as the two tossed reptilians landed in some part of a building down the street, where exactly Naruto couldn't see.
The other three were already pulling themselves out of the dry brick and plaster, roaring their frustrations as they clawed at themselves, apparently trying to remove all vestments of former lives as they dived more and more into the minds of beasts.
'Or it's because it looks like those straps are choking them.' Naruto thought to himself, standing up straight and trying to get his breathing back under control. 'You know, one or the other.'
The lead gator person ripped the strap to shreds, throwing its remains over thirty feet away, where they landed with a [clatter] in the gutter.
Naruto started jogging over to the mess with narrowed eyes, before he was intercepted by two of the recovering lizard men, the third still tangling with its strap. Molding some of his quickly dwindling chakra, Naruto teleported to the back of one of the creatures, quickly forming his hand into another hammer after. Jumping down between the two reptiles, Naruto swung his hammer hand down on top of the lizard head opposite him, before turning quickly and bring it up underneath the jaw of the second, and the one on which he had perched a moment ago.
Those two temporarily out of the way, Naruto whacked both on the head for added measure, before continuing on his jog over to the location of the lizard creature's fallen mystery item.
Sorting through the ruined fabric, Naruto's hand gripped a handle. Pulling it out and away from the rest of the ruined fabric, Naruto found himself grip a very long, very heavy gun.
Tucking the tonfa away in the hem of his pants, Naruto hefted the long weapon in both hands, turning to face the final lizard man, now free of his own straps, who was charging straight for the blonde haired ninja.
Narrowing his eyes, Naruto held down the trigger.
[BAM]
The lizard man was sent spinning into a wall, trying to clutch at an arm that was no longer there.
Naruto looked down at the rifle curiously, then back up at the lizard person howling and rolling around on the sidewalk, clutching at the already regenerating stump.
Hearing a roar from above him, Naruto yanked the gun around to point at the roof tops and the origin of the noise, shortly before blasting a lizard man already mid leap, taking out a sizeable chunk of its torso. It flopped to the ground lifelessly, the edges of its gaping wound already beginning to close again.
The howl and roar were answered by the recovering lizard men now sprinting towards Naruto from the end of the street.
'Well, I'm in a spot.' Naruto thought to himself aiming the hefty weapon at the creatures down range. 'No idea how many more times I can fire at creatures who can just heal from it anyway, enemies in front, that green foggy shit much closer to my back than I find comfortable, that woman still bleeding, I am beginning to run out of chakra, and I have NO idea how I can make it out of this!'
Firing off a shot that shattered the front window of some shop down the street, Naruto tried again, attempting to hold the cannon steadier.
Another shot downed the lead lizard, only fifty feet away by that point.
Another pair of hurried shots went wide as well.
The lizard people were thirty feet away.
Naruto depressed the trigger again only for a resolute click to echo instead, signifying in Naruto's mind that the gun would fire no more.
All six of the lizard people were up and moving towards him at that point, the downed lizards already on the verge of being fully healed.
'I have a tonfa, a knife, and as much chakra as I am able to squeeze out.' Naruto thought trying to plan around what seemed to be inevitable death.
'I need more time to think' Naruto thought while charging chakra to his legs, jumping over the horde of the freakish half people below.
On his descent however, Naruto ran into some trouble.
"What the fRRglmrph!" Naruto shouted as he came down on a thick set of wires, one becoming lodged in his mouth.
Taking care to dislodge himself while not falling headfirst to the ground, Naruto looked at what he had landed himself in.
'Looks like a set of electrical wires.' Naruto thought, his tired mind fiddling about sluggishly. 'I remember when I was putting these things up for the lights, and I got shocked so bad I fell unconscious.'
It took a couple of seconds for Naruto to realize what he had just thought.
Looking down, he also saw that water was covering the street because one of the lizard men had apparently been thrown into a fire hydrant.
"Well there's one solution." Naruto said aloud, rolling off of the wires, hitting the ground and running over to the wounded woman and friend his feet splashing.
"Ok, everybody, we're up and moving." Naruto said, kneeling down in the water and trying to pull the woman to her feet. All he got in response was the quiet moaning from the woman.
"Screaming! They are all screaming! The half men are not of either!" Shouted the gray skinned man, clutching his head and rolling around. "Make it stop! Make them all stop!"
Looking up, Naruto saw he only had about ten seconds maximum before he was up to his neck in scales, so he grabbed the arm of the lady, and the thrashing leg of the downed man, and jumped for the end of the block.
All three came down roughly, bodies tumbling across the dry ground.
"Stay here." Naruto got out, panting in exertion. Climbing to his feet Naruto ran towards the lizard people, all six of them in the water now covering almost half the street.
'The drains are probably backed up with rubble.' Naruto thought, charging towards his opponents, his feet starting to splash in the water again.
The lizardmen, true to form, leaped at Naruto.
Focusing hard Naruto teleported.
The lizard men came down from their leap, looking around, tasting the air and searching for any sign of where the blonde haired menace might have gone. One hissed jubilantly, staring at a nearby building.
Naruto clung to the skin of the brick building, his wide bladed, and only remaining, knife in hand. And he was smiling.
The knife whipped down, thrown through a thick black cable, which immediately upon being severed began shooting sparks. All eyes followed its descent to the ground.
And to the water which all of the lizard people were standing in.
The roaring of the water coming out of the hydrant was temporarily drowned out by the screaming of the lizard people succumbing to the vast amounts of electricity being poured through their bodies.
"Fry you bastards." Naruto said, watching as one by one the creatures collapsed.
Waiting for a further five minutes after they had collapsed, Naruto took the wire out of the water throwing it into a nearby dumpster.
Looking back at the man and woman he had saved, he saw that one of them had already regained his feet. Leaping back towards them, Naruto was about to ask the man his name when the grey man spoke.
"It no hurt anymore." The grey skinned man said with an obvious lisp looking at something in the sky. "There be no more screaming, no more half people."
"Sure buddy, sure." Naruto said, not sure what to make of this man. "So do I drop you guys at a hospital or wha-?"
"NO!" screamed the strange man, grabbing the blonde haired boy by the shoulders with considerably more force than Naruto would think that he possessed. "Musn't do that! Musn't do that!"
Naruto teleported away, freeing him from the mans grip before he crushed his shoulders.
"Ok," Naruto said, looking warily at the panicky man. "Hospitals are out. Well where are you going?"
"We didn't know. She didn't say." The man said hesitantly rubbing his hands.
'Can't leave her here, can't drop her off someplace, and there's only one place left to go.' Naruto thought staring at the still bleeding woman on the ground.
He looked back at the grey skinned man. "Can you carry her?"
"Why? Calliban doesn't understand." The man said cocking his head.
"We're going to have to move her to my place, and it's quite a walk." Naruto said turning back to the people in the large puddle. "But first…"
Naruto paused, noting how all of the lizard people were now looking more like, well, regular people. The patches of scaly green skin reverted to their former normal human tones. Four pink hues, and two more of a chocolate tone.
Looking up Naruto saw bright blue cloud dropping little blue snowflakes. Looking back down at the former lizard people, Naruto saw that everywhere the snow touched, it turned the surrounding skin back to normal human.
'I'll chalk it up to divine intervention for now.' Naruto groused before looking for his original targets. Walking over to the nearest downed man, Naruto began rifling through his clothing, looking for anything usable.
"What are you doing?" Came the query from the grey skinned man.
"Over the course of the last few weeks, I have run out of equipment. That knife there?" Naruto said raising his arm to point at the broken knife he had minutes earlier used to cut the power line. "That was literally my last knife. So now it's up to these generous folk to give to the 'Naruto needs equipment' fund."
Naruto continued searching through each of the six people there, studiously ignoring the scantily clad dark skinned woman, and instead focusing upon the equipment heavy men, (and one woman) in the black armor. Taking the woman's vest and boots for himself, (it was the only one that fit) Naruto also looted an additional tonfa, three small bladed knives, a pistol, and a set of goggles.
Set with his findings, Naruto left the street behind him carrying the dead weight of the woman between himself and the man/thing he presumed was named Caliban.
He never saw the pair of men in black armor, watching him from the shadows.
AN
See, that's the thing I always wondered about the Amazing Spider-Man film.
Yeah, we're concerned with the police chief and Spidey, but what happened to all of those other people being turned into lizards. What are they doing?
And what was Connors doing between his first outing as a super and his confrontations with Spidey? Sure, it shows a few times where they play cat and mouse and ultimately their final battle (sort of) atop Oscorp Tower. What was he doing in the weeks and months between battles and revelations?
Another problem I had with Marvel was the way Callisto and the Morlocks were portrayed. They weren't really. Oh sure, they had the stand ins (Har har) take their place for X-men the last stand (hence the joke), but they were nothing like the original characters. Its like if they took out Storm, and put in Cole McGrath, but they called him Storm. Sure, I see the correlation at the extreme edges of the character, but it's hardly what I had in mind when I said 'Shut up and take my money.'
So, you know, changed.
Anyway, some people don't know yet who the kids are, so little explanation below.
Onyxx (Sidney Green): New mutant that was trained under Gambit. Kind of a hothead. Fell in love with Mystique then accused her of leading him on, despite vocal opposition.
Marrow (Sarah I): Not much is known about her childhood before she was practically adopted by Callisto. After that, she grows up amongst the morlocks until she is sent into the Savage Lands for her proving. After that, she comes back…feral. And everything else known about her is taken from there, including her love/hate relationship when it comes to some of the X-men
Wolf Cub (Nicholas Gleason): New mutant who was fairly well accepted by his parents until they died and he was under attack by anti-mutant assasins. After that it's fairly by the book. Saved by an X-man, wants to be an X-man.
Aside from all that, the normal big thank you goes out to Resident Beta, 7winds!