A/N: Here We Go.
Nearly retired with the site breaking before, and now its doing so again.
Apparently some folks aren't receiving emails properly; even so I dearly hope everyone sees this.
Been at this for fifteen years now, and I don't think I've written a chapter that hits as hard as this one dones.
In other news depression's starting to hit real hard these days. Like a sledgehammer paired with concrete. Sometimes I wonder why I do anything at all. can't claim to understand what's going wrong with my head anymore. I don't even know why I'm feeling this way! One moment I'm fine, then my mood craters for a few hours, then I'm back again for a bit, and the cycle repeats. On and on, round the bend, forever and without end! Its rather annoying; as though I've become a prisoner in my own mind sometimes. Sure, what's one more mental problem on the pile. Not like I don't have enough, what with already being this old. Feels like every day is a battle sometimes.
Meanwhile, my doctor insists that I'm fine. Take a health walk he says. Go fishing. You'll be fine.
*siiiigh* Right. Suuuure. Don't bloody feel fine, doc.
Looking for another one now.
I'm trying to stay positive and keep writing. In an ideal world, I'd like to keep doing so for as long as I can. But old age is catching up to me and these days, the world is filled with so much madness and death. Will I still be here in twenty years? Ten? Five? But for now, I'm still here, still writing.
As ever, I own no references, quotes, themes or memes! They're merely tributes to legends far greater than I.
And we've got quite a few of them this time around, including a reference to Baldur's Gate.
You'll see. If the name "Karlach" happens to ring a bell, you're in the right place.
Now, then. Lets get this show on the road~! Hope you're prepared.
Soundtrack of this chapter is, much like the title...
...As the World Caves In by Matt Maltese.
Its quite powerful.
"I'll always remember that day. When the sky turned black from all the smoke. You could see it for miles around...
It was that hour, that minute, the moment Arasaka did something so utterly stupid...
...so heartless, so pointlessly, selfishly cruel and insane...
...that someone stood up and put their foot down...
...and said NO MORE. Not one more.
The day the world caved in."
~?
As the World Caves In
David saw the smoke first.
He heard the sirens second, smelled the ash third, and then he was through; bursting out the alley to see their apartment in all its ruined glory...
.
..
...what was left of it, at any rate. The entrance was gone. No, all of it was gone. Everything. All of it. Every bit a blackened and unrecognizable mess. The ceiling had been blasted clear away, exposing the room to the grey sky above. Dark clouds threatened rain. Smog clung to the air. He stumbled through it, coughing, heart hammering as ducked under a broken beam and worked his way past the rubble. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't; this was all some terrible fever dream it had to be...!
There she was.
He glimpsed a badly burnt body sprawled out on the floor, facedown in the ashes, missing all but one arm. Worse, he saw wisps of her red hair clinging to her scalp, the tattered shreds of an all-too-familiar yellow jacket dangling to his shoulders. He didn't want to see. Didn't want to believe. But he did.
"MOM!" David skidded down in the ashes next to her body. "No, no, no! Don't do this to me! Breathe!"
She didn't. No response. Not even a twitch. He fumbled for a pulse and found none in vain.
His eyes widened. Something snapped in the back of his head. It felt like his mind.
"Please...you can't...!
She twitched.
"Mom?!"
A wash of hot air rushed overhead. He looked and saw a familiar vehicle sweeping in from above.
Trauma Team? Why were they here? No, didn't matter; bastards had good timing.
"Landing, stand clear!" a voice blared from the car. "Initiating security protocol. Follow all instructions!"
Two men disembarked quickly; one swung out a collapsible stretcher of some sort and gestured quickly. "Place the patient on the stretcher!
He complied numbly, lifting her broken body onto said stretcher. It would be alright. Everything would be alright. If anyone could save her it would be-
Whump.
A harsh thud echoed behind him and quite suddenly Naruto was there, eyes narrow, body shining like the sun. He didn't even look tired; he must've run clear across Night City to get here, but he looked fresh as a daisy. A very angry daisy. There was a curious stillness about him, a silence that chilled David's blood.
He walked right past him-didn't even seem to see him-and stopped over mom's body.
"Gloria...what happened?"
One of the Trauma Team tried nudge him aside. "Sir, please stand back, we're professionals-wait, you?!" they choked now as they got a good look at his face. "There's a bounty on your head!"
"Funny you should mention that." those blank eyes turned to face them. "I wasn't aware Gloria had a Trauma Team package."
David stilled. "That's right, she doesn't. You bastards left her to die on the highway. I remember...
He did. How could he have forgotten? They'd abandoned them on the road, discarding them like so much trash. He'd been too panicked to remember, but now that he had...wait. Trauma Team didn't do anything for free. If they were here now, that meant these chooms either weren't the real deal, or someone else had paid them to be here. Which meant...!
His pistol tore free from its holster and slammed up, safety flicking off with a harsh click. "Who are you people?!"
In hindsight, it was only natural for Paramedics to freeze up when confronted with potentially lethal force.
It was not, however, natural for them to draw their own sidearms and respond in kind.
Naruto hummed softly, furiously. "You're awfully quick on the draw, there."
"Control," one rasped into a radio, "We have them! Send-
Naruto reappeared behind the impostor in a yellow flash, grabbed their head and twisted savagely. An awful crack filled the air. The man fell with a gurgle, neck broken. Even as he tumbled to the floor, his comrade spun and snapped off a shot, only to find it slapped out the air by a golden palm; then said palm struck him in the chest and blasted him into a wall. Unlucky. He got to live. Death would've been a mercy.
All this in an instant, less than a fraction of a second.
He didn't even have time to use his Sandevistan. Hell, he'd barely had time to blink, much less comprehend the idea of attacking before it was over. It was humbling, terrifying even, to realize just how lethal his "friend" truly was. The gap between them couldn't be that big. It just wasn't fair...
"Alright," Naruto knelt and touched a glowing hand to Mom's chest. "Hang in there, Gloria. You don't get to die yet."
A raspy breath arose from her charred chest, little more than a low wheeze. His hand fell away, leaving a circular symbol behind. Was it just him, or was she starting to glow...?
"How?!"
"Easily." Naruto clicked his tongue. "I healed Might Guy after he used the Eight Gates. This is nothing."
The stunned member of Trauma Team groaned where he lay, sprawled in the dust.
"Oh, right. Forgot about you." He scowled. "David, be a good boy and watch your mother for a minute, eh? I need to have chat with our little friend here...
Still speaking, he grabbed the survivor by their face. Out came a knife.
"Talk or lose your tongue."
(.0.0.0.)
So.
This was death.
Why was it so hot?
Shouldn't death be cold? Gloria had always heard it was cold. That there was a light at the end of the tunnel, that sort of thing. But there was no light here. Nothing but darkness. And it wasn't cold at all; the shadows blazed like an engine of fire in her chest. She could feel each heartbeat, scorching her throat. Breathing hurt. The mere act of thinking sent a thousand needles stabbing through her skull. So hot. Too hot. It felt like her very blood was on fire. She doubled over, clutching at herself with both arms, but moving only made the pain worse.
Was this hell?
"Hardly. Don't be so dramatic."
That damn dirty voice again. She twisted left and right in search of it, but found no one.
"Of course you can't." the voice came on again, reading her very mind. "You have eyes, but you refuse to see. Rather, you're afraid to."
Something shifted behind her in the gloom. She couldn't see it, but she heard it all the same.
A chill shot down her spine, cooling the heat in her veins, if only for a moment.
Don't turn around.
Then again, she'd never been one to listen to common sense. If she had, she never would've come to Night City. David never would've been born. She never would've fallen in love again.
She spun about...
.
..
...and saw.
A massive fox lay sprawled before her; a beast apart, its fur a dark shade of red. Nine tails swayed lazily behind it as it regarded her. Its muzzle had so many teeth -too many teeth!- each of which were presently bared in a vulpine grin that made her very soul shiver. An old proverb came to her frazzled mind. Stare not into the darkness, lest the darkness stare back. A little late for that, now...
"So you have a spark of courage in you." the beast's grin grew, bordering on a sneer. "Interesting. Perhaps you're not a complete waste of my time after all."
Gloria grit her teeth and stood her ground; something told her stepping back now would be a very bad idea. "What are you?!"
"A piece of something greater; one that entered you when you first lay dying. Honestly!" It made an annoyed noise. "You've been a proper pain in my ass this entire time. I tried to warn you about that bomb, but you just wouldn't listen. Now look what's become of you. Do you have any idea what you've unleashed?"
...no?"
"Of course you don't." Red eyes rolled in sheer scorn. "Honestly, I don't know what he sees in you. If it were up to me, I would've let you die."
Fresh pain wracked Gloria's body from head to doe. Or was it her soul? She no longer knew, only that it was the worst hell she'd every known. A plume of steam fled from her lips as she doubled over with a sharp cry. Her legs buckled and she fell to her knees, clutching herself. Golden flame blazed from her arm and crept across her body, bathing her in radiant light. And then came true torment.
FireheatpainagonyBURNING! Make it stop! "What happening to me?!"
The Fox gazed down on her without pity. "You are becoming something more. Something greater than you were before. I had intended to make the process gradual and avoid harming you, but now I've no choice. You'll perish if I don't do something, even with his help." his voice didn't waver, even when she crumpled over on her side. "Or would you rather die?"
"Please...it hurts...
"If I stop, you will die." he was as implacable as the sun itself and thrice as cruel. "Then again, healing means nothing if you no longer have the will to live. Would you prefer that? To just roll over and die, since you don't have the courage to face the dawn?"
The last tattered thread of Gloria's restraint snapped with an audible twang.
How. Dare. He.
On some level she knew what the foxy bastard was doing; appealing to her emotions, trying to piss her off.
It worked better than he could've possibly imagined.
Gloria didn't erupt; she went berserk.
"Ya know, I know you're playing me...but what the fuck am I supposed to do now, huh?!" up went her blazing arms, the pain momentarily forgotten in her rage. "What am I going to be if I die, huh?" she railed at the fox steeped in darkness. "Dead? Damned? Destroyed? A footnote in the paper? An obituary? Cremated into a bit of ash and left to rot in a jar while my son weeps for me?!" her voice piqued further, breaking briefly as the fire licked across her body. "Is that fucking all?! What was the point in me surviving in the first place, then?!"
Silence reigned supreme. It stoked the fires of her fury to new heights. Damn him! Damnitall!
"Night City will just keep going, won't it?" a snarl tore out of her. "People will keep watching the stars, hoping, dreaming, and for what? The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, the dead get deader, all of it! ALL OF IT!" she thumped a charred fist against her chest. "That's my reward for everything I suffered." tears pricked at her eyes. "That's why I survived eighteen years of torment in this cesspit of a city. The fighting, the clawing, the loneliness, the fucking loneliness!" She flung a flaming hand at him, screaming at the top of her lungs." All of it, keeping David alive, so I could rot! Because the person I trust the most knocked me up and ran off! And now that I've finally found someone else...
Kurama leaned in. "Are you going to lay down and die like a coward?"
"No!" she flipped him off. "Fuck that and fuck you! I absolutely refuse!
The fox grinned at her. "Then what will you do?"
That was the question, wasn't it?
An answer came to her.
"I'm gonna get better, find that blond bastard and I am going to ride him until he sees stars!"
Kurama's laughter was the last thing she heard.
Her world blazed.
(.0.0.0.)
Tanaka was waiting for him.
Hell, he made it easy; the man's guards stood down and let him past without so much as a word.
Naruto supposed he should feel flattered by their compliance. Unfortunately everything was overshadow by unyielding rage. He didn't bother to question why they might want to let him into the building in the first place, or that it might even be atrap; he was much too angry for that. Let them follow at a distance if they liked. One move and they would die. He knew better than to take an elevator and so chose the stairs instead; up he went, one floor, then two, three, four...he lost track of them all.
Quite suddenly a door parted before him, and there he was.
The executive waited him behind a black desk, hands clasped before him. His office itself was surprisingly sparse, save for a terminal bolted to the wall and a wide glass window beside it, the entire room was utterly devoid of ornamentation. Guards flanked the large man on either side, ready to spring into action at the slightest provocation. He could sense their smug satisfaction just as easily as he could Tanaka. These weren't good people. They were proud of what they'd done, arrogant, even. That confidence didn't waver, even as he took a step forward.
"Hello~! Is this Arasaka~? I'd like to make a withdrawal~!"
Mounted guns dropped down from the ceiling, fixing him in red laser sights.
"Naruto Uzumaki." Tanaka stood at last, hands clasped behind his back. "Thank you for accepting my invitation." he gestured to the lone seat arrayed before his desk. "Won't you sit?"
Naruto bit down on his rage and tilted his head a fraction of an inch to the right. "I'll stand right here, thanks."
The barrel of a gun clicked against the back of his head. One of the guards, no doubt. "He said sit-
It was the last thing he ever said.
A fist swung backward and the guard's skull burst like an overripe grape. His headless corpse dropped to the floor behind him.
"Aren't you a marvel?" Tanaka leered at him without fear. "And all this without a speck of cyberware in your body. I admit, its made tracking you down quite difficult. We knew you would never surface of your own accord, not willingly at least. Did you enjoy our present?"
It was him, after all. He hadn't been entirely sure after he interrogated that mook. Clarity was an awful thing. With it came anger, shattering his self control.
He looked back to the window. Air cars rushed by outside, blissfully unaware of the horror that was about to transpire.
Nobody cared. Gloria was on death's door, these people had all but killed her, and no one cared.
It made him twitch. "I won't let you...get away...with this!"
Blue eyes snapped into feral slits of red death.
"I WON'T LET YOU!"
"Enough of your tantrum." Tanaka raised a hand and every gun in the room trained on him. "We have need of your services. Don't make this difficult."
And just like that, the rage became a cold one. The fire burned in him still but it had gone subzero. Arctic. Don't make this difficult, Tanaka said. Like it was nothing. Like this was a routine for him, something he did ever damn day, without hesitation. How many lives had he destroyed to get his way? Was he even the first? No, it didn't matter. He would be the last.
And so he stepped forward. The guns tracked him, of course
He ignored them. "I'm only providing one service tonight...care to guess what it is?"
Tanaka still didn't realize the danger. "Don't be a fool. You're hopelessly outnumbered. Think of all the good we can do if we work together."
He kept walking.
A beat of sweat ran down Tanaka's brow.
"Kill me and you'll make all of Arasaka your enemy!"
"I've already got plenty of those." he drawled." What's one more on the pile?"
"You cannot be serious."
Naruto point a finger at the floor.
A mini-Rasenshuriken appeared at the tip of his finger. He let it fly.
It drilled down into the foundations, expanding as it went. The building began to tilt around them. Slowly but surely, the ground gave way. Tanaka's mounted guns wavered for a moment, adjusting their sights to track his silhouette as their world shifted. The very moment-the nanosecond- they did, he surged up, tore them from their mountings and flung them at the remaining guards. Down they went, rendered red stains against the wall.
Horror dawned across Tanaka's face. "You didn't come here to negotiate at all, did you?"
Naruto loped forward and grabbed him by the throat. "What was your first clue?"
"I won't go quietly, fool! They're recording everything here!"
"Are they, now?" he looked toward the tilting ceiling and saw a camera there. "Suppose that makes this easier. They can watch what I'm about to do to you. Maybe they'll even take notes." He looked back to him slowly, drawing a wisp of diminished sage chakra through the air, hardening both his body and his heart for what he knew he had to do; what he must do. "I'm not a fan of slow kills. Never have been. When I do kill-and I prefer not to-I do it quickly. I'm not one for torture. But for you? I'm gonna make an exception."
An augmented fist smashed into the side of his face, denting his cheek and shatter in a mess of blood and cybernetics.
Naruto turned the other cheek and smiled at the stunned executive, golden eyes gleaming. "Try again."
"Impudent pup...!"
Tanaka's remaining hand shattered on his chin. The man reeled back with a startled gurgle, gaping at the ruined remnants of his once mighty fingers. His piggish eyes flitted down to the mangled digits, back to him, then to his crumbling hands once more. Naruto saw the precise moment the executive realized the true extend of his folly. He waited, watched that fear grow, turning Tanaka's legs to jelly, taking root deep within the heart of his prey. The realization that he was better than him, that he knew it, that he was going to die.
And then.
He struck like a soundless viper, burying an arm in Tanaka's gut with, sheathing the limb up to his elbow until he found what he wanted.
"Well, would you look at that." he leaned and grinned, wrapping his fingers around it. "You have a spine after all. Who knew?"
He tore his arm free, leaving it but disemboweling him at the hip as he went. There was surprisingly little blood.
Remarkably, the man remained standing.
"Huh." he frowned at the hole he'd left in him. "Cybernetics really are a crazy thing. That would've killed a normal person."
The Arasaka executive garbled something, that sounded vaguely like a curse.
His very existence irked him. Even now he tried to speak?!
"You don't seem to understand." he grabbed the older man by the hair and swung him around, forcing him to face the window. "This city belongs to the people. Not the gangs. Not the corporations. And certainly not you."
Light shone on him through the glass. He looked toward it, mildly bemused. Gunships? There were an awful lot of them out there.
Tanaka rumbled something that might've been a wet laugh. "Foolish boy...I have...an army!"
"Do you, now?" Naruto pointed a lone pointed to the sky outside. "Lets test that."
The glass shattered as a wave of golden chakra left him in a rush and assumed a familiar shape loomed just outside for all to see. Tanaka whimpered at the sight of Kurama in all his almighty glory. His men probably did more than that, but he'd never know as a massive arm swept down in a singular sweep. Explosions rippled outward as each hovercraft evaporated in a roaring fireball. Some of them tried to sweep backwards, only to be caught and crushed by nine towering tails.
Naruto tilted his head.
"I have a Kurama." He hummed. "Your argument is invalid."
Tanaka slumped in his grasp, and muttered something incoherent. Not good enough.
He wanted to break him. Make him feel the same terror Gloria had before that bomb went off.
A shadow fell over him. Kurama's skull leaned through the shattered building, face set in a frown. "Naruto, you need to calm down. This isn't you-
'Isn't me?!' he snapped at him, snarling his old friend into silence. 'This has always been me! I protect my friends and she got hurt because of me! This bastard isn't getting off easy! I'm going to make him pay for what he did to her."
"Gloria is still alive! You didn't fail her-
Yes, he had! "I DON"T WANNA HEAR IT! Blow this place sky-high!"
The old fox heaved a sigh but didn't otherwise argue with him. "As you wish...
Naruto hoisted Tanaka over his shoulder and ran. Ran down the building as it Kurama blasted it to pieces behind him, ran through the alleys, ran up every building he could. All the while he hauled his victim behind him, smashing the man's face down again and again, until he was an ugly bruised, shattered mess. Broken and beaten, but alive...for now.
He finally reached the top of a skyscraper and dangled him over the edge. "Lets start with your face. No one's going to recognize ya once I'm through with you...
Tanaka surprised him with a laugh, half crazed. "Is this your grand plan? Threaten me? Torture me? Make me talk?
He looked him up and down. "Seems to be working so far."
More laughter. Had he broken him...?
"Of course it is!" the dying man laughed at him. "Because that's just what you do, isn't it, boy? You rush in without a plan, throw caution to the wind. And everyone around you pays the price." he grabbed at his arm with broken fingers, leering through broken teeth. "Kill me if you like. It won't change your fate. I believe in the ideals of Arasaka. I'll gladly go to the grave for them." those hands fell away, submitting to gravity. "You think this dies with me? Lord Saburo will finish what I started. You'll never know any peace...!"
"Maybe you're right."
That got a blink out of him. "I am?"
You are." his head bobbed in agreement. "Not everything can be solved with violence. A man needs to be strong, yes, but he also needs to be good. He needs to know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. When to stand his ground and when to walk away."
Clawed finger tightened around Tanaka's windpipe, cutting off his air.
"But right now, I'm not a good man, and I don't care about consequences. You know they say. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, evil for evil.
His grip tightened, rendering the man's next words a strangled string of gibberish.
"You're going to sing like a canary. You just haven't realized it yet."
Golden hands clamped down on either side of Tanaka's head.
"Tell me. Everything about. ARASAKA."
(.0.0.0.)
"You killed him, didn't you?"
The blank look in Naruto's eyes said it all.
He'd stalked into the room, eyes vacant, looking half-dead.
Rebecca knew it at a glance; as if the blood on his face wasn't enough. She recognized that look-seen it on a choom or two right before they went off the deep end. It was the expression someone wore right before they went cyberpsycho or worst. Problem was, Naruto wasn't insane. He knew what he was doing. What he'd done. He'd already wrought far more havoc than a crazed killer ever could and unlike a cyberpsycho, he didn't have the excuse of losing his mind to fall back on.
She'd seen the footage. They all had.
An Arasaka building flattened, blasted to the ground by a giant golden fox. Said fox had vanished into thin air by the time the authorities arrived, leaving an untold amount of dead bodies in its wake. Adam Smasher had arrived on the scene too late, unable to do anything but grumble at the mangled bodies left behind. All of them belonged to Arasaka. One hundred dead. No innocents there. Sasha had laughed herself silly at the corpo's plight and promptly gotten blackout drunk. As to the others...well.. He'd really done it this time, hadn't he...
.
..
...meh, not like she'd planned to die old or anything.
"How's Maine?"
Becca blinked, startled to find the bloody blond staring down at her. He was getting blood all over the floor. For a moment she actually felt a little thrill of fear shot through her. Stupid, she knew. He'd never hurt her. "Not so good. Dorio's been keeping him on ice so like you asked so he doesn't wake up and go ballistic, but that ain't gonna last much longer."
...and Gloria?"
"Resting. David hasn't left her side.
He grunted at that. "Lemme see Maine...alone."
Her grimace became a scowl. "Dorio ain't gonna like that.
"Didn't ask, don't care, buzz off." He stormed past, making for the clinic door.
"Hey, hey!" She snatched his arm and yanked him back; he must've really been out of it, because she was actually able to. "Wait. There's time to talk. How you holdin' up?"
Naruto blinked at her. He blinked hard. "Me?"
She planted a fist on her hip. "You see anybody else here?"
Something flashed through his face, gone before she could seize on it. "I killed a lot of people today."
"You did." she nodded. "How do you feel about that?"
...I don't." he said slowly. "Not really."
She balked. "Huh?"
"I was so angry at the time, but now I just feel...tired." he heaved a sigh and palmed his face with his free hand, blue eyes peeking between his fingers. "They're not going to stop. I think that's what Tanaka meant before I killed him. This is only the beginning. It might take months or years, but they'll never stop coming until I stop them. Cut all the heads off the hydra, ya know? Every last one". He was rambling now, laughing the laugh of a man pushed too far, too hard, too swiftly. "I'm gonna have to kill more people before this is over. Its the only language these people seem to understand, and I HATE IT-
His voice broke under the strain and something cracked in her heart.
"C'mere." she drew him closer. "Just c'mere." Damnit, she hated being short sometimes; the best she could do was hug his midriff. "I'm not the best at this sappy shit, but you can talk to me, if it helps."
...you're holding a murderer."
"Bitch, I've killed people, too! Loads!"
He looked away. "I'm getting blood all over you."
"Still don't care. I'm never letting you go. Speaking of which," She yanked his face down to hers and smashed her lips against his. "How's that? Better?"
"Becca-
She kissed him again.
He groaned. "Will you quit it-
"No! I'm gonna keep doing this until you calm down. Look at me." She pinched his cheeks. "Everyone is fine. Maine hasn't lost it yet. Gloria's alive. We didn't lose anyone."
-barely."
"Still counts!" she gave him a savage shake. "So breathe. Sasha's off getting smashed and Pilar's keeping an eye on David. Kiwi was laughing her ass off when she heard what you did. She's in there checking Maine over right now."
Naruto opened his mouth to protest again-
"Finish that sentence and I'm gonna bang your brains out."
His mouth clicked shut, followed by the ghost of a smile. "How is that even a threat if I'd enjoy it...?"
There was the Whiskers she knew. "Because then I'd call in Sasha and we'd double-team your arrogant ass."
Heat speared up those whiskered cheeks and his grin grew. "...I feel strangely compelled to protest now, ya know."
"Dumbass." she elbowed him, but didn't protest when his arm looped around her waist to reel her in. "C'mon, lets check on Maine."
Naruto didn't let go of her, keeping her tucked into his side as they walked. Fine by her. If a bit of cuddle time was the price she had to pay for calming him down, then so be it. S'ides, he was warm, and she had him all to herself. Ha! Take that, Sasha. This was her victory.
Entering the clinic proper, they found Maine sprawled across a bathtub bulky bod nestled in a a cradle of ice. The whole gang was here to look in on their leader, even the ever-elusive Lucy. All eyes on them. No one dared so much as crack a joke. Kiwi looked Naruto up and down and looked like she might say something...or might not. Impossible to tell with that faceplate of hers.
Dorio, however, took one look at Naruto and practically fell to her knees.
"Please tell me you can fix cyber-psychosis. Because that's what we're looking at here...
"Hey, hey!" Becca bulled in from the side. "You crazy? Arasaka's already got it out for him; if they find out he can fix shit like this? He'll have no peace."
Dorio turned a pleading look on him. Becca gave him one of her own, even if she already knew what would happen.
Naruto took a deep breath and released her. Laid both hands on Maine's head. Closed his eyes, now.
"This...might take a few minutes...
Then his body blazed gold.
(.0.0.0.)
...I see. One hundred dead. Thank you for your time. Rest assured, they will be avenged."
Saburo Arasaka closed the call and turned to face the table.
Or rather, the individuals assembled before him.
The old man exhaled slowly. And then.
"Let us begin."
A/N: Aaaaaand scene.
Naruto m'boy, you have no idea what's coming your way...
We have to choices ahead. A timeskip of sorts, or continue as things are.
Well? Should this little ficlet remain a story? Yay or nay! Really need to hear from you, here.
If this story is voted into the "yay" category, I can promise faster updates and much more merry madness to come.
Once more, we're sticking with the "Embers" rule for this story, and others. If folks don't enjoy this, it will remain, but won't be continued. Meaning that if the story itself isn't popular? Well, it won't be continued. I'm working two jobs -might need a third soon!- so I barely have time to write; as such, I cannot afford to write something folks don't enjoy.
So by all means, speak up! Your voice matters! Make yourself heard! As ever, reviews are the fuel that sustain me. Without them I cannot write a single word. Simple as that. Working nearly all hours of the day keep me absurdly busy, and I can't bring myself to write something folks don't like.
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review, Would You Kindly?
And because its a habit!
POTENTIAL PREVIEWS.
If this story stays off the ground.
If not...well. Suppose it depends on you.
Some of them are pretty far out, others are closer than you think...
(Previews)
"How is she?"
"She's healing quickly. Should be fine in a few days. Might even wake up soon."
Naruto had a feeling he knew the reason for her rapid recovery. Kurama remained smugly silent.
"We're having a moment here!"
"I heard you've been askin' about me."
"Adam Smasher, was it?" he stepped over the corpses, uncaring of the blood on his boots, and lifted his chin to glare up at the machine man. "Not a bad name. Gives me an idea. Wanna hear it?"
The lumbering titan growled down at him. "And who the hell are you supposed to be, meatsack?"
Blue eyes boiled seven shades of searing scarlet, snapping into furious slits.
No. No freakin' way. He wasn't gonna...
.
..
...he was gonna.
"NARUTO SMASH!"
EDIT: Hey, you made it! Thanks for reading!.
I worked really hard on this, and I never have enough time to write these days, even so, I wanted to make folks happy...T_T
So by all means, speak up! Your voice matters! Make yourself heard! As ever, reviews are the fuel that sustain me. Without them I cannot write a single word. Simple as that. Working nearly all hours of the day keep me absurdly busy, and I can't bring myself to write something folks don't like.
Looking forward to hearing from you all when I get back from work~!
Feedback means the world to me. I appreciate you all~!
Warm regards,
~Nz.
R&R~!