The Daxamite Ninja and the Kryptonian Lady
Chapter 10 – Invasion, Part 2
An: So, just a little note from me before the story starts. I don't know about the rest of you, but I am getting pissed off with this site lately. Since last month, I can't see any of the traffic on my stories, especially my new stories/ new chapters, which is annoying, because I genuinely want to know how my stories are doing. And the blasted Dev's don't seem to care. You contact them to tell them there is a problem with the site, and they don't get back with you or do anything.
I also wanted to update everyone that I've been having some leg problems ever since I injured it weightlifting 18 months ago. Doc told me after my MRI that I've got a labrum tear in my hip and something structurally wrong where the femur inserts into the hip socket. I've still got to get some extra opinions and speak with the actual surgeon, but it sounds like I will need surgery to fix it, which could put me out of commission anywhere between a few weeks to a few months to heal properly. I will keep everyone updated on how this goes, and when I will be out for a while.
Anyway, all done with that. Lets get on with the story.
Start
Star Labs Hanger, Earth-1
Kara stood next to Naruto at the hangar as they waited for the others to join them.
"What's our status?" Oliver asked loudly once everyone was gathered, looking to their group of tech geniuses for answers.
Barry sighed. "Nothing, since the Dominators paid their little visit to attack us."
"Why haven't they done anything yet?" Nate Heywood asked quickly.
"A display of overwhelming might will make any army hesitate." Naruto pointed out.
"Man, I wish they would just send us an IM with a questionnaire. I mean, what do they even want?" Felicity rambled, causing Kara to smirk at her.
"Well, meta's pose the biggest threat to their invasion." The Kryptonian told them. "It would make sense they'd want to be more careful with their next move, given what they now know about their enemies."
"Perhaps they are trying to regroup." Stein said. "Perhaps they are searching for any potential meta-human vulnerabilities."
"I think it's time we return the favor and find their weaknesses," Oliver growled.
"What do you want to do?" Diggle asked. "Kidnap one of them?"
"Ever since their attack, they've kind of been in short supply," Barry told him.
Nate shook his head. "Actually, I know where to find one. I've been reviewing old Army footage of their first encounters with the Dominators, and I think I pegged the fight to Redmond, Oregon. 1951."
After watching the horrifying footage for a moment, Stein spoke again. "You're suggesting we travel to 1951, abduct a Dominator, and interrogate it to determine their intentions."
"Seems fair." Sara nodded to her.
"Whoa. Time travel. I'm definitely in." Cisco smiled.
"Okay, hold up a sec. Professor Stein and Caitlin have been talking about a way to take down the Dominators all at once." Barry told him, and Kara saw the annoyed look on the older man's face. She wondered what that was all about. "They could probably use your help."
"Pass." Felicity looked at Cisco and nodded. "Yeah, I mean, I'm with him, mostly 'cause I just don't want to lose my geek cred, but…time travel!"
She squealed a bit, and Nate nodded in understanding. "I could take Mick and Amaya."
"Absolutely not." Naruto said with his arms crossed, getting everyone's attention. "That's a fucking stupid idea."
"What are you on about now?" Sara challenged him, exasperated that he was again butting in.
"You want to go back in time and kidnap a Dominator, one that is probably dead in this timeline. Do you people have any brains or what? Did finding out how Barry changed the whole timeline not clue you in to stop messing with things you shouldn't?" Naruto demanded, some of the Arrow and Flash teams taking issue with how he insulted them.
"You got a better idea?" Sara pressed.
"I do. Order them to leave this solar system and that if they don't, I'll push the entire ship into the sun and kill every living thing on board the ship." Naruto said coldly. The techies went pale when he mentioned killing everyone on the ship, while others like Kara stood there, gobsmacked, and more experienced and hardened individuals like Oliver took on a more grim expression.
"You're serious." Cisco said, his voice quivering.
"Uhm, hello? War? Ever heard of it? Did the fact that they tossed 10,000 of their number out of the ship to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere not paint a clear enough picture for you? This isn't some childish fantasy. You're not going to win a war with a highly advanced alien species without taking a few lives." Naruto stated.
"Naruto," Kara said to him, getting his attention, making him look at her, "That's a Dominator Invasion ship up there. There are millions of them up there."
"Whoa, hold up, did you say millions!?" Felicity asked in shock, wondering if she heard right.
"How many Dominators can the big ship actually hold?" Barry asked.
"Max capacity is about 5 million drones, but they typically only run about half that number." Naruto said. He then looked at Kara critically. "And while I don't want to do that, Earth can't defend against that ship and we can't realistically stay here forever. They get one more chance, Kara. After that, whatever happens is on their heads." Kara did not like it, but she saw Naruto's point. They weren't from this dimension, and would have to go back to their own at some point. What were they supposed to do, wait until the Dominators gave up or they repaired their Starstriker to try to blow up Earth again? No, she saw as Naruto did, that if they didn't surrender and run back home, then they would have to end this in one final, decisive battle.
"Anyway, I know the time you're talking about and I've already ensured you cannot go back in time to mess with it." Naruto told the Legends, shocking them yet again.
"Would you, like, quit reprogramming our ship!?" Sara said in frustration.
"I know you can't control yourselves, so I took the decision out of your hands." Naruto said with a smirk. "I'm not gonna let you mess with the timeline and make things worse than they already are."
"I guess that's off the table, then. Oh hey, by the way," Barry said as he turned to everyone else. "Uh, the president called, which would be cool under different circumstances, but he wants to meet with us."
Oliver nodded. "Let's bring Ray and Sara as backup."
Kara glanced at Naruto. "What about us? We can be backup." She mentioned.
"Kara, can I talk to you for a second?" Oliver looked at her before turning and walking a few feet away.
She glanced at Barry, who shrugged in confusion, before following the vigilante. "What's up?"
"I would like to minimize yours and Naruto's involvement in this." He told her bluntly.
Now Kara's blood started to boil. "Why? Because we're aliens? I also happen to be one of your two biggest weapon's."
"You are both unknown quantities, and this is not personal." He told her quickly.
"Except that's exactly how this feels." She told him. She was getting so mad, she felt like her head might explode. She'd been nothing but nice to these new friends, and now she was receiving the same treatment she'd gotten when she first revealed her powers to the world.
Oliver sighed, his hands resting on his hips. "Kara, when I started living this life, it was just me. I was going up against human threats. That I could handle. Then it was meta-humans, and I can handle that. Now I learn that there are multiple Earths, and the world was almost blown up by an alien spacecraft—"
"I'm sure that was unnerving, but I don't—" Kara tried to say.
"I don't get unnerved." He said carefully. "But when I go up against something new, I push back. Right or wrong, it is who I am, and it is what I do, so I'm asking for a little bit of space because I have to draw the line somewhere. I need to claw back a sense of normalcy. Please stay here."
As he started to walk away from her, Naruto grabbed his shoulder, and pushed him up against a Jeep. His head whipped up in anger and shock as Oliver stared at Naruto.
"Let go of me." Oliver said but Naruto wouldn't budge.
"You'd all be dead if we weren't here." Naruto pointed out callously. "Like I told your friends, this is a fucking war we are in. The Dominators would have blown up Earth already if we hadn't been here. You people have absolutely NO. FUCKING. CHANCE. against them without me and Kara. You're not comfortable with us? Well, time to man up and get comfortable."
"Naruto," Kara said with a pointed look, making him look at her, "Please, let him go."
Naruto turned back to look at Oliver. "Facts don't care about your feelings, Queen. At the end of the day, we are the only chance you have of winning this war, so I suggest you stop being a little bitch, and get with the program." Naruto said before finally letting him go. Oliver walked away in a huff.
Naruto let out a sigh as he ran his hand along the back of his neck. "I know, I promised I'd try to be nicer. That wasn't exactly doing that."
"No, I wasn't going to say anything." Kara said, a bit peeved with Oliver right now. "I may understand how he feels, but he's still being foolish."
Later
An hour later
Barry, Oliver, Ray, and Sara came back from the meeting, only to discover that some corrupt government official had staged a trap for them. They had beaten the trap easily but had learned that he had been in communications with the Dominators. In exchange for leaving their planet alone, Barry hands himself over. Once that occurred, the Dominators said they would leave the planet.
"They want Barry to turn himself over, and they'll just go away quietly?" Naruto questioned with a raised eyebrow, clearly not convinced by the brain-dead position of the government stooge, "I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but that is a stupid idea."
Sara nodded, albeit reluctantly. "For once, I agree with you. It sounds like a trap."
"If they're threatened enough by meta-humans that they tried to destroy the planet, it's hard to believe they'll be satisfied with just capturing one," Ray added, in agreement with the assassin and ninja.
"Yeah, well, if I know Barry, he's going to want to be that one," Cisco told them, a tone of worry creeping into his voice.
"Kara and Oliver are trying to talk him out of it." Thea shook her head, looking at Cisco.
"If they do not, what's the collateral damage of the meta-bomb?" Nate asked, asking professor Stein.
"Projected casualty count is around 6.5 Billion people. That includes non-meta-humans." The scientist told them, making the light hearted individuals blanch.
"So, basically the entire human race, then. Lovely." Naruto commented dryly before he began to wonder out loud as he looked at the Dominator ship in space. "You know, one thing I wondered was how they even know that Barry changed the timeline. I mean, there's no way in hell this government imbecile knew it happened, and Dominator tech shouldn't be that advanced in this time. Granted, I'm basing this off where they were 60 years ago, but their technology shouldn't have advanced that much."
Naruto then snapped his fingers as an idea occurred to him, "What about that Thawne guy?
"You mean Barry's hated nemesis?" Caitlin asked.
"Yeah, that guy. He can also time travel, right? And clearly, he is willing to change the timeline, I mean from what Barry told you, we are basically living in an alternate timeline already. Someone had to tell the Dominators, what if it was him?" Naruto offered. "He's born 200 years after this. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say he traveled forward into time, got a ship to go to the Dominator homeworld, then went back in time to this timeline to tell them."
"No way, that's guys crazy, but that is some next level crazy," Cisco said hesitantly, as Caitlin agreed. Thawne was crazy, but that was extremely vindictiveness, even for him.
"Anything to make Barry suffer, right?" Naruto stated, and to be fair, Caitlin and Cisco couldn't find anything to refute that statement.
"What if we negotiated with them?" Nate asked again, grasping at any chance of finding a solution.
"They want to commit genocide against the human race, there's no negotiating with these savages." Naruto pointed out.
"If you're gonna do anything, then make it fast." Turning, the group watched as Diggle and Jax hurried into the building. "We've got incoming."
Cisco immediately jumped on a computer, pulling up a satellite image of the world. Multiple emergencies were shown, and the entire group minus Naruto froze.
"Dominator ships are coming in worldwide," Diggle told them.
"Including Central City," Jax added.
"Yeah, but they're not moving or anything," Cisco said hurriedly. "They're just sitting there."
"So much for the truce Secret Agent Man negotiated." Ray joked.
"They're trying to leverage us into handing Barry over," Naruto told them as his face adopted a hard look. Time to issue that warning. "Cisco, contact the Dominators main ship. I have a message to deliver."
"Uh sure. Opening a channel now." Cisco said as a screen appeared out of nowhere. The Lead Dominator appeared on the screen in his control room.
"What do you humans want now?" The Dominator asked, irritated that the humans were contacting him.
"It's time we had a little chat before you do something you'll regret." Naruto said with a smirk as he took center stage.
"You again!" The Dominator shouted mentally as he snarled vocally. "Do you have any idea how much you've damaged our ship, you filthy metahuman!?"
"That's nothing compared to what I will do if you don't surrender. I have a message for you. I am Prince Naruto of Daxam. And you are trespassing on my world." Naruto stated, shocking the Lead Dominator and all the ones in the control room.
"A prince of Daxam!? Preposterous! Daxam and Krypton were destroyed 70 years ago! There were no survivors!" The Dominator said.
"Hm, so that's what happened to them." Naruto wondered as he rubbed his chin before continuing, "Regardless, I am the Prince of Daxam and I have claimed Earth as my home. And you are trespassing on sovereign Daxamite territory. I will give you one chance. Surrender. You are stranded in this galaxy with no ability to escape or call for back up. Surrender, leave Earth after sufficient repairs have been made to your ship and never return and I will forgive this slight."
"And if we do not? What will you do?", The Dominator asked sarcastically.
"I kill every last one of you." Naruto said coldly. The Lead Dominator didn't seem to take him seriously, as the Dominator started a low chuckle before it erupted into full-blown laughter.
"Ha! I haven't laughed that good in a while. I will not be accepting this…generous offer. Here is my counter-offer. You will hand over Barry Allen or your world will suffer the price." The Lead Dominator ordered.
"If you thought that the damage I did before was bad, just wait until you see what I'll do when I don't have to hold back." Naruto warned, not the least bit intimidated by the alien.
"Enjoy your last few moments alive, metahuman." The Dominator said as he pressed a button and cut the feed.
The message ended and Naruto walked away, stopping next to Kara, who had come out when she heard him speaking with the Dominators. "They had their chance. Whatever happens next, is on them." He said, walking away, and Kara resigned herself to what he would have to do.
With Barry
Oliver and Kara joined the group and Kara saw that everyone in their alien-fighting team had come together for this, this being stopping Barry from handing himself over. Barry stood in front of them, his face sad and guilt-ridden.
"This isn't up for debate." He sighed, knowing that not a single one of them agreed with his decision. "It's not even a close call. I mean…turn myself over to the Dominators; they leave the rest of the world alone. Simple."
"No, it's not simple," Felicity spoke for everyone.
Behind her, Diggle sighed. "Barry, it doesn't matter what you've done. You can't do this."
"It's been an honor to know all of you," Barry said, ignoring their protests. "to fight alongside of you. Now it's up to you to keep our home safe."
Nodding at them in goodbye, he turned to walk away from them. Kara looked to where Naruto had been, only to find him not there. As Barry turned around, he was punched hard in the face by Naruto, causing him to collapse and fall to one knee, holding his face.
"Naruto!" Kara exclaimed.
"You stay where you are, Kara." Naruto said coldly as he stalked towards Barry. "This stubborn fool needs some sense beat into his thick skull before he commits another grave error. If no one else is willing to, then it falls to me." Naruto then pulled Barry up to his feet.
"You think, that after what you did, you get to just give up!? YOU! DON'T GET TO RUN AWAY THIS TIME YOU COWARD!" Naruto growled as he punched him several times, blood flying from Barry's mouth with each strike, making some like Felicity and Iris shriek in horror. Oliver had stood by as Naruto verbally ripped into Sara and Barry before, he was not about to stand by as Naruto actually assaulted Barry. He pulled out his bow and let an arrow loose, right for Naruto's head. Naruto maintained his focus on Barry as he caught the arrow by the arrow head and crushed it in his hands.
"Shoot at me again, and I'll break more than your bow, Queen." Naruto growled before turning his attention back to Barry.
"I can't let them hurt anymore people. They already tried to blow up Earth once. If I'm not here, they have no reason to keep invading." Barry groaned out, as he tried to argue his admittedly stupid point.
"Handing yourself over wouldn't accomplish anything, you imbecile! You think they care about getting you!? You were just an excuse to come here! They want to wipe out the entire human race!" Naruto shouted at him. "They fear meta-humans, not because of what someone with powers could do if they were bad people. The Dominators are galactic slave-traders. They don't want anyone coming in and screwing up their operation. That's why they want to wipe out humans, because they're afraid that all humans will be meta's one day, and that humanity could destroy them if they rise to become a Galactic power."
Naruto looked at Barry coldly before sighing, as he made another attempt to get this emotionally unstable kid to see reason, "Look, sometimes the sacrifice play is necessary, but this isn't one of those times. This is just you, being a pussy and running away from your problems, away from your sins. Because that's what you do, Barry. When the chips are down, all you know how to do is run away." Barry hung his head in shame as he could not find any fault in his words.
Naruto grasped Barry by the back of the neck, making him look at Naruto dead in the eye as Naruto spoke, "Well I'm here to tell you, Barry, you don't get to run away anymore. That crushing guilt you feel, for all the lives you ruined, and those you erased. You get to live with that. Your punishment is to live with the guilt."
"You're penance, is to learn the lesson you should have already known. You can't just go changing the timeline, Barry. You have a power that can alter the fate of everyone on this planet. It's your duty to learn from your mistakes and be better than you were. I know, because I also have great power. I've used it irresponsibly, and it caused unnecessary death. I have my own guilt to live with. But, I don't let that keep me from doing whats right. And what's right, is you being a man for once and not running away from your problems." Naruto said and the recognition in Barry's eyes, made Naruto think, finally, he had gotten to him.
"Besides, I think this lot has something to say about you trying to sacrifice yourself." Naruto said as he jerked his head towards the others. Barry turned and froze in shock at the sight of everyone standing in solidarity across from him.
"Listen, Red. I don't like you." Mick spoke suddenly. "But when you got a crew, you don't take a hit for the rest."
Seeing the resolve of everyone's faces, the speedster chuckled. "That was actually pretty inspiring. I mean, up until the point that Mick compared us to a bunch of criminals, but…"
Amaya spoke behind them. "According to the Dominators, we might as well be."
"And maybe they're right." Nate chimed in. "Maybe we do more harm than good, but this is our chance to prove them wrong."
"We're not letting you sacrifice yourself. There's no way." Cisco walked forward towards his teammate. "I don't care if that's what it means to be a hero. You're not a hero to me. You're my friend."
"Yo. Guys." Turning, everyone focused on Jax and Sara. "You know that ship that landed in Central City?"
"It's opening up." The blonde told them.
Looking at his friends, Oliver shook his head. "Here we go."
A loud, intense beeping echoed off the walls of the large hangar as Felicity quickly ran her fingers across her keyboard. "I'm reading reports of ships opening all over the world. Oh, frak."
She paused as she looked at the main display while Oliver hurried over. "Talk to me."
"Something from the Dominators' mothership just broke atmo, and not to get too technical, but it's really, really big and falling to Earth really, really fast." She told him, a frantic tone to her voice.
"It's the meta-bomb," Barry said as he approached.
"Why would the uglies drop ships on us if they're just planning on blowing us up?" The blonde wondered.
Oliver stepped forward. "Because the ships were a distraction to keep us from stopping the meta-bomb."
"That, and the bomb isn't the explosive kind." Naruto said as he looked at it with his X-Ray and telescopic vision. "It's a toxic gas that will spread throughout the atmosphere, killing most of humanity, including the meta's leaving only a few left for the Dominators to cull into slave pens."
Somewhere in the sky aboard the Waverider, Cisco spoke over the comms. "Too bad, because we're going to stop it." Then he looked down at Sara. "We're going to stop it, right?"
The White Canary gritted her teeth. "Let's hope."
"This might help." Turning, everyone looked at Stein. "I've mass-produced a small device that, when placed on individual Dominators, will cause indescribable agony. Not the nicest invention, but this is war."
"Nice going," Barry said quietly.
"The caveat, of course, is that if we activate the weapons before all the devices are placed on the Dominators, they'll know what we're up to." The professor winced.
"Well, we got to do it fast." Oliver looked at the other two.
Barry smirked. "Only way I know how."
The Waverider
Sara and Cisco arrived at the meta-bomb location and hovered above it in shock.
"Damn…that's big," Cisco said slowly. "I didn't think it was going to be so big. What are we going to do?"
"You got me," Sara told him. "I only know how to stab, punch, or skewer things."
Central City
In the city, a large group of Dominators gathered in the city square, hoping to draw the heroes out and keep their attention away from the bomb. As they approached, they growled as said heroes had formed against them. On the ground, Oliver, Barry, Mick, Thea, Diggle, Nate, and Amaya stood together in a ready position. Just above them, Firestorm, Kara, Naruto, and Ray hovered above them.
Then, as one cohesive unit, they attacked and the fight began. Kara and Naruto immediately attacked the Dominators with their heat vision, causing the ones they blasted to roar in pain. Once the two groups met in the middle, everyone began punching, kicking and shooting, or in Mick's case, letting out a stream of fire as soon as they were able.
Naruto paused his own assault on the Dominators when he saw a couple squads marching behind them, holding their wrist mounted laser weapons, the kind that could vaporize humans. Leaping into action, he leapt through the air as the blasts dissipated harmlessly against his skin, landing between 3 of them. He punched one in the chest, knocking the Dominator down, and then back-handed another one through the air after crushing the weapon in his hands. He then grabbed the one behind him by the neck, flew and grabbed another one at lightning fast speed, before breaking their necks and throwing them into several other Dominators, the impacts hard enough to shatter their alien ribcages. Naruto then became blur, appearing in front of one Dominator, crushing their laser weapon with a single blow, before fluidly punching them dozen's of meters through the air. In quick succession, he took out the rest of the hit squads weapons with lightning fast punches, before taking an uninhabited car and slamming it down on the final one, crushing it completely.
As they fought, Kara could see Barry rushing around them, placing the small devices on each Dominator. She only hoped it would work when the time came. Thea shot arrows as quickly as she could, and her heart went out to the girl, knowing how hard it was to be placed in a fantasy as she had been.
"Holy shit." Across the horizon, she saw the meta-bomb and focused in on the voices in the Waverider.
"This thing has to have a tractor beam, right?" Cisco asked Sara.
She nodded. "Yup."
They jolted as the tractor beam held on to the device.
"It's slowing down, but like, barely." Cisco pointed out.
"Thank you, Cisco. I hadn't noticed." Sara griped. "Strap in. Firestorm, if you're done playing with your friends out there, we could really use your help."
Jax nodded. "I'm on it."
He shot one more blast of fire at their enemies before flying off toward the bomb.
Naruto took a moment see the bomb's path and decided he needed to help with this. "Be careful with the Dominators down here. I'm helping with the bomb." Naruto said on the comms as he flew after Firestorm.
"Do it, Firestorm." Sara told him as the fused hero arrived while the ship struggled to slow the descent of the bomb.
"Do what?" Jax asked.
"I believe Miss Lance wants us to transmute the bomb into something harmless." Stein said in Jax's head.
"I was afraid you were gonna say that." Jax complained, but still touched his hands to the bomb and started using his power, trying to do that exact thing.
"Need a hand?" the 4 heard over the comms, and all of sudden, they felt a lurch and the bomb stopped moving so fast and slowed down tremendously to a snails pace.
"The Bomb slowed way the hell down." Cisco said, before turning to Sara. "Did you do something?"
"Wasn't me. Firestorm?" Sara asked.
"I'm still trying to transmute it." Jax grunted out as he struggled to transmute the bomb.
"You're welcome." Naruto voiced over the comms.
"Naruto? Hey, thanks man, but why not throw it out of the atmosphere?" Cisco thanked and then asked.
"I can't. When I checked the bomb earlier, there was an altitude sensor in it. If I try to send it back into space or completely stop it, it will prematurely detonate. If I try to tamper with it, same thing. I can slow it down, and I've got a plan in case Firestorm can't transmute it, but it really would be best if you could transmute this damn thing into water or something." Naruto said as he sent a clone to land on the moon, prepping to act as the beacon for the Flying Thunder God Jutsu.
With the Superfriends
Oliver Queen was fighting hand to hand against an alien. While trying to punch it, the Dominator smacked him hard and sent his body flying through the air, directly into a sharp burning pile of cars that looked ready to explode. All of a sudden, he was yanked away and set back on his feet.
Looking over, he saw Kara watching him, a determined yet calculating look on her face. Knowing he'd been wrong, he nodded at her in a truce before firing an arrow at the other alien, marking it with their device.
"Good work planting Professor Stein's nano-weapons," Felicity told them over the comms. "but we still got Dominators all over the US. This looks like a job for Supergirl."
As soon as she finished speaking, Kara shot into the air and flew away from the group, reaching for the small devices in her belt, and she placed one on as many Dominators as she could come in contact with.
"Thanks, Felicity," Barry said sarcastically as he raced to do the same. "I'm not the least bit insulted."
Felicity winced. "Ah, sorry! I meant Supergirl and Flash. This is totally a job for both of you. That's what I meant. Supergirl and…Flash."
Kara looked ahead and watched as Dominators either ran or walked around the city in front of her. Weaving herself around them, she placed the small devices on each enemy she could reach and kept going.
"Alright, devices are being planted," Felicity said in her ear after a few minutes of flying all over the world, putting the devices on the Dominators. "Let me know when I can bring the pain."
Oliver looked around city square and saw his friends and teammates being overpowered by the Dominators and became worried.
"Still waiting on that signal!" Felicity told them, and the hooded man decided to make the call.
"Do it!" He told her.
Taking that as her cue, Felicity pressed hard. "Done."
Instantly, everyone watched as the Dominators screamed in pain, some even writhing on the ground. "It's working."
"What about the superhero bomb?" Mick asked, causing Kara's heart to shatter. She had completely forgotten about the bomb when Naruto went to go help. Looking in the bombs general direction, she saw Naruto and the Waverider holding it up, while Jax was trying to transmute it.
"I can't do it!" Jax cried out.
"Yes, you can! You have the power to change matter at will! Fear is the only thing that holds you back! Believe in yourself! The world is counting on you!" Naruto shouted as he secretly prepped to teleport the bomb to the moon in the event Firestorm could not transmute the bomb.
Firestorm remained silent for a few moments, as Stein told Jefferson about his daughter as motivate him to find a way to transmute the bomb. After processing what Stein said, Jefferson shouted at the top of his lungs as he poured all of his power over the bomb.
Kara choked out a surprise chuckle as she watched it turn from a bomb into a waterfall and stifled a laugh as Naruto got all wet.
Over the comms, everyone could hear Sara laughing. "Ground, what's your status?"
"They're retreating," Nate told her.
"It's not just them," Felicity said quietly. "It's all around the world."
Kara landed back on the street as they watched the alien invaders leave in a hurry.
"He did it," Oliver said, shocked, as he referred to Jax and Professor Stein.
"No, Oliver," she shook her head as she walked up next to him.
Barry did the same. "We all did it."
"That was only part of it, now I end this, once and for all." Naruto said as the last of the Dominators retreated to their ships.
"Naruto…" Kara wanted to say, as she knew what he was going to do.
"I gave them a chance to surrender, Kara, and they tried to commit mass genocide of the human race. Again. They've made their bed, and now they shall lie in it." Naruto said in the comms as he exploded from where he was, flying right into space.
Upon breaking out of the atmosphere, Naruto smashed into one of the smaller ships, making it explode, killing all the Dominators inside of it as they were ejected into space. He turned sharply after smashing that ship, making a beeline for another ship. With a single punch, he smashed that one to pieces. Naruto repeated the process until all of the Dominator ships were destroyed, leaving only the single Invasion ship they had all originally came in on.
Wasting no time, Naruto flew at his top speed, reaching the ship almost immediately. Finding the structurally soundest part, he placed his hands on the ship and started pushing.
Dominator ship
"What's going on? What was that?" The Lead Dominator said as they felt something rock the ship.
"Sir, the ship is starting to move." A drone said as it was knocked to its feet.
"What!? Why is the ship moving!? None of the systems have been repaired!" The Leader demanded.
"We don't know, but we have moved past the orbit of the planets moon." A drone said.
"It's the meta from before!" The Leader said. "It has to be! Where are we headed!?"
Outside
Naruto continued to push the ship as he pushed it past Venus.
Dominator ship
"Sir, we are on a direct collision with this solar systems star!" A drone said as the trajectory of the ship was illustrated on his screen.
"Do something!" The Leader shouted in panic.
"We can't, sir, our main thrusters are still out from before."
"What about the escape pods and emergency transports!?" The leader demanded.
"They are also not repaired!" The drone shouted.
"Damn you," The leader cursed Naruto as he pushed them closer to the sun. "Damn you, you filthy meta!"
Outside
By now, Naruto had pushed the mothership past Mercury. The heat was increasing fast as pieces of the ship started to fly off from it. When they got within 100 miles of the sun, the intense heat started to burn the ship and melt the metal. Naruto gave it one final heave as he stopped his own momentum. He watched as the ship caught fire and smashed into the sun, melting the alien metal and burning the Dominators alive. He stayed until the ship was completely consumed by the sun before returning to Earth.
Earth
Naruto landed back with the team, where they were all gathered.
"It's done, the Dominators are no more." Naruto said. "The war is over."
The air was solemn, as everyone knew how many lives he just took, but this was a no win situation. The alternative was humanity being wiped out and the survivors enslaved. Kara didn't like it, but she had made her peace with it.
That Night
It was now night time back at the hangar, with thunder rumbling from the storm outside, government dignitaries and other essential people sat in front of a small stage, where the president stood surrounded by his team.
"Today, it is my distinct honor to bestow upon you a small acknowledgment of the great debt that the world owes to you all. Although your brave efforts must remain a secret, know that metahuman or not, masked or not, each and every one of you is a hero."
Everyone in the crowd started to applaud as they stood. Kara smiled at Naruto, who stood just behind Barry.
After the speech was over and most of the government officials had left the hangar, it was decided that it was their team's time to party. They had saved the entire planet, though only a handful of people knew about it, and a few of them felt that had earned this small reprieve.
Popping the cork off of a bottle of champagne, Felicity let out a small cheer that had most of the gathered heroes chuckling. She poured some in everyone's glasses as everyone broke out into small groups and talked amongst themselves. They were undoubtedly an assortment of people, but somehow, they'd managed to put their differences aside to save the world and many had made friends with members of the other teams.
Looking up as Felicity finished pouring her drink, Kara gestured toward the spot that Oliver and Barry had occupied, and they walked over together to join her and Naruto. "Hey, hey, guys."
"Yeah?" Barry asked, turning to make room for the ladies.
"Either of you ever save the world before?" She asked with a smile.
"Mm-hmm." Barry nodded.
"Last year," Oliver told her with confidence but also a small smile.
She grinned at them. "Oh, it doesn't get old, does it?"
"Nope," Barry said. "It sure beats screwing up the world."
"Hey, you're too hard on yourself." Kara said as to reassure him.
"That's what people usually tell me." Oliver shrugged.
However, Barry's mood became solemn, worrying Kara. "No, I-I can't accept that. I did screw up, really badly. I changed the timeline, not for a good reason, and there's no sugarcoating it." Barry said.
"Hey, the point isn't to let your guilt consume you." Naruto said as he took a sip of his bourbon. "You know you screwed up. You seem to have finally realized the gravity of what you did. So don't do it again, and everything will be fine."
"How do you deal with it? This…guilt? How do you live with it?" Barry wondered out loud, making Kara and Oliver go silent. Kara could not relate, as she had neither changed the timeline, nor accidentally killed a bunch of people. Even Oliver, who in Barry's eyes was the most jaded individually he had ever met until he met Naruto, could not really relate.
"I'm gonna be honest Barry, you never fully get over it. Sometimes you'll wake up at night, remembering all the horrible things you've done, wishing you had done better. Living with the guilt and not letting it consume you, it's going to be one of the most difficult things you will ever do." Naruto said after sighing.
"No one else can shoulder this burden for you. Only you can bear this burden and move forward." Naruto clasped Barry's shoulder with his free arm. "But I think you'll be able to do it."
Kara smiled at her love interest and her friend finally getting along. "One more thing. Don't neglect your two friends in favor of a woman. Those two stuck with you through thick and thin, it would be a shame for you to lose them when all it takes is a bit of effort on your part to not be a dick to them." Naruto mentioned as he took another swig of bourbon.
Barry was lost in thought for minute, as Naruto pointed out once again something he had neglected, his two best friends. He had not been a very good friend to Caitlin and Cisco as of late, choosing instead to spend his time with Iris. Barry raised his head back up and nodded, resolving to make amends with Cisco and Caitlin, as well as help Caitlin get a grip on her darker half, since it kinda was his fault she was dealing with having a psychotic alter ego.
Naruto, meanwhile, hoped that this would be enough of a swift kick to Barry's ass to get him to change for the better. Naruto didn't like messing with the timeline, but he had seen what Barry would end up causing if he didn't get his act in gear, so he hoped this would be enough to make the younger man grow a spine and be a responsible adult.
The green archer cleared his throat, looking at his shoes. "Um…I owe you both an apology." He then looked at Kara. "But more specifically, I owe you one. Trying to keep you at arm's length was the wrong move, and…well, the truth is that this Earth could probably use a Supergirl and Naruto of it's own."
Kara chuckled. "Well, that's funny because I was just thinking that our Earth could use an Oliver Queen."
"Hey, Kara, Naruto." Turning, the group saw Cisco standing there. "I made you guys something."
"What?" Kara smiled as they took their gifts. "Cisco…you didn't have to do that."
"What is it?" Naruto wondered fiddled the small device in his hands.
"Oh, it's a-"
"An inter-dimensional extrapolator." Kara finished for him, her jaw wide open.
"God, I love smart people." He murmured, giving her a fist bump. "It creates small breaches, so you can use it to cross over to our universe any time you need to."
"This is amazing, Cisco," Kara told him. "Thank you."
"Thanks," Naruto told him, and Kara knew the small smile on his face didn't happen very often.
"I also included communication functionality, so if you ever need any help, you can always contact the team." He told them.
"Hey Skirt," Mick said, walking past them. "Call me."
Kara tried to ignore the awkward feeling the man had just caused. Then she looked up, and her eyes narrowed. "I'll be right back."
Across the room, Nate walked up to Agent Smith as he entered with two of his security detail behind him. "Something tells me you weren't invited here."
The older man smiled placatingly. "Dr. Heywood."
Nate shook him off. "Don't 'Dr. Heywood' me. What the hell are you doing here?"
"I like parties," Smith told him. "and I'm here for the mop-up."
"Cover-up." Nate corrected. "But you can't cover this up."
The agent started to laugh but was instantly interrupted.
"Agent Smith!" Both men turned to see Kara walking over. "It's so funny seeing you here. I was just having the loveliest chat with your president about you. I was telling him, on my Earth, we have a Department of Extranormal Operations, which deals specifically with aliens. He thought it was an excellent idea."
"He also loved my pitch about reassigning you to Antarctica." Then she smiled at Nate and walked away.
Not bothering to hold in his chuckle, Nate watched her leave before looking back at the man. "Maybe next time, you're a little nicer to strange visitors from another planet." As Smith sneered at him, Nate just smiled. "Pack a jacket!"
Kara made her way back to the group, and turned to Naruto. "You ready to see if Cisco's gadget really works?"
"More than ready." Naruto confirmed.
"Just remember," Kara looked at everyone. "if you guys ever need me, I'm just a call away."
Oliver saluted her. "Same here."
Sighing, Kara lifted the extrapolator and pressed the center. A breach opened in front of them, and after glancing at each other, both of the aliens stepped through.
Earth-38
Reappearing back in their own dimension, Naruto and Kara landed on a rooftop in National City.
"Ah, it's good to be back." Kara said with a smile.
"Yes, it is." Naruto agreed as he looked out at the city below.
The two of them stared at each other for a minute before Kara nodded at him. " Come by my place in an hour, and we'll have that conversation I promised you." Kara said.
"I'll see you soon." Naruto said as he vanished in a yellow flash. Kara took a deep breath before flying home to her apartment.
1 hour later
Kara's Apartment
The doorbell rang, and Kara opened the door to see Naruto standing outside in civilian clothes. He was wearing dark blue jeans with a black, long-sleeved shirt, while his leather jacket, belt and boots were a rustic brown. He looked quite handsome in them, Kara noted. Filing that away for later, she smiled at him.
"Thanks For coming. Come on in." Kara beckoned him in as he stepped in and closed the door behind him. "I'm sorry, I know I still owe you an answer. And every time I try to answer, something else pops up."
"Yeah, would be nice to stop with this dance we've been playing for a while now." Naruto quipped as he glanced at her apartment, quite pleased with how he had fixed it up after her accidental rampage. You wouldn't even know it had been damaged if he hadn't fixed it himself.
"Yeah, I don't wannna do that anymore…with you." Kara said to him and with that, she had his undivided attention.
"See, uh," Kara stumbled a little, trying to collect herself, "I can be strong and stand my ground, when I'm protecting someone else. But when that someone is me, it's a lot harder. I've lived so long being invulnerable that I don't really like being vulnerable." Naruto could see that. Living for so long with physical invulnerability, one become's comfortable in the idea that they can't get hurt, so when something comes along and does, it's probably a bit scary.
"We're really different, aren't we?" Kara chuckled with a smile, acknowledging that in a lot of ways, they were polar opposite.
"Yeah," Naruto said as he took a step forward, "I'm a realist and you're an idealist. I also happen to be the fun one, you-not so much."
"More like you're a macho dude bro, and I'm the personification of the American way," Kara joked, pointing to herself.
"Oh, and I'm the one who's full of himself, huh?" Naruto chuckled.
"That's not the point." Kara said, folding her hands and looking at the ground nervously.
"Before we met, actually, it was the day you arrived on Earth, I thought I couldn't have it all. That I had to choose. So," Kara sighed, "I chose being Supergirl over having a relationship." Naruto could guess it was probably James that she was talking about. Naruto remembered overhearing Winn and him talking at Lena's party about how they couldn't believe that Kara was giving him romantic attention. Of Course, Winn was a wuss and wouldn't be able to hold a relationship with a confident woman like Kara long term. James was insecure as well, but in a different way that Winn was. It made sense to Naruto why Kara broke up with him.
"And then you showed up on Earth. And at first, I kept writing you off. And you'd always prove me wrong." Kara said with a smile as she stepped closer to him, until they were inches apart.
"And lately, I've been thinking; I want to have it all. The dream job, being Supergirl, a fulfilling relationship." Kara said as she took her glasses off and pocketed them away, before gazing longingly into Naruto's eyes. "And I want that with you."
The stood apart for several moments, the air thick with tension. Naruto smiled down at Kara staring into her eyes, and she returned the smile. He slowly leaned in, Kara reciprocating. Their lips were inches apart, mere moments away from sharing their first kiss together, before a blue ball of light appeared in her apartment behind them, drawing them out of their own little world and back to reality as a man dressed in a suave suit manifested from the ball.
"Darling…"
"…Kara Zor-El, I love you." Said the being that Naruto recognized to be a 5th dimensional being. Naruto was certainly annoyed. Not only was this obnoxious loser interrupting a very special moment between Kara and him, he also was trying to steal his girl.
Chapter End