A/N: Behold! The other half of the chapter! WARNING! Mature story ahead! Well, this is "The Boys" of course, so that's to be expected.
So here we go. The fate of this story depends on you, the reader. Your feedback determines the fate of this tale, and many others.
As ever, I own no references, quotes, themes or memes. They're tributes to legends far greater than I.
I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild world, one word at a time.
Time and feedback will determine if this remains a story. Simple as that.
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Minor verbatim from The Boys. And SPOILERS.
ESPECIALLY SEASON FOUR.
Garp moment ahead.
You know the one.
"Awww, what's wrong? Struck a nerve, have I? Afraid for daddy dearest?
Don't worry, you'll join him soon.
IN THE AFTERLIFE!"
~?
Into the Fire
Everything was on fire.
The heat made John remember.
Gods, he didn't want to, but he did and...!
Searing, scorching, screaming...!
In an instant, he was lost in the past all over again; just a boy, back in the oven, unable to move, screaming as they turned up the temperature to burn his skin. Even though his skinned never charred, it still really hurt. A lot. Every breath was torment, each gasp a flame.
'Why am I remembering this now...?'
He didn't know, all he knew was that he was in the oven again screaming and agony and his tears just sizzled away. Closing his eyes didn't help. The pain kept coming. Burning, burning, burning. He had nightmares about this moment for the longest time, before dad saved him, all the needles, the poking the pain...
It's funny isn't it? How people can have such a different memory of the exact same thing? It's all matter of perspective.
No. Not him. The memory stirred something ugly in him.
He'd find everyone who ever did this to him and KILL-
Without warning a voice broke through the haze, banishing the burning to the back of his mind. "This isn't you, John."
He screwed an eye open. Everything was gone. The refinery, the fire, his unknown adversary, every bit of it. All that remained was a white void.
And there, standing before him:
'Dad?'
He was hallucinating. Probably seeing things. Had to be. Dad wasn't here. He was halfway across the city. Yet here he was. There was something different about him. He could see right through his old man, as though he weren't even there. He looked tired, his broad shoulders bowed with a terrible weight. And that expression on his face...
.
..
...why did he have a terrible feeling about this?
"Why are you here?"
Naruto tilted his head. "I thought you could use a pep talk."
"No," he faltered for a moment, "No, you-that doesn't answer my question. Why. Are you. Here?"
His adoptive father didn't answer. A nameless feeling of dread welled up deep inside him.
"Are you dead?" he croaked out the last word. "Am I dead?"
"That's for you to decide."
He scowled. "What kinda bullshit answer is-
"It doesn't matter." his father flung up a hand, forestalling an argument. "This does. You're not a monster, John. You never have been, and you never will be."
"I AM!" he flung out his arms. "Look at me! They made me one! I'm a failure ...I can't save anyone, I screwed up my first mission and-
"Who decided that?"
...huh?"
"The only one who can decide that, is you." A hand settled on his shoulder. "You're more than a monster. To me, you're Super. Now get out there and do what you were born to do." he laid another hand on his hair, ruffling it affectionately. "That bastard hit you! What are you going to do about it?!"
There could be only one answer, one response worth saying.
John's eyes blazed red. "Hit 'em harder...?"
Naruto beamed. "That's my boy."
John blinked and the moment was gone. Was it a hallucination? Or a vision? He didn't know.
Nevertheless words gave him strength; not just the acknowledgment he always craved, but the affirmation that he was on the right path. And besides, Dad couldn't be dead. Even with all that V in his system, he'd clung on these last few years, stubbornly refusing to die, all so he could give him and Maeve a good life. He wouldn't go out like that. He couldn't. It just wasn't possible.
Enough. Time to open his eyes. For real, this time.
He came to with a start, rubbing his jaw as he took in his surroundings. Bleary eyes blinked away the spots and the pain, which was something of a rare thing these days- and forced him to focus. No sign of the survivors. He could only assume they'd heeded his warning and gotten clear. He didn't want to think of the alternative.
Right. He had people to save, folks were counting on him.
Take a deep breath. Calm yourself. Find your center.
He did.
Inhaling deeply with his powerful lungs, he drew the inferno around him into his lungs, not extinguishing it, but absorbing it. The fire still raged, but within rather than without. Now it was centralized, a fire burning deep within his chest, seething under his skin. He held it close and turned it into fuel.
"So, the fox taught you some tricks." a smoky silhouette manifested in the miasma left behind. "It still won't save you."
Movement. Reaction. Evasion.
A pale fist whistled in from the corner of John's vision. This time, he was ready for it. He caught it, twisted, and used leverage to yank them inward to deliver a vicious roundhouse. The sheer force of his own punch-his anger!-ripped them clear out his grasp and sent them skipping across the ruined refinery like a flung stone.
He wasn't prepared for the laughter that followed.
"Sturdy, aren't you?" The robed figure drew themselves upright, set a hand to their collarbone, and popped their shoulder back in with an audible crack. "Strong, too." the eerie flash of pearly white teeth unnerved him more than he cared to admit as his foe grinned at him. "Let's test that."
With a flourishing flick of the wrist, they tore their robe free.
He had all of an instant to glimpse them before they lunged at him. The man was humanoid only in the barest sense of the word, his skin pale, eyes paler still, hair practically the color of ash. And those horns...!
He caught the next punch, twisted their fist and yanked with all his might to glare at them.
"Who the hell are you?"
"It doesn't matter." That eerie face twisted in open derision. "You'll be dead in a minute. The Fox already is."
His temper sparked. You stay away from him!
Oh, I will. It's Isshki you have to worry about...
An invisible force blasted him back, but only for a moment. He righted himself in the air and rushed forward with a roar.
"Struck a nerve, have I?!"
Another rush of energy railed at him, forcing him to twist aside.
Another punch rushed in. He tanked this one clean on the face; it barely turned his cheek...and did nothing to hide his smile. "About that...
Seems the pup has some bite to his bark after all.
Another lunch failed to budge him.
...is that all?"
Anger flashed through the stranger's pale face. "Don't get cocky, you lesser life form!"
He swayed aside from the first blow, blocked the second with a forearm, and hammered a fist into his foes gut. They folded in half like wet cardboard. A second punch drove them to their knees. A third lest them clutching their gut, vomiting on the ground.
Something ugly stirred in him at the sight.
"You know," John clasped both hands behind his back and paced around him, "I'm not one for second chances. I find the very idea of them, well, ridiculous."
When his aggressor made to rise he kicked out their legs, grabbed them by the hair, and smashed them facefirst into the ground. Once, twice, thrice, four times for good measure. He ground his face into the shattered concrete for good measure, let him go, and resumed his circling.
"I'm stronger than you, I'm faster than you, and I'm sure as hell smarter than you. I mean, c'mon, Lets be honest here." he stomped down on the man's head when he made to rise, pinning him. "I'm better. In every way. The only "lesser life form" I see here is you."
This wasn't arrogance on his part. He knew he wasn't a God; he was hardly invincible, much less immortal. Durable as all hell, yes, better than most, also true, but not perfect. He'd been groaned by the very definition of a demigod Few could make him bleed, but he could feel pain, he could be harmed, and he could feel anger. And right now...
They say anger has a way of dulling one's best traits. Right here, right now? He was feeling pretty damn angry.
"I feel like I live in a glass house." Reaching down, he seized the horned man by the hair and dragged them upright." Everyone here is so...so fragile. If I move too fast, squeeze too hard, shout too loud, they all break. But you can take it, can't you big boy? What we have here is a rare opportunity...
The horned man burst back to life in his grasp and surged upright, seizing him by the face. Five firm fingers closed over his eyes. "Not so tough now are you?!"
Nothing happened.
The horned man recoiled. "Why don't you have chakra?!"
John smiled, eyes blazing red beneath the man's hand, bathing it in crimson glow. "Burn!"
Heat seared outward and the hand holding his face fell away, then the arm, followed by the shoulder, and half of his attacker's torso besides. The severed halves of his angry adversary smoldered away into cinders, fell to the ground, and lay there, dead as a doorknob, face frozen in disbelief.
John nudged the man's head with a boot, kicking him to make sure he stayed down. "Good riddance."
Abruptly, the pale man lurched back to life with a gasp and laughed at him. "Momoshiki...!"
"What?" He bridled, baffled by the sudden statement. "How are you alive?!"
The pale men kept laughing. "You asked my name. You have it now.
"Answer the question!"
"Little John. Little hero. Pah!" his dying advesary -the monster!- cackled at him in spite of the wounds he'd inflicted upon them. "You think you're strong. No, no, no." it shook its head, tittering softy. "There are horrors out there you cannot BEGIN to comprehend...and things far worse than death. Why don't you ask daddy dearest...if he's still alive."
His eyes widened. "What have you done?"
Momoshiki laughed at him. "Scorched earth. But you? You're in the way."
The dying man flung something at him. John never saw what.
But he fealty reality shift as he fell.
(.0.0.0.)
"How fare you have fallen, fox."
Naruto spat blood and righted himself with a groan.
...not used to see this much of his own blood anymore. He'd been slacking, it seemed.
The pain was everywhere, everything everyone; the house a ruin around him, his body on its last legs...
.
..
...and for what?
He'd though he would be angrier about this, that his own weakness would disgust him. But it didn't. Even down an arm and missing an eye, he felt strangely calm. Peaceful, even. He had done his best to shield Cate from the worst of the blast and he felt as though he'd succeeded for the most part.
He was going to die. He wasn't happy about it, but there it was.
If this was his time, so be it. He would fight until the bitter end. It had been a good run. He'd changed things. Improved the world. Yes, it would have its own problems, but Sag willing, he could let those me. John would be able to handle them. He had Maeve.
A pale hand seized his throat and whipped him into, then through a wall. He heard Cate scream somewhere in the distance. Couldn't be sure where...
"You have something we want, Fox." there it was again, that low deadly voice that he recognized somehow, despite never having heard it in all his life. "We went through no small amount of effort to hunt you down...traveled across the universe, expended so much energy. And now here you are, tainted by humans."
"Who are...?"
Another blow sent him sprawling. "You will address me as Isshki, or I will pluck out your other eye."
Naruto spat up in his face.
...filthy creature."
A fist slammed into, then through his stomach, wounding him greatly. He took the wound without complain, unwilling to give up Cate. He slashed a hand up, only to choke as a black chakra rod slammed into his throat, bloodying it. If he hadn't twisted aside at the last instant, he might've been impaled outright. As things stood he buckled to one knee, coughing wetly.
"You don't have any idea who or what I am, do you?" those eerie eyes regarded him intently. "But how could you? You were gone from your world before we Otsutsuki came for it...
"Otsu-what-now?...
A hand stabbed into his gut, dragging more chakra from him.
"What's this?" Isshki made a disgusted noise. "You're all messed up inside." a pale hand rose. "Perhaps I should just finish you off...
Naruto brought both hands together, and above him, Kurama mirrored the motion, trying to crush him between two giant palms. Isshki dropped him and retreated out of an abundance of caution, not any real danger. Or perhaps he simply wished to drag this out a little longer. More fool he. In his haste to bring this to a close, he'd forgotten someone. Then again, so had he.
Someone laid a trembling hand on Naruto's arm.
He balked at its owner, squinting through a bloody eye. "Cate? What're you-
"You feel no pain." Her voice was a soothing river, cooling his ragged nerve endings. "You're strong again. Invincible. He can't beat you. You're the strongest man alive."
He knew what she was doing, trying to help in her own way. Even so, he resisted. On principle, he didn't like the idea of letting people into his head. It made him feel dirty. Wrong, somehow...
And yet...
"You're dying. Let me in. Let me help."
"She's not trying to hurt you, idiot. Get off your high horse and listen to me before you die! We have to use Baryon Mode."
He spat out a bloody tooth. "Baryon what...?"
"its your chance to turn this around and go help John." Kurama rasped back as Isshki's shadow fell over them both. "You have three seconds. Decide or die!"
No pressure.
'Fine.' He dropped his mental barriers and let Cate in. 'Just this once.'
It was like flicking a switch.
What a remarkable difference it made.
All the bloody difference in the world, really.
Isshki swung down, intent to backhand Cate away. Naruto struck back.
CRACK!
Nine glowing tethers of scarlet light lashed out, striking the Otstutsuki in the chin. Unprepared for the sudden assault, his adversary rocketed back into the starry sky.
Naruto didn't give him the chance to retreat, much less recover. He leaped up after them caught them by the face and smashed them back down, leveling an old abandoned building. The faint whine of a siren reached his ears as he rose up in the smoke in search of his prey. Maybe not so abandoned after all...
He glanced down at his hands, and the calm, comforting cloak of crimson engulfing him.
And in an instant he understood.
He was dying.
Whatever this new power was, it was draining him faster than ever before. It had brought him back to his prime strength, then pushed him even further beyond. Yet for all that, he couldn't use it for too long; it was, quite literally, burning up his lifeforce. All the tainted V in his system, his chakra, everything. How long did he have left? Seconds? Minutes at best?
Only one way to find out.
"YOU WORM!"
A giant cube of some sort came crashing down on his head. He lazily caught it with his new chakra tails and cast it aside.
Belatedly he spied his prey in the smoke. He'd broken Isshki's horn and the traveler from beyond the stars didn't look much pleased with him.
Good.
This was gonna hurt.
Naruto swore he would make it so.
"You don't seem to understand." He stalked forward at a brisk pace, eyes ablaze. "Just because I was a little weaker doesn't make you any stronger than me now, does it? But I'm not weaker now...
A chakra rod whistled out of the air, easily snagged and cast aside. Isshki seemed so slow now. Baryon Mode had blessed him beyond measure. Only one thing to do for it.
"C'mere, horn boy." His bloody body boiled with fresh light. "I'll make sashimi outta ya. Gonna be all over the papers by tomorrow...
Isshki hesitated for a moment, just a moment, then lunged at him with a feral growl.
Slow. Like an adult fighting a child.
He swayed aside from the next punch, slapped away a second, and sent an uppercut hammering home. Kidney punch, spin kick to the ribs to break 'em, a jab to the throat and kick to the groin for good measure clap him over the ears to deafen him and slap him across the face to add insult to injury. Isshki reeled beneath the barrage, dazed for a brief moment. In a fight, a moment made all the difference; it may as well have been an eternity.
A gut punch floored him entirely.
"Listen you..." he caught him by the face as he fell, fingers closing around the lower half of his visage, biting in with tremendous force. "Those who waver...
Frantic, the Otsusuki grabbed at the wrist holding him, the hand crushing him, to no avail. He showed no mercy. Nor any quarter.
A feral grin split Naruto's whiskered face, momentarily lending him a monstrous visage.
"...ARE WEAK!"
In a single seamless strike he whipped him around,t hen down while simultaneously drilling his free hand forward.
The result -and the jutsu- spoke for itself. "Rasengan!"
All the world ruptured.
A/N: But will he live...?
And where oh where did John get sent to?
I haven't the foggiest idea what you mean...*whistles innocently*
As ever, the Embers rule persists. If folks don't like this? Well, I won't continue it. So by all means, speak up! Raise your voice! Make yourself heard! Your reviews matter! Really, they do! That's no joke. I don't have days off anymore -two jobs will do that to you- and I'm working myself to the bone.
So by all means, speak up! Raise your voice! Make yourself heard! Your reviews matter!
That's no joke! I can't write without feedback. Guess that makes me weak...T_T
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas... ...Review Would You Kindly?
PREVIEWS AHOY!
(Previews)
...had to be me. Someone else would've gotten it wrong."
"I only have one father."
"OI."
"You'll die!"
...no, I won't. A man doesn't die when he's dead. He dies when he's forgotten."
"A hero helps everyone. Not just his world. Every world."
Reality warped.
'Huh.' Homelander suffered a painful epiphany then. 'So that's what I used to look like.'
"You think you're strong? Buddy." John shook his head. "You're not even sane. You're just a cheap knockoff.
His counterpart bridled. "No, no, no. You don't get to say that. Even if you're me. I'm the upgrade."
He believed it. How sad. John shook his head. "If you truly believe that, then I pity you.
Homelander's fist smacked into an open palm. John held him at bay and smiled at him. It was not a nice smile, no sir, not by any means or measure. He felt nothing but contempt for this...creature. This abomination, this thing he could've become.
"What was that about an upgrade, old man?"
"WHY YOU LITTLE...!
An uppercut cut his older self off.
He punched him through the roof and into the clouds.
Butcher swore under his breath. "Fuckin' hell there's two of him!"
R ~!