A/N: Not a lot of feedback. Ah well, I tried...
EDIT: By popular demand, I went back and improved this chapter.
Another year, another birthday right around the corner.
Really startling to feel my age; last year blurred right by, didn't it?
Sorry for vanishing. My uncle's passing devastated me for awhile, then came the holidays and long COVID...
But I'm back...even if I don't feel quite myself at the moment.
It still hurts. He didn't deserve to get run over like that; hope the bastard who did it rots in jail.
I'm trying to bury myself in writing to keep myself distracted. Some days are better than others. Still alive, still in pain, still updating, somehow.
With my fifteen year anniversary on this site -I've really gotten old- finally here, I find myself reflecting on the little things in life. What was once a lazy pastime meant for me and a few friends really grew and evolved over time. There are days when I look back on the last fifteen years here and I wonder if anyone will remember me; if I made an impact, despite never making a single cent on any of these stories. Some days were happier than others, and some stories I enjoyed writing WAY too much; to the point where I'd stay up all night working on them.
And of course, there are times when I look to the future ahead and wonder what will become of things when I'm gone.
Of course, I try not to dwell on the latter overmuch lest it poison my mind; I'm still alive and still 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. Feels like everyone's lost their minds. Even before that, so many friends and fellow writers I once knew are gone, now. Will I still be here in twenty years? Ten? Five? Its a chilling thought. But for now, I'm still here, still writing.
No questions this time. Someone complained. Ah, well. I think I've kept you waiting long enough already, dear reader
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 quotes, references, themes, or memes. Not a wit or a one! 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.
In other words...its up to YOU, the reader. Do let me know~!
Here we go. And yes, obvious references are very obvious.
Soundtrack for this chapter is Revenge from Arcane.
Oh yes, you know the soundtrack.
"Ever wonder what its like to drown?
Its a story of opposites. There's peace in water.
Like its holding you whispering in low tones to let it in, and every problem in the world will fade away.
But then there's this thing in your head and its raging, lighting every nerve with madness to fight, to survive, and all the while this question lingers before you. Have you have enough? Its funny. You could pass a lifetime without every facing a choice like that.
Yet it changes you forever."
~Silco.
Revenge
Silco heard them.
He knew what to listen for of course, which helped quite a bit in the long run. That faint sound of feet against metal, of boots running the roof, two shadows racing against the moonlight to bring swift bloody revenge down upon his head. A lesser man would have been frightened. Not him. He'd been looking forward to this. It was, as they say, inevitable. Now that they'd finished causing chaos in the Piltover with the Sherrif, the Council, and the Kirramans...and with Vander still indisposed after that explosion at the Last Drop -a shame, really, he didn't endorse what Marcus had done- and three of his four precious children missing...
...well. it was only natural they came after him.
Tonight, everything would change.
One way or another.
It was a little crude, he would admit, the base violence necessary for change. But the topsiders wouldn't listen and he had nothing left to lose. Victory wasn't a necessity in the war to come. He just had to scare them. Then they wouldn't dare set foot in the underground again. And on the off chance they did...
"Silco?"
He looked away from the ceiling to find Vi tugging at his arm.
She truly was a diamond in the rough this one, a gem just waiting to be polished.
Truly, she was wasted on Vander. He'd been a fool, filling her head with idealistic nonsense.
It was he who had shown her the truth of the world. Power, real power, didn't come to those who were born strongest, or fastest, or even smartest. No, it came to those who will do anything to achieve it. She understood that now. Nothing could change without power. It was the currency that made the world go round.
He looked at her for a long moment, considering this tired, exhausted girl.
He'd been right all along. Vi was the real prize.
Such spite this one had.
Such seething rage.
Such HATE.
By comparison, her "brothers" were so much chaff. He would happily welcome to them to his side of course, should they make the right choice, but he wouldn't particularly miss them if they didn't.
But they mattered to Vi and were an effective means , so he would keep them...for now.
"They're coming, aren't they?"
"Indeed they are." he heard a shout in the distance. "Come along. Its time."
She let him guide her away while the rest of his followers finished their preparations, but he didn't miss her sidelong look. "What do you want exactly?
He'd been waiting for that very question. "Respect, opportunity, everything they denied us." he led her to an adjacent room across the walkway, beckoned her closer and bid her sit in a chair." Your father, that is to say Vander and I, shared a vision. A dream of freedom. Not just for the lanes but the whole of the underground, united as one. The Nation of Zaun."
Her brow furrowed in consternation. "You know the Topsiders won't let us...
"I know." he patted her head, drawing an annoyed noise from her. "You see, child, the only way to defeat a superior enemy is to stop at nothing to become what they fear. I hated your Father for a time, but he had my respect, because I feared him, or rather, what he could become... until he made peace with Piltover." just thinking of it made his infected eye ache. "When the so-called Hound of the Underground chose to play lapdog to our oppresses after everything we suffered, I knew it was time to act. Now we have the power to do."
He withdrew three vials from his vest.
Vi tensed. Doubtless she suspected one vial was for her. But the other two...
"Shimmer." he held it up before her, letting her glimpse the ominously-violet liquid within. "Singed has perfected the formula."
Vi hesitated, eyeing the vial as one might a snake, poised to bite. "But you said it was dangerous."
"Anything is dangerous in enough doses." his fingers twirled the vial on his knuckles for a moment before presenting it to her. "This is the power you seek. With this, no one will ever be able to hurt you ever again. With this, he emphasized the words once more, never once looking away from her, "We can finally realize the dream held by all of the Lanes for so long. Will you and your brothers die for a cause, or will you fight for one?"
Her fingers closed around the vial...and his.
Vi looked at him for a long moment. "...I'll fight. I'll make Mylo and Claggor understand, too."
Silco felt something strangely akin pride in that moment.
"That's my girl."
(.0.0.0.)
It was easy to slip inside.
Almost too easy.
Wasn't it?
No one challenged them as they crept inside the dilapidated building. That was Naruto first warning. He could see people within, lurking in the lower levels, yet not one of them challenged him or Powder. Not a single, solitary soul so much as glanced their way. C'mon, he knew people never looked up, but this was ridiculous. Even the most basic of basic thugs should at least have their wits about them.
They kept low to the ground and kept quiet, yet still, it was strange that they didn't encounter a single guard.
Stranger still, he couldn't sense Powder's siblings. Not Vi or Claggor or even that annoying Mylo.
Come to think of it, he couldn't sense anyone nearby, save Powder.
Nothing. Just...a void.
Did Silco have some way of masking their presence? Maybe that Singed fellow he was working with had figured something out. And what was that ominous chill he felt in the air?
"I've got a bad feeling about this...
Yeah, Kurama didn't need to tell him twice.
He tried to rally his rampant emotions with a more pleasant thought exercise.
Piltover was essentially paralyzed. Their enforcers had been gutted, their council paralyzed by indecision, the Kirramans brought to heel after Powder had a friendly little "chat" with them. The three pillars of the city, once so prosperous and proud, had been brought low. Why, the whole of the Lanes could probably march right across the bridge and face little resistance. But not yet. Sevika would see to that; she was rallying them even now, gathering them, rallying every able-bodied man and woman she could scrounge up.
Once he finished here, he intended to lead them with his little...surprise.
But only after they retrieved Powder's siblings.
"Psst!" his apprentice elbowed him.
He looked her way, frowning a little as she flicked a finger towards a fortified door across a catwalk. Someone had bothered to barricade it, but done so crudely; like they'd just slapped a few latches on it and called things a day. Suspicious. But it also seemed to simple. What were the chances that the first door they'd found would be the one they sought?
"Think she's in there?
She beamed as him through her half-mask. "Seems as good a place to look as any."
He took the lead as they crept across the catwalk. Still no challenge. Not even the most meager of resistance.
It was a simple matter to break the locks. From there Powder grasped the handle an swung the door open on its hinges-
An empty room awaited them with an equally empty chair, its shackles undone.
"What?" Powder hissed and tugged down her mask in confusion. "There's no one here?"
Realization dawned. No guards. No interference. An open narrow walkway leading to an unlocked, empty cell.
It had been easy. Far too easy.
Which could only mean...
This was a trap.
"Welcome!" a familiar voice intoned behind them. "You have my congratulations for making it this far. Step into the cell and restrain yourselves; in return, you won't be harmed."
He already knew who he would find behind them when he turned; it didn't stop him from pivoting regardless.
Sure enough, there he was, with all his goons in tow.
A quick headcount confirmed it; more than a dozen of them.
"Silco." He blew out a sharp, aggravated breath. "You shouldn't be here."
"Neither should you." the mogul tilted his head. "We had an agreement, didn't we?"
"You broke it first!"
"So I did." His smile held no warmth; didn't even reach his eye. "Old habits, I suppose. You see," a knife flicked out in is hand, visible for a moment, then quickly sheathed. "I simply can't stand the idea of an outsider usurping my dream. You've done a great deal of work for me, work that would've taken my years to accomplish alone. For that, I thank you-
Powder bulled past him. "Where's Vi?"
"Why, she's right here." Silco stepped aside, and his so-called soldiers did the same. "As are the rest of your dear siblings."
Remarkably, he was telling the truth.
Vi and the kids looked healthy.
They were no shackles on them. They weren't held captive. They were free...their faces grim. And in an awful instant he understood.
Silco must've turned them somehow, convinced each of them, brought them round to his way of thinking. All three of them.
Powder must have realized it as well; because she made a pained noise. "Vi...? Why are you standing over there?"
...I'm doing the right thing, Powder." Vi's dirty face turned her way. "You should, too."
She hiccuped painfully. "Vi...?"
Her sister looked away and Naruto felt Powder's emotions twist painfully in her chest.
"Mylo?" she sought her siblings in vain. "Claggor? What's going on?"
The latter wouldn't look her in the eye. But the former...
"What's it look like?" Mylo swaggered forward, hands on his hips. "We're making the smart play and getting payback. What other choice do we have? Its all thanks to you...Jinx."
Powder shivered and fought down a pained cry at his side. "Don't call me that! I'm not a jinx!"
"You are!" her so-called brother hissed back. "Look how this turned out!"
Naruto caught her shoulder before she could surge forward.
"Mylo!" Vi snapped at him. "Shut it!"
"Two choices lay before you." Silco held out a hand. "The first, I find, is the easiest. Join us. Finish what you started under my leadership. Just think of what we can achieve if we work together." When neither made any effort to capitulate, his brow creased. "Or you can die. The choice is yours-
"Never!" Powder burst out, teeth bared. "You tried to kill Vander!"
"I had no part in bombing the Last Drop, child." much his annoyance the mad mogul remained calm as ever. "Join me, and I'll happily hand you the true culprit's head on a silver platter. You're here for him too, aren't you?"
A strangled noise echoed somewhere from the back of the crowd. It sounded an awful lot like Marcus. "This wasn't part of the deal!"
Silco shrugged. "Deal's changed."
So they thought it was that simple, did they? Not a chance.
"You don't seem to understand." Naruto craned his neck and spotted the battered enforcer a ways near the exit. "I'll be leaving with his head, one way or the other."
Silco blew out a quick exasperated breath. "Only monsters like us deal in absolutes. We will do what we must."
"Fine." A tired sigh pierced the foggy gloom. "You will try."
Silco smiled again, and this time that smile held en edge, "But I'm afraid this will be a very short reunion. You remember Deckard, don't you, Powder?"
Some scraggly blond boy emerged from the pack of people, clutching a vial in his hand, red in the face.
Powder squinted at him. "Uh...no?"
Apparently the boy remembered her. "I finally found you! You little shit, you made a fool of me! I'll make you pay!"
Powder quirked a brow. "Deckard, was it? Scram. I don't have time for-
The boy tipped a vial back and drank deep from within.
His muscles bulged. Twisted, as his body grew.
And he became something...more.
"DIE."
Powder quailed a the sight.
Naruto gripped her shoulder. "You can do this. Remember, you're stronger than you know."
Hmm. He saw the resolve harden in her eyes. "Gotcha."
He stepped past her and walked up to SIlco.
A big bruiser tried to get in his way.
CLONK!
Not for long.
"That's your weakness, boy." Silco tutted at him as he stepped over the man's stunned form. "You carry your chin so high you fail to see the opportunity below. We're not so different, you and I. We both want the same things. Equality. Justice."
Lies hidden behind pithy preaching. "What you're doing here isn't justice."
"Isn't it?" A wry smile tugged at his scarred face. "Rest assured, I know full well I stand no chance against you in a fair fight...which is why I came prepared."
There was something in his voice just then, an odd hitch that left him ill at ease.
"Didn't you think it odd?" Silco crooned at him. "Why would I possibly go to such lengths when I knew I had no chance of winning against you?
Shutters slammed down over the broken windows above and around them, plunging the room into near total darkness.
But why lock them all in here? What possible purpose did that serve? None. Unless...?
All the blood drained from Naruto's face. "You wouldn't."
"I would. Unlike you, I would do anything to see my dream realized. And I do mean anything.
He sucked in an angry breath, only for it to lodge in his throat.
What was this? Why couldn't he breathe?
"You don't recognize it, do you?" Silco stepped back, keeping well out of arms reach. "But how could you? You're a stranger to Zaun."
Naruto grit his teeth.
"You have no idea where we came from." Silco's voice rang overhead as he struggled for air. "The mines they had us in. Air so thick it clogged your throat. Stuck in your eyes."
He lurched forward, but his lungs screamed, sapping his strength and Silco evaded him once more.
"I pulled my people up from the depths. Offered then a taste of topside, and fresh air. I gave them purpose. Do you even have one?
The air blurred around him, distorting his vision.
"You don't, do you? Of course not. Too much time in the sun. I came from a world where there was never enough to go around. That is why I fight. And you will remember-
Enough!
Kurama's chakra surged up out of him, his eyes flashed gold and his hands slammed together, blasting Silco away with a wall of wind.
He took a deep breath. Threw his head back. And then:
"Powder! Permission to kill!"
Her heard whipped around with a start as she clobbered a goon. "But you said not to!"
This is an exception! Sparks crackled through the air. "Stop holding back!"
She hollered an affirmative as he stalked after Silco.
It wasn't hard to follow him; he trailed him with ease; one had but to follow the bloodstains. He'd hit him pretty hard back there...
.
..
...ah. There he was. Hadn't even taken him a minute.
"That was a clever trick with the poison, but you're done. Give up already."
The mad mogul grinned at him, leaning against a wall, holding something in his hand. "Never...!"
Naruto heard something click. Under the walkway?
Horrified, he raced back the way he'd come..
And the world went white.
"Powder!"
(.0.0.0.)
Deckard went flying.
Powder didn't give him the chance recover; the second he was airborne, she caught him by the leg and whipped him into the first solid surface she could find. His back struck a wall and she left him there, dazed as the rest closed in on her like a pack of vultures on a helpless kitten. Well too bad! This kitty had claws!
Jab.
Hook.
Uppercut.
Right, left, right again.
She picked her moments, waiting for each thug to overextend themselves. She wasn't as small as she used to be, but she was nimble and agile and quick as can be; no one could lay a hand on her. She worked her way through Silco's groupies like a meat-grinder, kicking and whirling with reckless abandon. Bones broke. Flesh flayed. Sinew shattered. Chakra sang a song of savagery through her and she danced to it gleefully, grinning as she finally felt FREE for the first time in forever-
"Powder!"
She flinched despite herself and the metaphorical music died in her head.
It cost her dearly. A fist found her face, snapped her head to the side and knocked her down.
She whirled with a grown, only to find her worse opponent standing before her.
Not Mylo or Claggor, they were hanging back. She could've taken them.
But not her. Why did it have to be her?
"Vi, wait!" she scrambled back, hands raised. "I don't wanna fight you! You're on the wrong side-
"WRONG SIDE?!" she barely fended of the barrage of blows that followed; it only seemed to make Vi angrier. "They killed our parents, Powder! Do you even remember? Do you care?!
How could she ever forget that day? "Of course I do! Vi, that wasn't what I meant-
"Of course you didn't!" a stern shove sent her sprawling. "But you don't really mean anything, do you? You're too busy fawning over him, focusing on him, falling for him! And with each step you take toward him, you leave us further and further behind! Well, no more!"
"That's not what this is about!"
"Yes it is!" her sister, her entire world, practically exploded. "Ever since you met that blond bastard, you've been acting all high and mighty, like you're above us now; because you have something, because you're somebody, because you have power! And what do the rest of us have?! NOTHING!" She threw a wild punch, missing by a mile as she hopped back. "We weren't chosen! We weren't given your gifts! When I asked, you refused! I've done things you can't possibly imagine and I'll do worse if it means no one else has to live like this! If you won't fight then we will!"
"We? Who the hell is we?! Naruto and I are fighting back-
"Its not good enough!" VI wasn't having it. I grew up knowing that I'm less than them, that my place is down here and if I want more, I'm gonna have to fight for it. And I won't stop at half measures, unlike you!"
Anger sparked deep within her. "Do you even hear yourself? Who are you wiling to lose for this?! Mylo? Claggor? Me?!
"You sound like the old man."
"Maybe I should!" She bit her lip. "The way you're acting...
It was the wrong thing to say and she realized it much too late.
"You say that because you have a patron!" Vi slammed a fist down on the railing, shattering it. "A purpose! POWER!" She stabbed a hand into her belt and withdrew a clear vial from within; an awful violet light shimmered in its depths. "And now so do I!"
"Vi, no! That's poison! You saw what it did to Deckard! You can't-"
"Did Naruto tell you that?" her lip curled in an ugly sneer. "I'm not like you Power. I'm tired of the world walking all over me! This is real power, just like yours, and its all mine!
Quick as a flash Vi popped the cap, knocked it back and drained its contents in a single gulp.
"No!" Powder flung out a hand and grabbed at her, only for a meaty fist to backhand her.
She was too late.
Vi hunched over with a gasp of pure pain. Veins of viscous violet burst across her body as her heart began to hammer, beating in time to her rapid little gasps. In an instant her body gained size and mass that it simply hadn't possessed before; she became taller, faster, stronger It didn't help that she was already older than her, more experienced in a fight. She always had been taller, but now she loomed over her; like her body had gained years in an instant. She shuffled forward at an awkward lurch, burning yes fixed upon her, arms raised to box.
"Make your choice!"
Powder stared at her and her courage quailed deep within her chest.
The effect wouldn't last, she knew. That much Shimmer would burn through you fast. If she got through the next few minutes she should be fine.
If.
Big if.
Very big if!
This was Vi! She couldn't fight her own sister, she just couldn't-
"Choose, Powder. What will your answer be?" Vi's eyes burned tainted shade of purple, her voice warped and distorted as she shuffled ever closer. "Make your move. But one way or another, you're coming with me."
"No!"
"Wasn't asking." Vi blurred in at her at hear and swung wildly, an attack she barely evaded. "You're not strong like me, Powder!
Naruto's voice rang in her head, clear as clarion bell.
You're stronger than you know.
She took a deep breath and drew upon her chakra-
The very building itself shook under their feet.
Vi rounded on her. "What did you do?!"
She never had a chance to answer.
"POWDER!"
Someone grabbed her.
And the world inverted around her with a fiery roar of napalm.
(.0.0.0.)
All of Piltover saw it.
That blistering column of fire.
It was the blast heard round the world.
(.0.0.0.)
The world reasserted itself.
Naruto awoke with a start, alarmed to find himself pinned beneath a mountain or rubble.
His skull ached abominably and he couldn't see straight. His first thought was to rise; only for a jagged pain in his back to force him back down. Gritting his teeth he struggled against it and somehow succeeded in gaining enough leverage to at least turn his head about. Everything was burning; half the complex was on fire. Where was...?
Powder lay sprawled out not a yard away, her left arm blackened and burned, pinned under fallen debris.
Sparks sizzled overhead as she whimpered softly, unconscious, alive, but clearly in terrible pain.
Panic bleated in his chest, quickening his pulse to a feverish degree.
And then he heard something else. Silco's voice in the smog.
"Kill him!"
His focus sharpened.
Kill him. Not Powder. But if he died here, they would take her. And then what would happen?
He'd already turned Vi and her brothers. If he got his hands on her...
His mind had a terrible premonition, then, of a girl with a shattered mind who called herself Jinx.
"Please don't let me become her...
Something stirred inside him.
'Get up!' he hissed at his unresponsive body. 'Rise, damn you! If you don't get up right now, nothing will change! GET UP!'
His arms braced against the ground. Muscles bulged. Pushed.
And the rubble gave way.
He was unarmed. His hands empty. His back riddled with burns he'd taken protecting Powder, one arm hanging loosely at his side. So much blood. Yet still he stalked forward. By the sage, how was he still moving...? Bravado or sheer willpower. Had to be. He'd collapse any second now.
But he didn't.
By some miracle he still had the strength to move. There was no panic now. Only icy certainty. Complete and utter calm. Any and all emotion ceased to be, replaced by a singular determination. No one could come through that door. He mustn't let anyone past.
You cannot pass.
You must not pass.
You...shall not...pass.
Someone rushed through the doorway at him.
His body reacted violently. A hand slashed out fingers hooked into a claw.
With a yelp his first victim pitched backward, struggling to hold their bleeding face together.
He walked through the doorway, wisps of smoke clinging to his body, and stomped on his skull. Blood and brain matter spattered his face. He kept walking. Forward. Had to move forward. Nothing else mattered beyond the narrow walkway, this bridge that he must hold abov all else.
His thoughts were fizzling, not entirely complete.
He felt...calm. Almost eerily so.
Must have a concussion.
Wasn't that bad?
Wasn't it?
"Don't worry about that; I'll handle it." Just like that, Kurama was there, soothing him, mending his arm, flooding his body with golden chakra. "We've got hostiles. Incoming on your left."
...thanks.'
Deckard lumbered headlong out of the smoke and threw a wild haymaker at him; even through his blurry vision it was plain as day.
Slow. Sloppy. Sad.
In the time it took him to finish that first swing, he'd already figured out how to kill him.
He swayed under it, drove his fist into the boy's collarbone to prevent another jab, and used that momentum to wrap up his arm with his own, bringing the brute close. The empowered lad tried to throw a clumsy punch with his off hand, but it glanced harmlessly off his cheek as he twisted aside.
"Do what must be done. Do not hesitate. Show no mercy."
A look of panic flashed across the mutated boy's face.
"Close your heart to it, Naruto. Kill him."
He reeled his free hand back and-
"Time to say goodbye."
His first punch blew clean through Deckard's torso. The second blasted the boy's arm clean off. The third obliterated his head entirely. Three punches in as many seconds. He let him go, uncaring as the boy's crumbling corpse tumble to the ground. Rest in pieces. He wouldn't be missed.
He limped forward across the catwalk. "Next...
If this was what mercy got him...
...mercy could go hang.
Perspective was key here he knew, but he just didn't care. He should. He really should. This wasn't him. He didn't usually feel this cold. But they'd brought this upon themselves; allied with a madman, someone he'd wanted to trust, wanted to believe in...but where had that belief led him? Here. To this moment. Powder trapped in the rubble, him injured, with no way out. There could be only one recourse, one recompense for this temerity. Stop holding back.
"Show them who you are."
So he did. Nothing simpler than that.
Mylo reached him next, his wiry body sped on by Shimmer.
Sly. Slick. Speedy...but he had seen faster.
He swept his legs, grabbed him by the ankle and slammed him facefirst into the scaffolding. The snarky little shit tried to get up; a testament to the efficacy of the drug coursing through his veins.
"What," he rasped, spitting violet blood, "What are you?"
Naruto didn't finish him off not for the twit's sake, but Powder.
A simple backhand broke the boy's nose and knocked him clean out.
"Mylo!"
Claggor barreled over his brother's fallen form and slammed into him like a charging bull, driving him back pace, so empowered was he by Shimmer. Naruto caught him and dug his feet in, slowing his charge. Stopping it entirely, now. He heard the beefy boy gasp. Immaterial. This fight had been decided the moment he freed himself from the rubble.
Strong. Sturdy. Superior...but not enough.
He grunted once in acknowledgement of the boy's newfound strength, raised both hands above his head and brought his palms down on either of the boy's ears with a resounding clap. Claggor's inner eardrums burst like a balloon and he recoiled with a yowl of pain leaving himself wide opened. He grabbed the foolish, foolish boy by the face and bashed his skull against the railing. Down he went. He'd live and heal in time.
And then there was Vi.
She was stronger and faster than her brothers. Maybe smarter, too.
A feint left, then right, and she was upon him, hammering in blow after blow like a boxer.
He let her hit him, took one punch to the face, then another, three, four, five, allowed her to exhaust herself and get close...
The moment she faltered, he grabbed her right arm and twisted in a single decisive moment. She cried out in pain, dropping to a knee.
"Don't you see how pointless this is?" he stared down at her, wondering why she struggled so. "Stop being so damn stubborn and make up with Powder already. We can still fix this...
She flung burning ash in his eyes, annoying him.
...stop that."
Shimmer might make you strong but it had nothing on chakra. Vi's bones broke like brittle beer bottles as her arm went limp in his grasp. She screamed and threw another punch with her remaining arm. Her caught that fist in an open palm and squeezed, shattering her knuckles, breaking every bone in her hand and rendering her hand useless. She'd never throw another punch again.
"Why you?!" she yowled at him. "Why is it always you?! If only you didn't exist!"
"If only I didn't exist?" He blinked at her, still numb to it all. "You're the one who started this. Now you cry because its not fair? Grow up."
She kept struggling; kept trying to tear herself away.
Really shouldn't do that. She might-
Too little, too late.
In her maddened frenzy, Vi tore her own arm off to get free, ripping it away at the shoulder. Shimmer made your body strong, but fragile. She should've realized it. Her scream of pain would haunt his dreams, her terrified expression moreso as she stumbled back, clean off to get free, leaving him holding her limb.
"I hate you!
He couldn't let it end like this.
"You're Powder's sister, Vi. She loves you-
"She's not my sister!" she spat Shimmer at him. "Not after this! Not after today!
"Yes, she is." he favored her with a small, sad sigh. "You're just too angry to see it right now."
When he gave chase, she stumbled back, clutching at her bloody stump. Naruto wondered if he should pursue her.
He could capture her; could take her and try to fix this. But what good would that do? You couldn't force someone to be who they weren't. This was a matter between her and Powder. He'd tried interfering before. That only made things worse. Powder was already fractured, Vi was breaking those fractures into fissues. If this kept up, she might well shatter.
.
..
...maybe it was better this way.
"Go." he threw Vi's arm down at her feet. "Get it reattached if you can. I never want to see you again."
She snatched it, paused long enough to sling her siblings over her shoulders and scarpered.
Naruto let her go, watching warily as she vanished into the smoke.
"I hope you know what you're doing."
'So do I-ow!'
A knife slammed into his back and shattered against sage-enhanced skin. Even then he didn't feel angry. Not at all. Just...disappointed.
He whirled and grabbed the perpetrator with both hands. Silco grunted in surprise, choking as twin palms closed around his throat. It was easy to choke him out. Downright effortless. Even now he could break his neck like a twig and no one would be able to stop him.
"You don't learn, do you?" the sound of his own calm voice would've been concerning once if he wasn't so concussed. "If poison couldn't kill me, if your bombs couldn't kill me, what made you think a knife would?!"
Flames flared behind him as the fire built. An explosion was imminent. Powder wouldn't survive.
He had a choice. Kill Silco or save Powder.
Kill or save. Save, or kill.
No choice at all.
Silco smirked. Actually smirked at him! The rat bastard. He though he'd won..
"I knew...you didn't...have it in you."
Poor choice of words.
"You think I'm sparing you." Naruto snarled and shifted his grip on him, digging a thumb into the mad mogul's infected eye. "I'm not. Dying is easy. Painless." he pushed down, drawing an agonized cry from his soon to be victim "You don't get to go easy. No. You're going to suffer for everything you've done here today, all of it, every bit of it. You'll live long enough to waste away, until you're a shell of your former self...and then, only then, will I take your life. But first?" he tightened his grip, blood bubbling up under his fingernail. "I'm taking this eye...
Without a wordless snarl, he slammed his thumb into the mastermind's eye and popped it like a grape.
Silco yowled in pain, the cry of a powerless man, and slumped in his grasp. His mark was made.
...and giving you a tan!"
Naruto whirled and flung the maimed mastermind into the inferno.
The screams that followed would forever haunt his dreams.
A small price to pay for karmic retribution.
He spared Silco's flailing form a passing glance bent low to grab Powder, and leaped for one of the broken window shutters.
Heat slammed into his back, propelling him through and outside the building at breakneck speed.
Naruto curled around Powder protectively and grit his teeth as best he could.
The ground rushed up to meet him like an old friend.
Naruto closed his eyes and braced himself.
Darkness swept in.
A/N: And scene.
Hope this chapter put a smile on your face!
Getting closer and closer to the inevitable timeskip here...who knows what'll happen?
As ever, we're following the Ember's Rule here. That's no joke. Really, it isn't. If folks don't like this...well, I'll not continue it. Every bit of feedback helps. Reviews are the fuel which keeps me writing in these crazy times. With my tight schedule, I simply don't have time to write a story folks don't like. Without them, my inspiration cannot take wing and I can't write a word. So by all means, speak up!
Reviews are my lifeblood. Without them, I cannot write.
So In the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Revieeeeew, Would You Kindly?
They keeps an old man alive.
And enjoy the previews.
Mostly the same:
SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!
PLOT DETAILS AHOY!
YE BE WARNED!
Get ready to smile~!
Obvious references are obvious~!
(POTENTIAL!) Previews! Playing the long game here. Don't want to spoil things.
Reference to the song in the first episode of Arcane.
He sucked in a breath.
Vander blew out a sigh. "You've kicked the hornet's nest now...
Powder walked across the bridge, an army at her back.
And as she walked, she began to sing.
That same sad song, that she'd sung once as a child, so long ago.
"Dear friend, across the river, my hands are cold and bare. Dear friend across the river, I'll take what you can spare. I ask of you a penny, my fortune it will be, I ask you without envy, my heart is bare as can be...
We raise no mighty towers, for our homes are built of stone...
...so come across the river...and find...yourself...alone."
She drew her daggers and waded in.
EDIT: Hey, you made it!
As ever, we're following the Ember's Rule here. That's no joke. Really, it isn't. If folks don't like this, if people don't enjoy...well, I won't continue it. What's the point in writing something no one likes? Every bit of feedback helps. Reviews are the fuel which keeps me writing in these crazy times. With my tight schedule -two jobs!- I simply don't have time to write a story folks don't like. Without them, my inspiration cannot take wing and I can't write a word. So by all means, speak up!
Looking forward to chatting with you all~!
R&R~!