A/N: Its finally here!
The moment you've all been waiting for~! Speaking of waiting...
I'll say it plain, if this email opt-in business with the site doesn't get resolved soon, I'm probably going to retire.
It HURTS to say that; but with this new system, reviews and readers have dropped to an all time low, authors are leaving the site in droves, and it feels like the end of an era.
If you're not already aware of it, ever since the 16th of November-almost two bloody months now!-you have to turn ON your email alerts in account settings-MAKE SURE YOU CLICK SAVE SETTINGS!-else you won't be notified when anyone updates. No alerts, no email, no nothing. Apparently that's a thing we all have to do every ninety days or so, now. Alas, not many are aware of it...which is a problem. As things stand this new "fix" as it were, has cut everyone's viewership/reviewers in half because most folks don't know about it. Authors are leaving/quitting because of this.
Sometimes the app helps in works. Sometimes it doesn't. Really depends. Hopefully the devs can fix tweak/update this system before everyone leaves.
So here we go. The fate of this story depends on you, the reader. Your feedback determines the fate of this story, and all others.
I hate having to beg for feedback, but without it...well, it feels like I'm not making an impact.
No questions again, only story. Alright, this old man has kept you waiting long enough.
As ever, I own no references quotes, themes or memes. They're merely tributes.
So in lieu of a long authors note...here...we...go!
"You seem like a calm and reasonable person, Vi. Are you? A calm and reasonable person...?"
~A Legend.
Calm and Reasonable
Violence was not the answer, Naruto found.
It was easy to think of it as such, but that's where many were wrong...and not in the way one might think.
For you see, Violence was not the answer. No, no, no. That much was undoubtedly true. Nope, not the answer at all, nosiree...
.
..
...it was the question.
And the answer was yes. Yes, yes, yes. A dozen times, yes. A hundred times. Yes! A thousand times! Yes!
After everything Vi had put Jinx through, he felt a bit of violence was the least he owed Vi.
Black eyes, broken bones, a beating besides.
He checked his gauntlet for what felt like the umpteenth time as he stomped through the streets of Zaun, making sure its explosive charges were pressed and primed at the ready. They were. Of course they were. Jinx did good work. When she wasn't distracted. When her past wasn't tormenting her. When her traitor sister wasn't running around kicking up a shit storm in Zaun because she thought it was the right thing to do.
Ha!
Right? Wrong?
What would Vi know about any of that?
You didn't slap your little sister for trying to help you. You didn't curse her and call her a Jinx. You didn't leave her crying in the rain for ANY reason.
Say what you would about Vi, but from what he'd learned of her, he was beginning to think she was a right hypocritical bitch. He hadn't even met her and already he hated her. Not even an hour after trailing Sevika and already he'd heard rumors of her asking after Powder. Not Jinx. Powder. As if that were still her name; as if she were the same innocent girl, as though it weren't her fault for making her this broken girl. No, not her, never her, she was the heroine here, the protagonist, that no good shitty excuse of a SISTER-
"Woops." He paused, planted his unarmored hand on a nearby wall, and took a deep breath to steady himself. "Gotta watch m'temper...
His reflection stared back at him from a shattered glass window, letting him watch his blue eyes bleed into red, then back again. A deep breath kept them there. He could feel his anger mounting and the fox's chakra rising writhing within, eager to lash out at his enemies once more.
Best keep that under wraps long as he could.
He could relatively hold himself back up to three tails, but once he went past that...well. The results spoke for themselves after what he'd let loose in the prison. He had no desire to become that "thing" again. Where was the point in having power if it made him a mindless, raging beast. Best to do this on his own. He couldn't trust the fox not to lash out at innocents.
"I'm not the one who loses my mind when you use that power. You do."
"Oho!" Naruto snatched up one of the broken shards and stared at it with a grin. "He speaks again!"
"I'm not some mindless monster and you damn well know it." A dark render of his reflection stared back at him from within the shard of glass; glaring with red eyes and scowling fangs. "Treat me as such and I'll not help you a second time."
"Yeah?" he quirked a blond brow. "I can handle this myself."
"Can you, now?" The Fox scoffed. "Funny, and here I was willing to make an exception and help you, just this once."
Well, this smelled like a trap-no, it absolutely reeked. "What's the occasion?"
"I do not take kindly to those who carelessly abandon their kin."
His brow climbed higher. "Something you're not telling me?"
The glass shard shattered in his hand, but the beast's voice remained. "Bite me, boy. Better yet, bite Jinx. Probably how she likes it.
His face burned. "Low blow."
"Don't talk shit if you're not ready to get hit."
He was still speaking when an explosive distant crash echoed not nine paces ahead of them.
"Aha!" Naruto whirled, a wide, shit-eating grin tearing across his tan face. "Showtime!"
A quick hop skip and a jump launched him upright into the air.
From there he kicked off a wall, rocketed forward and-
Pink hair filled his vision.
(.0.0.0.)
"You need to let Powder die. So the fear of pain will no longer control you...
Silco eased her back into the water.
Jinx slowly closed her eyes.
In that moment she failed to hear it.
Away in the distance, muffled by the water.
A muffled explosion.
(.0.0.0.)
Today just wasn't her day.
Vi was tired. Sore, aching, and utterly at the limit of her patience. Her nose was bleeding-worse she was pretty damn sure Sevika might've knocked a tooth or two loose during their brawl. Didn't matter. She had that bitch dead to rights and pinned to the ground. One hand was wrapped against the traitor's throat, the other pinning that awful mech-arm of hers, the better to demand information. She'd tell her where Powder was, one way or another. She would not be denied.
"Where's my sister?!" Finally, she'd have her answers and with them, vengeance. "Where is Silco keeping her?!"
"Keeping her?" Sevika scoffed up at her. "Are you cracked? She works for him!"
What? No. Impossible! "I don't believe you!"
"No?" Sevika looked around, well past her now. Her battered grin gained an edge that hadn't been there before. "Ask her boyfriend, then."
"Boy...?" Vi growled and gripped her throat harder. "Really?" Trying to get me to look away? That's the oldest trick in the book-
A shadow fell over her. "Mind if I cut in?"
Vi heard the words, saw a red flash, smelled burned flesh. Then everything went wrong. An open palm smashed into her side with all the force of a hurricane. Two ribs snapped like so much kindling. She had time enough to feel that; then her world went sideways and she was ripped off Sevika, sent tumbling end over end hand like a skipping stone.
A building broke her fall. Unlucky her.
"I've got this, mom." a distant voice rang in her ringing ears. "Fall back. Stick to the plan."
...thanks kid."
Vi bridled. Mom? No, nevermind that.
Blinking the stars away from her vision, she struggled upright, warding one arm before her face to fend off an attack.
It never came.
Sevika was limping away -no!- but the moment she lunged after her, someone intercepted her.
"Hello, there!" Merry blue eyes met hers as her vision cleared, shining from a dirty visage framed by long unruly blond hair and whiskered cheeks; a face even now dimpling in a merry, maddened grin. "You must be Vi." the newcomer thumbed his chin, considering with all the bemusement one might lend to a noisy animal. "I've heard so much about you from Jinx." The strange gauntlet sheathing his right arm cracked and popped as he rolled his shoulders. "She had a lot to say about you."
Powder?! Had he tortured her?! "Who the hell are you?! How do you know Powder?! Where's my sister?!"
"In order? Naruto, your soon-to-be-brother-in-law and far, far away from you." he wagged a finger at her. "How about it, sis?" his voice dripped with saccharine sweetness. "Wanna talk this out like adults? You strike me as a calm and reasonable person. Are you?" his head tilted further to regard her and his smile vanished, his expression gone cold. "A calm and reasonable person?"
"Calm?!" Her temper sparked. She dragged her self to her feet. "How can I be calm?! You have my sister! Where the hell is she?!"
Silence was his answer.
"Screw you!"
Vi swept in to slug him in the face. Quick and hard. Enough to flatten him. She was sure of it. She'd caught her second wind; there was just no way he could fight back with that big gauntlet on his arm-
Imagine her surprise when those clenched knuckles smacked into an open palm. A shit-eating grin tore across Naruto's face. Too late, she realized his once-blue-eyes had gone red. His once round pupil were slitted now, stark and angry like those of some angry dragon. Red light bubbled around him, shimmering like a second skin.
"Didn't think so." his voice warped as he spoke, gaining a feral edge. "ME NEITHER!"
He yanked her down and that ominous gauntlet smashed into her chest. Something sparked in the metal. Her word erupted into fire, blasting her backward into -then through- a wall with impossible force, spraying dust and black smoke in every direction. She crashed through it with a strangled grunt.
"I've been waiting for this." he waded out into the street after her, rolling his shoulder. "Y'see, I'm not from around here. We do things a little bit differently where I come from, back in the Elemental Nations. And you?" a finger rose, jabbing her way. "You owe Jinx a debt for everything you put her through; which means I get a piece of you. Don't worry. You'll pick it up."
She had to stall. Take a minute. Catch her breath."You know me...?"
"Oh, I know all about ya! But you? You're in denial." No dice. He waded in and she had to defend herself. A roundhouse caught his chin. He took it, turned, and headbutted her, sending her reeling. "You left her!" Clenched fists hammered a series of harsh punches against her ribs, each hit rocking her back on her heels. "YOU! LEFT! Not her. You." blow after blow barreled into her gut until she finally folded over them. A hand grabbed her by the hair and yanked hard, hauling her to her feet as she gasped for air. "And now you think you can just waltz back in after all this time like nothing happened...?"
He leaned forward. His forehead touched hers.
"I don't think so.
Vi slugged him in the nose. He didn't even bleed. Another punch made her knuckles ache. By the third, her fist was bleeding. All the while those cold, red eyes never left hers.
"Is that all?"
A disdainful kick knocked her onto her back.
"Get up." his voice growled at her. "I'm not leaving until I see the real you."
She rolled onto her good side, cradling her ribs. "What...?"
"Show me the monster that made Jinx." A boot nudged her shoulder. "Show me the sister who doesn't give a damn."
"I don't what you're talking about!"
"Yes, you do." he dropped down onto his haunches to glower at her. "Drop the high and mighty act before I drop you."
A bullet pinged harmlessly of his armored back and ricocheted into the street. Naruto paused, scoffed and looked up to the rafters.
"Clever girl." Scarlet slits flashed, glowing in the gloom. "Clever won't beat me. Call your little sheriff friend down here, Vi. We'll make it a party~!"
Bless her simple soul, Caitlyn didn't rise to the bait as he intended. Vi almost wished she had.
Instead, her rifle barked again.
Naruto's unarmored hand rose to meet it. He caught the bullet between two fingers. Inspected it for a moment. Frowned.
"No?" the blond tutted softly and shifted his grip on the bullet casing, placing it upon between his thumb and forefinger. "Fine." he squinted now, focusing on something only he could see. "Have it your own way. Lets see, she should be over there...!
A pit of dread opened up in Vi's stomach. "Caitlyn...!"
Naruto flicked the bullet back with such speed that the air popped, creating a visible shockwave in its wake. A shrill cry of pain rose over its passing. Not a heartbeat later the sheriff fell from her perch and struck the street in a heap. Blood began to pool beneath her trembling body, stemming from an ugly wound in her right shoulder.
"Ooops." Naruto shrugged. "Was aiming for her hand, but that works. Clock's ticking, Vi. You better hope she's got some bandages on her, or she'll bleed out at this rate...
"..."
"Are you feeling sad, Vi?" When she didn't answer, his face twisted in the dark rictus of a scowl. "Humiliated, is that it? Idiot!" He stomped down on her stomach when she made to rise, drawing an agonized gasp from her. Another stomp followed, forcing her to catch his boot or be crushed beneath it. "You don't know what humiliation is!
Anger sparked anew; giving her the strength to roll aside. She came up swinging. "And what do you know?!"
"That Jinx doesn't need you." He ducked her wild haymaker with silent ease. "Not anymore." A fist swung back, sheathed in crimson might. "In fact, she's better off without a sister who LEFT!" It struck her square in the chin, hurtling her away. Naruto's hand caught her by the ankle in midflight and laughing, he spun, flinging her headlong into a building. Her spine struck a table and left her cartwheeling over it before she finally found a wall. Something popped in her back and she gasped, spine arching in agony.
A fresh cloud of dust billowed by as the roof creaked ominously above.
"What will it be, Vi." Naruto's shadow appeared in the haze. "Fight or flight? Will you give up or-
His head snapped to the side, cheek twisting just so as she lunged out the smoke and smashed a fist into his scowling face. She hit him with all her might. His feet didn't budge. Those red eyes blazed a twisted, poisonous violet shade of scarlet. He turned back, uncaring of the clenched knuckles in his face. Her hand began to burn as it pushed against the sinister scarlet shroud engulfing him. Gritting her teeth only made it worse; finally she had to draw back or risk losing her hand entirely.
It didn't stop her from swinging again.
Naruto took the blow full on, whipped his head around and spat blood upon the ground.
"There she is." A finger came up, jabbing her away. "There's the monster who doesn't care about anyone but herself. And you call that a punch? Really? Lemme show ya something...!"
He swayed left, right now, evading a series of quick jabs. Then he was on her again.
A rousing uppercut rocketed up into Vi's chin at speed and quite suddenly she found herself airborne again, spinning end over end. Naruto leaped up after her, grabbed her in midair, and brought her crashing back to earth in a vicious piledriver. A hand closed around the back of her head as she lay in the street, stunned. Up her face went. Down into the street. Up again. Down once more.
Once. Twice. Thrice now, until she tasted blood on her tongue and could barely see straight.
"Riddle me this, Little Miss Punch-Alot," Naruto growled down at her stunned form, still gripping the back of her head, clawed fingers biting into her skull. "Did Powder KNOW that place was a chem factory? Did you? No? Tell me, if you saw your only sister about to be beaten to death by some mutated, hulking Shimmer beast, what would YOU have done if you were the one holding that damned bomb?!"
The words rattled her more than she cared to admit. "That's a lie! You're lying!"
"Am I, now? It all adds up. The funny thing is," He yanked her head back by the air until his lips brushed the outer lobe of her ear. "Silco never would've taken Jinx in if you hadn't left her alone on that rainy night. Come to think of it, she never would've felt the need to use that bomb, if you'd brought her with you in the first place. But no." he tutted softly, shaking his head. "You couldn't trust her-instead you abandoned her when she needed you most. You went and walked away. Do you know what that means...
"No!"
...it means, Vi, that this right here?" He gestured to Caitlyn's prone form, the ruined streets, the broken buildings around them, words a low drawl. "Aaaaaall of this? Is your fault. Mylo and Claggor, even Vander...they died because of you."
The weight of his words was an ocean, crushing down on Vi's shoulders, burdening her with unspeakable guilt.
In that instant, her thoughts didn't fracture. They did not break. Nor did they shatter. Had they done so, it would have been a mercy. She would've gladly taken madness over this. No, she was terribly, horribly sane. She was aware of every instant, every word dragging her down, tearing her off her high horse. She'd always thought she had the high ground, so to speak, that she'd done the right thing that night. It hadn't been her fault, or so she'd told herself. But now Naruto's words tore apart the bastion of her self-confidence, dismantling it brick by bitter brick until nothing remained.
She wanted to scream, to lash out. To curse him. All she managed was a strangled sob.
"Look at you," Naruto tutted. "Wasted and gasping for air. Finally realized your failures, eh?" he let go of her hair to pat her head. "Don't worry. I won't kill you. Death is a mercy you don't deserve. No," out the corner of her eye, she saw him shake his head. "You don't get to go yet. First, you're going to see Jinx and realize exactly who you made...she'll decide your fate."
Vi tried to struggle. She really, truly did. It got her nowhere.
Naruto's hand closed around her face.
All the world went black.
A/N: Ominous~!
Sheriff girl ain't dead. She might wish she was, but she isn't.
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, it will remain, but I'll not be able to 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!
As ever, reviews are my lifeblood, my fuel, my sustenance. Without them, I cannot write.
So In the Immortal Words of Atlas... ...Revieeeeew, Would You Kindly?
And enjoy the previews. References are strong here...
(Preview)
Jinx stumbled forward. "Why are you smiling?"
Because he was. Whiskers was absolutely grinning. "I got you a present~!"
She leaned back, eyeing him curiously, wary of his tone. "Am I going to like this present? And why is it moving?"
Naruto yanked the cloth off the chair.
"Don't forget again."
"You never learn. Its almost sad, really, how utterly predictable you are...
"I warned you."
"Fe...ar..."
"Black and white and gray, I don't know what to do with gray...
Silco sighed and knocked back his flask. "Is there anything so endearing as a daughter?"
"Enough! I won't let you get away with this!"
The blond berserker righted himself with a grunt. "Nice hammer, pretty boy. Lets see if you know how to use it."
"JINX!"
EDIT: Hey, you made it! Sorry for the lack of length. Still down with the sickness, as it were.
As ever, the Embers rule remains. If folks don't like this story...well, it will remain, but it won't be continued. With two jobs, and rent to pay, my free time is at an all time low. I'm lucky to have four hours to write a day. I can't afford to pen stories that no one enjoys. So by all means, speak up! Every bit of feedback matters here! Truly, it does! That's no joke!
Looking forward to chatting with you all when I get back from work,
~Nz.
R&R~!