This is a Naruto and Marvel Crossover Fanfiction Only.
Other Franchises will be included.
-Stark Mansion, Los Angeles, California-
-January 26, 2007, 1830h local-
"Hello there, I'm Naruto. What's your name?"
There were a few seconds of awkward silence before it was broken.
"What are you doing?" Tony asked.
"Introducing myself," Naruto said plainly.
"Before that?" Tony asked again, indicating the fighting positions Naruto was still in.
"I heard shouting and running! What was I supposed to think?" Did Naruto defend himself?
"Not attacking just anyone who comes out?" Tony said in a deadpan voice. Naruto finally relaxed his posture after this and stared again at Tony's arms.
"Hi! I'm Naruto! How are you, little lady?" Naruto asked with a friendly smile?
"Again, what are you doing?" Tony asked with a weird look on his face.
"I'm introducing myself. It's polite." Naruto emphasized the last part with a nod.
"She's like seven months old turning eight. She can barely even talk."
"How would I know!?" Naruto said with a pout.
Pepper finally showed up behind Tony. When Naruto saw Pepper place her hand on Tony's back, he finally put it all together.
His face immediately brightened up with a smile and let six feet into the air, which surprised both of them. When he landed, Pepper had the presence of my mind to pull him into the house before anyone could see him, but Naruto's mood could not be deterred.
"I knew that by the time I got back here, you would have your first child." Naruto smiled at them, Pepper and Tony looking at each other wondering if they should tell him, "She is not our first child" Naruto asked if she was their second child, Pepper wanted to get over this she just said that Tony has nine daughters, and before Naruto asked she said that she only had two daughters with Tony, "You are still as much as a playboy like you used to be, I am very disappointed in you, you are just like my godfather, having kids without taking responsibility, you cheated on Pepper."
"Ok. You guys catch up. I'm going to take Elena to bed." Pepper took the now-named Elena from Tony's arms and retreated. She's going to wait out the excitement before coming back down. "JARVIS, call me the moment they try to leave the house. I don't want another Bianchi incident." Pepper said before retreating.
"Of course, Miss Potts," JARVIS answered.
Tony and Naruto watched Pepper leave before Tony led Naruto to the kitchen.
"I had a few one-night stands before I even got engaged to Pepper, I had daughters with them and became engaged to them with Pepper's approval. So no I did not cheat on them, Morgan and Elena are my youngest daughters, and yes all daughters." He took a glass and poured himself a glass of juice, looking at Naruto he saw that he probably was hungry, "Help yourself with anything," Tony said, pointing to the refrigerator and the cupboards.
"You have ramen?" Naruto asked automatically.
Tony sighed and pointed at the rightmost cupboard. He should've guessed that Naruto would eat ramen.
Naruto immediately went to the cupboard and prepared himself a cup of ramen using the microwave. When it was done, he promptly unsealed metal chopsticks from his pocket and retrieved the cup. He placed it on the island and sat down.
When Tony saw Naruto finally settle down, he finally started the conversation.
"What have you been up to all this time?" Tony asked.
"Traveling mostly. Been around almost every major city I can get to. Started my own business with the money I took won from you guys..." This sent a wince in Tony's face remembering the beat down he received. "Took me a while to set it all up; that's why it took so long to drop by." Naruto finished before slurping another strand of Ramen.
"Good for you. What business did you open?" Tony asked genuinely curious what business an over-energetic, ramen-addicted, force of nature, Naruto would open.
"I opened a Japanese-style fast-food restaurant chain," Naruto said flippantly.
That's when a thought ran through Tony's mind.
"Don't tell me... Japanese-style fast food... Opened in the last two years... Why I haven't, I thought of it!" Tony thought rapidly.
Stark Industries had been aiming to branch out in the past two years. They've been discussing it for a while, and numerous suggestions have been thrown around, but no one seems to agree on where they should head next. Not until a board member suggested buying out a new up-and-coming fast-food chain, Ichiraku. Everyone was skeptical at first until the same board member brought takeout from the place. They were immediately hooked, and everyone agreed to buy out the company.
The only problem is, no one knew who the owner was. The restaurants seemingly appeared out of nowhere with all the supply chain and staff in place. There's no clear command structure since each branch seems to operate on its own, but they are all the same indicating that one person owns it all. They tried to find the name of the corporate owner through back channels, private detectives, and even government records, but all of it yielded no useful clue. Each place seemed to be registered to the manager with no hard evidence of it being a franchise.
Tony already pulled the idea due to the lack of progress two weeks ago, but it looks like some development might happen today.
"You're the owner of Ichiraku?" Tony asked.
"Yup! You heard of it?" Tony shook his head in the affirmative. "Awesome!"
"How'd you manage to do that? It would've cost you several hundred million to start that many branches at once." Tony said his company analyst reports.
"Same way I did with you. Only on a smaller scale..." Naruto lied. "I'm going to ask you about that anyway. Do you want to own the corporation partially?"
Tony was ecstatic about the development but stopped himself. He's still a businessman, even a lazy one.
"Why'd you want to sell it?" Tony cautiously asked.
"I'm not selling it. I'm giving 15% of the profits to you so someone else can handle the day-to-day operations." Naruto said while slurping the leftover soup of his ramen.
Tony quickly computed the returns in his mind.
"45%, and it's a deal." Tony countered. "I can't offer you that I and Sasuke own this together, we each own half of the shares, so I can only offer 20%."
"Alright. But I want an increase in your stocks. How is that, by the way?" Naruto asked suddenly, remembering the money he had given to Tony before he left.
"You now own 8% of my company. You originally had 3%, but every time you make a profit, 90% of it goes into buying new stocks. The rest is placed into a bank account. I don't know the specifics since Pepper handled most of it." Tony said, remembering about Naruto's portfolio, which is absurd with its growth. It's like his gambling skills; any investments that use Naruto's account rarely lose money.
"Awesome! That means I can be a board member, right? We can work together!" Naruto said excitedly.
"Not exactly, at least not right away..." Tony reluctantly said. "Most of your stocks are in different shell companies. You still need to make a transfer to make it wholly yours." Pepper surely won't like the idea of Naruto as a board member. It would create a more chaotic work environment for everyone.
"Eh. That's easy..." Naruto said dismissively. "Anyway, don't think I forgot about you. So what happened with you and Pepper?"
Tony sighed, hoping not to get into all that. Don't get him wrong, he's really grateful for Naruto's push, but he's still not into all that mushy stuff.
"You still need to ask?" Tony said with a groan.
"Of course! I'm fully invested in this." Naruto said as his only argument. He continued to look at Tony with hopeful eyes.
"Fine! Fine! It's like I'm talking to a kid!" Tony finally relented. "First don't talk to your elders that way and second I am your godfather and I need to know these things." Naruto reply.
-Flashback Start-
It's been four months since the Vegas fiasco. Tony and Pepper just came back from a stressful board meeting in New York. Apparently, some of their stocks are unaccounted for only appearing that they are sold but no idea to who. This is a normal phenomenon that can be attributed to sales error, but this has been happening more frequently and in larger stocks.
This should have been investigated already, but those money-grabbing assholes decided to join together to veto his motion. This should typically not be possible since he has a controlling interest in the company, but the board can veto him as long as everyone decides no. He really needs to find a way to change that charter. Losing guns is one thing, but losing whole missiles is another.
"Ugh. Just a sleepover tonight, Peps. It's dark out already." Tony suggested. Pepper sleeping over had been a regular occurrence due to her erratic work schedule, but she hasn't slept over ever since Vegas. It's like she's putting some distance between them. But tonight seems like a bit different, and he has no idea how right he is.
"Alright. Is my room still available?" Pepper hesitantly asked.
"Yeah. Left it as is." Tony said while hiding a small smile.
Pepper walked towards her room, preparing herself for what was to come. She had been keeping a distance to see what Tony would do without her continuously cleaning up his mess, but it looked like her fears were unfounded. Tony didn't spiral into his usual drunk playboy ways but seemed to clean up his act. He hasn't taken home any floozies since their talk, which has garnered attention from tabloids and TMZ. He still goes to parties and events, but he keeps his act clean, drinking just enough to have a buzz and steering clear of all the bimbos.
Pepper already knows that she won't be able to hold herself till the six months are up. She can finally see a future with Tony.
She thought back to how it all started and felt herself in an impasse. She doesn't know if she should be thankful or angry at Naruto. Without him in the picture, they wouldn't be in this situation.
It's already 2 am, but she needs to do this now, or she won't be able to gather enough courage to do it again. Pepper changed into a more comfortable attire; pajama shorts, a string top shirt, and fluffy flip flops.
Pepper took another deep breath and walked towards the door, intent on having a talk with Tony. What she didn't expect was Tony standing on the other side of the door about to knock.
What happened next is what they both consider stupid and right at the same time. Tony kissed Pepper on the lips, seemingly not in control of his actions. When he finally realized what he was doing, he started to pull back, but Pepper had other plans. She looped her arms around Tony and kissed him back. She then pulled Tony inside of her room.
-Flashback End-
"Wow. I would have said you took a long time, but I know you have another child. I thought you would jump each other the moment I left." Naruto said with a sagely nod.
"Hey! It's not my fault!" Tony defended himself.
"Moving past that..." Naruto said clearly not believing Tony, which irked him a lot. "Why does no one know about Elena, and when did she come around?"
Tony took a page from Naruto's book and scratched his head.
-Flashback Start-
Tony and Pepper are in a sanitized room in the Stark Mansion. All the medical equipment and medicine required before, during, and after the operation. Only Tony, Pepper, Happy, Rhodey, and a medical group who all signed Non-Disclosure Agreements are in the Mansion.
James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a 5'8, solidly built, 38 years old, African-American man. Tony met him during their time at MIT, and they immediately became best friends. Rhodey joined the US Air Force, where he quickly reached the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel due to his close relationship with Tony and his skill in being a fighter pilot. He's recent assignment is being a liaison with Stark Industries and a member of the experimental technology branch.
Obadiah wasn't informed since he has an obligation to the company, and his knowing about Tony's relationship with Pepper and the birth of their new child would lead to the whole board of directors knowing. Both of them are still not ready to expose their relationship to the world.
"I'm gonna fucking kill you, Tony!" Pepper's shout was heard even outside of the room.
"I have a new fighter jet in production. I'll give you three if you go in there first." Tony said to Rhodey, scared for his well-being.
"No way, man. I don't want to die for your mess." Rhodey said immediately while walking backward.
Tony faced Happy hoping to bribe him to do the same thing, but Happy cut him off before he could speak.
"It will only get worse the more time you spend out here and not in there."
Realizing that Happy's right, he immediately rushed into the room and sat beside Pepper.
"What took you so long!?" Pepper asked between contractions.
"Rhodey came by to wish you luck." Tony lied immediately.
Pepper clearly did not believe him, but another contraction cut her thoughts off.
"This is all your fault!" Pepper shouted again while trying to break Tony's hand. "We only have unprotected sex again! Once before this!" She said again, referring to the first time they got together, how Morgan was born, and accused Tony of knocking her up again.
In a rare moment of self-control, Tony shut his mouth before he could retort to what Pepper said.
The medical staff attending to Pepper remained professional throughout the ordeal, but some small bouts of giggles could be heard from time to time.
Pepper's labor continued before exactly at 7:43 am, May 22, 2006, when their baby girl was born. The nurse cleaned up their baby and placed her on Pepper's arms.
"She's so beautiful," Pepper said with a smile and tears streaming down her eyes.
"Hello. I'm your Dad." Tony said to their baby. The only difference his face was to Pepper is that he isn't drenched in sweat.
"What should we name her?" Pepper asked.
"Elena," Tony answered.
"Elena? I like it, but why Elena?"
"I had a dream about your Aunt Elena holding a baby. I don't know. It seems like a sign to me."
Pepper was cleaned up a little bit before Tony called Rhodey and Happy in. As soon as they got in, they saw Pepper sitting on the bed with a baby in her arms and Tony sitting beside her.
"I want you to both meet Elena Stark."
-Flashback End-
"As for why nothing is on the news, I just had her record sealed until I want it to be public. Perks of being rich and powerful." Tony informed Naruto with a smug smile.
"When are you planning to make it public?" Naruto asked.
"Maybe when she's a year old, but I'm aiming for at most two years old," Tony answered.
"So, where am I sleeping?" Naruto asked without missing a beat.
"Up the stairs, the third room at the right of the left hallway. It has its own bathroom and mini kitchen."
"Thanks!" Naruto stood up. "I don't know about you, but I'm beat. Let's finish the business end of stuff tomorrow."
Tony nodded and stood up too. They walked toward the stairs and separated with a nod. When Tony got inside the room, he saw Pepper on the bed playing with Elena.
Pepper heard Tony got in the room and asked,
"How is he?"
"He's doing fine..." Tony said while changing into his sleeping attire. "He's actually doing more than fine. Did you know he's the owner of Ichiraku you've been looking for?"
Pepper immediately slumped and placed her face in her hands.
"How can he be a problem even if he's nowhere close? He's the one I've been looking for a year and a half."
"Think of it this way. You finally found him." Tony said with a teasing grin.
"I'm sure now. I hate him." Pepper finally said without any seriousness.
-Stark Mansion, Los Angeles, California-
-January 27, 2007, 1600h local-
"So, that's it?" Naruto asked after signing the contract. He took Elena from Pepper's arm and proceeded to make weird faces to make her laugh.
"Yup, I have two days to find someone to manage the whole thing," Tony said while checking over the papers and handing them over to his Pepper to have a read-through.
"Is this thing, right?" Pepper asked, disbelief evident in her voice.
"Which part?" Naruto asked for clarification, his attention divided between her and playing with Elena.
"Most of it..." Pepper said, still rifling through the contract. She took the company information page and placed it on the table. "Like here. It says that you have 2513 branches already with another 57 on the way."
"I don't really know the numbers, but that seems about right," Naruto answered, now playing with Elena using a unicorn puppet. Tony and Pepper never saw him pull it out, but they just let it slide. If they question everything they saw Naruto do, they'll rapidly go insane.
"And it says here you have a branch in Pyongyang. How the fu... heck did you manage that?" Pepper corrected herself since they have a no-cursing policy in front of Elena.
"There's this guy with glasses that really loved my recipe. He tried to force it out of me, but he eventually gave up and agreed to place a branch there. I think his name is Kim Jong something. I just can't seem to remember." Naruto answered again but now with Elena wearing a pink fairy princess outfit.
Tony and Pepper are gobsmacked that Naruto possibly served food to the North Korean leader, probably got tortured for it, and still got what he wanted.
Pepper is now afraid to remove her sight from Naruto and Elena due to the genuine possibility of another toy or dress Naruto would pull out of nowhere and give it to Elena.
"You still want to be in control of hiring branch managers and them in control of hiring employees? Cause that's still a lot of work." Tony asked Naruto to keep his girlfriend's sanity in place.
"Yup!" is Naruto's only answer. Control of the hiring of the branch manager means that he and Sasuke can still place his clones in that position keeping each branch a safe house of his and Sasuke, or even place some of their own kids when they are ready.
Naruto stiffened so suddenly that even Tony and Pepper saw it. He immediately placed Elena on Pepper's arms and said,
"I gotta go. I'll see you guys in two or three days..." Naruto ran out of the dining room. As Naruto sped away, he locked minds with Sasuke. "I have a bad feeling," Naruto stated. "Natasha and Clint are walking into a trap." A wave of unease washed over him. Something about this Budapest mission stank. Sasuke's voice crackled in his head. "We need alibis," he said. "Something to prove we weren't there." Naruto felt the urgency. "I agree, any ideas?"
Sasuke proposed a clever deception. "Shadow clones," he suggested. "Send them to crowded places. Witnesses will swear we were miles away from Budapest." Naruto pictured it. "Good, but what about hiding from the enemy?" Sasuke had already considered this. "Transformation jutsu," he explained. "We become someone else entirely." His idea sparked excitement in Naruto. "Like who?" Naruto asked. Sasuke suggested two sinister figures. "Hidan and Kakuzu," Sasuke said. "We could mimic their forms, even their abilities."
Naruto liked the idea. "Perfect!" he exclaimed. "Let's do it." They coordinated their plan. A Naruto clone appeared. I will have my clone go to a Wendy's and order a burger, attracting attention with his bright hair. A Sasuke clone sat at a popular bar, nursing a drink. They wanted to be seen and remembered.
As their clones acted out their roles, Naruto and Sasuke raced toward Budapest. They channeled their chakra, preparing to transform. Naruto felt a surge of dark energy as he morphed into Kakuzu. Sasuke shifted into the grotesque form of Hidan. They would become monsters to protect their friends. The hunt had begun. But first Naruto clone peeked again at Tony and Pepper before leaving. "Have fun with that." He said, pointing to the pile of toys near his seat. The two then heard the front door slam shut.
Pepper stood up and faced Tony and said,
"You clean that up since you brought him here. I'm going to change Elena."
Pepper exited the room with Elena, but before she could get up the stairs, she saw Rhodey walking inside the house.
"Hi, Elena! Nice dress..." Rhody greeted Elena first before facing Pepper. "Hey, Pepper! You see where Tony is?"
"He's in the dining room. Help him first before doing anything else." Pepper ordered before walking up the stairs.
Rhodey just shrugged at Pepper's mood and walked towards the dining room. The moment he stepped inside, he saw the pile of toys.
"What the hell happened here?" Rhodey asked.
"Naruto decided to sell a piece of the company he and his cousin own to me," Tony answered plainly without further elaborating.
"So, Naruto finally decided to show up?"
"Yup. So what do you need?" Tony asked while picking up toys.
Rhodey decided to help him out before answering.
"You got anything that could knock out a herd of elephants from a distance?" Rhodey asked, remembering the specifications the army gave him to ask.
"I might have some sonic cannons in production."
-Budapest, Hungary-
-January 28, 2007, 0130h local-
"Nat! Nat! Come in!" Barton shouted through his comms. His team of five is being peppered by gunfire from almost all directions. Two of them are already injured enough to keep them from fighting.
Clint had already exhausted his shafts and arrowheads. He's currently using an AK-47 from a guy he killed earlier.
They're exhausted and stressed out. They have been trapped for a while, and long-range communication looks to be jammed. Their only hope is that Homebase notices their lack of communication. The worst part of all, Natasha has been incommunicado almost from the time she split up at the start of the mission.
"How the hell did it go all FUBAR?" Clint asked himself while returning fire.
-Flashback Start-
"Boss really wants this to go smoothly, doesn't he?" Natasha said.
"Yup, apparently weapons of mass destruction falling to an unhinged general's hand is a bad thing. Who knew?" Clint answered sarcastically.
The moment the package from the not-so-mysterious broker appeared in SHIELD detailing an Iranian General buying plutonium, Fury already made up his mind to buy the information. Contrary to popular belief, the WMD the plutonium is going to be used for is not for a conventional nuclear bomb that just goes boom. It's for a weapon that aims to spread nuclear material over a large area. An extreme form of razed earth tactic, it will immediately make an area inhabitable for at least 100 years, also called a dirty bomb.
When they got the details of the exchange, Fury took no chance and sent an overkill ten-man team, which includes Hawkeye and the Black Widow. The team would take a jet to Hungary, and a group of 6 would disembark. Four would be left in the plane for backup, and this includes the pilot.
As soon as they arrived in Budapest, they surveyed the area and created a plan of attack. Clint would be overwatch, scanning the area for hostiles and unexpected occurrences. Natasha would be the infiltrator, getting as close as possible without alerting the buyer and seller. The rest of the ground troops would be on standby some distance away. There's no time to create cover identities, and besides, it would be no use. The transaction would happen beneath a bridge by the east side of the river at midnight. They would probably remove any bystanders to keep any witnesses to a minimum.
Everybody is in position by 10 pm. The ground team is 50 meters away inside an inconspicuous van parked near the bridge. Nat went above the railings underneath the bridge and went dark to minimize complications. Clint positioned himself at a building 200 m away with a view of the north side of the bridge.
By 11:30, two SUVs came with four armed men each. They moved away all the vagrants in the area. They went on high alert in preparation for what's to come. At the stroke of midnight, six more cars arrived, three from each side of the bridge. Six guards came down from each side and created a perimeter. All of them are armed with HK 416 rifles. The guards sure mean business.
Clint already identified the General, but he still can't see the seller. He needs him to move forward a bit or needs to go to a lower floor. Deciding that going down was his best bet, he collected his items and prepared to move. But before he could leave, he saw a semi-truck rush down the street perpendicular to the bridge heading straight towards the van with the rest of his team. He rapidly prepared an arrow shot with an explosive tip and aimed it at the truck. But before he could launch it, bullets hitting his general area forced him to take cover.
"We're compromised! Bug out! Charlie team, hostile on your way." Clint shouted to his comms.
He saw the van drive away but not before getting targeted by .50 caliber machine guns mounted to the side of the truck.
Clint decided that he would be no help to his teammates if he didn't take out the hostiles aiming at him. He peaked over the ledge and saw four guys across the river, firing at him. That's particularly impressive since it's almost 700m away from him. He returned fire using his explosive-tipped arrow.
Clint saw that he effectively eliminated the enemy and decided to help the ground team who was still getting targeted by the truck. He fired multiple arrow types, including incendiary, explosive, and emp, but nothing seemed to be working. Even diamond-tipped arrowheads didn't penetrate the tires.
"Get to extract point alpha. I'll find a way to get there myself." Clint ordered the ground crew hoping they would lose the truck along the way.
He took one last look at the meetup site and saw everybody was gone. Natasha must've improvised or compromised for her not to radio in. The latter of which is the worst case possible.
Clint rappelled down the side street using a rappel line arrow tip. On the alleyway, he quickly rode the Kawasaki KLX450R he placed for an emergency. He rode hard and fast towards the extract point while only using the side roads and alleyways to minimize possible contact.
When Clint got to an industrial park on the outskirts of the city serving as their extract point, he saw the truck pinning his man down inside the warehouse. He also saw two teams trying to get around the warehouse and flank them. He quickly formulated a plan in his mind and determined that he needed to take out the truck if they wanted to have any chance of surviving the encounter. He slapped the rest of his explosive and incendiary tips to his bike and revved it hard toward the container at the back of the truck.
The result was simply amazing. The truck went out in a massive blaze killing everyone inside. Clint runs towards his team while shooting at the flanking teams. He was about to kill the last member of the left flanking team when he reached out to his quiver and felt no more shafts. He hung his bow around his body and slid toward the nearest gun and quickly fired at the enemy.
"How are you guys?" Clint asked his team when he finally reached them.
"Not looking good, sir. Robertson and Dechile are out, sir. We've called for the bird, but we can't seem to get through." A member of his team, Murtaugh, reported while the other, Esposito, triages the down members.
Barton was formulating an evacuation plan when four more vans came. Multiple hostiles dismounted from each of them, making the situation direr.
"Fuck! We can't leave now..." Clint said to himself. He faced his teammates and said, "We need to make a stand here. Hopefully, the bird would come and check out the situation when they don't receive further contact."
-Flashback End-
"Shit! When would these motherfuckers run out of men!" Clint exclaimed while reloading.
He saw Esposito clipped at his shoulder by a bullet causing him to fall down. Murtaugh tried to help him up, but a shot got through the barrier and hit him near his kidney.
Clint effectively became the last man standing when suddenly the gunfire stopped. He took a peek and saw a Harley drive down in front of the vans. Riding on top of it is a long-haired, masked man. The most significant characteristic of his is what looks like a left-arm made up entirely of metal with a red star near the shoulder.
Clint immediately knew who this was. Natasha had been warning him about this boogeyman for quite some time. The Winter Soldier. The assassin would not stop, and it looked like they were his next target. He immediately took a shot straight to The Winter Soldier's face, but his metal arm quickly stopped it. Before he could fire another shot, The Winter Soldier took a grenade launcher and fired it in his direction.
-Budapest, Hungary-
-January 28, 2007, 0100h local-
Natasha woke up slowly, her vision still blurry. She shook her head to get rid of some of the cobwebs in her mind.
She tried to move, but that immediately proved futile. Her hands, legs, and torso are all bound with leather straps and duct tape. Looking around, she saw that she was in an underground cell. Everything is made of cement except for the heavy-looking red door. She tried to find a way to get out of her predicament, but it looked like Faith had other plans.
The door opened, revealing eight armed guards who immediately surrounded her while keeping 2m of distance away from her. It looks like her captors have some brains. When all the guards were positioned, an old balding Caucasian man with glasses walked in. A guard placed a chair a meter away from her in which the man sat down.
"I'm sorry for the restraints, Ms. Romanoff. But I'm sure you understand..." The man said with a gentlemanly tone. Natasha remained silent. "How rude of me. I'm Octavian Bloom..." Still seeing no visible reaction from the Black Widow, He continued. "The organization I represent was forced to ask you some questions since you might be able to shed some light on a mystery we found ourselves in."
Natasha is piecing together the clues the man is showing. The 'group' he's with must be rich and powerful to be able to kill the original seller of the plutonium and impersonate him in front of the general all just to ambush them. There might also be a leak inside SHIELD, and a high clearance one at that since the source of information came from Naruto. The chance of this group working with or buying information from Naruto is practically zero since there is no indication of him working with illegal or terrorist groups.
"You see, we are a little envious of some good fortune that fell on your hands..." Bloom said with a shake of his head. "We heard you are being given high-quality information for virtually nothing. This 'Nine-Tails' is growing to be a big thorn in our side, and I have it on good authority that you might have an idea who it is."
That sealed the deal for Natasha. These guys are looking for Naruto, hoping to get rid of him.
Bloom signaled a guard to do something. The guard walked out and promptly returned, carrying a tablet and giving it to Bloom.
He then scrolled with the tablet a bit before showing it to Natasha. She saw Clint and his team pinned down.
"I can make sure they leave out of there alive and return to your precious SHIELD..." Natasha remained quiet. "Who would you choose? A man you almost know nothing about or your friend and partner?"
Seeing that further 'incentives' are required, Bloom scrolled at the tablet again and showed it to Natasha, and for the first time, a reaction was observed on her.
"Oh, you remembered him, didn't you—the culmination of everything we have—the Winter Soldier. Quite an effective killer he is. What do you think would happen if he targeted Agent Barton."
Against everything she wanted to do, Natasha still kept her mouth shut. Death would come sooner or later for them all, and she accepted that fact for a long time. She would jeopardize one of the largest assets the world ever had against all that goes bump in the night for the chance for all of them to live.
"I see..." Bloom removed his glasses and wiped them before placing them back again. "It's such a shame I can't change your mind..." He retrieved a capped 5cc syringe from his pocket and showed it to her. "This is another one of our innovations. The best truth serum ever produced. Only 1cc is needed to have someone to tell their darkest, deepest secret..." Bloom saw Natasha's stare on the syringe. "You noticed it, didn't you. I have 5cc here to make sure you would talk since you have some resistance against drugs. Too bad you would die within ten minutes, but what can you do?"
Bloom removed the cap of the syringe and stabbed it into Natasha's thigh. Natasha took a deep breath and prepared herself to bite her tongue off the moment the plunger was pressed. But before Bloom can push the plunger down, an explosion reverberates through the room.
"What was that!?" Bloom stood up and stared at the door. "You and you. Check out what's happening..." The two guards near the entrance unlocked their guns and exited the room.
Distant gunfire and screams could be heard at the other side of the door. This startled Bloom and shouted to his guards,
"Lock the door. Prepare yourselves."
Bloom leaned his back on the far side of the room while the remaining six guards all aimed toward the door.
The screams are close now. Pounding on the door and pleas for them to open it can be heard. The guards tensed up and prepared to fire.
Natasha felt fear towards whatever caused that kind of scream. It must be truly horrific to be on the other side of the door.
As fast as the chaos started, the screaming suddenly stopped. Everyone in the room could see blood rolling under the door. The guards stepped behind Natasha to create distance from the door, but this proved to be the wrong move.
The earth between Natasha and the guards is suddenly pierced with what looks like black threads. The threads pierced the torso of all the guards and ripped them apart in a shower of blood.
Natasha didn't see what happened, but based on the blood and entrails around the room, it must be a brutal kill. Bloom, on the other hand, saw everything and understandably pee, puke, and that all at the same time due to fear and the brutality of the kill.
The door slowly creaked open, which should have been impossible since it was locked from the inside, revealing body pieces on the floor. A man walked towards their view, and for the first time, they saw who was massacring everyone.
He wore a black sleeveless top, pants, arm sleeves, and sandals on top of all that were metallic flak jackets, bracers, and shin guards. The man hid his identity using a white mask with a picture of a fox, and another man wearing a black mask with a picture of a winged serpent.
The man with the fox mask looked around before staring at Natasha and walked towards her. He leaned down and moved his face in front of her. She waited for her to be ripped apart just like all the others, but what she heard next made her completely relax.
"Hey, Nat! It looks like you're in a bind." The man said to her.
Natasha recognized that voice. Racing through her memories, she finally found a match around two years ago. Steeling herself, she asked quietly,
"Naruto?"