章 12: 3/3
Especially since they made him lose his target. That was the other annoying thing about the man, half the time he was skulking in the shadows. In a few moments he'd come flying out of nowhere, clock Juugo across the face, and jump back into the darkness. Probably throw a few of those annoying pellets.
Why did he bother? The man didn't seem to recognize that he was already dead. All that remained was for Juugo to get one good grip on him.
"Come out and fight!" He shouted at the darkness. "Coward! Come out! I'll kill ya! Come out!"
And then to his surprise, the man did just that. He dropped out of the darkness directly in front of Juugo and stood to his feet, assuming a fighting stance. With a grin at the man's stupidity, Juugo charged at him.
The man ducked right, then left, then swept under Juugo's enormous fist and neatly punched him in the chin. Shrugging it off, Juugo brought up one of his knees, but the man shot back just in time and dropped to the floor to kick at his feet. Juugo stumbled back a step, recovered himself, and ran forward, but the man suddenly wasn't there.
"Wa…?"
A foot came crashing down from the darkness and planted itself in his face.
Juugo's head snapped back with the impact and he felt the floor simply fly away from under his feet. "D-ddmmmnn… uuu" he gritted through the man's foot, shortly before his head became reacquainted with the floor. Through the ringing pain, he reached out with his hands and pushed off from the floor, bringing his fists up in a clumsy attempt to defend himself.
He could see the dark form of the man just before him, facing him, his back pushed up against the wall. Blinking aside the dazzling lights in his eyes, Juugo rushed forward, truly screaming. Both fists rose and fell with a resounding crash, smashing into the wall—no, door—where the man had been a second ago.
Hearing a heavy fall just behind him, Juugo turned and grinned. Apparently he had not completely missed, the man was half-fallen on the floor, nursing one of his legs.
About time, he thought through his curse-clouded brain as he strode forward. "Time to die." He hissed, focusing power in his fists. "No more jumping."
For the first time his opponent spoke. "So long as you stay still in front of the door like that," he said, "I don't need to."
The door…
The door. The door that the prisoners were being kept behind. The door that he had just smashed open and turned his back to.
The door that a stream of pure blue chakra shot out of and hit him straight in the back.
"Moving about in the daylight is dangerous, Sakura-san."
"I'm aware of that, Lee." Sakura groused, trying to keep her head down. "But if we're gonna find Neji, we need information, and if we need information, we need to blend in more, and if we need to blend in…" she indicated the store across the street. "…we need different clothes."
Chouji frowned. "This isn't just so you can try on new outfits, is it?"
"For pity's sake, Chouji, we're stranded in an unknown territory being pursued by dangerous hostiles, and you think I'm going to be worrying about shopping!" Sakura snapped. "Just how ditzy do you think I am?"
Avoiding her gaze, Chouji simply mumbled, "Ino does it sometimes…"
"Ino… Never mind. It doesn't matter. The point is, we need to…" She stopped suddenly. "Lee? What's the matter?" The green-clad chunin had been staring up at the sky a moment ago, now he was suddenly studying the ground, his face bright red.
"Sakura-san." He mumbled. "Would you mind checking me for any brain injuries?"
"What?" Sakura automatically laid her hand on his forehead. He didn't seem feverish, though his skin was definitely very warm.
"Would you mind doing that to me too, Sakura?" Chouji's mumble seemed strained somehow.
"What's with you guys?" Sakura glanced from one to the other. Both were suddenly staring at the ground, both had bright red faces. "I checked you both this morning, you're fine!"
"I think I'm going insane."
"I also, Sakura-san."
"Maybe it's the heat, or malnutrition, or…"
"Would you guys just shut up and tell me what is going on!" Sakura exploded.
There was a short pause, and then Lee, face bright red and eyes still fixed on the ground, said hesitantly, "There is a woman… flying toward us… in her underwear."
Naruto had to get himself a rod like that.
He seriously did. How often did you find a weapon that made you actually fly? Seriously! And let you levitate objects? That was some serious level of awesome. As far as he was concerned, that completely beat out Kisame's Samehada sword-thingie. Not that he'd ever seen that in action, of course, but hey. Flying.
In fact, if he hadn't been trying so hard to escape being swatted by the enormous blocks of concrete she was hurling around, he would've stopped to get a good look at the thing, because, face it, you don't see one of those every day. As it was, though, he had to deal not only with the girl's boulders, but also those the one giant was throwing at him. Even if the boulders didn't hurt him, they would knock him balance, and that, with the way the blue-skinned nin was darting in and out at him, was something he could not risk.
He didn't get that blue-skinned guy. First… blue skin? Second, though he could sense energy pouring off the man, the ninja hadn't used a single jutsu. And third, he kept charging in amongst the boulders his own teammates were throwing to try and spear Naruto with the weird pitchfork he was carrying. Judging from the way the other two yelled at him every time, Naruto felt pretty sure that he wasn't supposed to be doing that.
Maybe I pissed this guy off somehow? But I don't even know him. Heck, I can't even understand him.
That really bothered him. Everyone here seemed to be simply jabbering to each other. That man back in the room could talk, why couldn't these people? They seemed to understand each other, but it was all quite beyond Naruto.
Here came the blue one again. Naruto dodged a sweep from the trident, whipped around, and kicked the man full in the chest with sage strength. The blow sent the man flying clear across the square and crashing into a building.
It wouldn't be enough, though. It was never enough, that one just kept getting up. And that kept him from getting the other two, and that kept him from getting out of here before any ninja reinforcements arrived.
Enough of this. He decided, whipping aside as another boulder crashed to the ground beside him. Breaking into a run, he headed straight for the flying girl, his fingers following a practiced seal.
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!
"Hmph." Batman stood to his (suddenly undamaged) legs. "So much for stealth. Whoever that last one is, he's got to know by now that I'm in the tower." Shaking his head free of such thoughts, he stepped over the comatose body of his foe and poked his head in the makeshift cell. "Robin, we need to move."
"Duuuude! … is that… I mean, you're not… the REAL Batman?"
The Real Batman frowned at the strange green boy crouched against the opposite wall. "I take it Robin isn't in here either, then."
"Dude! THE Batman!" The shapeshifter seemed oblivious to anything but the famous superhero before him. "Oh wow, man, this is just incredible! I mean, you're like one of the greatest heroes of all time and you're coming here to rescue us and I'm actually MEETING you and… Cyborg! Cyborg are you… aw man, he's out cold. But… dude… can like… can I like take a picture with you or something?"
Ignoring the request, Batman knelt and examined the pile of metal sitting next to the boy. "Energy depletion." He muttered. "Must've used the last of it on that blast. At least he has enough to stay alive while in stasis like this."
"Um… Batman sir?" Apparently Batman's comments had reminded Beast Boy of the more pertinent emergencies. "He can only stay in stasis for so long, his batteries…"
"I know." Batman cut him him off. "But you can't use anything here in the tower, I've blown the reactor."
Beast Boy twitched. "What?"
"Why do you think the lights went off?" Batman snorted. "Here." He tossed a flashlight to Beast Boy, who made no move to catch it as it tumbled against the ground. "Bring him down to the bottom level and hook him to the back-up generator. Then go to the sub harbor. My own sub is fried, but you can probably…" He stopped and glared at the shapeshifter. "What are you waiting for? Get moving!"
"I… can't."
Batman narrowed his eyes. "What?"
"I can't move, Batman sir."
Frowning, Batman moved to examine the boy. "You have several bones broken…" he muttered. "But you're a shapeshifter, that shouldn't…"
"I know it shouldn't." The teenager interrupted. "I know, but I can't shift without it hurting for some reason. I've tried to change to a gorilla and an octopus and even a giant spider, but..." he shook his head feebly. "I can't."
"Did they do something to your powers?"
"Not that I remember. The last thing I know, I was fighting that big guy—the one you were fighting out there—and then I woke up here with everything hurting."
Batman glanced back at the unconscious figure in the hallway and frowned in thought for a moment. He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Did they handcuff you?"
Beast Boy blinked. "Yeah."
"Let me see." The handcuffs had the same strange markings. He quickly picked them apart. "Try now."
Beast Boy's eyes flared in fear, but he closed his eyes and started. Swiftly, hair sprouted from his back, claws from his toes, his legs…
"AH!" Suddenly there was nothing but a whimpering green boy there again. "I'm sorry sir, I really am, but I can't seem to…"
"Alright, alright." Batman frowned at the cuffs. There went that theory. But what were the markings for then? Shaking his head, he tucked them into a spare pouch on his belt. He'd have to figure it out later. Right now he had two teenagers in need of urgent attention.
"Where's Robin?" He asked.
Beast Boy shrugged. "That other guy took him out of here sometime ago. I don't know where he is. I think they were going to question him."
"Alright." Reaching into his utility belt, he brought out two small electronic tabs. "Hold this." He instructed Beast Boy, placing the other on Cyborg's inert from. Then he straightened up and touched his ear. "Batman to Watchtower."
"Bats! Man, where have you been? We've got a developing situation in Metropolis, man, we need you…"
"I need you to teleport out two passive beacons near my position." Batman snapped. "Teen Titan members, in need of urgent medical care."
"Medical…" there was a pause. "Bats, what've you been up to this time…"
"Just do it. Batman out." Clicking off his communicator, Batman nodded to the astounded shapeshifter. "That should take care of the two of you. When they ask, tell them there's a developing hostage situation here and that they shouldn't do anything until they hear from me."
"Yes sir!" The awestruck Beast Boy had just enough time to watch Batman vanish into the hallway before a blue light enveloped him.
Atom Smasher wasn't stupid. A lot of people thought he was, but that was only because he was big and strong. Naturally, they assumed anyone so big and strong must be stupid.
Well, he wasn't. Wasn't smart either, for that matter, but definitely wasn't stupid.
So when he heard a series of poofing noises and saw half a thousand teenagers pop into existence in front of him, he didn't waste time. He started punching. Not because that was all he knew how to do, but because generally, when you found yourself surrounded by attackers, you started punching and worked out the details as you went.
The fact that he'd seen a whole troop of the clones dragging down Stargirl had only made his decision more justified.
So far, he'd worked out that that most of the clones were pushovers. They dissipated at one solid hit into a cloud of vapors. If he had to theorize, he'd say that the original teenager had some quantum replication ability. That would explain the instantaneous appearance as well as the obvious structural instability.
The instability meant that the clones individually posed no threat. So far, none of them had made any of the glowing orbs the original had made. The sheer amount of them, however, did make things difficult, as did their incredible speed.
Still, Atom Smasher wasn't slow either. Again, his size made a lot of people think so, but if they'd seen him plowing through the sea of orange bodies, they'd have to swiftly revise that idea. He might have nearly twenty teenagers clinging to his back and another ten on his feet, but he could sweep the ones in front aside.
He couldn't see Stargirl. He hadn't been able to see her for a while now, she had been dragged down to the ground a while ago. That was bad. Her powers were mostly flight-based, she might not last for long.
He stumbled a little and angrily shook off five or so new clingers on his ankles. One of them fell underfoot and exploded in a cloud of dust.
Where had Blue Devil gone off to? Probably still back at that building where he'd been thrown. A lot of smoke was coming from there. Atom Smasher didn't understand what'd gotten into his teammate, he'd been fighting like… well, a devil. Something about their opponent really seemed to bother him.
He stumbled again and shook his other foot. Only three came off this time.
His progress was growing slower. Bad. Even if these clones couldn't finish him off by themselves, the original could easily sneak up on him, especially while he was stationary like this. He needed more strength.
With a single thought, he increased his size and mass, rearing up into the sky and shaking off the hitchhikers. Looming above the square, he glanced about for the original. Hearing a defiant yell, he turned to face it.
Atom Smasher noticed two things. One, his enemy had Stargirl's cosmic rod and was flying at him. Two, he had a glowing orb in his right…
That was about as far as he got before the orb smashed into him and everything went black.
They didn't even try to run. They simply stood there in the deserted lot, facing her impassively as she glided to a landing.
Well… the girl faced her impassively. The two boys seemed unable to look directly at her.
Wonder Woman cleared her throat. Unlike Batman, she preferred to avoid conflict if possible. "I am Wonder Woman of the Justice League. I extend to you the greetings of our dimension, and ask you your name and business in this world."
Silence. The pink-haired girl was eying her with obvious hostility, and the two boys seemed unwilling to do anything until she did.
Diana tried a different tack. "I regret to say that we cannot allow you strangers to wander at will in our land. We must first ascertain your intentions and whether they are friendly. Please, come with me, or I shall be forced to compel you." She smiled gently to take away the sting of the words.
The pink-haired girl finally spoke. "Yariman," she said, disgust evident in every syllable.
Oh. That's right. Japanese.
"Utte!" Two blurs darted at her, one a huge rolling boulder of flesh, the other a green streak of energy.
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Diana dashed at the one and simply threw the enormous teenager over her head. Whipping around to face the green streak, she brought up her bracelets, blocking the flurry of blows aimed at her. She deflected bullets with her hands on a daily basis. Did these teenagers honestly think she couldn't handle them?
Reaching out, she caught one green arm in her hand. She caught the other in her other hand. Before the boy could bring up his feet, she twisted him in the air and sent him flying.
Then she turned to face the pink girl.
Batman hung in the shadows beyond the door, thinking through his battle plan.
Robin was in this room. He had to be. The control room was certainly the most logical place for the intruder's leader to be, even if he didn't know how to use the computers. The homing device he had on Robin's belt also showed him to be in this room, and though Robin probably wasn't wearing the belt anymore, the attackers would probably have kept it close by. That meant that the leader must be in this room, and that Robin must be with him.
He'd checked the surrounding chambers, just to be sure. No sense in leaving himself open to attack from the rear, after all. As he'd expected, they were empty. According to what he'd heard from the other Titans, the leader was the only one left, and the leader was with Robin. In this room.
That didn't bother Batman. Neither did the fact that he knew next to nothing about this leader's abilities, though they had to be substantial. No. What bothered Batman was that this highly dangerous, presumably homicidal leader, who by now HAD to be aware that his subordinates had been incapacitated, was in the same room with a presumably helpless Robin.
It just screamed 'hostage situation.'
Batman hated hostage situations, especially when the aggressor involved knew he was around. And REALLY especially when they involved someone close like Robin. Unless you made valuable and potentially disastrous concessions to the aggressor, they tended to end badly. About the only thing you could do was use stealth to your advantage and…
"I can see you out there, you know," remarked a cold voice in perfect Japanese. "You can't get to the last one without facing me, so come in and get it over with."
So much for advantage. Batman thought grimly. The two red eyes that glared at him removed any suspicion of bluffing. He can see in the dark. It figures.
Standing erect, Batman strode into the room, long dark cape trailing behind him, and faced the red eyed teenager.
This thing is a little trickier than I thought. Naruto eyed the staff contemplatively. Still. Awesome. Can't wait till I get the hang of it.
He'd just about lost it. Though he'd moved quickly enough to catch the girl by surprise and grab hold of it, she hadn't given it up without a fight. And after that, when he'd thought he'd gotten it for good, he'd found out she could call it back to her with a thought. He'd had to beat her unconscious just to be able to fully use it.
Still. It'd been worth it. He'd taken down that big guy with no problem at all, and now the annoyingly persistent blue-skinned nin lay at his feet, bruised and beaten. It'd cost him plenty of clones and more than a few cuts from the thing's trident—that thing really hurt, and Kyuubi didn't like it for some reason—but he'd finally gotten him to stay down. After all, with two broken legs, there wasn't much more the blue skinned nin could do.
He frowned at his new staff. I wonder if this thing can fly me back to Konoha. Granted, he didn't quite know where he was, but a little scouting should fix that.
A groan interrupted his thoughts and he whipped around to gaze with disbelief. The blue skinned guy was getting up AGAIN. Well, as much as he could. He had half-raised himself on his arms and was glaring at Naruto with baleful yellow eyes.
It didn't make a difference, really. In that state, the ninja couldn't even follow him, much less attack. Naruto shrugged off the glare and prepared to lift off into the sky.
And then the man spoke, and to Naruto's amazement he could understand the words.
"You cannot escape forever, demon." It growled. "Wherever you fly to, I will come. I will find and banish you and all your kind."
Wha… how?
Sixteen years of being shunned by villagers and chased by S-level terrorists had made Naruto rather sensitive about the word 'demon.' It had also made him rather hostile to those who hunted them.
Can't kill him. He thought as the chakra formed in his palm to form a shining orb. But I can't leave him able to follow me either. Only thing to do is…
His thoughts were cut off as a blue blur shot out of nowhere and knocked him off his feet. Astounded, he turned to face his new attacker.
Long black hair, pale skin, and blue eyes. Strange metal bracelets and tall red boots. Odd gold shining lasso. Blue underwear, red and white corset.
Sakura snorted as she eyed the woman in front of her. What a bimbo. No armor, no supply packets, not even a place to conceal…well, anything. So far, the only thing she had going for her was speed and power. Sakura had plenty of those.
"And just who might you be? She asked. The woman replied in a long string of jargon, but Sakura caught two words that seemed to be her answer.
"Wonder Woman."
Across the darkened room, Sasuke smirked at the caped man. Impressive, really. From the sounds down there, this Juugo had been taken down by this man. And given that Suigetsu wasn't responding to the radio, Sasuke felt pretty sure he'd met the same fate. This man had power, no doubt about it. Even when Sasuke had called him out on his hiding spot, he hadn't flinched, just walked forward into the room.
Yet for all his strength, the man had one crucial weakness. He had too many bonds. Though Sasuke didn't understand why, he knew the man was here for the unconscious teenager in the corner. As long as the boy was in Sasuke's hands, this man had no choice but to fight him.
Beautiful. Perhaps this man might even pose a challenge.
"Well." He smirked, slowly drawing Kusanagi. "And who might you be?"
The man bent into a fighting posture. "I'm Batman."
Naruto got up, coughing and shaking his head clear of the pain. Where had THAT come from? One second his sage mode just had a glimmer of movement five miles away, and the next second a fist was crashing into his face. And… it hurt! Even at sage-level invincibility, it hurt!
Grimacing, he stood to his feet and faced his opponent. Red cape, tight blue spandex, red boots, red underwear. Naruto would have felt inclined to laugh, if he hadn't seen the man's face.
The man was enraged. Pure, white fury burned at Naruto from his face, and the ninja could almost swear his eyes were glowing. His mouth, set in a thin line, bared back to shoot glinting teeth. Fists balled in shaking rage as the man began to hover above the ground.
Hover? Oh NO.
"Who are you?" Naruto whispered, half in reflex. To his astonishment, the blue creature from the ground answered.
"Superman." It whispered in awe, staring at the figure.
Naruto swallowed, set himself in position, and brought up his staff in readiness. Something told him this wasn't going to be easy.
A/N: I'm about reaching the end of my pre-written chapters. Updates may be more sporadic from here on out, although I may have more time to write after the school year ends. And, of course, the more you review, the more motivated I shall be to write!
So REVIEW!
To anyone who's still smarting from the power levels demonstrated earlier, don't worry about it, Team 7 will get a chance to show their fuller abilities in their fight with the big three. They'll still be operating under handicaps, but the fight should be pretty engaging. It's taking me a while, because I'm not so good with battles, but it's pretty fun.
About the Japanese here: Nani means "what?" Utte roughly means "attack!" and yariman... well, let's just say it's a rather unladylike word.
Also, in case anybody is worried, don't worry, chakra is also NOT the same thing as magic. Blue Devil's energy happens to be similar, which will be explained later. Raven's power has similarities also, but again, it's not the same. As for what Naruto ran into inside Lex's base... well, you'll have to wait and see.
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