Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, DC, Marvel or any other properties that I use in this fanfiction. This is strictly for fun and a non-profit story. Please support the official release.
The idea of how Naruto is 'transferred' to his new dimension is based on the premise from Shawn129's Jinchurriki to Speedster as well as giving him his New Earth name of Nathan. I've sought their permission to use these ideas and received the green light. Please give credit to and support Shawn129 for this by checking out their fanfiction.
Note: I realize there may be a point in this chapter during a meeting with the DEO that you might think "Why did he do this? This is super nerfed." I promise you, if you keep reading it's explained. If not, well that's cool too.
Prologue: Lightning Strikes the Ocean
'Think! Think! Think!' Blue eyes darted back and forth across a war torn battlefield. Bodies lay scattered across the land where once lush green grass had been scorched a charcoal black and stained with the blood of thousands. The stench of death permeated in the air, a smell so horrendous that it could overtake ones senses entirely. The forests of graceful trees that had stood so proudly for centuries were now reduced to nothing more than stumps, splinters of wood and smoke. A thriving ecosystem destroyed with a snap. In the center of this carnage stood, and fought, two beings. One was a young blond man with piercing blue eyes. His facial features were marred with six whisker like marks, three on either cheek. He wore mesh armor underneath an orange and black jacket, orange pants, a long black headband with a metal forehead protector that held the insignia for the Village Hidden in the Leaves, black sandals and around his neck was a black necklace with a blue crystal gem. The second was a pale-skinned woman with delicate facial features with extremely long, sweeping white hair. She had white clear eyes and eyebrows that were cut very short and was rounded. Her lips were decorated with a red shade of lipstick. Two brown horns protruded from her head and a third eye sat in the center of her forehead, red with multiple rings and tomoes. She wore a high-collared hime-kimono with a tomoe running down the center and the edges of the gown which were also adorned with intricate gold and purple lines.
The two being were Naruto Uzumaki and Kaguya Otsutsuki. A shinobi and a princess from two very different times and with two very different mindsets, locked in a battle to the death that would ultimately determine the fate of the Elemental Nations for eternity. "Enough. This battle has waged long enough. Look at the damage you have done to this Earth by continuing to deny the inevitable. It is time for you to perish so that I may regain all chakra and convert this world into what it should be without your vile kind wreaking havoc."
"I don't think so." Naruto returned angrily, dodging side to side as Kaguya seemingly glided around him. "I'm not going to let you destroy this world! No more people are going to die but you! Suiton: Dai Bakasui Shoha!" Kaguya's eyes widened, only ever so slightly, as Naruto spewed out a massive amount of water, covering the entire area in crushing waves. In the center of it Kaguya seemed as if she wasn't phased in the slightest though it was obvious she had been caught off guard and the waves were knocking her around slightly. "Suiro No Jutsu!" The waves rushed around Kaguya before forming a gigantic sphere that covered a large portion of their vicinity with her in the middle of it all. "End game."
"Is that correct? You are able to bring out a surprise technique and this is the best that you have to offer? Congratulations. You have me trapped. Yet, it will not last more than another minute. You are simply delaying your annihilation."
"Don't get cocky! Besides… I don't even need an entire minute." Naruto shot back as he lifted his hand high into the air, dark clouds forming overhead as a snarl set in over his features. "This is for Sasuke. Now vanish… with the roar of thunder! Kirin!"
"What!?" Kaguya's head snapped to the skies as a large dragon like creature was created with a loud burst of thunder before shooting directly for her location. "The fire users-" The Lightning struck the water prison, the water rising up around the force from the skies as bolts shot out from the focus of the assault. As it began dying down and the water began flooding off into the surrounding area, Naruto grabbed an injured shoulder and huffed from the exertion.
"Water and lightning combo. Powerful enough to fry-"
"Die vermin!" Naruto's eyes widened as Kaguya shot from the dispersing waves, her fist piercing through his chest. Visibly injured and enraged by the attack Kaguya twisted her fist roughly. "I will not be denied my birth right!" Naruto's blue eyes drifted down to the arm now protruding from his chest cavity with an open mouth before a smirk fell over his lips.
"Think again." He shot back before his body dispersed into liquid.
"A clone!?"
"Rasengan!" Kaguya whirled around to find another blond hurtling at her through the air, a spiralling ball of chakra held in the palm of his right hand which was pulled back behind him. Throwing his arm forward Kaguya could see the wind whipping around the attack as it came closer and closer to her at break neck speeds. With widened eyes realizing defeat her body acted on instinct, he hand moving through the air and creating a square black portal in front of her just seconds before Naruto reached her. Unable to stop himself, the blond disappeared into the inky black abyss which shut closed behind him.
Kaguya continued to stare at the space where he had been with wide eyes, her body and mind injured from Naruto's last effort assault. Finally her features shifted to one of unbridled rage. "You were a worthy adversary, Uzumaki Naruto… Good riddance."
Earth Thirty-Eight
Naruto's blue eyes snapped open to see hovering clouds above him. Only vaguely aware of a large set of hands on his chest and water continuously crashing over his legs in waves, he shot upwards into a sitting position with a gasp. 'Where am I?' The question echoed in his mind as his head snapped from side to side trying to discern his location.
"Easy! Don't overdo it! You were in the water passed out! Do you know how worried I was!?" Naruto's head snapped to the side to the person who had spoken to him and, who he now realized, had been giving him chest compressions. Likely on a hunch that he had been drowning though he found himself unhindered by any ingestion of water. It was a man, likely in his early thirties, with medium length blondish brown hair tamed backwards, brown eyes and something of a trimmed beard. He wore a maroon red shirt, long sleeve white shirt, a green jacket, blue jeans and white tennis shoes.
"Where am I?" He questioned quickly, bringing him to a crushing realizations. His voice was extremely high, like a child's. The Man crouched down near him was far bigger than him, but he was also obviously of an average size. Finally, the words that Naruto spoke seemed foreign to him. It didn't sound or feel like his language at all and yet it rolled off of his tongue all the same.
"What? Did you hit your head Nathan?" Naruto squinted his eyes harshly at the question.
'Nathan? Who's-' The blond's blue eyes widened considerably as an onslaught of memories slowly trickled into his mind. His name was Nathaniel Curry, or just Nathan for short. At least that was the name that the man in front of him, Tom Curry, had given him after finding him washed up on his lighthouse island when he was five and adopting that. Before that… he had been with his birth parents. He was so young then that his memories of and with them were muddled. He didn't remember their names or what they called him and their faces were extremely blurry in his mind. All he could remember was that his parents were from two different worlds. His mother came from the seas and his father from the skies. 'How… can that be? I was just fighting with Kaguya! Kaguya! She's going to destroy the world! I don't understand-'
Naruto was brought back to reality by his adoptive father, Tom, snapping his fingers in front of the boy's face. "Nathan! Come back to Earth and let me know that you're alright would you?"
"Oh… yeah, sorry dad." Naruto returned almost in a haze as he pushed himself off of the ground, still finding himself closer to it than he had been the last time he had been conscious. Of course, that came with the territory of being nine years old. "I guess I was just out here playing and… slipped or something. I'm alright though. Just a little… confused right now. I think I just… need to go and lay down. Rest a little." Tom looked at the blond with a scrutinizing gaze before slowly nodding his head.
"Okay. Well go to your room and head to bed. Let me know if you feel bad or anything. If we need to we'll go to the doctor's in the morning. As long as you're okay though it's back to school like normal." Naruto nodded his head absent minded as he left Tom behind, making his way into the lighthouse and to his room on instinct. Closing the door he slowly looked around himself. It was a slightly comfortable, yet spartan, room. There was a desk, a bed side table, a dresser, a study desk, a closet and a few posters plastered around the room here and there.
'I need to figure out what's going on. I remember my entire life in the Elemental Nations. I was fighting Kaguya… I think that I was close to beating her. Then she ripped open a portal and… then I was here. And now I remember this life as Nathan Curry. Oh, and I'm young again. I don't know how or why but that's definitely a top priority. It's not a lot to go off of though… Maybe a genjutsu?' Placing his hands together in a hand seal Naruto whispered, "Genjutsu Kai!" With eyes clenched shut Naruto felt nothing at all happen, and when he opened his eyes he still found himself in the exact same place. 'So that didn't work. I didn't feel anything from my chakra either and that's weird. Alright time to try something else and gather some information on where I am.' Forming another hand seal a harsh whisper escaped his mouth, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Yet Naruto simply stood there. There was no puff of smoke and there were no clones. The blond found himself completely baffled. 'My chakra… What's wrong? I can't feel it… It's not doing anything… I can't feel Kurama either! Kurama!?' He waited in silence with no answer until a knock at his door startled him.
"Nathan?" Recognizing Tom's voice Naruto turned around and slowly opened the door. The man peered down at him with a kind smile as he outstretched his hand. "Hey Champ. Found your necklace out there right by where you were. It's been with you since I found you and I figured you'd start driving yourself crazy when you realized that it was gone." Opening his hand he revealed the necklace. To Naruto it seemed to be the Shodaime's Necklace that Tsunade had gifted him. It had the black leather necklace itself, complete with the blue gem crystal and the silver attachments on either side of it. He reached out slowly and took the item from Tom.
"Thank you…"
"You're welcome. Goodnight Nathan."
"Goodnight." Naruto returned as Tom walked away and he slowly closed his door once again. Turning back around he made his way across his room and sat down on his bed. Holding his necklace by the top of its leather strap his blue eyes observed it closely. Without a shadow of a doubt this necklace was identical to the one he had been wearing when he fought Kaguya. He pulled the item on over his head and allowed it to rest around his neck while he held the gem in his hand and continued to observe it. His brow furrowed as he noticed that inside the gem the blue seemed to be rolling like waves. He peered closer. As he did so he was slightly startled as it seemed that lightning spread throughout the gem, the image of lightning striking the ocean held in the palm of his hand.
'Naruto… Listen to me...' A voice echoed through his mind. A voice that seemed so familiar. A voice that he couldn't pinpoint. A voice that he just seemed to know came from within the gem held in his grasp. 'Your life will never be the same. The memories you have of the world that you have left behind, let them all go. You have no chakra anymore. There are no more jutsus, no more seals or anything else of that kind. Those are all things that you have left behind in a past life.'
"What… What do you mean?"
'What I mean is that this your life now, Naruto. Go by the name Naruto Uzumaki all you want, hang on to a life you have lost as much as you want, cling to your memories as much as you want. They are all gone. Chakra. Gone. Jutsu. Gone. Your precious people. Gone. The Elemental Nations. Gone. You have been given a second lease on life, something that not many are awarded. Enjoy it, cherish it and make the most of it. You will go on to do great things just as you always do… Uzumaki, Naruto.' The 'waves' that seemed to be moving within the gem became violent, rushing around in a deadly whirlpool as the lightning grew more untamed. They continued to grow more dangerous in appearance until they reached their crescendo and then ceased to exist. Naruto's hand dropped the gem where it came to rest on his chest, the boy's eyes sliding shut before he fell backwards on to his bed, unconscious.
Earth Thirty-Eight, Gateway City
Blue eyes slowly fluttered open as rays of sunlight shone through an open window. Naruto groaned as he realized that the morning was upon him. Pushing up off of his bed he through his legs over the edge and sat with his head down, his fists clenching his sheet. The tone of his cell phone was drilling into his ears. Reaching over to his bedside table where his phone was vibrating across the surface he grabbed a bottle of water before quickly downing it. Tossing it into a small trashcan there by the table he reached back and grabbed his phone to check the caller id. 'Harrietta Saville'. "Great..." Naruto breathed with a sigh. "The Greek Demon strikes early today..." With only another moment of hesitation the blond pressed the green answer button and lifted the phone to his ear. "Ms. Saville, what can I do for you?"
"Nathaniel, I'm glad you could answer. Listen, with all these new artifacts coming in there's a lot of news surrounding the museum. A lot of publicity to be made. My friend Cat Grant, you know, the owner of CatCo Worldwide Media, has agreed to publish an article on the new exhibits opening. I want you to do an interview for the museum. Keep the interest at a peak. You are, after all, our publicist." Naruto ran a hand over his facial features and urged himself not to sigh in response.
"Of course Ms. Saville. Where do I need to meet the reporter?"
"Right. Here's the catch." Naruto rolled his eyes at this statement. Of course there was a catch. When it came to his boss there was always a catch. "Cat says that her reporters are spread pretty thin right now. She can't afford to send one to the city and, honestly, she can't spare one for the story. We came to an agreement though. Since we live relatively close I said that you would drive over to National City and visit their headquarters for the interview. Her assistant is going to be doing the interview. She's not an actual reporter herself. But don't let that get in the way. Cat promised me that she would have one of her expert reporters draft up a series of questions and that the girl is competent enough to write down your answers. The final edit will be drawn up by someone else of course so just go along with it and give the good answers. Oh, and take some of those pictures that I sent you of the incomplete exhibits. It'll give them something to put alongside of the article."
"Will do Ms. Saville." Naruto returned with a grimace set into his features. After this his boss gave a curt goodbye before they both hung up their phones. Placing his phone back on the table and released a long exhale of breath through his nose. "She-Devil." Pushing up onto his feet by planting the palms of his hands into his bed, Naruto stretched his arms to help wake himself up a little more. He let his eyes move over the space he occupied. He lived in a bachelor's pad. The space had wooden floors, gray walls, a king size bed sat towards the window of his room with the headboard pressed up against the wall, a flat screen television mounted on the wall across from the bed, his bedside table, a lamp on the opposite side of the bed, a cushioned lounge chair off to the side and a dark wooden table with a few chairs around it where he typically ate. Of course, also within the vicinity was his kitchen and laundry area.
Realizing that he was only really wearing a pair of jogging pants, Naruto moved across the wooden floor with bare feet to his window that he had neglected to close the night prior. Reaching up he grabbed hold of it before closing it quickly, also drawing his brown curtains closed in the process. Rolling his shoulders he then made his way to the bathroom, closing the door behind him and turning on the shower to begin getting ready for his, now long, day. As he went through his morning rituals he allowed his mind to wander, as he always did.
'My father was a Prince. My mother was a Queen. Almost sounds like a match, and yet they should have never been. You could almost say that they were from different worlds. But life has a way of bringing people together. That's evident when you come to realize that neither of them are in my life and my adoptive father is a lighthouse keeper. Regardless, they made me what I am. A son of three worlds. But even though I have all these memories, blurred recollections of my father and mother, being raised by Tom, I have other memories.
'Memories of a life that I never lived… or "a life that I've left behind" if that's what you prefer. Memories of growing up to be a soldier, of being a soldier. No, not a soldier. A shinobi. Memories of people that I knew and that I loved. Memories of people I hated. Memories of people that I protected… and of those that I killed. But that's all gone. All of those people and everything associated with their world. I wish I could say that it doesn't bother me, but it does. I miss those people. I miss that life. I hold all of it very close to my heart and refuse to let it go. Just as I refuse to let go of who I was. Naruto Uzumaki.
'Still… in the here and now my name is Nathaniel Curry. I would say that I had a mundane childhood, because I did for the most part. But to outright claim that would be a lie, if not just for the fact I have these memories of my 'Sky Father' and 'Sea Mother'. Besides that though, I noticed a lot of things about myself growing up. Again. It really all started when I was in grade school. My entire class had went on a field trip to a local aquarium and I'd started to get bullied. Of course the teacher had paid enough attention to get some kid from banging his fists on the glass, but not the three punks from banging my head on it. At the time I couldn't really do anything. They were bigger and even though I had memories of being a shinobi this body was not that body. The bullies stopped when a shark began banging on the glass.
'I guess it's important to note that I had known for some time that I could 'talk' to sea life. They could understand me and I could understand them. I remember placing my hand on the glass and trying to make the shark calm. And it became calm. When I turned around all of the sea life flooded to the glass behind me, and later other kids would tell me that my eyes had turned yellow. I didn't know that then though. They were still blue when I got home from school. After that it was a continuous string of 'discovering myself'. Feeling a connection to the thunder and lightning when it stormed. Realizing that I could breath under water. Those types of discoveries. With the realization of what I could do, I used my memories as a shinobi to retrain myself throughout my life. After all, in this world there's a being flying around called Superman who fights evil forces. One couldn't be too safe.
'But I'm getting ahead of myself. I made it through grade school okay, and honestly high school was no problem at all. With all of my memories I was ahead of the curve and skipped a grade so I was able to graduate a year early. Afterwards, having no real plan for the future, I went to college for four years and obtained my Bachelor's Degree in Communications before becoming a publicist. Because, let's be honest, not everyone can have those cool action hero jobs or be billionaire playboy philanthropists. Somebody's got to do the other jobs. And for me, well, I'm one of the most sought after publicists in Gateway City. I have multiple clients, but most notably the National Archaeological Museum of Gateway City, run by the oh so pleasant Harrietta Saville. Besides Greece itself the museum has the largest collection of Greek Artifacts. Recently they've also garnered a large collection of Norse Artifacts as well, though that was due to my intrigue for that culture and my pushing for it to happen. It came through though, there's a lot of interest in the museum as of right now.
'Anyway, besides all of the bizarre things about myself I've had a fairly normal life until recently. Had a few girlfriends here and there in high school and college. Worked a few dead end jobs all the way up through college. Just the average American life. But recently… I've begun to lead something of a double life. All of these memories just always seem to swirl in my head, of me protecting all of these people. And there's so much evil in the world. Too much for just one Superman to fight. I've started to go out and help people when I can with the abilities that have been granted to me. It hasn't picked up too much attention yet, thankfully. I don't really know how to lead a double life. Don't know how I would keep the two worlds separate from one another. I mean, even in these memories that I have of being a shinobi I never lead a double life. I never achieved the rank of Anbu so it was never required. It's something that I'll figure out along the way though, because if there's one thing I miss from that life I've left behind, that I can actually recapture… it's being a protector.'
Naruto spit the last bit of his toothpaste into the sink before looking up into the mirror positioned above it. His hair was a shocking shade of bright blond that was cut into a textured crop. The sides were kept relatively short but not taken too high. His always piercing blue eyes stared back him. His cheeks, as he remembered no mater what memories he thought of, were marred on either side with three whisker like marks. Over his athletically muscled form he wore a simple plain black tee shirt, a pair of blue jeans and a pair of black tennis shoes. The blond closed his eyes with a clenched jaw and took in a quick, harsh, breath as he heard his phone ringing from the other room. Throwing his bathroom door open, Naruto marched across his wooden floor to grab his phone. 'Harrietta Saville'. Tapping the answer button he lifted it to his ear for the second time that morning. "Yes, Ms. Saville?"
"Nathaniel! You haven't left for National City have you?" Naruto raised an uninterested eyebrow at her question.
"No ma'am. I just finished getting ready. Haven't even left my apartment yet."
"Good! So listen, I just got a call from Cat. She tells me that she has a few events that she's attending lined up throughout the week. Of course she has her mandatory plus one and she's offering it to us to so that you can go to the events with her and get us some more publicity. So I'm going to have to ask that your visit there be extended for about a week to two weeks. We'll play length of stay by ear. But don't worry! We'll be covering your stay there. Use your company car for gas, hotel expenses, food and whatever else it is that you may need."
"Sounds… great..." Naruto returned solemnly.
"Amazing! Have fun in National City! Chow darling!" Her side of the line went dead and Naruto pocketed his phone with a curse. There went a lot of his freedom for the forseeable future. Grabbing his wallet and keys from his bedside table, he pocketed his wallet before walking to his door. Grabbing a black leather jacket hung up beside the door, he exited his apartment and locked the door behind him. He didn't care about grabbing extra clothes because he always kept a backpack of essentials in the trunk of his vehicle just for situations just like this. Naruto then made his way down the stairs and outside where he made his way to his car, a black nineteen sixty nine Chevrolet Camaro. Getting inside of the vehicle he gently closed the door and started the vehicle up. Gripping the steering wheel with a sigh he put the car in reverse and began to make his track to National City while blaring his radio the entire time.
Naruto lost sense of time at some point during the drive. However, it didn't feel like much of a trip until he reached the large 'Welcome to National City' sign that greeted those that entered. The young man grimaced slightly at the sight. "Can't wait to say goodbye to National City. I had plans… Not great plans, but I had plans damn it." Using the GPS on his phone, Naruto followed his route throughout the city to his destination. He pulled into the CatCo Worldwide Media parking lot and quickly found a spot to park his car before stepping out and stretching his legs. "God. Feels good to stand up again." Rolling his shoulders, Naruto figured he had stalled enough as he made his way into the building. As soon as he walked in he was met with two security guards who ran a metal detector over him to ensure that he wasn't carrying any weapons. Immediately after them he came upon the building secretary.
"Hello sir, how can I help you?" The woman behind the desk asked as she stopped typing away at her keyboard.
"My name is Nathaniel Curry, publicist for the National Archaeological Museum of Gateway City. My employer, Harrietta Saville, sent me to have an interview with Ms. Cat Grant's assistant for an article on the museum's new exhibit openings." The woman smiled at him.
"Nathaniel Curry, let me see here." She turned in her chair and typed on her keyboard, staring at the screen in front of her as she clicked her mouse a few times. "Ah, here you are. Nathaniel Curry, interview with Kara Danvers. Well, Mr. Curry, welcome to National City and CatCo Worldwide Media. Just go into that elevator over there and head right up." Naruto flashed the secretary a smile and nodded before turning around and frowning. Heading to the elevator he pressed the up button and waited for it to arrive before stepping inside and pressing the button. The secretary threw him a thumbs up and a smile causing him to smile in return. However, as soon as the doors had completely slid shut he frowned once again.
"Welcome to National City." He spoke to the metal doors in front of him. "Sometimes I hate this job… or it's just Harrietta. Either one at this point really." With a ding the elevator halted and the doors slid open allowing Naruto to step out into the new office layout before him. His blue eyes glanced around, looking for anyone willing to help him find this Kara Danvers so that he could get this interview over with and get out of this building. Everyone in the room seemed dead set on being enraptured with their work though. "Great. Could have described her for me Saville. Would have been helpful."
"Hey. Haven't seen you around here before." Naruto glanced over to find a man approaching him. One could tell that he had shaven some time not that long ago, but was showing the early signs of a five o'clock shadow. He had around medium brown hair that was tamed upwards, likely with some sort of hair product. His eyes were also green. He wore some sort of plaid-like long sleeve button up shirt with a red tie wrapped around his neck. His pants were a pair of dark khaki held up by an equally dark leather belt. The outfit was completed with a pair of brown leather dress shoes. "New hire?"
"No. Publicist. Here for an interview." Naruto returned evenly as he offered his hand. "Nathaniel Curry."
"Oh." The other man responded, dragging the noise at slightly as he himself reached forward to shake the blond's offered appendage. "That makes sense. I mean, I just figured I would know if there was someone new coming onto the team. Winn Schott by the way." Naruto nodded in acknowledgement as he released Winn's hand and scanned the room with his eyes once again. "So, who are you looking? You know, who's interviewing you? Franklin? Nia? Mackenzie?"
"None of the above." The whisker marked man returned as he crossed his arms over his chest and swiveled his head to stare at the CatCo Worldwide Media employee. "Your boss, Cat Grant, says that they're all extremely busy right now. So I had to drive here from Gateway City to have an interview with her assistant instead. Kara Danvers I think the secretary said her name was." Winn's eyebrows rose at the statement, seemingly caught off guard. Clearing his throat and straightening his tie he stared into Naruto's eyes.
"Kara?"
"That's Cat Grant's assistant right?"
"Well, yeah."
"Then that's who I'm looking for. Any idea where she might be?" Winn scratched the side of his head, his eyes moving away from the blond in front of him. Naruto felt that he was somewhat uneasy about this subject of 'Kara', but he didn't know why. He wouldn't bother to ask either. He was just trying to do what his boss had told him to do, then leave.
"Yeah. You actually just missed her. And Ms. Grant. She went into Ms. Grant's office and then headed for the new art director's office. Probably to pick up layouts."
"Right. And where is the new art director's office? Not an employee, remember?"
"Oh! Yeah, sorry. It's right over there." Winn pointed over at a set of glass doors and Naruto nodded before walking in that direction. "It was… nice to meet you Nathaniel. Good luck with that interview."
"Nice to meet you too." The publicist returned absentminded. Sometimes he got tired of the continuous revolving door of people he met. Everywhere he was sent it was all business and for the most part he felt as though all the pleasantries were always forced. Reaching the glass double doors. One of the doors was already somewhat ajar from the last person that entered. Sticking his upper body inside he found two people. One was a blond haired, blue eyed woman. Her hair was pulled back into a pony tail and her face was adorned with a pair of black rimmed glasses. She wore a white button up shirt of some sort over which she had a grayish sweater, an almost skin tone colored watch, a red skirt and a pair of brown slip on shoes. The other was a dark skinned man with a shaved head and black eyes. The man wore a light blue, long sleeve, button up shirt, a gray tie, black pants, red belt, a black watch and brown dress shoes.
"Anyway ever tell you you look a little like him right here?" The man asked as he motioned to her face causing a shocked expression to come over the woman's face as she seemed to struggle to find her words.
"No… Uh, no, you're the first." She was finally able to get out as Naruto noticed that she stumbled over her words. The man turned his head to the side for a moment with a thoughtful expression as the woman stared at him. Naruto decided it was about to to grab their attention so he reached up and rapped on the glass door with his knuckles.
"Hey. Sorry if I'm interrupting some kind of reunion here." He spoke as he fully stepped into the room drawing their eyes to him. He noticed the blond haired woman was struggling to find her words again.
"Huh?" She finally answered back as the man smiled.
"No reunion. It's our fist time meeting each other Mr..."
"Curry. Nathaniel Curry." Naruto spoke to the dark skinned man before giving a half shrug. "I guess that's what I get for assuming. There just seemed like an air of familiarity there. At least from you. Sorry about that."
"Hey, no problem." The man returned as he and Naruto shook hands. "I'm James Olsen. What can I help you with?"
"James Olsen… From the daily planet." Naruto spoke after a moment of thought. "You're the photographer that gets most of the shots of Superman. Nice work. Unfortunately I'm not exactly here on business with you. I've been looking for Ms. Danvers because I have an interview on behalf of the National Archaeological Museum of Gateway City." James glanced over to the blond whose face had scrunched together every so slightly in concentration before realization washed over her features.
"Mr. Curry! I'm so sorry! I forgot that I was supposed to do that!"
"It's no issue." Naruto attempted to calm the stress that seemed to be reverberating from the woman, who he could now positively identify as Kara Danvers. Kara switched her attention from Naruto back to James who turned to meet her stare.
"Uh, thank you." She stated, looking down at the picture held in her hands as an indication.
"Yeah, of course." James answered with his hands on his hips as Kara made her way to where Naruto was standing. "Um." He came out of his thoughts suddenly, causing Kara to turn around in surprise. "Layouts." The word came out of his mouth with something of a chuckle as he smiled. Kara opened in her mouth as she stared at him before blowing air through her lips and looking down with a smile.
"Right." She turned, still smiling, to grab the layouts that she had originally been sent to the office to collect after letting out something of a laugh. "Almost forgot them. Bye." She walked out of the door and, with a wave to CatCo's new art director, Naruto followed along behind her.
"So where are we doing this interview?" Naruto asked from behind her, causing her to spin around slightly.
"What?" He raised an eyebrow as she seemed to freeze when her blue eyes met his. Every few seconds her eyes would drop down to stare at the whisker like marks on his cheeks before shifting back up to his eyes.
"Wow. You really do have a lot on your plate, don't you?"
"I'm so sorry. I guess I'm just kind of scatter brained today. There is a lot going on around here."
"Like I said, it's no issue." Naruto shrugged slightly once again as he continued to hold Kara's gaze.
"Thank you… for being understanding I mean. Let me go put this on my desk and then take these layouts to Ms. Grant. I'll be right back out and we can go do your interview."
"Sounds great." His blue eyes watched her turn around and rush away to her destination. With a deep breath he glanced around the room once again. It was boring. There wasn't much to take in within the office, besides the view it gave of National City, and even that was something that Naruto wasn't wholly interested in. The atmosphere was boring too, and most of the employees seemed as though they were dull. The only real uplifting experiences so far had been Winn, who Naruto could tell held more personality beneath what he had put out despite the usual forced pleasantries, James, who carried an air of confidence around himself that was admirable, and Kara who felt… different. Naruto couldn't quite put his finger on it but there was definitely something different about her. He chose not to linger on it too much and before long the glasses wearing blond had made her way back over to him with a pad and pen in hand.
"Okay Mr. Curry, are you ready?" Naruto nodded and stretched his arm out to his side.
"Lead the way." Kara smiled in response and walked past him, prompting him to turn and follow her. She lead him to an empty room that wasn't too dissimilar to the one that they had just previously occupied with James Olsen.
"Have a seat." She spoke, gesturing to a cushioned chair positioned in front of a wooden table. Kara walked around the table to an identical chair on the opposite side where she sat down. "So, Mr. Curry, you're the publicist for the National Archaeological Museum of Gateway City?"
"Yes. Among other clients, but they're my biggest one."
"What's it like working there and under Ms. Harrietta Saville?" Naruto quickly bit his tongue to keep from calling out the she-devil. He was still a little bitter about being uprooted from his home and pulled away from his planned weekend.
"It can be… challenging at times. The museum as a whole demands a lot of attention, but that's to be expected with the size and success that it has currently reached and it is still expanding after all. I'm always on call because at the drop of a dime we might make a new discovery or purchase a new acquisition." Kara nodded her head as she quickly scribbled in her notepad.
"I see. Can you go a little in depth about what you mean about new discovery and new acquisition? Mentioning them means that they're two separate things, right?" Naruto almost raised an eyebrow. He was sure that question wasn't in the questionnaire her boss had had drawn up for her. After all, it was a situational question, based off of something he had just stated. He was a little impressed by this considering that Kara was just an assistant and not an actual reporter.
"They are two completely separate things, yes. As you may know, our museum holds the largest collection of Greek Artifacts, outside of Greece itself. We actually expand in three different ways. One is by discovery. We have archaeologists on our payroll that reside in Greece and research for the museum. Any artifacts that they discover are, ultimately, brought to Gateway City where we then house them. The archaeologist that made the discovery is credited of course. We always give credit to those that discovered the artifacts, regardless of where we get it from, and we give credit to who we got it from. That's important because of the other two ways we expand our collection.
"The second is by making deals for artifacts. We have a team on our payroll that is constantly scouring the globe in search of breath taking artifacts. After finding ones that are suitable and ensuring that it's something that the museum is interested in they then go about acquiring the artifact, either by purchase or by trade. The final way that we expand is through donations, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, though donations do go through a hefty amount of research and scrutiny before they are deemed fit for the museum." Kara looked up from her notes and smiled at him, a smile that he found somewhat infectious.
"So, the museum has been closed for a number of weeks for renovations. Actually, an entirely new wing has been added to it. Can you tell me why and what it means for the museum?"
"Well, firstly, I feel like I should state that it hasn't been entirely for just that one wing. We have added other new additions in this time that will feature new Greek Artifacts never before seen at our museum. That seems important for me to state because I don't want that to get overlooked in the wake of our announcements. However, it is true that we've added a new wing to the museum that will feature artifacts from a culture that is separate from Ancient Greece. We've recently begun bringing in Norse Artifacts that will be displayed in that wing and other portions of the museum as our collection continues to grow. As for what it means for the museum? Well, it's a new lease on life. Something new to reinvigorate it. Something that can potentially reach out to those that aren't interested in the Greek Artifacts that we have in our possession. In addition, it's opened up more jobs. We're obtaining this collection just as we have obtained our Greek collection and that means that we've opened up a new team for archaeologists and a new team to travel the world in search of artifacts that people are willing to part with."
"That's wonderful." Kara returned as she placed her elbow on the table, leaning her cheek on her fist as she stared at Naruto before coughing slightly.
"Okay, let's see… Here we go, last question. What brought about this new change for the museum and why?"
"Well that's simple. I've been the publicist for the museum for a few years now and I'm very interested in Norse Artifacts myself for some reason or another. One day I sat down with my employer, Ms. Saville, and after a long conversation we both agreed that it would be an interesting business endeavor to pursue, and one that could potentially bring the museum to a larger audience which is, of course, what we want to do." Kara smiled at her fellow blond before looking down at the wooden table for a second. Placing her hands on it she pushed upwards and stood from her chair, prompting Naruto to do the same. With her smile still in place she reached across the table to shake the whisker marked man's hand.
"Thank you for your time, Mr. Curry. It was so nice to meet you. I hope that you have a safe trip back to Gateway City."
"The interview's over. You can just call me Nathan. And I won't be heading back to Gateway City. At least not for a while. My boss says that your boss has some events lined up that she wants me attend to continue promoting our new exhibits. So I'm stuck here in National City anywhere from one to two weeks." Kara made an apologetic face at the man's words.
"Yeah. Ms. Grant has been canceling a lot of her appointments and events lately, so you might not be getting to see a lot of promotion action." Naruto sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.
"Great. So weekend plans canceled for an unplanned trip to National City. Saville strikes again." Kara looked down for a moment, the corners of her lips turning upwards. It sounded like his boss likely had a similar attitude to her own.
"But… that means that I might see you again? You're, uh, museum sounds really interesting is all." Naruto raised an eyebrow at the blond woman before allowing a half smile to pass over his lips.
"Yeah. Maybe. Who knows? National City is a big place." He returned. "Have a good day Ms. Danvers." Naruto turned and made his way to the door.
"You can call me Kara." She spoke suddenly as he opened the door. "And you too." She added as he disappeared into the office to make his way out of the building.
After leaving CatCo Naruto had no real destination in mind. At some point he stopped at one of the high end hotels and booked a room, dropping off most of his stuff. Directly afterwards he had left though. He didn't feel like just sitting in a hotel room waiting on a call for a publicity event that probably wasn't even going to come at this point. Mostly he just found himself driving around the city, listening to music and taking in the sights. As day turned to night, at some point Naruto decided that he would try going to one of the bars that National City housed. Just long enough to take his day's edge off. But as he was driving in the direction that his phone ordered him to go, his brow furrowed as he looked up into the dark skies overhead. "What… the fuck?" The question came out of his mouth, seemingly on instinct as he quickly pulled over to the side of the road before stepping out of his Camaro. With his head tilted upwards he watched as a plane seemed to be descending from the sky at high velocity, fire evident on its wings. "Shit." He whispered to himself, his blue eyes darting left and right at everyone around him. Of course they were to enamored with the plane to notice him. He highly doubted they had even paid attention to him getting out of his vehicle. He'd just have to come back for it the next day. Waving his hand over his face water formed out of the air, creating something of a face mask the obscured his facial features from view. He prepared himself to handle the situation when he noticed that there was a figure tailing the plane in the sky. A human like figure.
Blue eyes narrowed as he watched one of the flaming jet engines fall away from the wing, towards the flying figure. Female, he noted. She crossed her arms as it crashed into her and he was surprised as she continued on her track. However, several large fireballs descended to the Earth from her collision and Naruto immediately sprang into action. "Everyone take cover by the buildings!" He shouted, his voice altered and distorted by the water that rippled over his face. Launching himself into the air he made an arch with his arm, his eyes shifting to an intoxicating yellow. A large, curved, shield of water appeared over the entirety of the road, taking on the fireballs that fell from above. The debris that they hid were encapsulated in spheres of water that slowly drifted down safely to the asphalt before dispersing, leaving the metal in harmless heaps as Naruto landed back on the road, ignoring the cheers of the bystanders. The plane was still making its descent to Earth, and if it continued its trajectory it would cause devastation. Without a second though he pushed off of the ground and flew towards both the plane and the other flying figure.
He wasn't able to catch up by the time that she had made contact and began leveling the plane out. However, he had reached his destination as the plane was getting dangerously close to a bridge. Grabbing hold of the bottom of the plan behind the woman he put all of his strength into helping her tilt the plane so that it could pass safely between a gap in the bridge. Amazingly they were able to pull off this tight squeeze as the air craft continued to fall leaving all civilians unharmed before they and their load landed in the water. Naruto could hear the cheering of those inside the plane even underwater. The woman surfaced, throwing her arms into the wing of the plane before slowly dragging herself on top of it, soaking wet. She came to her feet as a helicopter put spotlights on her. Like a bullet Naruto shot from river, propelled upwards by its waters, before landing beside the smiling woman. It was an infectious smile and one that he had only been introduced to a few hours beforehand. Standing shoulder to shoulder and facing in opposite directions, the currently yellow eyed man spoke to her in his distorted voice. "I knew there was something different about."
Kara looked over to him, both in confusion and fear, but he said nothing more as he kicked off of the plane's wing and fell back first into the river, disappearing as he slowly drifted further and further down. She was shocked that he would throw himself to the elements like that, but a quick scan revealed that he was already gone and nowhere underneath her. Put off by this and realizing that she had basked in her after hero moment long enough, Kara herself kicked off of the wing and soared through the air back into National City at seemingly untraceable speeds.
Surfacing in an isolated area, Naruto launched himself back onto the cement of National City, quickly waving his hand over his face to disperse back into nothingness. Looking around he took in a deep breath and made the decision that he wouldn't wait until the next day to go and get his Camaro after all. He'd likely end up getting a parking ticket if he did. Taking off his leather jacket he grimaced as he threw it into a trash can. He had really liked that jacket. It'd become his favorite. But if he knew one thing about going back to the scene of the crime it was that, in the heat of the moment, people were going to remember just a few specific things. Blond hair. Yellow eyes. Water mask. And his leather jacket. "Damn it. I really loved that jacket." He mumbled to himself as he kicked at a rock on the ground, pausing to check his reflection in a nearby window to ensure that his eyes had changed back to blue. They had. He then began making his track through the city to find his Camaro, both cursing that he had left his phone in it due to being without a GPS, and being thankful because it would have surely been ruined at that moment. It took him some time, maybe thirty minutes or so, before he finally found his car. People were still gathered in the area and he wasted no time in getting inside and heading to his hotel to call it a night. 'I hope I don't regret this tomorrow.'
National City
'I regret this one hundred percent.' Naruto thought to himself the following morning after he had left his hotel. That morning, no matter what channel he turned it to, no matter what else could have been going on in the world, a grainy image of Kara and himself was plastered everywhere and they were all anyone wanted to talk about. He had spent months in Gateway City going unnoticed, but one outing in National City and he was news priority number one. "Great." Naruto muttered to himself as he shoved his hands into his pockets. He had opted to leave his Camaro at the hotel and simply walk today, to clear his head. "And to make matters worse, all of it's reminding me of my jacket. Everywhere I look, bam, there I am in my jacket. A jacket I'm having to go replace right now." He was only a couple of blocks from his destination store. And he could only assume that he was forever destined to be in a specific place at a specific time every second as a car sped past him followed by police cars which were passed by a blur of red and blue. "Well. Looks like she's found her calling." He talked to himself as he paused for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and continuing his track to the store. It was a car chase. What was the worst that could happen?
All in all, it would turn out to be a pretty good day for Naruto. He got a new leather jacket, just in a different style and one that he wasn't emotionally attached to yet. He walked across the city, just enjoying the air, the sky, the water and the sights. Some time during the day he recalled hearing a news station report that the superhero, Kara in other words, had stopped a bank robbery. He hadn't really thought much about that. Naruto remembered what it was like when he first started helping people in Gateway City a few months ago. It was like a shot of adrenaline. It was a feeling that you wanted to chase over and over again. Albeit, Naruto did his double life excursions in a more stealthy manner then. Again day turned to night and he had received no call from Cat Grant about the publicity events. Still walking the streets he began to contemplate on if he would rather go to a bar or try to find ramen someone in the vicinity. He did like to treat himself to the delicious noodles every once in a while. As he contemplated this, a contemplation that he knew was meaningless because he would choose ramen regardless, he felt something pierce the side of his neck. "What the… fuck..?" He questioned angrily as he slapped his hand upward to the culprit. Ripping it from his skin with a furrowed brow he observed it through fading vision. It was some sort of metallic projectile syringe that had emptied its contents into his body. Somewhere behind him he could hear a multitude of boots stomping the ground. "What the fuck… is this made out of?" His voice slurred before he toppled over to the ground, unconscious.
Undisclosed Location
"I stand corrected. I regret this three hundred percent." These were the words that filtered into Kara's head as she slowly regained consciousness. The last thing she remembered was flying towards a burning building and then… it all came back to her as she remembered being shot with projectiles that had left her unconscious. Turning her head she found a dark skinned man standing with his arms crossed. He had black hair and cut relatively short and dark brown eyes. He wore a black tee shirt, black pants and black shoes. On the other side of him sat a somewhat familiar blond. The one she had interviewed the other day, Nathan Curry. "I also regret that I just dropped a lot of money on a leather jacket that you jackasses took. 'Because it can conceal weapons'. Load of shit." The man standing over her seemed to ignore the other blonde, who seemed to be restrained to some sort of table. Realizing this Kara herself tried to move and found herself just as stuck as he seemed to be.
"Made of low-grade Kryptonite. Radioactive mineral from your home planet. It weakens you." The man stated before she could say anything.
"Great. Bracelets made out of a mineral from another planet and bracelets made out of the Teeth Of Jormungandr. You've just done your research on everybodyhaven't you? Smug bastard." Kara tried to process the words that came out of Naruto's mouth and focus on the situation at hand at the same time.
"Where… Where am I? Why is Nathan here? Who are you?" The Kryptonian panted angrily.
"Name is Hank Henshaw. And I believe you already know Agent Danvers." The man stated simply causing Kara's eyes to widen. From her restrained position she could see her sister walking into view. Her adoptive sister, Alex Danvers, had red hair cut to about chin length and hazel eyes. Much like the Hank Henshaw standing over the two blonds she wore a black shirt, black pants and black shoes.
"She doesn't need those." Alex stated as she moved forward and unlocked Kara's restraints, prompting Kara to jerk her arm away and lay back on the table she had been restrained to.
"Nathan doesn't either."
"Oh, don't vouch for me yet Kara. I'm still thinking about reprecussions. I've been drugged. Kidnapped. Basically mugged. I'm kind of pissed off right now." Despite Naruto's venting Alex, on Kara's word, still moved over to him and released his wrists as well. Bite marks on his wrists slowly began to fade away as he stared at the ceiling. "My regret levels are rising. She-devil should have just let me have my weekend." Hank, once again, ignored Naruto. Kara could only assumed the he had been verbally assaulting and venting for a while at this point.
"Welcome to the DEO, the Department of Extranormal Operations." He stated as he walked around the two tables that they laid upon. "The DEO monitors and protects Earth from extraterrestrial presence and or invasion. That means you." He motioned for them to both get up and follow him, which both did, albeit with reluctance from Naruto.
"I get that for me." Kara stated as they walked behind the dark skinned man. "I came from Krypton. But not Nathan."
"No. He did not come from Krypton. But that does not make him any less otherworldly." Hank stated simply. "We've been tracking him for quite some time and following leads that were left behind even before his birth. His father did not come from this planet. He may not have even come from this universe. His mother did come from this planet. But with where she came from she may as well be otherworldly too."
"They've been stalking me." Naruto spoke, disconcerted that this organization had invaded his privacy.
"He has been doing some of the things you just started to for a few months now. But, with him showing up in National City and you both openly revealing yourselves we knew we could not wait any longer. Look. Your ship." Hank stated as they came to a halt in front of a damaged white space craft. Naruto had never seen it before so he could only assume the man meant Kara. "We keep it here as a reminder of the day you crashed on Earth. You're the reason for all of this." The blond haired Kryptonian seemed baffled by the words.
"Me? But… my… But my cousin was here two dozen years before me."
"Yeah, you can't really pin the blame on her if the problem existed before she got here." Naruto added with a frown.
"It was his arrival that triggered the need for this organization. We realized we weren't alone in the universe and we might soon be getting more… immigrants." Naruto's and Kara's heads both snapped towards the man, obviously offended by his wording due to the situation he currently had them in. "Sure enough, you came along. And after you, he came to light. But with you came Fort Rozz."
"Fort Rozz?" Kara questioned.
"Krypton's maximum security prison. Banished to the Phantom Zone, same place your ship got stuck. But just like yours, it didn't stay there. We're not sure how your pod got loose. What we do know is this: you pulled Fort Rozz with you. When it crashed, the alien convicts, the worst criminals in the galaxy, they all escaped. And you brought them here." Hank shook his head and walked away, Kara following closely and Naruto behind her. "These beings, some of them have powers from your darkest nightmares. For over a decade they've stayed hidden, but in the last year many have been emerging." He lead them to a large high tech computer set up that shifted to show the images of multiple creatures. "Making themselves known."
"They're planning something." Alex finally spoke as she came to stand by Kara's side. "We're just not sure what it is yet."
"Your plane. That wasn't an accident, they were trying to kill you." Kara spoke as realization dawned upon her. Currently Naruto felt like he was just along for the roller coaster ride because he didn't really understand a lot of the talk being thrown back and forth between Hank and Kara. "I can help you stop them."
"Theoretically I could too."
"How?" Hank asked as he stared her down. "You couldn't even stop us from capturing you. Neither of you could."
"I'm still learning." Kara returned quickly.
"I was just minding my own business when your goons shot me up with drugs." Henshaw shook his head at the angry blond.
"Our job is keeping people in the dark about alien life on Earth, and nothing says 'covert operation' like a flying woman in a red skirt. Or a flying man in a water mask. That disappears into the water."
"They know about my cousin they don't fear him."
"Plenty of people do, just not popular to admit it." Hank shot back. "You want to help? Go back to getting someone's coffee and dragging artifacts across the world." With that he turned around and looked at a paper held in his hands. Kara in turn made an about face and began to storm away while Naruto simply shrugged and trailed behind. At least this little encounter taught him that he needed to train himself on being more aware of his surroundings. Seeing one of the DEO agents holding his jacket he reached out and snatched it away before pulling it back over his shoulders as Alex tried to talk to Kara.
"I know you're mad, and you're hurt. I wanted to tell you every single day-" She was cut off as Kara turned sharply to stare at her, obviously emotionally devastated.
"No, instead, you told me every single day not to be who I really am."
"You have to listen to me." The red head pleaded with her adoptive sister.
"I can't!" Kara responded as she walked around the other woman before turning to face her with a sad smile. "This just kind of feels like one big coincidence, doesn't it?" The split second smile dropped into an emotionally wrecked visage. "You working here, hunting down aliens, me being one? I… I can't help but think the real reason you were recruited was because of me."
Alex stepped forwards, getting closer to being face to face with her sister. "They recruited me because my background in bio-engineering makes me an expert on alien physiology. And yeah, it helps that I shared a bathroom with one."
"I'm leaving now." Kara stated matter of factly, obviously done with her current situation. "Unless you wanna try and stop me. Which I wouldn't." With that, Kara moved around her sister and began marching out of the facility she had been held in. Naruto caught Hank approaching the other woman out of the corner of his eye.
"I know you, don't want to hear this, Agent Danvers, but she's dangerous."
"Is she though?" Naruto questioned as he turned and moved toward the man. "Sure, she can do things that you're terrified of. And what do humans do when they're scared of something? They try to control it. To break it down or kill it. But she has a good heart. Otherwise she wouldn't have revealed herself to the world to save a plane that would have crashed and killed an unspecified amount of people. Probably reaching into the hundreds if not thousands with the size of National City. You're so concerned with this image that you've built up in your mind either of an alien free world, or of species that are different than you, or just of what you imagine your little organization to be that you don't care about all those lives that we saved. That could have been lost. And that makes you more dangerous than her. Because she has a heart. You don't. You have a goal, and with people like you the ends always justify the means." Naruto turned on his heels and began to leave before whirling around with his finger raised, "Oh, and one more thing. Try to tranquilize me again. Ever. I promise you: it will not work. I'm not Kryptonian but my senses are far above what you humans have. And now that I have the information I need on the people that have been watching me I won't let you take me down again.
"That metal you used in the syringe wouldn't have pierced my neck if I hadn't known it was coming. I'll admit, you caught me off guard with the bracers. But you'll be hard pressed to get them on me again. I'll lay this out for you perfectly clear, Hank Henshaw: Kara and I are off limits to your little alien subduing organization. Don't wage war on the people that are trying to help you. It's going to leave you with less allies and more enemies." Naruto paused to take a deep breath before giving a very uninterested two finger salute with his right hand. "Until next time." Hank watched the man disappear down the hallway before turning his attention back to Alex.
"And that man is even more dangerous than her, believe it or not."
National City
Naruto stepped out of his Camaro, his facial features set into a blank expression. This entire trip to National City was something of a fiasco at this point. A constant roller coaster of varying experiences. Losing his planned weekend for an interview and publicity events that weren't happening at this point, down. Interview with Kara, up. Revealing himself all over the news after months of being incognito living his double life, down. Allowing himself to be captured by his seemingly ever present stalkers to gain information on them, up. Being surprised that by them having dug far deeper into his lineage than even he had and actually being restrained for a while, down. Staying out all night after leaving the DEO facility, down. All he was left with was questions about where he went from here. Oh, and having to trash his favorite leather jacket? Ultimate down.
Naruto paused in his steps as he neared his hotel, having felt a presence behind him. Turning halfway around he found the red headed woman from the DEO. Agent Danvers, if he remembered correctly. He didn't know how exactly, but likely was related to Kara in some way or another. Man, the downs were just piling up at this point. "I assume that you're not here to put me under some sort of DEO citizen's arrest. If you were, I figure you would have already attempted to shoot me with another tranquilizer. And failed."
"I'm here to get your help."
"Funny. From the interaction we had yesterday I kind of got the assumption that the DEO didn't want help like me."
"We approached you in the wrong way. I understand that. But you're a wild card and we have to monitor wild cards."
"Like Kara?" Naruto questioned. He could tell that his retort cut the red head deeply.
"Kara… Kara's my sister. My adoptive sister. The entire time I've been with the DEO I've believed that the way we go about things is for the best. Now… I'm starting to think differently."
"I'm still not getting why you're here to 'get my help'."
"Beings like Superman and Kara… you were right. They have hearts and they want to protect people from forces that they can't protect themselves from. They want to save people. And, honestly, there are just some fights where it takes beings like them to win. Beings like you." Naruto raised an eyebrow before motioning for her to continue. "Even though I believed that the DEO way was the best way, the reason that I didn't want Kara to reveal herself was because it would put her in danger. And now she is."
"What do you mean?"
"Fort Rozz. Hank explained it to you and Kara. What he didn't say was that all the dangerous beings locked away in it were locked away by Kara's birth mother. And now that they know Kara is out there they're going to want to hurt her, because it's they only way they can get revenge on her mother now. It's already started. One of them lured Kara into a fight by using a frequency that can only be heard by those that aren't born of this planet."
"I didn't hear it." Naruto returned evenly.
"But you were born of this planet in some regard. Kara answered the call and met the being, Vartox, at the National City Power Plant. It's lined with lead so Kara can't see through it. He ambushed her and Kara lost the fight they had. He cut her arm. And if we hadn't shown up he likely would have been able to choke her to death. He escaped, but the DEO is searching for his location as we speak. I'm about to go and talk with Kara. To tell her that this world needs her. That her family believes in her. Like Superman, she was sent here to help us. And in a different way, I think that you were too. I'm not going to be able to keep Kara safe from all of the dangers she's going to face in this new life by myself. Having you there to watch her back would make things easier for me to accept." Naruto stared at the woman and seemed to be pondering her statement.
"Even if I said yes, I don't live in National City. I didn't plan for any of this to happen. I didn't plan to be here when Kara chose to reveal herself, I didn't plan on revealing myself to the world and I didn't plan to get dragged into any of this. The only thing that I planned was getting captured by your organization when I realized that you were about to make your move right before you did." The DEO agent stared at the blond with set determination etched all over her features.
"There are ways that you could help Kara and protect your city. I know there is. It's not that far of a distance either."
"Listen. Do you not have faith in your sister?"
"I have all the faith in the world in Kara, it's just-"
"Then you don't need my help." Naruto interrupted as he turned and once again began to make his way inside of his hotel.
"Kara trusts you." The red head called from behind him.
"She doesn't even really know me." Naruto returned over his shoulder.
"And still, the first thing she said when I unrestrained her was to take off your restraints too." The blond paused. That much was true. They'd barely even interacted with one another though. Still, her personality reminded him of multiple people from memories that were not of this lifetime. People that he had fought time and time again to protect, and people who had done the same for him.
"You have my attention, but only for a few minutes. Tell me your pitch."
Outskirts of National City
Night had fallen, and Kara soared through the skies at high octane speeds towards her destination, donned in her heroic attire. After a highly emotional talk with her sister Alex, and recorded hologram of her mother taken from the spaceship she crash landed in, they had traveled to the DEO to inform Hank Henshaw that she would be helping from that point on, or they would do it by themselves. Well, Alex had also mentioned 'among others', but Kara had just assumed that she meant people like Nathan who were super powered and had noble intentions at heart. Regardless, they had been lucky as the agents in the DEO had located Vartox during the conversation based off of the metal that Kara had brought back in her arm. Hank had finally conceded on letting her help, simply telling her to make sure she wins, before she had dispatched from the area. She was now en route to intercept the alien being who was on his way to wreak havoc in National City.
"Do you have eyes on the target?" Hank's voice spoke to her through the ear piece she had been given as she descended from the skies to the asphalt road below, landing in front of a semi truck traveling at high speeds.
"I got him." She answered back in a somewhat vengeful voice before putting her shoulder forward. The eighteen wheeler slammed into her, causing a large explosion as Vartox was ejected through the windshield of the vehicle and sent skidding across the road where he came to rest beside his axe like weapon. Kara turned around and began stalking forward towards him. Vartox pushed himself off of the ground and stared at the blond in rage as his vehicle exploded once again, sending debris flying around them.
"You never should have come back for more." He stated with hostility before Kara launched herself through the air at him with her fist extended. Vartox tilted to the side and grabbed her ankle, but the Kryptonian lashed out with a kick to the face in response before landing on the ground. The bald alien was quick to rush her with a roar to which she responded by flying into the air, kneeing him in the face and sending him back down to the cement. Kara flew down, delivering a punch to the side of his face before attempting to follow up with another. Vartox caught her second attack and launched her away before quickly making his way to his weapon, wrenching it free of its resting place in the asphalt. Kara lurched through the air, kneeing her target in the chest and sending him flying backwards through the flaming remains of his eighteen wheeler. He was further surprised when a hand roughly grabbed him by the throat and planted him into the road, creating a spider web of cracks.
"Heard you like ambushes." A distorted male voice stated before Vartox was dead lifted off of the ground and flung through the air. He skid across cement once again before coming to rest on one knee as both he and Kara eyed the new arrival. He had blond hair and yellow eyes. A mask of water rippled across the lower portions of his face, almost in a serene manner, hiding his facial features from view. He wore a layered, collared, black armor vest on his upper torso, with three dark silver plates on either side, black pants, some sort of black combat boots that came up over his shins for protection and short black leather strapped gloves.
"So you're the other one from the plane crash. I'd almost forgotten about you." Vartox spoke, his voice nothing short of a growl.
"Enough talk." Naruto answered as he blurred forwards. Vartox released another roar as he swing his axe in an arc as the blond male appeared in front of him. With a wave of his hand, Naruto formed a shield of water over himself that deflected the attack aimed at his skull before delivering a knee to the gut. Vartox doubled over before being pushed back across the road after a well placed palm to his chest. Before he could even regain his bearings Kara was upon him, delivering a vicious uppercut. He flew backwards as the female pursued him quickly. She swung, landing a hit before ducking and barely avoiding having his axe connect with her neck.
Naruto's knee connected with the man's jaw, causing him to whip to the side. Kara slammed her fist into his leg causing Vartox to fall down to one knee before she delivered a knee of her own to, roughly, the same area. Using his quick reflexes, he was able to dodge out of the way as Naruto descended to the Earth with a ground shattering punch before slamming the but of his axe into Kara's stomach. He followed this up by using the same end to assault her back. Naruto was quick to come to her rescue, but as Kara launched off the ground in an attempt to fly away Vartox grabbed her ankle and smashed her body into him. With the sturdiness of her body and the alien's strength it was just enough to send Naruto flying to the side before Kara was unceremoniously slammed back into the asphalt. Vartox then quickly sent a downwards punch to the her face, creating a crater. "Stop I… I give up! I don't want to die." Kara spoke, out of breath as she stared up at the alien being.
"Give your mother my regards." He returned quickly, intent on ending her before the other blond could interfere again. He lifted his axe and sent it directly towards her face causing Kara to swiftly reach up and catch part of the handle to keep the blade from embedding itself in her skull.
"Hook line and sinker." Naruto whispered to himself.
"Kara do it now!" Alex's voice rang in her sister's ear, prompting two blue laser beams to shoot from her eyes and begin heating the blade of the axe aimed at ending her life. Vartox stared in disbelief as he fought against the woman's strength, the blade inching closer and closer to her face. Seeing this made Naruto weary as he thought of how to help. One wrong move could be detrimental to Kara's survival.
"It's not working! I can't do it!" She cried out in desperation. Making up his mind on his next course of action Naruto focused his aim, his eyes changing to an illumination of light as sparks seemed to shoot out of them.
"It's okay Kara! You're not alone!" He called back to her, hoping his words reached her as well as the ones he was sure her sister was also speaking to Kara. Lighting seemed to spiral down Naruto's arm as rain clouds formed overhead, thunder echoing in the distance before the lightning shot from his body and slammed into the blade of the axe along with Kara's heat beams, further elevating the temperature of the weapon. Vartox released a prolonged scream as he continued trying to push the axe downwards, realizing that no matter the outcome he had lost this battle with the arrival of the second blond. Then, Kara's head snapped to the side just before the weapon in Vartox's hands exploded, sending him flying backwards to land on the ground once again.
With her head turned to the side, Kara experienced the sight of Naruto, his mask having dropped due to his concentration on his attack, with his eyes glowing with an intoxicating white of electricity. Despite the severity of the current situation, a recent conversation with Winn fluttered through her mind and she couldn't stop the whispered, "Wah-pow." Quickly snapping back to reality Kara stood up and walked to stare at her downed enemy, "It's over!"
"You think I'm the threat!?" Vartox responded angrily, obviously impaired by his new injuries. "You have no idea what's coming." Naruto saw something of a smirk on the man's features before he ripped a remnant of his blade out of the ground and pierced his own chest with it, ending his life. He saw Kara flinch at the display, obviously disturbed by it.
"Why didn't you go full strength against him?" Naruto heard Hank Henshaw's voice question in his ear.
"Because I hold my powers back for weaker enemies." He returned quietly through the earpiece that Alex Danvers had presented to him earlier that day. "It's called honor. You should learn it. If he'd been more of a threat I wouldn't have. Besides, you have Kara and I believe that she truly could have handled this on her own." With that, Naruto severed his connection with the DEO slightly admiring Kara as she stood in front of the blazing remains of the semi truck looking down at Vartox's body.
"I didn't have you pegged for an all black ensemble of clothes type of guy." She spoke up as her blue eyes turned to stare at him.
"What can I say? I left my chainmail sleeves and red cape back in Gateway City."
"We should talk. Not here, of course. Tomorrow maybe?" Naruto fought the urge to laugh at her personality as his mask of water reformed over his face.
"Sure. I'll still be in town waiting on a call that's not going to come. I'll stop by your work."
CatCo Worldwide Media
Naruto stepped onto the roof of Kara's workplace, heading across its pavement as James Olsen walked in his direction. "Hey… Curry, right? Nathaniel Curry?" The art director spoke as they came close to passing each other.
"Right on the money James. I'm here to talk with Kara about some publicity requests Ms. Grant sent me right now, but we should sit down some time. I'm a big fan of your work at the Daily Planet."
"Hey, anytime." James returned with a smile before he made his way off of the rooftop and back down into the office. Naruto continued his direction where Kara stood holding a box.
"Had to ask that Winn guy where you were again. Seems like a good guy with a lot of personality, but he gets put off when I ask for you. Nice blanket. I knew there was a familiarity towards you with him." Kara lifted her head to stare into Naruto's blue eyes.
"You heard all of that?"
"Well, it took me a while to figure out you were up here, meetings on the roof seem like something that should be against company policy by the way. This seems really dangerous for normal people. Anyway, when I came up I heard you two talking and didn't want to ruin an emotional moment for you. Now, about what you wanted to talk about?"
End Chapter
Wow. Took a few days to get that done. It was a long process. Glad that I can finally get this out there though. I'm not going to say too much in this post chapter note but there are a couple of things. Firstly is that I work a full time job five days of the week. I don't have a lot of down time and just this one chapter was very time consuming. I've spent multiple night staying up way too late into the am to get it done. So, with that being said, I'm not going to be able to put content out at a break neck pace. If you're interested in continuing to read please be patient with me.
Second, I know that the fight scene is pretty lackluster. But I wanted to start this story off with the pilot episode of Supergirl and the villain there is pretty lackluster. I promise there will be longer fights where Naruto is able to show off more of his powers, especially when he goes and does his own thing.
I'll be drawing inspiration for plots and such from various sources but that doesn't mean that those sources will be outright crossovers.
If you have questions feel free to pm me and I will respond as soon as I can. Also, I will do my best to answer review questions at the beginning of chapters.
I could not, for the life of me, figure out the proximity of Gateway City to National City despite looking at numerous DC Maps online and reading for where they are(I've done a lot of research for various things). I got mixed results so, for the sake of this story, they're relatively close to one another.
I haven't decided on Naruto's hero name. I might post a poll on my profile(if that's still a thing it's been a long time since I've been on here) so if you want to be a part of that keep your eyes peeled.
For pairing I'm leaning towards Kara and, potentially, DCEU Wonder Woman(I'm not sure if I want to go with a multiple pairing). I'm open to suggestions, but I am pretty dead set on Kara. It's the reason he's on Earth Thirty-Eight.
I think that's pretty much it. I'll give a run down on what I have for Naruto's powers currently. Oh, and feel free to guess Naruto's parents. I don't think I tried very hard at hiding them.
Powers-
Hybrid Physiology
Superhuman Strength
Superhuman Durability
Regenerative Healing Factor
Superhuman Speed
Superhuman Reflexes
Superhuman Agility
Superhuman Stamina
Superhuman Senses
Enhanced Vision
Longevity
Amphibious Adaption
Aquatic Respiration
Marine Communications
Hydrokinesis(Able to create water seemingly out of thing air, create a thick mist out of it and even drop its temperature to freezing to create ice)
Lightning/Electricity Manipulation
Weather Manipulation
Flight
Abilities-
Master Combatant
Hammer Mastery
Trident Mastery
Spear Mastery
Axe Mastery
Sword Mastery
Marksman Mastery
Pilot
Multilingual