Chapter 9: Low Key 1/2

Disclaimer: What do you mean I don't own this?! My…my life now has no meaning. It is but a black, lifeless void of shame and regret, mounted upon the very cusp of my aspirations. Now what will I do but wallow in my own musky failure juices, wading back in forth in the chest deep cesspool that is my life. For what is life without purpose. For what is purpose without life. What is purpose? What is life? Meh.

Author's Note: Holy. Fucking. Shit. I seriously did not expect to get so much love for chapter 8, like seriously you guys thank you. I noticed that a lot of people loved the fight scenes and the end with Naruto and Monica. I'm glad you liked them, I wanted the last chapter to be a turning point for Naruto on a few different levels. Now not only is he going to be less focused on going home, now he's going to try and make a difference on this world and but at the same time he's going to do it in a way that's different than most other superheroes. He will put people down if he feels it's necessary, unlike most characters like Batman, Superman, or Spider-man. For me, it always seemed kind of stupid in hindsight not to kill of someone like say the Joker or the Green Goblin. I can tell you why they don't, and it's not because of any kind of moral code the writers have that they pass down to their characters. No, the only reason villains aren't killed off is because if you look at it from outside the box, and see it from more of a business man's perspective, it's just not a good idea to kill off a villain, because then the writers have to come up with a new villain every couple of weeks, that and if a character is popular, you just don't kill them off. That's why when on the rare occasion a hero goes "rogue" and kills, it's always a B or C level character that the fans don't mind to see killed off. That and think of all the paraphernalia these villains create: clothes, posters, toys, videogames, etc. If Ditko and Stan Lee had killed off the Green Goblin, or if Bob Kane had killed off the Joker, just imagine how empty the heroes we love would be now in the present day. Sometimes though, especially with the Joker, it just gets ridiculous the crap these guys pull and get away with because of the heroes' moral code. Jason Todd, Barbara Gordon, Gwen Stacey, Sue Dibney, the list goes on. But that's just my opinion I suppose. For those that have been paying attention to the dates in the story, you would know that we've been getting really close to the Avengers Arc. Well, I'm glad to say that that starts this chapter. Finally, is it just me or were there a shit ton of trailers that have come out recently? For starters, anybody else excited for the Atomic Blonde movie? The director will be helming Deadpool 2, and from the trailers I'm honestly impressed with his style, and I hope that transitions over well with DP2. Then we got Thor: Ragnarok and just recently Star Wars: The Last Jedi, both I almost shat my pants when I saw they came out. I'm so excited for the end of the year to roll along, you can't even imagine. Alright, this was long enough of a note, time for the chapter.

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Chapter Nine: Low Key

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"You call that low key?!"

Those were the first things to leave Illyana's mouth as Naruto entered the room. Said room was the Valid's hotel room, the blood that had once lay in a pool in the hotel doorway was now gone, cleaned up by Naruto's clones. The blonde man walked past the agitated woman, walking into the living room to see Gabrielle, her sleeping son scooped up into her arms. Looking over into the open bedroom door, Naruto could see that Charles was laying on the bed, his body covered by the bed spread. A sudden wave of memories flooded into his head, the clone's experience of dropping off the Acquired and the other AIM experiments at a hospital allowing him to relax knowing that those poor people were now in good hands.

"Hey!" Magik said in a harsh whisper, "Don't ignore me! Do you have any idea what's going on because of your little show? You're all over the news for God's sake!" The blonde finished by pointing at the television, the local news covering the breaking story of a how the city wide war was now over, the rebelling side having been picked off by what reports were calling a 'One Man Army.' The story then shifted over to the coverage going on in Sokovia, the reporter stating that what many believed to be a freak explosion to have gone off in a privately owned military base. The owner of the company running said base, a man named Aldrich Killian, gave a brief statement just moments ago saying that the reason behind the explosion is just as unknown to him as it is to the general public, and that he and the remains of his organization are doing the best they can in their investigation.

Naruto ignored her however, his attention completely on the still balling woman kneeling down in front of him. Crouching down next to her, Naruto hesitated several times before gently placing his hand on Gabrielle's shoulder, "We should go."

Gabrielle's eyes slowly opened, revealing her eyes to be red and puffy from her constant tears of sadness and now happiness. After a moment of thought, the red head nodded slowly, slowly standing up, making sure not to wake her exhausted son, the boy just having fallen asleep in her arms.

Naruto then walked over into the bedroom, slowly walking up to the corpse laying in the bed. Tucking the sheet to where it was under the body, Naruto gently lifted the body bridal style, the sheet nearly spilling onto the floor. Entering the living room once again, Naruto heard Illyana ask Gabrielle where she wanted to go.

"I…I just want to go home." Gabrielle croaked out.

Illyana nodded, "Do you have a picture of it?" Gabrielle nodded, reaching into her pocket to pull out her phone. Unlocking the lock screen, she then began to scroll through her photos before stopping on one in particular. Gabrielle seemed to hesitate for a moment, a small smile spreading across her face for only a moment before she seemed to collect herself. Clicking it so that the picture expanded outwards, she then showed it to the blonde woman in front of her.

It was a family picture, with a younger Charles and Gabrielle standing in front of your standard suburbia household. Upon closer inspection, you could see that Gabrielle looked to be rather far along in a pregnancy, six months at least, with Charles gently caressing her bloated belly, a wide smile on his face as he looked forward.

"Alright, that should be enough. Thank you." Illyana said. Closing her eyes, Magik began to reach out towards the house. Finally, after several seconds, a large portal opened up behind her. Stepping aside, Magik allowed Gabrielle and Herald to walk through first. The red headed woman looked at the portal with slight trepidation before taking a tentative step forward. Feeling nothing abnormal happen to her foot on the other side, Gabrielle then decided to go for it, walking through the portal completely. Illyana and Naruto followed after her, with a handful of clones following after him with the Valid family's luggage in their hands.

As Naruto walked through the portal, he saw that they were now in a British suburbia, each house identical to the other, with the houses stretching on down the neighborhood endlessly. The luggage set down next to the small stairway leading up to the house entrance, Naruto walked up after her. Opening the door, the three walked in. If Naruto was honest with himself, he was slightly surprised with the messiness of the house. Toys were scattered all along the floor, with several different types of books and magazines scattered along several varying table tops. Dust had begun to settle, leaving the house in a rather musty state, as they could see the flying dust particles dancing in the sunlight. Seeing a nearby couch, Naruto walked over towards it. As he made his way in front of the couch, Naruto looked down that the covered face of the man he considered a friend.

"I'm sorry Charles…I truly am." He whispered. Gently he then rested his friend on the couch, making sure the sheet covering him stayed in place as he did.

"I'd like for you to leave now."

Turing around, Naruto could see Gabrielle standing behind him, her left hand holding her right elbow as she looked at the blonde with a slightly scathing look. Naruto looked at Gabrielle for several moments, pondering the right words to say before eventually deciding that it would be best for everyone if he said nothing. Slowly walking past her, Naruto began to walk out the door when he felt someone press against his mental barrier.

"Goodbye…Naruto."

The Shinobi stopped for only a second before continuing his stride down the stairs, "Goodbye, Herald." He thought. Walking towards Illyana he looked up to see that the sun had begun to peek out, showing that a new day had just begun, "Would your friend still be here?" He asked.

Taking a second to look at her watch she said, "Probably not, we can go check though if you want."

Naruto gave a slow nod, "Alright." With that another portal opened, with the two blondes walking through it towards their new destination. Stepping out, Naruto saw that they were now in what looked to be the Australian outback. Looking around, Naruto could see that they were standing next to a small cabin.

"Hey old man! You here?!" Illyana called out, her hands cupped around her mouth to project her voice out a little further. Walking up to the cabin, the girl didn't bother knocking, instead barging in as though she owned the place. Naruto followed after her, the two coming into what looked to be a now abandoned quarters, "He's gone." Illyana said with a sigh, "Sorry."

Naruto didn't respond at first, instead plopping down on a nearby chair. Running his hands through his hair, Naruto said, "Don't apologize."

"So…what're you going to do now?" Illyana asked as she walked up to him, sitting in the chair next to him.

Naruto looked up at the woman, a thoughtful look on his face as he said, "I…don't really know to be honest. All the time I've spent here I haven't really made any plans for what I'll do if it turned out I'd be stuck here permanently. Which in hindsight was pretty stupid. What am I gonna do for money? How am I gonna get a job, I don't have one of those diplomas you people value so much. I'm sure as hell not working for SHIELD. And what about Natasha? We've always had this understanding that I might leave eventually, but now I don't know what we're gonna do."

"Natasha?" Illyana asked.

Naruto nodded, answering the woman absentmindedly, "Yeah, she's my girlfriend. We've been going out for a nearly a year now." The realization of that seemed to dawn on Naruto, "Holy fuck…we've been going out for nearly a year now."

"Is that a bad thing?"

Naruto shook his head, a small smile on his face, "No…no not really."

"Oh. Okay." Illyana said a little awkwardly.

With a sigh, Naruto got up from his seat, "I do know one thing though. It's time I got back in the swing of things, I think it's time I introduced the world to a new kind of hero." Looking down at Magik he smirked, "My kind of hero."

"And what kind of hero are you, exactly?" Illyana asked inquisitively.

"The kind that does what's right…or whatever." Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head bashfully.

Magik got up as well, "Maybe that's how you can make some money, be a hero for hire…or whatever." She finished her sentence with a mocking tone.

"Hero for hire huh?" Naruto asked, an impressed look on his face as he nodded his head approvingly, "I mean…I was a Shinobi for hire back home. Yeah…yeaaaahhh. This is all starting to come together!" Naruto said excitedly, rubbing his hands together slowly as a plan began to form in his head.

"You'll need a hero name, like Iron Man or the Human Torch." Illyana said.

"Human Torch?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, you know…the superhero from the 30's and 40's? Him and Captain America were really big back then. Them and Namor the Sub-Mariner. Those three are considered the golden age of modern heroes."

"There are ages? I thought these guys popping up now were the first heroes."

Illyana shrugged, "Nah, these guys are bronze age. First you had the golden age like I said, then you had the silver age."

"It seems like you're making this way more complicated than it should be by labeling these things." Naruto said with a bit of a deadpan face.

"I'm not the one labeling things, these are established terms for the different superhero ages." Illyana argued.

"You know what, whatever. I feel like we've lost our train of thought."

"Which was?"

"…I don't know."

-x-

"So…you survived. If only barily."

"Yo-you…you dare mo-mock me?" Someone stuttered out, the pain in their voice obvious, "I-I…am the great MODOK…I am the next evolution of computer technology, I am the-"

"You are a weak fool MODOK. So weak that you couldn't even stand up to that creature's attack…pitiful."

MODOK, the strange cyborg now a scrambled mess, his arms torn and shredded, the device carrying his massive cranium nearly fallen apart as well, and blood splattered all over the area, a massive gash on the side of his head gushing out the life liquid like a fountain.

"You…you dare talk down to me Korvac? You are nothing but a failed experiment…something that Killian had almost decided to be thrown out like the garbage you are. You are lucky Ms. Rappaccin took such a liking to you..."

"Yes…I owe much to Monica for what I am today. For without her, I would have never evolved into the higher being that I have become. But now…my savior is gone. Because of that man." After a moment, Korvac continued, "You should have protected her. But your weakness prevented you from doing what you were created to do…"

"That man was more powerful than anyone could have expected! Ho-how coul-…how could I have predicted…What are you doing Korva-" MODOK's sentence was interrupted by the fact that a wave of energy suddenly enveloped him, wiping him out of existence entirely.

"Prepare yourself…Naruto Uzumaki. I shall come for you, soon."

-x-

Location: Manhattan, New York City, New York

Date: May 3rd 2012

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Dank. That's what would best describe the apartment building a handful of drug dealers found themselves working in. The four of them were littered all throughout the room, each doing some kind of task as the radio off in the corner blasted the Jay Z/Kanye West collaboration Watch the Throne. One of the drug dealers, a massive black man whose shirt was still three sizes too big, was sitting on the couch in the middle of the room, a Smith and Wesson revolver being polished in one hand, and a good size pile of various handguns, assault rifles, and shotguns resting next to him. Two others, one a very skinny white man with bleached yellow cornrows and a tight wife beater that was plastered with various colored stains and the other was a man that appeared to be of Asian descent with a New York Mets hoodie that seemed to be experiencing some wear and tear. The two of them were busy counting the stack of wrinkled cash in their hands. Finally, the last dealer was another black dude, his long dreadlocks tied back in a loose ponytail, with a thick curly beard wrapped around his face and a green t-shirt that read Richmond Hill High School, showing that the guy was from Queens. The man was kneeling in front of the coffee table in front of the couch, a scale in front of him as he placed a bag full of white flour like powder on top of it, the number flashing on the screen showing that the bag weighed just over two pounds of cocaine.

"This is about 18 G's; Cottonmouth's gonna dig this man." The man with the dreads said, looking at the massive man on the couch, "What's the name of this supplier again?"

"Don't worry about no 'supplier,' shit whatchu think this is, Breakin' Bad or some shit? Yo' job is make that shit there into chalk and that's it, you gettin' me Grad?"

The now named Grad nodded his head, putting his attention back on the key of cocaine in his hands, "My bad T." As he was about to take the key into the kitchen, a knock echoed through the room. The sound of someone knocking on the door stopped all activity in the room, all four of them looking at the door incredulously. It was no secret what activities were going on in this room, so who'd be stupid enough to knock on the door?"

"Is it the Five-O?" The man in the wife beater asked, getting up from his seat as he reached for the gun stashed in his pants just above his ass.

The Asian man looked at the man that spoke, "Who calls a pig 'Five-O' anymore?"

"Shut up!" T harshly whispered before tossing the revolver he just got done cleaning to Grad, "See who it is."

Grad held the revolver in his hand, looking it over tentatively as he said, "Me…for real?"

"Yes you!" T said harshly, pointing towards the door harshly before reaching down for one of the assault rifles on the couch.

Grad looked around the room, hoping someone would speak up for him so that he wouldn't have to be the one to deal with it, only to see the other two looking at him expectantly, obviously wanting him to answer the door as well. Slowly skulking towards the door, Grad raised the revolver up at the ready as he put his hand of the door. Looking through the peephole, he couldn't see anyone on the other side causing him to sigh in exasperation. Giving a silent curse, he slowly unlatched the door lock before ever so carefully opening the door and peeking out through the crack to see who was on the other side.