Chapter 46 - Virus

In recent years, Metropolis City had seen its fair share of chaos and destruction. Not many years ago, it was Superman himself that had wreaked havoc and caused great destruction. But none of what happened before could be compared with what the alien lifeform called Doomsday has caused during its rampage. Leaving aside the property damage, the loss of human lives was even greater. Over a thousand people died, of which more than half were killed on the bridge.

Two weeks after the incident, the traffic in the city had long since been restored and most of the signs of the previous destruction were quickly disappearing due to the numerous constructions companies that were contracted to rebuild the damaged areas of the city, Cars, buildings and other material goods could be fixed or replaced ... it was the loss of human lives that could not. Although the larger part of the civilians had been evacuated from the city, the beast's rampage had been unstoppable.

Miraculously, there were no casualties amongst the Justice League's ranks. Most of them were hospitalized after the incident but none of them died while others - like Supergirl, Superman and Wonder Woman - have made a full recovery. But that fact in itself highlighted, even more, the price that Uzumaki Naruto had paid in order to stop the beast. And the general public had been made aware of it. Nearly every evening, Uzumaki Naruto's medical situation would be included in the news reports. The reason for that was not only that he had lost his entire left arm but also because after 2 weeks from the incident, Uzumaki Naruto had yet to wake up from the coma he had fallen into after the battle.

S.T.A.R. Labs - Canada facility

S.T.A.R. Labs was a chain of research facilities that specialized in what the general population deemed as futuristic technology and studying metahumans. Originally starting within the USA's borders, S.T.A.R. Labs gradually expanded all over the world. While the headquarters was located in Metropolis City, there were branches in many other countries such as Japan, Canada, Australia and in various states of the European Union as well.

After killing Doomsday, Naruto had reached the end of his endurance. However, the other members of the Justice League that were too weak to join in the fight were monitoring the situation from afar. The satellites at their disposal and the unmanned drones that the League possessed made it possible for them to witness everything that happened clearly. The moment when the alien lifeform died, they teleported from the Watchtower, right at the scene. Since the wounds he had received were so grievous, they couldn't risk teleporting him nor could they transport him all the way back to Gotham City. Instead, they took him to the closest place that could stabilize his condition considering that he was not a normal human - the S.T.A.R. Labs facility from Canada.

At the moment, Naruto was lying unconscious, isolated in one of the rooms of the facility's hospital wing. He was wired to various machines that monitored his vitals, while blood and a complex of vitamins were being infused into his veins. The room had no windows to the outside world, but there was a large, rectangular mirror-like window in the right wall of the room. On the other side of the large window, in the next room, a man suited in a blue costume and a red cape was watching over him.

'What are you doing here again, Kara? Weren't you supposed to be in class right now?' Superman said when the door was opened and a blonde girl in her in her late teens stepped into the room. But Supergirl didn't reply him right away. She came closer to the window, watching the unconscious patient in silence. Superman placed a hand on her shoulder and said:

'I get that you're worried about him, but you've got to understand that being here is not helping him with anything. You shouldn't ditch your lectures at the college now when the 2nd semester just started. You know that the first impression always matters a lot for the professors.'

'I ditched a lecture only to get one from you here.' the girl grumbled.

A frown appeared on Superman's face. But he didn't pursue the matter.

'He saved my life. He saved our lives, saved us all.' Supergirl whispered.

'Indeed. I didn't expect that one day, of all the people in the world, it would be Uzumaki that would come to the Justice League's help.' Superman agreed.

Until Doomsday came around, the Justice League used to view Naruto as their archnemesis, putting him on the same level of danger as Darkseid, their most powerful enemy to date. They actually hated Naruto even more because unlike Darkseid, who was like a big bad wolf that loomed in the background and only endangered them once in a while, Naruto lived amongst them! He was like a thorn in their side. They had never expected that he would fight with his life on the line against Doomsday, also saving them all in the process. In their eyes, he had been just a cruel murderer. And now, they all felt conflicted. Supergirl could also not get the words he said to her out of her mind: 'Caring about your family so much that you would be willing to die for them...You've earned my respect.'

Those words were haunting her. Until then, she had used her powers for good simply because she thought that it was the right thing to do. Additionally, her cousin, Superman, was a superhero as well. It felt natural for her to get into the 'family business'. There was no strong resolve behind her deeds and she did not put too much thought into it. But after she nearly died trying to protect Superman, Supergirl discovered her purpose. The words that Naruto said to her only served to further cement her new belief. Supergirl brought her hand in front of her face and clenched it into a fist.

'This power ... it's to protect my family. To protect the ones I love.'

She could vividly recall the enormous power that filled her entire being when she decided to stop Doomsday at all cost. Never before had she reached that incredible speed, never before had she possessed such an insane physical strength.

'With only one punch, I've nearly beaten the monster that took down the entire Justice League!'

The door opened once again and another blonde woman came in. She looked eerily similar to Supergirl but there were still some differences. The corners of her eyes were sharper, she was taller and her body, overall, was more athletic. The short bob cut in which her hair was styled and the way she carried herself let others understand that she had a great deal of confidence in herself. But her beautiful facial features were twisted by a scowl when her eyes fell on the younger girl.

'Why are you here again?' she asked.

Her voice was calm but the other two occupants of the room could feel the hostility in her tone. Superman stepped in front of his cousin in an unconscious attempt to protect her from an eventual attack. Supergirl, however, was not intimidated. If it had been her from before fighting Doomsday, she would have cowered away. After all, the woman in front of her eyes had single-handedly beaten Superman and Wonder Woman into unconsciousness before also killing a bunch of Green Lanterns. Galatea's power was unquestionable. But after the confrontation against Doomsday, Supergirl's belief in her own strength soared. She was no longer terrified of Galatea. Wary? Yes. But not terrified.

Feeling the hostility Supergirl had also begun to radiate, Superman decided to step in before it escalated to a conflict.

'Look, we don't want to harm him or anything.' he told Galatea trying to placate her. 'After all, it was the Justice League that brought him here. He saved our lives.'

Galatea sniffed at his words. Then, she went closer to the window towards Naruto's salon and started watching over his unconscious form, ignoring the other two Kryptonians. A few minutes passed in silence, awkwardly.

'You care about him a lot, don't you?' Superman suddenly said, breaking the silence.

Galatea regarded him for a moment before deciding to reply:

'Yes. I love him.'

'What do you see in him?' Superman asked before realizing how rude his words came out and quickly added: 'I mean Kara is more into men with darker hair and -'

Despite what he said in the second part, Galatea understood what was the real meaning of his question. Her answer was blunt:

'He may be a murderer in your eyes, but he is a hero for his sister. Things aren't as black as white as you all see it.'

Superman scratched his cheek not knowing what to say in response to that.

Galatea continued:

'Also, from what I gathered in the few years I've lived, love is not only about appearance. I don't love Naruto only because of his looks.'

Both Superman and Supergirl looked at her wide eyes. They had never expected the one they deemed as 'Supergirl's crazy, evil clone' to say such wise words.

'Then, what did you fall in love with at him?' Supergirl asked before she could stop herself. She was really curious because she believed that Galatea was, in a sense, like an alter ego. She was thinking that they were identical.

'Why do you care?'

Supergirl felt her temper rise.

'Why are you always such a bitch to me? I haven't done anything wrong to you, like ever! During these past 2 weeks, you've talked with Superman just fine but whenever you see me, you go all bitch-mode on me!'

But as she said that, an unexpected look of realisation dawned on her face.

'Don't tell me ... you think I'm going to steal him away from you...?!' she asked incredulously.

'No sane man would ever choose you over someone like me!' Galatea said mockingly but, going by the way the temperature in the room seemed to abruptly drop a few good degrees, it appeared as though Supergirl's conclusion was spot on.

Technically, Galatea was not Supergirl's clone 100%. Orochimaru had also used Misaki Uzumaki's genetic material when he created her so she would be born with the ability to wield chakra. But that did not change the fact that her appearance was so similar to the 'original' that they could almost be thought of as being twins. While Galatea's body was, indeed, significantly better developed - she had longer and more muscular legs, her breasts were bigger, she was taller and she sported well defined abdominal muscles - Supergirl herself was not ugly either. Furthermore, Supergirl's body had not reached its full maturity yet, so she still had room for growth. Galatea thought that it would not be too far fetched for Supergirl to become just as well endowed as her in a few years.

Galatea ran her hand through her short, bob-cut hair as she glared at Supergirl:

'Her hair is longer than mine.' she thought as she eyed the longer hair of the other girl. It reached to the middle of her back.

'Naruto loves girls with long hair.'

Supergirl's hair being longer than hers was the only thing Galatea thought that she was falling short when she compared herself to her. That's because, a few weeks ago, she happened to see a moment when Naruto was combing Misaki's waist-length red hair, all the while wearing an expression that she identified as one of amazement on his face. Galatea learned from that incident that Naruto really liked long hair at girls.

During this exchange, Superman could only look helplessly at the two of them.

'Why is Kara antagonising the clone for no reason? There's no way she'd actually ever go for someone like Uzumaki ... right? RIGHT?' Superman said to himself but the worst case scenario would not stop playing at the front of his mind.

'Over my dead body!' he nearly let out a growl at the thought that he would one day be forced to attend his cousin's wedding with Naruto.

It was at that moment that the door was opened once again and a doctor stepped inside the room.

'Superman, we finally have the results you've been waiting for. We've managed to discover the cause behind the patient's coma.'

The argument between the two girls ceased right away and they focused their attention on the doctor to hear what he had to say.

''We named it the Doomsday Virus.''

''As you very well know, the alien lifeform's ending was rather gory for the lack of a better word. When Mr Uzumaki ability impaled it in multiple places, its blood was splashed all over him. In addition, Mr Uzumaki had a very large fresh wound: at his shoulder, from which his arm had been ripped out. Any open wound is prone to infection in normal circumstances, let alone when we're talking about a pathogen of this - ''

''Doctor, please.'' Galatea suddenly interrupted the medic's ramble. The doctor straightened up his white coat slightly dissatisfied at being cut off but he handed her over some files with enlarged microscopic images.

''These,'' he said and pointed towards what looked like red coloured and spike-covered balls ''are the infectious agents while these,'' he continued by pointing at what looked like blue crystal shards ''are part of his immunity system.''

''His body is strongly rejecting the invading pathogen and the clash between the infection and his immunity system is so intense that his body naturally fell into a coma. You could say that his body automatically ceased all of its functions except for the vitals ones in order to combat the invaders. Which is a very good reaction.''

''How is it good that he is in a coma?'' Supergirl asked.

''If his body didn't reject the virus so strongly, it would be quickly overwhelmed. According to the tests we've made, generally, organisms would be taken over by Doomsday Virus in a matter of days. For humans though, it might take weeks.''

But as soon as he finished his words, the medic found himself being grabbed the collar of his shirt and lifted up in the air.

''What tests?'' Supergirl asked in a dangerous tone and her right fist was cocked back, looking about to smash into his face.

Surprisingly, Superman who was usually the one to make Supergirl reign in her temper did not rebuke her this time around. A serious expression marred his face too and it was clear that he was not happy in the least.

''Put him down, for now, Kara.''

Unwillingly, the girl let the man back to his feet but Superman was not done with the situation.

''Listen to me carefully when I say, because I will only say these words once: tell your superiors, your colleagues and whoever is in charge of S.T.A.R. Labs that I have not forgotten what you've done. Dr Hamilton was an employee of yours. And it was because of him and his assistant Orochimaru that Supergirl was cloned.''

''Mark my words, doctor. If any Doomsday clones ever start popping up I will personally see it that every facility owned by S.T.A.R. Labs would be razed off the face of Earth. As for you and the other people? I promise that I will do nothing!''

''I will just sit to the side and watch as Mr Uzumaki over will slaughter you, your family and anyone you've ever cared about. I assume nobody has forgotten yet the massacre that he had caused in Gotham City nearly 4 years ago.''

The doctor's face paled and he didn't dare to even breathe out too loud. But it wasn't only him that was scared senseless, Supergirl was startled by her cousin's words too. She had never heard the ever kind Superman threaten someone in such a dark manner. Although she fully agreed with every word he said, she was still shaken.

Superman continued:

''I don't care if it's another secret organisation of the government that did it, like Cadmus, or if one of S.T.A.R. Labs' employees suddenly goes rogue... S.T.A.R. Labs would do well to take care of their own mess because if they don't, the Justice League will. And it will be permanent. No such 'mishaps' will ever be overlooked again.''

During the past few years, it was not just Batman that had changed. Although his change of mentality was the most radical, the other members of the Justice League were not left unaffected either. The reason for that was that way too many grave incidents happened in a very short timeframe, of only 3 years and a half:

- the Joker causing the death of over 400 people,

- Naruto causing the Arkham Massacre,

- Project Cadmus creating a clone of Supergirl,

- the Thanagarians invading and nearly taking over the Earth for good,

- the global unrest caused by the League of Shadows that nearly triggered a Third World War,

- the mortal clash against Naruto which ended with deaths amongst the Justice League's ranks,

- nearly dying in a nuclear explosion that devastated the Northeastern side of the European continent,

- and lastly, watching Doomsday killing over a thousand people and being unable to stop it.

It was not possible for all of these situations to not mark the persons that experienced them. And Superman had been slightly affected too. He realized that always being the ''nice guy'' that would not hurt even a fly if it was not necessary was not cutting it anymore. He was beginning to think that he should make more use of the great power that he possessed. He was starting to believe that there were moments when a forceful approach was needed. That sometimes - like with Doomsday - he would need to let go of all of his inhibitions and let loose. To use lethal force.

Scene break

''Tea, I'm not paralyzed. I can walk by myself just fi-''

''Be quiet and sit down obediently. Don't make me force you! The doctors recommended a period of rest of at least 6 weeks!''

''That's for a normal human. You and I both know that I'm anything but normal.''

The two looked at each other pointedly as if to see who would be the one to first break the eye contact. Galatea was the one to do it and her eyes fell on his left shoulder, from which an arm was missing. Her breath caught in her neck and she felt her eyes starting to sting. She didn't even realize that tears were falling from her eyes.

Naruto brought up his remaining hand and softly wiped the tears on her left cheek.

''You know that it wasn't your fault, right?'' he said seriously.

Galatea did not seem to register his question but she leaned into his touch and brought her hands to his own.

''Just ... just let me take care of you ... please!''

Naruto stopped arguing and sat down, back on his wheelchair. In truth, it has been only 2 days since he woke up from his coma. His body was still very weak and he felt as though he was drunk whenever he stood up on his feet for more than a few minutes straight. Eliminating the Doomsday Virus' invasion had taken a big toll on his body. Because of that, the doctors advised Galatea to not let him do anything strenuous in the following 6 weeks.

Galatea went to the bathroom to wash the traces of crying from her face, coming back after only a few minutes.

''Ready to go?'' she asked as she got behind the wheelchair and started pushing it towards the door. Soon, they were out of their courtyard and heading towards a public park close to their home.

A few minutes later, the two were slowly walking on one of the more private alleys of the park where there were fewer people passing by. They were walking silently, simply enjoying each others' company and admiring the beautiful snowy scenery around them. Despite being close to the end of February, the cold had yet to go away.

''We missed Valentines' Day this year.'' Naruto said suddenly. He had still been in a come at that time.

''We don't need a particular day to show what we feel for each other. We can do it just as well in any other day.'' Galatea replied.

''Oh? And what is that you feel for me?'' Naruto asked teasingly. Although she was pushing the wheelchair from behind and could not see his face, she could hear the smile in his voice.

Galatea stopped pushing the wheelchair. She came forward and bent down to his eye-level. She cupped his scarred cheeks with her hands and gently caressed them as she said:

''I love you!''

Then, she closed her eyes and her lips pressed against his in a kiss, pouring her heart into it. When it ended, her hands were still cupping his face and she leaned her forehead against his, continuing to keep her eyes closed, savouring the intimacy.

''Tea... are you sure about this?'' Naruto's asked, his voice choked with emotion.

He had dreamed of such a moment for decades. Finding a woman like Galatea always seemed like nothing but a pipe dream to him. Be it either his past life or his current one, it was the first time that the girl he liked would return his affection. In his past life, Sakura would never give him the time of the day.

''...are you ok with someone like me?''

Galatea knew what he was referring to. Now, he was missing an arm. He was a handicapped person.

''Naruto?'' she called out.

''Yes?''

''I love you!'' she said sincerely, her baby blue eyes overflowing with the feelings she held for him.

He bit his lower lip and his eyes fell to his feet.

''Say it ... say it again, please!'' he whispered.

Galatea raised his face by the chin, making him look her in the eye again as she said one more time:

''I love you!''

Suddenly, Naruto sat up to his feet and Galatea did so too at the same time. Using his only arm, he brought it around her waist and pressed her body against his in a tight hug. Galatea also embraced him to her chest. A shiver of delight travelled through her body and her face became filled with happiness when Naruto buried his face in the crook of her neck and whispered close to her ear: ''I love you too.''

They stayed in each others' arms for a long time, seemingly lost in their own world. But eventually, Naruto shifted in her arms and Galatea realized that he was starting to become tired from standing on his feet for too long. She broke the hug and led Naruto to a nearby bench where they sat down next to each other. She sat to his right side, and she interlocked her fingers with his as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

''I've never thought that a girl like you would ever tell me that she loves me. Especially not after ... this!'' Naruto said quietly, his eyes falling on the empty left sleeve of his leather jacket.

''Don't sell yourself short. You're really handsome.'' Galatea said and brought his hand up to kiss the back of his palm.

''Handsome? Even now, when I'm handicapped?''

''Yes, even now.''

''And you don't regret that-''

''I don't.'' she said before he could even finish his words. ''If there's anything I regret, it's that I wasn't with you when you went after that monster.''

It was the reason why she felt guilty whenever she looked at his missing left arm. When Doomsday attacked, she had been in Gotham, attending a seminar about Personal Development and Social Behaviour. She had had no idea that while she was casually attending a psychology conference, Naruto was having a life and death battle somewhere in the frozen wastes of Canada. Later on, when she learned the truth, she was devastated.

''It wasn't your fault.'' Naruto said. ''It was mine. It's because I wasn't strong enough.''

Galatea didn't acknowledge his words about him being weak. Instead, she said:

''I won't ever leave you alone again. Even when you grow old and ugly, I will still stay by your side. I promise.'' Galatea said sincerely and Naruto couldn't help finding it amusing how she worded out her admittedly sweet confession.

''You're speaking as if I'm gonna be the only one that'll grow old and ugly.'' he said an laughed.

''That's right. Because of my Kryptonian physiology, under the effects of the yellow sun, the ageing process of my body is severely impaired. Because of it, after reaching maturity, the ageing process of a Kryptonian's body would slow down to the point where it's possible that they could live centuries or even more.''

Naruto grew silent at her words. For a while, nobody said anything. Eventually, he couldn't help asking again:

''Are you-''

But now, Galatea glared at him having lost her patience at him doubting her.

''Yes, I am, stop asking stupid questions.''

''In the first place, what made me fall in love with you was not your face or your body, regardless of how handsome I think you are. So you becoming old won't stop me from loving you.''

Despite the blush that suddenly made its way on his face, Naruto asked:

''Then what?''

''Don't make me say it now, idiot!'' she jeered at him flustered.

''C'mon, you can't just leave me hanging like that!'' he protested.

''No... you tell me first. Tell me what you like at me and then I'll tell you too! And don't tell me that it's my boobs or I'll kick your ass! Serious!'

Naruto looked at her offended.

''I'm not gonna say your boobs aren't great -'' Naruto began and Galatea started to growl at him ''- but having great boobs isn't anywhere close to being enough for me to fall for you. I'm not the type to start drooling after the first pair of tits I see and it's not like I haven't seen others like yours before either.''

Naruto suddenly wheezed as he felt the air leave his lungs when Galatea suddenly delivered a mean cross to his liver.

''Hey, hey! Easy there, injured, handicapped person here!''

''Don't think that playing the injured gets you out of having your ass kicked from saying stupid things!'' she said in annoyance. ''When did you even see my naked tits, huh? Have you been spying on me in the shower? And what's with that about you having seen more than just one pair of boobs?!'' she almost yelled scandalized.

Naruto was beginning to sweat.

''I swear that came out wrong. That's not what I meant!''

''Hee~ then what did you mean?''

''I meant to say that you're very beautiful,'' - a traitorous smile appeared on Galatea's face despite her attempts to look stern - ''but just being beautiful would not be enough to make fall for a girl.''

''You're very powerful, you're loyal and I know that I can trust you with my life. That's what I wanted the most in a girl. I never wanted my lover to be a damsel in distress. I have my sister for that.''

''What I wanted was someone on whom to rely on. Someone that would be capable to stand by my side, as an equal. A relationship where we would both support and take care of each other.'' Naruto said passionately.

A couple that happened to pass by their bench at that moment overheard Naruto's passionate words and they couldn't help stopping and looking at him in genuine surprise. They were two middle-aged people, enjoying a simple stroll in the park on their off day. The two of them had been so surprised because Naruto's view on relationships was very mature. It was not common for them to see such a young man treating a relationship with so much seriosity. They knew how fickle and frivolous most young people were, as even their own son was like that too.

However, they soon realized that they were staring and quickly moved along, though not before looking back at them once more, just in time for them to see Galatea suddenly glomping on him and mash her lips against his hungrily.

'Ah, true love is beautiful regardless of age.' the woman thought and she felt her husband's hold on her hand tightening for a moment, his smile telling her that he was probably thinking about the same thing.