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Naruto stood in front of the building, staring at the address Kamala had given him.
He blinked.
"This is it?"
It wasn't exactly the towering, high-tech superhero headquarters he'd been expecting. No flashy neon sign saying "Welcome, cool heroes!" No underground lair with secret tunnels. No Avengers Tower gleaming in the skyline. Just... an extremely normal-looking apartment complex.
Inside his head, Kurama let out a snort of pure judgment.
"Well, at least it's not an ogre-infested swamp. Low bar, I know, but they cleared it."
Naruto groaned, rubbing his temples.
"That's the standard now? 'At least Shrek doesn't live here'?"
With a sigh, he trudged up the steps and knocked on the door.
A second later, Kamala Khan swung it open, grinning wide.
"Hey, new guy! Welcome to-"
Naruto peered past her into the apartment. His eye twitched.
"This is literally just an apartment."
Kate Bishop appeared in the doorway to the living room, waving casually.
"Correction: this is our apartment slash headquarters."
"Riiight." Naruto stepped inside, scanning the space. It wasn't bad, exactly. A little cluttered, but honestly? Homier than anywhere he'd stayed in a long time.
Then he saw him. A golden retriever sprawled on the couch, tail thumping lazily.
Naruto's eyes lit up.
"You have a dog?"
Kate nodded. "That's Lucky."
Without another word, Naruto dropped to the floor and started scratching Lucky behind the ears.
"I've only known you for five seconds, but if anything ever happened to you, I would murder everyone in this room and then myself."
Kurama rumbled in agreement. "Finally. A member of this team with actual value."
Kate blinked. "…Uh. Okay?"
Kamala plopped onto the couch, still grinning. "So, Naruto! You're officially one of us now."
Naruto leaned back, still scratching Lucky's belly. "Yeah. The Young Revengers. Feels good."
Kate frowned. "It's the Young Avengers."
"Eh."
Kate scowled. "No, not 'eh.' There's a difference."
"Is there?" Naruto tilted his head. "Because 'revenger' kinda implies avenging, but, like, twice as hard and cooler."
Kate snorted. "That's… not how words work. At all."
Naruto shrugged. "Look, I'm just saying we could workshop it."
Kate rolled her eyes and chucked a pillow at him. He caught it midair with a smug grin.
"Anyways," Naruto said, stretching, "what's our first big mission?"
Kamala's eyes lit up. "We're busting one of the, if not the biggest Russian arms dealers in the world."
Naruto raised a brow. "How did you two stumble onto something that big?"
Kamala leaned back like a kid explaining why the cookie jar is mysteriously empty.
"Maybe I hacked into the SABER network and have been casually monitoring their intel databases?"
Naruto laughed, "That sounds illegal."
Kate smirked, "Let's just call it creative file sharing."
Kamala dug into the oversized pocket of her bomber jacket, fingers brushing past snack wrappers and tangled earbuds before pulling out a slim, matte-black rectangle, no bigger than a phone, etched with faint symbols along the side.
"Okay… don't glitch on me this time," she muttered, giving it a tap.
A soft whirrrr filled the air as a blue-white holographic screen flickered to life. Transparent panels fanned out like digital wings.
Maps, data logs, glowing mission files spiraling into view.
A window popped open:
TARGET: ARKADY RASPUTIN
CODENAME: OMEGA RED
The screen flashed to a grainy mugshot
A thick-necked brute of a man stared out from the frame, jaw clenched, lips curled in a permanent sneer. His eyes were a bloodshot crimson, cold and predatory, like he wasn't looking at a camera but calculating how fast he could kill the one behind it.
Skin pale and sickly, stretched too tight over cheekbones that looked carved out of granite.
Long, matted blond hair hung like rope around his face, damp at the ends, and across his collarbones, faded prison tattoos spidered out like veins.
Kamala kept scrolling.
"This guy's been trafficking both weapons and people through New York, High-level tech, too. Some of it resembles Stark's design. Operating out of a sealed off subway station under the Lower East Side."
Naruto froze mid-bite, chip halfway to his mouth. The air tightened around him, just for a second. Heavy. Sharp. Then it passed as quickly as it came.
Naruto resumed eating his potato chips.
Kurama rumbled in his mind, "Calm yourself down, Naruto."
Naruto looked annoyed as he ate, "Geez, I'm not a little kid anymore, now chill before your blood pressure rises too much."
"Brat, I am a primordial demon of pure malice and hate. I do not have blood, or organs, or anything fucking internal."
"I know that."
"Then why'd you bring it up?"
"Cause I know it annoys you." Naruto smirked.
"I hate you."
"Love you too."
Naruto sighed as he returned his attention to his friends.
"So," he chewed annoyingly with his mouth full, "when is the meetup?" he asked
Kate stood up, grabbing her bow and quiver from where it leaned against the wall, along with her retractable sword. "We don't have an exact time, but logs say it's going down some time tonight. We'll scout the area and intercept when the transfer starts."
Kamala was already stuffing snacks into a sling bag. "And we've got blueprints. The old tunnels are usually sealed, but getting in should be no problem for us. And once we're in..."
Naruto rolled his shoulders. "I punch first, we ask questions later."
Kate groaned, "That isn't a plan, that's actually the opposite of a plan.."
"Okay, fine. Step one: I run in. Step two: I punch the bad guys. Step three: Hope for the best."
Kate facepalmed, "Oh great. A three-step guide to getting us all killed."
Kamala grinned, "Even though we might die this is totally the best day of my life."
Lower East Side, Subway
The subway tunnel smelled like death.
Rust, mildew, and something sour lingered in the air. Old bulbs flickered overhead, barely holding back the darkness. Pipes leaked steadily, like the tunnel itself was sweating through its rot.
Naruto crouched near the edge of a service platform, eyes locked on the scene below.
Kate and Kamala flanked him, low and quiet.
The sealed-off station had become a black-market palace of shadows, floodlights casting long crooked beams across crates, cash, and tech that looked ripped from a stolen Stark Industries truck.
Arkady Rasputin stood in the center.
Pale. Broad. Wrapped in a coat like he stole it off a serial killer at fashion week. Metallic coils lazily unspooled from his back, etching shallow grooves in the concrete like tally marks.
Flanking him were two cloaked figures.
The first was huge with broad shoulders, and mountain-wide presence. Their cloak clung to muscle and menace. Just standing still, they looked like a living landslide.
The second leaned against a pillar, smaller, quieter. Shadows rippled off them like smoke, their hood low, presence heavy.
Across from them stood a Yakuza boss, sleek suit, tattoos crawling from beneath his cuffs. His guards looked like armored fridges with eyebrows.
Arkady gestured at crates and a glowing tablet filled with scrolling names and numbers.
"Guns?" he said, voice like gravel snapping in ice. "Scrap metal. The future is blood. Superhumans. Enhanced humans. You want to live? You need power. Real power."
The Yakuza boss raised a brow. "And if I don't?"
Arkady smiled, all teeth and no warmth.
"Then someone else buys it first. Or worse, some idiot in cape decides you are on wrong side of history. The world already has changed. Evolve…"
He held the pause like a knife.
"…or die."
Naruto watched silently, chakra leaking off him like heat. The concrete beneath his feet quivered.
Kate noticed.
"Hey," she whispered. "Chill. You're glowing like a damn lava lamp."
Kamala leaned closer. "Do we have a plan? Because you're giving off big 'no plan' energy."
Naruto's eyes narrowed.
"Don't need one."
And then he stood.
Before either of them could grab him, he dropped off the ledge.
He hit the ground with a sharp thud, sending a pulse of friction through the station floor. Dust curled outward like smoke. Every head turned toward him.
Arkady's smirk vanished.
One of the Yakuza guards stepped forward, hand resting on the grip of his pistol. His eyes didn't blink.
"You're not supposed to be here. Who the fuck are you?"
"I could ask the same," Naruto said, stepping forward. Red chakra simmered off his back like flames. "But I already don't like the answer."
Arkady's eyes narrowed. "Do not worry. They are not problem. Only kids."
The first guard lunged. Katana drawn in an instant.
Naruto moved once.
A blur. An elbow. The man folded like laundry onto the Subway floor.
The second raised his gun and prepared to line his shot up.
Before he could squeeze the trigger Naruto had already invaded his personal space and knocked it away and hammered a fist into the man's chest.
He dropped without a word.
Kamala was already bounding down after him on glowing Noor platforms.
"And I am so here for it." She said as she landed with a soft thud and a grin.
Kate zipped down after her, grappling hook whirring, and landed beside them with a roll.
"Next time, we take the stairs like sane people."
Naruto rolled his neck, chakra flaring around him like a heat haze.
"Alright," he muttered. "Let's break something."
Across the battlefield, Arkady raised a lazy hand.
"Pyotr. Ilyana. Handle it."
The mountain moved, Pyotr, definitely. Each step seemed like it could crush cement to powder.
Beside him, the smaller figure dissolved into shadow.
Then reappeared almost instantly.
Right between Kamala and Kate, black sword already swinging in motion to kill.
Kate spun, bow raised just in time,
SPARKS SCREAMED OFF STEEL.
Kamala slammed a Noor barrier between them, catching the next strike.
"She teleports," Kate gritted out, firing an arrow that whizzed past Ilyana's ear.
"Yeah, I got that!" Kamala yelled, diving as another slash sliced through light.
"Try not to die!" Naruto called, already turning his attention towards Pyotr.
"Working on it!" they shouted back in sync.
Then Pyotr arrived like a freight train made of fists.
He lunged at Naruto without warning, fist cocked with enough force to send a car airborne.
Naruto ducked. The punch missed by mere inches yet the shockwave kissed his cheek.
He skidded back across the concrete and exhaled.
"Guy hits like a truck."
"Let him land one and they'll be mopping you off the floor," Kurama growled.
Naruto rolled his eyes just in time for round two.
Pyotr came in fast. Controlled. Mechanical.
But Naruto was prepared.
First strike, blocked.
Second? Dodged.
Third, redirected into open air.
"You ever stop and ask yourself why you're working for a psycho like Arkady?" Naruto asked mid-move.
Pyotr's blue eyes narrowed.
"He gave me purpose." Another swing.
"I owe him blood."
Naruto caught his wrist, twisted, and drove his shoulder into the giant man's core.
With a grunt and a pivot, he hurled him into the tunnel wall.
CRASH.
Dust exploded everywhere.
Naruto stood, hands loose at his sides, as debris rained from the ceiling.
"C'mon. That can't be it."
The rubble shifted.
Pyotr rose.
Now fully armored in organic steel, his body gleaming like liquid chrome in the flickering light.
"You talk too much," he muttered.
Naruto cracked his knuckles with a resigned sigh.
"You aren't the first person to tell me that."
This time, Pyotr didn't sprint but marched.
Every swing was slower, but each one hit like falling rebar.
The tunnel shook with their clash.
Blow for blow.
Steel against storm.
Every strike thundered down the rails, echoing like war drums in the dark.
Naruto ducked under one, blocked the next.
The third he caught only barely.
CRACK.
His forearm screamed under the weight, joints straining, his chakra flaring just to keep the bones from snapping.
"Damn," he muttered, teeth grit. "You're built like a building."
Pyotr's eyes narrowed, voice a low rumble.
"You are strong to block that."
He swung again, this time with intent to crush.
Naruto twisted with the momentum, chakra howling around him like a shield.
But even the air groaned under Pyotr's weight.
The dark-cloaked figure vanished into shadow, reappearing between Kamala and Kate in a blur of motion. Her jagged black blade came down in a vicious arc, Kate barely got her bow up in time. Metal screamed against metal.
Kamala reacted fast, thrusting her arm forward as Noor energy surged from her palm. A crystalline barrier flared to life just in time to absorb the follow-up slash. The impact sparked light and shadow across the tunnel walls.
Ilyana flickered backward like smoke caught in wind, no wasted effort, no hesitation. Just surgical violence.
"She's fast," Kate muttered, already loosing another arrow. It hissed past Ilyana's cloak only just inches off.
"Fast?" Kamala grunted, ducking as the blade sliced clean through her latest construct. "She's playing whack-a-mole with a murder sword!"
Ilyana spun, blade igniting with pulsing dark light, and clashed with Kate in close quarters. Kate blocked with her retractable sword, holding the line, but just barely.
Before Kamala could flank, Ilyana blinked out in a ripple of black.
"Teleporting and sword-fighting? C'mon, that's totally unfair!" Kamala shouted, jerking back as a spinning slash nearly clipped her face.
Kate backed up fast, breath short, already lining up another shot. "You've fought aliens, djinn, and metahumans. But this is where you start whining?"
Kamala's fists flared, Noor forming into thick gauntlets. "She's got boss fight energy, okay? But I say we treat her like a Soulsborne boss; stay aggressive and pray she doesn't hit phase two."
Ilyana said nothing.
Her blade shifted, growing larger, jagged, darker. Raw energy crackled along its edge as she slashed wide, unleashing a wave of purple energy.
Kamala threw up a Noor wall just in time. The shock rocked her, but she held.
"Kamala! Flank her!" Kate shouted, already sprinting wide for position.
Kamala dropped low, light forming into a crescent blade along her arm. She surged forward and slammed it against Ilyana's sword with a guttural grunt. Sparks and energy erupted and her arms shuddered from the force.
For just a second, their eyes met beneath the hood; cold, unblinking, inhuman.
"Why are you trying to kill us?" Kamala demanded, blocking another strike. "You really think this helps anyone?"
Ilyana didn't speak.
She teleported behind Kamala and drove a boot into her spine, launching her into a wall of rusted pipes.
Kamala groaned, flipping mid-air and landing rough on a Noor platform.
"Okay," she wheezed. "Yeah. She really thinks this helps someone."