[Caterpillar] Chapter 12 - Asylum (Patreon)

Two days after the Jump City incident, the members of the Justice League were together in the Watchtower at the request of Superman. The mood in the conference room was stifling and unnatural. Batman seemed more taciturn than usual, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter looked like they had a lot on their mind and Wonder Woman appeared to be distracted, not fully focused on her peers. Flash was his usual easy-going self but strangely enough for the rest of the JL members, Hawkgirl seemed to be in a great mood.

Superman sat up from his seat and opened his mouth to say something but Batman unexpectedly spoke first:

"Before you tell us the reason you called us, I'd like to say a few things. Looking back at what happened, I believe we could have avoided a fight with that alien mercenary. And it was all my fault. I want to apologize."

Momentarily, the other 6 heroes were stunned. They had never seen Batman apologising or admitting he was wrong about anything before, and they'd been together for about a year by then. Though no less startled than the others, Superman was the first to react:

"You did nothing wrong, Batman. It was the right-"

"Please let me finish," Batman raised a hand and said. "The truth is that we didn't need to start a fight against him right away. We could have tried to solve our issues with him diplomatically first. After all, he was not the violent type that couldn't be reasoned with. Quite the opposite, he tried to reason with us and avoid clashing against us."

"But I let my ego get the better of me that day and I endangered you all. I have no excuse for that. I would like to temporarily retire from the Justice League and-"

Superman interrupted him once again:

"Absolutely not! That's exactly the opposite of what we should be doing now. We have faced other powerful aliens before but we stood united. Together, we could overcome them all. If we let just one setback break us apart we will be doomed."

"Superman is right, Batman," Wonder Woman said. "Don't beat yourself too hard. Everyone makes mistakes once in a while. But we are a team and we pick each other up from the ground when we fall."

Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern nodded and Flash grinned and rushed behind Batman and put an arm around his shoulder as if they were best pals. Flash had expected for Batman to growl at him like usual for getting too close into his personal space but, to his amazement, Batman did not as much as glare at him. For a moment, Flash even entertained the thought of asking 'are you the real Batman?' but he wisely decided to not push his luck too much.

"Today, I asked for everyone to be here because I wanted to talk to you about this: I am thinking of expanding the Justice League."

At Superman's words, noises of surprise came from the other heroes in the room.

"Over the past year, we've been through some tough times together. The last incident, in particular, showed me that the Justice League could use more members, more manpower. There are only 7 of us and the Earth is a very big place. It also looks like the more our technology advances, for some reason, the more often we get into contact with aliens. We have to step up our game."

Martian Manhunter who had been silent until then spoke:

"I whole-heartedly agree with what you said but we have to consider what would the government's reaction be. And not just the US government but the United Nations as well. The Justice League becoming too powerful will no doubt place a great amount of stress on them. Our decision to amass more power could be interpreted as hostile. We are already under the entire world's scrutiny."

While the Justice League were discussing in detail the pros and cons of expanding their organisation, a very loud alarm rang in the Watchtower. They all stood up and rushed towards the control room, with Flash and Martian Manhunter being the first to arrive there.

⁂

Twenty miles above the ground, somewhere above the Indonesian Archipelago, a very large construct of green light in the form of a human hand stopped Koriandr, Kyuubi, and the turned-to-stone Naruto in their flight. From behind them, a group of 5 people appeared, surrounding them from all sides. They were none other than Green Lantern, Superman, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman, the five that could fly out of the seven founding members of the Justice League.

But when the Justice League got the chance to take a better look at them, they received a small shock. The turned-to-stone Naruto was terrible to look at. More than half of his body had become a statue and it had taken on a toad-like appearance. If it had not been for the tiny fox latching on from his waist and the red-haired alien girl holding them both and flying they would have not recognized him.

"Jesus, no wonder he used to wear a mask," John Stewart unknowingly blurted out, earning himself a glare from Hawkgirl and Superman.

Green Lantern did a fake cough to pass over the moment and then a green light came out of his ring and encased everyone in a sphere. A deep demonic growl came from Kyuubi's and a crimson red chakra started to bubble around his tiny body when the green construct of light appeared to have trapped them but he did not immediately attack them. He could feel no negative emotions coming from the Justice League. Just a sense of cautiousness... and fear.

Green Lantern started by saying quickly:

"We don't want to fight against you. I used my power ring just to isolate ourselves from the wind so we could talk."

His words had merit because, at 20 miles above the ground, the roaring winds would have made it almost impossible for them to converse otherwise.

"Why have you returned to Earth? And what in the world happened to him?" Superman asked.

"Natural energy poisoning. We came back to Earth seeking asylum," Kyuubi said.

"Why Earth of all the places?" Martian Manhunter asked.

"Before coming to Earth 2 days ago, we had flown all the way from outside the 3600 sectors of the Universe. And then we flew straight to the Vega System. We didn't haven't enough fuel to reach a planet inhabited by sentient beings that were not in the middle of an intergalactic war or major civil unrest. Earth was the closest."

Kyuubi could naturally talk to any sentient beings regardless of their language. However, that was not the case for Koriand'r. Besides the words of Green Lantern that had been automatically translated by his Power Ring, she could not understand a thing from what Superman, Kyuubi and the Martian said as they talked with each other. However, knowing Kyuubi's temper, she was getting increasingly anxious at the situation. She could feel that the fox was on the brink of blowing up at them.

"We don't want any trouble! We just need a place to rest and heal up because our ship was destroyed!" Koriand'r said.

"What is the girl saying?" Superman asked Green Lantern to translate.

"That their ship blew up and that they don't want any trouble."

They momentarily stopped conversing amongst themselves because they realized that Kyuubi's situation was abnormal.

'I sense a great amount of rage coming from the fox alien. I would not be surprised if he attacked us at any moment. Stay on your guard.' Martian Manhunter's voice sounded in everyone's mind.

The others became alert at his words because they knew not to be deceived about the fox's currently tiny appearance. According to the information that Green Lantern had shared with them before, that tiny fox was capable of becoming a behemoth that destroyed a planet. They knew that they had to make a decision fast before things got out of hand.

"If we let you come to Earth, what guarantee do we have that you won't start killing people left and right?" Wonder Woman suddenly asked.

"Diana-" Hawkgirl and Superman attempted to stop her. They thought that asking such a blunt question was undoubtedly going to enrage the fox and that was literally the last thing they wanted to do at that moment.

To everyone's great surprise, however, at Wonder Woman's words, the crimson energy swirling around Kyuubi seeped back into his body and he visibly took on a calmer appearance.

Listening to her mother's request, Wonder Woman had not told anyone yet that only the previous night she had become a demigoddess. That is to say that her powers were naturally stronger than before, including her affinity to nature and wild animals that goddess Artemis had blessed her with.

In addition, Kyuubi himself did not want to be angry and start a fight with anyone at that moment. Wonder Woman's influence helped him to restrain his volatile emotions and rage. The fox replied to her question in a much calmer voice than before, clearly more in control of himself:

"All I want is a place for my brother to recover. I have no intention of causing any trouble. As long as no one disturbs us, you have my word. Do this for us and we will owe you a favour. You should be well aware of what someone of our power owing you a favour means."

As Kyuubi said, the Justice League was keenly aware of how important was a favour from Naruto and Kyuubi. But the question present in everyone's mind then was:

'Can he be trusted?'

But even if they could not trust him, they did not really have a choice. The Justice League was not confident in regards to a fight against the fox alien. Even more importantly, they had to think about the safety of the over a hundred million people living in the archipelago of islands below because unlike the first time around, they no longer underestimated Kyuubi. For all they knew, the fox could easily blow up half the ocean in its rage.

In the end, it looked like the current scenario was the best case possible: them coming to an agreement and the aliens even owing them a favour.

Superman and Martian Manhunter looked at each other for a moment before they turned and nodded at Wonder Woman. Having realized that the fox was more open to talking to her than anyone else, they let her speak for the Justice League.

"We agree to grant you asylum on our planet. We hope that you will not break your promise. But first, we'll take you to the Watchtower. Our medical equipment is better than what regular hospitals on Earth have."

"It's not something that medicine and science can fix. His condition and my rage are problems of a magical nature. But your presence feels calming. It's helping me focus. You...feel different than before." Kyuubi said, his slit crimson eyes peering into Wonder Woman's eyes.

The Amazon Princess was secretly startled.

'I'm wearing the Bracelets of Submission. They're supposed to hide my true nature even from the gods...how did he feel it?'

It was Hawkgirl that spoke next:

"A friend of ours, Doctor Fate, is a great sorcerer. He may have a solution to your problem if it's of a magical nature."

Inwardly, Kyuubi was a bit suspicious of their behaviour. But he came to terms with it once he realized what the Justice League must be thinking at that moment.

'They're afraid of endangering the millions of people below. The Green Lantern Corps have surely found out about what we've done to the Psions by now so most likely the Justice League is aware of my power now too...that's why they're so willing to talk now, eh? Well, no matter. It works for us.'

As if he knew exactly what Kyuubi was thinking about, Green Lantern spoke at that moment:

"We understand how dangerous you are and we don't want to risk a fight that would endanger the lives of the innocent people below. But even if the Justice League might not be enough to stop you, you should know that the Green Lantern Corps most certainly can. I will also let you know that the Guardians have already classified you as a Universal-level threat and they have their eyes on you."

Green Lantern and Kyuubi looked into each other's eyes silently for a few seconds. As a green power ring wielder, John Stewart's willpower was strong enough to look into Kyuubi's crimson-red eyes without flinching in fear. That fact alone earned the man a bit of respect in Kyuubi's mind.

"Just as you said you don't want any trouble, we don't want any either. I am telling you this so you know that we do have the ability to fight back."

Unexpectedly, Kyuubi nodded at his words.

"I gave you my word. I'm not a human. I do not lie."

⁂

Two weeks had passed since Kyuubi, Koriand'r, and the petrified Naruto had arrived on Earth and struck a deal with the Justice League. True to his promise, Kyuubi did not cause any incidents. Instead, he had spent most of his time sleeping, gradually eliminating the excess of berserk natural energy that he had previously absorbed.

The Justice League had kept their word as well: currently, a man dressed in a blue suit, a yellow cape and wearing a golden helmet was coming out of the Javelin together with Superman and another blonde-haired teen girl.

"Doctor Fate. You've arrived." Green Lantern said as a form of greeting before raising an eyebrow and asking Superman: "What's she doing here?"

A helpless expression appeared on Superman's face.

"She's been pestering me every day over the past two weeks to take her up to the Watchtower. Meet my cousin, Kara Kent. Kara, this is John Stewart, a Green Lantern."

But the girl in question was too busy ogling at her surroundings to notice the annoyance in Superman's voice.

"Nice to meet you!" she said in a chirpy voice before taking flight, starting her exploration.

"She's quite a handful," Green Lantern remarked.

"You don't know half of it," Superman said and sighed. Despite his sighing and the tone of his voice, there was a smile on his face as he looked at Supergirl who was zooming around with no care in the world.

"Shall we go?" Doctor Fate said from the side.

The three men walked towards the hospital wing of the Watchtower. When they arrived in front of the room where Naruto slept, Doctor Fate was the only one who stepped inside. Superman and Green Lantern remained outside, watching through the window.

Sensing the newcomer's presence in the room, Kyuubi woke up from his slumber and opened his eyes; he had been sleeping on Naruto's chest, curled up and purring just like a cat.

"Hard to believe a fox as adorable as that is as dangerous as you say it is," Supergirl said when she came next to Superman and looked through the window just in time to see Kyuubi arching his back and stretching his tiny limbs as he yawned.

"That adorable fox can turn into a half-a-mile-long monster and blow up a planet. Appearances can be very deceiving." Green Lantern said.

Supergirl stuck her tongue at his words, making Superman chuckle and ruffle her hair with his hand.

"So he is the one who saved me from Argo?" she asked and looked at the sleeping Naruto with undisguised curiosity. "Whoa! Are those whiskers?! Why didn't you didn't tell me how cute he was!"

Superman palmed his forehead, feeling the beginning of a headache.

"He used to wear a mask. I couldn't see through it even with my X-ray vision. And if you saw him when he came back two weeks ago, you wouldn't think he was cute. He looked like a half-human, half-frog. It was only a few days ago that his face returned to normal. At least what we think it's his normal appearance."

It was the 5th time Doctor Fate came to the Watchtower to cure Naruto. Living up to his name as the owner of the Helmet of Fate and one of the greatest sorcerers in the world, Doctor Fate did manage to alleviate some of the effects of the poisonous natural energy in Naruto's body and speed up his innate regeneration ability. Because of that, the stone and toad-like appearance of his face reverted to his original looks. His petrified leg had been turned back to normal as well. Only one of his arms was still petrified.

"By the way, who is that girl?"

Following the direction that Supergirl was pointing at, Superman and Green Lantern noticed Koriand'r who was sitting on a sofa in the room, not far from Naruto's bed. The red-haired girl was focused on the PSP in her hands, busily pressing its buttons.

"She's the girl that caused that big commotion in Jump City 2 weeks ago. Apparently, the Psions have destroyed her homeworld, Tamaran. Myself and Wonder Woman are the only ones who can communicate with her; she doesn't know our language," Green Lantern said.

Supergirl grabbed the handle of the door and was about to go in but Superman stopped her.

"Don't go in there or that fox will beat you up good if you barge in. Flash felt than on his own skin. That fox doesn't like anyone else besides Doctor Fate and Wonder Woman."

"Ehh..." Supergirl made a bummed-out sound. "I can see why he'd like Doctor Fate: he's curing his friend's condition. But why does he like Wonder Woman?"

Green Lantern shrugged his shoulders.

"Beats me. Something to do with the blessing she received from the Greek Gods I guess. But I can't help thinking that something is different about her these days. You've noticed that Superman? Or I'm just overthinking things?"

Superman nodded.

"I can't put my finger on what exactly is going on either but she does look like she has something on her mind."

Though Wonder Woman had always been rather serious and kept most things to herself, the rest of the Justice League had noticed the subtle changes in her after the Jump City incident. She became more introverted, she talked less than before and she looked like she always had some pressing problems on her mind. Also, her hero costume had changed as well.

Oblivious to what Superman and Green Lantern were worried about, Supergirl knocked on the window and then started waving her hands, attracting the attention of Koriand'r who was playing on her PlayStation Portable. Koriand'r tilted her head in curiosity at the blonde girl who was making her signs to come over.

'She looks friendly' Koriand'r thought and her face was brightened by a smile.

Over the past two weeks, she had started to feel cooped. Granted, it was nowhere near as bad as the years that she had spent imprisoned but it was a fact that she was bored. Seeing a girl of her age trying to make friends with her naturally piqued her interest.

Leaving her PSP on the sofa, the Tamaranean princess came out of the room.

"Hello! I'm Koriand'r. What's your name?" she said and raised her hand for a handshake.

"She's saying hello and that her name is Koriand'r. She's asking you to introduce yourself," Green Lantern explained.

Supergirl shook the redhead's hand and a bright smile appeared on her face.

"I'm Kara. It's nice to meet you!"

But Supergirl's smile became a little stiff when Koriand'r seemed like she did not want to let go of her hand even after like 5 seconds passed. Suddenly, she was pulled!

"What-" she began to say but, before she could react, a soft feeling came from her lips, as Koriand'r kissed her on the mouth, muffling her words.

Supergirl backed away with a small shriek and a hand covering her mouth. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks were burning red in disbelief and embarrassment.

"Did I startle you? I'm sorry. My people have the ability to learn any language through the act of kissing."

"You! You stole my first kiss!" Supergirl yelled in embarrassment, pointing a quivering accusatory finger at her.

"You look rattled. Perhaps it felt bad for you? I quite enjoyed it. Your lips are very soft and they taste sweet. Did you eat strawberries before?" Koriand'r said.

At her words, Supergirl gave up all pretence and just buried her face in her palms. Only her beet-red ears could be seen.

Koriand'r kissing Supergirl had been so out of the blue that Superman and Green Lantern were still watching the scene frozen. They had totally not expected something like that.

⁂

"You really helped me out a lot, Doctor Fate," Naruto said. "Without your aid, it would have taken me around 2 months to recover up to this stage."

The man in question was sitting on a stool next to Naruto's bed. His slouched posture and his laborious breathing betrayed how exhausted he was.

"I did it for the people of Earth. If it's in my power, I will naturally do something about it. It is in my interest as well for peace to be preserved."

Naruto sighed at his words.

"Haa~ You guys are treating us like ticking bombs. But I would never hurt innocents for no reason."

Doctor Fate replied:

"You mean to say there were no innocents on the planet that you and your fox have destroyed?"

A low growl came from Kyuubi who was now sitting on Naruto's shoulder like he had used to do in the past. Naruto weakly brought his good hand up to pat him on the head and tell him to relax.

"I have no regrets about annihilating the Psions. There were no children or innocents among them. Only insane bastards who had taken over an entire system and took advantage of the Green Lantern Corps' preferential treatment of them and their pact of non-aggression to enslave and kill whomever they pleased in the Vega System. Over the hundreds of millions of years that the Psions had lived, countless have died at their hands."

"Even so, I would have not attacked them just for that. I don't get involved in others' problems needlessly and I certainly don't do it for free. But they targeted me."

"They bribed my information broker and then lured me into their territory with two very well-paid bounties. It was enough money that I could even buy a terraformed moon, and it was all that so they could capture me. A fleet of almost 40 interstellar warships waited for me when I reached Tamaran. Though we easily destroyed them, I knew that the Psions would never give up on me, especially after learning that I was powerful enough to annihilate a fleet of warships. I would have probably ended up on one of their dissection tables too at some point if I didn't kill them all first. After all, I can't always be on my guard. I am human too, not a god. I'm not invincible."

'You're human too?' was what Doctor Fate thought in his mind and had the urge to ask but chose to stay silent and listen to what he had to say. He realized that it was a very rare occasion to find out more about the alien's motivation and inner thoughts. A chance to see how his mind worked.

"There were 87 prisoners locked up in the labs of the Psions. Through the special abilities granted to me by this energy that you've helped me remove from my body, I could sense every single living being on the planet and the nature of their character. I could even get a peek into their thoughts with it."

Naruto looked down seemingly deep in thought.

"I'm not happy about their deaths. If I could have saved them, I would have done it. But after a lifetime of travelling through the Universe, I learned two simple truths: being kind to your enemies is being cruel to yourself and that the world we live in is not such a pretty place where everyone can live happily ever after."

"Eighty-seven people died as collateral damage. But I ensured my own safety and I've also prevented hundreds of thousands or even more people that would have been captured and killed in the future by the Psions. I have liberated an entire System from their tyranny as well. Do you know that on over 20 planets in the Vega System, hundreds of races have celebrated the day when the Psions died as the Day of Liberation? On many of those planets, they even erected statues of Kurama and it looks like cults focused on worshipping him have started being formed."

If Doctor Fate was silent before due to wanting to hear more about Naruto's thoughts, this time he became speechless because of what he heard.

"I see, people are finally realizing how great I am. It was about damn time if you ask me. Hahaha! But why is this the first time I heard about it?" Kyuubi said, his lazy appearance from before a stark contrast with how he was wagging his tails in excitement now.

"I bought this information from a news agency after I finally got my face back to normal a few days ago," Naruto said with a chuckle and tapped his wristwatch-like device. "I wanted to know what had become of the Vega System after what we have done there."

He turned his attention back to Doctor Fate and said:

"I'm not a psychopath or a ticking bomb that could explode at any moment. Believe it or not, I used to be no different than you and the Justice League when I was young. I was called a hero by my people, I've saved many lives. Even after my homeworld perished, I continued to carry those noble ideals and aspirations for many years. But time and tribulations change everything. In the present, in your and the Justice League's eyes, I'm probably just a deranged alien with more power than a man should have."

He laughed bitterly.

"It's funny, isn't it? You either die young as a hero or live long enough to see yourself becoming the villain."