[Caterpillar] Chapter 15 - Crisis (III) (Patreon)

AN: In this chapter, I will use Diana for 'our' Wonder Woman, and Wonder Woman for the other dimension Wonder Woman to help you not get confused.

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Chapter 15 - Crisis (III)

After the Justice Lords took flight and left the group of reporters behind, Diana suddenly flew in front of them, cutting their way.

"Where is the rest of the Justice League? And what were you thinking?! How could you lobotomise someone in front of the whole world?!"

The 5 Justice Lords members stopped in their flight and looked at each other. It was the other dimension Wonder Woman that replied to her:

"If you were raised anything like I was, you would be an Amazon. You should be no stranger to the concept of not showing mercy to your enemy."

Diana clenched her hands into fists.

"Even if that was the case, why do it publicly?" Turning towards Superman she said: "I don't know what is the situation back in your world but here the Justice League is a symbol of hope. Not of terror! We don't just take the law in our hands to punish whomever we please."

Justice Lord Green Lantern retorted:

"You think we were any different at first? We tried the same route back in our dimension too. Until our Flash was murdered and Luthor crawled his way up to become the United States' president. Do you know what happened? He triggered World War 3!"

Justice Lord Superman also said:

"Democracy is nice. But the problem with it is that it doesn't keep you very safe. Too much freedom leads to chaos and chaos leads to war, death and misery. If we hadn't taken control of our dimension with an iron fist, the world would have been destroyed. Do you think hope or honour or honesty are what keep people in line? No. What keeps them in line is fear. I lobotomized that creature in front of the whole world, for them to understand that crimes will not be tolerated anymore. For all the villains to learn what fear means."

Diana could not help shouting:

"Do you even hear yourself? How are you any different from Darkseid? He also keeps the "peace" on all the planets he had conquered. That's not peace! It's terror!"

Justice Lord Hawkgirl's mace began crackling with electricity and she said:

"Batman was right when he said they wouldn't want our kind of help. That they wouldn't understand. Good thing that we've captured the rest already."

With no further ado, she lunged at Diana and swung her mace at her wildly.

Diana blocked the mace with her wristguards but the electricity made her shout from pain and lose control over her flight. She had awakened as a demigoddess, as the daughter of Zeus who was the God of Lightning so normal electricity should have not been able to harm her. However, Hawkgirl's mace was made of the Nth metal, a metal capable of disrupting all forms of magic. The Nth metal was the bane of all magical existences: and magic was what protected Diana and gave her supernatural powers.

Before Diana could right herself in the air, Greem Lantern followed up with a concentrated blast of green light and then the other dimension Wonder Woman grabbed Diana's arms from the back and locked her in a Nelson hold. Right away, Superman came to the immobilized Diana and he punched her in the stomach with all his strength, creating a shockwave no smaller than the one that the grey-skinned alien made when he punched him, blasting all the glass windows in the vicinity. Spittle flew out of Diana's mouth and her eyes rolled in the back of her head.

"Did you have to hit her that hard?" the other dimension Wonder Woman said with a frown.

"I know exactly how tough you are, princess. Your physique is not much below mine. If she was anything like you, she wouldn't stay down unless I used my full strength." Superman justified himself.

From the start to finish, the other dimension's Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Superman's teamwork was completely flawless. With the 4 of them working together against her, Diana was not given a chance to react in any way.

Green Lantern used his power ring to envelop the now unconscious Diana in a bubble of green light, intent on taking her away but a smoke bomb suddenly exploded in the Justice Lords' midst. Before anyone could make sense of the sudden situation, a massive appendage slammed against Green Lantern, sending him crashing into the ground like a cannonball. It was an enormous crimson-red tail.

"John!" Hawkgirl cried out and dived down after him.

But when she broke away from the group, a voice came from the side:

"Fuuton: Vacuum Bullets!"

Four bullets made of highly pressurised wind perforated Hawkgirl's feathered wings. Screaming in pain, she crashed into the ground not far from where Green Lantern was lying unconscious.

Superman came to his senses immediately, in less than 3 seconds. However, for a powerful shinobi launching a surprise attack, 2 seconds were more than enough to reap the life of 2 unsuspecting people if he desired so, especially while working together with a tailed beast. Superman inhaled sharply and then blew out a powerful gale of wind from his lungs scattering the curtain of smoke previously clouding the air.

"John! Shayera!" Superman yelled when he saw the unconscious Green Lantern and Hawkgirl and the blood flowing from her wings.

He turned to the attacker with rage in his eyes.

"Who are you?" he shouted. "Why did you attack us?"

Once the smoke was completely scattered, the remaining 3 members of the Justice Lords, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Martian Manhunter were able to finally see who had attacked them. In front of them, an enormous nine-tailed fox blocked the very wide boulevard below with its sheer size alone and the tips of his tails rose even higher than the skyscrapers of Metropolis City. The low growl that came from the fox next made their blood almost congeal in their veins.

On top of the gigantic crimson-red beast, a fox-masked man stood while holding a woman in his arms: it was the unconscious Diana.

"Why did you attack her?" Naruto asked back.

A tense silence was instilled as the three still-conscious members of the Justice Lords glared at the enormous beast and the masked man standing on top of it.

"It looks like they want to have a go at it. Kurama, prepare some fire for me." Naruto said and laughed coldly.

He was too weakened to use complex nature transformation techniques like his Rasenshuriken but regular jutsu were not beyond him. It was Kyuubi that was going to provide the main firepower anyway.

He put the unconscious Diana down on Kyuubi's thick fur and his hands moved through a series of hand seals so fast that they were almost impossible to discern with the naked eye.

"Fuuton: Blazing Whirlwind!"

An enormous stream of fire was shot from the bijuu's large mouth and a vortex of pressurised wind was shot from Naruto's mouth as well.

According to the 5 elements rock-paper-scissors system, wind was weak against fire because fire fed on wind. But when these two elements were combined, an even more powerful technique would be created. The stream of fire pouring out of Kyuubi's mouth was combined with the vortex of pressurized wind coming from Naruto's lungs and a terrifying tornado of fire took birth.

The thousands of people below watched with trepidation the scene taking place above their city. The vortex of fire made the night sky appear almost as bright as the day. It engulfed the three Justice Lords, completely obscuring their silhouettes from view. The humans below could not see that Superman had tried to blow icy wind from his mouth with all his strength but his actions were no different than that of a regular person trying to extinguish a conflagration by spitting on it. His Kryptonian powers were greatly restrained by magic.

After only a few seconds, Naruto abruptly clapped his hands and the terrible wind and fire technique was instantly snuffed out, disappearing like magic. Two silhouettes collapsed to the ground with their skin and clothes burnt up. They were unconscious. The only one still flying was the other dimension Wonder Woman but she was in no better condition either. She was still standing only due to the magical nature of her abilities offering her a better degree of protection against magical attacks. Even so, she was on her last legs.

Naruto's voice came from above Kyuubi's head. Although Wonder Woman was flying at a considerable distance from them, every word spoken by Naruto was heard as well as if they were spoken right into her ears:

"I don't care about how your dimension is. I don't care what philosophy is right and what is wrong. To me, your squabbles are insignificant. However-" he said this word with a drawl, "when I was at my lowest, the Justice League offered me asylum and they even nursed me back to health. I owe them a favour."

The other dimension Wonder Woman grit her teeth in unwillingness.

"If you had not attacked us by surprise, do you think you could have gotten one over us?" she shouted at him.

A deep rumble made the skyscrapers around reverberate when laughter came from the titanic fox's mouth. Naruto chuckled as well at her words.

"Don't tell me you also want a referee and 3 judges to score our match the next time we fight?" he said in ridicule. "What is this, some play fighting exhibition?"

Saying that, Naruto's and Kyuubi's obnoxious laughter reverberated through the city.

"Seizing the opportunity to attack is a form of strength as well. You're over 3000 years old, how have you not learned that even to this day?" he said still sniggering.

Naruto moved his hands and pressurised blades of wind gathered around his body like ribbons. With a flick of his wrist, a ribbon of pressurised wind suddenly slammed into the other dimension Wonder Woman like a whip and hurled her crashing into the ground right next to the rest of the Justice Lords. Aside from her, they were all unconscious.

"I don't care how you do it, you have 4 hours to release the Justice League from wherever you're keeping them. Otherwise-" one of the sharp ribbons of wind dancing around his body suddenly extended to grab the unconscious Justice Lord Superman from the ground and yanked him up "-your dear leader here will die."

The black and white costumed Superman was brought on top of Kyuubi's enormous head and thrown down not far from Diana.

"Remember," Naruto said to the other dimension Wonder Woman, "you have 4 hours. I'll wait for you here, in this city."

After saying those words, the enormous fox shrunk down in size and then, the four of them vanished into thin air.

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It was still the same night, only two hours after the Justice Lords fought against Doomsday and Naruto & Kyuubi that a portal was opened in a side alley, somewhere in Metropolis. Batman, Superman, Martian Manhunter, Flash, and Green Lantern who was holding a slumbering Hawkgirl stepped out of the portal, returning to their dimension. Thanks to Flash who had managed to stop his heartbeats and fool the other dimension Batman into freeing him from his cuffs, the Justice League managed to escape from their cells. Eventually, Batman convinced his other dimension counterpart to activate the portal and let them come back to their original dimension.

"They are as strong as we are and just as smart. But they are willing to kill. They will not hold back. We can't win like that." Batman said.

"What are you saying? That we have to be willing to kill too?!" Superman shot back outraged. "I won't cross that line!"

"Then how else can we stop them?" Batman asked.

"You're the smart one, you figure it out," Superman said.

Batman narrowed his eyes in thought.

"We can't do it. Not unless we cross some kind of line too..."

But as he said those words, he suddenly got an idea. When he looked up, however, he noticed that a strange mood appeared among them.

"Am I right to guess that you're all thinking about the same thing as I do?" Batman asked.

Flash grinned.

"The alien mercenary and his fox, right? He said he owes us a favour. Just the perfect time to cash it in."

"I hate to admit it but with his help, beating back the Justice Lords doesn't seem far-fetched at all," Superman said too.

Little did the Justice League know that Naruto had already more than held his end of the bargain. The 6 of them barely stepped out of the side alley into the main street when the portal that had brought them back before was opened once again. The other dimension Batman came out of the portal hurriedly and even with the mask covering half of his face the Justice League could sense how distressed he was. Just then, the other dimension Wonder Woman also appeared from the corner of the street, dragging herself by learning on the walls of the buildings.

The other dimension Batman ran towards Wonder Woman who stumbled and fell on the ground. He wanted to roll her over but he hesitated for a moment; he did not even know where to grab her from because her arms and shoulders were covered in burns.

"Some magician with a giant beast almost killed us all," the other dimension Wonder Woman said with difficulty after Batman rolled her on her back.

The members of the Justice League looked at each other sharply at the same time. Naturally, their reactions did not escape the other dimension Batman's eyes.

"What's she talking about, do you know that guy?" he glowered at them.

"He has captured Superman. If we don't return the Justice League in 4 hours he said he'll kill him." the other dimension Wonder Woman said.

Then, her eyes closed off and she fell into a deep slumber. In her delirium, she had not even noticed the fact the Justice League she had been talking about was standing right next to her.

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When Justice Lord Superman regained consciousness he found himself inside a spaceship. Looking around, he recognized the ship as the Javelin used by the Justice Lords.

'Looks like the Justice League uses the same ships as we do.'

Despite the familiar surroundings, he was not mistaken by his current situation because his entire body was burning. First and second-degree burns were covering his arms and chest and even parts of his face. With his Kryptonian physiology, he could not remember when was the last time he had been hurt as badly as that. But the fox's flames were of a magical nature and they were even hotter than the sun.

'He was a magic user. Ugh."

A groan came out of his mouth. He hated magic.

"You're awake so quickly even after an attack like that?"

Hearing that voice, his body stiffened. Following the sound, he saw a man wearing a white fox mask and a dark combat suit partially covered by a fur-collared cloak kneeling next to Diana who was lying unconscious on the floor of the ship. Justice Lord Superman instinctively tried to jump up to his feet and lunge at him but the moment he moved, an arc of electricity zapped him and his body shook uncontrollably while he cried in agonizing pain.

A chuckle came from the masked man but he did not even deign him with a glance. His hands became coated in a cyan light and he placed them on top of Diana's chest. The Mystical Palm Technique was the bread and butter of any medic shinobi in his homeworld. It was not exceedingly difficult but it was required for one to have a nigh-perfect chakra control in order to cast it. In his current condition, Naruto needed to focus more than usual to cast it properly.

"What did you do to me?" Justice Lord Superman asked through gnashed teeth.

It was Kyuubi who answered him. He was now back to his tiny form a little fox.

"Where I came from, it was called fuinjutsu. Nasty shit, I'm telling you. Even I got merc'd by fuinjutsu at some point in the past. In this world, people call it magic but it's the same thing. So pipe down and don't make a move unless you want your ass roasted. Haha!"

Superman watched for a few moments how Naruto continued to heal Diana but there were dozens of questions in his mind.

"What happened to the others? And why did you capture me? What are you planning?"

The more he spoke, the angrier he became and he unconsciously tried to move once more, only to be electrocuted and made to scream in agony again. Kyuubi snickered like a hyena at the sight of his suffering.

"Stooopid. Are you a masochist?"

Naruto's control over his Mystical Palm technique was broken when he snorted with laughter.

"Don't make me laugh, Kurama, or I can't focus. And you there, shut your piehole! No one is dead, I only took you hostage until your pals released the rest of the Justice League." he said to Justice Lord Superman.

After that, he knelt on the floor and went back to healing Diana.

"He's gonna kill you, you know?" Kyuubi said snidely and snickered. "If your friends don't release the Justice League in 2 hours...hehe, you're as good as dead."

Naruto stopped his Mystical Palm technique again.

"Kurama, I swear to the Void..."

Luckily for Naruto, he was wearing his mask or otherwise Kyuubi would have seen the traitorous grin on his face in spite of his different words. Though Naruto wanted to concentrate on healing Diana, Kyuubi was making it very hard for him to focus. It always cracked him up to see the fox toying with his prey.

"Oh come on, what's the fun in that? Don't worry about your princess, she's fine." Kyuubi exhorted.

"What 'your', she's not my princess! This dickhead hit her so hard that you'd think he was trying to kill her. I owe the Justice League a favour so I'm just making sure that she is fine!"

"Nothing more than that?" the fox said, his voice dripping with all kinds of insinuations.

"Nothing more." Naruto bit out.

Kyuubi chortled at his overreaction but he didn't press the issue.

Now that it was silence again, Naruto went back to channelling the Mystic Palm technique.

"Ya know, I've never eaten a Kryptonian before. I wonder how they taste like..." Kyuubi said after a while.

Naruto stood up in annoyance.

"Alright, that's it!" he said and grabbed Kyuubi by the scruff of his neck like one would grab a naughty cat and threw him out of the Javelin.

He was about to start casting the healing technique again but he could not help stopping in his tracks when a massive head appeared on the front window of the ship. Kyuubi had grown very large and pressed his huge head against the window of the cockpit, staring at Justice Lords Superman unblinkingly and licking his whiskers in a hungry fashion.

Naruto finally gave up. He burst into laughter.