Clark and Naruto exit the restaurant after their shared meal to find three things: a Lexcorp crew; said crew unloading a midnight blue 1967 Shelby Mustang GT 500; and finally, Bruce. Ignoring his fellow leaguer, for a moment, Clark scoffs at the showy car. "Could you be more of a rich kid cliche?"
"Say that when you pick up a check," Naruto fired back. "Besides, you've stayed out past curfew and the other campers at Sleep-a-Way Tower need you."
"Sleep, because I'm a pajama person. Very clever," Clark observed dryly.
"Are you two done?" Bruce interrupted having had his fill of the pair. Naruto just rolled his eyes but didn't answer, choosing to walk to his car. He shot Clark a wave but left the heroes to their business, the night was annoying enough without having to put The Detective in his place. Naruto acknowledged the Lexcorp employee, thanking him for the last minute service, and chatted the man up, Brandon, Naruto learned.
"You-"
"We'll talk back wat Watch Tower. If we're doing this I'm only doing it once and in front of everyone," Clark said and left no room for argument. Bruce didn't argue and then two returned to the space station. In his car and on a secure connection, Naruto called Mr. Wintergreen, the man picking up on the second ring.
"Master Naruto," Mr. Wintergreen greeted.
"Mr. Wintergreen," Naruto returned. "How did your meeting go?" he asked as he zipped through the streets, stoplights reflecting off the impeccable paint job.
"There was some pushback but news of the burned down warehouse made him see reason. Or more likely, the casualties therein. Should I see to further measures should he forget himself, sir?"
"No. If another message needs sending I'll do it personally but for now let's trust in his rational self-interest."
"Very well, sir. While I have you I wish to request some personal time. A day, maybe two, starting tomorrow."
"Of course, Mr. Wintergreen. I'll be busy at the office getting things arranged so why not take four, you need a break."
"Much obliged, sir. If there is nothing else…"
"Nope, we're good. You enjoy yourself and I'll see you in a few days. Talk to you later."
"Goodbye, sir."
"How many times can we discuss one kid?" Shayera asked, annoyance visible to all present. "If he's done something, let's take him down. If he hasn't, leave him alone." She accented her point by banging her fist on the table.
"I have to agree with Hawkgirl," J'onn said. "We are not a pre-crimes unit, we do not target people for what they may have done."
"He killed twelve people tonight," Batman replied. "He let himself get kidnapped so he'd be justified in doing so but he burned them alive."
"We don't know if he burned them alive as we don't know who or what started the fire," Clark said, to once again receive the glare. He was starting to get tired of it.
"The arson investigator said the point of origin was outside the building. As if someone with a high powered flamethrower took aim. He couldn't find any evidence of an accelerant either. From the time you saw the blaze to your arrival the entire structure and all in it were reduced to ash."
"That is alarming. You said it yourself, Superman, he has some kind of control of the "elements" and they can bypass your invulnerability. He could have gotten stronger since then, or at the very least, better at using his powers. Maybe we should start taking a serious look at him, if for no other reason than to show him he can't do what he wants when he wants," John argued. He could see why the case was borderline, the young man had, arguably, acted in self-defense or defense of others in each incident but that could be a clever smokescreen.
Diana looked at Kal, wondering why he didn't seem bothered by Lex's son. What was the nature of their relationship? Why was he so indifferent to the man's violence? For someone who took great care to restrain himself, she didn't understand how he could be so nonchalant with someone who didn't and voiced those very concerns, nearly pleading for Kal to make it make sense.
"It's simple, Naruto isn't one of us and that makes us uncomfortable. When we deal with metas they are generally, heroes, villains, or people who are undergoing circumstances to eventually be one or the either. Naruto rejects our world and our rules. He'll tell you, as he told me tonight, he's a private citizen and will defend himself to the extent allowed by the law. We have a meta who may be as powerful as any at this table but sees it as no different as a gun owner. If someone threatens or attacks him he responds in kind.
We forget, sometimes, that we've only seen a very small fraction of the total population of metahumans. Many just want to live their lives and not be defined by their abilities, a lot of them likely don't have abilities that would be all that useful to heroes nor villains so it doesn't matter. Naruto isn't that and thanks to Lex he might get pulled into our world whether he likes it or not.
The question becomes, what are we to do? And if we come down on him for killing people that attack him are we saying metas have a diminished right of self-defense? That because of their powers they should be expected or required to hold back even when being targeted through no fault of their own? I'm not saying I don't understand the logic, I do. It is a belief I apply to myself but it isn't one without consequence."
"Wha do you mean, Supes?" Wally asked.
"Right now, we're just a group of people Naruto has to occasionally deal with even though he'd prefer not to. Not friendly but not hostile. We try to enforce this, we try to shift public opinion to this idea and he'll be an enemy. One worse than Lex ever was, I believe."
"He can't keep killing people with impunity," Batman growled. As far as he was concerned, Naruto Uzumaki was hiding behind the law to amass power or take out enemies. That the League seemed willing to twiddle their thumbs was beyond disbelief.
"If you feel that way then why didn't you try to take him in?" Clark asked.
"You wouldn't have tried to stop me?" Bruce questioned in disbelief.
"We'll never know," Clark answered. "For now, I suggest a wait and see approach. If he is up to something, I'll go after him." With that said, the meeting adjourned and the members went off on their own. When he was sure he was alone, Bruce put out a call. There was one person that could dig as deep as him, maybe deeper, without raising suspicion. He needed The Question.
Exes, to Harley's mind, were supposed to disappear. You break up and then they fall off the face of the planet. It frustrated her to no end that Ivy's former geek couldn't seem to manage. And sure, she held some responsibility because she told Ivy about his involvement in her rescue but the relationship was so new she didn't want any lies between them. Ivy had been… not distant but not exactly close and instead of basking in their rightful honeymoon period, her lady was all conflicted over her old work.
And the flame-haired geek just couldn't stop with the reveals. It wasn't enough he had abilities and was some kind of Deathstrokean super soldier but he was Lex Luthor's son, too? What the entire fuck? Even if only adopted, he likely needed a lot of hours on some professional's couch. There was no way there weren't years of psychological damage to unpack but that was his problem.
Harley thought they'd turned a corner when Ivy returned because Harley totally hit that, but romantically; three times. Boom, no more need to worry about Ivy's super geek. Until, that it is, they woke up to news about him getting snatched by Intergang, escaping Intergang, and (Harley assumed) killing members of Intergang. She just wanted to smash something with her bat and feed it to her boys; Bud and Lou. But not even that was enough as within the hour of them waking, the geek's butler arrived with two carry-on sized suitcases and a gun under his suit jacket. What kind of butler carried a roscoe?
The bastard was so polite that, of course, Ivy let him in and he wouldn't give Harley a justifiable reason to brain him. Now they sat at Ivy's small kitchen table, instead of commencing with an encore of last night, waiting for this geezer to make his point. She had violence blue balls! And probably the other kind, too, except for women.
"I must once again apologize for calling upon you without notice, Miss Isley and Miss Quinn."
"It's fine, Mr. Wintergreen," Ivy assured him. "What can we do for you today? Is Naruto alright?" she asked and would swear she saw the faintest smile cross the man's stoic face.
"He extracted himself with minimal effort, I assure you."
"Yea, he's a real terminator that one," Harley quipped.
"I'm sure Master Wade would agree," Mr. Wintergreen responded.
"That's not… nevermind."
"If Naruto is fine then, not to be rude, why are you here?" Ivy asked, getting the discussion back into focus.
"Ah, yes. I am sure you have concluded that Mr. Luthor's taking you was to bait Naruto to act. What you may not know is that Mr. Luthor had been attempting to gain his son's attention for well over a year. His ploys always failed to entice Naruto to engage him directly and I believe he saw no other way to ensnare Master Naruto into his final scheme."
"To what end?" Ivy asked. She hated being kidnapped but she especially hated being made a damsel for some man's stupid game.
"If I were to guess, to finally make Master Naruto live up to his potential, at least from Mr. Luthor's perspective. I have no doubt he weaved a tangled web, one only kept afloat by his continued existence. Now that he's gone, Master Naruto has inherited many enemies and just as many responsibilities." Mr. Wintergreen explained.
"I understand and I'm sorry but I can't-"
"Please forgive me, Miss Isley, as I have not been clear. I am not here at Master Naruto's urging nor suggestion. If he knew what I was here to do he'd be quite displeased but let me assure you, I am not asking you to return to his side or offer support. If anything, I am requesting the exact opposite."
Harley, losing her patience, chimed in, "Please get to the point, would ya?"
"Of course, Miss Quinn. Master Naruto believes that since you are out of his life you won't be used as leverage and while you are eminently capable of defending yourself, even you can be worn down by waves of enemies." Mr. Wintergreen placed one suitcase on the table and unzipped it revealing it was filled with hundred dollar bills. "I am asking you to simply lay low for a while. Take a trip with Miss Quinn if you so like, just don't stay anywhere too long and don't draw attention to yourself."
"How'd you get all that cash if Naruto isn't aware you're here?" Harley questioned.
"Master Naruto trusts my discretion and my discernment, as such he has granted me access to resources to attend to problems I've noticed that he has not. It allows him to keep focus and minimize surprises."
Harley didn't seem to fully believe the man as that was a great deal of trust for a butler but she had no real way to argue it. She didn't know Naruto as anything other than Ivy's geek. She'd always dismissed him, figured he'd be out of their lives after their trip but he felt more central now than when they were together. It was maddening.
"I can't agree to anything right now, Mr. Wintergreen."
"Of course, unfortunately, I only have the morning in Gotham. If you should decide to stay or to travel but not use Master Naruto's money then donate it to a worthy cause. Now, I believe I have taken enough of your time. Many thanks for indulging me at this hour," Mr. Wintergreen said and then departed, leaving Harley and Ivy alone.
The two sat in silence for several minutes, neither knowing how to broach the topic. While she said she couldn't, a part of Ivy wanted to help Naruto. She knew it was no longer her place but the desire was there and it came with a sense of guilt; she wasn't being fair to Harley.
Harley, however, was much more practical about it. They'd talked about traveling, they now had the coin to do so, and if the geek wanted to foot the bill who was she to argue. Her only problem was where and how long. "Mykonos," Harley finally offered.
"Mykonos?" Ivy asked and Harley nodded like an overeager, small child.
"Or if that's too touristy then some other island but I'd like to go to Mykonos."
"Ok," Ivy said with a soft smile. "Let's go to Mykonos."
"Yay!" Harley exclaimed as she jumped toward her girlfriend, knocking her chair over. Curious about the noise, Bud and Lou joined all the while Harley is excited cheering their travel plans. Ivy smiled, thinking Greece would be the perfect place to take her mind off things, to bury any 'what-ifs' she might have. She was in a new chapter and she'd make even better than her last.
Naruto sat in his new office, his father's old office, in deep thought. He'd had meetings with various department heads to gauge the corporate culture and it was just as he suspected; a culture of backbiting and infighting. Departments in competition with each other, all more concerned with winning Lex's favor than putting out the best possible product. It was holding Lexcorp back and another sign of his father's obsessive need to control things.
Establishing a work culture was so much easier than changing one and he had an advantage at UzuNami, a lot of the people he hired had never had corporate jobs so he didn't have a lot of bad habits to break. The most difficult part was finding managers and executives that understood what he wanted and would carry it out. It meant he didn't hire a lot of MBAs. He sometimes wondered why the pajama people didn't target tier one business schools as they churned out demons yearly.
BANG
Next on the agenda was unraveling the weapons department. It had a lot of the company's talent and resources, though the actual profit to expenses wasn't so great it was obvious they needed to keep the division. He needed a way to entice the design teams to transition into other departments without significantly upsetting said departments.
BANG
One problem was that some of them just really wanted to design weapons, some people just like to blow shit up. He couldn't begrudge them really but it'd be a true loss for the firm and he wanted to prevent a brain drain. So, some amount of turnover was inevitable and he just had to accept it.
BANG BANG BANG BANG
"Naruto," Mercy said over the intercom. "Ignoring it won't make it stop, please do something," she requested. Naruto sighed as he left his chair. Turning around, he said the Captain slamming Parasite against his window. She was a tenacious one. Like a rabid koala with heat vision. He still can't believe he lost his virginity to a member of the sleepwear contingent.
He stared at the superpowered woman, her blue eyes staring into his lavender ones. And just like that, she flew off. Because she'd gotten his attention and had therefore won. Naruto sighed again, the Boy Scout put him in a jackpot, the asshole. Naruto would spend the rest of his day thinking about fixes to the corporate culture, changes to the pay structure, and other things he'd need to do to get Lexcorp functioning as the kind of firm he'd want to head.
For two days he managed not to see the Captain. It was a good two days. His replacement at UzuNami was selected and he was confident she'd steward the company into even greater success. Many wondered why he didn't just merge the two firms but to Naruto, it seemed obvious. One, it'd have necessitated layoffs of the overlapping divisions. Two, the work cultures were incompatible, at least for now, so work would slow down and any projects being worked on would stall. This meant their competition could beat them to market, or they rushed out an inferior product and lost market share anyway.
Lastly, Naruto wasn't interested in amassing that level of corporate power. It was bad enough how much influence he could wield if he'd truly desired to do so, because of his wealth. Competition within the organization wasn't the greatest idea but within markets, it produced results. He had the same distaste for oligarchies as he held for superheroes, they undermined the very concept of communities. They shut people out and made them feel helpless.
To keep consistent with his principles, he had to see his creation put in the hands of others. It was bittersweet but made easier by him knowing the company was never solely his. It was just as much his employees, people he required to make his ideas and dreams into realities. Besides, if he could instill the changes at Lexcorp he established at UzuNami he'd do a lot of good.
With that in mind, along with some other initiatives, Naruto was at First Capitol, the banking institution of Lexcorp. He just happened to be there at the precise moment it was getting robbed by six masked gunmen. It was a pretty paint by numbers affair: get down on the ground, no one try to be heroes, so on and so forth. The gang of six departed with several duffle bags of cash and that was that. Well, he was interviewed by the police, something he'd managed to avoid even after his kidnapping; high priced lawyers were great for avoid cops after all. But even that was over and done with quickly.
Although he hadn't done what he went to the back to do, he almost chuckled at the thought. He later learned the Captain caught the gunmen after her very presence initiated a high-speed chase but she caught them. He spent the rest of his day hard at work and hadn't thought of the issue further until the skirt wearing superhero was floating over his veranda while he was trying to relax.
"We need to talk," she said and he rolled his eyes. They didn't need to talk, they didn't need to do anything together. He got up to go inside. She might be many things but she wasn't such a brat she'd caused property damage because he ignored her. But she would fly in front of the door and block his entrance.
"What do you want?" Naruto asked in a clipped tone, which the Captain didn't appreciate. Her scowl made that quite obvious, as did her placing her hands on her hips.
"Don't talk to me like that, Naruto."
"That's what you want? Fine. I'll be nicer from here on out, now if you would," he said, hoping she'd just leave. He wasn't in the mood for this, for her.
"Why didn't you stop those robbers? They could have hurt someone. Matter of fact, they did when they left the bank."
"Running from you. They injured people attempting to get away from you. There was no need to step in at the bank, every account is insured. No one was harmed by what they were doing, just scared and inconvenienced."
"Stealing is wrong," the Captain stated and Naruto laughed. Yes, stealing was wrong. "Don't laugh at me."
Naruto debated about what he was going to do, he could prove a point and show her how limited her scope was or he could jump off the veranda and go get something to eat. It was too bad the bbq of Metropolis was mediocre and he didn't feel like running to Central City for some. He sighed, deciding to try the former.
"Would you like to come in for a minute, there is something I want to show you." She looked like she didn't fully believe him and he rolled his eyes again. She was the unwelcomed party here, she was the untrustworthy one. With a nod, she stepped away from the door and he led her inside. She sat on his couch while he retrieved some files. A minute later he was back, having handed her a manilla envelope.
"Stealing is wrong but not all stealing is illegal. First Capitol, attempting to juice their profits, started increasing their fees on their customers; the overdraft fee being the highest earner. How? Instead of clearing debit charges in sequential order, they made sure the largest purchases went through first so their balance would go into the negative quicker. Then it was just a fee for every new charge. These profits aren't from actual products, they haven't created some new good. It was theft.
Then you get into their mortgage practices where they systematically shifted people into crappy loans, even when these people qualified for better and safer products because the bank could bundle the shitty loans and sell them. Thousands of people lost their homes, their wealth while no one engaged in these dishonest practices was ever held accountable.
These are the kinds of thieves that get away with it, that have the connections and authority to make it seem legit. They work the regulators, write the laws that should govern them, and harm generations just to raise quarterly profits. But you don't go after them. So, if you want to know why I didn't stop a few masked idiots from hauling off with cash that would have been replaced by the end of business it's because they were the least objectionable crooks present."
Naruto's spiel sat poorly in the Kryptonian's stomach. It wasn't a new observation but it was one that didn't offer an easy counterargument. They needed the trust of the public to do what they did, they couldn't just go after bad people. It wasn't a fair system but they could stop or minimize a lot of direct harm. And maybe if people weren't scared of street crime they could focus on other matters. But none of that was her chief concern at the moment, those insights wouldn't allow themselves to be verbalized. Instead, she reacted out of spite and reached for the first thing she could.
"Is that why you took up with Poison Ivy, you hypocrite?" And once again he laughed at her.
"Sure. That's exactly why."
The Captain briefly saw red. "Don't. Do not laugh at me, Naruto."
"Stop being funny and I won't, Captain Honeypot."
"AND DON'T CALL ME THAT NAME!" she yelled, filled with the desire to punch Naruto through a wall or twelve. "You know my name, use it." The Kryptonian saw the defiance in his eyes and knew what he was going to say before he said it.
"Yes, I do know your name but you want me to call you by your moniker. I refuse."
"To protect our identities and instill trust we have to be called something, you could do so like everyone else." She explained in mounting frustration. Did he think she liked being called a girl? She was a woman, not some little kid and not Clark's sidekick.
"Sure I could but I'm a grown-ass man and I'm not calling any of you by those silly things."
"Is this place secure?"
"I have it swept constantly," 'Using seals but she doesn't need to know that'.
"Then just use my name, since you have to be insufferable."
"Says the person who dropped in on me unannounced. Now, Kara, what can I do for you?"
"You can consider yourself on notice. You color inside the lines or else."
Naruto snorted and changed his voice as he said, "Or what, you'll have your button men greet me with a Chicago typewriter and make sure I go down fast and hard? Well, I tell ya what, gumshoe. If you got a hand full of aces and the world's address then we'll play it hard. Hard and square, ya see."
"Am I just a joke to you, Naruto?" Kara asked.
"No more than any of the other pajama people. Hell, slightly less if for no other reason than my own dignity."
"You are such a jerk. You act as if I tricked you like there was some big plan to get you in my bed. You can't admit you were attracted to one of the pajama people because heaven forbid we be more than the cartoons you make us into."
"No, I see you all as real people which is why I don't understand why you enshrine yourselves in silliness. And I know the pull of the insanity so I had to get out."
"Yea, and left me terrified you were going to reveal my secret identity." Kara rejoined, arms crossed her chest. He really took no responsibility for anything. She didn't understand how he could be so sweet right up 'til he found out she was a superhero. From then on, any asshole behavior on his end was seen as justified.
"So, why was Poison Ivy an exception?" Kara asked. "I think I'm owed an answer."
"You aren't," Naruto assured her.
"Give me one anyway. Was she prettier? Smarter? What? What made the notorious hater of superhero and villain alike so taken by one of Batman's,"
"She isn't the Detective's anything," Naruto interrupted.
"Uh huh, so what was it?"
"Pam was an ecoterrorist with superpowers, the latter being the only reason any of you cared to involve yourselves. But if she wasn't committing acts of terrorism she was just a normal person and during the time we were together she didn't. You are a superhero and will jump at every burglary alarm. Your participation is different."
"That's it?" Kara asked.
"As far as why I could tolerate her involvement in that nonsense, yes," but didn't like what he was sensing.
"And you never told her about your abilities?"
"I never told you, Boy Scout did to make us even."
"But you never told her."
"I did not," Naruto confirmed, really not liking what he was sensing. Kara had this contemplative look on her face but she wasn't really considering anything, she'd already come to a conclusion.
"Well, I've taken enough of your time. For today. I'll be seeing you around, Naruto."
"I'd really rather you didn't."
"You've been a world-class jerk to me for years, you owe me. And if you remember how to be sweet to me," she shrugged, "who knows."
"I do, I know. I refuse."
"Yea, yea, yea. But you've backslid once. Who's to say it can't happen again. And again. And again," Kara said with a chuckle and Naruto was missing the wounded predator act. He'd much rather her want to fight him. As she walked back to the veranda, she wasn't satisfied to merely sway her hips, her skirt shifting to tease at what was hidden underneath. She also slapped her ass at each step. "Oh. Naruto. Don't. Be. So. Rough." She flew off, never turning around to see the effect of her actions but laughed all the way home.
Completely alone, Naruto muttered, "I'm so fucked," knowing he had one more complication to his already vexing life. And just for good measure, "Fucking pajama people."