Industrial District
Naruto was relaxing in his little base of operations as he was working on a second generator for the place since he wanted to ensure that as he got more equipment set up the draw wouldn't exceed what his one could produce since he wanted as much tech ready as possible since he didn't want to rely on the cops to do analysis for him should he need it. He knew Snake and Heller were reliable and not corrupt, but for the three cartels to grow as far as they did they'd have to have had different politicians and cops on the payroll, which meant that he had more targets to remove whether through turning them into the police or removing them his way, whichever they deserved.
For now though, he'd focus on taking the gangs down a few pegs and thanks to some of their soldiers that he took care of, he had some intel to start on. All three were dangerous in their own way and had only grown more dangerous with the room they've had to grow. The first was Los Muertos [The Dead] or at least the American branch led by Don Domingo Garcia the little brother of the top security enforcer of the main branch of the cartel in Mexico, Marco "Chico" Garcia. The American branch started out by the Mexican Heads sending four midlevel bosses from across their turf; which stretched from Mexico down to Rio de Janeiro; to America where they struggled for few years before they gained momentum and gained three more bosses from the local talent. Los Muertos' main focus is drugs and fire power and they back up their business with raw strength and superior driving skills and then resort to heavy firepower afterwards.
The first step to removing them is to make them squirm which is why the first two targets for them were Juan "El Numero" Martinez the Treasurer and bookkeeper for the Cartel and Jose Guerra the head of the drug distribution, shipping, and selling. Martinez was holed up in an apartment complex the cartel bought and was now lived in by no one other than Martinez's personal security and Martinez himself. Guerra was holed up in his personally owned Nightclub with his own hitters and a convoy of vehicles waiting to get him out of the area should the need arise.
As for why them first: Martinez used the funds not only to entice new muscle, but also pay off people for information on anything and everything or keep cops off their back when needed so shutting him down would get the cartel numbers lower as well as cut their supply of information and protection. Guerra was the personal provider for the drug addicted cartel members as well as being the personal supplier for the American branch of the cartel with him gone, the drugged up members will become slower and more unstable as they can't get the same product meaning most of them would be dead or removed soon enough. There was also the added benefit that by hurting them it also would piss off the higher ups in Mexico as they're money and product would be delayed and Naruto planned to hurt them more by destroying whatever he could find at the two boss locations… well… maybe not all the money but you get the point. Bleed them money and destroy the product and the higher ups would be PISSED.
The second was The Volk [The Wolves] a cartel that started off as a band of ex-military personnel that were tired of low pay and no recognition and decided to turn to something more profitable: Organized Crime. Sure, they attempted the private security sector before they realized that crime was not only easier but could make extra workers for them. They were led by ex-Russian Spetsnaz commander Vladimir "The Wolf" Golyak and each of his commanders in the cartel were specialists from his handpicked team each having a specialized field that gave the cartel the edge in various places and made his starting fortune by doing less than legal contracts for different groups all over the world. Now their focus was on making money and getting immigrants from all over to add to their growing army. Their main specialty were weapons and explosives, but they had some decent wheelmen and their connections to the black market and underworld in Europe only helped them get what they need when they need it, provided they could pay for it.
The first step to removing them was to weaken their patrols and cutting their supply line of weapons and such. To that end he was aiming for Igor Bigarov, who was in charge of acquiring vehicles and militarizing them including hijacking vehicles from people and selling any cargo some vehicles may possess to his own black market contacts who would then give him discounts on vehicles, and Siergei "Sovetnik" Juriev, who was the main contact for the majority of the black market and underworld dealings and was making workers work continuously to make cheap fuel that he then sells on the black-market. Igor was in an old bus depot that they retrofitted to work as an industrial grade chop shop with his loyal "Gators" watching for anything of value on the street and bringing it to him when they weren't protecting him. Siergei was in an old refinery that now served as a place to store the weapons until they could be moved effectively while also letting him produce and ship cheap fuel. Naturally, removing Igor would not only cut down on the grade of vehicles the Volk had but it would also cut down on the amount of carjackings thus letting people feel a bit safer while Siergei's removal would choke the flow of new armaments and explosives coming to the Volk thus making any new members under equipped and easier prey while also hitting the Volk's finances thus hindering their acquisition of new weaponry and explosives. Removing them both would effectively hit the defenses and armaments they had thus making the other bosses easier targets and giving the cops more breathing room.
The third and possibly most dangerous cartel was the Shai-Gen Corporation led and founded by the mysterious man Zuang Lun Wang. Based on rumors, and somewhat confirmed thanks to Fox's digging, Wang was a survivor of the Japanese occupation of China during World War 2 and, before coming to America at 15, had killed three Japanese Officers before the British and other allied forces liberated it. Afterwards, Wang began making his name known in Chinatown and became a part of the Triads before he allegedly went legit and used his blood money to form Shai-Gen. However, this was false and he used both his contacts in the triads and some former experts he encountered in his life at one point or another to build up his own cartel before he turned on the triads and removed them from the playing board entirely either through killing or turning evidence against them. Naturally, this also helped Wang become increasingly paranoid so he only stayed in one of two locations now with his personal army guarding him 24/7 whether in the states or back in China where he worked to extend his reach even further. Their specialty was information gathering and response while also having their image showing in nothing but a positive light as a cutting edge company dedicated to removing corruption and fighting crime… basically keeping image up while destroying the threats to them.
The first step for them were a pair of individuals that specialized in their key factors, the public image and their intelligence: Thadeous Oakley, the PR specialist for all of Shai-Gen that ensured the company was in a good light and helped with recruiting and company training (meaning brainwashing that the company comes first), and the second was Melissa Fang-Yin, the head of Shai-Gen's secret service who checked all the corporate cameras set up across their section of the city and reported it to her loyal and dedicated "Enforcers" who removed threats or handled situations before they could damage the company image or their profit margin. Thadeous was holed up in an Expo Center that he used for indoctrination and training when there were no events, which was often, and Fang Yin was in a custom built intelligence center just outside the L.A. City limits and both had their personal guard and workers who were all prepared to die to kill intruders and ensure no one touched the bosses. Naturally, removing Thadeous would drop the PR image and lessen the dedication the members had for the company and removing Fang-Yin would essentially blind the group as she was the only one who knew the whole system as well as the locations and ranges of all the cameras.
The reason that this was going to start to destroy the different networks was because they had no second in command to take over for them. They were the only ones with the connections, knowledge, and know how to use the different areas correctly as well as having strict standards meaning once he removed them, the area was getting shut down since the none of their workers could replace them effectively. With no viable replacements or at least poor replacements, the standards would plummet and would hurt the bottom line for all of them. While this wasn't as damning for the Volk, it was very dangerous for Shai-Gen and Los Muertos since Wang's investors would get angry and Los Muertos would answer to the main branch about the loss of money and product.
Now, for those wondering why he wasn't just going straight for the heads of the snakes, well… it wasn't that simple. Each group would react differently if the boss was just removed while the lieutenants and captains were still around: Los Muertos would have some in fighting over who was to lead thus leading to a lot of killing and innocent people getting dragged in until the main branch of Los Muertos sent someone to clean up the mess; The Volk would simply continue with who was the next highest rank and go on business as usual; and Shai-Gen would just have a new president and then focus all their efforts on killing whoever was responsible and use any and all methods they needed to do it, including taking out civilians if they didn't get information. Basically they'd all cause problems for the people before anything damning happened to them.
Naruto planned to head out once the sun set and begin removing these people since doing it in broad daylight wasn't the best of ideas at least for now. The one low side was that if he didn't keep the pressure on then the three may decide to band together to try and remove him. While it wouldn't work, it could still cause a lot of problems for the city as it could become a warzone of them trying to kill him and him just tearing them to pieces…. Literally and figuratively.
He broke from his musings when his proximity sensors began going off and he looked at the monitors to see a blonde haired you woman about 5'8" with olive green eyes wearing a torn yellow jacket, short shorts, thigh high boots which were half white half black, a baseball cap, a low belt around her waist, goggles around her neck, black racing gloves, and a pink bra (which was visible from her jacket being open and torn) climbing the fence to get away from squads of all three cartels and they seemed more intent on getting her than killing each other. Being the chivalrous man that he was, Naruto quickly called an outfit, which was the same except now his boots were normal, and left his warehouse to chase the guys.
As the girl ran for her life, the three squads of goons finally noticed each other and three of each broke off to fight each other as the others all chased after the girl. As the nine were about to go guns blazing, they were suddenly skewered by dark tendrils rising out of the ground before Naruto arose between them with the tendrils connected to him. Naruto then glared before nine of the eel heads arose from his back and went to the goons before sucking the dark essence out of them and the tendrils ripped out of them tearing their hearts out. The tendrils then changed into nine more Leviathans and consumed the hearts before Naruto sunk back into the ground to chase the remaining goons.
The girl ducked into one of the other warehouses with the goons right behind her as they approached it from different angles to box her in. As they entered, they failed to notice the last in line getting torn away from the entrances before being removed. The different groups began moving through the machinery and boxes left over from when the warehouse was used and split up making them easy prey for Naruto, who was sticking to the ceiling above them. Naruto's back shifted slightly before 10 eels, called Leviathans*, came out and began slithering along the ceiling and walls heading for some of the goons.
While they were doing that, several tendrils sprouted from his back and skewered several of the squads through their faces before ripping out of them. Naturally, the bodies hitting the floor attracted to the attention of some of the others, but before they could sound off a tendril went down their throats and ripped their hearts out before returning to Naruto.
Naruto then smirked and used a tendril to grab a piece of piping before he aimed and hurled it down at the goons skewering two who were back to back. This made people notice and it was that moment that the Leviathans attacked launching at the faces of their targets and ripping out their throats. Before the other goons could go into a panic, the warehouse suddenly went black as the windows wouldn't let light in and the goons began firing upwards wildly while seeing flashes of Naruto and his darkness tearing some of the others apart.
For the next two minutes, the girl was huddled behind a stack of boxes trying to block the sound of screams, gunfire, and inhuman sounds of flesh tearing, something eating, and growling. Then everything went quiet and she saw the darkness was gone and slowly looked out from behind the crates to see Naruto standing there and she scrambled back, "Are you alright miss?" Naruto asked kneeling down in front of her.
"Please, don't hurt me. I'm not with them, they tried to force me to help them." She stated shaking in fear and sadness before she saw a hand at her.
"It's alright, I'm not going to harm you." He stated kindly with his eyes being blue again to help her feel at ease and it worked since she took his hand and he helped her stand before he caught her when she started to fall. Looking her over, he found that she was hit by a stray round and quickly carried her back to his warehouse while some clones cleaned up the bodies, "It's alright, hang on." He stated moving quickly as she passed out before he entered his warehouse and put her on the bed before he called two clones with one beginning a diagnostic jutsu of her while the other was setting up a homemade IV bag before hooking it to her arm and the original began healing the obvious wound.
Naruto then sat back and made several clones to get the vehicles inside since he could start dismantling and working on them as he pleased. He then pulled a cell phone out and dialed one number, "Fox, I'm going to send you a picture of a young girl, I want you to dig up everything you can on her because several parties are interested in her and I want to know why." He stated getting a confirmation on the other end of the line before a bit more came over the line, "She looks familiar but I don't know why or from where which means it would have to be just a passing sight or something." Naruto stated getting an agreement over the line before Naruto took a few pictures of the girl's face and sent them before he went and opened the warehouse doors to allow the vehicles in. He also sent a pair of clones out to buy some tools for dismantling a car… or 10.
It was 10 minutes later that his computer went off and he saw files from Fox and began reviewing the files that came up and raised his eyebrows in surprise as he looked over her info, "Well… That explains why they are after her: Someone of her skill set would be invaluable to the groups." He muttered before he saw a job and home address and made two clones to check both before he got back to work on the second generator.
Two hours later
The girl groaned as she began to wake up and felt herself being comfortable and opened her eyes to see some kind of warehouse before she saw an IV of fluids connected to her arm and heard some machinery going off, machinery she knew very well, "Hey! Watch that V8 Engine, I don't want to have to rebuild the fuel injector or the pistons because you want to do it fast over doing it right. And you, watch those axels! They're solid and even if they aren't the best possible I'm not leaving us some short because you got chop happy and ruined good metal. Eighty! Strip those chrome and gold pieces off and we'll sell them later." She heard a voice shout before hearing voices nearly identical yell out apologies or confirmative.
"Hey boss! The girl's awake and looks like she's healing alright too!" Another, closer, voice shouted and she noticed her body was sore, which she wasn't that surprised by since she had been running fast and hard to get away from those cartel goons. She had the slight relief that she wasn't being held by them as she wouldn't be in a comfy bed with an IV, they'd have taken her to one of their doctors and then immediately moved her away.
She then looked as she felt someone come close to her and saw the new hero of the city, "How do you feel miss Cindy?" Naruto asked and she blushed as she could feel the concern and his eye was the deepest blue she had ever seen and it seemed to draw her in.
"Ho-how do you know my name?" She asked with a noticeable southern accent/twang as she wondered if the man before her was a customer of her and her family's business.
Naruto eye smiled at her, "I looked you up while you were unconscious, I've passed your shop a few times but never went in." He stated making her nod before she widened her eyes and tried to sit up.
"GRAMPS!!! KURT!!!!!!" She shouted/screamed and began crying as Naruto held her to keep her from moving around too much.
"I know, I'm sorry." Naruto stated sadly making her cry harder into his chest.
Naruto looked down at the girl and felt for her since her pain was much like his own. The girl was named Cindy Aurum, she was a fourth generation mechanic and her great-granddad was one of the military's top engineers and mechanics for World War 2, her grandpa Cid was once the head vehicle engineer for Wayne Enterprises before the death of Martha and Thomas Wayne and left when he decided he didn't like the management that was in charge until Bruce Wayne took over and set up the autobody shop that he ran until his son took over and then Cindy took over when her father died of cancer. Cindy quickly made a name for herself as the "Lex Luthor of Mechanics" back when Lex Luthor wasn't considered a bastard by almost every person on the planet, which means prior to Superman becoming a large icon, and kept herself popular with a lot of people. However, this also led to the current situation as said popularity made her a glaring target for the cartels and the vehicle bosses of each cartel sent their personal troops to get her and this led to a bit of a gunfight at the shop and Cindy's only remaining family, her grandpa Cid and nephew Kurt, were gunned down as Kurt was hit in the first few seconds as the cartels shot at each other first and Cid held them back and told Cindy to run as he shot at them with his trustee shotgun, even took a few with him from what his clones reported. This situation then led her to arriving here after running through alleyways dodging anyone that was looking for her and then led to here and now.
Naruto just held her until she began to calm down before he spoke again, "Right now, there's nowhere safe for you unless you fake your death." He stated making her sniff slightly, "However, if you can abide with staying here for a while, then I can remove the three men that are primarily after you and you should be safe." He stated making her look at him with hope and curiosity, "Your skills became noticeable to the three local cartels and they want your skills, but do NOT blame yourself; if they hadn't all come at once then the situation wouldn't have happened, so it is NOT your fault especially since you had no way of knowing this would happen." He stated while cupping her face to make her look at him to emphasize to her that she was not to blame herself for this mess as it was not her fault and she should never blame it on herself as her grandfather and nephew surely didn't.
Cindy sniffed and cried a bit more before she nodded, though she had a bit of a blush from his hand still on her cheek, "Good, now I'll get a second bed later, for now you need rest. I was able to fix most of the injuries you had, but you still need to relax and take it easy. If you get hungry, just let one of the drones around here know and they'll get you something. Also, it should go without saying, but you can't go outside of here at least not for a while since I don't want people finding this place and you walking around while they still have eyes everywhere is not a good idea. If you get bored feel free to look at the cars my guys are taking apart and help or show them a different way to do it." He stated making her nod slightly and smile at him before she reached for his mask and moved it to the side before kissing his cheek with a blush.
"Thanks, I don't know how I'll thank y'all." She stated and Naruto eye smiled at her.
"It's no trouble, it's in my nature to help people, but even more when they are beautiful women like you." He stated making her blush more, "Now just lay back, once you're done with this IV bag you can have it taken out and I'll be leaving soon as the sun is going down and I need to find the people I was planning on hunting as well as learning where the people after you are." He stated making her nod a little before she lied back again, "I'll have some clothes brought to you since your current ones are… well, they are quite revealing." He stated and Cindy blinked before she looked down to see her jacket in tatters showing her entire bra covered breasts, which admittedly were struggling within the clearly too small bra, her shorts were scraped and torn slightly showing her matching panties, her boots were cut too, and her hat had a bullet hole through it.
All in all, her current outfit left less to the imagination than it originally did making her blush, "It's alright, I didn't have to undress you to check you for wounds, so I haven't seen anything besides what I'm seeing now." He stated making her feel a little better before she pulled the blanket over her making him chuckle, "I should be back in a couple of hours, you'll be safe here." He stated rubbing her head softly making her blush more before she nodded and he vanished in a swirl of darkness.
Cindy relaxed in the bed as she just stared at the ceiling before the exhaustion of everything caught up to her and she fell asleep finding the sound of machinery, tools, and work lulling her to sleep.
East Side of L.A.: Martinez's complex: Five Minutes Later
The complex was in chaos as a very pissed off Naruto was there and was not taking any prisoners. Though Naruto wasn't looking for prisoners, he was too pissed to want prisoners, though that didn't mean he was killing anyone innocent, but those dying were probably wishing they were. Right after Naruto arrived at the complex, several of his Leviathans attacked different sentries before he walked in the front entrance and released his Swarm of Darkness Insects and they happily began latching onto various cartel members and feasted on them making them panic and scream in pain.
Naturally, this made it easy for Naruto to consume their hearts and let the insects have the rest as he climbed the structure while still releasing more insects as he went. He didn't care about the screaming, he didn't care about the sirens he could hear coming from a distance away, and he didn't care about the bullets that were whizzing past him or the few that hit him as they merely tickled since the idiots were using low caliber subpar ammo and they would need to empty the clip at point blank range to attempt to hurt him.
When he reached the roof, he found Martinez huddled in a corner with a noticeable wet spot on his pants and a puddle on the ground. Naruto merely approached him as the bastard begged for mercy before Naruto grabbed him by the throat and dragged him to the edge before he held him over the ledge above the courtyard that was filled with his swarm of insects that were all buzzing for food, "Please! Don't drop me, please! I can pay you! I can pay you a lot of money!" Martinez begged as he looked down to see the swarm effectively disintegrating the few remaining members of his guards.
Naruto just stood there looking impassively, "Give me the name of your vehicle expert and his location and I won't kill you painfully." Naruto stated as he let Martinez slip slightly making him scream like a little girl.
"You mean Chuco? Rafael Diaz, we call him Chuco. I don't know where he is I swear! One of the others may, but not me. I just pay the men as they come and the others send their trusted lieutenants to bring them their money so we're never in the same place together!" Martinez stated and Naruto knew he wasn't lying.
"Thank you." Naruto stated before a tendril came out and removed Martinez's head while the body fell for the swarm to feed on and it was gone within seconds before the insects swarmed back to Naruto and began melding with his armor and clothes. Naruto then flexed his hand and a pitch black rod appeared before he impaled Martinez's head on it and then threw it straight down to the courtyard where it struck up right just as the cops came in with Snake and Heller leading them.
Snake and Heller looked in surprise at seeing Martinez's head there on a pike before having the men fan out and scout the area while noticing plenty of blood, bullet marks, casings, and weapons, but no bodies. Snake then hummed in thought before looking up and raised his eyebrows before nudging Heller, who followed his eyesight to see Naruto standing there. Naruto locked eyes with them before giving them a two finger salute and vanishing.
Snake sighed as Heller looked at him, "The methods are extreme, but his results can't be questioned. We'd have never gotten into this place let alone brought Martinez in long enough to put him on trial. Los Muertos would have had him out in an hour and on the first plane, ship, or anything out of the country before we could even get our bearings straight. I say let him do what he's doing, we saw in Gotham that the Batman's methods don't work as the people get out eventually and just do it all over again, but we're getting freedom as we go and he's not only helping out city but he's helping people south of the border since you know the main branch of the Cartel is going to be pissed their money and resources are failing." Heller stated and explained making Snake grunt before a SWAT officer called them to the third floor.
Upon arriving, they found a dozen or so members curled up in the corners and floor, "Get them off. Get them away from me. Get them off." They muttered over and over while occasionally swatting at their bodies like something was crawling on them. Beside them on several tables were some stacks of cash while on others were piles of ashes showing that not only did they have evidence to take in and the treasury department to call, but also that Naruto apparently destroyed a good chunk of cash to hurt the cartel.
"Damn, if the Cartel didn't want him dead before, they sure as hell will now." Heller stated knowing the Cartel loved their money more than they did most everything else and now that Naruto's burned their cash and caused a large chunk to be taken, they are going to be PISSED.
Snake nodded before he lit a cigarette and sniffed something before he chuckled and motioned everyone away before he flicked the cigarette at the ground in front of him causing a trail of fire to go up and burn another table of cash before the fire went up the wall and spelled out something, "Kage."
Snake smirked and got another cig before blowing some smoke out, "Get that money into evidence, if it catches fire then just let it burn." Snake stated walking out with Heller right beside him as different cops began bagging the evidence.
When they entered their car, they both paused as they noticed the note on the dashboard, "Don't get comfortable, more of the bastards are dying tonight." It read and they both grunted before Snake grabbed the radio.
"Control, this is Lieutenant Smith, I need notification on any and all areas with multiple reports of gunfire. The situation here is going to happen again soon." He informed before waiting for a reply.
(Roger that, we'll keep you updated). Came the reply from the precinct as Snake and Heller decided to drive around and see if they could find their new friend.
It wasn't 10 minutes later that the radio came on again, (Detectives, we have multiple reports of gunfire and explosions coming from a nightclub known to be owned and run by a Los Muertos Captain named Jose Guerra). The report came making the two pause slightly since they were nearby.
"Roger Control, have SWAT and officers form a perimeter, under no circumstances are they to enter the grounds." Heller reported in as Snake floored it towards the Club.
Jose Guerra's Club: five minutes ago
Naruto had started off a little more subtle this time, if for old time's sake at least, and sent his Leviathans out to begin tearing the gas tanks of the various vehicles and also killing those who were guarding them. Once the tanks were all ruptured, he gave it a few minutes to let all the gasoline pool on the ground while he approached the front.
Naruto smirked seeing the various patrols and reached his hand out before several black orbs launched and implanted themselves into the ground before shrinking to mere dots. Naruto grinned before he had a remaining eel breathe black fire onto the gasoline setting off a massive explosion as the fire lit up all the cars making several of the cartel panic along with the patrons of the club. Naruto then heard screaming and turned his attention back to the open area in front of the club as different cartel members died as they stepped on the spots since each orb opened and either had a tendril launch out and impale an enemy, got grabbed by a pair of scaly hands and dragged in, were impaled by a spear point with the tip coming out of their heads, had an eel launch out at their faces, or got set on fire.
Naturally, this got witnesses to scream in terror and try to run or attack the things grabbing people, only for Naruto to pull a long barreled Peace Maker that had glowing purple runes etched on it and fired shockwaves that blasted the enemy away or hit them with enough force that it caused them to explode.
As he went, he idly had his two connected Leviathans, that he called his Demon Arms, begin eating the hearts and absorbing the darkness from the corpses and the black blobs that had activated. He idly fired at the roof of the club as he sensed a sniper there and enjoyed the shock of the round blasting the concrete cover away and into the sniper as he walked.
When he entered the club, his tendrils released and caught several bats, thrown bottles, and other items that were launched at him before he sent them right back causing damage and chaos. Naruto then raised his hand and several dark portals opened before imps of varying states of dress came out before Naruto flicked his wrist and they cackled with glee before they spread out and began killing their master's enemies and pissing on them too for good measure. These little devils were called Darklings and their attacks ranged from gouging out eyes after jumping on the victim's face, grabbing them and slamming their head into the floor or wall till their head caved in, taking some bottles or other makeshift weapons and carving up or bashing in their victim's faces, and many other painful and torturous methods of killing while they also consumed the hearts and the darkness from the enemies knowing it would be given to their master furthering his powers. After all, more power and darkness meant more of them and more mayhem on his enemies.
As his Darklings enjoyed the carnage, Naruto walked towards where he knew Guerra was. The man stunk of fear, piss, and drugs even in a place filled with it. The man was fleer not a fighter and it showed a lot since the man had five different vehicles on standby JUST for him to use to get away if the place was attacked or cops came to arrest him
Naruto idly moved his head to the side as a shotgun blast went past him and Naruto shot the individual responsible as he followed Guerra's trail to his private "party" booth on the top of the club. Naruto idly leaned back as he came out the doorway as a shotgun blast hit right by the door. Naruto leaned out and looked at the wall before looking at Guerra with a raised eyebrow, "Really?" He asked before a tendril lashed out and sliced the shotgun in half and took a few of Guerra's fingers off doing it.
Naruto stared impassively at the cowering form of Guerra as all of his protection was dead, his club was pretty much ruined, his product was on fire (a minion had saw to that by pissing all over it and then lighting it), his cars were destroyed, and all of his customers were fleeing for the hills and no doubt quite a few were being picked up by the cops he could hear closing in on this place.
Naruto approached him and held his gun to Guerra's head, "Diaz, where is he?" Naruto stated impassively even as the man shook from fear and slight shock (the medical kind) from the blood loss from his hand basically squirting blood like a sprinkler.
"I-If I tell you, will you let me live?" Guerra asked while trying to stem the bleeding in his hand as he stared at the demon/devil before him.
Naruto merely hummed a moment, "I won't kill you, provided you don't lie and I will know if you do." Naruto stated clicking his revolver making Guerra shake even more.
"Okay! Okay! He's in the old stadium in the mountains outside of the city, he uses it as a driving course for his wheelmen to practice on, I have to go there to get new vehicles should the police seize one or the other cartels attack one for deliveries." Guerra stated and Naruto stared at him impassively before he holstered his revolver and walked off making Guerra sigh in relief before he paled as several of the Darklings came near him cackling madly. Guerra screamed as the Darklings all dived at him before they began beating and tearing him apart.
Naruto popped his neck as he looked around to figure out where to go next before taking off for his next target, who happened to be nearby, as the Police arrived and began scouring the grounds with Naruto's Darklings cackling as they disappeared into darkness along with the trap spots Naruto left on the ground.
Midtown Bus Depot
It took Naruto less than five minutes to reach a building overlooking the depot where Bigarov was located and saw that his little show of things with Cortés made the other cartels a bit nervous so they beefed up security. Not that it was going to matter at all, none of these goons had the skill, grit, or muscle to remove him from this world and he doubted any of the metahumans and aliens in the world did either.
Back on task though, Naruto saw several snipers on the walkways connecting the depot to another area, most likely originally a resting area for the workers doing an all nighter, and smirked before he channeled his darkness to his fingers before flicking them. The result was instantaneous as compressed bullet shaped orbs of darkness launched out and pierced the snipers through their heads dropping them immediately before he flicked a few more at the support columns of the walk way and at the gate guards. The columns shattered and the walkway crumbled while the guards of the gates dropped dead with holes through their heads.
Naruto then smirked and channeled some darkness to his mouth before he spat at the gates with dark webbing now clogging up not only the gates but the gears and mechanisms that worked them. Now everyone inside the depot was trapped there unless they wanted to get through the iron mesh fence they had around the depot to ensure no vehicles could slam through and invade. Naruto then channeled darkness to his hands again before igniting them with fire and launched more bullets out at the tankers, trucks, and armored plated vehicles with each bullet piercing the fuel tanks causing them to explode taking out more cartel members and making several panic before Naruto called his Darklings to within the walls and they swarmed the place only now there were some with WW1 style equipment and plenty of grenades and they were going explosive happy while others had flintlock pistols and were shooting the place up since after firing, they just spat down the barrel before firing again.
When Bigarov made a run for it in an armored military ATV, Naruto struck by sending a tendril through the windshield impaling Bigarov through the chest and yanked him out of the vehicle and up to Naruto while he stared impassively at the meat head as blood flowed from his mouth, "Guess you won't be going after Cindy again." He stated making the man's eyes widen before the tendril tore his heart out and consumed it before throwing him back into the depot for everyone to find as the Darklings broke the webbing for the incoming cops before dispersing.
Naruto rolled his shoulders gaining the satisfying pops, "Three down, three to go, then I need to focus on those other two vehicle experts." Naruto muttered to himself before chuckling knowing that his little war was going to cause a lot of paperwork for the cops, "Ah well, they'll get over it since crime will be drastically cut down."
He mused to himself before he disappeared in a swirl of darkness again as more cops showed up.
Near the Port of Los Angeles
Naruto reappeared across town to the industrial area where Juriev was holed up from what he learned from a Volk lackey that was sent after Cindy. Apparently, the man was even more paranoid then Naruto was first informed since he not only beefed up security, but now he wasn't even leaving the central building of the refinement plant unless he had a full security detail and Vladimir himself wanted to see him or Juriev was leaving the country on business.
However, one fatal flaw was that there were several flow pipes connected to the building as it was transferred from the tanks to the building where it was processed, contained, and then shipped out. Naturally, Naruto intended to cause those pipes to explode. Now, before you freak out about the whole place being a large bomb, at the halfway point of the junctions between the central buildings and the containers there was a shutoff terminal basically a high-tech pop-off valve that also acted as containment if a fire got into the pipes. The terminal immediately locked down clamps, valves, and blockers to keep the fire from ever reaching the large tankers. What you are probably thinking is correct, cheap fuel but state of the art protection from fire since the fuel burns easily and violently so. Naruto idly mused it was a liquid and dangerous version of flash paper.
Naruto smirked before he released Leviathans and insects on the refinery, not the swarm of last time, but enough to get his next objective done. Naruto watched as the bugs landed on the different grunts while the Leviathans latched onto the piping near the terminals, "In the words of that one psychopath, art is an explosion." Naruto stated with a grin as the insects glowed before exploding taking the grunts with them for the most part before the Leviathans began exploding on the pipes causing the piping leading to the central building to start exploding and Naruto saw Juriev taking an express elevator to the roof to escape the fumes and fire.
Naruto smirked before he went to the top of the building and waited while a few more insects flew around latching onto different grunts that were panicking and killing them. A minute or so later, the elevator doors opened and five grunts came out and looked around cautiously before a tendril whipped by and took all their heads off making them fall to the ground.
Naruto then launched the tendril into the elevator hearing the satisfying scream of pain as the tendril came back with Juriev impaled on it. Naruto merely had one of his Demon Arms come out and consume the darkness and heart before he tossed the body off the building.
Naruto then jumped down causing a small crater before he grabbed several bodies and positioned them to be pointing at a cover for the drainage system that Naruto could see was holding several crates of weapons. He then materialized some rope and tossed it over the piping before stringing up Juriev and then made both his arms point down at the cover after shocking them with some low level lightning to lock the muscles up.
Naruto nodded to himself before seeing a few cop cars pull to the gates and he waved at them before vanishing.
Business District
Naruto appeared atop a building a short ways from the Expo center when he paused as a clone popped. Apparently Cindy had woken up and put on the new clothes a clone got her and, rather than trying to get some more sleep, decided to join his clones in dismantling the vehicles he had confiscated. Naruto understood, work of any kind would take her mind off of things and allow her to deal with it at her own pace rather than just letting the floodgates open and possibly break down.
Naruto shook those thoughts away and looked to the expo center seeing only one normal entrance in with the rest of the building having guards at each other possible point of entry, not that they'd be a problem. He also sensed several armed guards focused around the main entrance, the inner control room, and the inner corridors to the inner control room. Naruto also could see that the glass in the vital areas was DARPA engineered to be most bullet and explosive proof, meaning something around an armor piercing anti-tank round or a predator missile to get close to puncturing the glass… or at least that would be the case if Naruto was a conventional or normal person.
However, he figured why disappoint his enemies as they had prepared such a wonderful welcome for him and it would be rude to not just enter through the front door. With that in mind, he dropped to the ground and walked casually to the entrance before a swirl of darkness appeared in front of him and blocked the bullets that began to fly at him. Once the gunfire stopped, Naruto unleashed a tentacle and it grabbed a grenade thrown at him before it quickly threw it back making the grunts panic before they were consumed by the explosion.
Naruto merely walked forward letting several of his Darklings appear and charge in with reckless glee enjoying the sounds of gunfire and screaming as the Darklings entertained themselves in very cruel and brutal ways. It was almost worth pitying the cartel members since Naruto had given his Darklings their own version of the Darkness Armor, which he now used for clothes and armor when out and about, and now they were much harder to kill then they were ages ago.
Naruto shook those thoughts away as he walked to the control room of the expo center as the Darklings played with their victims in various methods of torture including grabbing a limb each and seeing which would tear off first, seeing which head is squishier by jumping on the head repeatedly while the person was still alive, pissing all over them before setting them on fire, and other unique ways of them getting their sadistic glee.
Naruto then approached a pair of heavy steel doors before his two Demon Arms grabbed hold of the doors and began crushing them before tearing them off the hinges. Naruto then caught a rocket that was fired at him before throwing it back killing the rocketeer as he entered the hallway and began slowly going up as his Demon Arms tore everyone in his way apart while some of the free moving Leviathans consumed the Dark Essence and hearts of the various corpses.
Once Naruto reached the control room, he kicked the doors in crushing a few enemies before his tendrils lashed out and began skewering, dismembering, and splitting the enemies into pieces as the bullets merely impacted his clothes and were absorbed. After 2 minutes of carnage, there was silence as Naruto turned his attention to Thadeous Oakley, who looked to be in need of a new pair of pants, and wrapped one of his tendrils around his neck before pulling him down from a walkway above Naruto.
Before he could try and beg for his life, Naruto snapped his neck before pinning his body to the wall. Flexing his hands, black rods appeared in them and he put Thadeous' corpse into a crucified position before pinning him to the wall through his hands, feet, and head before his Demonic Arms ate the Essence and heart. Naruto then went to the main controls and promptly destroyed all files on how to influence people and turn them into drones for you that Thadeous had perfected before taking some of the extra research data in case there was something useful within.
As he was heading out, his Darklings brought him some documents on a Los Muertos member named Rodrigo Montana Alvarez and Volk member named Natalia Gryzunova. Naruto frowned before sealing the documents away and left the expo center while the Darklings all cackled as they disappeared into darkness.
Naruto left the expo center and quickly sunk into the shadows as more police came including some more members of SWAT since the police were being spread thin due to his actions over the course of the night. It wasn't that surprising, five mass casualty crime scenes to secure, gather evidence, secure bodies, and more in one night was a bit much for any city police to handle. Naruto almost felt bad having to add one more to the pile, but he wasn't going to give Shai-Gen the chance to use their security for even more time since that was just asking for more headaches so Fang-Yin was dying that night.
Just outside Los Angeles
Naruto sighed as he came out of a shadow of tree near the road leading to the security center Shai-Gen set up for Fang-Yin and immediately could sense snipers, fire teams, rocket crews, and more positioned throughout the area to observe the road and destroy anyone that was deemed unauthorized to be near the center.
He merely rolled his eyes, clearly the company didn't think any of the heroes of the world would try anything in the city if they came… then again, they did have a dedicated unit of their company designed for making sure no one knew how many dark dealings and skeletons they had. Though he knew the likes of Batman could easily find them, but that wasn't their concern now. It was his.
Naruto quickly marked each enemy with his hidden eye making it impossible for them to hide from him or his other talents, which was why he released dozens of Leviathans and they quickly sunk into the shadows and rushed after the enemies. Naruto smirked before he called several of his Darklings with each having double barreled flintlocks and grenados and they cackled as they charged for the main gates of the center drawing the enemies' attention before his Leviathans lashed out and caused screaming and mayhem as some were eaten, ripped apart, set on fire, had acid spat on their faces, or were blown up.
Naruto merely walked up behind his Darklings as several were lobbing grenados at the walls and gates damaging them since they weren't normal ones and the gates were weakening. Naruto merely leapt up the wall and threw a few of the defenders off letting gravity do his work for him as he walked along the wall towards the back area of the main building.
As Naruto reached the back of the center, the gates exploded inward and the Darklings rushed in drawing more or the defenders away from the main building. Said building was a large glass dome that he could see had dozens if not hundreds of monitors and people looking over each of them while Fang-Yin was standing on an elevated platform with a large monitor before her.
Naruto smirked before he hooked a tendril on the wall and jumped off the edge away from the facility making the tendril stretch before it recoiled and launched him at the dome causing him to smash through the glass. Naturally, the monitoring people were in shock as that happened before Naruto quickly lashed out with his tendrils killing several of them and making the rest panic and run for their lives only to run into his horde of Darklings that had broken through the defenses and were now attacking them.
Naruto then looked at Fang-Yin and jumped to her platform. She looked pissed that he was here as if she was some godlike being and he was unworthy of being in her presence. Naturally, this annoyed Naruto and before she could speak, his Demon Arms lashed out and tore her in half before taking her heart.
Naruto rolled his eyes and went to her monitor before he inserted a flashdrive into it and began copying all her files and documentations to it for him to look over knowing there would be files on the different leaders' movements as well as anything else that could be useful to him or the police. Once the information was copied, he took his flashdrive before sending a large file to Snake and Heller and then uploaded a virus that destroyed the system and erased all records of his movements and anything on Cindy.
Once he was done, he pulled a cell phone out and dialed 911, (911, what is your emergency?) A woman stated over the line.
"Sergeant Heller or Lieutenant Smith please." Naruto stated as he sat in a chair and relaxed as his minions fanned out and tied up anyone that didn't deserve to die while killing any that did.
It was a minute or so later that Heller came on the line, (This is Heller, who is this?) He asked/demanded.
Naruto smirked, "Take a guess." Naruto stated hearing a grunt on the line, "You and Snake need to check your personal Email, make sure you're sitting down when you do. You also should send some people to the large observation unit that Shai-Gen corporation built… make sure you alert the coroner." Naruto stated before hanging up the phone and leaving the area with his Darklings dispersing when they were done with their work.
Back at Naruto's Base
Naruto returned to his base and sighed as he changed his clothing to a wife beater and a pair of sweatpants before he looked and saw Cindy curled up on the couch asleep dressed in a new red jacket that accentuated her bust since she still left it most of the way undone, pair of denim short shorts, and a pair of black heeled boots that reached her midcalf. Chuckling slightly, Naruto lifted her and set her on the bed before she pulled him down with her before she snuggled into his chest with a smile, "Mmm, comfy." She mumbled and Naruto merely shrugged before getting comfortable and going to sleep.
Done! Hope you all enjoyed and look forward to next chapter: Visiting Metropolis and Gotham.
Now to address a few things: I am sure my geography of Los Angeles is wrong compared to how it is in reality, but I am writing that off (cliché though it may be) as that in DC it is set up differently.
Next, I know the Eel like creatures are called Creeping Darkness, but I wanted to use that name for a different ability (though I have no idea if it is an actual power for the Darkness or not) so I am calling them Leviathans.
Lastly, yes, I did slightly alter the locations of some of the Crackdown Enemies, but that was mainly due to L.A. not being three major districts made of six islands and while (this is from the perspective of if I was reading this fic) I could believe that the DC L.A. is set up differently than the real one… I'm not sure I could buy it being broken into 6 islands that are close enough to make a major city.
Anyway, that should be it and you'll see more interactions between Naruto and Cindy next chapter as well.