-Jaun, Switzerland-
-March 31, 2008, 1645h local-
"Ehm..." Naruto and Natasha snapped out of their moment when they heard someone clearing their throat. The pair looked towards the direction of the noise and saw Sharon with a sheepish expression. "I hate to break up this obviously emotional moment, but I still want to know what Jones is doing here?"
"Does everyone know about me!? What the hell!? Can't someone have a little bit of privacy!?" Jessica exclaimed, not appreciating the obvious invasion of privacy of some huge unknown government agency to her life.
"Not necessarily. I just know about you since I was one of your watchers when I was still a rookie. Maybe around 2 or 3 years ago." Sharon calmly replied.
Jessica thought back 2 to 3 years ago. That's right before his then live-in boyfriend Stirling Adams was murdered in Club Alias. Knowing some knowledge on how Nat's organization work, she thought back to everyone that she has minimal contact with but is in a great position to snoop into her life. Running through her memories, she remembers a neighbor on living at the end of the hallway that she occasionally exchanges pleasantries with.
"Fuck. You're the blonde nurse who's always wearing a ponytail." Jessica stated.
"Wow. You have a good memory..." Sharon complimented her genuinely. "You should think about joining SHIELD. You're going to kill it there." She suggested.
"Stop right there!" Naruto shouted, still holding Natasha in his arms. "You're not going to recruit her to join a spy agency that can't even find a whole enemy organization within their ranks. Who knows what they'll do to her when she gets in." He reasoned.
Jessica was going to explode on Naruto for his overprotective behavior until she heard his reason. It looks like there's something more going in their group she isn't privy about.
Sharon noticed that they're getting off-topic again and decided to bring it back around.
"Can someone please explain why she's here?" Sharon asked again.
Natasha wanted to lie and say something about how Naruto and Jessica are close friends, and she just got roped in, but Naruto answered faster than her, which he answered in the worst way possible.
"She lives with us or something like that..." Naruto answered, not really knowing how to describe their living situation. "and she joins for a threesome most of the time."
Everybody reacted differently to Naruto's casual statement. Natasha facepalmed hard, expecting that kind of answer from Naruto, but she still can't believe the holes in his knowledge of essential social interaction cues.
Peggy experienced another shock seeing an example of how different the current times are compared to her own. The surprise only lasted until she remembered that they're talking about Naruto, the guy who somehow makes everything weird.
Sharon has the tamest reaction, only releasing a small cough. Being a young woman who lived in New York for a while, she already encountered a wide range of people, including people in open relationships.
At the opposite side of the spectrum was Jessica's reaction. She was first shocked by Naruto's response until it slowly turned into embarrassment, which turned into anger. By that point, only one logical thing she could do.
Jessica took one small step towards Naruto, wind up her arm, and punched him hard. Naruto saw the punch coming from a mile away. He started moving away from the blow, but Natasha grabbed hold of his body, preventing him from dodging without doing something drastic like forcing his way out.
Naruto only has one choice left.
"Kamui." Naruto whispered to himself.
Natasha and Jessica's arms went straight through Naruto, which shocked Natasha, Sharon, and Peggy. Jessica, on the other hand, is still on her embarrassment fueled warpath.
"Fuck!" Jessica shouted. "You undo everything you're doing right now and take the hit like a man." She continued.
"No way!" Naruto said as he runs away.
"Get back here!" Jessica roared as she followed Naruto through the house.
Natasha, Sharon, and Peggy just watched the whole thing, unable to find the proper reaction they should show.
"Are you sure he's the one you want? Cause I can hook you up with someone else. Just say the word." Sharon offered, entirely serious.
Natasha let out a sigh and dropped down on the sofa.
"Unfortunately." Natasha let out.
Peggy and Sharon sat down on opposite sides of Natasha. They can hear Naruto, and Jessica's voices reverberating around the house.
"Not to be a nosy or anything, but why did Naruto bring you here? It's my impression that he would only bring you here after Aunt Peggy's revealed." Sharon asked.
Natasha expected the question to come at any moment. Actually, she expected it to come before the whole Jessica thing, that's why she already knew what she was going to answer.
"I can't tell you much about what happened, but I can say that I found out something about Naruto that led to this." Natasha explained.
Although completely unsatisfied about the explanation, The Carters accepted Natasha's answer. They'll just have to figure out what happened through another way if they ever wanted to find out.
"Does Fury know about you being in a relationship?" Sharon asked, thinking bout how The Black Widow is one of his most effective 'pieces.'
"Yeah. He knows about us..." Natasha confirmed. "He first wanted me to spy for him, but I threatened to quit if he forced me into it. He tried to do some other stuff like remote surveillance but quickly gave up on that idea. Naruto has luck and skill on his side, capable of easily outmaneuvering even Fury..." She continued with a small smile. "Even if all that doesn't work, he's just so unpredictable that Fury would rather gouge out his eye than deal with him."
Peggy let out a full-hearted laugh at Natasha's statement. Meeting Naruto every day for the past seven months has driven home some facts about him. Number one on that list is his unpredictability.
After calming down from he laughing fit, Peggy asks a question she's dying to know the answer too.
"Are you going to do the procedure?" Peggy asked.
"Yes..." Natasha's answer was instantaneous. "I don't know if I'll ever going to be a mother, but I want the chance.".
"You should talk to him..." Peggy advised. "He loves you so much, and he's terrified of you leaving. When he told me why he's doing the regeneration procedure, he somehow thinks that you two are surely going to break up." She continued.
Peggy's statement brought down a somber mood on the trio, but it didn't last long since Naruto suddenly phase through the wall and run straight towards them. The action surprised the ladies, especially after he phased through them too and out of the house through the wall.
"Seriously, Nat. You could do much better." Sharon quipped.
-Hong Kong, China-
-September 14, 2008, 2300h local-
"Come in, Mr. Awesome, Over" Erik said to his mic.
He's currently on the rooftop of an abandoned commercial building just outside the Victoria Harbor, staking out one of the triads warehouses.
Erik has been doing work for Naruto for the past eight months. All of his missions involve human trafficking, and this one is no different.
This time, a high ranking triad official is going to oversee a shipment of newly acquired merchandise, which is a euphemism for slaves. The 300 or so girls the triad acquired are going to be shipped to different parts of the globe, surely to be used as disposable sex slaves.
If the ship ever leaves port, they won't have another shot on severely crippling this part of their operation.
"Go ahead, Mr. Broody, Over." Naruto's voice responded through the radio.
"Next time, I'll be the one to choose the codenames, Over." Erik replied, pissed about his Boss's immature personality.
"You said that during the past three missions. What makes you think you're ever going to choose, Over." Naruto retorted his cheery attitude could be heard through the radio.
Erik sighed in defeat. His fucking boss really enjoys messing with him, and he still has a little under a year and a half to go through. He's musing not sure if he can last that long without trying to kill him for all the good it will do.
That's when a convoy of black SUVs rolled up the front of the warehouse, followed by three heavily guarded semis which drove through the gate.
"We have activity..." Erik reported still surveilling the cars. The doors of the SUVs opened, and a total of 24 people disembarked, the most notable of which is a man in an Armani suit. "I have visual on the target, Over."
"You want to handle it, or should I?" Naruto asked.
Erik mulled it over. He knows he can take out everyone outside with the load out he has, but he has no idea about how many more are inside the warehouse itself. He has four options on how to do this. One, he can take out the outside and let Naruto handle everyone on the inside. Option two is the opposite of that. Option three is that he wings it and drop everyone, and option four is to let Naruto handle all of it.
The way Erik sees it, there's only one real option.
"I'll take them myself, Over." Erik radioed out, immediately changing out his Extended Magazine AW50 to his HK416 as his primary weapon and strapped it around his body, leaving the AW50 for later pickup if possible.
Erik grabbed his Milkor six-shot grenade launcher and jumped over the ledge, his rappel line bringing him back towards the building face. He runs down the side of the building, aimed his MGL towards the SUV caravan, and started unloading all six shots to the convoy. This caused a massive chain reaction of explosions, flipping over some SUVs and forming massive fireballs, effectively cutting off the main exit of the warehouse and killing more than half of the guards. Too bad, the main man is still alive and is retreating inside the warehouse through the side door.
He tossed the grenade launcher when he reached the ground and sprinted towards the warehouse, ignoring the flames licking his skin and half-burnt bodies on the ground.
Erik braced his back on the wall by the side of the door and took a peek, which was immediately answered with a hail of gunfire. He unhooked a grenade from his pack and tossed it inside. The moment the grenade exploded, he rushed inside, firing at everyone he sees. He fired some quick headshots to the downed men to make sure their dead and continued forward.
Erik stuck to the shadows, making sure that he's exposed as little as possible. The triad was heavily armed, but they're not as trained as their gear suggests. He cut through them like butter, making sure to count his kills along the way.
He was just about to enter the warehouse proper when he heard gunfire and bullets whizzing by. Erik quickly found cover and hid himself. That's when he noticed the gunshot wound on his abdomen, uncomfortably close to his kidney. The bullet penetrated just below his bulletproof vest.
"Fuck." Erik said to himself.
"Need some help?" Naruto offered through the radio.
"Shut up. I got this." Erik answered, not willing to give up.
Erik changed his magazine and pulled down his goggles. He pulled out three tear gas canisters and three M18 smoke grenades. One by one, he pulled the pins and tossed it inside. He might lose visual of the enemy, but the enemy can't also see him, and that's what he needs.
He hurried inside the room and fired at the general direction of foreign sounds while making sure he's not staying at any one place. He also fired towards the guards that are on top of the railings running around the warehouse.
His enemies are not entirely useless in the smoke, though. Some shots still find it's way to him, his vest taking most of the damage. It's just through sheer luck a bullet didn't find his head.
The smoke slowly dispersed, revealing the massacre he brought to the triads. He's not taking any chances, though. He pulled out his sidearm and shot all the bodies through the head.
Erik looked over every body, but he can't find the head honcho. Before he could pull his HK416 though, he felt the familiar burning sensation of a bullet wound was felt in his legs.
"It seems you're luck ran out, American." The triad leader said while pointing an AK towards him.
"Heh, but not before you, though." Erik retorted with a small chuckle.
The triad leader didn't have time to think about Erik's statement before a large cone-shaped piece of rock launched from the ground and impaled the leader. The rock pierced through his ass and exceeded his abdomen, pulling out his guts.
The whole thing was not a clean kill since the leader tried to pull himself out of the rock before eventually succumbing to his injuries. Even Erik felt sorry about how the leader died.
Erik heard someone dropping down behind him, so he turned around.
"This is one of your worst works. The whole thing is sloppy and loud. Not to mention the fact that you didn't think things through..." Naruto commented. "I think this is what would happen to you every time you let your ego take control."
"I could've taken him out." Erik replied weakly.
"And what's the point of it if you're dead..." Naruto retorted while tossing Erik a small vial that he caught. "Drink that before you bleed out. We need to get out of here before the cops arrive."
"The girls?" Erik asked before drinking the contents of the vial.
"They'll be fine. They were almost burnt to a crisp, though. One of the triads almost pushed the button that would cook them inside the containers-good thing I took him out." Naruto answered.
Erik paled, hearing Naruto's answer. The thought of him almost costing the lives of everyone he's trying to save through his methods sent a chill through his spine. He can't help but draw parallels to what happened here today to what he's planning for the future.
Naruto secretly smiled. His plan of turning Erik around finally passed phase 1. He never thought it would take this long, but at least it's finally done. He held on to Erik's shoulder and they disappeared.