The Last Avenger and the World of Omni: Homecoming

[Sasuke Uchiha]

A blight on this verse, once inside, Deathchew’s lair embodied the epitome of horrific fearmongering. As Sasuke’s fellowship advanced further into the stronghold, its interior décor grew more and more gruesome. Adorned in an amalgamation of torture and misery, the walls depicted what would happen to those who incurred the Baron’s wraith. Dying, bleeding, or wounded, the victims all hung from nightmarish machinery, wrought from conceptually, the worst imaginations of crucifixes, pulleys, and barbed iron wire.

With a majority of the civilians having retreated into the residential areas, the territory before them morphed into a battlefield, and everyone they encountered had either the intention of killing them, or eating them alive. Regardless, they pressed forward, and carved their way through the various ambushes and traps that awaited them. The pair of primes in Sasuke and Kuzuru did all the heavy lifting, as the gunslinger only offered marginal support, in the way of cover fire, and the kid was barely of any use at all.

They had cleared a bulk of the threat on level one when something caught the demon’s eye. “That one, you have to let me have that one,” Kuzuru said, “you guys can have everyone else, but I want that one.”

Sasuke obliged with a nod of his head.

“NO!” the cowboy screamed, from behind the fire of his revolver. “We should stick together!”

“It’s fine.” Sasuke shouted from over his shoulder, also advancing, and at a mad dash to meet the raging hordes. “No one dies here,” he declared as he bounded, headlong into the fray, “not while I stand!”

“Son of a b*tch!” the gunslinger cursed, reeling as he repetitively struck a free hand to the revolver’s hammer, and spurred the discharging of his firearm. “F*ckin’ primes!” he snarled, but neither of them heard him. The boy however, shot him a scowl, but that didn’t stop him from clinging to, and hiding from behind the safety of the desperado.

Smashing through a crowd with a right hook, the shinobi’s knuckles pulverized a bandit’s jaw, creating a cascade of teeth confetti, before the same pivot carried him further, and propelled the back of his elbow into the earhole of another. Trading brushes, paint, and canvas for jujitsu, taigetsu, and skumbags, the Uchiha dispensed a work of art, all the same. Veiled in the pivot’s charged momentum, the sequence culminated in a devastating tornado kick, smack-dab into the chest of an unsuspecting third cannibal. He probably paid the most, because, with a thunderous thwack, the kick’s impact shattered bone and caved sternum.

Two spins and three dispatched goons later, the shinobi found his feet with grace, exploded upright, and unleashed a back fist upon another advancing skumbag. The cannibal was only afforded a stager and a stumble before Sasuke lunged forward, ensnared the bandit in a clench, and delivered a succession of knee strikes to incapacitate him.   

Electric sensation captivated the hairs on Sasuke neck, Sharingan alarm bells rang throughout his psyche, and a combination of instincts and years of muscle memory seized control. Fluid in motion, the shinobi performed a ridiculous, double-gainer back flip, rescued himself from thrust of a cannibal’s claymore, and planted an explosive tag as they went by.

Above the havoc he created, the ninja weaved hand signs throughout his acrobatic feats, so that when the shinobi righted himself, a volley of hell fire expelled from his mouth and assailed his nearest remaining targets. By the time the shinobi’s sandaled feet touched down again, a spectacle of fire, explosion, and jutsu lit the foreground, animating the shinobi’s silhouette among the chaos.

“Wow!” the orphan gawked. Until then, the boy had been timid and looked deathly afraid, but now he was changed. Embolden, the boy retrieved the blaster he carried, and finally became useful. “He’s right, we can do this!” he declared as he began firing into the crowd.

“Don’t get cocky, kid.” the cowboy said from behind cover fire, while bucking into the masses without any general targeting.

“No!” Sasuke objected as he held the perimeter, brandishing Kusanagi to keep the hordes at bay, “Get cocky!” The ninja accessed his odds with calculating eyes of the Uchiha, as another group of man-eaters enclosed on him. “Kuzuru was wrong,” he said as the savages surrounded him, “I’m not here to babysit.” 

Charging forward with his fabled blade at the ready, Sasuke, and not the cannibals, initiated combat. “You wanted vengeance,” the shinobi screeched as he cleaved through their numbers, penetrated one through the chest, and surged upright to tear them asunder, “now is your chance!”

***

“Tegan is down.” a rat faced looking man, of lanky shape, informed his baron, over desk intercom, and waited patiently for his response.

“WHAT?!” the intercom screamed a response from the baron.
 
The subordinate hesitated a moment before answering with, “Well, he fell to a prime named Kuzuru…” he squeaked, full of reluctance showing in his voice, “down on level one.”

“That’s Gilgamesh’s reagent,” the com asked, “the Dante’s Abyss Champion, right?”

“Uhh,” the cannibal worker hesitated, afraid of the response, “no sir, I don’t think so, sir.”

 “WHAT?!”

There was silence for a moment and the subordinate looked panicked, sweating profusely.

“That’s impossible,” responded the intercom again, “Tegan is one of my stronger captains, along with Plum and Knotch.” The Baron’s voice was unhappy and it resonated through com-link, “God Damn it!”

The cannibal behind the screen jumped and hesitated once more, but finally replied with, “Well, Plum and Knotch are both still alive. In fact Plum is on his way to intercept the intruders now, and no one has detected Knotch so far.”

“Good,” the com flared with more lights and a response, “at least there is some good news. Any word on Giles?”

Placing a finger to the screen and using another to scroll with the mouse, the subordinate double checked to make sure they weren’t misspeaking when they replied with, “Nothing yet sir, no.”

“Keep looking,” the com answered simply, “I’d rather not have to kill these pest myself and he’s more than capable.”

“More than you sir?” the subordinate mindlessly blurted the question out without thinking and immediately regretted it after. They cursed themselves under their breath.

“Watch your tongue.” the com demanded, “Had we not been under siege, I might have killed you just now myself, for your insolence!"

“Yes sir,” the subordinate squealed and panicked, “Of course sir!”

“Surely, he is not,” the baron answered the ‘insolent’ question, even though it apparently upset him, “but he’s more than enough to handle these guys. Prime or not. If he shows, have him report to me right away.”

“Yes sir,” the grunt answered, “and until then?”

“Prepare my armor.”

***

With Tegan defeated, the clan’s morale suffered, and ascending from level one to level three was breeze in comparison. Advancing to the next tier, however, would prove to be more difficult, as the next encounter would cost the party more than they were prepared to give.

“I had hoped I would find a challenge here.” the demon complained as the group bounded a stair set. “It’s disappointing really,” he continued, “their generals, so far, have been trash. If I didn’t know any better-”

Before the demon could finish, he was interrupted, and took to the air to avoid an incoming blast. A sizzle of kinetic energy frayed the ends of his hair, as it whizzed past him, and collided with the wall to his adjacent. He avoided the explosion it caused, but was unprepared for the blur of purple that followed.

 One, two, three times, Kuzuru’s face was assailed with purple punches, forcing him onto his heels in retreat. By the time he regained his footing, the purple alien had already channeled a wealth of energy, extended their arms with palms open, and unleashed a coalescing beam of violet destruction upon the surprised demon.

 Alarmed, Sasuke released steel from its sheath, summoned the electric might of Chidori, and closed the distance in flash, to intercept the energy.

“Oh no you don’t!” the gunslinger spat as he grabbed ahold of his garments and gave a good tug, catching, not only the shinobi’s attention, but the ninja’s arm in his hand as well. With desperado clothes whipping through the air, the gunslinger had shed his cowboy guise to reveal a dwarf hunter, shouldered a rifle he had veiled away, and released its intentions on the ninja, at a point blank range.

Boom!

  Barrel to shoulder, Sasuke’s arm never stood a chance and the discharge ripped through his armpit, cleaving meat from bone. The shinobi and his separated arm dropped to the floor as the electric might of chidori faded, and the demon took the full brunt force of the Alien’s blast head on.  

Kaboom!

“Jesus, what took you so long?” the dwarf called to the alien. “They’ve already downed Tegan. We have to finish this NOW!!”