12 #11
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A SAGE ADRIFT
#11
The Friends of Humanity was an NGO, at least on paper. In secret though, it was a country-spanning group that preyed on the weak and afraid people, luring them into their webs and turning their fear and confusion into burning hatred.
Joining such a group meant performing crimes. Crimes that could be used against you as leverage should you wish to leave the group. A tactic that the higher-ups of the group have used countless times.
You see, hatred can be a powerful thing but not everyone is built for an unending stream of hatred towards someone who had something to them personally. For most people, Rage was a temporary emotion. Anger was something that could elevate to the level of rage but it eventually, with time and inactivity, simmered back down.
The people behind Friends of Humanity didn't want that. So, they made sure that the rage stayed at the same level, at the very least. Targeted attacks, misinformation campaigns, devil crying, and so on and so forth. All sorts of reasons were used to make sure that once somebody joined them, they were hooked in for life.
The other thing was that the group specifically targeted the poor and downtrodden people of the country. The people with no hope. No purpose. Just surviving another day with the least possible dignity. They targeted them and fed them false ideas that the cause of their suffering was the continued existence of mutants. They then fed them and made their life generally better but once the people were in their debt, they swiftly pointed them towards their targets.
Some people, on the other hand, joined the group of their own volition. Over the years, the group had picked up some serious steam and was now known to have a presence in almost every major city. As such, now some people, to express their rage over the situation, approach them, and volunteer for the cause. Some people just wanted to hurt someone and the group was happy to oblige. Some people just wanted some easy targets they could hunt down and disappear without anyone looking for them.
Graydon Creed was one such person.
Graydon Creed had seen and experienced many things in his life. Normally, such hardships should have been attributed to the ongoing struggle that was life. Instead, Graydon chose to blame the subspecies of mutants for his problems, going so far as to join a group that was widely known for its hate for mutants and everything related to them.
He was just a regular down on his luck homeless teenager when he was found by some gang members and had been bullied into joining them. He had always been smart so he chose the best option of the moment and joined the gang in their activities. The gang was special in the sense that they were funded and operated by the Friends of Humanity by a proxy of sorts. It was an initiation funnel through which the group hired the most devout, or rather the most frenzied person into their group so that they could mold that person in accordance with their will.
When he had been initiated into the group, he had been elated beyond belief. All his needs were taken care of and he was given handpicked targets to kill. He had always enjoyed hurting others, especially mutants but it became much worse when he found out the truth of his parentage.
Apparently, he was the son of two mutants who just so happened to turn out normal. While he was thankful that he was not a mutie like them, he was furious about the fact that he was basically abandoned and afraid of the rest of the group finding out about it. He went to great lengths to ensure that no one aside from him, in the organisation, knew about his true parentage.
And so, his work went on. Eventually, he rose in rank to finally have a seat at the table. Sure, he didn't have much say over the overall functioning of the group but he didn't want that anyway. He just wanted to find more people like him, down in their lives, and uplift them. Giving them purpose and increasing the influence of the group and he had been doing that admirably.
Imagine his surprise, when one day, one of his newest recruits, Keith, called him up to tell him about a suspected mutant sighting that was actually visited by Charles Xavier and Magneto of all people.
Two of the biggest enemies of Friends of Humanity coming to visit a single person could not have been a coincidence. Upon receiving that piece of information, he immediately ordered for all assets in the area to converge to that location soon and also cashed in a favour from a fellow higher-up in the organisation.
…..
..
Currently, he was doing all he could do to stop his body from trembling as he stared at the orange freak. Particularly, the orange balls spinning around him stopped everybody right in their tracks.
Fortunately, right as Graydon was about to contemplate speaking, the favour that he called in came barreling right through the forest, tearing apart everything in his way.
The Unstoppable Basstard, Juggernaut.
He particularly enjoyed the way the orange bastard snapped his neck towards the monstrosity running towards them.
Juggernaut had always been a little slow in the brains department but his prowess could not be denied, especially once he had gained enough momentum to barrel through any of their enemies.
Apparently, Juggernaut was supposed to be in government custody but he was coincidentally "loaned" to one of the higher-ups of the organisation for some of the missions where finesse was not required. Just pure and utter destruction.
That was where the Juggernaut shined best
….
..
'This was bad,' Naruto thought as he tried to figure out if he had any way of stopping the mutant empowered by Cyttorak's energy. At the same time, he had to make sure that the attention of all the hostile parties in the vicinity was on him and him alone because he could handle the enemies.
The people on the farm would not be able to. Something told him that if he left the fate of the people on the farm in the hands of the person leading the Friends of Humanity, he would come to regret it immensely.
First things first, he willed for one of the orbs to become a lance and then sent it careening straight through the armoured vehicles that the Friends of Humanity had brought with them. Most of them went up in smoke since they had a bunch of explosive weapons inside.
'That should at least reduce the weaponry they had access to,' Naruto thought to himself as the explosion sent the majority of their personnel flying away, including their apparent ring leader. Seeing that one of his problems was temporarily solved, he turned his attention towards the towering giant that was stomping towards him. Each of his stomps shook the earth as if a mini earthquake had been hit as Juggernaut, Cain Marko, rampaged in the direction of the farm clad in the crimson energy of Cyttorak.
Remembering that particular outer deity from the crash course that was given to him, he resigned himself to a lengthy battle of endurance as the avatars of Cyttorak were known to possess exceptional durability, strength, and speed along with virtually unlimited stamina once they have gained enough momentum.
Seeing that he was the only thing standing between Cain and the people on the farm, he decided to take prompt action. Aware that it would not make much of a difference, he willed one of the balls to spin and sent it directly towards Cain's chest, hoping that it would at least slow him down a bit.
Those hopes were dashed immediately as the spinning orange ball, one that could tank rounds from advanced weaponry indefinitely, simply fizzled out of existence once it hit the thin cloak of red energy that surrounded Cain's body.
Soon, Cain's face could be seen expressing a hideous triumphant smirk as he came within arm's reach of Naruto. Cain then swiped his arm towards Naruto in an effort to literally bisect him because, with the strength and speed that Cain was packing in his arm, there was no way that any regular human, mutant or otherwise could ever hope to withstand.
Naruto's eyes narrowed in anger as he jumped back from his position.
Naruto did that at the last moment because the next second, Cain's hand could be seen swiping empty air at the same spot, creating fierce gales of wind due to the sheer force. Despite his apparent failure, the grin on Cain's face never faded as he continued his charge towards the farm.
Naruto, who was standing atop the estate's gate, was crouching on the tip of one of the spikes on the gate, the rest of the orange balls spinning wildly around him.
Meeting Naruto's stoic gaze, Cain's grin widened the slightest bit but it soon faded into a confused look as he looked at Naruto going down.
No, instead of Naruto going down, it was Cain who was floating in the air. More specifically, the land that Cain was standing on was being lifted by Naruto's orange energy as it had now taken the shape of a rectangular bed that was lifting the entirety of the landmass in front of the Davis Farm's estate.
"So, at least that works," Naruto muttered as he slowly stood up from his position and looked at the orange wall that was holding up a very significant portion of the land that Cain was running on.
Alas, the orange balls could not directly affect Cain, owing to his aura, so Cain continued to run, unfettered. Not afraid of any damage that could happen to him by jumping from such a height, Cain kept running towards the edge of the landmass he was floating on.
Alas, his smile turned into a snarl of rage as the rest of Naruto's orange balls finally came back into action.
As it turned out, the rest of the balls were swiping up other pieces of surrounding landmass and then floating them to connect to the existing landmass that was already floating up in the air. There was now a floating ring of landmass on which Cain kept running on.
The moment Cain tried to jump off the landmass, the landmass shifted at the same time to make sure that Cain landed on the same spot.
Naruto could see that this tactic would not last much longer since, while the orange energy itself was sturdy it could not directly interact with Cain and while the landmass could interact, it was far too fragile to withstand multiple jumps from Cain and his heavy mass.
Soon, there was now a hole directly in the landmass, exposing the orange energy below directly. Cain smirked while looking at the hole, fully aware of the fact that it would dissipate immediately upon coming into contact with his body but before he could jump on it, Naruto pulled back all of the platform and turned them back into balls that surrounded his body.
With nothing to support the landmass, it slammed down on the earth, Cain along with it.
Sighing, Naruto willed for the balls of orange light to cover his entire body in one barrier, forming a suit of armour that was reminiscent of the ones that ancient Samurai back in his homeworld used to wear.
His enhanced hearing could hear the sound of children crying and their mothers fruitlessly trying to console them far away in the barn behind the stables.
'Time to end this then,' Naruto thought before looking at the cloud of dust through which Cain came barreling through.
Word Count - 1992
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