The stresses of being Boss [Company Members][NR]

Jr appeared outside the huge gates to Darkman Tower, next to the humanoid form of Hi No Seishin. After opening the gates and walking inside, they closed behind him. Jr and Hi No walked across the large courtyard in which people rarely dwelled and inside the building.

He'd only been back home from the dimension of ninjas a brief time and he'd already killed 2 people. Hi No seemed very entertained by the acts of violence, looking toward Jr every so often with a lustful expression, but Jr, normally lazy and care free was now grim looking, much like his father usually was. So this is what it was to be a boss...

The turbo elevator began to ascend 1,000 stories. Remiel. The guy who snatched all of the memories of Maxi and that weirdo Flynn out of his sister Demi's head. He went nuts and started going after people simply because of what they were. He died first, due to a fist laced with explosives ramming into his face, and turning him into dust.

Then, that retard in Velo. Attacking Maxi's sister, who'd been locked in a box for thousands of years. Who looked to be just checking to see if that retard was alright, who'd slammed himself into the ground at nearly 100 mph and started flopping around like a fish out of water. Who'd attacked the girl for pretty much no reason. Dead now; impaled upon one of Jr's Spiritual Swords, and then blown into hamburger.

He walked into the office and silently took his seat again behind the desk, turning his cameras back on, which were all aimed toward Pacific City, his father, his niece, and The Vigilante.

Activity around Darkman Tower. The appearance of a strange land shrouded in shadow. The smell of death upon the winds. Had the Kane family returned from their vacation in his world, the world he himself could no longer return to?

Spook, before leaving, left behind his legacy in the form of a young shinobi named Holeman. He taught the kid everything he knew; his ninja tricks, his "Spook Fu" fighting style, everything, including the ability to open inner gates located within the human body to increase speed and power, but at the cost of extreme damage to muscles and bones. He along with Mitsukai, his first prodigy, would carry on his name and legacy in his absence.

So he returned here, to the home of his other self, Alec Kane. Things were quiet for years, and he was fine with that, but recently he began to notice things, such as children flying around, a boy who looked just like Alec, sometimes on fire, and sometimes being followed by an attractive female who too looked like she was on fire. Most of all, the appearance of what looked to be an entire country, covered in shadow.

As he was still a member of The Company, Spook figured it about time to take a visit to the office in the sky to get some answers from his other self, or his son. He still had the pendant given to him 5 years prior, so gaining access to the high security building came with no difficulty. The Urban Ninja took a ride on the "elevator" as it was called, stepping out of it and down the hall to the large office.

Spook was dressed as he usually was, in an "Urban" fashion. He wore a green hoodie with the Leaf symbol upon the left breast, and large on the back of it. The hoodie was sleeveless, showing off large muscular arms. He wore dark green cargo pants and green sneakers. A sword with a strange black glow to it was strapped to his left hip, along with another seemingly ordinary katana. Spook had on a gas mask that completely concealed his identity. The mask had insect-like eye holes that allowed whoever looked at him to see that his eyes gave off a strange green glow.

"Alec's son, Junior, right?" said Spook as he approached the desk, now being able to see the woman who was on fire. With the looks she kept giving Jr, she didn't seem to be in any discomfort by the fire, and since she wasn't burning anything around her, this let Spook know that she had complete control of the fire furthermore. There was something more to this female than met the eye, but Spook wasn't one to pry. Perhaps secrets would be revealed to him soon enough. "...I don't know if you've ever met me, or if your father or someone ever told you about me, but i'm Spook of the Black-Hand. I was hired here as a Company member a few years back..."

Someone walked in. Hi No looked up then back to Jr, then back at the person who came in. It had to be one of his family members, or some other Company member that he didn't know about. Jr looked away from the screens to see someone he'd never seen before. He had to be a part of The Company if he was able to make it this far.

Then he began to speak. "Spook... I heard alot about you," Jr said, keeping his grim expression, moving the screens out of the way for the moment. "You're another world's version of my father... They way people over there tell it, you were pretty much a super hero over there. The blind dude Holeman and his pal Mitsukai always speak highly of you. But since you're another version of my dad that's really no surprise to be honest."

"Really now. An alternate version of Alec? Does he come from where I do? Is he a Shinobi?" asked Hi No.

"Yeah, but... that's a long story. Maybe he'll tell it to you sometime." Jr stood from the desk and walked around it, then around Spook, looking over this Urbanized Ninja. "You probably have a crapton of questions. I'll start by saying me and a bunch of my family spent the last 5 years in your world. I'll tell you all about it if you want to hear it. That place there," he pointed over toward Makkura. "It's called Makkuragakure, The Land of Shadows. My father teleported it here from your world, and i'll tell you about that too. My dad runs it; he put me in charge of The Company. You're free to continue working here if you want, or if you want to go to more familiar ninja surroundings that's cool too. The choice is yours... So, Spook, what would you like to know first? It's a long shitty story so buckle your safety belts..."

Jr was in charge of The Company now. They'd spent the last 5 years in his world, some of which he'd seen for himself before he decided to disappear. If he knew Alec, and even Alec's son, they'd both probably picked up on many secrets and techniques. Perhaps this female here was one of them. Jr had a certain look in his eyes, the look of someone who'd recently been forced to take a life. He knew the look, and knew better than to question him about it. Spook didn't much react to the kid walking around him and staring.

By some means, Alec transported a whole country from his world back to this one. As intriguing as it sounded to visit and possibly live in this Makkuragakure, while it came from his home, it wasn't truly "home."

"Hmm. Makkura, huh... I do have a few questions that i'm in the dark about. First, are you aware of the situation that's going on in Pacific City? Are you afraid of something like that happening here next?... When I left my world, you all were in the processes of becoming villains, and I decided that I wouldn't become a part of that, because technically i'd be going against my own family. Seeing as it's 5 years later and you all are still breathing, I take it you didn't meet much resistance. It'll probably still make for a fascinating tale, so, let's hear it?..."

“He’s gonna turn me into bamboo and eat me!”, little Aella called out as she raced up the hall and towards Junior’s office – a location she had all but memorized by this point.

She was dressed in her ‘normal’ attire which was not all that normal for the modern world she now lived in: she wore a black tank top with a black netted long sleeved top beneath it, black shorts that went just below her knees, and black shinobi sandals: despite being exceptionally young an ANBU mask covered her face; allowing nothing more than her blond shoulder length hair to show.

The seal which normally did not show covered every bare ounce of flesh at the moment; a symbol of the panda being released – the bijuu that normally resided within her. The very tiny panda cub that was chasing after the small spitting image of Aisling as she raced up the hallway at that very moment. Aella skidded to a stop outside of Junior’s office and opened the door; running inside she left it open for the panda cub to follow after her as she raced over to Junior and hid behind him.

“Lil’ Bai’s gonna turn me into bamboo and eat me!”

The panda, which had entered into the office by this point, came to such a sudden stop that he toppled forward and rolled – too tiny to really do any sort of harm or damage were he to actually bump into anyone or anything. When the panda came to a stop the piece of bamboo which was almost gone went to his mouth and he sat there, chewing on it, while looking between Junior and Spook with far more intelligence than an average animal should have – and far more chakra, as he radiated it in masses.

Jr was about to start talking, but then in came Aella dressed in a modernized ANBU garb. She claimed that her Bijuu was going to transform her into bamboo and eat her, but Jr knew that was far from the truth. When she came in and hid behind him, the grim look disappeared from his face, repalced by his normally lazy one. Hi No Seishin giggled some at the girl and the panda that came rolling in next.

"Yeah yeah," said Jr, reaching into one of his many "pockets" for a bag of chips, pulling it seemingly out of thin air and opening it. "That's like saying Hi No is gonna BBQ my wings and eat them like chicken... Although, in her case, she really DID try to kill and eat me..."

"...and how many times must I apologize before you never bring up that incident again??" responded Hi No in an irritated tone, the flames around her attractive figure picking up somewhat. Jr waved his hands after stuffing his mouth with chips.

"Alright, alright... Aella, I should introduce you to someone. That guy there is Spook, he's a Shinobi from your world. You probably heard of him. He went through some garbage over there kinda like we did and came here... Spook, this is Aella, she's... technically a clone of a female named Aisling, but everyone calls her her daughter..."

Jr went and sat again. He pressed a few buttons and caused some seats to rise from the floor, in case they wanted to sit down. He began the tale of an adventure in a ninja world that mostly turned out to be a disappointment.

"There used to be a village in that world called Hanagakure, Hana for short; more advanced than all the rest. It's where dad appeared. He learned and became a master “Weapons Technician;” where he can build special weapons and attach powers to them. For a while he tried living life as a normal ninja, but the village was ran by assholes. So dad decided to try them.

“He bombed the village, killed a bunch of people and left, becoming a Missing-Nin. Nobody came after dad at first. He went to a snow village called Korikagure, Kori for short, where that world's version of Amaranth, Mitsukai, was the Kage, or Boss. After he made this really cool sword he went to Yokuchi. That's where he ran into Dez.

“Sometime after that, dad, who now had this humongous bounty on his head, got into it with this guy named Strafe in a bar, after some thugs tried to cash in on him. Strafe was the Boss of Yokuchi, some supposedly powerful ninja dude trained since birth to kill and fight. Dad cut his leg off. Some other dude tried to join in; a member of the Uchiha clan. Dad and Dez scared the piss out of this dude and caused his eyes to activate, and dad stole one. The kid Holeman did the surgery for dad.

“Dad and Dez went to this other village next called... uggh. The village was in a big bunch of trees with this long weird name. It's Niwa for short. That's where they ran into Demi. They were trying to figure out what to do next when the leader of Hana called dad out to fight, and you should know by now dad backs down from no challenge. So he went back to Hana, bombed the place more, killed more people, got into a fight with the guy who ran the place, Iza-something who is also part of the Uchiha clan, and slit his throat. Before he died he got those same crazy eyes, and dad stole them both. Some chick appeared after that, I think her name was Natalie? Daughter of some dude Squall who used to work here in The Company...

“Dad gave her and her firing squad of goons the finger and left, and nobody tried to stop him even though he was outnumbered. He kidnapped this girl named Avery when he was leaving, and she didn't resist. I thought she was kinda nuts at first, and honestly I didn't much like her, but she grew on me. This is around the time that I went to this world and went looking for them...”

Jr went on to explain the rest of the tale, telling Spook how his father, sisters and Avery went to take over a village called Makkuragakure, Makkura for short, and made it their base of operations. How he went to the desert and sealed Hi No Seishin inside of him, even showing him the orange phoenix aura as proof. How his father created a criminal organization called “The Dark.” How his father was taught Holeman's special Chakra Radar since he'd replaced both of his eyes with those of the Uchiha's special Sharingan, and had to keep them covered when not using them.

How his father began kidnapping people: a girl named Amara, daughter of the so-called "god of lightning" Raijin, right after she'd exterminated the entire water village of Denryuugakure, Denryuu for short, simply by sneezing, to find out that she too had a beast sealed into her. Aella, who was here in the room with them, on two occasions: The first being his father convincing her to come with him of her own free will, and the second being when Aella got sick and was brought to Makkura by her grandmother (Since, at the time, Makkura had all of that world's medics.) How Hiroyuki, instead of coming to investigate himself, sent some mask wearing goon to deliver a message. How everything his father did in that world to provoke the other Kage in the other villages was met with nothing. No response.

How 5 years of peace and quiet passed with no one retaliating for all of the terrible things they'd done, no one trying to cash in on the outrageous bounty on his father's head. How a summit was formed and the bosses of all villages were invited; how Jr had been made the boss, or Kuraikage of Makkura, even though everyone considered Alec the true leader, and sent to the summit in Alec's place to prevent trouble. How Makkura planned on stopping it's evil ways and attempt to co-exist with the rest of the world. How Kenta the dog man talked big and tough, described himself as the “hero” and the “savior” of that world, called the Kane family a joke, said they were lucky to even still be in existence, not to feel proud that they built a dump village back up from the brink, and how they had 2 strikes, and a 3rd strike meant the guy tearing the foundation out from under Makkura.

How Jr clapped back, telling this mutt man how the Kanes had been born in war, how they weren't afraid of him or anyone, how his sister at just the age of 4 killed an entire organization of trained killers mostly by herself. How they were ready for anything the man could dish out and to bring it on. How he and his father went to the snow village Kori, abandoned by Amaranth, and blew it off the face of the earth to send a message to all of the rest of that world (with some assistance from a psycho calling himself Ranmaru.) How that Kenta mutt man went silent and was unheard of after this terrorist act. How some smiley man named Saito Gekai tried taking over Makkura, and ended up with his head cut from his shoulders right in front of him.

And finally, how his father got tired of shit talking weaklings and decided after 5 years that it was time to go home, especially seeing as he and Avery were the proud new parents of his little sister, Artemis. Alec didn't want to leave Makkura behind. When he first arrived in the village, he and Avery both had to beat up and even kill a few people to bend the village to their way, but eventually the village grew to love them. Makkura went from the weakest of all villages to the strongest, especially seeing as prodigy children from all over who'd been neglected and forgotten about began to converge upon the “village of criminals and villains.” So, Alec teleported the entire country, everyone and everything in it here.

"He's gonna turn me into bamboo and eat me!"

Spook took a defensive stance, going low and grabbing the sheath of the Black-Hand Katana with his left and resting his hand along the handle with his right. His eyes began to glow a bright green at the anticipation of a fight. But, seeing as Jr wasn't taking any action, and the child seemed to just be joking around with the panda that came in next, Spook relaxed again. The girl was introduced as Aella, clone of Aisling?... The mask he wore didn't allow anyone to see the surprised look on his face.

He didn't much want to think about Aisling and old times at the moment, or at all really, because it all turned out bad. His home had been destroyed, and it turned out Aisling wasn't who he thought she was. Spook took a seat on the chair that came up out of the floor and listened to the tale of Kanes in his Shinobi world. He didn't much like what he heard, especially the parts about Hiroyuki, his old squadmate, and his father Kenta. Spook shook his head. Perhaps it was a good thing he'd left that world, because it sounded weak.

Alec had a kid with a female named Avery, and got tired of no response from the locals, so he left, and brought Makkura with him. Now after 5 years they were back here. "...Its for the best, then," Spook said, still shaking his head. "Still, it's disappointing to hear about Hiroyuki and his father. He was my squadmate... I never really got to know the guy though. From the very beginning he seemed... shady. As for his father, i'd heard people bragging about the guy, but I guess we all know what he's really about now... Oh well. You all aren't there anymore and I never have plans to return. Nothing there for me anymore, and the story you just told only cements my decision. What's going on with Alec?"

Aella peered out from behind Junior and towards the panda who was staring up at Spook with a great deal of curiosity. Lil' Bai looked from Spook, to Aella, and then back again before shoving the rest of the stick of bamboo in his mouth which caused his fuzzy cheeks to puff out. Aella giggled at the sight and came out from behind Junior and over to one of the chairs. She climbed up and into the chair, her little legs barely hanging down over the edge of the chair. Lil' Bai took it upon his little panda self to climb into Aella's chair and sit on her lap.

Aella hugged Lil' Bai while the pair listened to the story Junior was telling about what happened in the other world. Lil' Bai waited until Spook and Junior were finished speaking to speak up himself in perfect English - though his voice sounded like a young male child "I'm a bijuu in that world, sealed into Aella by Hiroyuki. That makes Aella someone everyone wants to get their hands on... I don't understand why he wouldn't come check on her himself..." Lil' Bai hugged Aella at that point again. "What if that Ranmaru person had tried hurting her or worse, tried capturing her!?" The panda sounded angry towards the end.

Aella patted the panda on the head to calm him down. "Don't get angry... Bamboo forests.happen when you're angry.", Aella said softly.

Jr couldn't really tell how Spook was taking all of this, since he wore a mask all the time. He was shaking his head though, meaning he had to be at least disappointed, especially seeing as his former squad partner was involved in that garbage. But, none of that mattered anymore since they were all back where they belonged, and Spook had no plans to retrun to that weak dimension.

"Funny you should mention dad and Pacific City though. The place is a rival to Edge, ran by power hungry scientists. They were jealous of my dad and grand dad, and started doing experiments on different species. Of course, in a situation like that, there's always an accident, and in this case it turned most of the population into the walking dead," Jr explained, while doing so showing Spook pictured on holographic 3D screens.

Jr looked frustrated again."By some means dad ended up over there in the middle of it, and the city has suppression field surrounding it somewhat like the one around Edge, and dad can't use all of his abilities like he could here. He can still take advantage of things like speed and strength though, and he has all of his weapons. I send another Company member to rescue him called The Vigilante, but dad feels like he got put over there for a reason. So him, Vigilante and my neice Amaranth are making their way through the city and picking up any survivors they come across. He still has a way to go..."

It sounded like one of those horror novels he used to read. A city over-ran by flesh eating monsters. It was because of human spart people who were jealous of Alec and his father, the individual known as Darkman. In an attempt to probably ascend to godhood sort of like Alec, they ran experiments. An accident which rendered the city into a nightmare. Alec was over there in the middle of it.

Spook stood up then. "Then... maybe I should go over there to help too," He said, preparing his muscles and legs for a long run. "With me on board, maybe things will get wrapped up faster, and your people can get back here where they belong."

Spook didn't have any special powers to bend reality or to rewind time, or anything of the sort. Spook was one that relied on his own body and skills to carry him through conflicts, and so far it hadn't let him down. He popped the knuckles on both hands, looking toward Jr to see if he'd object, or say anything else.

Lil’ Bai looked up from having been hugging Aella and returned to staring at Spook; his head tilted a bit off to the side as if he were curious about him. In truth Lil’ Bai had heard stories about Spook from his father Hai Bai who was the bijuu forest guardian of Konoha. However, Lil’ Bai had thought up until this point that those stories were just that: stories. He had no idea that Spook actually existed.

Aella stared at Lil’ Bai for a moment and giggled. She whispered softly, “You daddy wasn’t tellin’ stories, Spook really does exist silly bear.” Into one of Lil’ Bai’s fuzzy ears.

She then turned her attention to Spook and giggled. “Lil’ Bai is the son if Hai Bai, the bijuu forest guardian of Konoha. His daddy used to tell him stories about you and the other great ninja of Konoha. But, he didn’t know you were really real.

Lil’ Bai nodded and then spoke himself in a very child like sounding voice, “Are you really going to go over there and battle those zombies? They’re kinda scary…”

If Spook went over there then things would definitely go by faster. This guy was another version of his father after all, and if all the rumors and stories he'd heard about him from Holeman in the other world were true, then he'd be right at home in that sort of element.

"Well alright, I didn't really want to send anyone else over there but if you really--- Wait, what the hell?" Jr was skipping through many cameras, trying to see if he could locate a satellite feed of the group to view along with the camera link with Vigilante, when he came across a strange looking place. It looked like a ninja village out of the other world. There looked to be summer-like conditions. In the rear of the village, there was a mountain with faces carved into it.

"That... that place wasn't there before, what's going on? I don't think i've ever seen that place anywhere before..."

"That is the village of Konohagakure," answered Hi No Seishin. "I'd recognize it anywhere. It had the reputation of developing very powerful shinobi, and was once the strongest of all villages, much like Makkura was when it was there."

"Hunh... Konoha, huh. That must be the Leaf Village that Holeman used to talk about then. Who's.... who's the chick flying around on the fan then?" Jr typed on the keyboard several moments, zooming in close to the woman. "Holeman also told me about Aisling, the Kage there... Here, she'd be my sister, but... Demi is downstairs in her room, and that girl there isn't any relation to me or dad. I've never seen her before..."

Spook never remembered seeing any Bijuu around Konoha. He wasn't surprised really that some thought he was a myth, with what happened all those years ago and all. "If I have to," was his response to Lil Bai.

Spook prepared to leave until Jr said what the hell? When he turned around and saw the village on the screen, he thought he was hallucinating. He said "Konoha," at the same time that the fire woman did. "I was born there."

Spook could also see the woman flying around on the familiar fan. "... Aisling?..." Jr also said that this Aisling was of no relation and had no connections with the Kanes, meaning he had no ties to her. She was just simply Aisling. Was this really happening? "That--this has to be some sort of trick, right? Or... does it have something to do with the magic from bringing Makkura here?"

He had to go investigate this and see it for himself. "I apologize, Junior, but i'll have to decline traveling to Pacific City. I have to go and see this myself. I haven't seen my home in nearly 7 years, and if this is the real deal I have to go there. I hope you can understand."

Lil’ Bai looked worried for a moment: there weren’t zombies in the forest of Konoha but him and Aella had seen plenty of movies that involved them, and had even seen the pet zombie that Destiny had kept in the lab of Makurra, so he knew that they were dangerous. However, he also knew that Spook was one of the best shinobi that Konoha had ever seen and so if anyone was going to be able to take on a horde of zombies it would be Spook.

And then Junior was pulling something up on the computer that caused both Lil’ Bai and Aella to forget all of their worries about zombies and what might happen to everyone over in Pacific City. What they were staring at was clearly a village, and the giant symbol that looked burned into the gates, that of a leaf, signified that this was the village of Konohagakure. This was home. This was where Aella should have been born, should have grown up. As Junior caused the cameras to zoom in on a woman who was flying around in an all too familiar fashion Aella gasped: it was her mother, Aisling, in the flesh!

Her mouth opened slightly in shock as she couldn’t believe what she was seeing: she hadn’t seen her mother in some time and this truly was the real deal. This was Aisling as she was back in Konohagakure, not some merged version like in this world. “Mommy….” Aella said softly.

When Spook spoke suddenly of a change in plans, of heading to Konohagakure to check things out for himself her attention snapped to him, as did Lil’ Bai’s. “Take me with you, please! I haven’t seen my mommy in a very long time!” She knew better than to attempt to make the journey alone: not that she expected anyone to allow her to go walking out of the tower by herself regardless, but if she made the journey there with Spook then surely no one could complain, and she would be able to see her mother.

Lil’ Bai took that moment to fall backwards; as his fur covered form hit Aella he seemed to be absorbed right into her; his way of returning to residing within his host. Aella couldn’t help but giggle: the process didn’t hurt, and in fact tickled quite a lot. “That always tickles…”

Change in plans, then. Instead of Pacific City, Spook was going to Konoha. Jr understood him. They way it was told, the Konoha in their world was destroyed by a plague. if it were Edge or Sunset island that got wiped out, only to have it reappear years later, Jr would want to go back home too.

"Alright then," he said. "And i'll understand if you want to stay there too, but you can remain a Company member and go back and fourth as you want. I hope everything's just the way you left it Spook."

His father, Amaranth and Vigilante would be fine without him. They were already on the Super Freeway headed toward The Bridge, and if they continued on without any interruptions they'd probably be back before night fell. Jr knew that unfortunately things didn't always turn out that easy though...

Spook nodded his head. He'd get to go home and become a proper shinobi again, and also remain a member of The Company for whenever he wanted to return to Edge. he couldn't quite still believe this was happening, and expected it to be some sort of trap, Still, he had to go see for himself.

"Thank you, Jr," said Spook, lifting Aella from her seat and waving while walking toward the door. An elevator ride later, and they were on the ground floor. With the child on his back, Spook began running toward home...

[Exit]

Spook lifted Aella up and out of her seat and out of the office they went; Aella waving goodbye to Junior before they hit the hallway. A quick elevator ride later and she was on his back while he took off. She was going to get to see her mother who she hadn’t seen in quite a while and she was also going to get to see the legendary village of Konohagakure. Both of these facts caused a huge smile to be plastered on Aella’s face.

Even though Lil’ Bai was back to residing inside of her she could feel, mentally, the smile of excitement on his face too: both were anticipating this and hoped that the trip didn’t take too long. How fast could Spook run? They were sure to find out.

[Exit]