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oooOOOooo
Hinata gasps as a chunk of concrete falls on the sidewalk right next to her. She dodges and covers her face as debris hits her legs. She looks up as a shadow blocks out the light.
A large, alien creature floats in the sky above. It looks like an unholy cross between a jellyfish and a turtle. Some kind of goo coats its skin and drips off the sides of its tentacles. A drop the size of a sedan falls onto the corner of a skyscraper. It sizzles and melts through the steel.
There is a flash in the sky and a loud yell. Kushina and her husband are flying through the air nearby. They quickly approach the alien.
This is a good sign. Hinata does not have to deal with this alone. She is a close-range fighter but cannot touch the thing due to the goo. Maybe she can help evacuate civilians.
Ducking back into City Hall, she heads to her office and desk. Her uniform where is stashed in her purse behind a locked drawer.
“Help!” someone yells.
She whirls around. A woman and a child are cowering in the doorway, looking at the empty building in shock and fear.
“The bunker!” Hinata gasps and rushes over. “You need to get inside immediately!”
The woman clutches Hinata’s arm. “Please, please!”
Hinata guides the two to the stairs, down three flights to the sub-sub-basement. She taps out her code on the keypad next to the heavy steel reinforced door. Once it lights up green, she grabs the wheel on the door and turns it with a great heave.
It opens just a bit. Hinata sticks her body in the gap. The policeman advances but stops when he sees her.
“Civilians!” Hinata says.
She steps out of the gap and ushers the two inside. The policeman reaches to grab her as well, but she gracefully slips out of his grasp.
“Hyuga!” he exclaims.
“I need my purse!”
She pushes the door closed before he can react.
oooOOOooo
The building is shaking as she uses her key to unlock the drawer. There is the sound of an explosion. Hinata braces herself in the split second before the shockwave hits her, clutching her purse to her chest.
Someone is thrown through the front glass doors, sliding painfully over the marble on their back until they hit the wall containing the elevator banks.
Before she can react, her Byakugan picks up on the fluorescent light above her coming off its braces and falling. A rope wraps around her waist. It pulls her towards the elevators. Two arms wiry with muscle wrap around her middle. They both lean and brace themselves against the wall to keep upright.
The building stops shaking, and the person lets her go. Hinata turns to thank her savior. She gasps.
Inky lenses look down at her. The man is masked in red and white with a hint of purple in the stitches of his uniform. The crest on his forehead gives him away even if his reinforced spandex did not.
The White Viper.
“What kind of idiot wears their sunglasses indoors?” his muffled voice asks.
Her thoughts scatter like all the papers on the floor. She does not manage to round them up before the White Viper pushes off the wall and practically flies through the building and out the front door.
“Hyuga!” someone shouts. “Hyuga!”
Hinata recognizes that voice. It belongs to the policeman.
“Here!” she calls with a trembling voice.
She deactivates her Byakugan, and the visible world turns smudged and confusing again.
The policeman rushes up and carefully lays his hands on her shoulders. “What is wrong with you?” he demands. “Why didn’t you come in the bunker? Your purse is not more important than your life!”
Hinata shakily reaches into said bag and pulls out a collapsible guide cane. The man sees the object and lets out a gasp. Everyone knows about the blind receptionist in City Hall.
“Shit, Sweetie, I didn’t even think. Fuck, are you okay?”
“I’m okay,” she says quietly, her head turned towards the entranceway.
Is the White Viper fully gone? Will he try to break into the bunker?
“Well, you’ll probably need your cane. Everything is all over the floor, but I’ll help you.” He shifts his grip to the elbow opposite of her dominant hand.
She unfurls her cane and lets him take her to safety.
oooOOOooo
Hinata does not see the White Viper for another few months. The next time she does, she is out jumping from rooftop to rooftop, patrolling the Hyuga section of the city. The night is mostly calm and tranquil. A car horn honks, and she smiles behind her mask.
It is as tranquil as such a large city can ever be.
Out of the corner of her eye, there is a bright flash of light.
Adrenaline rushes through her as she readjusts her course.
On approach, she can see what is happening. Two figures are fighting with each other, jumping, and dodging from rooftop to rooftop.
Hinata pauses and pushes into the shadow of a nearby water tank. Electricity and fire flash between the two opponents, intermittently lighting up the surroundings like falling stars or fireflies.
It does not take long to establish their pattern. The one with the fire is pursing the one with the lightning. The lightning Super is just trying to get away, only stopping to release a volley to put some space between them.
Hinata crouches and goes completely still as they get closer to her. She can now see their uniforms and masks.
Foxfire and White Viper are fighting.
As a Hyuga, this is her territory. No one should be bringing their fights here unless they are okay with being interrupted.
Also, she owes White Viper one. He did save her, even if it was not necessary.
Standing, she lobs a temporary chakra inhibiter. It hits Foxfire right in the stomach, and he falls out of the air. He lands on his feet on a rooftop.
Hinata runs before either man can look in her direction.
oooOOOooo
“You didn’t have to save me,” a deep voice says.
Hinata startles and whirls around. Behind her, White Viper stands on the opposite side of the rooftop.
“That… that was over a month ago,” she says dumbly.
He takes a step closer. His whole aura is menacing.
“I don’t need the Blue Lion getting involved.” He says her code name mockingly. It jars her out of her shock.
“You… You saved me. I owed you one.”
He stops his advance and jerks his head back in surprise. “No, I didn’t.”
His voice is full of offended shock. It is a little amusing.
“I wasn’t in uniform then,” she admits.
Suddenly, he is in front of her. He looms above her, but it does not scare her. He smells like ozone and blood, but a little like the weird smell of rubber and body armor. It calms her. He smells like an armory, like all Supers do.
“I don’t save people,” he growls. “In case you didn’t know, I’m the bad guy.”
“And now we’re even.”
The menace bleeds from his posture as he inspects her. She allows his perusal. Half because he is stronger and faster than her, and half because she is curious.
“Of course…” he murmurs. “You didn’t want to owe me.”
She slowly steps back, telegraphing her movements. She bows low. “Thank you. Now we’re even,” she repeats.
Thinking the conversation over, she turns to leave.
“Lioness.”
His voice stops her.
“I’m gonna be passing through,” he announces. “But I’m not here to stir up shit. Just trying to get from point A to B. My business is not in territory belonging to the Clan of the Fist. Tell your boss to leave me alone. Especially the Monk. I hate him and all his… hand business.”
She nods, amused at Viper’s explanation of Neji’s trigram technique. “We won’t bother you.”
He puts a hand on his hip. “Just like that? You have the authority to promise me?”
Neji made the Hyuga a collective. It is the Supers job to protect the Normals in the clan. The Normals do not serve the Supers anymore. As long as Viper will not harass the Normals, then her clan has no quarrel with him.
“Don’t bring trouble here, and my… boss… won’t need to confront you.”
“I can’t promise Foxfire won’t follow me,” he huffs. “Idiot thinks that just because we knew each other as kids…”
Oh, that is interesting to Hinata. She wants to ask. Right before she can, a building alarm goes off. She turns to excuse herself, but Viper is already gone.
oooOOOooo
Neji is quiet for a long, long time when Hinata brings him Viper’s request. But he agrees.
oooOOOooo
Hinata enters the document repository without turning on the light. It is useless to her. She has the layout memorized already. Humming, she runs her hand over the table in the middle of the room to orient her as she heads towards the row of file cabinets in the back.
Something sharp presses into her spine.
“Don’t move,” a harsh voice whispers. “Don’t scream or you’re dead. Got it?”
“Got it,” she whispers back.
She knows that voice. Enough to know she cannot relax. At least he will not recognize hers, as her mask has a voice synthesizer.
“Why didn’t you turn on the lights?” he demands.
“I’m… I’m blind, Sir. Partially.”
“Shit. Then why are you here with a bunch of papers?”
“They all have a Braille translation,” she explains as if she is speaking to one of the members of the visiting public. “Mayor Namikaze really cares about disability accommodations.”
He sorts. “I don’t care. I’m gonna walk you to a file cabinet and you’re gonna open it for me.”
“I don’t have the key,” she tries.
“Yes you do or else we wouldn’t be here.”
He marches her forward and then positions her where he wants her. It disorients her a bit. She does not know which cabinet she is in front of. Grabbing her key ring from where it is looped in the belt loop of her pants, she uses the other hand to reach forwards. With a bit of fumbling, she finds the Braille label.
Employee Files, it says.
Her fingers slide to the side and find the lock. She inserts the key, turns it, and is pushed to the side. He does not use much force, but she stumbles any way.
There is the sound of him clicking something. A sliver of light reaches her. Ah. A flashlight. Paper rustles, then pages slide against each other.
He does not say anything as he leaves. After she counts out a minute, she activates her Byakugan. For sure, he is gone.
She disables her dojutsu and walks to the still open drawer. Her fingers slip over the labels on each file folder. There. That is the missing one.
Once more, she uses her Byakugan to check.
Why did the Viper take Councilman Danzo’s employee file?
She hums. This is something she will have to tell Neji about. For now, she has to report the theft. She will not tell the police guards which file he took, however. That is something her clan will investigate.
The White Viper is up to more than just stealing files and causing mayhem. And Hinata will find out what he is up to.
oooOOOooo