Caterpillar

Let it go

"You're not such a bad guy after all, are you?" Naruto said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Batman narrowed his eyes at him.

Instead of replying, the blond man slurped loudly on a large number of noodles at the same time. It was Wonder Woman that answered his question:

"Behind that mean glare of yours, there is a nice personality hidden."

When Naruto made a thumbs-up gesture at her showing that her words were spot on, Batman's glare intensified.

The four of them were currently in the Chinatown district of Boston, in a Chinese restaurant. Batman had been the one to direct Naruto to that place after he asked if Earth had a dish known as 'ramen'. Thus, thanks to Batman, he was now in the middle of inhaling his 12th bowl of ramen. Even Batman's poker face began to falter at the sight of the ever-increasing mountain of empty bowls stacked on the table.

In contrast, the ever-gluttonous fox was not eating. Kyuubi was lying stretched on his back in Wonder Woman's lap, letting out quiet growls of content from the belly rub she was giving him.

Finally, Naruto put down on the table the 12th empty bowl and exhaled loudly in bliss.

"Are you finally done eating?" Batman asked.

Though his facial expression could not be seen due to his face being covered by his mask (even while he had been eating), everyone could hear the reluctance in his voice when he spoke:

"I would like to eat more...but it's enough for now. I can sense there are only 2 employees working in the kitchen at this late hour. I've already troubled them enough by ordering 12 bowls of ramen at once."

Batman and Wonder Woman looked at each other strangely. This guy was despicable enough to extort Superman of 4 million dollars but now he was worried about overworking 2 cooks at a restaurant? They did not know what to think of him.

Right at that moment, an alarming news report came up on the tv installed above the counter:

"A dangerous hostage situation is developing at the Federal Building in Metropolis. So far, the Ultra-Humanite has refused to speak with negotiators. A freak of science, the Ultra-Humanite is reportedly a genius who is also extremely dangerous [...]"

Batman and Wonder Woman jumped up to their feet. But although the situation was urgent, Wonder Woman could not help being amused when she saw that the fox cub in her lap had not fallen off when she sat up. He was still sitting perpendicularly on her lap as if he was glued to her thighs. Still, she could not afford to play around at that moment. She took the fox in her arms and handed him over to Naruto.

"Do not fry this tracker too. At least if you want to get your gold tomorrow." Batman said and handed Naruto a bat-shaped tracking device.

"By the way, if you need any help, I'm here. We can discuss the price later, based on contribution." Naruto offered while taking back a grumpy and unwilling fox from Wonder Woman's hands.

"No thank you," Batman said categorically. "We can handle this."

Then, turning towards the Amazon, he said:

"Wonder Woman, let's go."

⁂

"We don't need your help - he said. We can handle this - he said. Bwahaha!" Kyuubi laughed evilly from atop Naruto's shoulder.

Luckily, he and Naruto were conversing in their native language because otherwise, Kyuubi would have gotten into real trouble for making fun of the current situation like that. In front of them, Batman was lying on his back on a bed in the Watchtower unconscious, his body a sweaty mess. During the fight against the metahuman criminals hired by Lex Luthor, he had been bitten by Copperhead who injected him with his venom. Batman had almost died.