Complications

"Hm," mused Kakashi as he re-entered the Hokage chambers. "That didn't go so well."

Yamato was only a step behind him. "It could be worse, Hokage-sama. At least we didn't waste many men on it."

"Not in comparison to the other villages, no. But that's not what's bothering me." Sighing, Kakashi took a seat at the desk, propping his feet up on it. "What's bothering me is how Madara apparently knew we were coming and was able to not only vacate the base but construct an elaborate trap like that. And then there's Kabuto..." Shaking his head, the Rokudaime cast a longing look at a certain drawer in the desk. "It's disturbing, to say the least."

"He can't always know what we're doing. We'll stop him yet."

"Perhaps. But it's an unsettling trend." A final shrug announced Kakashi's intention to drop the subject. "Still, as you say, we didn't lose nearly as many nins as the other villages did. Scarcely ten ninjas, really. Though of course, between Pain's attack and the Sasuke fiasco, we can't really afford to lose even THAT many."

Yamato gave a nod of assent and for a moment the two fell silent. Unbidden, Kakashi's single eye sought out a familiar picture on the wall. Noticing, Yamato followed his commander's gaze and found the same picture.

"Are you sure they're alright?" He asked after a moment.

Kakashi's eye crinkled in a smile. "Oh yes. If Sasuke was dead I'm fairly certain Madara would know somehow. After all, he's not about to lose track of such a valuable part of his plan. And if Naruto was dead... I'm pretty certain I'd know."

"And they'll come back?"

A shrug. "They always do. To be honest, the only one I'm really worried about is Kiba. With his dog stuck here, he won't be able to perform most of his jutsus."

#

"So what's this 'patrol' thing we're doing for?" Kiba asked as the four sped across the rooftops. "Are we expecting an attack or just guarding against intruders?"

Frowning, Cyborg considered how to answer. "Eh... both, kinda. On the one hand, we did hear of a disturbance downtown, but on the other, that might turn out to be nothing, so if something bigger comes up we take that."

"We're not really guarding against... intruders, though." Beast boy offered, switching from gorilla to bird momentarily. "We're just looking to put down criminals. Nothing so military as what you're thinking."

Neji gave a quick nod to show his understanding. "A form of specialized police. The Justice League explained to us their standard protocol, I assume yours is similar?"

Cyborg and Beast Boy exchanged glances. "We don't really... bother with a protocol." Cyborg admitted. "We just basically find the nasties and start bashing."

"I like you guys already," grinned Kiba.

"Well, that's maybe a bit exaggerated. We kinda play it by ear, I guess. Go with what works." Cyborg shrugged.

"Don't worry about it too much." Beast Boy offered a wink to their followers. "Sure, you're new at this, but you'll pick it up in no time. Just follow our lead and you should be good. You guys can handle yourselves, right?"

Another short nod from Neji. "I am capable of defending myself. Kiba, how are you without Akamaru?"

"Decent," growled Kiba. "I mean, I can probably only do half my jutsus, but half of totally awesome is still awesome, right? Besides, I've already fought some of the lowlifes here. They're total pushovers. No strategy to it at all."

#

"Yesterday's game was extremely interesting, Mr. Nara." Shikamaru glanced up at the deep voice of his captor. "I'm rather surprised at how quickly you picked up the principles of chess."

Managing a nonchalant shrug, Shikamaru replied, "It's kinda similar to shogi. Wasn't too hard."

"Ah? You are familiar with shougi then? Perhaps then, to even the playing field, we should switch to that..."

"Nah, I can deal." Shikamaru tried to ignore the rising feeling of wounded pride. "Just another challenge, I'll pick it up pretty quick."

A low chuckle came from the bald man. "You're quite the ambitious man, Mr. Nara," mused he, rubbing his chin.

Another shrug. "I'm bored."

"You may be bored, but I'm rather busy, Mr. Nara. I really can't spare the time for more than one game a day. Perhaps some of my assistants would like to entertain you."

"Whatever. Are we playing today, then?" Cocking his head, Shikamaru glared at the bald man.

"Of course we are, Mr. Nara." The white wall before Shikamaru lit up, glowing with the checkerboard-tapestry of a very old game. "I shall play black again. As you went first yesterday, I believe I shall play first today. Pawn to G4..."

#

"Dr. Light? You gotta be kidding me." Staring down at the pandemonium in the square Cyborg gave a bit of a grin. "Well, at least you guys get a nice easy start. Dr. Light is maybe the biggest moron this side of Mondo."

Beast Boy gave a snort of agreement. "You think he'd know better after the pounding we gave him last time."

Returning Kiba's glance, Neji offered a shrug. From here, all he could see was a scene of mass confusion down in the square, largely centered around a man in an outlandish costume. The man was declaring at some length about how he would destroy the city and dance in the ruins.

"Something weird about all this, though... setting up shop in public isn't really his style." Cyborg frowned.

"Yeah." Matching Cyborg's frown with one of his own, Beast Boy cocked his head on one side. "And isn't he usually, like... robbing some place? Doomsday devices are kinda out of character for him."

"Perhaps he has learned since your last encounter?" Neji suggested.

Beast Boy rolled his eyes. "This is Dr. Light."

"Doesn't matter anyway," stated Cyborg decisively, bringing up his arm cannon. "He's a baddie, so we take him down. Yo! Light!" He shouted, his suddenly enhanced voice booming across the rooftops.

At the sound, Dr. Light glanced up, his eyes tightening in what looked like glee. "Ah! The Titans! So you've come, as I knew you would."

"We've done this before, dude. Spare us all some trouble this time and just step away from the doomsday thing."

"I think not." Dr. Light grinned, bringing up his arms in a battle pose. "Not this time. This time... I think I shall be taking revenge for the humiliation I have endured from you brats." As if just noticing, he frowned. "But where are the others? That Raven child especially... I have a GREAT deal to do to her."

Beast Boy growled.

"Seriously, dude, don't do this. You're just going to make things rougher on yourself in the end," reasoned Cyborg. "You really think it's worth going through all this for a little money?"

Something changed in Dr. Light's face. "Money?" A low chuckle issued from his throat. "No, this isn't about money. Not anymore. You see, I'm not quite as... harmless as you're used to."

Lasers exploded from the strange device behind him, lancing across the square, obliterating the wall beneath the Titans. Caught off guard, all four teenagers tumbled earthward, debris raining alongside them. All around the square, further explosions could be heard as lasers plowed through building after building.

#

"Dr. Light?" Superman frowned. "That could be a problem."

Shrugging, Mr. Terrific answered. "It's not the first time he's broken out of prison, Superman. He hasn't been an issue for quite a while."

"Perhaps not, but this sounds different—strangely devious for him. You say he's been out for a while?"

"Impossible to say how long. They only recently discovered that the Dr. Light they had imprisoned there was actually just a hologram. He could have left at any time... maybe he was never even captured at all. The Teen Titans WERE the ones to capture him, they might easily have made a mistake."

"Robin is Batman's apprentice," replied Superman, shaking his head. "He doesn't make mistakes... not like that, anyway. But either way, using a hologram like that is awfully sly. Too sly."

Mr. Terrific's eyebrow jerked upwards in interest. "You seem pretty worried about this, Supes."

"It's nothing." Superman answered, turning away. "Just an old problem, that's all. Now what else did you have to report?"

For a second Mr. Terrific said nothing and simply studied the Man of Steel. Finally, shrugging, he tapped the screen before him to bring up new reports. "J'onn has retired to his quarters for meditation, like you said. Question's... gone, he turned off his communicator, but that's probably just as well. Orion, from New Genesis, called back, he said they haven't seen any sign of Darkseid's return. He did note that they haven't had much communication with Apokolips recently, so he might have returned without them noticing, but I'm pretty sure that if Darkseid was back, we'd know it."

"Probably." Superman agreed. "What else?"

"We have representatives from the FBI, the CIA, and the UN downstairs talking with Green Lantern in hopes of better synchronizing the search. They sent us data regarding LexCorp activities in the years since the Darkseid invasion too, we've got some analysts looking through it. The wounded Leaguers are still recuperating, but Blue Devil has asked to speak with you. He says there's something funny about one of the ninjas. Also, Batman hitched a ride back to Gotham..."

"What?" Surprised, Superman's head jerked up sharply. "I thought the doctors hadn't cleared him for active duty yet."

"They haven't. He went anyway." Mr. Terrific's mouth quirked in a grin.

Superman groaned. "Bruce..." 

#

"What the heck is with this guy?" Cyborg shouted as he struggled to his feet. "He wasn't nearly this bad last time!"

Beast Boy struggled upwards, morphing into a monkey. "No idea," answered he. "But this is getting bad, dude. It's all we can do to dodge the lasers from that device-thingie. And he keeps deflecting any missiles we throw at him with that 'light shield' of his."

A whirring sound was all the warning they had. Cyborg leapt away just as a powerful lance of light shot through the space he had formerly occupied. Disappearing into a gnat, Beast Boy skillfully whipped around another, then sped over to Cyborg's shoulder. "Any ideas?" he croaked as he shifted into a raven.

"None." Cyborg shook his head. "First priority is taking out the big gun, obviously, but we can't get close enough to touch it. My arm cannon can't penetrate the shield."

"Could you call Robin, maybe?"

"Nope. Tried already, but communications are still down at the tower, and something's blocking my Titan Transmitter. Outside of flat-out running to the tower, there's no way to get the others down here."

There was another whirring noise and again they leapt away, just a second later than they should have. Cyborg nearly tumbled to the ground, clutching his leg as he did so. "I so did NOT need that." He muttered.

Both heroes tensed at a whooshing noise, but relaxed the next second as Kiba and Neji landed on the ground just ahead of them. Neither seemed to be breathing especially hard, but both were covered in dust and grime. A nasty burn across Neji's right sleeve indicated a near miss, and Kiba had a rapidly-forming bruise on his face.

"This isn't going so well." Kiba coughed. "I thought you said this guy was a pushover."

"He is, usually. Don't know what's up with him this time."

Shrugging, Neji adjusted himself into a defensive posture. "I am not familiar with your enemy, but I have made a number of observations. The lasers appear to fire at five-second intervals, and they..."

There was a whirring noise.

Another leap away, another leap together.

"...they seem to track our movements." Neji finished, slightly out of breath. "Fortunately they seem to give us sufficient warning to move each time. I believe, though, that they are using an optical tracking device... perhaps guided by this 'Dr. Light' himself."

Cyborg resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Yeah, we know."

"We gotta take out that big gun." Kiba grumbled.

"Again, yeah," nodded Beast Boy. "We were just discussing that. But Cyborg's cannon just gets deflected, and we can barely dodge the lasers at this range."

"Then perhaps we might use a distraction. How..."

Whirring. A jump. Another jump.

"Don't know if a distraction will work," Cyborg commented ruefully, "they can follow all of us as well as one of us."

"We need cover. Neji, do you have your smoke bombs?" Kiba glanced to the other.

"Some. I used a number in the fight with Sasuke. You?"

"I have a few left." Kiba shook a few orbs into his palm. "They ought to be enough to keep us hidden." A whirring noise made them all look up. "Right after this we all charge, okay?"

"But..." the ninjas leapt away and the Titans were forced to follow suit. "... that's not..." Cyborg sighed. "Aw crap. They're gonna die."

"Might as well try and give them some cover." Beast Boy shrugged, quickly shifting into a hawk and diving toward the erupting column of smoke that marked the ninjas attack point. Cyborg whipped out his cannon and began pounding away at the device, watching each blast get deflected away.

Dr. Light was staring straight at the smoke. "Science lesson, high schoolers!" he chuckled. "The term 'light' is used to encompass all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, including not only of the visible colors which one can perceive, but also the invisible ones, such as infrared, ultraviolet, and x-rays."

The lasers began to whirr as the smoke column grew. Dr. Light smirked. "And I can see in ALL of them."

#

"Quite a strong defense there. You seem to like to use your knights, Mr. Nara," observed Luthor.

It was starting to disturb Shikamaru how easily this man could read him. "Do I?" he answered carelessly. "They're useful, I guess, and pretty flexible, but outside of that I can't say I think about them that much."

"You're far too modest, Mr. Nara," chuckled the man. "Knights are an excellent piece for the experienced player to use, being both flexible and unpredictable. Novice players do not know how to use them. In this case, you've used your knights to build up a comprehensive and flexible defense. I'm almost impressed. Almost. Pawn to H7."

Drat it. Now his shielding line of pawns was broken, putting his queen in danger. How could the man break apart his defense with a simple pawn like that? There were any of seventy-nine different possible outcomes from the current layout of the board. Or maybe there were eighty-two. A few moments ago Shikamaru had only seen fifty-three possible strategies, and his captor had shown him the one he hadn't thought of.

Shikamaru wished he could think properly. He wished he could steeple his fingers and press them together. That always seemed to help, maybe it would clear his mind, help him form some kind of strategy. But, his arms being manacled down, he could only close his eyes and think as deeply as he could.

Though knights were his favorite, the queen was a powerful piece and could not be ignored. At the very least, he needed to make his opponent pay dearly for her. However, given the position, that was simply not possible. He needed to defer any action then, reinforce his queen with another piece. Not a knight, that would be too obvious, and his knights were in too critical of positions to move anyway. It would have to be something else.

Finally he opened his eyes. "Bishop to F10." He said.

#

Theoretically, Hinata was supposed to be helping on the repair of the Titan's Tower. Theoretically, she was. But she had neither the physical strength for heavy lifting, nor the skill for using tools, nor the right elemental affinities to be of any actual use. At the moment, then, her only role was to run tools to the different workers on the tower—a rather simple job, as few of the workers were actually using tools. So, Hinata had plenty of time to confront a topic that had begun to bother her more and more lately.

What is happening to me?

She didn't know HOW she'd helped Ino... indeed, she didn't quite understand what Ino had needed help with in the first place. But the 'metas' had started to treat her strangely after that, and even Sai and Ino had begun to look at her oddly. The most she could figure out was that she'd done something she shouldn't have been able to do. Still, she hadn't thought much of it before she'd spoken with the odd blue man.

"Ya mean ya don't know?" The man looked from one to the other. "That's funny. That's real funny."

"Wh-what do you mean?" asked Hinata again, glancing fearfully from Naruto to the strange man.

A shrug came in response. "Not sure, to be honest. It's just... the demon side of me is getting a really weird vibe from ya. Pretty different from the demon kid here, too. Not sure what it is I'm feeling, but it sure ain't a demon. That's why I asked, I figured you might know what it was, but if not..." Another shrug. "...than I dunno what to make of it. It's just sorta weird."

"Uh, yeah." Naruto was looking at the man now too. "You sure about what that? Hinata's not really the host of anything, so far as I know."

"N... no, I'm not." Hinata quickly agreed. "I'm not anybody special."

The man's eyes narrowed. "Not a host, eh? Or even with any weird abilities?"

"Hinata, you're the head of the Hyuuga clan. Or at least the heir. You guys can see chakra pathways and target them directly and all SORTS of stuff. You've got plenty of awesome abilities." Naruto grinned.

"That so?" Arching a demonic eyebrow, the man glanced at her curiously. "I'd like to see that."

Hinata hesitated a moment before weaving her fingers in a seal. "Byakugan!"

Instantly she could see everything. Picking out her friends was easy. Sakura was on the lower levels, talking with Sai and Ino. Chouji and Lee seemed to be wandering around the cafeteria area. Neji she saw about three hallways away... probably watching her. Kiba and Shino were studying something on a level above her. But all that was secondary to what was before her.

The man in bed was glowing. Not as a chakra network... there was no fine tracery of veins, no clusters marking vital organs, no tenketsu, nothing. His body simply glowed with energy. She couldn't quite call it chakra, it was... more, somehow. Red, and yellow, and shifting flames glowing all over his body.

There was more. Hinata knew there was more, something else in this room was odd, but what...

And then she saw it. It was her.

Light, similar to the blue man's, and yet very different, flickered over her skin. It entered at the pores and sliced through her body, she could even see it going up through her teeth and beaming out her temple to flicker out again. Her chakra network was still there... she could see that. But the strange white glow whipped around, over, and through her, penetrating and shielding her very being.

With a gasp she lost control of the Byakugan and suddenly was back to normal vision again, seeing only a somewhat confused Naruto and a slightly focused blue-scaled man.

"Hm." The man shook his head. "Nope. Didn't feel anything when she did that. Whatever's up with you, kid, it's nothing to do with your hereditary stuff. Must've happened when you crossed over to this world. Sorry I can't help any more th'n that, It's not like anything I've felt before... the closest I can say is that ya feel something like my trident."

Although also confused, Naruto gave a little grin. "I'll bet it's some awesome new jutsu ability. Wouldn't that be cool, Hinata?"

Hinata managed a weak nod.

"Hinata? Hey, Hinata?"

The voice of a very particular person recalled Hinata from her memory. "Ah!" she started, suddenly realizing her forgetfulness. "I... I'm sorry! Oh, I'm sorry! Wh-what did you w-want, Naruto?"

He shrugged. "Nothing much. The others are just going in for break, and it looked like you were kinda out of it, so... are you going in to eat or just sit out here?"

"N-no! I-I'm coming!" Scrambling to her feet, she jogged after Naruto towards the building's edge, preparing to leap off and join the others on the ground. At the very brink she paused to gaze out on the city that was to be her new home.

There, standing on the water about halfway between the city and the tower, was a tall man in a green trenchcoat. From this distance, she could just barely catch the brilliant red of his hair, but even so she somehow felt that he was looking her directly in the eyes. A small gasp escaped her as she stared out on the water.

"Hinata!" Again her crush's voice snapped her out of it. "You coming?"

Glancing back up, Hinata saw the man was gone.

"Y-Yes." She answered, desperately trying to calm the throbbing in her eardrums. "Yes, I'm coming."

#

"What the heck is 'infared light,' anyway?" Kiba screamed at Beast Boy.

"It's an... invisible light thingie!" Beast Boy screamed back. "It's like... a heat signature or something! You can see anything that's warm!"

"Well what's an x-ray?"

"It lets you see through walls!"

"Well what's a Gamma ray?"

"I have no idea!"

They were shouting because there was really no other way to hear each other right now, what with the explosions going off all around them and the both of them leaping through the air at high speed. A long charred mark ran along one side of Kiba's jacket, indicating a near miss from his earlier escapade. Cyborg and Neji could be seen on the other side of the square.

"So it's kinda like the Byakugan, then? Except like in one direction?"

"Sure! Why not?"

"Then we're probably in trouble!"

"I figured that out myself, thanks!"

The explosions were starting to lessen, and the two took advantage of the pause to leap over towards Cyborg and Neji. By unspoken consent, they did not stop this time, but instead continued running in a wide circle around the device. A substantial part of Neji's left sleeve was charred, but aside from that he was unharmed. Cyborg, by contrast, had a sizeable hole in his right side.

"Just fixed that." He grumbled. "Okay, so no more rushing the bad guy, okay?"

"Okay."

"We may have to at some point." Neji pointed out. "We just need to figure out a more... distractionary method."

"We've already been over this. Distractions won't work, the gun has auto-tracking. Cover won't work either, Dr. Light apparently now has omni-sight, or whatever you wanna call it." Beast Boy reminded them.

"Yes." Neji frowned. "You didn't mention he had that ability."

Cyborg shrugged. "He didn't last time we fought him. But, for future reference, auto-tracking guns usually have some kind of infrared scanner. It's just easier for computers to use. That's why we figured you guys would need help."

"The guns sense heat then?" Kiba frowned. "Why don't we make a bunch of heat for them to fixate on, while the rest of us rush in?"

Cyborg considered it. "Might work, except Light's guiding them too. He might see through it."

"Also we don't really have anything flammable around here," pointed out Beast Boy.

Furrowing his brow, Neji considered. "I think I may have a solution to both of the problems."

#

"Diana? You done smashing things in here yet?"

"Not by half." The Amazon grunted, wiping sweat from her forehead. "But come in anyway."

Shrugging, Shayera entered the room. "Was planning to. Figure you might as well try to hit a sparring partner instead of more ZA-trainers." She glanced around at the mangled robot bodies on the floor. "Say, if it'd make you feel better, you could tell the computer to make them look like that one pink-haired girl."

"This isn't about that." Wonder Woman turned and smashed in another robot head. "Or rather, it is, but it's not the girl I'm upset at."

"Sure," snorted Shayera.

"I'm serious." Diana replied, throwing the Thanagarian an annoyed look. "The girl was a dastardly dishonorable warrior who doesn't deserve to be a woman, but that's not the point. The point is that I lost to a dastardly dishonorable warrior."

"So?"

Diana sighed. "And that I lost in Gotham."

"Well what does... OH." Shayera stopped and pondered. "Oh. Damn. He's left already, I take it."

"Yes." Diana smashed in another head.

"He say anything?"

An annoyed huff came in reply. "To me? No. He just made a general comment about how he needs to get back to Gotham City to repair the damage."

"Ouch."

"Exactly. He refuses to actually tell me I failed, because he more or less thinks it was inevitable." One smooth fist barreled forward, sending a robot body flying across the room. "I am the princess of the Amazons, the chosen warrior of Athena, I shouldn't have to put up with his... his... deMEANing manner!" A particularly strong punch shattered another robot into tiny bits.

Curiously, Shayera grinned. "And yet, you do."

"That's not important. What's important is... is... is..." Diana stopped and for a moment just stood there, panting slightly as the robots obligingly backed up. "I've been trying to get into that city of his for YEARS, Shayera. The whole League has been trying to convince him to let us help there. And finally, the one time he lets me in there, I get captured by a few dishonorable striplings with no honor or talent! The same ones he defeated a few days ago!"

Shayera said nothing.

"He'll never let me in again." Diana muttered softly, almost to herself. "He'll never let ANYONE to help in Gotham anymore, because this'll just validate his... his... STUPID, ARrogant, EGO-CENTRIC belief that only HE can save Gotham!" Several robots exploded apart in a burst of anger.

"Men are like that." Shayera agreed.

"I shouldn't have to deal with this." Wonder Woman sighed.

Shrugging, Shayera crossed her arms. "So don't. Fly right into that little trash-heap and show him he's wrong."

"Not that simple." With a wry smile, Diana signaled a new wave of robots to advance. "Flying in there would just make things worse right now. He'd view it either as an invasion or an insinuation that he can't handle the city with third-degree burns all over his body."

"He can't."

"Since when has that ever made a difference with him?"

"Hm. True."

"Even if he didn't view it as a direct insult, he still wouldn't change his opinion of me or Gotham." Diana sighed, smashing through the last robot in line. "He'd just view me as a hindrance to his work there. If my time there hadn't been such a complete failure, it would be one thing, but as it is..." With a wave she shut off the simulator and it returned to normal. "...as it is it'll take nothing short of a miracle to make up for it."

The two women stood there for a moment, lost in the silence of contemplation. Finally Shayera proffered her mace. "Wanna do a short round in practice Room 8?"

"Hera yes."

#

Where did those brats disappear to now? Dr. Light scanned the battlefield with annoyance. His guns, his wonderful guns, could still track them at this range, but it was slightly harder for Light, even with his several-wavelength vision, to pick them out amidst all the rubble. In all likelihood, they were still running like scared rabbits in a desperate attempt to dodge the guns.

Dr. Light just barely suppressed a smirk. The idiots honestly thought they were dodging the guns? Lasers, by nature, traveled at the speed of light. You barely even needed to lead a target to hit it properly. The computers aboard his wonderful cannons were as capable of making such an alteration as of simply alternating guns to eliminate the five-second interval that was saving the hapless heroes.

No, the so-called heroes were not actually dodging the lasers. The lasers were just playing with them. These 'Teen Titans' would die when Dr. Light was ready for them, and not a second before.

For a moment he wondered if he should wait until the other Titans arrived. It would be SO much more satisfying to kill the teammates in front of each other. He'd save that Raven one for last, make her watch as he killed the others one by one. But no... he shook his head. Fun was fun, but at the end of the day, he had to get things done. The League might show up if he dragged this out too long. No, best to kill them and get it over with.

A sudden whirr from the guns aroused his attention. Something new was happening. Yes, he saw it now, the Titans were making a straight dash up the center, once again trying to hide within the smoke from the crashing buildings. He could see them, all together in one blur of infrared. Smiling, he altered the settings on his guns. Not kill... oh no, not now. Capture. He'd not let this foolhardy attack speed up his plans any. He'd kill them in his own good times. As the whirring of the guns reached their apogee he could scarcely contain his glee... at last!

But why weren't they even dodging?

The lasers fired as one, striking the single point with deadly accuracy. The heat generated on impact blinded his infrared vision, he switched to x-ray...

...and watched in disbelief as two of his assailants exploded into smoke, while the third spun around rapidly, seemingly unharmed. The smoke cleared away to reveal a tall pale youth with long dark hair, shielded by a whirling ball of energy. Several still-burning torches lay at his feet.

A cry caused his head to whip up rapidly, seeing a huge green eagle sweeping toward his precious guns. His hand shot up, and a burst of light knocked the eagle from the sky. Catching a blue glow, he whirled around again to see the robotic one preparing to shoot his cannon. Another burst of light knocked him off balance, sending the energy beam streaming harmlessly into the sky.

He didn't see the leather jacket-clad nin who whistled over his head and tossed three kunai at the heart of the machine. He did, however, hear the ping as they bounced off the solidified light shield.

"Oh c'mon!" The ninja had exactly that long to complain before another solid shot of light knocked him off his feet.

"An admirable attempt, but ultimately pointless! Your feeble weapons are useless against me!" Dr. Light laughed. "You cannot break through my solid light holograms!"

"Solid light?" The tattoed one glanced over to the green boy. "How on earth does that work?"

A shrug was his only response. "I don't get it either, but that's how it works."

"My genius is beyond your comprehension!" roared Dr. Light triumphantly. "My mind has been returned to me, and it is all it ever was and more! Nothing is beyond my grasp! I can... what are you doing?"

This last statement was directed at the pale boy, who still stood before him, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "I have noticed," said he, "that your device contains a great deal of Raiton energy."

Dr. Light did not even have the chance to ask about the significance of that before lightning exploded out of the energy core.

#

"Dude! I didn't know you could do that!"

Neji, still panting, didn't bother to respond. Kiba volunteered. "If your element already exists in the nearby area, it's much easier to manipulate. That's why Earth types like me can have such an easy time of it."

"My guns!" A distressed cry re-awoke the heroes to their situation. Dr. Light, apparently having recovered from the blast of energy, was staring back at the destroyed machine with a mixture of sorrow and anger. "My beautiful guns! They're... gone!"

"Yeah, we were there." Cyborg informed the fallen supervillian, cocking his cannon into position.

Grinning, Beast Boy added, "I'd say we're sorry, but I don't really think he—" pointing to Neji, "—is, and I know I'm not."

"Time to head back to your cell, buddy."

A dangerous glint came into the doctor's eye. "Back there? Back to prison? I think not." Glowing orbs of energy began to surround his hands. "I don't think I shall be returning to prison for a long, long time. You've set me back, it's true, but I think what I have left is MORE than sufficient to deal with you... annoyances."

Kiba snorted. "Annoyances who just trashed your—" the rest of his sentence was cut off as a solid burst of light knocked him clean off his feet. Neji, still winded from two low-level Katon jutsus and one VERY significant Raiton manipulation, barely managed to block the next blast with his Celestial spin. Beast Boy and Cyborg managed to skillfully dodge the next ones shot at them.

With the annoying cannons gone, the fight began in earnest. Kiba was knocked out cold and Neji not in peak condition, but the two Titans felt they would be able to make up for their teammates. Both had fought Dr. Light before and had a familiarity with his basic tools.

However, they soon found that this was a much different Dr. Light.

#

"No, Sai, I'm hanging on to the forks and knives. AND the chopsticks." Ino glared at her pale companion.

"But how am I supposed to eat?"

"With a spoon, I suppose," snorted she in reply. "I don't particularly care, so long as you don't use anything sharp. I am NOT giving you any more pointy things to stab into your hand."

"Ino-san, you have nothing to fear from that quarter. My repeated experiments have convinced me, that, as physical pain has no affect on my surroundings, there is no point in continuing them. I acknowledge now that we are not in a genjutsu, but rather in a separate dimension."

Eyes narrowed, Ino studied him for a second. "You're not just saying that in an effort to subvert the genjutsu by pretending it's fooled you, are you?"

Sai offered her one of his widest, falsest smiles. "Of course not, Ino-san. May I have the forks?"

"No. Use your spoon."

With a nonchalant shrug, Sai turned back to his meal. Ino eyed him suspiciously for a few more moments before turning to her own meal with a sigh. Honestly, once he got an idea in his head, you couldn't drag it out of him with...

Darkness racing past—another face white in the gloom—walls shifting to ceilings—someone shouting—the face from before, its skin melting away to reveal the fangs and bone beneath—lightning-flash of the kunai—red splatter of blood...

"Ino?"

Sai was looking at her. "Ino-san, aren't you going to eat your potatoes?"

"Ah... huh." For a second Ino had stopped breathing. She took a few moments to glance around the cafeteria, note the others, the Titans, the food. Tentatively she felt the cold of the table beneath her hand. "Right... potatoes." She bent down to the plate, trying to hide the trembling of her hand.

Again. It had happened again. More vivid, more disturbing than the others.

The flashes had been coming to her since she'd woken up in that strange hospital. A few moments after being awoken by the dark man in the white coat, a few random images had flashed into her mind. Mostly senseless... a few people sitting in a wide room, writing things down... it looked like the Academy. But later, it'd happened again with Shino, just as they were lying in bed there—a few flashing images of pages in a book being rapidly flipped through, each image as vivid as it was transitory. And then Hinata...

Ino stopped and shivered.

Something wasn't right. The Yamanakas had always had a certain... detachment from their own consciousness, but this... her mind felt loose. Open. It was as if a tense muscle in her brain had suddenly relaxed and left a hole for thoughts to spill out. She'd never had this problem before, why now?

Maybe something was wrong with her chakra flow. She could have Hina... Neji look into it. He might be able to see what the problem was. Or perhaps it was something more biological, that Sakura could figure out. Maybe shifting dimensions had just strained her mind somehow and she just needed to rest. Yes, that was probably it. She hadn't really had much chance to rest—except for the first twelve hours they'd spent chained to beds. More rest, that was all she needed.

"Do you need more food, fellow non-earthling?" the cheery orange girl was back. Ino looked up to say no.

Darkness—cold metal on the skin—grunts, roars, echoing off of serpentine hallways. The jangle of a key as it hit the floor—walls flying past—a lizardlike face, crack of bone as his head bent back—green light—razors glinting on the wind—pain...

"Ino-san?"

#

"What the--?" Cyborg gaped at the new hole in his torso. "How'd you... that shot out of the streetlight!"

"True. A source of light, like any other. I merely control it and amplify it, oscillate the wavelength, and hey presto! A new laser!" Dr. Light smirked. "Not nearly as powerful as my wonderful guns, mind you. They won't kill you, just cause an intense burning sensation."

"Hey!" Beast Boy had found something else out. "What's with the flying laser balls?"

"Orbs, my good sir. Orbs. Light is... well, light, even when solidified. Child's play to manipulate and guide."

Another laser caught Cyborg in the back and he grunted in pain. "No biggie," answered he, wiping blood from his mouth. "So you've got some new toys. You always do. We'll just trash you. Like we always do."

"All things change, Cyborg. Just like I did. All things die. Just like you will."

"Like shit I will." Whipping around his cannon, Cyborg fired at the laughing madman. It bounced harmlessly off his armor, but the impact knocked him backwards several feet.

Glancing over, the doctor's eyes narrowed. "That's starting to get bothersome." His arm whipped out and lasers burst from his fingertips.

But already Neji had appeared in front of Cyborg. With a quick spin, he deflected the lasers away and tossed a kunai at their attacker—a kunai with a small note attached.

BOOM!

"Dude, you're crazy fast," observed Cyborg, watching the doctor fly across the square. "How'd that work, anyway? Exploding paper?"

"Tags. I'll tell you later."

"Whatever. Now that we've got some breathing room..." Cyborg aimed his cannon and shot down an entire row of street lights. "There. Less distractions now, should let us concentrate on the main target. How many of those paper thingies you got left?"

"Not many. And I'd like to save them for an emergency."

Although inclined to point out that this WAS an emergency, Cyborg simply shrugged off the refusal. "Fine. Look, see, if you can free up Beast Boy by taking out those laser balls. I'll keep Light off your backs."

#

"A surprising move, Mr. Nara."

"I doubt it." At this point, Shikamaru found it hard to believe that this man COULD be surprised, at least by anything within Shikamaru's skill range. He seemed to have every eventuality covered, every attack point guarded. Worse, he seemed to have geared both his attack and defense precisely against Shikamaru.

"Regardless, it's not something I would have expected from you. Pawn to C4."

"You love your pawns, don't you." Or rather, he didn't, he just liked to sacrifice them. Shikamaru felt the game was swiftly going downhill. Though he had a better feel for his opponent now, he could tell quite clearly that his opponent had a far better feel for him. And that unsettled him, for more than one reason. Could this game have an ulterior motive? He wondered. Is he using this game as an indirect form of interrogation, a way of deciphering my personality and weaknesses?

It was a fascinating concept, and Shikamaru resolved when he got home (IF he got home) to speak to his father about the possibility of using Shougi in interrogations.

And if he IS doing that. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, perhaps the best idea would be to reverse my strategy as much as possible. Shift my aggressive pieces to defensive positions, use my defensive pieces aggressively. It wasn't a bad idea. By this point, Shikamaru felt he was losing the game anyway. The best he could do would be to get a feel for how his captor reacted to other strategies, while at the same time throwing off his captor's psychological profiling (if that was what he was doing). He'd be in a better position to win the next game.

The first thing to do, then, was to move some of his bigger players to a holding position. "Knight to G10." He remarked

#

"Good to have you back, Master Wayne," commented Alfred as he pushed his master's wheelchair into the cave.

"Thank you, Alfred." With a wave of his hand, Batman directed the butler to take him to the computer. "Have you readied the exo-suit for tonight?"

Alfred's face did not stir. "I thought it prudent to wait until you could walk, sir."

"The entire point of that suit is to help me when I'm not at peak capacity," growled Batman, leaning into the computer as they approached it.

"That's nice, sir, but may I remind you that the suit is still a prototype, and, in fact, broke your leg the last time you tried it."

"The latest series of tests show it's been working satisfactorily." Batman began to type on the computer. "Further delay is not an option, I've been away from Gotham for three days already, I can't afford to take any more time off. I imagine crime's already at a peak."

"Actually, sir..." But Alfred's information was suddenly disregarded in favor of the images filling the screens. Images of newspapers. Newspapers bearing a very familiar image, and some rather provoking headlines.

Wonder Woman Sighted in Skies!

A New Face in Town: Is the League Moving to Clean Criminals?

Princess of Amazons comes to Gotham!

Dark Knight's New Partner!

Batman slumped over in the chair. "She didn't..." he groaned.

"Well how did you expect the lady to find the fugitives?" suggested Alfred respectfully. "One cannot search from a plane, after all."

"I didn't expect her to find the fugitives at all, Alfred. I expected her to sit still and wait until I returned."

"In short, sir, you expected nothing from her at all. I am hardly surprised she did not fulfill those expectations."

With a snort, Batman leaned back. "I suppose I should have known better. To expect someone like her to work within my rules..." He shook his head. "I should never have let her into the city."

"If I may, sir..." Alfred dipped past his shoulder and tapped a few keys on the console. A new series of images filled the screen.

Batman studied the screen for a moment. "That's unusual." He muttered.

"Unusual? Sir, I was under the impression that it was unprecedented for someone to stand up to Bane."

"Unprecedented for someone sane to do so, perhaps," snorted Batman. "This, though... a lone security detachment from the bank firing on him... this is definitely strange. Most people are simply struck dumb by his mere size."

"Observe the other articles also, sir. Socialites at a town party tackling Scarface when he attempted to hold them hostage. A bank robbery failing because the clerk simply refused to comply."

"Fortunate that the robber's gun was not actually loaded."

"Indeed. But I believe most robberies would have gone uncontested. The reports from the police station are worth studying also, sir."

Glancing them over, Batman made a small noise of interest. "Seventeen stool pigeons? One of them from Dagget's group, even. And two more unidentified visitors... most likely high-ranking gangsters going over also." He narrowed his eyes. "Why now? Why so suddenly? It's too convenient... a ruse, most likely—but how would you coordinate it with the rival gangs? A separate party, then, planting men in the other gangs to destabilize them at the proper moment. But who would benefit? Outside party... perhaps..."

"If you would care to read through the statements taken down, I believe you may find a more prosaic answer, Master Wayne," interrupted Alfred. "The criminals who turned themselves in seem to have been under the impression that a crackdown on the Gotham gangs was imminent. One of them used the term 'the jig is up,' I believe."

Batman took a moment to study the records. "Hm. I see." Frowning, he leaned back, considering. Thoughts flickered across his face.

"Pardon me, sir, there is one further matter. You asked about the crime rates, I believe." Another click, and a few graphs came on-screen. "Apparently there has been a sharp dip just recently."

Without saying a word, Batman's eyes traced the graphs, analyzed them, drew conclusions. Alfred patiently waited. The connections between the different points of information was easy to draw, he just hoped the master would be able to admit it. The deepening frown across Batman's face did not give him great hope, but still, surely he would recognize at least the possible benefits of the situation.

"Perhaps you will not be needed after all tonight, sir?"

Batman's gaze turned on his butler. "Prepare the exo-suit, and run it through a few more simulations if it makes you feel better. Contact Batgirl too."

A sigh. "Very good, sir."

#

"Aw yeah? Take some more of this! And this! And THIS!" Three blasts of pure crackling energy pounded into a quickly-formed wall of light.

Despite his brave words, Cyborg felt that the fight was going swiftly downhill. What with three holes in his chest, a burst fuel line in his foot, and a crackling wire in his head, he could barely keep ahead of some of the nastier shots being levied at him. He could only continually give back ground and hope that Dr. Light would ignore Neji and his fruitless attempts to destroy the light orbs chasing Beast Boy. In retrospect, sending the short-range specialist to handle the flying stuff hadn't been the brightest idea.

Still. Give ground and move back. If he could keep it up long enough, he might be able to get back to the bay and get reinforcements from Robin and the others. And at least now that Dr. Light was back to using the old-fashioned solid light stuff, no more buildings were crumpling.

"And here's one last one!" Again Cyborg fired his arm cannon, and again it had no effect. He felt his energy levels drop and realized he couldn't afford many more blasts like that.

Dr. Light laughed, something he'd been doing a lot of recently. "You know, I never realized before how FUN you kids can be!" He shouted. "So proud of your petty little powers, so confident in your supposed prowess... so completely ineffectual!"

"Effectual enough to whoop your ass last time," muttered Cyborg.

The simple statement had an amazing effect on the mad doctor. "Silence!" He roared. "I was another man then... broken, blinded, barely half of what I am now!" Swiftly he raised both fists. "Now what I lost has been returned, and I am able to correct those former humiliations!" His hands began to glow.

Aw shit, thought Cyborg, I think this is going to hurt.

And then a sperm whale fell from the sky and landed on top of Dr. Light. Though confused as to it's origin, Cyborg promptly decided that it was the most amazing and beautiful sperm whale he'd ever seen. And green too! Who cared if it smashed through the ceiling and two floors, it was still... just beautiful. Cyborg even said as much to Neji as he came running up.

"Yes. Yes the Sperm Whale is quite impressive." Neji nodded, face stone serious. "However, I doubt it will remain that way for long, and it would be best if we..."

The rest of Neji's words were cut off as said sperm whale came flying back up, morphing into a monkey and then back into Beast Boy as it landed next to them. The next second Dr. Light leaped up onto the roof, glaring at the group of them. Cyborg was distressed to observe that although roughened, his armor appeared largely untouched. "So the others have returned, I see." He nodded, panting slightly. "No matter. I shall destroy you all together then."

"I think not." Neji's eyes narrowed.

"Neji, don't...!" But it was already too late. Neji leapt across the roof toward their assailant, straight into a solidified light lasso. It tightened around his neck, reared up, and suspended him above the ground, swiftly constricting. Neither Cyborg nor Beast Boy had time to think as they shot forward, the roof racing beneath their feet. Dr. Light noticed them just a second too late and shot out a new set of lassos. Beast Boy he caught, Cyborg he didn't.

"Raargh!" Two pounds of plasto-steel compound smashed into Light's face, knocking him off his feet and into the air. Both light lassos dissipated from the shock, and their two prisoners landed on the roof as Light plummeted from the building.

Beast Boy cocked his head. "...what happened to his light shield thing?"

Cyborg shrugged. "The personal one must only work against energy weapons."

"Curses!" Dr. Light once again shot into view, clear on the other side of the building. A portion of his armor had folded outward and now shot a stream of energy earthward, keeping the doctor aloft. "You shall pay for that indignity!"

"A jetpack? When the heck did you get a jetpack?" gaped Cyborg.

"Ignorant fool! This is not a jetpack, it is a mega-light projecter that pushes me off the ground using waves of solidified..."

That was when Neji's kunai flew straight into said mega-light projector. The backpack sputtered, fizzled, then exploded, sending Dr. Light tumbling to the roof. Although he saved himself from a complete fall with his wrist projectors, he was clearly drained, and his armor was looking worse than ever. He attempted to shake it off, hissing, "You shall not defeat me."

"Hate to break it to you, Doc, but it kinda looks like we just did." Beast Boy shrugged. "I mean, okay, you still got your powers, but you've used up most of your little toys, and we've still got plenty of fight left."

"You misunderstand me. I cannot win, but you shall not defeat me." With a wink, Dr. Light disappeared from the rooftop. "Adieu, so-called Titans."

"What the..."

"Manipulation of electromagnetic field," muttered Cyborg. "I can't see him with my robot eye either."

Neji's eyes pulsed with chakra. "Byakugan is ineffective also." He confirmed. "Curious... usually it can penetrate such simple genjutsus."

"What the..." Spluttering, Beast Boy nearly bounced with frustration. "But... but...but we can't just let him get away! Not after all this!"

Suddenly, something rushed past them with a feral snarl. Cyborg had just time to recognize Kiba before he shouted behind him. "Follow me! This way!"

#

"Good to hear you're back on your feet, Robin." Aqualad's grinning face shone from the main screen in the control room. "After your communicators went down we thought that... well, we were about ready to send a search team when the League contacted us."

Robin offered a short nod. "I appreciate the thought, but next time you're thinking about that, be careful. The guys we had here were WAY past our class."

"That's what the League said too. Well, okay, what they said was that we should stay out of the whole thing and let them handle it." Aqualad's face hardened in irritation. "But who's going to listen to that?"

With a small grin, Robin nodded his agreement. "On that note... you said we weren't the only Titans to go off the grid. Who was the other one?"

"Kid Flash," responded the other. "Well, technically he's not really ON the grid, but... Jinx came in last week and said he was missing."

"What about his communicator?"

"Nothing. He's not answering and we can't locate it."

"The homing beacon isn't working?" Robin frowned. "That's odd. And... disturbing."

"To say the least. I've sent out a general order to all Titans on call to check in. Maybe it's just an overreaction, but I feel we should check to see if anyone else is missing."

"Good initiative. What results?"

There was a pause. "They're still coming in. We have a lot of members, Robin."

"True. Suppose we'll have to wait a day or so to be sure." Robin frowned a moment in thought. "Contact me tomorrow with whatever you have then, we'll see what we can do to locate any missing members."

Clearly incredulous, Aqualad arched an eyebrow. "You sure? You guys just had a near scrape yourselves, you don't want..."

"We've picked up some new manpower. It won't be a problem." Robin assured him. "Now what do you have on Kid Flash?"

"Not much. Jinx says he was working on a case of some kind... but considering the kid's detective skills, that can't be much. He was in Denver last we knew, but again, given his speed..."

"...he could be almost anywhere by now," finished Robin. "Problematic. Well, keep looking into it... I'd start from there and see what there might be that he might be investigating."

"Sounds good. I'll be in touch." A brief nod, and Aqualad's image disappeared.

Robin leaned back in his chair and sighed. New recruits to train, a base to repair, and a missing Titan to find. They'd be having a busy next couple weeks even if crime DIDN'T pick up.

Speaking of which, he thought, glancing at the clock, where are Cyborg and the others?

#

"Holy cow, man!" Cyborg panted. "You can smell him from all the way over here?"

'Here' was a deserted road leading out of Jump City. 'Him' was Dr. Light. 'You' was Kiba, still leaping along at great strides, his nostrils wide and flaring. He did not bother to turn or reply, but Neji did it for him. "Yes, he can. Stay on his tail."

Cyborg resisted the obvious pun and kept running. These ninjas could move crazy fast, like faster than Robin on a good day. Beast Boy, now in wolf form, could keep up well enough, but Cyborg had significant difficulty. Already he could feel his energy ebbing. I really should have fully charged before going out on patrol. He reflected grimly.

Suddenly, with a fresh growl, Kiba gave an enormous leap, claws outstretched. They raked across the air, electricity sparked from them, and the next second, a fully visible Dr. Light stood before them.

With another roar, Kiba attacked him, but he had scarcely got in three blows before a burst of light blew him away into the nearest building. Groaning, Kiba collapsed to the ground. Close on his heels, Beast Boy galloped forward, but another light lasso sprouted from the doctor's hands and tightened around his neck. It lifted him off the ground and hung him in the air, heels kicking as he gasped for air.

"If I am to be defeated..." Light hissed, "...I will at least take one of you with me!"

Neither Cyborg nor Neji had time to think as they shot forward, the street racing beneath their feet. Dr. Light saw them, but he had only one hand to attack with. Cyborg he caught. Neji he didn't.

With unbelievable grace and fluidity, Neji shot under the man's second attack and delivered a blow straight to his midsection. Dr. Light stiffened, coughed, and fell over.

Standing, Neji gave a short bow to the fallen villain. "A worthy battle," was all he said, and then turned to Beast Boy. "Are you well?"

Gar, gasping for air too hard to properly answer, managed a small nod.

"Good." Neji walked away, toward Kiba's prone form, and began to administer first aid. Cyborg growled. Although he didn't pretend to understand how, exactly, the ninja had paralyzed the man with one stroke, he still felt he should know enough to guard the prisoner. Pushing himself to his feet, he joined Gar and gave him a little pat on the back before turning to Dr. Light. "Time to go, Light," said he brusquely, reaching over to handcuff the doctor.

Suddenly he froze.

"Cy? What's wrong?" asked Beast Boy, oblivious to the blood seeping from the villain's mouth.

"He's dead."

#

"You killed him."

The pale-eyed boy seemed a trifle puzzled by the question. "Yes...?"

Robin groaned and pressed his hands to his head. "We don't... you weren't supposed to do that."

"Oh. He was required for interrogation, then? I apologize, but I was not informed of that prior to this operation. I assumed termination was the objective."

"Termination is NEVER an objective. Not with us," glared Robin. "We don't kill."

Once again Neji seemed puzzled. "But... the nature of the fight necessitated lethal action. Cyborg..." he gestured to the glowering teen in the corner, "...knocked him off a ten-story building, I assumed the intent was to kill him with the fall."

"Well yeah, but..." Cyborg spluttered. "Dude, we knock people off buildings all the time! They just never actually fall, they always catch themselves!"

"So it was a distractionary measure?" Neji blinked. "But I thought you didn't know he had that jetpack. And Beast Boy destroyed it shortly after, he could have died from either of those falls."

"Dude, the point is that a fall NEVER actually kills anyone."

"Yes they do. I've killed several people that way."

"The point is," Robin interrupted, massaging his brow, "that neither Beast Boy nor Cyborg actually meant to kill Dr. Light. You did."

"Yes." Neji nodded, the puzzled look back on his face. "I was under the impression that he was an enemy of the village and must be apprehended or eliminated. Given the proximity of the threat to my teammate, lethal force was the only option."

"How'd you do that, by the way? I thought you targeted internal organs through their chakra coils?"

Neji turned to the Sakura, who stood beside Naruto in the other side of the room. Both of them looked more confused than disturbed. "It is true that generally I use the chakra coils to determine the positioning of target organs. However, I can, if necessary, rely on simple anatomical knowledge. Organs are, after all, generally consistent in their placement."

"That's pretty cool." Naruto grinned.

Robin closed his eyes, trying to ward off the feeling of impending doom that enveloped him. "Look." He said carefully. "In our line of work, you're not supposed to kill, understand? Not by accident, definitely not by intent. Regardless of the circumstances, you do NOT use lethal force."

"Why?" All three ninjas looked confused.

"You... you just don't!"

"We're not the ones to make that call," supplemented Robin, adding a nod to Cyborg's statement. "We capture, but we leave it up to the populace to try and sentence the criminals. Not us."

Neji frowned. "You try and sentence people who attack whole cities?"

"Seems kinda backward." Sakura nodded. "Attacking cities... that's not just crime, that's war. In war, you can't hold back against an enemy or you'll die. Unless, of course, you're incredibly more talented than they are, but that doesn't seem to have been an issue here."

Apparently more sympathetic, Naruto hesitantly offered, "I suppose... putting it before a trial WOULD keep people from holding grudges... from perpetuating the cycle. But the risk—it doesn't seem worth it, really. I mean, if you're pretty sure the civilians are going to execute him ANYWAY."

"Actually..." Robin exchanged a glance with Cyborg, "...generally our society tries not to execute criminals either."

You could have heard a pin drop in the room.

"WHAT?" Sakura finally managed to screech. "You mean you have tons of these... dangerous, homicidal maniacs out there and you don't DO anything about them?"

"We lock them up. Like the League did with you." Robin said.  "Which, if they'd followed Neji's strategy, would have ended a lot more bloodily." He shrugged.  "In any case, we as the Titans don't decide what's a crime or how it's punished. You're free to complain about how the people run Jump City, but we don't kill."

"Oh my word." Sakura muttered. "You people are just..." Shaking her head, she finally let out a huge sigh. "Whatever. We're in your place, we follow your rules. I'll let the others know, we'll do our best not to kill anyone from now on." As they began to file out, she paused at the doorway. "Is this... going to cause any problems, by the way? Will Neji have to do parole or anything?"

Robin and Cyborg again exchanged glances. "I don't think so." Robin admitted. "According to reports, there were a number of people who died in those buildings he destroyed. The League might get a little angry—this is a big thing with them—but the city will be able to accept his death as an accident."

"Good." Sakura passed out the door, and Cyborg looked to Robin one last time.

"Keep an eye on them for the moment," sighed Robin. "Tomorrow we'll hold a full briefing and make sure everyone understands the hero rules. I don't think this should actually be a problem—there wasn't any malice involved—but that's the kind of misunderstanding I only want to happen once."

"You're just gonna let white-eyes walk, then?"

"Not much else I can do, right now. There's not really a legal case, the city won't complain at all, and considering the situation, the action is excusable. He did save Beast Boy's life, I can't overlook that. Plus..." he grimaced, "from a tactical standpoint, they outnumber us, so with relations like they are, the last thing we want is more strain." He sighed again. "The most I can do is tell the League and let them deal with it." Once more he glanced up at Cyborg. "You just do your job with security and I'll do mine with public relations, okay?"

"Yes sir."

#

"A good game, Mr. Nara."

"For you, maybe." Shikamaru grunted. Losing to his dad wasn't so bad, but for some reason losing to this guy really irked him.

"Oh, come now, Mr. Nara. It took me nearly twenty more moves to defeat you this time. And whether you believe it or not, I truly enjoyed the game." The bald man smirked. "You are a most... fascinating opponent. We must do this again sometime."

For a brief moment Shikamaru considered rejecting the proposal. After all, he only seemed to lose, and if he was right about the man's ulterior motives, playing further games could be dangerous...

Boredom won out. "Sure. Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow it is, then." One last smile, and the wall faded back to opaque white.

#

In the dark of the control room, a screen flickered into life. "This had better be important." A familiar figure snapped.

"Test driving the new exo-suit, I see." Amusement glimmered across Robin's face. "Seems a bit dangerous, Bruce."

"What're you calling for? Decided to take up my offer?"

"What, that? No," snorted Robin. "It's not like you actually wanted me to take it anyway."

No one except Robin could have detected the hint of pride on Batman's face. "So you figured it out, then."

"I can't always tell when you're manipulating me, Bruce, but that attempt was rather obvious. Giving me a light sketch of the visitors before outlining our dilemma and deliberately antagonizing me..." Shaking his head, Robin allowed himself a small smile. "You must've been in a hurry."

"I was. The scheme would only have been believable while the girl was present to hear our argument." Batman's face had resumed its immobility. "So. To return to my original question, what are you calling for? Hoping to impress me with your detective skills?"

A snort came from the teen. "As if. No, I was hoping to deal with your insecurity issues."

"I wasn't aware I had any."

"That's the issue. You should. There's a small handicap to your plan, Bruce." Giving his best imitation of a Bat-glare, Robin leaned back in his seat. "You sent us soldiers. To do heroes' work. You DO realize the contradiction there, don't you?"

"I did, but I thought you could handle it. I take it I was wrong."

"Oh, I can handle it, all right, but one of you leaguers should've explained things to them better. I guess I'll have to clean up your mess, though. I'll talk to them tomorrow."

"How many did they kill?"

"Just one. Fortunately he'd gone homicidal and it was an in-battle situation, so legal problems should be at a minimum." Watching Batman closely, Robin added, "Funny thing though... he wasn't the sort to go homicidal. Dr. Light, one of our rogue's gallery. Generally harmless, but he did a number on the city this time. Said something about 'getting his mind back,' or so Cyborg tells me."

"Hm." Batman's brow knitted in concentration. "That's interesting."

"You're telling me. So is the fact that apparently the League has an auto-alert on his prison status. Dr. Light seems a bit... below their attention."

"Seemed, Robin. Past tense. Dr. Light is dead."

"Why'd the League keep such a close eye on him, Bruce? I've got a half-destroyed city here, I need to know where it came from."

Batman remained silent for a moment. "One of the League's old messes." He finally admitted. "We fought him once, back in the day. One of our easier battles, but still much worse than anything you kids have ever experienced."

"So." Robin nodded. "Dr. Light was really something back in the day, eh?"

A snort came from the speaker. "How did you think the moron you kids fought ever managed to develop light manipulation technology? He used to be a brilliant quantum physics scientist at Lexcorp, one of the most intelligent men they had there. One day, he just trashed the lab, killed his assistants, and went on a crime spree. Superman could catch him but not hold him. He called in the League and we managed to knock him out while we figured out what to do with him."

"So what happened?"

"J'onn figured out he was under Luthor's control... some kind of neural implant. He went inside Light's head and tried to remove it... didn't work out."

Robin frowned. "You're telling me the League turned Dr. Light into a vegetable?"

"Your team fought him before, you know we didn't.  But his... mentality was altered, yes.  J'onn didn't know the full extent of his powers at the time, or the effects they might have on a human mind. Dr. Light used to be a brilliant man—we hoped we could return him to that by removing Luthor's influence. And, with his powers, we weren't even sure if we could keep him imprisoned anywhere for long." Batman's image shrugged. "We made a mistake. A bad one, that none of us have ever forgotten. There's a reason why J'onn so rarely uses his mental powers, you realize."

"I suppose so." Robin's face was blank, calculating. "So how'd Dr. Light suddenly regain all that lost ability?"

"I don't know. Theoretically, it shouldn't be even possible. The League kept an eye on him just in case, but we felt sure he'd never be himself again. It's definitely disturbing to hear he somehow regained it."

"Before dying."

"Yes, before dying. Well, those are your answers, Robin. Now is there anything else, or can I get back to work?"

"Just one thing more, Bruce." Robin leaned forward in his chair and locked gazes with his mentor. "I made this call for a lot of reasons, but the main one was to let you know I'm wise to your game and that I won't play it with you. You're right, these guys need to be watched and trained, but I'm going to be the one responsible for that. We're going along with the plan, but we won't be used. No League interference. At all. Security feeds and any information I learn from them will stay here. Training, assimilation, and counseling are all up to me and my team, not you. I'm making this call once, and only once, to let you know I won't be doing it again."

Batman's face showed no change at all. "Good luck with that." The image flickered and disappeared.

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Author's Note: If you've been enjoying this story, I'd like to take a quick moment and promo my upcoming YA Contemporary Fantasy novel, The Nephilim Protocol

Far, far out from the coast of Alaska, at the very end of the world, tiny Attu Island crops out of the ocean, surrounded by hundreds of miles of freezing water. This is where the UN imprisons Nephilim, half-angel hybrids of stupendous power who once ruled the earth. Chad has just arrived, pulled from his high school after a near-mass-shooting brought his powers to light. But a strange disease is killing off the prisoners, and Chad and his friends must find a way to escape.

The story is due out Sept 7th, but for now, the first two chapters can be previewed on my author page, along with a number of other stories I've added!