"Look, White, I'm in the city right now! I can practically see... well okay, I can only see the smoke from the impact, but I've gotta be closer than anyone else right now! Lemme do this!"

Hinata didn't know exactly what the strange device in the woman's hand was, but she felt pretty sure she wasn't supposed to be talking on it while driving. At least, not driving the way the woman was. Since the second they'd seen the flying shape and the explosion, the woman had suddenly gunned the car,weaving in and out of traffic in a truly breathtaking fashion that made Hinata clutch the side of her seat.

"White, please. You know I can do these sort of stories better than ANYONE." A slight pause. "So? That just means I get the better inside story! Besides, the readers know... White? Perry, you still there?" The woman glanced at the strange device and frowned.

"Hello? Boss? I... Oh there you are. What..." The squawking sound from the cell phone cut her off. "What!? Superman? Okay, I am SO there, White. No, I don't care. Look, boss, you can send your own man in if you want to, but I'm going anyway."

"Fine. Okay then." The lady clicked her cell phone shut and returned her attention to darting in and out of traffic. "Right." She muttered, apparently deep in thought. "White said they were in the town square, so the fastest..."

"Ummm... Lois-san? What's going on?"

"What?" The woman jerked in surprise and stared at her for a moment. "Oh! Man, kid, you're so darn quiet I forgot you were there." She passed a hand through her hair. "Nothing much. Super-brawl downtown. Happens a lot. Still, it means a story, and with us this close it might just be MY story." Lois licked her lips and got an almost predatory look on her face. "Front page. With SUPERMAN. I tell you, kiddo..."

"So... we're going down to see it?" Hinata wasn't quite sure she liked the sound of that.

The lady glanced over at her and for a moment her eyes widened in comprehension. "Damn. Forgot about that. I don't suppose you'd mind going to see it?"

"W-well..." Though she'd been in plenty of dangerous situations—she'd nearly died several times—Hinata didn't really enjoy seeking out danger. Still, if it meant so much to Lois-san...

"No." Lois cut her off before she could reply. "No, that'd just be stupid. It'd be one thing if you were a reporter or something, but a kid like you... No."

"I-I could do it, Lois-san. If you really want t-to, we could..."

"Forget it. I've got a better idea." Lois wrenched the steering wheel, sending the small car whizzing between two trucks over to the side of the road. "Here," she said, reaching over and unbuckling Hinata's seatbelt. "Tell you what. There's a park over..." she gestured vaguely. "...over that way. Ketler Park. Just go over there and wait by the bench. I'll be back to pick you up." She tossed a smooth, glittering object at Hinata, who caught it almost automatically before recognizing it as the strange device from before. "If you run into problems, call me on my cell phone."

Hinata stared at her. "B-but... but..."

"No buts! C'mon, shoo, we're on a timetable here!" The woman nearly pushed Hinata out the door. "Now just stay in the park and don't wander to far, okay? I'll be back! Bye!"

And with that, the car shot off into the traffic, leaving behind a hopelessly bewildered Hyuuga.

#

How does he do that?

If he weren't so busy fighting, Naruto would have simply been dumbfounded by the jutsus at his opponent's disposal. Invincibility? Super strength? Lasers from his eyes? Flying, for Kami's sake?

Even more incredible was the fact that the man seemed to be doing it completely without the use of any chakra. Naruto couldn't sense a bit of it in the area, outside of the amount coming from the crumpled blue-skinned one. And he didn't have any kind of special weapon, like Kisame or that one girl had had. As far as Naruto could tell, the man was absolutely normal.

So how was he doing it?

A relative of Lee's? The man was wearing blue spandex, after all. AND red underwear, which was something even Gai didn't have the audacity to do. Lee could JUST about fly, with his speed and strength and everything. But this guy was... hovering. Not just shooting about like what Lee did, he simply floated above the ground. So how...

A pair of red beams burning a hole in his jacket cut off his thoughts. Again, the beams didn't hurt, but they were annoying and they were ruining the jacket. HIS jacket. Putting some energy into the rod, he shot forward, aiming a rasengan straight at his opponent.

A blur of motion and the man was gone. The rasengan smashed into the street, creating yet another crater amongst the thousands already marking the square. Following sage mode instinct, Naruto darted to the left, narrowly avoiding a massive blow from behind as his attacker smashed into the street, creating a crater to rival Naruto's.

How does he do that?

#

"You have one chance to surrender," the dark-caped man—Batman, Sasuke reminded himself—said flatly.

The audacity of the man. Him, the last Uchiha, surrender? To a chakra-less mercenary without even a decent name? 'Bat-man' indeed. Sasuke could discern absolutely nothing threatening in the man, except perhaps the obviously experienced way he carried himself.

Yet that in itself was a warning. Even if the man didn't seem dangerous, the fact that he'd taken out Suigetsu and Juugo meant that he was, and that Sasuke ought to respect him as such.

Proper respect had never been a big part of Sasuke's life.

Without even deigning to answer, he darted forward at the man, sword upraised, sharingan activated.

The thing that really annoyed Sasuke about the Sharingan was that, on the off chance you faced an incredibly skilled opponent, you could SEE yourself about to get hit and you wouldn't be able to do a single thing about it. Oh sure, you could maybe roll with the punch a little, harden your muscles or whatever... but the point stood—the Sharingan allowed you to see yourself get humiliated in slow-motion.

Two minutes into their fight, Sasuke had already seen it fourteen times. From different angles, in different ways, with different amounts ofperception. Some he didn't even see—he felt the blow come out of nowhere and jerked around just in time to avoid the follow-up. Kusanagi had gone flying away somewhere early in the fight, and though Sasuke knew where it was, he could not make the time to get over to it. Indeed, it was all he could do just to keep up with the flurry of blows coming at him. Sasuke did his best to copy the moves, but... they were so completely unpredictable! The attacks seemed to come from all kinds of styles, orientations, and philosophies. Sasuke could not see how the man managed to link them together.

Well, he could still do one thing the man could not. His fingers moved in a frenzy, he blew, and a fireball burst from his mouth.

The man's eyes widened, he threw something to the floor, and smoke erupted, obliterating Sasuke's attack in moments.

Sasuke stared. How... what had just happened? How had that man managed to defuse one of his fire jutsus?

The man seemed to be eying him also. "Tell me." He said. "Aren't you from Konoha?"

Something inside Sasuke turned cold. How did this man know of Konoha? They were in a different world, weren't they?

"Not anymore." He replied, dashing forward.

#

Sakura was really, really annoyed with this lady. Not only did she dress like some kind of night hawk, she seemed incapable of saying anything intelligible. A continual flow of gibberish came flowing from her mouth.

Of course, the fact that she was fast, strong, beautiful, and could fly kinda annoyed Sakura too, particularly at the moment as she was lying in a heap of concrete at the far end of the parking lot. Fortunately Lee, who had gotten back up, was keeping said annoying woman occupied with his Konoha senpuu. The woman had some impressive blocking skills, but she still had difficulty keeping up with Lee's flurry of blows.

Ignoring the pain, Sakura pushed herself out of the rubble and to her feet. She would be the first to admit that she wasn't the greatest fighter in the world. Naruto and Sasuke had always left her far behind in terms of power, and even Lee was, in many respects, a better fighter than her.

But Sakura WAS a better thinker than nearly any other rookie.

Since last night, Sakura and her team had been focused on retrieving Neji. They had decided sometime this morning that to do that, they had to get the man who'd caught him. And, under Sakura's direction, they had spent most of the morning turning this parking lot into one giant trap for that express purpose.

This woman had been doomed the second she touched foot in here.

"Get back." Sakura ordered Lee. "She's mine."

#

In any fight, Superman reminded himself, he needed to stay in control. When you have near-infinite power at your disposal, you can't go all out on just anyone. You need to work carefully, work up to your opponent's pain threshold, so you can make sure you don't accidently crush his skull or something.

At the moment, however, that control was hard to keep. Not only had this new meta badly mangled a League member, not only had he stolen another's weapon, he also seemed to be largely impervious to most of Superman's blows. Clark was trying to gradually increase the power, but it was incredibly tempting to just give the blonde teenager one solid hit and knock him down for good.

Heat vision had no effect. He'd tried ice breath, but the boy had dodged it. As a matter of fact, the boy had an uncanny ability to sense attacks coming from any angle. He seemed hyper-aware of his surroundings and constantly evaded projectiles and punches alike. Only by using his super-speed could Superman manage to land any hits.

Like just now. Superman's mighty fist grazed the boy's chin, with nearly an eighth of his full power behind it.

The teen went flying, but Superman cursed under his breath. When his fist had connected, he'd felt the blonde rolling with that punch. The meta may not have been able to stop it, but he'd still kept Superman from any kind of solid blow.

Regardless, it did relieve the tension somewhat to watch the orange shape go crashing into the building. Plumes of dust exploded from the building as the figure crashed through floor after floor, until finally the bottom erupted and the whole building toppled slowly to the ground.

It's a good thing they cleared out this sector after the impact. Superman mused. He narrowed his eyes as he saw a coughing figure emerge from the rubble. At the rate this guy's going, we may need more buildings.

"You've done enough!" He called to the teenager sternly. "Stand down!"

The teenager cocked his head. "Nani? Nani o hanasimasu?"

Superman blinked. A different language? Where had this boy come from?

Before he could complete the thought the boy shrugged. "Ja ne." He dashed forward, a glowing orb in his palm.

Quickly shaking out of his reverie, Superman shot a hundred yards away and touched his earpiece. "Terrific." He said. "See if you can figure out what he's saying and get a translator out here."

"No need." Came the reply. "I know what language he's speaking. It's..."

Out of the corner of his eye, Superman caught sight of the teenager breaking into a run, heading for the outskirts. "Superman out!" he roared, clicking the device off as he flew after the blonde. They couldn't have him leaving the area! More people were outside this area, they needed to contain the damage! Superman shot ahead of the boy and brought himself back to charge...

Straight into a massive glowing orb.

#

So far, Batman considered, things were going well. This kidnapper apparently had no interest in using Robin to coerce him. He seemed satisfied with merely trying Batman's ability against his own.

Batman could respect that. In fact, he could respect a lot about this boy. He was obviously a capable fighter in his own right and had lightning-fast reflexes. Not only that, but he had access to a wide range of powers which he used judiciously and rapidly.

One thing that he could not respect, though, was the boy's nature. Everything about this teenager practically radiated killer. He shot deadly fireballs and lightning attacks at Batman with ruthless efficiency, and more than once tried to send his sparking sword slicing through Batman's chest. His eyes were cold and unfeeling.

And those eyes... they were dangerous. Batman had a feeling they could do more than just see in the dark.

Altogether, this boy had perhaps the worst combination of faults and virtues. He was a flawless fighter, a powerful meta, and an unhesitating killer. Batman had managed to stay ahead of his attacks for the moment, but just barely, and eventually fatigue would take its toll.

Exploding pellets seem to disorient him, but not for long. He noted. Smoke pellets do seem to affect his vision, so distraction possible. Disables most of my standard weaponry—Batarangs, pellets—fairly easily, must have had practice. Most likely from battling Robin. Strong in hand-to-hand and long-distance techniques alike.

He bit his lip and considered as he dodged under a sudden burst of flames. Long-distance attack my weak point. However, hand-to-hand puts me in dangerous range of his meta abilities. Need to take down quickly. Best accomplished by combination of stealth and disorientation.

His plan devised, Batman reached into his belt, leaping away as lightning coursed beneath him, and threw a handful of pellets at his opponent. Unsurprisingly, the teenager leapt away, failing to recognize that the pellets were not armed.

Then again, how could he? Batman considered, tossing his REAL salvo at the in-mid-jump teenager.

Smoke erupted around the room, dense, clinging smoke. Batman threw himself into a roll, scooping up the unarmed explosive pellets he had thrown earlier. Two went whistling into the cloud of smoke.

Two explosions and a muffled curse. Batman dashed into the smoke. He'd missed the teenager, but now he knew where he was. The boy's heat signature glowed red in the eyes of his cowl.

A quick swing, and his fist met flesh and bone.

Position confirmed. Batman flew into a flurry of kicks and punches. I have to take him down now, follow up on my advantage. Mercilessly his fists flew, following the boy's every movement. He didn't have long, already he could hear the clicks of the sprinkler system, activated by the smoke from his grenades. Water will dissipate smoke, making stealth substantially more difficult.

Out of time! Batman dropped to the floor and whirled around. Take him out... NOW! His arm shot forward in a powerful blow aimed at where he knew the teen's head must be.

Solid bone met his knuckles. Solid bone, burning with fire.

#

"Great Hera!" Wonder Woman swiftly jumped away from an array of metal pipes that came crashing to the ground. Where did those come from?

"RRRRAAAAAH!"

Biting the thought off, she turned to face the pink-haired fury flying at her. The girl wasn't as fast as the green one, but she hit much harder. Diana whipped away from her sweeping blow and whirled around in a full roundhouse kick. It caught the teenager in the stomach and sent her flying. But why was she smiling?

Something slammed into Diana's back, knocking her over. She braced for the fall, recovered from it, and shot back up. A steel beam, she noted distantly. On a cable. The girl must have set it free by slicing a wire of some kind. But how...

A sudden flash of green caught her eye and she whirled around just in time to block a flurry of kicks from the very intense-looking one.

This kid... was something like dodging bullets. Except at point-blank range. She didn't get it, this kid had been challenging in the first few minutes, but not seriously dangerous. Then he'd suddenly taken something off his legs and now... Great Hera, where did he get that SPEED from? If he didn't fight in such an obviously linear fashion, she'd never have been able to keep up.

Suddenly she saw the other one... the kid in armor, heading toward her. As if by plan, the green blur moved to the side, letting the other one aim a punch at her.

Diana smiled. This teenager was much slower, and the green blur was now confined to one line of attack. Almost lazily she brought up her hand to block the boy's fist.

And then suddenly, the fist grew nearly three times as huge and plowed into her.

#

Something was going on, Neji decided. About half-an-hour ago the entire building had shaken, and whatever attendants there were had left the room immediately. Since then, only a few people had dashed in and out, mostly to check their vital signs and then dash out again.

Neji could sense other things too. Their room muffled sounds from the outside—a genjutsu, doubtless—but even so he could hear people running around and shouting.

Frowning, Neji considered. He didn't want to use his Byakugan here... it was too likely to be noticed and harvested. He'd only used it once before, to ascertain their surroundings, and he felt even that had been unwise. After all, regardless of the fact that his eyes were sealed and therefore useless for transplantation, the captors would doubtless still rather have an eyeless Hyuuga than a seeing one, however sealed.

There didn't seem to be any guards in the prison now, but Neji suspected they were still being watched—in fact, he would have thought much less of their captors if they weren't. He didn't want to risk it and yet... if something WAS going on, like an attack, they ought to be aware and ready to help.

Sighing, Neji leant as far forward as he could and looked over. Sai, the only one who still seemed to be aware, glanced back.

Neither spoke by common understanding, but Sai arched his eyebrows suggestively.

Neji nodded and closed his eyes, making the seal with one hand. Byakugan!

A simple look confirmed his initial belief—yes, something was going on, everyone in the building was running around and doing things—but it also told him something VERY unexpected.

Neji glanced over at Sai. "Naruto's here."

#

Yes! Naruto just barely refrained from doing a victory dance as he saw red-cape go flying across the square. It worked! A lucky guess, maybe, but it'd still worked. He'd noticed the guy had a strange propensity for head-on attacks, and guessed that if he was going to try and stop him, he'd pop up directly in front of him.

Boy had that paid off.

A fun trick, but too lucky to work more than once. This guy would be back up in a second, and Naruto'd be out of tricks. He needed to finish the guy off while he was down. Gathering chakra into his hand in a giant rasengan, Naruto rushed at the man's fallen figure. One hit to the head should be all it would take. If he could just get there before the man got up...

A wall of glowing green energy came out of nowhere, slamming into him.

#

Panting, Sasuke clutched at one eye while using the other to track the dark figure as it leapt back. Despite the pain, Sasuke allowed himself a dark grin. Finally. His malfunctioning Sharingan still annoyed him incredibly, but so long as his core abilities functioned, he could work around that. This man had unprecedented taijutsu skills and a wide array of bizarre weaponry, but before Sasuke's power he was nothing.

A fresh wave of pain tore through him and he gasped, digging his fingers deeper into the skin. Only a partial Susanoo, and still it hurt this bad?

"Looks like that ability of yours has its drawbacks."

Glancing up, Sasuke bit back a curse. How on earth had he... but of course, the flames had only caught on the man's glove, and anyone could shake off a glove. The man's knuckles looked somewhat singed, but outside of that he seemed fairly unperturbed as he circled Sasuke. The shower from above made a small mist rise on his cape. "From the amount of pain it seems to be giving you, I'd guess you can't keep it up forever."

"I don't need to." Sasuke growled as he allowed the shield to subside. The water was dripping all around him, too, but he ignored it. "It was just to give me some breathing room, not for me to hide behind. I can defeat you without even calling on my full powers."

The man did not react. "Interesting fire..." he mused. "Burns straight through asbestos, and the water isn't affecting it..."

"They are the black flames of Amaterasu," grinned Sasuke, giving his head a little toss, shaking off a few drops. "They are inextinguishable and all-consuming."

"Hm."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He did not feel the man was treating his power with the proper respect.

Before he could address the issue, however, the man had rushed forward and was again attacking. After the past few minutes of fighting, however, Sasuke had gotten better used to the man's rhythm, and was even starting to pick up on some of the moves.

"A quick learner, I see," commented the man as Sasuke blocked a kick with one of his own moves. He leapt into the air, spun over Sasuke's head, and planted a kick squarely in his back. "Not quick enough, though."

Grunting, Sasuke heaved himself to his feet, fingers already flying in a series of seals. Apparently the man had learned what that meant, as he was already dancing away.

"Katon: Gokyuu no Jutsu!" The fireball exploded from his mouth, searing its way toward the man, who suddenly stopped and smirked.

The fireball fizzled to nothing but steam before it'd crossed half the distance to the caped figure.

What? Sasuke tried not to gape, but it was hard. How had that failed?

"Water sprinklers," stated the man on the other side, pointing up at the ceiling as if Sasuke hadn't noticed the before. "Makes things difficult for your little fire-breathing trick, doesn't it?"

Preposterous! Granted, Sasuke HAD forgotten about the sprinklers, but even so, they should have made no difference! He'd done this jutsu dozens of times, sometimes in the middle of thunderstorms!

"Probably makes it difficult to use that electricity thing of yours without shocking yourself either," continued the man, unconscious of Sasuke's confusion. "As a matter of fact, the only ability of yours that I imagine still has much effect while these things are on are those black flames of yours."

Sasuke growled and looked up, preparing to show the man exactly how potent those flames could be.

"Like this one." He registered the black, burning glove speeding toward his face moments before it slapped full on and set his skin afire.

#

Oh, come ON! Sakura's inner thought raged as the woman pushed Chouji's fist off of her. We so totally had her with that one! Is she invincible or something?

Apparently so, she decided, as their attacker shot at Chouji and punched him across the parking lot. For a second there, when Chouji's fist had flattened the woman into the pavement, Sakura had gotten hopeful. Now, it was readily apparent that the attack had only surprised, not damaged her.

No worries. They still had plenty of traps left, and she and Lee still could match this lady. Sakura was nearly as strong as her, and Lee, without his weights, seemed to be just a trifle faster. So really, skill wise, they were about equal.

Except, of course, that the lady could fly. Sakura was reminded of this fact as she shot away from Lee up into the sky, before dashing back down again in a vain attempt to catch Lee off his footing.

Flying. How was she doing that?

That one Pain body could fly. Sakura considered. Through gravity repulsion. Is that how she's doing it? But she hasn't been using any gravity-like abilities. Maybe sheer jumping power? But no, she hovers and circles and floats. She hasn't been making any seals, so... but wait, no one has chakra here.

Sakura hated fighting enemies she knew nothing about. Fighting enemies in a completely different world with a completely different set of rules REALLY stank. If this lady had just been an out-and-out mercenary, like that man they'd met earlier, things would have been fairly straightforward. But no, they had to run into a flying lady who dressed like some kind of dancing girl. Sakura was fairly certain Lee wasn't as focused as usual, and she had a pretty good idea why.

Sakura huffed, studying the two battling it out in the square. Yup, definitely not as accurate as normal. She should run down there to help, she knew, the second that woman managed to land a hit, Lee would end up clear on the other side of the parking lot. But Chouji's attack had shown her that they weren't going to get anywhere with this woman unless they thought out some kind of battle plan.

She's invincible, strong, fast, and flies. Sakura idly tossed out a few kunai, setting off some traps to give Lee a chance to back out. We can't run, we can't hide, we need to beat her, or we'll never get back Neji. Yet with the amount of damage she can take... That's going to take a while. And Lee can't keep this up forever, any more than I can.

With a final weary shrug, Sakura jumped back down to the parking lot. Guess we'll just have to wing it.

#

"Geez man, he pounded you a new one. Magic?"

"Maybe." Superman picked himself from the rubble. "But it felt... different. In either case, that kid's incredibly strong." Glancing up at the new arrival, he added, "Thanks for the save, GL."

"No problem." Green Lantern shrugged, keeping his eyes on the green bubble of energy in the square and the raging blonde inside it. "J'onn contacted me about the situation, said he thought you might need some help."

"It's definitely welcome. You're a lot better at this containment stuff than I am."

Smiling, Green Lanterrn waved off the praise. "It's a lot easier when you've got one of these rings. That kid can pound the walls all he wants, but it's gonna take a lot more than that to get out of there." He glanced over at Superman. "So... now that we got him, what do we do with him?"

"Get him out of the city, first off." Superman wiped blood from his lip. Find a cell to keep him in, maybe one on the space tower. We'll need a translator too, he was speaking some other kinda..."

Green Lantern interrupted him. "What the... what's that kid up to now?"

Superman blinked. Where there had only been one kid in the green bubble before, now there were suddenly three.

"He can make copies of himself?"

"That's right. I remember hearing about that on my way over." Green Lantern frowned thoughtfully. "They said he made a couple thousand against Blue Devil and the others. So why's he making just..."

He stopped suddenly, and both heroes gazed in wonder as a swirling inferno of blue light filled the bubble.

"What the..."

The central figure in the bubble slammed the enormous swirling mass of energy into the bubble at point-blank range. The green wall of energy was ripped apart and Superman just barely had enough time to grab Green Lantern and whip over backwards before it hit them.

It was like getting hit by a wall of wind. Or rather, a knife of wind. Or, actually, it was most like getting hit by a wall of knifes made out of wind. In any case, it hurt. Superman barely registered that he was flying backwards and didn't even feel the building as he smashed into it. He just felt the knives of wind, ripping into him.

He felt them. He felt pain.

Finally the pain stopped, and he became aware that he was lying in a heap of rubble, Green Lantern just beneath him. Quickly he got up and helped his friend to his feet. "You okay?" He said, glancing over at the square. The kid seemed pretty exhausted himself, he was half-keeled over.

"Been better." Lantern grunted, heaving upright. Arching an eyebrow at Superman, he added, "What about you? Looks like you had a number done on you."

Superman glanced backwards to behold a completely shredded cape Some blood was even seeping through the cuts on his back. Barely a scratch, but on Superman... that scratch spoke volumes.

"If he'd done that outside the bubble..."

"Devastation. Total." Superman nodded. "He might take out a tenth of Metropolis."

Suddenly Mr. Terrific's voice came over the com-links. "Superman, you're fighting one of the dimensional visitors down there."

"You're sure? It could just be a coincidence. There're a few nuclear facilities around here... maybe an accident of some kind..."

"Supes, he's speaking Japanese." The voice carried just a touch of dry humor.

"Seems a bit outside of the power level Batman told us." Green Lantern frowned. "Superhuman strength he mentioned, but he didn't say anything about throwing around giant balls of energy or multiplying bodies."

Superman glanced at him and nodded. "Could be the fugitive they were fighting," he agreed. "Best call in all other available leaguers on our position, Terrific. We might be in for a bad fight. And try to contact Batman again. Where on earth is he?"

"No idea."

#

I have no idea how this boy's powers work. Batman realized as he watched the black flames dissolve from the boy's face. He can generate and control flame, including a certain black variety that can't be extinguished, save by himself. Apparently he can also generate electricity. If powers are consistent, he should also be able to control it.

Also, he reminded himself, as the boy rushed at him with an irritated growl, he has excellent hand-to-hand combat abilities.

Very well. So those were the powers he knew. But he didn't know how those powers related to each other. Superpowers usually followed some kind of internal logic, like a being that controlled fire also controlling ice, or needing to draw on some kind of external energy. Figuring out this logic could be key to incapacitating an opponent and defeating him.

Batman narrowed his eyes in concentration as he continued to block the boy's flurry of attacks. For the life of him, he could not think of any tangible link between fire and electricity. His opponent obviously wasn't drawing it from the surroundings—though it was probably a good thing the generators were out and no longer feeding energy into this room—so where was it coming from?

More importantly, where did that strange skeletal armor fit into the picture? The black flames had come from it—was it perhaps some kind of generator?

In any case, even if he didn't understand the exact details of how the fighting mechanic worked, he'd already observed some aspects of its requirements. The teenager was continually making little motions with his fingers, movements that seemed to correspond with his fire attacks. Chances were good that if he could somehow immobilize the boy's hands, the attacks would no longer be viable.

That fit with the boy's fighting style. He only used the meta powers at long distance, when his hands were not continually occupied with blocking Batman's attacks.

So. How to disable those hands? He could try cutting them off, but that seemed extreme. He could break the wrists, but from the endurance of this teenager, he couldn't be certain how practical that would be. He could perhaps handcuff...

Handcuff...

Even if Batman didn't know what was special about the handcuffs that had been used on the Titans, he knew that these intruders had considered them important. He had two pairs of them, one from Beast Boy, and the other from Raven.

They were over by the railing now. Perfect. One hand darted down to his utility belt, drawing out the strange handcuffs. Already the boy had taken advantage of the opening and managed to rain a few hefty hits on his ribs. His hand was even beginning to glow strangely as Batman clacked the set of handcuffs over it.

Instantly, the hand ceased to glow, and the teenager glanced down at it in shock. Batman used the opportunity to fasten the cuff to the railing, effectively tethering the boy to it. As if realizing the plan, the teen's hand immediately flashed out in an attempt to shatter the binding, but Batman grabbed the hand and clapped it in the other pair of handcuffs before wrestling it to the railing also. The teenager's arms were now spread wide across the railing.

Jumping away from the boy's lashing feet, Batman allowed himself a grim smile of satisfaction. Difficult, but not impossible. With the other two he'd taken downstairs and the four back at the tower, that accounted for seven of their twelve dimensional visitors.

Ignoring the boy's glare of hatred, Batman turned to check on Robin...

Pain erupted across his back.

#

Diana was really getting tired of all the traps around this parking lot. Had these warriors no honor? Couldn't they just fight her honestly, face to face?

Every moment, it seemed, there was some beam flying at her head or some salvo of daggers shooting at her. There had even been a few pit traps which Diana didn't know HOW they hid.

She felt pretty sure that the pink-haired girl had some kind of control over the traps, their attacks roughly corresponded to the times she threw daggers off to the side. Most of the time she hung back while the green one kept her occupied, apparently triggering traps whenever she saw a good opportunity.

However, the fact that she no longer seemed to have that option hinted that the duo must be running out of traps. She and the green one seemed to be tag-teaming her, which, while a formidable combination, was at least refreshingly straightforward.

The pink-haired girl was screaming again. What was it about this time?

Whatever it was, the green boy backed out suddenly. Diana smiled grimly. That made things considerably easier, now that the more formidable warrior was apparently sitting out. The girl was strong, but not much more. Against a trained Amazon princess, she was nothing.

At least, that's what she thought until the NEW traps started kicking in.

Flying rocks. Falling steel beams. Pit traps. Nets. All while the girl was pounding away as hard as she could, perfectly aware of the traps that Diana could only guess at.

It was an impressive collection and really quite diabolical, but all it really served to do was stretch things out a bit longer than Diana had expected. She still had her strength and lightning-fast reflexes, and when the girl did get lucky enough to squeeze in a punch, her invulnerability kept it from being a serious problem.

The traps only kept her too busy to hit back. And the second they slowed down, she lashed out with all the frustration that'd been building through the whole fight.

The girl went flying across the parking lot. Unwilling to let her go just yet, Diana flew after her, putting in a few more hits for good measure. After all she'd been through with this girl, she was going to make certain she stayed down.

The girl's face plowed into the pavement, leaving a shallow ditch in its wake. Her body tumbled over once, twice, than finally ground to a halt. With a groan, the girl slumped to the pavement.

Sighing, Diana stepped forward, only to observe something curious. A small smile was curving across the girl's face.

"YOSH!"

Turning, Diana had room for only one thought before the leg plowed into her midsection.

When did his skin turn red like that?

#

Shikamaru was just about ready to explode with frustration. He was certain, nearly absolutely certain, that Naurto had broken loose some moments ago. After all, there could be only so many things causing all the explosions and alarms he'd been hearing. The fact that hundreds of guards had streamed into his room as soon as the ruckus began showed that it was definitely connected to him in some way. The sounds had been approaching his position too, which made only increased the chances of it being Naruto.

And then too, there were the roars. Not many people—or things—he knew roared like THAT.

But if Naruto'd broken out, if he'd caused such chaos, and if he'd gotten so CLOSE, where was he now? Had he been captured again? Impossible. Shikamaru had seen himself how hard it was to keep Naruto down. Had he been beaten? Equally impossible. However confident the bald man had been, he found it hard to believe that people with no understanding of chakra would be capable of defeating a Kage level nin, however inventive they were.

Plus, if Naruto had been beaten OR captured, why was there still such a great commotion going on outside? Even through the walls, he could hear people rushing about, shouting, and moving things. It didn't take a genius to figure out that even though the explosions had stopped, things were far from settled.

Had he just left, abandoning them?

Absolutely impossible.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes as he thought back. The sounds of fighting had been getting really close, and he'd been able to practically see the fear in the guards. Even he had gotten ready, preparing to leap into action the second he was free.

And then... there'd been a really deafening crash, and everyone had winced. The ground had shook, the rumble had faded into the distance, and after that... silence.

Looking over things, there was only one possible option. Naruto had been forced away by an incredibly powerful opponent, and the base was rushing to take care of things before he returned. They were either mobilizing or preparing to move. In any case, he and the others would doubtless be of primary importance.

As if in confirmation of this theory, the door burst open and two men rushed in with a gurney. Shikamaru took in the straps and gas tanks and immediately realized what they had in mind.

Babbling something incoherent, the man placed a mask over Shikamaru's mouth.

#

I have GOT to get one of those.

Seriously, a ring? That made you fly, lift things, protected you, and... well, it looked like it could do just about ANYTHING. Seriously. It made his fancy rod, which he'd been so proud of a minute ago, look like a piece of outdated junk.

Of course, it was green. That seriously lessened its awesome factor. If it'd been ORANGE, well, that would be something else. Green... well, green was stuff that weird people like Lee wore.

Come to think of it, Lee would really like this guy. Green spandex, green glow... even green chakra. Sure, he was a Kumo nin, but they weren't all bad.

Naruto frowned a moment as something occurred to him. Even if this guy's powers came largely from his ring, that was pretty obviously chakra that was being shot at him. So why on earth couldn't he sense it? Was there something wrong with his sage ability? It'd taken him so long to get it attuned—maybe it wasn't completely functional.

A sudden movement from three miles away behind his back cut the thought off and he dodged left just in time to avoid another rush from red-cape man. Or well, partially avoid. Flying in mid-air, like he was now, gave him more options for dodging, but he still couldn't escape the man's sheer speed. At least the invulnerability part of his sage mode was still in full swing.

Still... if he couldn't tell which one was me, he couldn't do that speed attack thing, now could he?

Quickly he formed another Rasengan in his palm and aimed it at the incoming red-caped attacker, who saw it and swept away just in time. Naruto didn't even stop to sigh in relief, instead weaving his fingers in seals even as the chakra in his palm dissipated away. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!

Immediately the air was full of thousands of Naruto's, each holding one of the awesome rods.

Naruto grinned at the looks of consternation on his opponents' faces. I am a genius!

Then he realized something. HE had the REAL rod, so he could still fly. All his copies had only... well, copies. So they couldn't.

Naruto looked around just in time to see two thousand Narutos fall to the earth and disappear in a huge cloud of smoke.

He looked back again just in time to see a large fist aimed at his head.

#

Sasuke cursed inwardly as the man whipped the burning cape from his shoulders and hurled it at him. He'd hoped to catch the man off guard and get the fire to eat through the cape, but his opponent was simply too fast for that sort of thing to work.

As the cape hit him, he defused the flames with his Sharingan, except for the portions needed to eat through the handcuffs. A quick jerk and he was free, once again facing his opponent.

Astonishing, Sasuke reflected, on the difference one's uniform could make. With the cape, this man had seemed formidable and imposing. Without it, he was simply a man dressed up in gray spandex wearing a large overcomplicated belt. In some ways, he looked almost laughable.

But that would be a mistake. Because as Sasuke could say with complete authority now, this man WAS formidable, cape or no cape. And even without the cowl masking his features, the coldness of his gaze reminded Sasuke what an efficient warrior this man was.

"You show your face at last." He commented. "I was beginning to wonder if you HAD eyes." Actually, that was still bugging him. The eyes in the man's mask had glowed. How did he do that?

"Hm." Came the response. "I see you don't need that skeleton thing to create your Ameratsu."

Sasuke nodded but volunteered no further information. Something about the way the man was studying him made him feel uneasy, as if every one of his secrets was being laid bare.

"Tell me." Said the man suddenly. "Why did you leave Konoha?"

Again Konoha. "How do you know of that place?"

"Your friends told me about it."

Impossible that Juugo and Suigetsu had said anything. This man must have found Naruto. "You should have brought them along." He snorted. "You might have stood a chance."

The man's eyes narrowed. "I work alone."

Sasuke raised a suspicious eyebrow. "You have no bonds?" He asked.

"That's right."

"Hn." Though he might have respected that, the statement was too obviously false. "I suppose that is why you came to rescue him, then." He indicated the comatose Robin off to the side. "Even though of course he means nothing to you."

"Leave him out of this."

"Tch. You are as weak as the others," snorted Sasuke. "Childishly holding on to your 'precious people' because you lack the resolution to pursue true power. Bonds confuse, they weaken, they distract. It is because of your bonds that you are weak, and because of those bonds that you will die."

The man gave an oddly disturbing smile. "Oh, trust me. That's not going to happen."

#

Superman watched with supreme satisfaction as the blonde teenager went flying away to once again crash into the ground. Quickly he shot down again, he'd been fighting this kid for too long to suppose that he would actually stay down this time.

To his astonishment, though, he actually seemed to be out for the count this time. His crumpled form lay under some scattered debris, and he was not moving. In fact, he lay so still that Superman gently knelt and touched his neck to feel for his pulse, but it seemed that the fall had not killed him, only knocked him senseless.

With a sigh of relief, Superman reached up and touched his ear. "Superman to Watchtower. He's down. Send a retrieval team to..."

"Supes!" A near scream cut across the square and Superman whirled around just in time to see a familiar orange figure send a whirling orb of energy into Green Lantern's hastily erected shield.

With a surge of desperation he launched himself into the air, but he was already too late, as the green wall of energy simply shattered under the force of the teenager's power. GL went flying, and Superman screamed with rage as he shot at the perpetrator.

The boy turned just enough for Superman to catch sight of his widening pupils.

WHAM!

The boy went flying into the ground. Superman shot down again.

BLAM!

Now he was flying up into the air. Shooting high above him, Superman brought down both fists on the flying figure.

SLAM!

An orange speck went plummeting toward the earth, straight toward the concrete. Superman paused simply to watch.

SMASH!

Smoke rose up in a heaving cloud above a newly formed crater. Cracks spread outward, forming yet another crater in the ground below. Still floating above the city, Superman allowed himself a grim smile. No one's getting up from that.

And then, unbelievably he caught a glimpse of orange. No, three glimpses of orange. And a shining blue glow in between them.

No.

Superman hurled himself earthward, but even he could see the energy attack was near completion. Without any knowledge of how it worked or what the boy's control over it was, there was no way to stop it. Knocking the boy over might only send it in another direction. Trying to kill the two dopplegangers might cause him to loose control and explode the attack outward.

There was no way he could possibly stop the attack. And there was only one way he could possibly negate it.

Straight down he went, shooting right at the whirling vortex of energy. He barely registered the teen's shocked expression as he thrust himself at the enormous, shredding orb, sheilding it from the entire city.

Metropolis was HIS city. He would defend it.

#

"You seriously think you can win?"

"I know I can." A calculated smirk curved Batman's face. Just not in the way you're thinking. "I have a few tricks up my sleeve yet."

"You're bluffing. Twice now you've overcome my Ameratsu." The teenager remarked, red pupils glaring down. "It's impressive, but I'm getting tired of this game. Time to bring it to an end"

His hands flew into a flurry of gestures. Batman, from the other side of the room, watched simply waiting to see what would happen. With the night-vision of his cowl gone, he was at a significant disadvantage.

"Katon Gouryuuka no Jutsu!"

An enormous dragon of fire shot out from the teenager's mouth. Burning, coiling, turning water into steam as the sprinklers sprayed uselessly against it, it flew out...

...and crashed into the ceiling. Batman narrowed his eyes. Something that big, and he doesn't even aim it correctly? Impossible. But why did he want to destroy the ceiling? To get rid of the sprinklers? Equally unlikely.

At least now he could see again. The teenager was leaning over, obviously exhausted, but Batman made no move to attack, instead looking up into the sky, trying to determine what the boy had been aiming for. Distantly he noted that there were some storm clouds gathering.

Wait.

Storm clouds?

#

This... this is impossible!

That was really the only thing Diana had the time to think. Just as well, as it also happened to be the only thing that accurately described the sheer whirlwind of fists and feet flying at her. The boy moved with superhuman speed, almost on a par with Flash. His linear style was the only reason she managed to block ANY of the hits he was sending at her.

Not that any of them were actually doing anything. She was still invincible, after all. The boy might just as well be pounding solid marble. It was just incredibly humiliating for her to get hit so much.

How did Bruce not mention this boy's speed? She thought furiously. The next time I see him, I'm going to kill that man!

Suddenly her opponent disappeared, and the next second she was being hit from beneath. "Konoha Senpuu!" She heard someone scream as another kick, and then another, propelled her into the air.

Air?

Diana put on a burst of speed upwards, away from the boy and his unearthly speed. The next two blows barely connected, and after that she was free and away. She enjoyed the look of astonishment on the boy's face for a moment before plunging back down at him.

The boy was fast, but not fast enough to dodge in mid-air, and definitely not fast enough to avoid hitting the ground at full speed. The pavement cracked under the impact and left a minor crater.

Picking herself up, Diana regarded the boy. He looked to be pretty out of it, but she got out her lasso just in case. A glance to the left assured her that the fat teenager was still comatose, and she KNEW that that pink-haired girl...

A fist collided with her jaw before she could finish the thought. Her lasso went flying away, and she felt the ground shoot out from under her feet. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a flash of pink. Impossible! Before she could stop herself, she smashed through something and tumbled into a patch of grey, gooey... something.

She looked down. Wet concrete. She looked up. A concrete truck. With a very sizeable hole in it. She looked at herself. Wet Concrete... all over her.

Steaming with wrath, she looked up as her new opponent appeared at the side of the pit. "You will pay for this indignity." She rasped.

The girl glared back with equal venom and snapped out something unintelligible.

As they dashed at each other, Diana failed to recognize two things. One, that running in concrete like this slowed her down noticeably. Two, that her opponent was lightly skimming over the surface of it and had no such problems.

Three, that the green-clad teen had awoken and was eyeing the lasso she'd dropped with keen interest.

#

Hinata had finally found Ketler Park, after several hours of wandering and two pairs of different directions from three different people. Though she still had no idea how to use the odd device Lois-san had given her, she had found a nice clean bench and had obediently waited there.

Now that things had calmed down a bit, Hinata had a chance to realize exactly how strange things had become. In the past 24 hours, she'd gone to fight a fugitive, failed miserably, woken up in a strange location, been taken in by a strange woman, and now was sitting in the park of a strange city.

Where was this place? When she'd awoken in the hospital she'd thought she was in an allied village but... this didn't look like any of the villages she'd heard of. And so much of what was here was unfamiliar—the buildings, the streets, the... things that raced up and down them.

Where was she? Where was Lois-san? And where were her friends?

"You seem lost."

Hinata glanced up, startled, to see a rather grim-looking man approaching the park bench. He was clad from head to foot in a long green trenchcoat, but his hair was a startling shade of red with a single streak of white. "I... I'm sorry..." she stammered. "I... I didn't mean..."

"There is nothing wrong with being lost." The man consoled her. "Or rather, there is, but the fault is yours only if you do not seek to find yourself again. Do you know where you are supposed to be?"

"I... Lois-san told me to wait here..."

The man closed his eyes. "But is this where you are supposed to be?"

Hinata stared at the odd man. What was he saying?

"Perhaps I should explain." The man sighed, opening his eyes suddenly to reveal a disturbing shade of green. "You are far from home, are you not? You could have gone anywhere. So why are you here, in particular?"

"Lois-san..."

"Ms. Lane told you to wait here. I understand that." Hinata blinked at the man's interruption. How did he know Lois-san? "But have you asked yourself why Ms. Lane was the one to find you? Why Ms. Lane should bring you here, to Metropolis, at this precise moment?"

"Ummm... n-no... Why?"

"Because." The man's eyes burned into her as he leaned forward. "This is where you were supposed to be. It was important that you come to Metropolis for this moment. It was important that you wait here, in this park, so I might speak with you."

Hinata could think of little to say beyond the obvious. "Why?"

"So that you know what to expect. So that you know that more is to come. So that you and your friends may be prepared for the crisis."

"Crisis?" Hinata blinked. Than something else, more important, in the man's words occurred to her. "F-f-friends? My friends are here? You mean... they came here too? Where are they?"

The man shrugged. "Some are close and some are far. They are all alive, but they are all confused. Like you, they do not know why they are where they are. Or more appropriately, where they ought to be."

"Please." Hinata almost fell to her knees. "Do you know where my friends are? Can you take me to them? I need to... I need to..."

"Yes, Hyuuga Hinata, there is much you need to do." Hinata glanced up in surprise at the man's grim face. "Much to do that even you do not yet know. But for now, there is a battle that you must stop. A confusion you must clear up. A connection you must make."

The man began to move away. "Where are you supposed to be, Hyuuga Hinata?"

"I... I don't know..." Getting slowly to her feet, Hinata blinked in confusion at the man. "Please, I'm sorry, but I just don't... I don't understand what you're... What do you want me to do?"

"For now? I want you to see, Hyuuga Hinata." The man gave her one last burning glance. "I want you open your eyes... and see."

The man was gone.

Hinata blinked for a moment at the patch of empty ground where he had been a moment ago. Then suddenly, she understood his last words and brought up her fingers in a familiar gesture.

"Byakugan!"

#

Pain. Ripping, burning pain, shredding away at his suit, his skin, his untouched flesh, his unbreakable bone, even. Blinding light, whirling blue. Explosions of smoke on the left, and right. Two yellow-slitted eyes fading to blue...

Darkness.

#

Punch. Kick. Block. Jump. Legs heavy. Pink hair shooting by, sudden pain in chest. Swing. Air. Whip around to face her. Too slow, but don't fly. Finish this now. Finish this fairly. Punch, jab, knee. Satisfying crunch. Follow up, swing. Miss. Twirl around. Punch, jab. Whoosh of air underneath. Punch, kic...

Legs stuck. Look.

Rope.

#

Leap. Floor flying underneath, turning stark white in the glow. Cape. Grab. Familiar synthetic fabric against your skin. Maniacal laughter behind you. Railing. No further. Ditch behind. Turn. Look up. Lightning growing. Dragon? No. Impossible. Back up against railing. Cold metal against your skin.

Lightning flashing out. From all angles. Why not struck? More power? How much needed?

Large pulse! Coming out, coming down! Leap-flip-over-railing-duck-in-ditch-cover-with...

Too slow.

#

"Did... what just happened?" Mr. Terrific was poking at the screen anxiously. "Who won? Computer, do we have anything on thermal readouts? Gamma radiation? Energy signatures? Anything?"

"Not necessary." J'onn shook his head, a slightly glazed look in his eyes. "The battle is over."

#

"Ooooohhhhh...." Superman sat up, holding his head in both hands. "I hope I don't have to do that again."

Smoke clouded the entire battlefield, obscuring all but the small pile where Superman lay, thrown there by the last explosion. With pain shooting all across his body, he waited for a few moments, gasping in great lungfulls of air, before finally staggering upright, clutching his chest. He was bare, bruised, and bloody... but he was alive.

Going to need a new suit after this. He thought ruefully to himself as he lurched forward. His cape was gone, parts of the back had gotten ripped off, and his entire chest was a ass of bloodied cuts—however shallow most of them were.

Finally reaching the end of the trail of rubble, he stared down at his foe where he lay fallen, face-over, in the cracked pavement. Cautiously, remembering another 'fallen' version, he nudged the body over, eliciting a groan.

Blonde hair. Blue eyes cracked half-open. Bruised and bloody face with three odd scars running on each side.

He's just a kid! Superman thought, in spite of himself. Just like the other ones!

The boy's half-opened eyes widened slightly, and Superman realized that the teenager was not quite unconscious. Quickly he whipped back his arm, remembering all that this kid could do in a second and all it took to keep him down...

"Twin Lion Fist!!"

A screaming young woman shot out of nowhere and smashed him with two fists of glowing blue energy. Superman whipped away, astonished. Another?

Perhaps. But this one could speak English.

"I won't let you harm Naruto-kun!"

#

Stepping back, Sakura gaped in astonishment as the once-powerful warrior before her collapsed backwards, groaning. Did I finally get to her? She wasn't showing signs of fatigue, but... that last hit really did seem to do it...

She glanced over at Lee, who looked just as surprised as her. "Did you... ah..."

"No, Sakura –san." Lee shook his head, perfectly serious. "I did nothing."

"Huh. Wonder what happened." Sakura stared at the now-comatose woman at her feet. "Maybe her jutsu has a time limit or something. Good thing you got her hands and feet tangled in the rope like that, though, it held her in place long enough for me to punch her a good one."

"Thank you Sakura-san. But what do we do with her now?"

Sakura spoke slowly, as if only thinking things out now. "She was looking for us particularly, so chances are she's from the same village as that caped man. Which means she might know where Neji is, or at least who's keeping him prisoner."

"But she can't talk properly." Lee eyed the woman worriedly. "Do you suppose she is deranged, Sakura-san? That would explain the outfit..."

"That's enough Lee," snapped Sakura, strangely annoyed. Inwardly it occurred to her that Lee was nobody to go talking about weird outfits and the deranged people who wore them. "Even if we can't communicate with her she's still a useful hostage. We'll just need to make sure she's tied up enough so she doesn't try anything again."

"Yosh!" Lee saluted. "I shall tie her up thirty times, and if I cannot do that, I will..."

"No, I'll do that. You go check on Chouji," ordered Sakura, with a little more force than was perhaps necessary. As Lee sped off, she glanced down with a smile at the fallen woman.

"Got you, night hawk."

#

Only the sight of his enemy's prone form kept Sasuke from exploding.

What was wrong with this world? His wonderful lightning jutsu had taken nearly twice as long to form as it usually did, and when it had he found it incredibly difficult to control. He should have been able to tell it to go right over or even right through that metal railing the man had leapt behind, and yet half the lightning energy had gotten yanked away from him into that one railing.

No matter, though. The other half, it seemed, had been enough to shock his enemy senseless. Not even he could dodge the lightning. Why he'd stopped to grab the cape and wrap it around himself, Sasuke had no idea.

He gave the prone form a little kick and, receiving no reaction, turned around once again to face the room. His other hostages were doubtless gone. Suigetsu and Juugo might still be in the base, though, and they still had the one—no, two now...

Sasuke stopped and glanced around the room. Where was the other hostage, anyway? He couldn't have run away, Sasuke had placed a genjutsu on him and placed him over by...

The railing. In the ditch. Where the man was. The man who was stirring and reaching up to his ear.

"Batman to Watchtower requesting emergency teleport stat!"

And Sasuke stared in blind fury as his two remaining hostages dissolved into blue light.

#

"What the..." Superman stared at the image of feminine fury in front of him.

"Stay away!" She screamed, raising her hands. "Not one step closer! I'll kill you if you try to hurt Naruto-kun!"

"You're defending him?"

"Stay away!"

Sighing, Superman wondered if this was worth the time. Granted, she might be as powerful as the teenager had been, and goodness knew they didn't need MORE wreckage downtown, but she might be more on the level of Batman's attackers. In either case, while she held him off, that incredibly dangerous teenager grew steadily closer to consciousness.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I don't really..."

"Hinata? Hinata!"

The terrifyingly familiar voice jolted Superman out of the battle as Lois Lane jogged over the pockmarked terrain. "Hinata, what are you..."

"Lois, stay back!" Superman called out. "If she's with the boy, there's no telling what..."

Lois sent one of her death-glares at him. "Don't be ridiculous, you. This is Hinata, I know her."

Superman blinked.

"You... what?"

"I met this girl in Jump City! Took her on because of some story she has about hunting down a fugitive person, but she's a real sweetheart, she's not going to hurt me or anyone!"

"Lois-san?" The girl was lowering her hands, apparently as confused as Superman. "What's going on?"

"You're asking me? What are you doing here and not at the park?"

A sudden beeping in Superman's ear kept him from hearing the rest. "Supes! Breaking news, Batman just appeared on the teleport platform, seriously beat up! He says he ran into that fugitive guy in Jump City."

"So who's this guy I'm fighting?" asked Superman. He had a terrible sinking feeling.

"I dunno... one of the others, I guess. The kid downstairs, the one who can see through walls, called him Naruto, so apparently he recognizes him."

Superman groaned. It just figures.

"Look, Superman," Lois was back. "I know this girl, she's fine. Her name's Hyuuga Hinata, and she comes from this weird place called..."

"Konoha." Superman finished for her wearily.

Lois blinked. "You know?"

"Hinata." Ignoring Lois for the moment, Superman called out to the girl. "I need you to come with me to the Metro Tower."

"Stay away!"

"Hinata, girl, c'mon." Lois pleaded. "This is Superman. You can trust him."

The suspicious look in the girl's eyes wavered. "This is... Superman-san?"

"I'm sorry for fighting your friend," apologized Superman. "I thought he was attacking the city. If you come with me, we can give him proper medical care and patch him up. You can speak to some of your friends there too."

The girl blinked. "My... friends? You know where they are?"

"They're at the tower. We've been taking care of them." Superman could almost FEEL Lois' suspicious look. "They're all fine, but we need you down there so we can figure out what's going on."

Hinata thought. Superman waited. Lois glared.

"Can Lois-san come too?"

She's gonna kill me... "Yes, Lois-san can come too."

"Alright." The girl lowered her arms. "I'll come along."

Despite the impending Lois-storm, Superman just barely suppressed a sigh of relief.

Finally, maybe we can get some answers.