The shooting was a little more difficult that Tenten had anticipated. Firing a gun whilst leaping and jumping through hallways required a great deal more coordination than sitting in a chair and endlessly pulling the trigger. There were matters of kickback, coordination, and balance to deal with. The basics of aiming she had easily mastered, and factors such as reload time and weapon accuracy she had an approximate knowledge of, thanks to her time in the shooting range; but doings things in practice turned out to be much trickier.

Of course, that throbbing pain in her right hand (or rather, where her right hand used to be) wasn't helping matters. Nor, for that matter, was shooting with her left for a change.

Still. Details. At least she could somewhat brace the plasma rifle in her left hand with the stump of her right. And really, most of Luthor's guards seemed to be atrocious shots... they hit nearly everywhere except where she was. The only real danger came from her bleeding stump of an arm. If that continued, she would quickly become fatigued and pass out.

She had a little time left, though. Tenten had never KNOWN such a surge of adrenaline. Impatience bred from months of imprisonment had festered in her, the wild chance brought to her had allowed this impatience an outlet, and now, in the wild euphoria of battle, she received the ADDITIONAL excitement of a new weapon. The adrenaline would more than compensate for the blood loss for the next five minutes.

A black helmet caught her eye and she whipped her gun up into position. It recoiled appreciably and Tenten took a moment to savor the neat little holes appearing across the guard's body. A very clinical weapon—in and out. Very clean. Very fast.

Shouts and the racing tread of boots announced more guards, coming down the hallway. Too many to face, unless...

Tenten rolled over to the slumped body on the floor and checked him over. She didn't want the gun he had, the one she had now was FAR more suited to her needs. The armor looked helpful, or at least it would be if she hadn't already riddled it with holes. On the guard's belt were several "clips" of ammo, and several weird ball-like objects.

Ears alert to the approaching guards, Tenten picked up one of the objects and studied it. A weapon, obviously. The shape indicated it was meant to be thrown, probably like a gas pellet. The piece of wire sticking out of it was obviously extraneous and probably meant to be pulled out. However, Tenten could see no place to apply chakra.

The appearance of black suits around the corner decided the issue for her. Quickly she yanked out the pin and chucked the little ball.

BOOOOOM!

-------------------------------------------

"Damage to the city is minimal, but the kids themselves are in pretty bad shape. Several of them got shot, and the medics essentially sealed the bullets inside when they healed the surrounding tissue. We need to get them to proper medical care. Right now we're loading them aboard the Javelins."

"Good." J'onn nodded at the screen. "Any sign of the three anomalies?"

"If you mean the flaming fox and the giant statue that were here a moment ago, then no." Superman's annoyed tone broke into Green Lantern's report. "No sign of the robed lady either. The ninjas seem to know something, but they aren't talking."

"Batman seems to have an idea." Lantern objected.

A snort from Superman. "I imagine he does. But Batman I KNOW won't tell us about it."

"I see. Anything else to add?"

"Apparently they were here pursuing the fugitive—Sasuke—and also rescuing Question, who had been captured by him. Question is in bad shape, but he's stable enough. We're shipping him and Huntress back to the Watchtower... they were already onboard the Titan's jet, so we'll just use that."

"There's no sign of Sasuke, though." Superman cut in again. "I've done a quick scan of the nearby area, he's nowhere to be found. Flash has looked around too. Nothing."

J'onn sighed. "Unfortunate. Well, what now?"

"Well, given the circumstances, I say it's time our inter-dimensional visitors came back to the Watchtower." Superman's voice was slightly strained and more than a little bitter. "Apparently the Titans can't keep them in hand anymore. In any case, we have the proper medical facilities there to treat them, and perhaps get some answers about this whole event."

"Agreed." J'onn, Lantern, Flash, and Batman all answered.

-------------------------------------

Explosions! Nice, very nice, Tenten decided as she snagged a handful of the little ball-items from the dead guard's waist. Not as sleek as exploding tags, perhaps, but still, delightfully flexible. She wondered if she could bounce them around corners. That would be useful.

For a second her eyes grew blurry and she stumbled. Blood loss was really starting to kick in. Perhaps one of these guard had a medic kit she could use...? But no, more guards were coming. She couldn't spare the time. Time to get out.

Her eyes traveled up the wall and stopped midway. Grinning, she jogged forwards. Regardless of dimension, ANY ninja knew the value of a ventilation shaft.

Like a flash she popped the lid and slithered in, crashing the grate back into place behind her. No sense in leaving a trail. Pushing her gun far in front of her, she wriggled her way through the narrow metal channel, doing her best to ignore the shouts and sounds of running behind her. Ventilator shafts made good hiding spots, but staying in them too long with. At the first opening, she blew open the grate and jumped down.

She found herself in a small, cluttered room. After a few quick sweeps, she assured herself that the room was empty and shimmied over to the only door. A glance out the window contented her... she had a few moments to herself, before the cameras would bring the guards running.

Slumping against the wall, she tore a strip out of her already-ragged hospital gown, trying to find a way to wrap it around her slippery stump. One-handed medical care was pretty tricky, after all. You had to press the rag to the table with your stump, then wind it tightly around with the other hand, all while not letting the thing fumble all over the place. After about the thirtieth time, vision starting to swim, she glanced up, panting slightly.

For the first time, her mind fully took stock of what KIND of room she was in. It appeared to be some kind of locker room. Her internal girl cried out for the showers at the far end—she hadn't had a proper wash in weeks—but her internal kunoichi focused on the gun sticking out of a half-open locker. Forgetting her arm for a moment, she pushed off the wall and approached it.

To her disappointment, the gun turned out to be notoriously inferior to hers. She'd seen it before—it was little more than a contained fire weapon. A simple Katon jutsu could replace it. The man who'd given it to her had called it a "flamethrower." Not at all useful in this situation.

Still, an extra weapon was always useful, so she took it from the locker and slung it across her back. Then she caught sight of the armor hanging inside.

Tenten grinned.

Seconds later, she tightened the strap of a helmet over her head and shifted about in the armor. It was a tad stiffer than the ANBU uniforms she'd seen, but it felt plenty lightweight, and VERY durable. And though the coveralls were a trifle loose on her frame, the fabric was thick enough for her to tie off the sleeve of her stump. So at least the bleeding was staunched.

Not much for disguise. Tenten reflected, studying the blood seeping through the half-sleeve. But then... Grinning, she cocked her gun, ...I'm not here for disguise.

A sudden commotion alerted her to the fact that she was losing time. Again she slunk to the door, but a glimpse of black uniforms warned her back. She couldn't just charge out there. Quickly she readied one of the spherical explosives.

Glancing out again, she frowned. Something seemed off. The guards weren't readying for an attack, they were just positioning themselves around the door. Guarding the different exits to the hallway.

Cutting her off. They were cutting off her escape. But escape from what? The only other entrance was...

The vent!

Tenten swung around, cursing, noticing for the first time the chorus of tinkling metal feet ringing against the steel ventilator shaft. My blood. She swore internally. They followed my blood.

And then hundreds of little metallic spiders came boiling out of the hole.

-----------------------------------------

"...the... plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces... are called... aglets. Their true purpose..."

"Baby, you're okay. You can stop now," pleaded Huntress, cradling her boyfriend's faceless head in her hands. "You're safe, we're going to the Justice League. They're going to get you patched up."

"Must... catch... the boy." Question tried to struggle up from the hospital bed, ignoring the doctors. "Uchiha... too dangerous. Can't be..."

"They're looking for him, honey. They've got men all over the city. They'll find him."

"He got away then." Question slumped back, collapsing onto the mattress. "No chance now."

"They'll find him."

"No. Only catch villains at end of fights. If not then... hopeless. Never find him now." Question hissed as a fresh wave of pain tore up his side. "Should have... should've left me... gone to get him."

"Stay still baby. Stay still." Huntress shot an annoyed look at the orderly. "Don't you guys have any more painkillers?"

"NO! No painkillers. Manufacturer of general anesthetics has connections to Mayan..."

"He won't take any, ma'am." The orderly offered her a tired smile.

Sighing, Huntress glared at her boyfriend. "You'll be the death of yourself."

"Question." rasped the patient, and after a moment Huntress realized he wasn't talking about himself. "...was... relieved you did not attempt... solo rescue mission. Sasuke... too much for you."

Huntress' feminine pride flared. "I could have handled him!"

"However..." his rasping voice cut her short. "Your use of teamwork... unusual. Passive role in rescue... uncharacteristic." Question's eyeless face searched hers probingly. "You have... explanation for... discrepancies?"

Belatedly, Huntress realized the disadvantages of a super-detective boyfriend. "Baby," said she, swallowing hard. "I've got some... news."

---------------------------------------

Tenten leapt back, tossing the little sphere toward the vent. With a loud BOOM, thousands of spiders exploded into tiny little metallic fragments.

Explosion will warn the others outside. Tenten realized. They'll attack...

A muffled thud against the door confirmed her thoughts. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the door warm from the blast of laser rifles. It wouldn't hold for long. And if she ran out that way, she'd be charging straight into gunfire.

Only one way out. And even if there were billions of those nasty little spiders between her and it, she was going to try for it.

Gun roaring, Tenten leapt for the shattered vent covering, shattering spiders as she went. Her hand grasped the edge and heaved herself upward through sheer will, ignoring the ten or so tiny beasties that crumpled under her fingers. Bracing against the wall of the vent with her stump, she used her gun hand to drag herself further into the vent, humping her body desperately to get it inwards.

Spiders were all over her, crawling, leaping, whirring angrily. One got onto her face and she felt the sharp sting of a needle. Growling, she twitched her head, knocking it off, and snapped her mouth toward it, neatly biting it in half.

Her feet finally found the opposite side, and she pushed frantically, wriggling into the vent at last. As she did, a muffled explosion announced the destruction of the door. Hundreds of the spiders were on her now, she was starting to feel pricks elsewhere. Poison? Her inner kunoichi wondered. No time to think of that. Soldiers will see the spiders, they'll fire upwards...

But they did not.

Why not? Her path was obvious, there were only two ways she could have gone, and the spiders would clearly have shown them which way. The guard's weapons had more than enough power to punch through the ceiling and vent between her and them. If she'd been in there position, she'd have riddled the ceiling till blood dripped to the floor.

They want me alive.

It was the only possible explanation. The pricks must be sedative, not poison. The guards were probably trying to use some kind of sleeping dart or stun ability on her. No wonder they'd been doing so poorly... they hadn't been fighting to kill.

Tenten wasn't sure whether to feel insulted or relieved by that.

The pricks were growing less, the spiders were slowly smashing against the narrow walls of the ventilator shaft. But already, dark spots were dancing in front of her eyes. The guards would know where she'd gone, they'd be waiting at the next exit. The spiders might even have trackers on them. And she could only go so fast, wriggling through the narrow tunnel of steel with one gun-laden arm and a flamethrower on her back bumping against the ceiling.

Quickly devising a mad strategy, Tenten paused in the shaft and bashed every part of her body against the metal. The tiny pricks stopped entirely. Panting a little, gazing through the wavering darkness, she crawled forward as quickly as possible before pointing her plasma cannon upward and letting loose.

The kickback of the gun nearly made her pass out. There wasn't much a way to brace against it, in the narrow shaft with only one hand in front. She bit down hard on her tongue and curled her fingers around the hand grip. Her stump of an arm flailed about furiously, and blackness swam in her vision. When she felt she could stand it no longer, she let go of the trigger.

A new, ragged hole now gaped in the shaft, and toward that Tenten now painfully dragged herself. She had to hurry, the ruse would only work for so long. As she clambered upwards, she allowed herself a small grin of triumph. She had gambled on the ceiling-high airvent being close to the floor of the next level and it had paid off. A crowded collection of tanks, crates, and various boxes clustered about her in what looked to be some kind of immense storeroom.

Hiding places multiplied in such a place, particularly inside the crates lining the walls. Tenten crawled to one—not too near her exit to be conspicuous, but not too far to exhaust her—and hoisted herself in, slamming the lid shut behind her. Slumping against the wall, she finally allowed herself to relax. She was safe, for the moment.

But only the moment. Her vision grew blurrier by the instant, and blood was starting to seep through the tied-off sleeve. Perhaps she could ride out the sedative in this hideaway, but loss of blood might make it fatal.

Dimly, Tenten recalled one of Sakura's medical lectures.

You may not always have your medical kit in the field. She had solemnly informed the gathered kunoichi, and you must keep in mind all your options. In a battle, it is important to stem blood flow from a wound as soon as possible, but you must also keep the threat of infection in mind.

Slowly, Tenten reached to her back and pulled off the flamethrower.

If the wound is too large to effectively use bandages, and you cannot use your chakra techniques, you have only one option.

Letting it fall into her lap, she began to untie the sleeve binding her stump.

Remember, there are only two completely natural ways to stop bleeding. Fire and time.

As blood burbled freshly from the stump, Tenten pressed it up against the metal crate before her and aimed with the flamethrower.

A ninja never has time.

This time, Tenten DID pass out.

-------------------------------

"The others are at the Watchtower already, then?"

Batman gave a short nod from the front. "We have medical facilities there to tend to them. Another Javelin will be back later for your other friends."

"Why must the others remain?" asked Lee from his stretcher. Sakura was seated beside him, hands glowing. Somehow, Lee had managed to escape the fight with only minor superficial wounds and a broken leg. He did, of course, have burns all over his body from the Amateratsu flames, but even those were rapidly diminishing. "Do you need them for something."

"They're the least wounded among you," responded Wonder Woman, seated on a stretcher just opposite. She maintained she was alright, but Sakura had determined that severe trauma had been done to her nervous system. Raiton jutsus weren't something you just shook off, after all. Sakura's chakra had helped there, but a lot of work remained to be done.

Neji seemed incredulous. "The least?" Though several bullets had hit him, they seemed to have passed straight through rather than lodge anywhere. The preliminary medical care had been more than enough to stabilize him.

"We took down your friends Sai and Chouji with minimal damage." Batman's statement came cool and crisp. "Beast Boy and Starfire have slight concussions but nothing worse, and Raven has been relieved of this... illusion you said had a hold on her."

"Genjutsu." Sakura whispered. "It's called a genjutsu."

Apparently still not satisfied, Neji half-raised himself from the stretcher to glare inquisitively at Batman's back. "And what of Ino? I saw her fall myself."

"Funny you should mention it," snorted Batman. "From what I can tell, nearly nine bullets hit her."

"And?"

"And they're not there anymore. The wounds are all closed up, the muscles knitting back together, the bullet's themselves are simply gone." Batman's head half-twisted to stare back at Neji. "She said your cousin healed her. Is that correct?"

Neji slowly collapsed back onto the bed. "Probably." He muttered.

"Have to add that to the things to ask her about, then."

Sakura shrugged wearily. "Might as well." Hinata seemed to be full of surprises recently. Leaning back from her healing, Sakura cracked her knuckles and rubbed her eyes.

"Thank you, Sakura-san." Lee offered her a grin.

Trying to summon up a smile and failing miserably, Sakura settled for a simple, "You're welcome."

A crackle of radio from the front made all heads glance up. "Bats, what's your status?"

"ETA two minutes," responded the other evenly. "Passengers stable."

"Good to hear. Medical bays are standing by to receive them."

"What about the others?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

"They're all good," chuckled the voice. "your pal Shino is posing a bit of a puzzle to the medics here, but he's stable, and so's the one dog-boy. And before you ask, Bats, Robin's okay, and Cyborg's back online."

Batman gave a short, clipped nod. "Excellent. Batman out." Without turning, he informed the others, "You all will be required to give a full account of your battle in Gotham, so I suggest you start thinking through your statements now."

The ninjas merely nodded. After everything that'd happened, an interrogation seemed pretty inevitable. Sakura, however, seemed to be rather distracted, and constantly chewed on her lower lip. Slightly hesitant, she turned to Lee.

"Lee..." she whispered.

"Sakura-san?" the taijutsu specialist opened an eye.

"When I... I jumped at Sasuke, I thought..." she swallowed. "...I thought that... just for a second... he paused. He usually reacts instantly, but he... he hesitated. For a moment. I wouldn't have been able to grab his gun if he hadn't." Eyes probing Lees, she pleaded, "Do you... do you think he..."

"Most likely, he hesitated because his weapon was nearly out of bullets." Batman's icy voice cut into their conversation. "The Uzi I found at the scene had a completely empty magazine. I imagine your Sasuke guessed this from the weight and arranged the hostage gambit out of desperation." There was a slight pause, and then he added, "If he'd had more ammo, I imagine you'd be dead by now."

Sakura's eyes went completely vacant, and she slumped back in her chair. The look Wonder Woman shot Batman, and the look Lee gave her, passed entirely without reaction. Only when the Javelin touched down in the landing bay and the medics started to come in, did she finally speak.

"Lee."

"Yes, Sakura-san?" Lee was eyeing her rather anxiously.

"Do you have your medicine on you."

"My..." For a moment Lee fumbled as to her meaning, than his eyes cleared. "Yes, Sakura-san, but why...?"

"Can I have it."

Lee's considerable eyebrows raised. "Sakura-san, it is not very youthful to..."

"Lee." Sakura's vacant gaze turned to the chunin. "Sake. Please."

---------------------------------------------

"Why are you bothering me with this?" snapped Luthor—or rather, his projection in the control room. "Capture the brat, or kill her if you can't manage that, it makes no difference. "

Dr. Ronald Fisker had never really enjoyed working for Luthor. Sure, you couldn't argue with the pay rates or the equipment, and it WAS nice not to have to worry about international POW laws, but the man had a slight tendency for megalomania. Also for killing employees, which was just bad business anyway you looked at it.

Fortunately, at the moment he didn't have to speak to him. Security Chief Ravensbruk was doing that. "But sir, she is destroying ze base. If zis continues, the League vill undoubtedly..."

"I didn't hire you to come running to me every time something goes wrong, Ravensbruk." Luthor glared at the unfortunate security chief. "Do a thermal scan, use tracking dogs, follow the stupid implant we put in her. Flood the building with gas if you have to, just get her and stop bothering me!"

"Sir, she blew off the arm that had the implant. Und the use of gas vould..."

Luthor's projection made an irritated gesture and Ravensbruk's head exploded.

Sighing, Fisker reached up to clean off his glasses. This was really getting old. Brain fragments left very persistent stains on lab coats. A part of him wondered if he should start wearing a dust suit to the control room.

"Fisker, you're in charge now. Take care of the girl anyway you like, call out the others if you want, but do not interrupt me again. Understood?"

"Yes sir." Fisker offered a weary nod. He didn't imagine Luthor wanted to have it pointed out that a xenobiologist wouldn't make for a good security chief.

"Good." Nodding, Luthor began to turn away and then, almost as an afterthought, snapped his fingers at Ravensbruk's headless corpse. As the projection vanished, a new head swelled from the former security chief's shoulders.

Teeth clenched in pain, Ravenbruk stood to his feet, wiping some bits of his own skull off his suit. "I am demoted, ja?" He hissed to Fisker.

Fisker merely gave a nod.

"Just as well." The broad German gave another hiss of pain as ears sprouted from the head. "I miss the days when dying vas the end."

Privately, Fisker agreed.

-----------------------------------

"An id'it. Thas wha he is, and id'it."

One of the reasons Batman loved the monitor womb was because of how quiet it was. How contemplative. Nobody came in unless they had the most urgent business. There were no distractions, just clear, unadulterated intelligence from all over the world, intelligence to be contemplated and catalogued in the glorious silence of the monitor womb.

So why the pink-haired girl should go and choose to be drunk HERE, of all places, was not only confusing but manifestly annoying.

"I mean, OHmiGOD he's an idiot. All dark and angsty with hiz whole 'Ah musht avenge my clan' thingummy goin' on." The girl stared at the small metal flask in her hand for a moment. "Y'know? And he won't let anybody help him either, 'cause he thinks he's all cool and stuff."

Batman ignored the girl's observation. "Where did you get alcohol?" He asked. "They're not supposed to serve it to minors."

"Wha? Thish? Thish ain't no al-cho-haull! Thish... thish here is sake." Again the girl stared at the flask and blinked owlishly. "Sake. Na Alcohol. Alcohol... al'chol makes you DRUNK. I'm too... I'm too young ta git drunk. Not 'llowed."

"At least our universes have THAT much in common." Batman muttered.

"Na, sake's fine. Shenshei has sake ALL the time, and she's not drunk. Except when she is, ya know. But sake..." Sakura nodded profoundly. "Sake is good. Good for you." She proffered the bottle. "You wan' sake?"

"No thanks." Batman closed his eyes. "What was this you were saying about the Uchiha?"

"I...Ah used to be in love wid him. Y'know? Stupid things... you do this when you're young. We were on the same team and I wuz all 'ohmiword I'm on the same team wid Sasuke and he's gonna be my Prince Charming and we'll be happ'ly married and all that shit.' That's what I thought." She hiccupped. "That was a bad idea."

"Dating within the team always leads to disaster," nodded Batman abstractedly.

"B—but you don't GET it!" The girl burst into tears. "We never WENT on a date! We never did ANYTHING!"

"Mmm-hmmm." Batman was wondering when the girl would be finished.

"It was always just ME, MOONing about him like he was the center of the universe or something. But he was always being so COLD and aLOOF all the time. I mean C'MON! Okay, the guy's parent's died." She frowned. "An'... An' the others, I guess. Y'know... All the others in his clan. They did the dying thing too. That was sad. But STILL!"

"Definitely." Something in the girl's story seemed to job Batman's memory. Had he heard this story before? Outside of the last five times she'd told it?

"I mean... sure, I was stupid." The girl stared contemplatively at the bottle. "Stupid stupid stupid. Do you know anything that rhymes with stupid?"

"No." Cupid. Lurid. Drooped, if you wanted to stretch it.

"Well, if you did, that would be me. Stupid... whatever. That's what I was. But... I got better. I mean, I gotta understand him... sorta. He was hurt." She yawned. "He felt all alone, y'know? Like nobody could really unnerstand him, b'cause no body'd been where he'd been. And here was everybody thinking he was cool and had it all together..." Another snort of amusement. "W'en all the time he was just being an id'it. A big, jerkass, lonely, angry, id'it."

"So you've mentioned."

"But ah... I wanted to HELP him. Y'know? Once I f'gured out what his problem was. An' Naruto wanted to help him too, because Naruto's just cool like that. An' he... An' he wasn't having nothing of it. Thought he'd be stronger or somethin... somethin' with his brother. Thought he'd be more powerful without friends." She gave a sobbing hiccup. "Id'it."

"Quite."

"If he'd let us, we woulda helped him... me and N'ruto. Coulda helped him fight Itachi. Kept that jerk Madarra from getting to him first. I told him, I said, 'I'll leave the vill'ge for you! Lemme help you in y'r revenge! Shit like that, y'know. Kinda selfish, but hey..." She shrugged and nearly fell off the console. "...y'do crazy things when y'r in love."

"So I've heard."

"But he said no. Said thank you. No thank you. Whazzat mean, anyway? It mean 'No thank you's,' or 'No, thank you?' Or 'No, thank YOU.' Could mean all sorts of things." She puzzled over it a moment and suddenly burst into tears. "Not that it MEANS anything NOW, because now he's BEING all DARK and id'iotic and I don't even..." Her drunken tears choked her for a second. "I don't even know what he is now. He's gone."

"A sad story." Batman frowned at an image of Gotham city and the pale, green-cloaked giantess. Where did that come from?

"You know anybody like that?"

To his credit, Batman did search his mind for a moment before answering, "No."

"Good. 'Cause if you did, they'd be id'its. And you should talk to 'em and get 'em to stay before they go all 'I must avenge' on everyone. Kakashi... Kakashi-shenshei alwus said... 'revenge don' work...' or somethin' like that, I guess. Mebbe it was, 'leads nowhere' or 'leaves ya all dark and lonely and id'itic.' Somethin' along that line." The girl tilted her head back for another swig from the flask before taking it away and blinked at it owlishly. "I'm out." She announced, puzzled.

"So you are." Batman agreed.

"Ya hash any sake I could borrow?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, that sucks. Guess I'll find Lee and see if he has anymore." The girl slid off the console and nearly collapsed on the floor. Slowly, she hoisted herself upwards and began to stagger to the door. It whooshed open and she stared at it, bewildered. "Thish doorway sneezes!"

"Mmhmm." Batman did not turn.

"Are you alright?" interjected a new voice. Batman swiveled to observe a strangely concerned Diana standing at the door with Sakura.

Sakura, for her part, merely grinned broadly. "Hey! It'sh the Night Hawk! How're ya!" Her mind caught up to the question and she shook her head benignly. "Nah. I'm alright. Cone sold stober, that's me. Do you know any id'its?"

Blinking, Wonder Woman looked to Batman. He merely shrugged.

"If you do, tell shem to stop being idiotic and get some friends. 'kay?" Sakura patted the Amazon affectionately on the wrist before beginning to stagger down the hallway.

-----------------------------------------

Stabbing pain forced its way through the blackness and slowly cut a path to the brain. It formed an arm there, a throbbing, pulsing arm that became so persistent that at last Tenten creaked her eyes open just to see the thing.

The blackened stump stared back at her accusingly from where it huddled in her chest. The fingers of her other hand had clutched at it in her sleep and blood was creeping from beneath her blackened fingernails. The heavy scent of burnt flesh lay on the smoky air.

This... this is good.

Pain meant she was awake. Being awake meant she hadn't bled to death. Being awake in the crate meant that she hadn't been found while unconscious and was still at large in the Luthor complex. Unless it was a genjutsu... but no. The pain. And she even had a flamethrower still, apparently she'd dropped it as she passed out. All things considered, she'd been unbelievably lucky.

Tenten had had even more luck than she knew. The crate she had chosen to hide in was an insulated, nearly airtight one, shielding her from thermal scans and trapping the scent of her burned skin, which might so easily have brought tracking dogs.

For a minute, Tenten just sat there, staring at her burnt stump of an arm, reminding herself exactly how lucky she was. Then she forced her eyes closed, lifted her head, and stared at the ceiling of the crate, thinking. So far she'd just been running nonstop, trying to stay alive and stave off exhaustion. But she couldn't do that forever, and now was the best time to plan out a course of action.

First consideration. Tenten frowned. What would Lady Tsunade do?

The answer came rapidly. Lady Tsunade would regenerate her own arm, smash through the walls on a warrior slug to rescue the others, utilize an earth jutsu...

Tenten closed her eyes and willed the situation away. That isn't helping.

Okay. Realistic options then. One, hide in an out-of-the-way corner of the base and wait for an opportunity. Workability dubious. Two, find the others and break them free before leading an all-out charge for the perimeter. Workable if others close enough and in good health. Three, go crazy on the hallways until you find a way out, run for the border and alert Konoha, hopefully to send a rescue team. Most direct (Tenten liked direct), but also most ambiguous. I know nothing about the distances involved.

Actually, Tenten realized, her lack of knowledge was the single most dangerous part of the whole equation. Without knowing more about the bases' layout or its location, she had no idea whether she should be going up, down, left, or right. The exits could be anywhere, and might have any amount of guards over them. In fact, her whole journey so far might have simply taken her further from the exits.

Tenten pressed her palm to her forehead. Think, girl, think. Up would certainly lead out eventually, though escape might not be any easier from there. Still, it would help her get her bearings, which would be worth something.

Right then, decided Tenten, shoving the lid aside and picking up her flamethrower. Sneak upwards, attracting as little attention as possible, and see if you can get any intel on the base. Then you can go ballistic and start busting your way out.

Leaping up and out, Tenten renewed her one-woman war.

--------------------------------------

"So. What exactly happened back there?"

People being questioned by Batman generally looked nervous, but these two took the cake. Naruto's face held a combination of grief, horror, and confusion. Hinata's face... well, Superman couldn't honest say he'd seen a face like that before. She looked like she wanted to melt away and die.

"I'm waiting." All things considered, Batman was actually being pretty nice to the kids. At least, compared to his normal self.

Naruto cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Um... well... I may have... unleashed the... Kyuubi. Thing. That's inside of me."

"Kyuubi. Nine-tails?" Batman frowned. "The monitors showed only four."

"It was a partial transformation," admitted the blonde, writhing in embarrassment.

Amanda Waller, who had insisted on being present, snorted derisively. "So long as that's all it was. I should hate for it to have obliterated three-fourths of Gotham as opposed to one-eighth."

Naruto's head shot up. "Did I really destroy that much?"

"The city is fine." Superman cut in.

"Physically, anyway," grunted Batman. "Apart from a score of heart attacks in the region, there's no tangible damage to the people."

Though he suspected a hidden message in that statement, Superman let it go. "You said you unleashed the Kyuubi. Deliberately?"

"In... a way." Naruto groaned. "Sasuke was going to shoot Amaterasu flames at the city, I had to stop him somehow. The Kyuubi was the only way."

"Because obliterating the city would be better than burning it down."

Naruto nearly chewed his lip off. "I thought... I could control it better than that. Amaterasu flames are unextinguishable, not even ninjas can diffuse them. We wouldn't have been able to stop it."

Cocking an eyebrow, Batman remarked, "Your girlfriend over there seems to be able to handle them."

Hinata's face flamed into color and she swayed just slightly. Out of the corner of his eye, Superman saw J'onn's mouth twitch. Naruto just whirled around to stare at her. "Huh? You can put out Amaterasu flames? Since when? Is this some kind of secret Hyuuga thing?"

"N-no." Hinata stared fixedly at the table, unwilling to look at any of the men in the room. "No, it's not."

Stumped by that denial, Naruto furrowed his brow in thought for a moment, then asked, "Is it... something to do with that creepy guy we were talking to?"

Batman's other eyebrow inched upwards. "Creepy guy?"

But Hinata's face had apparently told Naruto all he needed to know. "Nobody important," said he, a little too quickly.

 Waller snorted. "For a ninja, you don't lie very well. This time you're not getting off that easily."

Reluctantly, Superman had to agree. "Naruto, thousands of people saw a giant flaming fox just about destroy a city, and a giant white woman stop him. That's not the sort of thing we can just make go away."

"The public's going to want an explanation." Batman's glare was tangible. "And considering half of my city nearly got toasted, I'd like an explanation myself."

More than that, added Superman silently. Neither Batman nor the people at large would be comfortable letting Naruto out of the Justice League's hands after something like this. One way or another, the ninjas days with the Titans were over, and Superman couldn't help but wonder how the teenagers would take that.

At the moment, things did not look promising. Naruto might not be much of a liar, but he seemed to have a stubborn streak a mile long. He matched Batman's glare eye-to-eye and folded his arms across his chest, clearly determined not to tell them anything.

Surprisingly, it was Hinata who broke the silence. "I... I think we should tell them, Naruto-kun."

All eyes turned on the dark-haired girl, who remained staring at the table. "Tell us what?" asked Batman, clinically alert.

Swallowing, she slowly looked up. "W-we may h-have discovered wh-why we and the others c-came here."

------------------------------------

Why was everything here in gibberish? Tenten stared in frustration at the sign etched on the wall. She was certain—fairly certain—that the design carved there was a map of the complex. She also felt pretty sure that the big red 'X' marked her current location. But neither assurance changed the fact that the scribbles covering the rest of map made NO sense whatsoever!

The sound of footsteps resounded in the corridor and she quickly hid herself. Genjutsu was unfortunately impossible to do one-handed, but she could still climb walls, and ceilings came in very handy at moments. Those security cameras WERE a problem, but they were not unavoidable for any competent ninja. These patrols, on the other hand... they could be problematic occasionally.

Crouching low to the ceiling, she listened as the sprinting footsteps came closer. From the sound of gibberish (she couldn't understand the words they said either), there were only two. Hardly a real threat. Holstering her weapon, Tenten considered a moment. The steps were coming too quickly for a patrol... an alert, maybe? Had they found her? Or was something else happening?

No more time to think. Two guards rounded the corner, jogging lightly, guns at the ready. Releasing the chakra in her feet, she landed lightly behind them, springing after the rearmost. Her hand covered his mouth as her stump struck him hard at the base of the skull. Dropping his limp body, her hand flew to her side.

The other guard turned just in time to greet the knife flying toward him.

Tenten sighed as the now-familiar sirens echoed through the base. Great. Of course that whole affair had been in front of the cameras. Every guard within miles would be converging on this location. Quickly she searched each guard, trading the one's laser rifle for her nearly-spent flamethrower and confiscating all the grenades she could fit on her belt. Then she noticed the ID tag on the guard's uniform.

A keycard! Tenten gave a short nod of approval. She'd seen some of the guards using these earlier, moments before she killed them. You used them to open doors. The ones she'd taken off the others were no use anymore... probably the computers had shut them off somehow... so a new one was very helpful.

More footsteps. Many more. Tenten sighed and bolted upward, leveling her new weapon. Time to blast through, find an escape route, and vanish from the cameras again. This was getting old.

------------------------------

"She ist alvays downing our patrols," Ravensbruk muttered.  "A super-powered ninja. Vy were my men not warned about zere capabilities? Or given access to specific countermeasures?"

Fisker gave a weary shrug.  Though he was technically in charge, he didn't understand the intricacies of security enough to second-guess Ravensbruk.

"Ve have resources of our own, though, yes?" Ravensbruk looked at him.  "The X-Squad?"

"If you think the situation's to that point," Fisker said, calling up the data on his pad.  "It looks like Livewire, Metallo, KGBeast, and Gentleman Ghost are currently available."

"Then deploy zem.  Let us see how our leetle runaway likes fighting supervillains."

--------------------------------

"Name's Steel." The metallic man extended a hand. "Well, more like callsign, but anyway, you get the idea. I'm going to be flying you back to Gotham."

Neji gingerly shook the other's hand. "Why, again, am I going back there? I just left."

A small whirring sound accompanied the shrugging of Steel's shoulders. "Hey man, don't look at me, okay? The big guys wanted all you kids back here ASAP right at the start, and now that everybody's in they got time to think about what to do with you. Bats and Supes are still up there talking to your other friends, but the other's called in a mission for you."

"A mission?" Neji arched an eyebrow. "I am hardly in fit condition for a 'mission,' I fear."

The man smiled. "Not that kinda mission. You won't have to do any fighting, from what I hear. They just want you to spot for them."

"I beg your pardon?"

"It's Green Lantern's idea. Flash has already searched through that city about five times, and he hasn't found a single trace of your Sasuke friend. Yet you guys found him within five seconds of hitting town." As he pulled back the pilot's chair, the man offered Neji the adjoining one. "They figure maybe you could do it again."

"And if I refuse?" Neji seated himself in the co-pilot's seat and buckled himself in.

The man's metallic brow crinkled in confusion. "Well... I guess then we just sit here and wait until the big guys decide what they want to do with you guys, hoping that in the meantime your friend Sasuke doesn't mess up the country any worse than it is and get you guys in even MORE trouble than you already are."

"Hm." Neji frowned at the console. "It was a rhetorical question in any case."

"Good."

With a tremendous rumble, the jets below shuddered into life, and Neji felt again a quiet euphoria as the Javelin left the ground. Someday, he told himself, I must learn to operate this vehicle. For now, he simply watched as the steel grey of the hangar flew past to greet the open blue of the sky. Thin shreds of cloud shredded against the sharp edge of the Javelin's nose, and the sun gleamed unhindered through the window.

"So that eye thing... that run in the family?"

Neji blinked, slightly distracted. "What?"

"Your eyes." The man grinned at him. "Your cousin has them, but none of the other kids do. It a family thing?"

Frowning, Neji glanced away. "I do not care to discuss it."

Steel winced slightly. "Okay. Sorry man."

For a moment, the two rode in awkward silence. Finally, Neji turned back. "Your skin... it is metallic. Is that a kekkai genkai of some kind?"

"M'sorry?"

"A bloodline. A... meta ability, superpower." Neji sometimes had difficulty with the new terms. "Is that your power, to turn into steel?"

Smiling, the man shook his head. "Nope. Common mistake, though. This is a suit, or more like armor, I guess. Gives me superstrength, lets me fly, stuff like that. Made it myself."

"Armor, like a samaurai?"

"Kinda an odd choice, but yeah, I guess." Steel chuckled as he looked over. "Anybody could wear this suit, really, I'm just sorta greedy and keep it to myself."

"Anyone? Fascinating." Eyes intent, Neji studied the suit once more. "The inventiveness of your world astounds me sometimes."

"Sorry?"

"Your ability to make things. That suit. This plane. Those buildings below, all the medical equipment in the hospital. In my world, we have nothing that compares. Oh, I suppose we have similar techniques employed by chakra use, but as for equipment operable by anyone..." Neji shook his head. "Nothing. These... Javelins that you fly around so carelessly... they are unheard of in our world. There are perhaps two or three people in the world who can truly fly, and they do not lend their talents willingly."

Shrugging, Steel responded, "Well, not many ordinary people can here, either, unless they have a suit like mine. Or one like STRIPES's. Or a rod like Stargirl's. Or an energy ring. Or..." he frowned. "Okay, I see your point."

"I was just thinking of the airplanes, to be honest, but yes, you do seem to have a great number of flying people." Neji's lips twitched in something akin to a smile. "How long should it take us to reach Gotham?"

Steel checked the meter. "About an hour." He said. "This is one of the older Javelins, they don't go as fast as the others."

---------------------------------------------

Tenten's fingers touched a nerve cluster on the man's neck and he dropped senseless to the ground. For a moment she considered putting a hole through his head for safety, but discarded the notion. She needed to save ammo.

Sirens were still blaring, but whether because of this attack or one of the previous ones, she really couldn't say. At some point, whoever was in command up there had apparently had just decided to leave the alarm on

More grenades. She'd need those to get past the guard squadrons coming after her. The gun was no use, it was fairly low-grade. The helmet, Tenten could use, a stray shot from the last skirmish had left a smoking graze along one side of her old one. Quickly she discarded it and picked up the new one. The key-card...

Tenten frowned as she ripped it from the man's jacket. This one looked... different somehow. More fancy. Maybe it unlocked more things? Or did it quicker?

She'd have to try it out later. Right now there were other things. Regardless of whether they'd seen her with these, she needed to keep moving, it wouldn't take long for them to figure out her location. Maybe blasting down a wall...

At that moment, her thoughts were stopped by a pale man rising up through the floor.

Tenten bit back a scream as she leaped back and leveled her laser rifle. Fifteen rays of death shot through the man's pale coat without effect. In a single fluid motion, the ninja shouldered her gun and snatched a grenade, pulling the pin with her teeth. It went flying toward the man's floating form and exploded.

The man simply stood there, floating amidst the explosion. Tenten would say he looked amused, except for one simple fact: the man had no head. A pale top hat floated above his frock coat and cravat, and a monocle suspended in the intervening space, but eyes, mouth, nose, or skull there was none.

A... ghost? Tenten's frenzied mind thought.

Whatever it was, the figure raised its cane at Tenten. You didn't have to be a weapons specialist, or even a ninja, to know what that meant, and Tenten was rolling out of the way long before the bolt of magic blasted into the wall. Recovering quickly, she turned and bolted down the hallway, throwing back another grenade, more for cover than anything. The magic bolts were going wild, but that couldn't last. If she could just get to a...

The thought froze in her mind as a huge bulk of a man rounded the corner ahead of her. She caught a momentary impression of a giant in blackish-blue and red, one eye glowing with malevolent light. With surprising agility the man leapt at her, and she just barely managed to dodge. Her gun whipped around, and without hope, she fired.

However, it seemed lasers DID hurt this figure, even if they also enraged him. He howled and clutched his shoulder, turning toward her with a new fury. Heartened, she opened up with rifle again, but he was more wary now, dodging from side to side, and she could see the ghost drawing closer.

Enough of this. Tenten rolled away, dodging and firing with all her might. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the giant raise his wrist, and soon heard the crackle of gunfire. Bullets whizzed about her, and she leapt from wall to ceiling to floor in a frenzied dance. Some nipped her good shoulder and she clenched her teeth in pain.

This was no longer a game.

-----------------------------------

"The problem with being a god is that everyone expects you to solve their problems," observed Luthor, studying the streets below. "They assume that all your overworldly power and glory is for their benefit alone, and never think that you know best what to do with it. Vastly annoying."

Captain Dio gave a slight nod, not exactly daring to comment on the subject. To be honest, he wasn't exactly certain what his boss had called he and his men out here for. It wasn't like his boss needed firepower.

"In this instance, here I am, in Gotham, seeking the Sharingan, or rather the Uchiha. The one, last step to godhood that will allow me to complete the puzzle. And what do I get? Annoying underlings whining about how a churlish prisoner is loose in the hallways." Snorting, Luthor gave a trivial gesture with his hand. "She's a barely useful prisoner, and as far as I can tell, has no power whatsoever. Yet they see fit to interfere in my quest to godhood with a request for aid!"

Dio didn't really understand what his boss was saying there, but there was nothing particularly new about that. So he nodded again.

With a sigh, Luthor let his hands fall at his sides. "Pah. Enough of that. It's not even worth my attention. What IS is the rather disturbing absence of the Uchiha in Gotham."

That statement had to be addressed. "Sir?"

"He's not here, you idiot," snapped Luthor. "If he was, I'd have felt him the moment we arrived, and he me. We would have been drawn together. But he's not. So the question is, where did he go, and how?"

"Perhaps the League found him, sir?"

Luthor snorted. "Don't be ridiculous. I may be masking us from their notice, but that's not because I'm afraid of their power, it's just simply more convenient. Uchiha would never have been taken by them." He frowned, once again studying the streets. "No. It's something else."

"Ah." Dio decided it was time to bring up the one subject that'd been on his mind. "Sir? If he's not here, then... perhaps we could move somewhere else? A more stable holding point, perhaps, like on top of a building or something?" Or anywhere except floating in midair?

Luthor rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers twice. The first snap burnt Dio to a crisp, the second restored him again. "I suppose we might as well." He shrugged. Slowly, the squad of floating men began to lower to a building. "But we're not leaving Gotham till we discover some hint of where Uchiha's gone. I'm so close now... he's not escaping me this time."

---------------------------------------------

Quiet hung over the icy glass cell like a pall, relieved only by the occasional spark from the single lamp above it. The white light glared down unmercifully on a emaciated figure clad in tattered gold and red, sprawled untidily on the cell's glass floor.

Kid Flash had spent some weeks within the six-by-six-by-six dimensions of this glass crate, and knew every specific about it. He knew that it wasn't really glass, it was too hard for that. He knew that the surfaces could be charged to shock him if he didn't do what the bald man said. He knew that the hatch on the one side was how they sent in food, and that the drain on the other was how he sent it out. He knew that they fed him just enough to keep him alive, so he wouldn't have the energy to run.

Currently, he knew that the two guards outside were deliberately taunting him, savoring every minute of that beautiful, high-calorie lunch they were opening right in front of him just within the light where he could practically smell it...

That was when the first explosion came.

Explosions were something new. The sirens had been going on for hours now, and neither Kid Flash nor the guards really even noticed them anymore. There had been a lot of patrols going by too, but that wasn't particularly unusual either. Explosions... they hadn't heard a lot of explosions.

The two guards set aside their lunch and moved to the door, guns at the ready. The explosions were getting louder now and closer together. Kid Flash crawled a little closer to the wall of his cell, somewhat curious himself.

The explosions were very close now. There was a thump outside their door. Both guards tensed and pointed their weapons...

And the door beeped cheerily as it popped open to reveal absolutely no one. The guards had all of two seconds to relax before the girl standing on the ceiling shot them dead.

Kid Flash blinked as she leapt into the room and slammed the door shut. Sure, he knew lots of girls, some of which flew, fired magic beams, or altered probability, but walking on ceilings was a new one. Come to think of it, girls with missing hands were pretty new too.

The girl turned from piling things up against the door and did a double take. "Nani?" A quick jog took her right over to the glass, and she frowned at him through it. "Anta dare?" She asked, clearly confused.

Unable to understand the girl's strange jargon, Kid Flash tried to pantomime that he was trapped and wanted to get out. The lady just kept staring at him, apparently unable to understand his presence there.

Suddenly there was another explosion, rather different from the other ones and much, much closer. The door shook and the light above it flashed alarmingly.

"Kuso!" swore the girl. "Maa ii, koko kara dete ikou." She gestured him away from the glass and threw a grenade. It exploded, sending bits of cell flying and leaving the front open to the elements. The air smelled different somehow, and for the first time Kid Flash realized that the air in his cell must have been drugged. "Arukaru?" questioned the girl, picking her way toward him.

But Kid Flash paid her no heed. In one second he was across the room, wolfing down the guards lunch, in two second he had the barricade down and the door blown open, and in three seconds he'd eaten half of the mess-hall's dinner.

Somewhere three-tenths through the fourth second, he dashed back to his cell and grabbed the lady. If she was in trouble, he reasoned, it was only fair that he help her escape too.

--------------------------------

"KGBeast and Gentleman Ghost have lost contact with the target. Kid Flash is loose..."

"Security breaches at checkpoints Alpha, Gamma, Chi, Beta..."

"Verdammt!" hissed Ravensbruk. "If Flash has her, she is as good as out already. Luthor vill kill us both."

"If that is all he does, I will not be so disappointed." Fisker frowned. "Still, it's not over yet. The only exit they can use is the street access one, and that is secured." His finger flew to the intercom. "Metallo, Livewire, stand ready."

-------------------------------

HallwayhallwayhallwayROOMback hallwayhallwayELEVATORSHAFTBOUNCEBOUNCEBOing. HallwayhallwayWOoop. Map.

Study. Locate exit ah there it is. Girl barfing. Yuck. On again.

HallwayhallwayhallwaySecurityCheckpoint TOO SLOWHAHAAhahahallwayhallwaystairs. Patrol bullets dodge whizzwhizz TOO SLOW Punchpunch knockout HAha sucker. HallwayhallwayLIGHT. Exit. Fasterfasterfaster...

Blast?

-------------------------------

An enormous shockwave rocked the Javelin, and Neji experienced the sudden violent sensation of having his stomach turned inside-out. "Nani?" he cried, momentarily slipping into his own tongue.

"Shit!" Steel did not seem any better pleased than he at the turn of events. "I dunno, some kind of energy beam just came out of nowhere. Strap yourself in, I'm going to have to land this thing. Steel to Metro Tower, come in Metro Tower..."

Neji was already strapped in, but he held tight to the edges of the seat and activated his Byakugan, searching for their attacker.

"...taking fire just above Dakota city, am attempting emergency landing. Attackers unknown, possess..."

The veins around his eyes pulsed and the walls around him were stripped away, empty before his all-piercing gaze. Above, below, left, and right, all were open to him in equal focus, from the clouds above to the cars cruising below. He saw Steel's suit, Steel's face, and Steel's brain all at once.

And he also saw a very familiar chakra signature down below.

Neji, for once in his life, lost his reserve. "Tenten?"

-----------------------------------

Sasuke tasted the acrid sting of gravel as he collapsed to the street. On his face, he could feel the empty socket of his left eye burning, throbbing, wiping out all other sensations. His face was warm and sticky, the hand he pressed to it was sticky, there was the smell of red in the air. Drums were pounding in his ears.

"That was close." He faintly heard above him, and then there was a slight touch on his shoulder. A coolness washed over him, extinguishing the fire on his face and quieting the drums in his ears. Hands and face were still warm and slick with blood, but vaguely, Sasuke became aware that the hole in his head was no longer bleeding. He could almost feel the skin forming over it.

With the loss of pain came the gain of awareness. He was lying face down in the grit of an alleyway. A half-rotten banana peel sprawled inches from his face, and a pile of rat droppings were squashed under his right hand. Above him the warm sun was beating down through the long tall buildings of glass, gleaming off their burnished sides.

Just behind him reared a tall, pale man in a green trenchcoat, his vibrant red hair streaked with white. His burning green eyes burned holes into Sasuke's back.

"Uchiha Sasuke." His voice came clearly to the ninja's ears. "It is time we had a talk."