The building was dark, all the lights had gone out, and the only illumination came from the street lights outside, as filtered through the barred windows of the church. The meeting space, once full of chairs, had long been cleared and was now simply an empty room with a podium and cross on a raised platform.

Sasuke had managed to make himself invisible nearly immediately after the worship service, and now lurked in a handy shadow on the other side of the stage. All the other parishoners had left already, and he was merely waiting for Rev. McCay to leave.

Unfortunately, this looked to be a lengthy task. McCay was apparently meeting with someone in his study, and they'd been going on for a while.

"James, I know you've got a lot on your mind, but can't this wait? I have a message to present to the Prison Fellowship tomorrow."

"I know, Norman." The other voice was deep, slightly gravely. "But I'm afraid it can't. I wanted to ask you again about the girl..."

A sigh from the minister cut off the second voice. "James, we've been over this. I don't know. I don't have any answers for you. Perhaps just the strength of the girl's emotion at the time?"

"That's not how these things work. Emotion alone is not the key, the spirit of vengeance requires a compatible spirit. And the girl's spirit was not veangeful."

Despite himself, Sasuke found himself listening to the conversation, if only because he had nothing else to do. And hey, the subject sounded interesting. Something about the second man's voice sounded oddly familiar.

"Well then I have nothing further to offer." Sasuke could imagine the minister's shrug. "Honestly, James, if you don't understand it, then how am I supposed to? You've much more experience in these matters."

"Perhaps, but you are human."

"Pah! You're human yourself, James, more than you realize."

"My experiences have... limited my imagination, my comprehension. I know too much, Norman, that's why I can't imagine the things I don't know." There was something like a sigh. "God hasn't shown me the answer, Norman. He must want me to work it out on my own, but... I can't. I need your help."

There was a long pause, and then another sigh, this one apparently from the minister. "Well... hm." A creak echoed from the office, as of someone pushing a chair back from a desk. Sasuke heard the restless drumming of fingers on wood. "You know... it's just possible the girl may have stumbled on something."

"Like what?"

"Well, it's just a theory, James, but... you told me your official title is Uriel, correct?"

"My NAME is Uriel."

"And yet it's also James Corrigan. Dear me. Anyway, I remember from my days at seminary, and I think you told me this once yourself... Uriel is the angel of redemption, isn't he?"

"And vengeance, yes. Two sides of God's justice."

"Vengeance, of course. Tell me, are the hosts for the Spectre always typically such... angry men?"

There was a short pause. "Well... generally, I suppose so. Hosts are chosen for their understanding of vengeance."

"That's the thing, though, James. Vengeance isn't all there is to your job. How many people were chosen based on their understanding of redemption? Of mercy? I believe you when you say that mercy and justice are linked, or even simultaneous, even if I don't understand it. But it always seems to me that you focus far too much on the side of revenge."
There was an uncomfortable cough. "That has been suggested to me before. But I do perform redemption, it is simply a... less dramatic work of mine."

"Yes, well..." There was another sigh from the minister. "What I'm trying to say, James, is that maybe the girl is a better fit to the Spectre than you, just in a different way."

"What?" The gravelly voice lifted in surprise.

"Well, you did tell me that the Spectre has never found a perfect host, correct? Perhaps that is because people have always focused on a host obsessed with vengeance. Maybe, just maybe, they should have been looking for someone better attuned with the idea of redemption."

"Like the girl."

"Possibly. I don't know, James, I told you, I don't have any answers. Just guesses."

"Well, that is the sum of human experience."

There was a moment's silence, and then: "Ha! A joke! You just made a joke, James!"

"Did I?"

"You certainly said something funny. It's close enough to one. See, James? You are human still. You just need to work at it. Get out more, spend more time with your fellow humans, things like that."

"Norman, you're one of the few people I CAN honestly talk to. Most people either wouldn't believe who I truly am, or if they did believe, they'd be too frightened to speak." There was a little pause. "I don't know what I'm going to do without you."

"Ha, well, hopefully, you wouldn't begin by brutally killing everyone responsible. I'd hate for that to..."

The speaker's words trailed off and there was a pregnant pause. Then there was again the squeak of a chair being pushed back, the click of glasses being pulled off, and the cautious question: "You said 'what I AM going to do without you.'"

A long, horrible silence, as the gravelly voice realized its mistake.

"Is there something you're not telling me, James?"

"Well..." the voice struggled a little, "Yes."

Another pause. "I see." Another, longer sigh. "I see. I take it this is going to be... soon?"

"Yes."

"I suppose you couldn't tell me how soon?"

"It's... probably for the best if you don't know."

"No. No, I suppose not." There was the familiar drumming of fingers on the desk. "It's just... this is just such an... inconvenient time, really. The prison ministry is stretched for volunteers, old Mrs. Gummidge practically depends on me to bring her her medication, the classis coming up is going to need a secretary, the council has to..."

"I'm sorry, Norman. But the timing never is convenient with these things."

"No. That's true, I suppose. But... well, it's this Alex Row boy." Sasuke's ears pricked up. "I really thought God brought him into my life for a reason, you know? He was even in the service this evening. And now..." there was a sizeable thump as a hand came heavily down on the desk, "...now I won't have a chance to help him. I guess I was wrong."

"Everything has a purpose, Norman. You know that."

"Maybe. But now I won't live to see it." A very heavy sigh. "I don't suppose you could tell me..."

"No. God's courses are not mine to say. I'm sorry."

"Why?" grunted the minister. "It's not you that's doing it." A short pause. "Is it?"

"No. I did request that I be present to welcome you but... they decreed that I am to remain uninvolved."

"That's... probably a good idea, yes. I was just saying, James, and I say it again now, I hope you don't go on a rampage avenging my death on all responsible." There was a noise like a laugh. "I'd hate for my last act with you to be one of anger. I've lived a long life, James. A good one, too, and I hope I've lived it well. Certainly I've seen more of the universe than I ever dreamed to in seminary."

"More than you wished to, perhaps. Mankind cannot bear very much reality."

"That I don't know about. But certainly I'm glad to have had the opportunity." Another squeak as the chair pushed back into the desk. "I... don't know, James. The precise timing is inconvenient, but in general I can't really complain about the life I've had so far. Yes, I could say I'm ready."

"Well..." A little pause. "I am... glad to hear that, Norman."

A longer pause.

"Well, I... I suppose I should go now."

"Hmm? Oh, yes. Yes, goodbye, James. I'll see you—no, I suppose I won't—on the other hand, I probably will—well, anyway... goodbye."

"Goodbye, Norman."

Then there was silence. Sasuke waited for the speaker to emerge, but the door remained shut and the light seeping underneath remained unchanged. Again he heard the creak of a chair being pushed back.

Curious despite himself, Sasuke stepped forward, out of the shadows...

...and straight into the light suddenly streaming from the office's open door. It glinted off Rev. McCay's astonished face. "Alex! Do come in!"

"I don't get why I have to come with you on this." Sakura tried not to look at the floor of the invisible aircraft. "I've never done any of this hero patrol stuff before, I'm more likely to be a liability than anything"

"And THAT is precisely WHY you have to come along." Wonder Woman called over her shoulder. "Hero patrols are part of the whole point of training. They teach you how to work with us and us how to work with you. Battle is the greatest training ground. And I am supposed to be training you."

"Can't you and Batman handle it?"

A snort broke loose from the Amazon. "Batman probably would claim he could handle it himself, regardless of what he actually could do." In the reflection of the glass, Sakura saw Diana's forehead wrinkle in thought. "It's... rather odd, actually, but he asked me to come help. Said that the patrol is likely to be rather wide and he could use an extra pair of eyes."

Sakura processed what she knew of Batman. "That sounds weird."

"Yes." Wonder Woman nodded. "Batman ordinarily does not permit strangers on his territory, though I've offered to help him many times."

Sakura stared at the woman's reflection in the glass. Was she seeing what she thought she was seeing?

"It's... very good of you to be so helpful to him." She began cautiously.

"Thank you." Wonder Woman gave a half-shrug.

This part had to be phrased properly. "He doesn't seem to... want help, though."

"Oh, he doesn't. But he still needs it." A spasm of frustration passed over the Amazon's face. "Stupid man. So enormously arrogant, he thinks he has to work himself into the grave without accepting aid from any source. And yet somehow HE has to stick his head in every other matter going on."

Just the edge of Sakura's mouth was curving. "Really, you should just leave him alone. He deserves to learn a lesson."

"He does!" Wonder Woman snapped. "He really does! I ought to turn this plane about right now! There's no reason why I should always come helping whenever he calls!"

For a moment the plane was filled with nothing but the gentle hum of the airplane's engine. It did not pitch or whine, no change came in its beat. The telltale creak of the airplane rudder was conspicuously absent. Silent and smooth, the invisible plane kept right on course.

Sakura really couldn't restrain her smile now. "And yet, you do."

"Silence!" snapped Wonder Woman. Sakura obediently subsided and waited, confidently watching the princess in front of her.

Slowly, gradually, the proud Amazon's shoulder's slumped. "Yes." She admitted. "Yes, I do."

"I'm told," Sakura continued, unaccountably enjoying herself, "that we girls always go for the cool, quiet types."

Wonder Woman half-turned. "'We?'"

"Well, you know. In general," said Sakura, a little too quickly, trying to hold back the blood rushing to her face. Suddenly this wasn't so enjoyable. "We as...women as a group, you understand."

Now Diana's mouth curved. "I see." She nodded, turning back to the controls. "However, Batman is not one of your 'cool, quiet' types. He is an accomplished warrior, who conducts himself with honor and discretion. A worthy consort for any woman."

Sakura's built-in dictionary contained every word in the English language, but that didn't mean they all came readily to memory. "Huh?"

Wonder Woman sighed. "I MEANT he's a catch for any girl."

"Oh. If you say so." Again Sakura called up an image of the taciturn, glowering Batman. She couldn't quite see the appeal. Well... maybe she could if she were Wonder Woman, but even so... good grief, had she really been like this with Sasuke? And Ino too?

She decided to check how bad it was. "So basically, we would be going to Gotham whatever the situation, because it's a chance to see Batman."

"To help him. I see him all the time. He's too proud to accept much help."

Pretty bad, Sakura decided. Though not quite as bad as my hero-worshiping genin days. "Are you sure it's worth it?" She asked, with more sincerity than she'd meant to put into it.

Wonder Woman must've picked up on the odd tone, for she half-turned again and studied her for a moment before turning back. There was a short interval of silence as the Amazon thought out her answer. Finally she said, "As far as what I have given, I have given no more than any comrade in arms would give another. As for what he has given, he has given me his respect and his trust, neither of which are to be taken lightly. And as for what I have gained..." she paused momentarily, "...I have gained a new world, new friends, and new duties. From him alone I have gained much valuable training and hours of companionship... well, comradeship, at least. And..." a curve tilted her mouth. "Occasionally he is fun to tease."

She glanced back at Sakura. "Do you understand?"

Sakura did not look up from the invisible floor. "I wish I did," she muttered. "I really wish I did."

"He's called Juugo, you say?"

"Yes. He's an ally of Sasuke's, and enormously powerful. His blood gives him transformative and berserker abilities. Normally he is quite docile, but unfortunately his power has rendered him prone to bouts of insanity," replied Shino. He sat, smooth and professional, at the head of the League council table. Several grim faces surrounded him. "He submitted himself for imprisonment and experimentation in hopes of correcting this problem, but met with no success. Why? Presumably because he did so with a madman who was more interested in exploiting his strength."

Green Lantern snorted. "That'd do it." He glanced over the papers in his hand. "It looks as though you and Batman have put quite a comprehensive file together on this man."

"Yes. Batman met Juugo in his infiltration of the Titan's Tower and wished to add his own observations to our background info." Shino suppressed some minor annoyance at the memory, after all, he was quite a capable profiler. At the same time, he also felt a small sliver of admiration—not many men could face off against Juugo and triumph.

"That sounds like Bats." Lantern nodded. "And you don't think this attacker you and Atom met was this Juugo?"

"No. Why do I think so? Because Juugo cannot alter his base appearance, and the man looked nothing like him. Moreover, the transformation of the attacker was in a form more consistent with the Orochimaru curse-seal configuration than Juugo's direct transformative abilities."

"The curse seal is a method of implementing the power of Juugo's blood into lesser warriors," Terrific supplied. "A kind of combat stimulant and steroid all rolled into one. Batman and I went over this with him earlier."

Superman, nodding absently, continued to study the paper in front of him. "Mmm. Which leaves us with the rather unsettling question of WHO in our world is now implementing them on bank robbers."

"Not a bank robber. He had no money, the bag was full of explosives. This was a field test." Green Lantern threw the wad of papers back on the table. "Not that that's much better."

"Not hard to guess who was conducting it, either." Hawkgirl nodded. "Luthor again. So what's this mean? He knows about curse seals?"

Terrific snorted. "More likely, he knows how to turn a few blood samples into a clone. He's definitely got this Juugo character."

"Captured? Or allied?"

"Impossible to say. If he's the kind that would..."

"Excuse me." All eyes turned to Shino. "If I may voice an opinion..."

Superman nodded. "Go ahead."

"Juugo is deeply loyal to Sasuke. Why? Sasuke is the only one who can restrain him from one of his fits. Therefore he is unlikely to be willingly far from Sasuke's side. Yet, in the battle on Gotham, when Sasuke was critically injured, Juugo was nowhere to be found. It is safe to assume he was not anywhere in the area. It is likely, then, that Juugo has been captured by Luthor and is being held against his will."

There was a moment's silence.

"Makes sense." Hawkgirl nodded.

"That's quite a lot of info you've got there, kid." Lantern raised an eyebrow. "You an analyst back home?"

"Not professionally. I do enjoy investigating and evaluating."

"Look into it when you get back. You've got the makings of a detective." Lantern stood to his feet. "Okay. So we got a lead on this Juugo clone thing, we can start looking at records of the latest technology involved in cloning and where it's been disappearing. Check on traffic patterns in the area where Shino and Atom were attacked, too, see if we can find something on this guy leaving the area."

"Luthor could have teleported him out." Flash objected.

"For a measly soldier? When he's already got a team observing? Not likely. He'd bring him out the ordinary way. Anyway, it's worth a try. And Atom got a pretty good sample of his DNA structure... we can run some analysis on it, see if we can find something that way."

"Sounds good." Superman nodded. "I'll contact Bats with the update." He rose, signaling the end of the meeting, and the others followed his suit. "Shino, you've been most helpful. Thank you. In passing, may I ask whether you have any means of tracing this Juugo-clone?"

Shino's glasses were utterly impassive. "No."

"Lee?" Sakura blinked as she jumped from the cockpit. "What are you doing here?"

"The same thing as you, obviously." The deep voice made her jump, particularly as it came from right behind her. Batman's grim face stared down at her. "He is out patrolling with me, learning how to work with us." He gave a short nod to Wonder Woman. "Princess."

"What's this about, Bruce?" The amazon crossed her arms and studied him.

"There've been some kidnappings recently. I've detected a pattern, but the potential targets are too widespread to cover all by myself. I need a few more eyes on this." A jerk of his head indicated the rooftop. "So here you are."

"Normally we'd just stake out the best one, but this is a special case." Robin materialized from the shadows to stand by his mentor. "We can't risk any more."

Wonder Woman frowned. "Risk?" Light dawned on her face. "Is this that Harley girl?"

"Yes. She's going after brain therapy surgeons. Within the last week she's captured four, three of which have been found dead, apparently because they wouldn't or couldn't do what she'd demanded."

"And the fourth?"

"Still missing, but it's only a matter of time before his body shows up." There was a sudden whoosh of air and a young woman in a cape and mask, whom Sakura hadn't yet met, landed on the rooftop beside them. "Police are still searching, though." She cocked an eyebrow at Sakura. "Who's the new kid?"

Batman, typically, ignored the question. "Harley's new at this game. She left playing cards at each scene, so we know it was her, but she's not following any kind of overlaying joke. She's just trying to find doctors. And despite her training, she doesn't know a lot about brain surgery, so she's capturing them largely at random."

"Which is why you called all of us in." Wonder Woman cast a long glance around the rooftop. "You're Batgirl, aren't you?"

The newcomer rolled her eyes. "It's the bat symbol on my chest, isn't it."

"The 'girl' part she may have needed help with." Robin suggested. Batgirl stuck her tongue out at him.

"Enough of that." Batman's voice snapped everyone back to reality. "Batgirl, you take the Ankh neighborhood, there are a few doctors that have country houses out there. Robin, you take Lee and keep an eye on the Research Institute in North Gotham. Wonder Woman, I want you to patrol between the Ridley and Ahmmersburg apartments, quite a number of surgeons have rooms there."

Wonder Woman raised an eyebrow. "How am I supposed to train Sakura like that? She can't exactly fly."

"She won't need to." Batman's ice-cold glare turned to the girl. "She'll be watching the Roosevelt Building with me."

"...and then the mathematician says, 'Oh hey, I didn't see all you guys back there.'" Flash snickered. "Yeah, I've seen this comic before. Read it all the time. For a thing with a bunch of stick figures, it's pretty funny. But what makes you think it's so important?"

"Because of its point." Mr. Terrific pushed away from the computer and rubbed his eyes. "Essentially, this comic is saying that all history, all human behavior, everything, can be reduced to mathematics. Which, by extension, means that everything can be predicted through math, and that everything is determined BY math."

Frowning, Flash glanced at the screen again. "Dude, you get all that out of one comic?"

"It's a joke demonstrative of its creator's mindset. And actually, a great many people in the scientific community might agree with him. Much of science, including what we know of evolution and human behavior, follow mathematical patterns."

"So?" Flash shrugged. "What does this have to do with anything?"

Terrific again rubbed his eyes. "Maybe it'll be better if I put it this way. The logical implication of this comic is that all of human life and experience could be comprehended in a single mathematical equation."

For a moment Flash just stared at him. Then slowly his eyes widened. "Ohhhhhh..."

"Exactly. Not such a new idea, really, Deists back in the 1700's assumed much the same thing, they just assumed that the only person who could know such an equation would be a 'god.' Or more properly, I suppose, that 'God' was the one who set such an equation in motion. Einstein dealt a blow to the theory with his work, and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle renders..." Terrific noted the glazed expression on Flash's face and sighed. "Well, anyway. Suffice to say it's still a logical possibility."

"So you're starting to believe this Anti-Life Equation stuff now?"

"Not really. I'm just starting to see the logic behind such an equation. I doubt very much it would do ANY of the things it's supposed to, and personally I consider such a mathematical discovery considerably beyond the reach of anything human, but... I can see the case for an equation that mathematically proves free will doesn't exist."

"I guess." Flash frowned at the screen again. "You know, in that light, this comic is actually pretty depressing."

"Most comics are. Ever read the one 'Peanuts' strip?"

"Oh c'mon dude, everybody loves Charlie Brown."

"Sure, except for everybody in his world, apparently." Terrific smiled. "In any case, I didn't call you down here for a literary discussion."

Turning from the screen, Flash arched an inquisitive eyebrow at the scientist. "Then what did you call me here for?"

"Because of that." Terrific pointed at the comic again. "If that IS the logic behind the Equation, then we may have a loophole. You."

Flash looked confused. "Say what?"

"You can still run faster than light, right?"

"Well..." Awkwardly, Flash rubbed the back of his neck, oddly uncomfortable. "If I need to. But the last time I did that..."

Terrific waved the speedster into silence. "I know, I know. But the point is that you CAN do that. Something that, logically and mathematically, has been PROVEN to be impossible."

"So?" Flash shrugged.

"If the Equation is based around explaining everything in mathematical terms, then you're our loophole. Because you, my friend, are a mathematical impossibility."

"I don't understand why you ninjas insist on dressing in bright colors." Batman grumbled. "Stay down, you'll show up like a flag against the skyline like that."

Sakura rolled her eyes, wove her fingers in a seal, and... "poof!" there was a new gargoyle on the roof. "Happy now?" It asked, turning its beaked face to Batman.

"Better." Batman conceded. "Now stay still and watch that building."

Gargoyle-Sakura did so, but could not resist asking, "So what's so unusual about the doctors living here?" At Batman's glance, she let out a little snort. "Well, you'd obviously choose the most likely target for yourself, so I'd guess this is the one where you think this Harley girl is going to show up. Why?"

"This is where Dr. Sasha Nein, one of the foremost experts on the human mind, is staying while visiting Gotham." Batman's gaze did not waver. "Fifteenth floor, eighth window from the left. He just arrived today for a lecture he's giving at the Gotham Medical Institute. If Harley wants an brain surgeon, he's it."

"Why DOES this Harley girl want a brain surgeon, anyway?"

Batman didn't reply right away, and for a moment Sakura thought the question would be ignored, as so many were. Then: "Joker." He said. "The Joker is in a catatonic state. She wants to bring him out of it."

Sakura waited, in case there was more forthcoming. There didn't seem to be. "Who's the Joker?"

"An insane killer." Batman looked at Sakura with a slightly incredulous expression, as if unable to believe she hadn't heard of him before. "A criminal with a sick sense of fun. Gotham's own personal nightmare that rises up to smash anything still standing." He turned back to the streets. "Harley's boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Sakura frowned in thought, then understanding dawned. "Oh..."

"A shame really. Dr. Harleen Quinzell was once a psychologist herself, albeit not a very bright one. She was Joker's doctor at Arkham. Despite his madness, Joker can be an adept psychologist himself at times, or at least certainly a better one than she was. He wound her up like a toy doll, used her to break out of Arkham, and took her along as new hired help." Batman shook his head. "She's been obsessed with him ever since."

"Wow," said Sakura. There wasn't really a whole lot else to say.

"Everywhere he goes, whatever he does, she's always stood by his side. She gave up everything for him. And he couldn't care less. He's deserted, imprisoned, beaten, and nearly killed her several times; and yet she still won't leave him." Batman closed his eyes and hissed his breath in and out a few times. "There's no cure for it."

Gargoyle-Sakura said nothing, she just stared at the street below.

"Currently, the Joker is essentially a vegetable." Batman snorted suddenly. "A side-effect of trying to manipulate a young telepathic girl to drive everyone crazy. Telepaths generally aren't pleased to find that someone's been using them. Harley has more freedom than she's ever had before, and she's using it to try to bring back his mind."

Sakura frowned, which on the gargoyle looked particularly fearsome. "And... you want to make sure that doesn't happen? That Joker doesn't get any treatment?"

"She's kidnapping and killing people." Batman answered. "That's enough reason to stop her."

"But it's not your reason..." Sakura threw him a sidelong glance, "...is it? You don't want the Joker to recover."

Batman was silent for a moment, then nodded. "It was a downfall of his own making, and one he richly deserved. Gotham is better off without him—should have been without him years ago. "

"But according to the law here, brain-dead is about the same as plain-dead. Or can be, anyway. Mr. Terrific was explaining the ethics of it to me yesterday. Isn't the League against killing?"

"Killing, yes. The different technicalities and details regarding brain death make it a murky area, but it's one we should err on the side of caution. But as I said, this was a downfall of his own making. We didn't kill his brain, but we don't have to save it either."

"But you'll actively prevent it being saved."

"Yes. And actively prevent doctors from being killed." Batman glared at her. "If the city decides, for political reasons, that Joker should be given full treatment, I'll stand by and let them sow their own ruin. But unless and until that happens, I'll do everything in my power to make sure he pays the logical consequences of his actions."

Sakura shrugged and looked away. "Just so I understand the logic." She commented. "Y'know, in Konoha, we would've just issued a contract on the guy and sent some of our ninjas after him."

"This isn't Kono..." Batman froze in mid-sentence, staring at the wall. Then he leapt into action. "There!" he snapped. "Movement on the fifteenth-floor!"

"You've been remarkably more compliant since that demonstration we gave you, Mr. Nara."

Shikamaru shrugged. "Might not have been godlike, but it showed you have at least SOME power to back up all this boasting you're doing. Besides..." he scooped some rice onto his fork, "...it gets me some halfway decent food. All those IV things were getting troublesome."

"You realize of course, Mr. Nara, that my allowing you the free use of your hands demonstrates my trust in your cooperation." Luthor grinned down from his familiar glassy perch.

"Hm. Something of a risk, you think?"

The chilly silence gave him a secret satisfaction. "Not a risk, Mr. Nara." Luthor answered coldly. "Not to one such as I. A risk to you, perhaps, that you might take advantage of it and incur my wrath through some meaningless demonstration of your defiance."

"Pfft. Whatever." Shikarmaru picked up the toast and gazed at it for a moment. "Hey, I thought I said I wanted honey on this thing."

Luthor gave an irritable wave and an orderly disappeared. "I feel I should mention that you still seem to lack proper respect for my situation."

"It's not like you're the first god-on-earth baddie I've met," shrugged Shikamaru, confidently chomping away at the rice. He could tell, even from this distance, that his casual attitude was rankling Luthor. Good. "I mean, you're smarter than the last guy, but still... when you've met one god, you've met them all."

Luthor gave a thin, unamused smile. "Given time, I feel you may re-evaluate that appraisal. Still, for now your gall is somewhat entertaining."

"Glad to know I make a funny gerbil." Just a bit of bitterness escaped Shikamaru.

"Guinea pig, Mr. Nara. You are an amusing guinea pig. And you're welcome."

"Tell me something," Shikamaru knew he was starting to lose his cool and he knew that was dangerous, but there was something he truly had to know. "That... thing you did with my head. When you made me understand English." He looked up and did his best to seem confused instead of demanding. "Okay, so you're a god and you can go in people's minds and stuff like that, but if you CAN do stuff like that... what the heck do you keep asking me questions for?"

Luthor smiled at the crack in the teen's defenses. "Because I need your information, Mr. Nara. I cannot drag your thoughts from your head. I could, very easily, overwrite them all with thoughts of my own, but that would erase the oh-so-vital data that I need you for. Besides," and his smile grew truly predatory, "where would be the fun in a brainwashed chess opponent?"

"Yeah, yeah, hilarious." Shikamaru poked savagely at his food, but there was a small glimmer of pride in his mind. He told me a weakness. He's getting careless.

"I mean no jest, Mr. Nara," said Luthor, amusement in every tone. "I am quite beginning to look forward to our little matches. Perhaps, if you could spare..."

Shikamaru glanced up at the odd pause and saw a new orderly whispering into Luthor's ear. The speakers were largely a confused hissing of rasping air, but Shikamaru thought he deciphered the words: "...seen in Jump City..."

Luthor straightened up. "Regrettably, Mr. Nara, it seems we shall have to defer that chess game. Something very urgent has just come up."

Willing himself to look disinterested, Shikamaru answered, "Don't let me keep you. I think..." But Luthor was already gone. A few seconds later, the door clicked open and an orderly came in, squirted honey onto his bread, then left.

Shikamaru grinned. It couldn't have worked any better if he'd planned it out. Which, in a sense, he had. Technically, with his hands unbound, he could use this interval to snare someone with his Kage Mane no Jutsu, but something warned him he'd be of more use as a prisoner in this facility. It wasn't as though he was exactly helpless.

A moment later, his suspicions were proved right as a small fly began to hover over the honey-laden toast. Shikamaru squinted at it, smirked again, and then slowly began to chant in Japanese.

"Shino no konchu..."

"How many goons does this lady HAVE?" Sakura muttered, smashing her way through a few more face-painted giants. Granted, things were somewhat better in these hallways, where often the thugs couldn't get their guns to bear in time, but the sheer number of them was getting troublesome. Her hand flew up and stopped an incoming crowbar, which she happily bent in half before dislocating its owner's jaw. Catching movement out of the corner of her eye, she ducked low and slammed an open palm into a nearby stomach, propelling another thug backwards through the adjoining wall.

There was a lull as the others drew back for a moment. She touched her ear. "Batman? Things are getting hairy in here."

"Deal with it," came the terse reply. "Wonder Woman is still ten minutes out."

"How's the helicopter coming?"

A crash outside answered her question and Sakura glanced outside to behold the not-so-cheering sight of Batman clinging to the underside of a chopper. A burly man with a monkey wrench was leaning out the door, trying unsuccessfully to swat him with it.

"I can handle it. Stick to keeping that hallway secure. And DON'T kill anyone." The intercom clicked off and Sakura rolled her eyes. She'd been patrolling with the Titans for months. Why should she start killing criminals now?

If she'd had time to reflect on the question, she might have had time to realize that Gotham was not anything like Jump City. However, she did not have such time, as one of the thugs had just made an ominous grab for his pistol. She shot across the intervening space and seizing his hand, crushing the bones in one quick squeeze. A sharp pain in her side informed her that the man's neighbor had seized the opportunity to knife her, and she whirled around with a devastating uppercut.

She and Batman had intercepted the attackers just as they'd reached Nein's stateroom and held them off long enough for security to hustle him away. Strangely enough, though, the kidnappers, instead of relenting, had merely attacked even more ferociously. Sakura wasn't the world's greatest detective, but she felt reasonably certain that wasn't how they were supposed to act. And then the helicopter had shown up...

Batman had called in the others and they were coming as quickly as possible, but until then, Sakura had the floor to herself. The guns were the only real problem. Though she'd met guns in Jump City, these guys had more of them and they fired a lot faster. And more accurately, if it came to that. And Sakura couldn't shake the feeling that there was something very, very odd about how the attackers were fixating on them.

Bullets were whizzing now in the narrow hallway. She ducked behind a potted plant and formed a quick henge, then trotted out as a harmless cat. Apparently she'd pulled this trick once too often, as the bullets simply followed her, but she galloped, rolled and leapt her way to the main press of attackers. She transformed in mid-air and landed on them like an avenging fury.

The first man went down with a knee to the face. The second made the mistake of hesitating to strike a girl and found himself being punched backwards into the third man. The fourth, pistol still in hand, was just drawing a bead on her when she crushed the barrel and it exploded in his hands. A pipe thudded against her back, knocking her to the floor, and she whirled upwards to punch number five in the stomach...

It could be hard, especially with strength like Sakura's, to judge what level of power would kill a man and what level would merely knock him unconscious (the League also frowned on crippling people for life). Sakura had heard this was an issue Superman struggled with on a continual basis. However, Sakura was a doctor as well as a ninja, and though ninjas didn't ALWAYS worry about the use of excessive force, she nonetheless knew enough to figure out when to hold back.

The only problem was, paying so much attention to something like that meant that she had less attention to spend on equally important matters. Like where the windows were.

Oh shit, thought Sakura as the man crashed out the windows of the fifteenth story. Batman'll never let me forget it if he goes splat on the pavement. Shoving a sixth man out of her way, she leapt out the window, lassoing a pillar with ninja wire as she did so. She grabbed the man before his fall could quite begin, let the wire swing her back down to the building, and prepared chakra for her feet to grip the surface.

Only, when she hit the surface, she found she was out of chakra.

Damn miniscule chakra reserves, she thought as she scrambled for a grip on the pavement. Too much chakra enhanced strength and henges, and I can't even climb buildings. This sucks. Glancing down, she caught sight of something and struggled to bring her hand to her ear.

"Batman." She called. "There's a car on the ground level."

"Busy, Miss Haruno," growled the response.

"No, it's got a clown face on the front!" She explained. "And there are... it looks like security guards pushing somebody into it!"

There was a short silence, then a muffled sort of cursing from the receiver. Looking up, she saw the back end of the helicopter burst into flames.

She also saw some of the thugs from the fifteenth floor eyeing her thin stretch of ninja wire.

"The helicopter's been sabotaged!" She heard. "I've got to get the men out. Get after that car!"

"I'm dry on chakra and hanging off the edge of the building!" At the moment, she added mentally, watching one of the men draw a knife. "Just..."

She hesitated. Though giving orders came unfortunately naturally to her, something told her that Batman would not react to this well. Especially an order that he leave the criminals in the helicopter to die.

In any case, she had no further time to think. There was a sharp twang above her, and her anchor was suddenly gone, she was plummeting past the building, speeding toward the ground...

With a whoosh, something swept under her and caught her up, halting her fall and giving the world stability again. "I've got you." Wonder Woman gave a terse smile. "Where's Batman?"

"H-helicopter." Sakura managed, still a little winded. "B-but Harley..."

"I know. I saw. But don't worry. She's headed straight for Lee and Robin."

"Come in, come in." Norman gestured the astonished teen into the office. "I wasn't getting much work done anyway, and I can wait a bit yet before going home."

"Thank you." Sasuke managed, glancing around the room. There didn't seem to be anybody else here. But he'd distinctly heard another voice. For the moment, he shelved the question and focused on sitting down in the chair.

Rev. McCay took the seat directly opposite and adjusted his glasses. "You know, I had a feeling you might show up." He beamed at Sasuke. "I saw you during the service but didn't get a chance to talk to you afterwards. Did you enjoy it?"

"Oh yes." Sasuke, of course, had toned out the entire talk to give thought to how exactly one would hide in such a bare building.

"Glad to hear it. I've always felt the story of Tamar to be somewhat neglected. Perhaps a little inappropriate for children, but then..." The minister shrugged. "...children today, sadly, are not as young as they used to be."

"No." Sasuke agreed, not entirely sure where the man was going with this. Just behind the minister's chair, he could see something very like a safe.

That should be it, then. Perfectly simple. All he had to do was vault over the desk, grab the old man by the throat, force the combination out of him, and snatch the money out of the safe. And, of course, get rid of all evidence.

That was all. The desk was just so many wooden splinters between him and his task.

All he had to do was jump...

Just a single leap...

And yet Sasuke stayed down. For some reason he could not define, he felt incredibly uneasy about this whole job. It didn't make much sense. He barely even knew what this building was, or what the people inside it had been doing. He knew slightly more about this man, knew that he'd helped him recover, but so had Karin and Sakura.

He really should just do it now, before this went any further.

He would, in fact.

But not just now. No need to rush.

He could do it anytime.

Suddenly he realized that Rev. McCay had just asked him a question. "I'm sorry?"

"I said, was there something you came to see me about?"

"Ah... yes, of course. Of course." Why on earth did I just say that? "It was... it was... I mean..."

"Perhaps I'll help you with it, shall I?" The minister leaned back. "I think you came here tonight for direction. Yes, direction. A young man like yourself, with so many talents but apparently no desire to use them, is lacking in direction. You feel like you have no purpose, eh?"

No, you stupid old man, my purpose is to kill all those associated with my brother's death! "Something like that."

The minister smiled, then grew serious again as he studied Sasuke. "But you seem bitter. You might not have direction, but that just makes you lash out every which way, so that you harm everyone, even those you know don't deserve it."

"But they do deserve it." Sasuke found himself answering, to his own surprise. "They all do."

"Oh?" The minister raised his eyebrows. "Why?"

"B... because of what they did." Sasuke shook his head. No, that wasn't right. Things were getting fuzzy here. "Because of what they are! Because they... they pretend everything's all right! They laugh and they lie and they just... they try to act as if horrible things haven't happened!"

Rev. McCay said nothing and Sasuke continued on, reckless in his fury. "Ita... people have lied and suffered and died horribly, and everyone else just laughs! They laugh, and they carry right on with their games and their friends and their, their, their stupid RAMEN!" He wasn't sure where that last bit came from. "They don't even care what he went through, so long as their little happy lives are intact!"

Suddenly realizing he was shouting, Sasuke shut up and drew back inwards, glaring at McCay, daring him to make something out of the latest outburst. The minister, though, said nothing for a while, simply sitting there, studying him thoughtfully.

Finally he reached up and took off his glasses with a sigh. "I see." He nodded quietly.

"No you don't! That's the whole point! None of you see, none of you can understand, because you're all pretending to be so happy!" Sasuke was shouting again, and he felt a red mist rising in his eyes. "You don't see—"

"And that's it, isn't it? Not seeing. Not being able to see." The minister's voice cracked out suddenly like a whip, silencing Sasuke. "The lack of understanding, the inability to comprehend the cruelty of the world." McCay was studying his desk, but his brow was deeply furrowed. "Children who disappear in alleyways. Families murdered in their beds. Countries involved in meaningless wars. Foxes, eating eggs with the chicks still inside them. That's what this is about." His gaze traveled upwards to meet Sasuke's. "Cruelty and evil taint every part of this world, and you want to know why."

Sasuke's words caught in his throat. That wasn't it, that wasn't it at all, but he couldn't say so.

"Alex, you're right in that I can't perfectly understand your situation, because I've never been in it. Likewise, I've never been in the position of Mr. and Mrs. Whisterhorn, who's two-month son drowned in the bathtub. I've never been a Jack Anderson, a good Christian man who's always loved his wife and just last week found out that she's been sleeping with his best friend. I've never been them, and I never will be. So I'll never perfectly understand them. But I can try."

"A thing you learn early, in a job like this, is that there is a heartache in every pew. There is no 'perfect life,' no one who is really nearly as satisfied as they seem. And the other thing you'll learn, is that everyone thinks his particular brand of suffering is the greatest." McCay sighed and stared at his Bible. "Even well-fed people from happy families live their own private hell, day by day."

"They have no idea of hell," snarled Sasuke, momentarily regaining his voice.

McCay shrugged. "That's what they all say. But how do you measure suffering? There's no standard unit of measurement, you can't really compare your exact suffering to another's exact suffering, because you'll never experience it the same way they did." He held up a hand to forestall Sasuke's outburst. "Oh, doubtless some kinds of suffering are greater than others, but how can you know exactly? How can you be sure your suffering is the greatest in the world?"

With a sigh, McCay leaned forward and rubbed his forehead. "Alex, as you get older, you'll learn everyone suffers, and everyone thinks that they suffer alone. Even if they share their troubles with others, they think their own brand of sorrow is special and incomprehensible by anyone else. They feel like... like little dots." The minister, lost in thought, nodded at the analogy. "Like little, isolated dots of suffering, completely separate."

"And what so few people understand is that they don't HAVE to be that way. They don't understand how to USE that suffering, to use it to understand others and to help others. The dots don't like to reach out to other dots, they don't try to connect." McCay shrugged a little. "As minister, that's part of my job. To reach out to the heartaches in the pew and bring them into contact with each other. And, while I'm at it, to try and guess at the order to the dots. To... connect the dots, as it were, and see the overarching pattern to it all."

"And?" Sasuke snorted, but his heart wasn't really in it. This place was creeping him out. "Have you?"

"I myself? No, no." McCay gave a sad little chuckle. "Nor any other earthly minister, I wager. But I believe there is one. And the patterns I CAN find give me hope that there is a greater one."

To his consternation, Sasuke found himself to be sweating. This place was crazy, this man was crazy, he had to get out of here. There was no need to kill this man, no need to rob this building, he'd just go back to the streets and work along like he had before...

Both minister and boy glanced up at the sound of a loud knock at the church's front doors.

"That's odd," muttered McCay. "Must be my night for unexpected visitors." He got up and exited the office, making straight for the entrance.

"Robin, Lee. Harley's in a car headed straight down Vetinari Ave. She's got Nein with her. Stop that car."

"Yosh, Batman-sensei!" Lee accomplished the difficult act of saluting-in-mid-run. "Does the car have any distinguishing features?"

"It's probably painted like a clown." Robin guessed.

"Yes." Batman's voice betrayed neither exasperation nor pride. "Harley's lack of subtlety helps us yet again. Be on the lookout for tricks, though. She's being unusually devious."

"Understood." Robin clicked off his communicator and nodded to Lee. "The quickest way to Vetinari Ave is over the Havelock district. Quick, this way!"

Lee and Robin ran, leapt, and whirled through the maze of rooftops. Lee's wall-walking gave him perhaps an unnatural advantage, but Robin could quite easily make up for it with his grappling line. Actually, Lee could probably have made better time on his own, but being still unfamiliar with the Gotham layout, he wisely opted to follow Robin. They arrived on the street overlook a full minute before the bright red limo appeared on the opposite end.

"That was... slow. Odd." Shaking it off, Robin nodded at Lee. "Mines." Both reached for their utility belts. A score of small, ball-like object bounced to the ground below and deployed, sprouting numerous rods. The red limo, still going at full speed, plowed straight over them.

BOOM! The explosion made the front end of the car rear up like a staggering elephant. It flipped sideways, still barreling forward, and smashed off a nearby lamppost before finally grinding, bottoms-up, to a halt in the middle of the street.

Lee and Robin had leapt down already. A swift blow from Lee's fist shattered the already-crushed windows, and Robin grabbed a fistful of the unconscious driver, hauling him out. The few thugs able to move put up little resistance.

"Damn!" Robin gave the car a quick once-over. "Batman, Harley isn't in the car! Neither is Nein!"

"They definitely got in," came the terse reply. "Check for hidden compartments."

"I don't think that's it, Batman." Robin frowned. "They got here later than they should have. They must have switched cars somewhere."

"Must've been at Pratchett intersection. Only suitable location. That leads straight down to the docks. Get down there."

"They've gotta be miles ahead of us by now, Batman!"

There was a short silence. Then: "Lee. Activate: Handsome Green Beast Protocol. Locate and apprehend Harley Quinn."

Lee looked torn between joy and training loyalty. "But Batman-sensei, that protocol is only to be used when..."

"NOW Lee!" There was a slight crackle as Lee's resistance suit slackened.

"No, I don't really get it." Kiba frowned at the screen. "First, this guy is way too fat to be a ninja. Second, if he was a ninja, he shouldn't be giving away ninja secrets like this. And third, if these ARE ninja secrets, there some of the most bizarre things I've ever heard. What're these 'minjas' he keeps talking about?"

Beast Boy rolled his eyes. "It's a joke, man. A play on words. 'Minjas.' ' Miniature.' 'Ninjas.' Or: 'Midget.' 'Ninjas.' 'Minjas.' Get it?"

"No. What're all these others, anyway. Ninja poetry, Ninja school, Ninja History month? What the heck, man? And why does he always say he's going to kill the questioner?"

"Dude, I told you. It's a joke. He's just pretending to be a ninja and making up ridiculous answers about ninjas. It's supposed to be funny."

"Well, I don't see what's so amusing. I've killed ninjas before, and I NEVER had to use any goats or pigeons or whoever this 'Chris Rock' guy is..."

"That's the POINT." Beast Boy groaned. "It's a bunch of incredibly ridiculous stuff that is obviously false. It's an over-exaggeration of what ninjas can supposedly do." He covered his face with his hands. "I don't know why I even showed it to you..."

"Yeah, me neither." Kiba frowned at the screen. "So whaddaya call this thing again?"

"A computer."

"I know THAT." Shooting an irate glare at the changling, Beast Boy gestured at the screen. "I meant all these... movie things on the computer. Like where everybody can see them."

Beast Boy's grin came back. "Oh. It's called YouTube. People from all over the world can stick up all sorts of ridiculous stuff on here for other people all over the world to see. It's pretty incredible. You can find other stuff too. Here." He clicked and then clicked again, and a new screen shot up. "This is called fanfiction. People write stories about comic book people and stuff like that."

"Do they write about you?"

"Uh, NO? I'm real life, dude, you don't write about real people. That'd be like people writing stories about you. Creepy." Beast Boy clicked around some more. "And see, this here is my Facebook page, where all my friends can see where I am and what I'm doing..."

Kiba frowned. "Are you nuts? You never give away your position, it makes you too easy to trace." He studied the rest of the page. "And putting out a schedule in public like that makes you easier to target and assassinate. Providing a list of friends provides your enemies with hostage candidates. Sheesh, this is practically a do-it-yourself bingo book. Horribly unsafe. Unless..." A thoughtful expression crossed his face. "...is all this stuff false? Like to throw assassins off track?"

"No, man!" Beast Boy looked at his friend, askance. "It's just for fun! Do you guys see sinister motives in EVERYTHING?"

Kiba shrugged, a little sheepishly. "We're ninjas."

"Okay, but this is just the internet." Beast Boy gestured at the screen. "That's not the point. I mean, YES information is dangerous and yaddayaddayadda, but mostly this is just about talking with all sorts of guys all over the world."

"Like here." Beast Boy clicked and brought up the 'Minjas' tab. "Look at this. On this one video, you got people commenting from England, Japan, Cyprus, some place called Micronesia, and..." Beast Boy squinted. "Antigua. No, sorry, that's Barbuda."

"What're they?"

"Some islands off the Caribbean, I think." Beast Boy shrugged. "But see? You get all these people from all over the world commenting and talking together about this movie! It's awesome!"

"But this comment here..." Kiba pointed, "...is utterly ludicrous."

Beast Boy glanced at the comment. "Oh. Yeah. Well, that's the other thing about the internet. It allows any idiot to express themselves."

Harley was nervous. No, Harley was frantic. Okay, so her plan with the security guards had gone off well. Okay, so nobody seemed to be following her after the car switch.

None of that changed the fact that this caper had been the most difficult yet. Worse, she felt pretty sure it wasn't going to get any easier. Batman was closing in on her, and that was the fact. Heck, he could be tailing the car now, for all she knew.

Her captive stirred in the back seat. "Vas? Vas ist..." He winced and brought a hand up to his head. "Gott in Himmel..."

"Quiet." Harley ordered, glancing meaningfully at the thug sitting across from the doctor. She turned back to the driver. "Drive faster, Moe."

"I's pretty sure we lost 'em, Miss Quinn," ventured the burly muscleman, still clad in his scarlet security guard costume.

"We always think that." She snapped in reply. "Drive faster."

"Yes miss."

The Volkswagon Beetle picked up speed as it dashed in and out of traffic. Relaxing momentarily, Harley let her head dip back to the seat. She wasn't used to this. Puddin' always handled all the capers, all the funny jokes, all the bombs and knifings. She just took care of the housework. Y'know, filing away the evil plans, sorting his gas canisters, paying the thugs, getting brain and bloodstains out of the carpet... little details like that. When it came to planning, Puddin' did everything. If he didn't, he got mad. That was never good for Harley.

But now SHE had to do everything. She had to find the doctors, had to hijack the right medical equipment, had to find a good place to dump the bodies (she never did the actual killing—that was Moe's job). And she just knew she was doing it wrong. It probably wasn't even funny. No laughing gas, no acid sprays, no exploding cream pies. Puddin' wouldn't like it at all when he came back.

When he came back... Harley let a little dreamy smile float back on her face. Oh, he'd be angry, and he'd probably slap her black and blue, but that was just his way. In time, he'd come around, and he'd be so grateful, and he'd say, "Harley, my one and only babydoll, let's fool around and..."

There was a sudden green blur by the car.

Instantly Harley was bolt awake. "DRIVE FASTER!" She screamed.

Moe's white face flashed at her. "We're goin' as fast as we can already, boss..."

"DRIVE FASTER!" She screamed again, tugging him into her face. "They've found us, they've found..."

The glass shattered on the left passenger side. Nein was gone. Then the right passenger side. Now the guard was gone. Moe swore and reached down, but he hadn't so much as taken his hands off the wheel when the driver's window broke apart. Harley caught a fleeting glimpse of his feet as he was ripped away from the seat.

Harley flailed herself at the spinning steering wheel, her hands grabbing at it furiously. But they were going too fast and the street was too full...

The window next to her shattered.

"Ah, Neji." Shino nodded as the Hyuuga hurried forward. "Good, we were hoping you'd show up."

Neji ducked into the dark room, glancing furtively about as he did so. "Shino. How was the briefing with the Justice League?"

"One moment." Shino's fingers wove in a seal and released. "Raiton: Jibashi!"

Lightning shot from the boy and coursed through the room. The lone light in the ceiling flickered and then exploded, even as the electronic door lock fizzled and smoked. Shino, Neji, Sai, and Naruto simply sat, watching the lightning.

As quickly as it had come, it was gone, and the three were left in complete darkness. "Dude, I still can't get over the fact that you know a technique like that." Naruto chuckled.

"It is not difficult if it is kept small." Shino shrugged.

"Quiet!" Neji hissed, the veins about his eyes taut. "There are thirteen metas in the nearby area but none of them seem interested in us. The martian in the control room has not yet noticed the electrical discrepancy. Superman..." Neji hesitated. "...Superman is still in the base..." Apparently coming to a decision, he shook his head. "We'll have to risk it. This is too important. Now. Shino." He turned his bulging white eyes to the teen. "Your news."

"I met with the League. They know the attacker is related to Juugo. They came to the same conclusion as I did. They intend to trace Luthor by tracking shipments of the required technology. Their analyst also has substantial information regarding Juugo's makeup."

"All the better. Juugo is not Konoha's business, he is Sound's. The League is more than welcome to handle Juugo and his clones. Now. Did you tell them about your insect tag?"

"No. They did ask if I had other means of tracing him but did not press me on the matter."

"Excellent." Neji grinned in the darkness.

"Are we sure Luthor is the one behind the Juugo clone?" Naruto had a worried look on his face. "Be kinda awkward if we attacked the place only to find out it's some other guy who DOESN'T have Shikamaru in his base."

"Destroying Juugo's records would still be in Konoha's interests." Sai answered.

Neji shook his head. "Perhaps, but not enough. When the moment comes, we will need to strike decisively and completely, then vanish before the League can trace us. If we do not acquire Shikamaru first, we run the risk of the League obtaining him and holding him hostage."

"Which renders our further objective—the execution of Uchiha Sasuke—more difficult," added Shino, his sunglasses glinting in the already-dim light. "Why? The moral code of this Justice League will induce them to spare his life, prolonging the matter and leaving him an opportunity to escape and wreak further havoc."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "I thought we hadn't yet agreed what we were going to do about Sasuke."

The other three exchanged glances, or as well as they could in the gloom. "Yes." Neji said, noncommitedly. "But whatever we decide, Sasuke is still a Konoha matter, who should be dealt with by Konoha. And, when it comes down to it, we ninjas know him better than these heroes, and know better how to keep him in check. They cannot be trusted with the matter."

"I agree." Shino nodded.

"I also." Sai dipped his head.

The others turned to Naruto, who was shaking his head. "I don't like this." He muttered. "These people aren't that bad. Superman's a cool guy, I'm sure he'd... They're trying to help us, for pity's sake! I've learned all sorts of cool moves this past month! And you guys have too, you know it! Sai, you've picked up some stuff from that Green Lantern guy, and Shino, you wouldn't have even known how to do electromagnetic pulses a few weeks ago, and Neji..." Naruto frowned a moment. "...Neji... is that a bow you have on your back?"

"They're not... bad, no." Neji dodged the question. "And they've been very helpful. But they're not ninjas, and they don't quite understand what's at stake. To them, Sasuke is a temporary nuisance, a foreign criminal who they just want to dump back in Konoha. They don't really take him seriously. That's why we have to."

The others nodded, and Naruto sighed. "Fine... I agree too. But look, try to keep this as a last resort thing, okay? You guys never met this Luthor dude. I did, and I can tell you one thing, you're not taking him seriously enough either. We may want the League's help with him."

"Very well." Again the nods, somewhat more reluctant than before. "Sai, what do you have to say?"

"I've managed to scout out most of the hallways in the complex," answered Sai. "It's amazing how many people will ignore you if you're annoying enough. So far as I can see there's no completely safe route from our quarters to an exit. We'd need a distraction or an excuse to already be outside the tower. Oh... and I think they may be putting tracers on us."

"Tracers?" Shino arched an eyebrow. "My bugs perform a cavity search every day, they have never found anything."

Naruto and Neji said nothing, but their faces were frozen. Even Sai looked like he was trying very hard not to think of that image. "I think," he said carefully, "that the tracers are planted in our food. I've noticed we receive special meals each day."

"Hm. Interesting. Impossible to refuse them, though, without attracting suspicion." Neji worried his lip. "We'll work something out. Good to know. Shino, what have you found?"

"Nothing of consequence. My bugs have traveled throughout the building but have found no unusual chakra signatures or anything of interest."

"Have you looked in Section B on the third sub-basement?"

"The laboratory? No, why?"

"Hey, yeah!" Naruto suddenly sat up. "You're right, I felt something weird coming from there a few days ago. I was going through the sage mode routine and counting all the people and stuff and... it was just there. A funny feeling. Nothing more, though."

Neji nodded. "I can't quite see what it is, or at least I can't understand what I'm seeing. It looks like a chakra signature, though, and I'm not sure what the League would be doing with one." He turned to Shino. "Could you and your bugs look into it?"

"Certainly." Shino's head inclined slightly.

"Good. Now when should we meet next?'

There was a moment of silence. "We should bring in the others," said Naruto finally. "I don't like all this sneaking around. Anyway, they're going to have to know about it before we put it into action, so we may as well let them know now."

The others slowly nodded again. "Day after tomorrow, perhaps." Neji suggested. "Near the middle of the day. That's the slow period for crimes, and they usually give us some time off then."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

"Lee hasn't quite learned how to drive," explained a strange voice. "He couldn't completely stop you guys from crashing. Just be glad it wasn't worse than it was."

Harley tried to focus on the voice. It sounded brisk, businesslike, but there was just a hint of concern in it, and a bit of apology too. It certainly didn't sound like any of the Batclan.

"Anyway, it's a good thing he got the others out of the car first. He was hoping to get you out before the driver, but he saw the guy going for his gun. That was too dangerous." The voice gave a little worried giggle and Harley realized it must be a girl. "So he kinda had to improvise." The voice floated in front of her and became attached to a blur of pink. "Nobody else was really hurt, but you're going to need some therapy, let me tell you."

"Don' need therapy." Harley slurred. "Don' need it. 'm a doctor. Gi' m'self some therapy."

"You'll do nothing of the sort." The voice scolded. "You'll lie still. It's as much as I can do already to move those ribs of yours into the right position."

Harley realized that her left side felt very warm indeed. Instinctively, she tried to investigate and encountered sharp pain. "Aaah!" Black specks danced across her vision and she felt herself about to pass out.

"What did I just say? Now lie still. The only reason you're not in handcuffs yet is because I told them we couldn't move you in this state. The last thing we need is you moving yourself." The new darkness cleared away to show a girl with shockingly pink hair and brilliant green eyes. A strange glow was lighting her face from below, but Harley didn't dare cock her head to see what it was.

Something in the fog of the last hours drifted to the front of Harley's mind. "Nein..." she muttered.

"Yeah. We got him. He's got a killer headache and he says he's never coming back to Gotham, but other than that he's fine. Same for your other two guys, except for a small concussion from Lee giving them each a little tap on the skull." The girl did not quite suppress a smirk. "Still, nothing the medics here couldn't handle."

"No..." Harley moaned, her failure sinking in at last. "Puddin'... I'm sorry... I tried... Puddin'..." Distantly, she noticed the girl's face falling, but she could not spare to wonder about it. Her mind was consumed with her failure. She hadn't been able to bring him back. She'd lost the doctors, lost the equipment, and now she'd lost herself. She couldn't help him anymore, not from jail. Puddin' was gone. He'd never come back to her. It would never be... like it was.

She relapsed into gloom, allowing the girl to finish whatever she was doing with the ribs and work toward wrapping up her side. She didn't even object when the girl lifted the bandage on her head and frowned at it. Sure, the ointment she put on her forehead did help, but that was a mere background detail to Harley. Her failure loomed large in her eyes, and as the handcuffs clicked around her wrists, it was all she could do not to cry.

"Hey, um..." The pink-haired girl looked up from the handcuffs. "Batman told me about your... relationship with the Joker."

Harley sniffed and looked away. Batman. Always Batman. Always coming in between her and her Puddin', ruining what could be a happy life (well, happy in the segments when Puddin' wasn't kicking, punching, or generally ignoring her). What did he know about a girl's hopes and dreams?

"I... um... I just heard about it, and I... I wanted to tell you..." The voice lapsed into awkward silence for a moment and then continued. "I... I think... I know what it's like... to love some guy who... who's just a complete bastard and who doesn't care about anyone... and yet... and yet he... and yet you know... you think he's got this bit of him, deep down, that can still work out, and that can really care about you."

Harley turned to look at the girl, who was biting her lip and playing restlessly with her fingers. There was a curious glimmer in her eyes.

"And I know... it's hard... because you don't care how he is to others, or if he is good or bad, or if he's a killer, so long as he's your killer, and... and... and you have moments..." the girl gulped and plunged on, "...you have just moments, when you think you see this... this other side, and you live for that, and you think that maybe you can get that side to show and then you... you live for that. Live for that momentary glimpse." She was staring Harley straight in the eyes now. "You stay with him because you feel you have to love him, and you live for those tiny moments, because in those moments you're in this world of hope, where everything... everything's all right."

Harley stared at the girl, wondering at her. But slowly, slowly, she shook her head. It was no use. She'd talked to thousands of doctors, hundreds of ministers. She knew everything this girl said was true and more, but she also knew she couldn't do a damn thing about it. Heaven help her, she loved a murdering psychopath, and she always would.

She didn't say any of that, but the girl nodded anyway. "Yeah. I know." Slowly the pink-haired girl stood up. "Take care." She called, and moved away, nodding to the officials.

Police and medics began to cluster around Harley. As they did, she cast a last glance after the girl. She saw her walk over to the sidewalk, where a heavily bandaged teen clad in green spandex was sitting. He glanced up as she came forward, and the girl examined his bandages, his compresses, the sling his arm was in. She knelt down next to him and tightened the straps holding his splint in place.

The words floated to Harley through the hubbub. "...told you not to move, Lee... bad cut there, that glass... ...should have jumped out of the car, you might've gotten killed..."

And the boy was nodding, and smiling, and rubbing the back of his neck in an embarrassed fashion, but he didn't really seem to be focused on the words. He glanced at the pills the girl held out and picked them up with a bow of thanks, but he didn't take them. And when the girl reached out and nearly hauled him upright, he blushed bright red.

Harley couldn't be sure, but it looked like the girl blushed too, briefly.

"Excuse me, miss Hinata."

The simple statement temporarily froze the young Hyuuga in the doorway, but slowly she turned and bowed. "T-terrific-san. Good evening."

"Indeed." Terrific nodded politely, though he did not go so far as to bow. "Did you have a good dinner at Rev. Freswick's?"

Hinata colored slightly but merely nodded. "Th-they were k-kind enough to invite me over after the s-service." She admitted. After a moment's hesitation, she added, with hint of censure, "Y-you didn't have anyone w-watching..."

"No, no." Terrific waved his hand irritably. "No, we are not having you tailed by the Creeper. But just so you know, when you're living in the same building as some of the greatest detectives on the planet, you're not likely to have many secrets."

Hinata nodded, but her eyes narrowed slightly. "A-and are you one of th-these detectives?"

Raising an eyebrow, Terrific answered. "Not... really. If the need strikes, I can make deductions, but it's not my specialty."

"Oh." Hinata looked as though she was still puzzled on a few points, but she dropped the matter. "I-is there something you needed m-me for?"

"Not needed, per se, but there are a few... matters you could help me with." Terrific tapped the ends of his fingers together.

For a Main Branch Hyuuga ninja, Hinata was not especially observant. But then, a specially observant one could probably have counted Terrific's heartbeat from three miles away and determined any blood diseases he might have. For a teenage girl or even a teenage ninja, Hinata was pretty good at reading faces and body language. And right now, she could read that Mr. Terrific was a little... well, she would almost call it flustered.

"Like?"

Terrific closed his eyes and breathed deeply a moment. Then his eyes shot open. "Where did you hear the name 'Spectre?'"

Blinking, Hinata re-oriented her mental gear. "E-excuse me?"

"Spectre. The name. As in, the proper name, referring to an angel. Where did you hear it?"

"He t-told it to me." Hinata was still blinking, trying to see where all this was going.

"You mean the man you met in the Noodle Restaurant?"

"Yes." Hinata could really not see where this was going. "Um... is that important?"

"Possibly. Possibly." Clearly thinking hard, Terrific nodded without really listening. "It is just possible that..." He shook his head suddenly. "Ah, how would he know of that? And anyway, it doesn't explain the rest."

Catching Hinata's worried stare, Terrific sighed. "Look, could we sit down? This may take a while."

"O-of course." Hinata followed the man to one of the benches lining the walls and sat next to him, waiting. The scientist, apparently still thinking, rested his chin on his hand and stared at the opposite wall for a moment.

Finally he spoke. "You've probably heard of my wife and child."

"Er..." Hinata HAD, of course, but it was a little disconcerting that Terrific knew that the ninjas passed on information like that. "Sakura mentioned something about it."

"Indeed. Well, if she's mentioned that, she's also probably told you about the delusionary episode that convinced me to take on the identity of Mr. Terrific." Terrific pinched the bridge of his nose momentarily. "Sorry, this is not exactly a... pleasant memory. But I bring it up because in the midst of my delusions, I hallucinated a creature called the Spectre. He was the one who showed me Terry Sloane's life, giving me new purpose."

Hinata said nothing, unsure of where this was going.

"Of course, the Spectre, as a legend in magic circles, is well known enough." Terrific shrugged. "Everybody always talks about him, though precious few actually have seen any evidence of him." Terrific snorted suddenly. "Typical of magicians. Perhaps I had heard of it in an idle moment, and it manifested later in my subconscious. But you're the only... person I know of who has claimed actual contact with the Spectre." He turned to regard her strangely. "And it's VERY odd that the name you gave him—James Corrigan—is the same as the one in my dream."

He leaned in a little closer, fixing Hinata with his eyes. "I don't think you're lying... you don't seem like the type who'd deliberately trick us. And there's no way any of you could have learned enough to make up a story like that anyway. But at the same time, I think there's something very important you're not telling us."

Hinata still said nothing.

"Who was the old man, Hinata? The one who told you to meet the man, the one who automatically knew your name. He's the missing piece in all of this. Psychic, magician, lucky guesser, I don't know, but he's behind an unbelievable coincidence and I intend to root it out." Terrific's eyes bored into her. "This is more than just the League, Hinata. I need to know this. For my own sanity."

Hinata was struggling not to say anything. There really wasn't any reason to hide it, she knew, after all, Rev. McCay hadn't done anything and these men would understand and really she was only making things worse for everybody like she always did and oh she hated to be a burden...

But at the same time, she felt that her relationship with Rev. McCay and the Spectre was a secret trust, to be shared only by them. Oh, Naruto had found out by accident, and everyone knew about the Spectre now, but Naruto was keeping it secret, and the Spectre could pretty much disappear.

So why should Rev. McCay, kindly old Rev. McCay, have to bear all the scrutiny of the League just for befriending her?

"Who is he, Hinata?" Terrific was still there. "I need to know."

Hinata took a deep breath. Don'tthinkdon'tthinkdon'tthinkdon'tthinkthinkthink...

Terrific leapt to his feet as Hinata reared back with a scream. Heroes came running from either side of the hallway, but the scientist motioned them back as Hinata rocked to the floor, clutching her temples. "In a dream in visions of the night when deep sleep falls upon people as they slumber in their beds he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings..." She muttered.

Terrific knelt down next to her. "Hinata? Are you alright?" Glancing at the others, he hissed, "Any of you a psychic?" The scattered heroes shook their heads.

"I have been in danger from rivers and danger from bandits..." Hinata's skin was warm, yet somehow not feverish. "I cried like a swift or a thrush I moaned like a mourning dove my eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens I am threatened lord come to my aid!" A sharp moan accentuated the words.

"Get some medics down here!" Terrific snapped. "Back up now, give her space to breathe! Here, help me elevate her legs!"

"Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you... For a fire will be kindled by his wrath, one that burns down to the realm of the dead below. It will devour the earth and its harvests and set afire the foundations of the mountains...." Hinata's eyes cleared suddenly. "Son of man..." she whispered, "I have made you a watchman for the people, so hear the word I speak and give warning... from... me..." She paused and looked around at the gathered faces.

Slowly, she reached up to her head. "That's... never happened to me before."

"Hinata?" Terrific watched her carefully. "Are you alright?"

The Hyuuga girl turned a pair of wide white eyes on him.

"Things are about to go very badly."

Sasuke, for reasons he could never articulate, had followed McCay out of the office, so he was standing at the far side of the sanctuary when the old man opened the doors.

"Ye—"

Gunfire erupted from the entryway and ripped into the preacher, jerking his body like a little puppet. Sasuke watched in suddenly clear shock as red blossomed across the back of the minister's turtleneck sweater. With barely even a groan, Reverend Norman McCay toppled to the floor and lay still.

The odd shock dissipated. Sasuke knew a danger when he saw it, already he was dodging along the wall, leaping, swerving, running around the gunfire. The windows were barred and they were in the only door, but if he could knock one of them down...

Then suddenly there was another explosion, and where the five armed men had stood moments ago, there was suddenly a sort of lingering red fog that drifted sickly to the floor. A moment's further study revealed bits of red-stained armor and weaponry, scattered around the immediate area. Even the ceiling had a few bits littered on it.

The bald man standing in the center of this ruin beckoned to Sasuke. "It seems I got here just in time." He muttered. "Quickly, more are coming. You must come with me before they arrive."

"Oh?" Sasuke had not lived as long as he had by trusting just anyone. "And who are you?"

The bald man smiled and extended an obscenely clean hand. "I am Luthor. I've been looking for you for some time, Uchiha Sasuke."

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

A/N: Just wanted to drop a note here; I'm approaching the publication date for the next book in my Solomon Code series, The Hospitaller Oath. I'm currently planning to release the book at the end of August (though it's possible it'll get pushed to September.)

As part of the promotion for that, I'm posting the full text of the first book, The Nephilim Protocol, here on Wattpad.  You can catch up on that if you want to get an idea of what the next book will be like.

Thanks for reading more of my Connecting the Dots story, and be on the lookout for The Hospitaller Oath, coming out August 31st!

Chad is journeying with Dr. Schaefer, an older Nephilim who he met at a UN prison for Nephilim, to join up with the Hospitallers, an ancient order of knights that Nephilim served in during the Crusades. When their copter is shot down and Chad goes for help, he runs straight into a group of mercenaries slaughtering a village. One of the inhabitants, it seems, has been hiding remnants of the Skofnung Sword, an ancient legendary blade of the Viking king Hrolf Kraki. Bearing these remnants, Chad, along with his new friends from the Hospitallers (and a Nordic heiress under threat of assassination), journeys across Europe, from Oslo to Kiev to Riga, to reassemble the sword before the fanatical Nephilim conspiracy known as the Templars can beat them to it.