"Well, this is new," commented Shikamaru from his prone position on the stretcher. "What's the occasion, Luthor? Usually you guys drug me when you move me to a new cell."

"You're not going to a new cell, Mr. Nara." Luthor walked at a brisk pace just astride him. The two orderlies and four guards accompanying Shikamaru's stretcher down the hall struggled to keep up with him. "This is a field trip of sorts. I think there's something you ought to see."

"Oh?" Shikamaru hadn't bothered testing the restraints on the stretcher. After all, Luthor would surely notice any attempt he made, and almost certainly the man wasn't stupid enough to settle for anything less than the strongest bands.

"Indeed. It occurred to me, Mr. Nara, that you perhaps do not realize the full magnitude of what you are caught up in. After all, you have been held in a small white room since your arrival in this world. I thought, perhaps if you gained some insight into the broader picture, it might give you some... perspective."

"Ah. I see." Shikamaru carefully kept the smug look from his face. Showing off. I've rankled his pride, and now he wants to impress me. Maybe even make me afraid of him again. Whatever he does, this is definitely going to be useful.

"Somehow, I doubt you really do understand, Mr. Nara." There was the whoosh of a door and Luthor preceded the caravan into a slightly darkened room. Shikamaru could see little while lying straight back, but there were a great many beeping sounds and flickering blue lights played across the ceiling. "However, hopefully by the end of this exercise you will." Luthor gestured to one of the orderlies. "Let him see."

The orderly fiddled with the controls on the stretcher, and Shikamaru's helpless body went from horizontal to vertical in one smooth motion. Blinking in the sudden light, he took in his surroundings.

Clearly, he was in a control room of some kind. Computers of all sorts filled the room, lining the walls and flickering in the air. Through the smoked glass in the front of the room, he could see that they were in some sort of balcony, above a larger room filled with even more computers, arranged in tier-like rows before a massive screen that filled the whole of the opposite wall.

All this was remarkable enough (Computers were singularly rare in Konoha, and Shikamaru had maybe seen all of three in his life), but at the moment Shikamaru's attention was taken by the red-haired figure standing demurely before him.

"Karin?"

"Ah, you know my new assistant." Luthor moved back into his field of vision. "Unlike you, she has proved most cooperative, even putting her specific talents to work for us. She is here because it is precisely her work that is under examination in today's demonstration. I have no fears though..." Luthor patted Karin on the neck. "...she seems to be a most capable scientist."

Shikamaru didn't answer. Karin's wide, darting eyes and shallow breath spoke volumes about her state of mind, and she hadn't been quite able to suppress the shudder that accompanied Luthor's neck-pat. From what Shikamaru knew of the man, he wouldn't be surprised if he'd done that deliberately.

"Well, my dear..." and Shikamaru KNEW that was deliberate, "...are we ready to begin?"

Karin swallowed. "Y-y-yes Luthor-sama. Test-subject 39 is in position and awaiting our orders. Surveillence units are standing by with live video feed." Turning, she pressed a few switches and the main screen flooded into life.

Shikamaru had never seen the world outside this room. His brain worked feverishly to make sense of the images on the screen. Massive buildings... of glass? Steel? Those things on the road... probably a transportation device, but so FAST. And the air was filled with a sort of queer jabbering noise...

"Impressive, Mr. Nara, hmm?" Shikamaru realized to his chagrin that he'd let his amazement show. Luthor was smiling a predatory smile. "But I see the language confuses you. Perhaps now is a good time to teach you English."

The next thing, more than anything else in Luthor's base, terrified Shikamaru to the end of his days. Luthor waved a hand (Shikamaru sensed purely for dramatic effect), and instantly he felt the contents of his brain re-arranging, shifting, adding new thought patterns, words, sentiments... all in his BRAIN.

Shikamaru's brain was more than his secret weapon. It was his life, his shelter, his fortress. When the clouds drifted by and Shikamaru enjoyed moments of solitude, those moments were spent in his mind. He'd always loved the ability to draw into himself, to completely hide in his own thoughts. His body they could hurt—that was always secondary. His mind, though, that was invincible.

Except perhaps for Yamanakas. But the Naras had always had good relations with the Yamanakas.

But now someone was IN his mind, shaping his mind, rearranging thoughts and memories as he saw fit. For one horrified instant Shikamaru saw his doom looming, a future as a vegetable or some kind of mind-slave...

"And now that we have accomplished that, Mr. Nara..." said a smiling Luthor, clearly enjoying Shikamaru's panic-stricken face, "...perhaps we can proceed to the main business of the day." He turned. "When you're ready, Miss Karin."

Swallowing, Karin nodded and turned to the control panel. "Begin field testing procedures!"

#

"Don' shovel down your food like that, Hamish," observed a man to his energetic companion. "You'll choke on it."

Another man, on the other side of Sasuke, chortled at this. "If he don't chuck it up first. This food is the most godawful crap they've had here yet."

"Food's food." Hamish said. Or at least he meant to say. The vast quantity of food in his mouth made it come out something more like: "F'ud's f'ud." Swallowing, he grabbed a quick drink from his cup and continued shoveling in biscuits and keesh. "Uo'm troou'n to g't out oofore eh rock da door."

The first man—Mark, Sasuke remembered now—snorted at this. "Oh, c'mon Hamish. It ain't gonna hurt you to listen to a lecture once in your life, now is it?"

"Nou pwoubwem wid wec'ures. Us ou-VONG-ou-wizing Ou'm oufw'oud of."

"Heh. Hear that, Sauce?" Mark grinned over at Sasuke. "Hamish here is afraid of evangelizing!"

"That's new." Sasuke commented drily, picking at his own plate. He had to agree with the others, this food WAS awful. But on the other hand, he also had to agree with Hamish. Food was food. And as far as homeless shelters went, this food was about as good as it got.

Sasuke could, of course, AFFORD food now. His coat was weighed down with a days worth of begging, as well as the fees collected from various beggars for protecting them from other 'protectors.' And that wasn't even counting the cash stowed away under the bridge. No, Sasuke was quite affluent right now. He could probably pay for a food AND a room if he wanted to.

But why bother paying for something people would give you for free? He'd subsisted on these homeless shelter places for a week or so after he'd been released, and he saw no reason to quit going to them now. Especially when the money he saved meant more money toward a real firearm.

"Enjoy your meals, everyone!" the call echoed across the cafeteria.

"Oou cwup." Hamish, mouth still full, leapt from the table and sped toward the exit, bidding a hasty, "Fee ya."

Mark shook his head at the fleeing figure. "Too late, I fancy. I'd say they locked the doors already, wouldn't you, Greg?"

"Oh yes." Greg, the man just across from Sasuke, nodded amiably. "That sounded like a very definite 'enjoy your meals' to me."

The lack of chakra was beginning to bother Sasuke. True, he'd adapted to the loss rather well, but he'd always considered it to be a temporary loss. A solid month or so without any of his former abilities and a few weeks of finding NO trace of the strange man who'd taken them away, had started a horrible suspicion growing in Sasuke's mind. If he couldn't get some kind of lead soon, he might have to face facts and adopt a more long-term strategy.

"How'd that job you'd apply for go, Greg?"

"The one at the library?" Greg sighed. "Oh... you know how it is. It doesn't matter how many college degrees you have, as soon as they catch on to that drunk driving conviction you had when you were seventeen, the interview's all but over."

No matter. Whatever his weaknesses now, he was still Uchiha Sasuke, avenger, and no strange man in a green coat was going to stop him. He WOULD find a way back to Konoha and he WOULD find a way to punish those responsible for killing his brother and he WOULD make sure people remembered the Uchiha clan as never before.

"That little business with the embezzlement at the medical firm might have turned them off, too."

"Oh, possibly."

It was simply a matter of prioritizing. The first matter, of course, was to get a gun, but after that... How was he to return to Konoha? That was definitely a prickly problem. After all, without a working Sharingan he would never be able to reproduce Kakashi's jutsu.

Hamish slunk back to his seat. "Guess I'm stuck here, then."

"Guess so." Mark slapped the disconsolate man on the back. "Cheer up. You've still got us."

Perhaps he could do something with his former comrades. They were all over the news lately... Metropolis, Oregon, Thailand, Sri Lanka. Apparently they had formed some sort of alliance with these 'supers' that seemed to populate this world. They were probably working on a way of their own.

"Yay." Hamish slumped. "Now we can all suffer together. Reminds me of my childhood."

Mark threw the man a puzzled glance. "I thought you was an orphan."

"Exactly. Ever lived in an orphanage?"

Unfortunately, their alliance with the 'supers' would make any kind of move on them rather difficult. And to be honest, Sasuke did not relish a rematch with his ex-teammates, at least not in his weakened state. No, this would require subterfuge.

"Nope. Never had that experience."

"Nothing worse than being an orphan in a cruddy orphanage, not even knowing who your folks were."

"Well..." Mark shrugged. "...what about having them killed horrifically in front of you when you're ten?"

Hamish stopped and looked at Mark. "That happened to you?"

"Nah. Just a thought."

Subterfuge would not be easy either. Most of the supers were very alert, and from what he had heard of this Watchtower place, breaking into it would be no picnic. Not for the first time, Sasuke wished he had his team back. At the very least, they could have provided an efficient distraction.

"Oh... well, it don't account anyhow. That case, at least you know your parents loved you and all. Tell you what, you get found in a dumpster by the local ragbag, that sort of thing plays issues with you."

"Oh, now THAT I can tell just by looking at you, Hamish."

There was only one thing for it. He needed help. Big help. Super help, the kind his former classmates had. But as to how and where to get it, that was still a mystery.

"Lemme tell you something, when my second wife died, that wasn't no picnic neither. Times come I wish I never married her, it gets so bad."

"Still... better to have loved and lost than never loved at all, hey?"

"Try it sometime."

"You know ain't no woman gonna come within five miles of me these days, not without fifty bucks right off the top. 'Sides, I try that, you need to try getting born without knowing your parents."

"Oh, come ON. How exactly am I supposed to try that?"

"Exactly."

Even finding such help could be dangerous. These illegal metas were notoriously treacherous, and certainly wouldn't take kindly to being ordered around by him, in his state. No, he'd have to be sneaky.

"Hey, Sauce. What's your take on this? Which is worse, being an orphan or being a widower?"

"Yes," answered Sasuke abstractedly, wondering once again how they'd chosen the nickname 'Hot Sauce' for him.

"Wha—oh, come on, man, you need to give us more than that."

Probably had something to do with the tomatoes he bought all the time.

"Listen this time. Which is worse, being an orphan, or..." The high-pitched whine of a tuning microphone cut him off. "...oh, forget it. They got a preacher on now."

Sasuke nodded absently. The food charities, or at least this one, usually insisted they listen to an inspirational speaker in exchange for eating their food. Sasuke didn't mind much either way, he was experienced in ignoring people.

This time, however, he spared the stage a glance, and when he saw the bespectacled man in the turtleneck sweater, he started to laugh.

#

Taking orders from a man infinitesimally smaller than he was a somewhat novel experience, and Shino could not quite reconcile his feelings on the subject. On the one hand, this 'Atom' fellow certainly seemed to be experienced, and could provide many valuable insights. On the other hand, he knew precious little about kunai or smoke pellets or any of the other weapons in a ninja's arsenal. He had an acquaintance with martial arts, to be sure, but Shino's sessions with Batman had rendered that somewhat redundant. Mostly, the man was useful for his knowledge of Justice League protocols, which Shino had to acknowledge were important details to recall in light of their new relationship with their erstwhile allies.

Of course, the man's familiarity with insects was also helpful.

"Was during the early days of developing my device," explained Atom conversationally, from a location by Shino's ear. Back then, I could only go down to ant size, so I spent a while exploring the ant farms in my lab and such. That was when I got my first taste of microscopic warfare, was battling those soldier ants." Atom laughed, a quiet, tinny laugh. "You know, for a while I thought about making an ant-controlling helmet and going to fight as 'Ant-Man' or something, but then I figured no one would take me seriously."

"Oh? Why is that?" Shino did not pause, continuing his leaps from building to building, eyes darting back and forth across the streets below.

"Well... it'd just be ridiculous. You know... ANT-Man." Atom burst into another tinny laugh.

Shino thought about it for a moment. "No, I must say the humor is lost on me."

"Yeah, I suppose I should've guessed." Atom sighed. "Anyway, looking back, it wouldn't have been a bad trick, learning how to control ants. Ants go everywhere, after all, they could probably tell me just about anything. And they can build things too, mine, do all sorts of amazing stuff." Atom nodded. "Be like having your own miniature civilization, I suppose."

"Indeed." Shino nodded. Atom had, in fact, rather opened his mind about various unorthodox ways of using insects. He viewed them as more individual soldiers than the hive collective that most Aburame saw them as. Individual insects, specially trained, Atom had said, could be dreadfully efficient.

"Of course, feeding the things would be a bugger, and to even design a helmet like that you'd need to..." Atom broke off in mid-sentence. "Bank robber, three o'clock!"

Shino nodded and changed course immediately. Spotting misdemeanors was becoming easier for him, but Atom still tended to catch more. Shino wondered why... the man couldn't go on patrol very often, in his state.

There was a masked man running out of the bank, a weathered backpack clutched in his left hand, an oversized revolver in his right. People everywhere were pointing and screaming, but strangely enough, there were no police cars on the scene. Shino simply jumped onto the bank roof and took chase.

A few minutes later, he frowned. "This is odd."

"That guy's gotta be running fifteen miles an hour." Atom sounded suspicious. "That's not normal."

"No. Nor is his linear escape pattern. He's made no attempt to avoid me, and he's glanced directly at me several times. Combined with his incredibly obvious bank robber's outfit, I can't help but wonder..."

"We're catching up now. Stop him before he gets to that chemical plant up the street, we'll never find him once he gets in there."

Shino gave a short nod and put on an extra burst of speed. He somersaulted easily over the man's head and landed right before him in the street. "I am apprehending you in the name of the law for the crime of bank robbery." He intoned. "Why? Because your highly suspicious behavior outside a bank leads me to believe you are one. I shall investigate later to verify this."

Shino didn't really understand the League's protocols.

"Kindly drop your revolver and hand me the bag, then lie on the ground, hands spread, or I shall be compelled to resort to force." Shino indicated his kunai.

Grinning, the man dropped his revolver, then tossed the bag forward.

Something about the way he tossed it... that low underhand, the way it jostled slightly as he did, the way he whipped his arm away from it as if it were on fire, the step backward he made... gave Shino just enough warning to dodge away from the bag and cover his head.

BOOM!

Shino felt dust and debris glance against his hands. As the smoke faded, he looked up to see a lone scrap of khaki float toward the crater-baked earth, the spot he had just been standing on.

"Clever, Mr. Ninja," smirked the bank robber, pulling off his mask. "But suppose we stop the games and put this to a real test, eh?"

Shino's eyebrows shot upwards as black curse marks began to spread across the man's face.

#

"Well done. Perhaps next time we can do this on a real one."

Sakura glanced over at her teacher as she pulled the gloves from her hands. "You can find a real one? Just like that?"

"There are more people in need of brain surgeries than there are brain surgeons," shrugged Terrific, studying the clone brain they had been working on. "It would simply be a matter of matching you with something suitable." With a final nod, he glanced back up. "If your work on this is any indication, it should be no trouble at all. To be honest, I'm rather amazed at your progress. Most people can take over nine years to get to this stage. "

Sakura felt a glow of pride run through her and tried to suppress it. "I was the chief medic back in Konoha." She mumbled.

"And you did this sort of thing?"

"Well... no." They didn't even THINK about this sort of thing back in Konoha. Brains were brains, if a ninja's mind was gone then there was no bringing it back. Frankly, Sakura was amazed at the amount of time and effort that had gone into it on this world.

"Well, it's about time I managed to find something new for you, then." Terrific moved away. "Heart surgery, bone repair, physical therapy... you even got the basics of prosthetic attachment after a few days, and we have a VERY intensive course on that."

"Tenten helped." Sakura didn't mention that she'd spent some time in Suna—the leading village for puppetry and its related field, prosthetics.

"Nonetheless, the point stands that you've picked up a startling amount." Terrific turned back to the computer panel. "I'm almost a little embarrassed, as I seem to be coming out shamefully far ahead on our deal. Dr. Midnite should be teaching you this kind of thing, in all reality."

Sakura shrugged as she tugged the hairnet off and shook her hair out. "It's just chakra I'm telling you about. Any one of the ninjas could give you information on it. Besides, you guys can't use it at all, so I don't really see how it helps you."

"It is information, and information is always helpful," answered Terrific, rather distractedly, still tapping away at the keyboard.

With a sigh, Sakura dumped her gloves in the waste basket and began to wash her hands. "Well, thanks in any case. I suppose I ought to get up to the sparring rooms and see if Shayera is available."

"Hawkgirl will most likely be busy." Terrific answered. "There's a rather important conference scheduled in a few minutes. I need to get ready for it myself, actually," added he, glancing at the clock. "But a number of your teammates are sparring. You can perhaps try your skills against one of them."

Sakura paused, letting the water pour over her hands unheeded. "Is... Naruto there?"

Back still turned to Sakura, Terrific gave a small nod, as if he'd expected the question. "I think so. Superman will be at the meeting, so he has little else to do."

"Hm." With the air of sudden decision, Sakura reached up and snapped the water off, before ripping free a paper towel to dry her hands. "I'd... better not. I don't think I'd be very... welcome."

Terrific still did not turn around. He didn't need to, a security camera fed him the exact expression on Sakura's face. "Why not?" he asked, carefully moderating his tone.

"None of your business!" Sakura snapped.

Terrific simply gave a gentle nod and waited.

Slowly, Sakura's drying stopped. She balled it up in listless, thoughtful motions, and stared at it for a moment before giving it a half-hearted toss toward the wastebasket. It bounced off the wall and tumbled to the floor. For a moment, she simply stood there, staring at the wall. Terrific just waited.

Finally she heaved a sigh. "It's... I shouldn't have left him behind when we went to Gotham. It's... very important to him that he get to fight Sasuke and... I took that away from him."

"But he fought Sasuke anyway. And surely, you can't delay a crucial operation just because the person who wants to be there isn't," replied Terrific.

"No, but..." Sakura sighed and passed a hand through her hair. "It's not just that. It's the second—well, almost the third—time I've done this to him."

Finally Terrific swiveled in his chair to study her. "Oh?"

"I... the time when we got teleported here... that was one time. We deliberately left without telling Naruto. Shikamaru said he was too close to the target, it wouldn't work. And Naruto doesn't want to kill Sasuke. He thinks he can still be redeemed."

"And you don't."

"I don't know what I think." Sakura gave an irritable shake of her head as she half-sat on the counter. "But I know Sasuke has killed a lot of people, and could conceivably cause a major war if he's not stopped. Even if he can be brought back..." Sakura swallowed and glanced at the other wall. "...that's not a risk we can afford to take."

"Hm." Terrific nodded. "Still, from your description, that was more your Shikamaru's decision than yours. And that's only two incidents."

A wince crossed Sakura's face. "The other was... painful."

Another, almost longer, silence followed this comment. Terrific didn't even glance at the clock, he knew this was important.

"When we... that is, we others... decided Sasuke had to be killed, someone still had to break the news to Naruto. Naruto was out of the village at the time, trying to talk the Raikage into pardoning Sasuke. I... volunteered, saying he'd take it better from me."

Sakura feel silent a moment and gazed at the floor. "I wasn't... being very honest." She admitted. "It'd... I'd been through a lot just recently and Naruto had nearly died and I'd realized how much pain I'd been putting him through and I..." Again she sighed. "...I... decided I should kill Sasuke. Myself. And somehow get Naruto to forget about him."

Terrific raised an eyebrow and Sakura hurried to explain. "You see... when Sasuke first... went away, I made Naruto promise to bring him back. Naruto cares a lot about his promises. I thought that if I got Naruto to believe that I didn't... care for Sasuke anymore, he'd be freed from his promise and... give up on Sasuke." She swallowed. "So I... told Naruto I loved him."

Terrific's other eyebrow shot up. He studied her. "And... did you?"

"I... I don't know." Clearly frustrated, Sakura passed a hand through her hair and threw her head back to gaze at the ceiling. "I mean, he's been in love with me since forever and he's a great guy and..." She shook her head. "Anyway, that wasn't really the point then. I was... trying to distract him, really. I mean, partly I felt sorry for him, but mostly I just said it to throw him off balance." A sigh heaved out of her. "And that... no guy deserves that sort of thing."

Terrific said nothing. His face was carefully neutral.

"He saw through it and... called me out on it. We yelled a bit, then I ran off, ditched the others, and tried to get to Sasuke." A shaky laugh broke from her frame. "And then all that turned out to be worthless, because by the time I finally found him, he and the others were already warping out. The only thing left was Danzou's body. I just kinda sat there in shock until Kakashi-sensei and Naruto showed up." She closed her eyes, trying to shut out the tears burning through her eyelids. "All my betrayals, all my trickery, and it turned out for nothing."

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Terrific nodded.

Sakura stared at him for a moment, then nodded slowly as the phrase sunk in. "Yeah. That's sure where I ended up."

For a moment the two sat in silence. Then Terrific sighed at straightened up. "Have you talked to Naruto about this?"

Sakura looked at him. "Are you crazy?"

"I'm not terribly familiar with Naruto, but he doesn't seem like the type to hold a grudge." Terrific shrugged. "In any case, he's certainly more one for the direct approach."

"You'd be surprised. Naruto hides more than you'd think." Sakura gave a sad little smile. "And with me, he's never really..." She stopped. "Well, okay, I guess he usually IS pretty direct with me. Asking me out for dates and such..."

"He's been taken with you for some time, then?"

"Sorta... yeah. He's been asking me out since we got assigned together. Sai's pretty sure he's deeply in love with me."

"And you?"

Sakura sighed again. "I... I don't know. I really don't know. I mean, by all rights, I ought to. I know that much. He's sweet, and he's diligent, and faithful, and hardworking and powerful and... all sorts of things. Lots of girls would be lucky to get a guy like him. And he's done so much for me."

"But...?" Terrific suggested.

"But... I don't know. For some reason I just... I can't quite let go of Sasuke. It doesn't make sense, the guy's nearly killed me several times, but there it is. And as much as I know how... great a guy Naruto is, I just... I look at him and I still see the little goofy kid who was in my genin team."

Terrific gave a little nod. "There's an old Jewish legend—part of the Kaballa tradition, I believe—that tells of the first man and the first—well, actually the second woman. It's said that the woman was created in front of the man, beginning with the bones, moving on to the organs, musculature, and finally skin." Terrific smiled at Sakura. "As a medic, you must appreciate what that must have been like. When the woman was finally complete, the first man rejected her, because he knew her too well. He'd seen her from the inside out, and it disgusted him. So the woman left, and the god made another woman... this time, while the first man was asleep."

Sakura was frowning. "Okay... so... I don't think I follow you."

"No?" Terrific shrugged. "I suppose it doesn't really address your problem about talking to Naruto anyway. If I were you, I should talk to him about it soon. It's been a month, so he should have cooled off about it. But this thing is going to keep causing problems between you two until you talk it over and get a better idea of each other." Standing up, he gave a tired little smile to Sakura. "And trust me, you'll feel better once it's over."

A trace of a grin flickered over Sakura's face. "Like a shot?"

"More like setting a dislocated shoulder..." Terrific mused, moving toward the door, "...but yes, a shot is a good example."

#

"You mean we are unable to communicate with headquarters?" Shino blocked a lightning-fast jab from his opponent.

"Our communicators are shot! Must be a jammer of some kind in the area." Atom shouted in his ear. "Look, you need help! Let me get up to normal size and..."

"No! This man is using curse-seal techniques!" Ducking, Shino shot out a leg, only to have the man weave away from it. "They are attacks you are unfamiliar with!"

"Fine then! But at least get me onto him so I can start messing with his systems!"

With barely a nod, Shino sent out a wave of kikai bugs. One scooped up Atom, flying toward the mystery assailant. With any luck, Atom would be able to guide it to a landing, where he could do... whatever he did.

Shino was now free from distractions. Whipping away from the man's left hook, he leapt upwards to the wall of the nearest building, standing there just long enough to unleash a horde of insects before jumping across to the other wall.

Something puzzled him about the man. The man had chakra, the curse seal made that obvious at least, but he wasn't USING it at all. The only noticeable effect was the enhanced speed and strength. He wasn't even following Shino up the walls, although he did seem to be lifting...

Shino ducked sideways and narrowly avoided getting crushed by a bolder. Rolling away from the next attack, he dodged right and began to run down the building. League protocol was to avoid unnecessary damage to civilian property, and Shino felt relatively certain boulders through windows was included in that.

Without much hope, Shino threw two kunai, only to see them get effortlessly deflected. He could see, just over the man's shoulder, his kikai bugs eating away, but with the level of chakra the man was putting out, that wasn't going to break anyone anytime soon. He needed something new.

There was a sudden whooshing noise, and the man was right next to him. Shino nearly fell over, caught himself, whipped around and caught the man in the stomach. It didn't have much effect, but then Shino hadn't had much time to think about it. He just barely managed to sidestep the first and second blows, but the third caught him off-guard, and he went crashing backwards.

The man was at his side before Shino could get up, but Shino HAD been expecting that and came up legs first. The sudden kick caught the man by surprise and Shino used the moment to crack open a smoke pellet.

Five seconds later, as the smoke cleared away, he crouched, breathing as quietly as possible, behind a handy dumpster. The dumpster had simply been the nearest hideaway, but the manner in which the man was sniffing the air told him it might have been the best one.

He considered his options. The bugs were having no effect. His taijutsu knowledge was woefully insufficient to match the other's speed and strength. His only weapons were a pair of, yes, silly, hiltless knives. He was forced to agree with the Bumblebee girl, they DID seem rather useless right now.

Still. A good ninja must always be prepared to improvise. Quickly he went through his pouches. Ninja wire, kunai, smoke pellets. And a few insect-related tools that only Shino carried. All in all, not a great deal to work with.

Shino considered his options momentarily and then held out his sleeves. Two swarms of bugs shot out, one dispersing into the air, the other coiling by him for a moment before accepting the item he gave them. Then he held up his fingers in a seal.

"Hah!" Delight shone in the man's face as Shino stepped away from the dumpster. "I've got you now, you little pest! Finally decided to come out and fight, have you? Last mistake you'll ever make!" He shot at Shino, fist reared back in readiness.

Shino weaved away from the punch, came back with another, sliced a kunai across the man's cheek, and finally aimed a kick at the man before the other's fist punched straight through his chest.

At which point, Shino smiled and exploded into bugs.

The man had barely enough time to turn and face the real Shino's kunai thrust. He blocked it and again launched into his attack, but found it hard... the bugs were flying, flying, all around him. They did weird little dances before his eyes and nimbly dodged around his attacks at swatting. It was difficult to concentrate.

Shino smiled as he danced around the man's now-clumsy blows. That evened the playing field considerably. He still felt slightly confused as to where 'acceptable use of force' began and ended, but in his mind, he didn't feel he had to worry about that with this one. His twin kunais darted in and out, slashing a leg there, a palm there, narrowly missing the chest there... oh, WHY wouldn't they let him go for the throat?

A new buzzing filled the air as one of Shino's old swarms returned to him. With a nod to himself, Shino leapt away, allowing the attacker a few moments more of confusion before recalling the swarm about his head.

The man shook his suddenly-clear head and focused on Shino, now standing several feet down a nearby alleyway. "Get back here!" He shouted, charging forward.

He was halfway down the alleyway when he ran into the ninja wire running across the alleyway.

Shino leapt on the man as he tumbled earthward, pummeling his head for all he was worth. If he remembered the details of these curse seals correctly, he'd need to incapacitate this man quickly before...

The blackness was spreading, consuming all the skin on the man's neck.

#

"So... all this weaponry... and you only know how to use pistols?"

Vigilante rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "We-e-e-ell now, little lady, I wouldn't say ONLY know. I mean, I know how to use your standard issue hunting rifle and machine gun and what-not, and I reckon I could work a rocket launcher if push come to shove. And heck, ain't much to throwing grenades, right?" He chuckled, completely missing the look on Tenten's face. "But with my twin pair of revolvers here... baby, it's like a man and his dog. No, more'n that. It's like a whole new part of me. I jest don't feel comfortable without them."

"What, do you sleep with the things?"

"Of course not! What kinda question is that for a girl like you to ask?"

Tenten sighed inwardly. This man reminded her a little too much of Kakashi. Most of the face covered by a mask (red bandanna, in this case), and a laid-back attitude that would get on anyone's nerves. Not just the attitude, but the names. 'Girl like you' was suitably vague, and 'little lady' only somewhat annoying, and 'baby...' Well, she'd overlook 'baby.' This once. But if he called her something infantile like 'little Miss Prickle Pants,' this guy was seriously going to get a taste of exactly WHAT she could do with the revolver she was currently holding. Or the mechanical arm. Tenten hadn't really had a chance to try it out yet, and she really wondered what it could do at a close range like this.

"Anyway. From the sounds of things, ya got Nemesis and Steel helping you out with these firearms too, so you shouldn't be grieving too much." Vigilante twirled his pistol around his finger expertly. "Iffen what I saw today is any indication, I ain't so sure you're going to be needing the help."

"But I don't know ANY of these weapons!" Technically not true. She had fired some, or at least variations of them, in Luthor's base. At the same time, though, her knowledge of them was imperfect, and the finer subtleties of each weapon was lost on her.

Take pistols. Tenten had not quite considered the ballistics (having bullets and barrels added a whole new dimension to the field) of revolvers and automatics. But Vigilante had explained to her that although a revolver had less ammo, it was much more accurate. He had also instructed her in the best way to load and unload each different type of gun, and drilled her to do it as fast as possible.

Today, he had even arranged something called a 'showdown' as a kind of test. Tenten couldn't quite see the point—if the object was to kill the enemy, why not simply turn around before 'three' and fire? Or supposing you didn't, how were you to know the other wouldn't? Oh sure, you were supposed to have impartial judges, but after one of you was dead, who was going to care?

They had to talk Tenten through the ceremony five times before she got to 'three' without trying to kill Vigilante.

"Naw, you're acquainted with them enough." Vigilante waved a hand airily. "Enough to choose a favorite, anyway. If I was you, I'd stop practicing with all of 'em and just learn one in particular. Learn it real good."

Tenten cocked an eye at the man as she once again raised her pistol at the target. "But surely you should try to learn all the weapons equally? A warrior must be proficient in all weapons, surely." She closed an eye and fired.

"Mebbe." Vigilante shrugged, amidst the bangs of the gun. "But you ain't gonna be carrying an arsenal out with you everytime you go fighting, girl. Best to practice most at the weapon you're liable to use most."

"But learning the weapons equally allows you greater flexibility." Tenten argued. Her hands were already flying through the reload routine. "Favoring a certain weapon makes you dependent on it, you might rely on pistols to accomplish a job more suited to, say, a flamethrower."

"Helpful knowledge, if you don't happen to have a flamethrower on you." Vigilante hit the switch that sent the target bouncing around the range.

Tenten narrowed her eyes in frustration as the erratically moving target averted her fire. "Dangerous, if you do happen to have one and don't know how to use it."

"No, that's no problem. You just throw it away and use the thing you DO know how to use." One of Vigilante's pistols whipped out, quick as sight, and bang.

Splinters of the target fell to the floor.

"You might not always have your favorite weapon." Tenten grumbled, setting up the range again.

"I do."

Tenten just rolled her eyes and tried to focus on the flying target. "Why's the range so empty, anyway?" She asked. "For that matter, why is it so small? This thing is barely the size of the holding cell they used for my practice at Luthor's place."

"League doesn't see much need to enlarge a place barely anyone uses."

"Anyone?" Tenten frowned, a little puzzled. "Don't they need practice?"

"Sweetheart, you always need practice in this game. No," he continued, before Tenten punch him for the 'sweetheart' line, "No, no one comes in here because no one at the League plays with these things."

"What?" Tenten forgot all about 'sweetheart.' "No one? Why not?"

Vigilante shrugged. "Not their style, I guess. Course, some of 'em, like Superman, don't really NEED the dern things, and others, like Wonder Woman, are about five centuries out of date and see no reason to suddenly start learning things. Of course, you get guys like Steel and STRIPES, who pretty much ARE walking guns but don't shoot with them."

"But... but..." Tenten floundered, unable to understand why people wouldn't WANT to use such wonderful things. "But they... I mean, Neji's training with that one guy... the one dressed all in green... with the arrows and stuff."

"Yeah, I don't know what's up with him. Batman neither, really." Vigilante frowned. "I mean, they COULD use 'em, I guess. Even be a help to them. They just don't choose to. Like I said. Style."

Tenten was disgusted with this logic. "Style? What does STYLE have to do with war?"

"War? Nuthin.' Superheroin'? Near about everything." Vigilante leaned back against the wall. "See, don't get me wrong, everyone here is devoted to fighting crime and saving the world and all that jazz. But they're all also devoted to doing it THEIR way. Oh, sure, Superman leads us, 'cause EVERYONE wants to be like Superman, but mostly, we're a bunch of individualists, out to fight on our own terms." He shrugged. "And to be an individual, you got to have your own style. Not much individuality in a feller who uses guns to fight crime, is there? After all, any cop off the street does that."

"That's stupid!"

"We-e-e-elll now, maybe it is and maybe it isn't, little lady." There was a strangely thoughtful look in Vigilante's eyes. "See, because of that, we're more than crimefighers, we're symbols. Role models. Kinda like celebrities, y'know, except smart."

Tenten didn't comment.

"We don't really showboat, that's more Booster Gold's line of work. But we do make a stir, and we do rile things up. And we inspire people. With STYLE." Eyes twinkling, the westerner spun the revolver around his finger madly. "Another reason why not many heroes use guns, I reckon. After all, guns are best at killing things. It takes a lot of talent to be sure you can shoot someone and NOT kill them. And heroes can't kill."

"That's really stupid." Tenten, perhaps because she'd arrived last, was the most skeptical toward the League's thou-shalt-not-kill-evildoers policy.

"Oh?"Vigilante's voice gained a new edge. "Seems to me all you ninja kids get caught up in your own 'style' too."

"Well, yeah, but that's –" Tenten stopped. I am NOT going to get caught in the that's-different-no-it-isn't cycle, she told herself. She settled for a half-retort. "That's just for contract jobs." Giving her hair a little toss, she added. "We don't dress that way if we're going to WAR. And we never dress in spandex. Well... not most of us." She amended hastily.

Vigilante cocked an eyebrow. "Lady, it might have escaped your notice, but I don't wear spandex either."

#

Hm. That is unsettling. Shino leapt away from the man as the curse-seal enveloped him. He had rather hoped to avoid having to fight this level by knocking the man senseless immediately. Unfortunately, that no longer appeared to be a viable option.

The only real difference, if things stayed true to form, would be an incremental increase in speed and strength. Chakra would increase too, naturally, but Shino did not think that would be an issue, he was pretty well convinced that the man had had NO ninja training.

Even in the time it took him to think this, the man had flashed through the air and was rearing right alongside him. Shino barely had time to brace for the blow before it sent him crashing back down to street level. He managed to roll left in time to avoid the follow-up, but there was really nothing he could do about the fist that seized his jacket and threw him into the air.

The air gave Shino a few moments to strategize, and his fingers flew in a seal. "Mushi Kame no jutsu!"

A wall of insects formed around him as he touched ground. The attacker's fist was already smashing through, but Shino's fingers were ready for him. "Shunshin no jutsu!" He was gone in a swirl of bugs.

Now he was behind a new dumpster, noticeably smaller than the earlier one. It wouldn't do for long... this monster wasn't bothering with sniffing, he was simply tearing up everything in sight. But hopefully, it would give him enough time to devise a more coherent strategy.

The bugs he'd placed on the man's back at the beginning of the fight were still there, but from the looks of things, they'd be busy for a while. He could, of course, employ the insect sphere and simply immerse the man in kikai bugs, but that would be too noticeable. The man would simply shake them off before any real damage could be done.

Shino scratched his nose and thought for a moment. This would be tricky.

#

"Oh, good. Terrific's here. Sit down, we were about to start without you."

"Sorry." Terrific folded into a chair. "I was busy taking care of that teamwork issue that Batman mentioned."

Batman gave a short nod. "You resolved it?"

"Apparently there's a lot more going on than you suspected." Terrific shook his head. "It's not the sort of thing you resolve in one talk. I started something, nothing more. Hopefully they'll be able to work out the rest themselves. I am NOT Dr. Phil."

A snort broke loose from Batman but he seemed satisfied. Superman shrugged, apparently unconcerned. "Well, that's good then. I suppose we can skip that part of the agenda. While we're on the subject, how is Sakura's training progressing?"

"Magnificently. Her prowess as a medic is no exaggeration, she's fast absorbing all the material I can teach her. The main difference is that she's learning to do with tools what she used to do with chakra."

"So just a difference of technique?" Wonder Woman was listening.

"Essentially. But a significant difference. Chakra is energy manipulation, more than just skill with a knife and forceps. Fortunately, she seems to know her way around those also. So far, she's been very enthusiastic about the training, she considers it useful knowledge to teach to civilian medics. It's made her very helpful in regards to help on chakra manipulation."

"And, on THAT note, how is the dimensional projector coming along?"

"Definitely progressing." Terrific replied, somewhat wearily. "Progressing, as most science does, by becoming more and more unclear."

"Huh?" Superman's forehead wrinkled.

"He means that the more he knows about chakra, the more he knows how little he knows." Batman clarified.

"Exactly." Terrific nodded gratefully at Batman. "It appears there are... hidden depths to chakra manipulation that I did not anticipate. So far, I have a... workable platform for transmitting chakra into the Sharingan, which should theoretically open the dimensional hole, but again, we have little way of knowing where or how that would happen." Pausing momentarily, he continued, "Perhaps now might be a good time to bring the ninjas into our confidence on this matter. Sakura tells me some of them can see how chakra moves, and certainly being able to TEST the projector would give me a better idea on what to improve."

Green Lantern rubbed his chin. "It might help them to know that we ARE working on a way to bring them home."

"They might not like that we took the one kid's Sharingan for the machine."

"They're going to learn that one way or another," shrugged Lantern.

"Definitely worth considering." Superman nodded. "Now, to return to the main point... Batman, it says here you're training... four? Of the ninjas?"

"I'm training ONE." Batman ignored the smile on Wonder Woman's face and the snicker from Green Arrow. "I'm only training the one Rock Lee kid. Neji, Naruto, and Kiba occasionally drop in on an un-official basis for me to give them pointers."

"Glad you seem to have regained some trust with the ninjas," said Superman, as drily as possible. "Flash, you're also training Lee?"

Flash shrugged. "I spar with the kid. Can't exactly take him on patrol, he'd slow me down too much. Still..." he grinned. "...he and Kid Flash can do a maaaaad tag-team."

"Two trainers." Lantern rubbed his eyes. "AND that kid keeps following me around the base."

"You too?" Green Arrow cocked an eyebrow at the ex-marine.

"How's Neji's training coming along, Arrow?"

Arrow roused himself at the question. "Well enough. Bats was right about one thing at least, the kid could make a mean archer, with eyesight like that. Not so used to my usual beat, perhaps, but his close-combat skills are very helpful." Arrow gained a new light in his eye. "Hey, I heard that kid's backstory too. Classic downtrodden lower class stuff. You see, he..."

"Heard it." Batman waved. "ALSO heard he doesn't blame the bourgeoisie anymore for what happened. And I met the representative of the particular bourgeoisie, she didn't seem particularly obsessed with keeping the proletariat downtrodden."

"It's the principle of the thing." Arrow glared at the billionaire.

"That's... Hinata?" Superman glanced from one to the other. "Who's got her? Diana?"

"So they tell me." Wonder Woman grumbled. "But between Lois and Blue Devil, I haven't seen a great deal of her. Sakura either, for that matter, but I can't really complain, seeing how well Terrific is getting on with her."

"She does sessions with me." Hawkgirl spoke up suddenly. "Unofficial, of course. Can't have a traitor teaching one of them."

"Of course." Superman just barely managed to suppress the wince. "And... J'onn, you're teaching Ino."

"Guiding is more appropriate, but yes. She's come far in the last month, she is nearly a full-fledged telepath. I look to great things from her in the future."

"Has she been able to help you with the probes on Naruto and Hinata?" Batman spoke up suddenly.

"I wouldn't ask her to." J'onn looked rather affronted. "But she has provided a certain... insight into the issues I've had probing them. Most likely, I believe my difficulties in penetrating Naruto's mind result from the Kyuubi we've heard so much about."

"Mmm. And Hinata?"

J'onn sighed. "That... remains a mystery."

"Of course it does." Batman grunted, folding his arms.

"We need to know where they met that Spectre, and neither of them is talking yet," pointed out Green Lantern. "If the probes aren't working, what are our other options?"

"Perhaps the World's Greatest Detective can help us with that." Wonder Woman grinned at Batman.

"I've got better things to do than chase children around Jump City."

"Even if it might mean the end of the world?"

Batman simply looked at her. He might've rolled his eyes, but with the cowl, it was very difficult to say. Superman decided the meeting had gone too far off track. "Lantern? How are Sai, Virgil, and...." Superman glanced down momentarily for the newer arrival, "...Tenten coming in training?"

"Tenten trains separately. She's mostly interested in my Marine marksmanship training. Sai and Virgil are... getting along." A pained look crossed Lantern's face. "They're, ah, different character sorts, but... they can work together."

"Well, that will have to do." Superman knew rather well the issues Lantern was avoiding. "Good, and as you can see from the reports, Chouji is doing well with Atom Smasher and Kiba with Beast Boy. That just leaves..."

"Shino." Terrific supplied. "He's researching with me, but most of his real training is with Atom."

#

Test Subject 39 had no name. Strictly speaking, he should have had no personality either. He'd been born fully grown and had spent the first few months of his infancy learning the various ways to kill a man. Language had been directly implanted, ordinary stealth behavior had been... forcibly learnt, and cunning had been nurtured as well as possible. All in all, not a varied childhood.

Yet he had a character, of sorts. He had friends. Test Subject 23, for example, who could rip a man's throat out in five seconds, and Test Subject 72, who had fought with him for three straight hours before the overseers had torn them apart. And that man Reynolds, who had been delicious for the three seconds Test Subject 39 had had his arm in his mouth.

Yes, Test Subject 39 had friends, and he had a home, of sorts, in the small metal room he'd had to himself after the warm moisture of the tube, and he had certain hopes and aspirations, though they might not be the same as other peoples. In fact, Test Subject 39 had a personality.

And currently, Test Subject 39's personality was very, very frustrated.

He'd been released. He'd followed his orders. He'd drawn them out, he'd attacked them. Now, if they would just SHOW themselves, he could get on with the mission and KILL them. Quite a straightforward process.

The boy had an annoying tactic of hiding. Test Subject 39 could smell him somewhere in the general area, but it was troublesome to have to smash up all the surrounding buildings just to find him. Still, he'd find him eventually. Him and all his little bugs. He'd squash them all.

That prickling feeling on his back was getting irritating, too. For some reason it felt like it was getting stronger.

Test Subject 39 smashed through a car or two and roared his frustration to the skies. Missions weren't supposed to go like this! He turned to the alleyway and began to tear through the boxes and dumpsters, just to let loose a little steam...

The dumpster broke apart to reveal a man just leaping away, clutching on his bleeding arm.

"GOT YOU!" The Beast was strong in Test Subject 39. It always grew stronger as the curse progressed, and after an hour or so of fruitless fighting, it was raging. Test Subject 39 raced after the bleeding boy, screaming with rage. The teen held out his hands and shouted something.

Bugs.

Again with the bugs, always the bugs, just HOW many bugs did this guy have? And now the bugs were flying at him, tearing at him. They flew at his eyes, in his ears, up his nose, into his open mouth. Little pricks made themselves felt as insects broke their teeth against the hardened skin of the Curse Seal.

But he was... he was... he was more than Test Subject 39. He was the Beast. He was THE Test Subject, greater than all other Test Subjects, and he would not be bested by a swarm of insects! That was not allowed to happen in missions!

He gnashed his teeth, masticating the bugs within, and batted the flies away from his eyes. They swirled back again, but he saw him... he SAW the arrogant boy with his arrogant coat and his arrogant sunglasses and his ARROGANT insects. He only saw him for a second, but a second was more than enough.

He shot forward and buried his fist in the boy's chest, listening with satisfaction to the faint crunching of bones. Ah ha, so THIS one was not some bug-covered fake then. His other hand shot forward and grabbed hold of the boy, lifting him up into the air, squeezing his chest...

Test Subject 39 did not know it, of course, but no one had ever really seen Shino without his coat. More particularly, no one outside the Aburame had ever dared to investigate how much of Shino's coat was Shino and how much was bugs.

The truth was that Shino had a great many bugs in his coat, more than enough to give him a faint sort of padding against enemy attack, and maybe just enough to escape the grip of a crazed homicidal monster.

Of course, the latter only worked if all the bugs exited the coat at once.

It was like a greased hotdog sliding out of its bun. Test Subject 39 gaped in astonishment as insects poured out of the coat, allowing the teen to sweep down onto the pavement. The suffocating clouds covered him, they pressed on him, and now he was aware that what had at first been a faint prickling was now a growing drain, and now it was all over his body, sucking away his energy his force...

As Test Subject 39 succumbed to blackness, he heard the words: "Hijutsu: Mushidama."

#

Naruto was sparring with some robots. The experience was a novel one and all the more enjoyable for that. He'd never bothered to even fight puppets before, so these Z-A trainers the League used were great fun. You could practice completely lethal moves on them and no one would care.

Mind you, they hurt like anything to hit. And he had them on 'hard,' so they were actually executing some pretty formidable moves, and they didn't get hurt as badly when he did hit them. One rasengan, of course, would blow them all away, but he'd promised Superman he'd work on finesse, and...

"Naruto?"

Naruto's eyes widened and he lost focus for a second. A metallic hand clipped his jaw, he cursed, and his right fist shot out, straight into the robot's head.

The head itself was non-functional, there was barely anything there except some visual receivers, but these things were programmed to shut off once they had been destroyed. The robot sagged to the ground, and with a little growl, Naruto turned to face the other three.

"Naruto, we need to talk."

"Maybe later, Sakura, I'm a little busy right..."

A pale fist flashed across his field of vision and plowed into the nearest robot, crumpling it in half. A kick to the second smashed its chest open, and the third was lucky to only lose its head. Sakura stood in the heap of three mangled robot bodies. "No, Naruto. We really need to talk."

"Those were my robots." Naruto grumbled, moving to the exit. Picking up a water bottle, he began to chug its contents.

"Naruto, it's about Gotham."

Coughing a little on the water, Naruto lowered the bottle. "What about it?" He asked, with a bright smile. "We got in, we got out, we got Question, everybody's happy." He frowned a moment. "Except... maybe the couple thousand people who saw me almost destroy Gotham. But we're working on that."

"No, Naruto we..." Sakura stopped and corrected herself. "I need to talk to you about the... the part where we left you guys behind."

"You guys explained all that." The bright smile was still in place on Naruto's face. "You couldn't find us. You needed to move. Perfectly understandable. Nothing to talk about, see? Look, I told Lee I'd..."

"No, it's about the stuff before that too, the... other times... when we... when I..."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Sakura. Now I really..."

"Naruto, would you STOP smiling for ONE moment while I TRY to APOLOGIZE!"

The echoes in the room died away. Naruto and Sakura stared at each other for a long, tense moment. Finally, Sakura blinked and looked away.

"That... that didn't come out right." She muttered. "Oh, kami, this is all going wrong already. Look... Naruto? You remember that time you came back from the Sasuke retrieval all beat up?"

"Yeah."

"And you were all apologetic and everything about not bringing him back."

Naruto looked a mixture of misery and anger. "Yeah?"

"And... and I was completely inconsiderate and tried to pretend nothing was wrong?"

"Yeah?" Naruto answered, still slightly angry. Slowly, the gears shifted in his head. "Oh..."

"Yeah." Sakura nodded. "Look, I..." she swallowed. "I don't really... want to talk about it either, but... well, I think I've got a lot to answer for. Starting, I suppose, with that bit I mentioned just now, about when you came back from trying to save Sasuke and I didn't want to accept your apology."

"You apologized for it a long time ago." Naruto was guarded, withdrawn.

"Nevertheless, I want to apologize for it again. It'll give me something to start with."

"Fine." Naruto shrugged. "I accept your apology for trying to avoid the subject then. And?"

"And... I apologize for leaving without you to go to Gotham. And going with Shikamaru to get Sasuke before that."

"I told you, I understand your reasons."

"But you don't agree with them."

Naruto hesitated. "No." He admitted. "No, I don't."

"And we knew that." Sakura nodded. "That's why we didn't..." Again she corrected herself. "That's why I didn't tell you. I was supposed to."

"Yeah." Naruto's face grew curiously hard. "I don't agree with that either."

Swallowing, Sakura nodded again. "I realize that, but..."

"No. You realize nothing." Naruto stepped toward the girl. "You and Shikamaru BOTH know how important it is that we get Sasuke back. He's a shinobi of Konoha, and we never leave a shinobi of Konoha behind. He's your teammate and he's mine, and Kakashi-sensei told us what that means. And he's a friend. We don't desert our friends. You both know, all of that, and yet you choose to go and try to kill Sasuke anyway. But worse than that." Naruto took a deep breath. "Worse than that, you don't even respect me enough to TELL me what you're planning. You don't trust me to keep a level head and go along with it."

"You didn't." Sakura pointed out.

"No! But because I never learned about it until you guys were gone, I never really had much of a choice, now did I? If you'd just told me, we could have maybe talked it over, as it was, I was lucky to save you guys." A fresh light came into his eyes. "And that's the other thing. Even if you HAD told me, you wouldn't have let me come on the attack team, would you?"

"You're too close to Sasuke." Sakura answered. "You really think you would've killed him, even if you had agreed with our plan?" In her mind's eye she saw Sasuke, shooting at Lee, and herself on the ground, unwilling to attack.

"Maybe. Maybe not. But I could have protected you guys, I could've..." Naruto bit off the phrase and looked away. "Okay." He glanced back. "Superman and Robin have cleared that up a bit for me. But you guys DIDN'T have enough power, and you should have known that."

"No." Sakura answered, staring at the ground. "We should have. I'm sorry."

There was another short, less tense, silence. Naruto studied Sakura for a moment and finally heaved a long breath. "Okay. I understand a bit more of that now. I forgive you. Sorta. Now..." He moved toward the door. "...I've got to get..."

"...Na... Naruto..." Sakura's voice froze him in the door, and he turned around slowly. She was breathing thickly, still staring at the floor, hands wringing together in front of her. Several times, her mouth opened and closed with no sound, then: "I... there's... there's one... one other thing." She swallowed. "You know. The one thing."

Naruto's face was stone. "I really, REALLY don't know what you could be talking about."

"Naruto, I have to say this. I mean, I guess I don't know... I guess I don't really know what I could say, but... well... I need to... there's not really anything I could..." She swallowed again. "You know what, you're right. I don't know what I'm talking about either."

Naruto turned away. So did Sakura. But strangely, neither moved for a long moment, and neither said anything. The silence of the training room hung between them like a blanket.

Finally Sakura whispered. "...I'm so sorry..."

"I'll bet you are."

"...I couldn't think of anything else... I was trying to help you..."

"Yeah, well... you chose a rotten way to do it."

"It was cruel. I know that. I meant it for the best..."

"Just... just shut up for a moment, okay?" Naruto passed a hand over his face and stood staring at the wall. There was a long, very long silence, broken only by the occasional choked sob from Sakura.

Finally, she managed, in a quiet voice, "Can you ever forgive me?"

"I don't know." Naruto shook his head. "I expect so, I usually can, but... I don't know." Heaving a breath, he turned around to face her. "I'm not going to pretend this is something I can just forget about. And I can't really say I'm okay with it now, or even will be for quite some time yet. But... for the moment..." he heaved a breath. "I guess I can try."

Sakura gave a very small nod. "Thank you."

Naruto nodded back, and then shoved the door open and strode away.

#

Shino lay, pale and slightly panting, on the pavement, staring at the heap of bugs that was his attacker. The insect sphere was meant to suck all chakra, but the curse seal produced such a phenomenal amount, could it really...?

But the sphere showed no sign of bursting just yet. At the moment, there were other matters to attend to. Shino's leg was bleeding badly and he could feel the crack in his ribs, but first things first. He reached out a long, skinny arm and snagged his coat from where it lay on the pavement.

Shino liked his coat. It was a big coat. It hid him, it shielded his allies, and it naturally impressed people. And it was very warm. Without his coat, he felt naked (despite his long pants and t-shirt). Scooping it up off the pavement, he shrugged himself into it as gently as possible, hoping not to jostle the loose rib. He stared thoughtfully at the clump of insects but shook his head. They still looked pretty busy. Best to leave them. The coat felt funny without them, though. Loose. And... smooth, somehow. Too calm, too, usually it had a rather comforting prickly feeling to it.

His head snapped around. The insects on the target were milling uncertainly, throbbing, pulsating...

They burst outward, unable to contain the chakra any longer, and a truly beastial form of Test Subject 39 arose from the ground. "HAHAHHAAA!" It screamed. "I'll kill you all!"

A... third level?

Shino barely had time to think the thought before the fingers were closing around his windpipe. Growths sprouted from the creatures back, protrusions meant to shoot out pure chakra. Focusing in on Shino, they began to glow with blue light. Shino's ribs screamed, his right leg was slowly losing feeling.

And then suddenly, the creature's gaze became troubled. It wobbled about on its feet for a moment or so, stumbled, and sent its accumulated chakra shooting into the sky. He tried to get up, stumbled, and collapsed again.

Shino didn't quite understand what was going on, but he wasn't going to question it. Kunai shot from his fingertips, the bugs descended around the creature again.

A small blue and red figure leaped out of the swirling heap, swiftly growing into a full-size man. "Whew," said the Atom, brushing something off his shoulder. "That was close."

"What technique did you just employ?" Shino frowned. "I did not recognize it, but it appeared most effective."

"Got into his cochlea, knocked around his inner ear a little. Throws the sense of balance all out of whack. Sorry it took me so long, I had to land on the collarbone, and that's a lot of distance to cover at cell-size."

"Understandable." Shino managed.

The Atom looked over at him and suddenly realized the situation. "Oh, man, you look awful! Here, lie down a moment. Don't worry, I'm a doctor. Well, nuclear physicist, actually, but..."

There was a roar. Both turned as the heap of bugs leapt to its feet and, shedding insects all the way, ran off down the street.

#

"Alex? Alex Row?" Reverend McCay chuckled and clapped Sasuke on the shoulder. "Well, when I said I hoped we'd meet again, I must say I did not think... My, but you look well!"

"Thank you." Sasuke gave a slight nod, unable to keep the smile from creeping across his face. "You also look well."

"Alex? Is that your real name, Sauce?" Hamish laughed. "Funny... you don't look like an Alex."

"Oh, I am so sorry! Where are my manners. You sir, are...?"

"Hamish Peterson."

"Greg Bentler."

"Mark Vandenwiel. I believe I've seen you here before, sir."

"Ah, yes! The one who worked for the shipping foundry? Did you try those places I recommended?"

"Er..." Embarrassment was all over Mark's face. "Oh... A good try sir... but... economy and such... you know how it is."

"Ah. A pity. Be sure to try them again, I know Habelton's is always looking for experienced men." McCay turned back to Sasuke. "Well, I'm glad to see you Alex. Ribs alright, arms healing up?"

"Quite well, thank you." Sasuke suppressed a wince at the memory.

"Good, good," beamed the Reverend. "I must say I worried about you going out again, but it looks like you are doing well for yourself. Did you manage to get a job?"

"No."

"No? That is strange, you seem to be an adaptable person, it seems you should be able to find something. Still..." The minister sighed. "I do hear times are difficult."

"You hear that, do you?" There was something of a brittle edge to Hamish's face.

"Oh yes. We've taken three collections for the homeless shelters this month, and the woman's Bible Study has had a food drive. And, of course, I've been helping Mr. Whitaker down here. Did you enjoy the message, by the way?"

There was a chorus of general agreements, the meaningless compliments given to any work when the author is standing right there.

"Good, well I would just wish to re-iterate what I said at the end there, ANY of you are ALWAYS welcome down at 1st Presbyterian Assembly. Just drop in around nine, I'll be sure to say hello. Well, I'm off. Alex, good to see you again!" And with a nod and a smile, Rev. McCay was on to the next table. "John! How are you?"

"Yeah, catch me going into one of those places," muttered Hamish. "Bunch of stiff shirts looking at me over the tops of their glasses while he goes on about what a terrible place the world is."

"OR what a wonderful place the world is," pointed out Mark, raising his glass to his lips. "Some of them do that these days. Almost worse, really, when your stomach's growling to raise the dead and all." He gulped down the soda.

"Oh, it's not... so bad." Greg had been staring at the table and now interrupted, red-faced. "I used to go each Sunday morning, with my mom, to the chapel on 1st Street. It was... kinda fun. Nice people, as I recall."

"Oh, they're nice enough to their own, probably." Mark wagged a finger. "And they like being kind to the occasional beggar, because it gives 'em a warm fuzzy feeling. But you hang around long enough, that sort of thing wears off real fast."

"Huh. No kidding. Probably even expect me to put a coin in their money plate, the losers. If that isn't temptation, I don't know what is. Passing around a big bowl full of money in front of a starving man? Why don't you just..."

"Money plate?" Sasuke raised a quiet eyebrow.

"Tradition of theirs. Before any preacher preaches, he's gotta get what's coming to him. So they pass the plate around, and all the good people dump cash inside. I think it's sick, the racket some of 'em got going. You keep hearing about this minister or that who scammed his church... I wonder how they're even surprised." Hamish spat. "Those places have TONS of money."

"They don't have all that much." Greg interposed. "They give like half of it away."

"So they tell you, sure."

Sasuke did not answer. He was staring after the minister with a calculating expression.

#

"Can't say I'm very impressed, Luthor." Shikamaru cocked an eyebrow. "Your little boy wonder just got taken down by a hive of beetles and a shrinkable man. Doesn't seem to have done much for you."

Luthor smiled. "Oh, on the contrary, Mr. Nara. My test subject held his own against two powerful opponents and was able to escape. We have obtained valuable field data, noted flaws we can work on in our other test subjects, and accomplished all this without tipping off the League that we were behind this supposedly random attack. On the whole, I think this has been a fairly successful operation." He gave Karin a nod. "Excellent work."

"Th-thank you sir." Some of Karin's tension shivered away.

"Now. Disperse the EMP field before they seek out the device, and prepare for 39's extraction. There must be no evidence. And..."

Shikamaru allowed his mind to drift away. He did not want to show it, but he was mildly frightened. Shino was a powerful opponent, in his own way. Perhaps this had been a poorly matched battle, but nonetheless, the ability to use THREE levels of the curse seal and still retain coherency was dangerous. If Luthor truly could make more of these, things could get dangerous.

"39 has arrived at the extraction point now, sir." Karin's voice broke in on his reflections. "The team is lifting him out."

"Onscreen." Luthor ordered. Giving the image a cursory once-over, he nodded. "Well, most of the wounds are superficial, and with his healing factor they shouldn't be too much trouble. Prepare a reward package for him."

"Yes sir."

Shikamaru held himself in the bed. He did NOT want to lean forward. He did NOT want to study the image more closely. He did NOT, in fact, want to show that he was at all interested in the figure of Test Subject 39 as it filled the screen.

Because there, just under 39's left shoulder blade, was a small black mark.

It looked like a bug.