• Serial Port Component For Lazarus Pit Bull
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Same italics and disclaimers as before.

I don't usually do author's notes at the beginning of my chapters as I feel they take away from the experience of reading the chapter, and also I give my readers enough credit that I think they can handle my light dabs into specific violence or trauma. However, this chapter is particularly violent and considering the attack in Florida this week, I felt a quick trigger warning was necessary here. Though this chapter and the violence within is unrelated to the attack, its motives, and its victims, I understand that some people are in a sensitive place right now and need time to recover before being introduced to a fresh wave of violence. If that is the case, please, for your own sake, stop reading and take the time you need. Naruto will be waiting for you when you're ready.

Chapter 57: First Blood

Vandal Savage gazed out across the Caspian Sea. His back was as firm and strong as it had ever been in his more than 50,000 years of life, but never had his shoulders borne such a heavy weight. He gently kicked a few rocks into the massive, misnamed lake and folded his arms behind his back. 'It's about time,' he said after a few moments, 'I've been waiting here for hours. I expected you to be a bit more punctual.'

Aug 02, 2011  Problem on serial communication with Lazarus (free pascal) Arduino Forum Using Arduino Interfacing w/ Software on. I located also this component to establish the serial communication between arduino and lazarus. I tried to increase the bauds rate on the serial port communication to 115200 bauds and now there is partially solved the. ZylSerialPort is a Delphi & CBuilder thread based serial port component. Use ZylSerialPort component to easily communicate with external devices on serial port connection, such as modems, bar code readers, GSM modules and others. It works in synchronous and asynchronous mode.

Behind him, Deathstroke approached on the rocky beach. 'Apologies,' he said sincerely, 'I had a contract that took longer than I predicted.'

'The Light can provide you with all the money you need,' said Vandal shortly with a wave of his hand, 'You don't need to take assassination contracts anymore.'

'It's not about the money,' replied Deathstroke, 'But that's not what I wanted to meet with you about.'

'And what did you want to talk about?'

'Ra's.'

Vandal glanced at Deathstroke and squared his shoulders. 'If this is about your constant squabbling in the meetings-'

'It's more than that,' Deathstroke folded his arms and looked out to the same spot on the horizon that Vandal had his eyes firmly fixed on, 'I'm beginning to doubt his conviction to our cause.'

'Preposterous,' said Vandal immediately, 'Ra's, Luthor, and I started the Light. Our goals are shared and simple, for humanity to attain its rightful place as the dominant species of the universe.'

'Your goals were shared,' Deathstroke remarked stiffly, 'Back when there was just the Justice League and a few dozen other heroes scattered around. But then there was their team of covert ops, and then Madara, and then Akatsuki, the Reach, the metahumans.' Deathstroke sighed and dropped his arms. 'The world has changed more in the last six years than it had in the previous hundred,' he said, 'And I don't think Ra's realizes that.'

Vandal turned outright to glare down on him. 'I've known Ra's for four hundred years,' he said firmly, 'I have seen him adapt to worse situations than the one we now find ourselves in.'

'With the aid of the Lazarus Pit,' countered Deathstroke, 'But now, for the first time in six centuries, he is dying. Without his youth, he's becoming corrupted.'

Vandal breathed deeply and turned to walk away. 'Ra's is a key member of our organization and the League of Shadows has been invaluable. I am not going to take action against him because you happen to disagree with him.'

Deathstroke nodded slightly. It was an expected response. 'Are we prepared to make our move?' he called over his shoulder.

'Of course,' Vandal called back, 'Queen Bee's overseeing its final preparations. It'll be on a plane within an hour.'

Deathstroke smiled to himself under his mask. 'Very well,' he said quietly.

. . .

There were some who argued that Tokyo was brighter at night than it was during the day. Eddie Nigma knew that was preposterous of course, but being surrounded by the aggressive neon signs that illuminated every street of the city made him understand just where the expression came from. Everywhere he looked he was bombarded by advertisements and slogans lit up to grab his attention. It was terribly distracting. Nigma briefly pondered how long it would take him to construct an EMP so he could shut everything off and focus for half a second, but he deduced it would take more time than it was worth with the materials currently around him.

'How much further?' he asked his taxi driver as he bent his head.

'Three blocks,' grunted the hefty man in a thick Japanese accent. Traffic had them rolled to almost a standstill and Nigma was briefly overcome by a wave of paranoia. Slowed on a street, lights blocking out any chance of being spotted, he was in the perfect position to be assassinated. By the Light or the government, it wouldn't matter if there was a bullet in his perfect brain. Slowly, he reached for the door handle. They'd passed a manhole cover several yards back, if his memory of Japanese infrastructural law was accurate, there must be another cover right about…

With a fluid movement, Nigma opened the door and rolled out of the car. The driver stared at him in confusion and Nigma rolled under the car. Just as he vanished under the vehicle, he saw the glass of the windshield break and a small black dart appear in the seat he had previously been occupying. As the taxi sped off, scratching its way through other cars to get out of the line of fire, it revealed a slowly rotating manhole cover.

Nigma dropped into the sewer with a small splash and quickly covered his nose. 'Lovely,' he chided himself, brushing off his shoulders.

'Hardly, you covered your tracks like a rank amateur.' Nigma immediately raised his hands in surrender at the sound of the voice. There was a click of machinery behind him and he closed his eyes.

'I know you,' said Nigma slowly, 'Your voice is familiar.'

'Shut up, idiot,' muttered the voice, 'You have a perfect memory, right? You remember who I am. You're just trying to play me, lower my guard.'

Nigma turned around with a slight huff. 'Nobody lets me have any fun these days.' From the shadows of the sewer stepped a tall, muscular man with grey hair pulled back in a loose pony tail and a thick goatee. His wrinkled skin betrayed his age but his cold blue eyes were as steely and firm as ever. In his hands were a pair of chrome guns with sleek, blue vials on the sides. Just seeing them sent a distinct chill down Nigma's spine and he felt the sewer become a markedly colder. 'Icicle Sr.,' muttered Nigma, 'I'd ask what you're doing here, but I'm sure you'd just respond with the old 'I could ask you the same thing' routine.'

'I assume we're here for the same thing,' said Icicle, lowering his guns to his hips, 'The old Cadmus facility somewhere under Tokyo.'

Nigma cocked his head to the side for a moment in mild confusion. 'I want to ask why you're looking for it,' he said slowly, 'But I'm assuming it has something to do with the reason you haven't killed me yet.'

'Smart man,' grunted Icicle, 'But if you want to talk, you gotta walk. You barely tried to make it look like you went anywhere but into the sewer. Those Light snipers won't take long to find us.'

'What did you have in mind?' Icicle motioned down the sewer with one of his freeze guns. Nigma groaned in annoyance. 'Must we?'

'Got a better idea?'

'Give me a second.'

'You don't have a second. Move.'

Nigma bit his tongue and swiveled around as he walked down the sewer. 'So why are you working against the Light? I thought they broke you out of prison for a reason.'

'They did,' said Icicle, 'They had a whole set up for me. Lots of money, minimal interactions with the heroes, a good gig all things considered.'

'And you threw it away.'

Icicle set his jaw and grit his teeth. 'Madara hurt my kid.'

Nigma raised an eyebrow. 'Since when are you sentimental?'

'I'm not, but so long as Cameron is using my moniker, his reputation is my reputation.'

'Even if he's a hero now?'

'Especially when he's a hero.'

'I see,' said Nigma with a nod, 'You told the Light it was you or Madara and they chose Madara.'

Icicle smirked. 'Of course they did. I knew they would. Why would they want a passable ice villain when they could have a Shinobi god on their side? So I took some precautions.'

'You dug up some dirt on them,' Nigma figured, 'Involving the secret Cadmus labs left in Tokyo.'

'Exactly.

. . .

M'gann wasn't usually a coffee drinker, the strong caffeine was wasted on her Martian physiology, leaving her to only suffer the bitter taste. But Artemis was addicted to the stuff and had no tea in her house. M'gann sipped from her mug with shaky hands, but Artemis's gaze was as firm as it had been the day they'd met. 'Now,' said Wally, coming into the dining room, 'What's up green-cheeks?'

M'gann couldn't help but roll her eyes and Artemis chuckled. 'You can get him to give you a ring,' she said, 'But he's still Wally.'

'Hey, you said yes!' Wally grinned.

'And we're not married yet so don't push your luck,' Artemis chided him with a swift kick under the table, 'For real though, what's wrong babe?'

M'gann leaned back in her chair. 'Sorry,' she said, 'I feel like I'm intruding.'

'Oh c'mon,' scoffed Wally, 'M'gann, we're literally your oldest friends on earth.'

'You can come to us with anything and we're glad you did,' affirmed Artemis, 'So what's up?'

M'gann took a deep, calming breath. 'I…I left Naruto.'

There was a long pause where Wally and Artemis exchanged a troubled glance before Wally cleared his throat. 'Wow,' he said, 'I mean, really? Wow. I thought you guys were really happy together.'

'We are!' said M'gann quickly, 'I…when he faked his death…I don't really know if it counted as cheating…but…he was with another girl when we all thought he was dead.'

Artemis slowly nodded. 'Okay, yeah. That's pretty bad.'

'Well hold on,' said Wally with a frown, 'I mean, you two weren't exactly together at the time.'

'Because he was playing deadman,' said Artemis, 'Did he do it just to shack up with this girl?'

'No,' sighed M'gann. She was already regretting telling anyone. Her uncle had let her stay with him all week without asking any questions, but she'd decided she needed to talk to someone who could help her sort it out. Maybe she should have gone to Dick instead. 'He made it sound like it was kind of an instantaneous thing.'

'Well of course he made it sound like that,' said Artemis with an eyeroll.

'Whoa!' said Wally, 'Hold on a sec, this is Naruto we're talking about. He's impulsive, but he wouldn't deliberately hurt you. I mean, you had other boyfriends when he was gone too.'

'Well yeah,' said M'gann with a slight wince, 'But I thought he was dead! If I'd known he was alive, we would still have been together.'

'Then ask yourself this,' said Wally with a concerned frown, 'Would he cheat on you while you were together?'

'Of course not, don't be ridiculous,' M'gann scowled. Her expression softened after a moment when she realized what she'd just said.

Wally leaned back in his chair. 'Look, obviously we don't know the whole story,' he said, 'How did you find out?'

M'gann swallowed some coffee. 'He told me.'

'He told you?' Artemis fingered the rim of her mug thoughtfully, 'Interesting. I wonder what made him do that. Were you close to finding out?'

'No, I never even suspected.'

'Weird,' muttered Artemis narrowing her eyes slightly.

'Wait!' shouted Wally suddenly, 'You don't think I ever cheated on you, do you?'

Artemis sat forwards. 'Did you?'

'No!' Wally cried, 'But did you ever suspect me?!'

'No! Why are we fighting!?'

'We're not! Our voices are just raised!' M'gann couldn't help but giggle and soon the other two were chuckling as well.

'Alright, alright,' said Artemis as she leaned back in her chair, 'So do you know what you're going to do?'

'No,' said M'gann, her melancholy quickly returning.

'Well you'll figure it out,' Wally grinned at her, 'You guys were practically a model relationship, straight out of one of Grandma West's soap dramas.'

'But real life isn't a television show,' M'gann sighed, drinking deeply from the coffee, 'I learned that long ago.'

'Oh,' said Wally, suddenly very abashed, 'Right.' They sat in silence for a moment before Artemis flicked her eyes back and forth between Wally and the kitchen. 'Oh!' he leapt up when he realized his mistake, 'Uh, do you guys need more coffee?'

'Why yes, thanks for asking,' said Artemis with a pointe eye roll. She handed her mug to Wally and M'gann's drifted out of her hands.

'C'mon,' Artemis took M'gann's hand as Wally disappeared into the kitchen, 'Let's watch some T.V. It'll take your mind off things.'

. . .

Roy closed the door behind him and pressed his head against the wood for a moment, taking a deep, relaxing breath before he continued on into the apartment. He dropped his coat and briefcase in the kitchen because he knew Jade hated that and crept to Lian's room. She was sleeping, but it looked like it had been a fight to get her to stay that way. Blankets and bottles were strewn around the room. His trained archer eyes detected long, thin strands of black hair twirled around the room, like his wife had danced wildly with their little girl in her arms around her crib. He smiled softly and closed the door.

Jade was reading when he entered her bedroom. 'You're home early,' she said, 'It's only ten in the morning. That's, what, a twenty-five-hour workday?'

Roy stood next to her. 'I told you I'd be home late.'

She didn't look up, but her mischievous grin brightened when he kissed her on the cheek and climbed into bed with her. 'How was your day?'

'Long,' sighed Roy, resting his head back on the pillow and fighting off the immediate need to close his eyes, 'If this new advertising campaign doesn't work, Queen Industries will officially fall in the red so there's a lot of pressure.'

'Queen can always file chapter 11,' said Jade, 'Obviously that's not what's best for business but if it has to be done it has to be done. Besides, it's not like you could lose your job. Oliver owes you too many favors to fire you.'

'Doesn't make me feel much better though,' Roy grunted, 'How was your day?'

'Fine,' said Jade, putting aside her book, 'I took Lian for a walk in the park and she met her first real-life duck. She was unimpressed.'

'She's like her mother in that regard,' interjected Roy.

'I'm going to ignore that. Also, my mother called. She's finished unpacking and wants us to come see her new apartment sometime next week.'

'I'll see if I can take a day off but I doubt it.'

'I'll let her know. Probably be a good idea to let her live there awhile longer before she shows it off.'

Roy smirked. 'Oh trust me, you'd do the same thing.'

Jade leaned down next to him and flicked his nose. 'Come again?'

'Please,' chuckled Roy, 'Imagine if you were in your mother's shoes. You're a reformed criminal who's overcome more hardships than necessary, you'd gotten your dream job as a nurse at the country's leading mental institution, and now you've been put in charge of the hospital's new branch. How would you feel?'

Jade hesitated for a moment. 'Proud, I suppose.'

'Exactly,' said Roy, 'And especially if you'd just gotten a pre-paid for apartment in a new city to oversee the opening of said hospital.'

'Arkham Assylum,' muttered Jade, 'Bludhaven Branch. Can I be honest with you?'

'Of course babe.'

'I'm worried.'

Roy took his wife in his arms and pulled her closer to him. 'I know,' he said quietly, 'Arkham doesn't have the best reputation in terms of protecting their employees. But Bludhaven doesn't have nearly as many crazies as Gotham and the ones they do have aren't as insane. Don't worry, your mom is going to be just fine.'

Jade rubbed Roy's chest and then rolled on top of him, trapping him between her and the bed. 'Speaking of which,' she said softly, 'I've been thinking.'

'Yes?'

'We're financially stable,' she listed, 'We have a good home, a bright future, and our daughter is turning out just fine all things considered.'

Roy lifted his head off the pillow and looked at Jade strangely. 'Where are you going with this, Jade?'

Jade wrapped her hands behind Roy's head. 'I want another,' she said simply.

. . .

The beaches of Infinity Island were silent, save for the gentle hum of the wind and the rhythmic crash of the ocean. Naruto, Hiruzen, and Platinum stood atop the compound, looking down on the beach with their respective dojutsu and scanners, tracing any signs of movement across the sand.

It happened in a moment. The smooth sandbanks were abruptly disrupted by a forest of jagged pillars of ice. They erupted from the beach every few feet and almost each one contained the trapped form of an Akatsuki trainee. For a few seconds, some of the ice traps snapped wildly at the few trainees who had avoided the initial freezing, but any conflict was quickly resolved with the recruit firmly stuck between ice pillars.

'Well,' sighed Hiruzen, 'That was fast.' From under a sand dune, Icicle Jr. slowly stood up, brushing the dirt off his shoulders as he rose proudly.

'He's recovered remarkably,' muttered Naruto, 'If anything, it looks like he has greater control of his ice powers now.'

'His final tests are being wrapped up now,' said Platinum, her eyes flashing as she wirelessly received the data, 'The scar tissue in his back are dangerously close to some nerve clusters in his spine, but so long as he doesn't take another hard hit in a few very specific places, he should be fine for field duty.'

'Good, then he can pick up where Jason left off,' said Naruto, 'Sick him on the Riddler. We still need what he knows.'

'It could be easier to hack the DEO,' suggested Hiruzen, 'It wouldn't look good if it got out, but we could be discreet.'

'Deliberately hacking government agencies for personal information that isn't necessarily relevant to our mission statement?' said Platinum grimly, 'At that point, it's not the DEO we would need to worry about.'

'The Justice League would cut us out of their charter,' agreed Naruto, 'No, the only way to get to Waller's secrets is through Nigma. He knew about Doomsday, or at least that Lexcorps wasn't working on an archeological dig in Africa.'

'Okay, so we send Icicle after Riddler,' said Hiruzen with a slight nod.

'Hey,' said a voice behind them. Naruto turned to see Firestorm setting down on the roof behind them. The door opened and Batwoman, Tommy, and Tuppence walked out, each with a glum expression.

'I don't think I need to tell you how disappointing that was,' said Naruto with a scowl, 'I would think after the debacle in Vlatava last week you four would focus your training on stealth, but Icicle was able to find every one of your students in a matter of seconds.'

'Sorry boss,' said Tommy, rubbing the back of his shaved head, 'We've really only been working on it for a week.'

'Well you have one more to get them up to snuff,' Naruto grunted, 'Hopefully I'll be able to get you guys back in the field next week and I want to reveal the new Akatsuki to the world soon after. But I can't do either until I'm confident they can be as stealthy as they can be strong.' He looked each of the teachers in the eyes before he turned away and looked over the beach. 'Dismissed. Get them ready for the field trip. We leave in ten.' The four of them quickly shuffled or flew away and fled to the beach to collect and free their students.

Hiruzen stared at Naruto strangely. 'Do you want to talk?' he said finally.

Naruto glanced at him. 'What?'

'You've been acting very…formal,' said Platinum shortly, 'Not to mention you haven't gone home in the last week, you've slept a grand total of ten hours in the same period, what's going on dude?'

Naruto glared at each in equal measure, which both took as a sign to drop the subject. Both refused the unspoken order. 'Don't you give us that look,' snarled Hiruzen, 'You haven't been yourself this week, Naruto.' His eyes spoke more than his mouth, expressing unsaid sympathy for Naruto's romantic plight.

With a grunt, Naruto stomped his heel and turned away. 'M'gann left me.'

'Oh,' said Platinum, lowering her arms, 'I'm sorry.'

'It's none of your concern,' said Naruto briskly, 'Hiruzen, brief Icicle while I'm gone, get him up to speed and on Nigma's trail. Platinum, stay in contact with Oracle and let me know if Dr. Fate has any new developments.' On the beach, the trainees and teachers had assembled into a large circle with everyone holding hands. Naruto flicked a kunai into the air and Hiraishined to it as it landed at the edge of the circle. He joined the congregation and looked around quickly. 'Everybody ready?' Everybody nodded or replied in the affirmative and Naruto closed his eyes. 'Hiraishin!' he called, his brow scrunched in focus, 'Third Step!' With a flicker and a flash of gilded light, the entire circle of people completely vanished and the beach was again quiet.

'I don't think he wants to talk about it,' said Hiruzen with a small sigh.

Platinum glanced back and forth between Hiruzen and where Naruto had been before finally looking down. 'And…do you want to talk about…'

'No,' said Hiruzen firmly, realizing what Platinum was talking about, 'No.'

'Oh,' Platinum looked out over the ocean, 'I just thought-'

'Platinum!' snapped Hiruzen, 'You're a machine! An AI! You don't…' he stopped himself and looked away when Platinum spun around to face him. She may have been a machine, but the sudden fire in her metallic eyes was all too real.

'Yes, Hiruzen!' seethed Platinum, 'I'm a machine! But that doesn't mean what I feel isn't real. And no matter how much you want to deny it, what you feel is real too.' Hiruzen didn't respond, but his hands curled into fists and chakra gently leaked out of his arms. 'Oh, real tough,' Platinum sneered, completely unintimidated, 'Look, I'm not going to wait around for your stupid pride or whatever to go away.' She turned and marched towards the rooftop door. 'And If I was just a machine, I would just reprogram myself to ignore my feelings for you,' she snapped as she broke the door of its hinges and tossed it over the side of the roof, 'But I can't. Believe me, I've tried.'

She disappeared into the compound and Hiruzen rubbed his wrists self-consciously. 'Smooth,' he muttered to himself as he leapt off the building and landed on his back in the soft sand, 'Real smooth.'

. . .

Naruto and the trainees popped up on a wide, green lawn. Everyone unused to the Hiraishin process collapsed in sudden cramps and stomach pain. Naruto casually leaned down and plucked up the kunai he'd left there earlier that day. 'Alrighty,' he sighed as his students struggled to recover, 'Everyone good?'

'No,' groaned Spoiler, lifting up her face mask to throw up. After a few minutes, the cramps largely went away and most of the heroes were able to stand up and take a look around. The lawn they stood on was between several large, gentle looking buildings with raised terraces and balconies. A large white sign on the lawn read 'Coast City Retirement Home'.

'Huh,' said Metamorpho, levitating over the group as a cloud of helium, 'For a secret retirement home for superheroes, I wasn't expecting it to be so…normal.'

'These are people who have spent a lifetime doing the hero work,' said Huntress grimly, 'They deserve a bit of normalcy in their twilight years.'

'You're here to learn from the old guard,' said Naruto with a stiff grunt, 'Not to condescend.'

'Yes, sir.'

A tired old nurse in a white outfit walked out of the nearest building and marched over to Naruto, a cigarette dangling from her mouth. 'You all set?' she rasped, 'Mr. Grant gets crabby after 3, so you'll only have a little while to talk to him, and Ms. Whitmore needs to go to bed early tonight so same with her.'

Naruto nodded and turned to Tommy and Tuppence. 'You two are in charge,' he said, 'I have to check on the Tower.'

'You got it, boss,' said Tommy, giving a slight solute. Naruto nodded and winked away with a flash of gold. 'Okay,' sighed Tommy, 'Tuppence, you want to-' He turned to his sister only to find her gone. He quickly spun around and saw that Batwoman had also disappeared. 'Oh c'mon,' he groaned.

'Relax,' said Firestorm, landing gently next to him, 'Like we're going to need help introducing these guys to some old farts.' Tommy nodded in agreement, but couldn't stop a glum, foreboding sensation that crept into his stomach.

Asami passed by next to them, her eyes scanning the landscape like a hawk. For a moment, her eyes flashed black, but she quickly shook her head and her eyes returned to normal.

. . .

Dick woke with a start and sat up, his hand instinctively reaching for the ecrima sticks under his bedstand. He had almost wrapped his hand around one when he remembered that he was in his old room in Wayne Manor. With a sigh, he slowly got out of bed and immediately fell to the floor. After almost ninety purposeful push-ups, the door opened. 'Good to see you remember the old routine, Master Dick,' droned the tall butler who walked in carrying a silver tray laden with a bowl of oatmeal and a protein shake.

'If I'm under his roof then I obey his rules,' Dick groaned, 'Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, hundred.' On the last push-up, he swung his legs up and traipsed into the air, landing comfortably on the balls of his feet. 'Thanks, Alfred,' he intoned, taking the tray and siting back down on the bed as he began to eat.

Alfred shuffled uncomfortably. 'And may I ask why you have returned under his roof?'

'I tracked an assassin called Shrike back to Gotham,' said Dick between mouthfuls, 'Got him last night but was too tired to get back to Bludhaven. Is Bruce back yet?'

'It's almost daybreak,' said Alfred, 'He'll be back soon.'

'Alright.' Dick put the tray aside, completely emptied in less than sixty seconds. 'Think he would mind if I raided the cave before I went home?'

'Greatly,' sighed Alfred, 'But why on earth would that stop you?'

. . .

Bludhaven was a relatively new city. It had been a former whaling town founded in the mid-1800s that had been reorganized into a commonwealth in 1912. Around the same time, the city tried to sell itself as a cite for manufacturing and shipping. However, this business venture failed and left the city wallowing in socio-economic poverty for the remainder of its existence. In the mid-1980s, crime syndicates from nearby Gotham began using Bludhaven as a waypoint for their illegal activities, hiding their contraband, drugs, and money amongst the common citizenry and away from the jurisdiction of both the GCPD and the new bat-themed vigilante that was giving them all nightmares. Over the course of the next twenty years, Bludhaven adapted to the influx of crime like a natural evolution. Every child was taught the art of pickpocketing from a young age and the police became more unnerved at the sight of legal activity than they were at blatant crime that ran amok on their streets.

From squalor of the massive slums rose large towers where the best of the criminals could look down upon those who didn't share their talents in crime. The city was far from thriving, but the skyscraper casinos, ludicrously expensive hotels, and notoriously corrupt legal and administrative systems could fool anyone into believing it was a major metropolitan area. Those who were intimate enough with the city often referred to it as the 'Vegas of the East Coast,' an apt description of such a center of vice and villainy.

As the edges of the easternmost horizon began to lighten but before the sun fully broke over the sky, a single plane emerged from the south east, swinging casually towards the city at well above cruising altitude. The city was just beginning to wake, with the lowest paid workers slowly making their way to their below-minimum-wage paying jobs and those in control were finally ambling home after a night of revelry and debauchery.

The plane was a bomber, fat and slow but exuding pure power and calculated aggression. In the pilot's seat was a large gorilla, silently scanning the skyline as he waited for further orders. In the bomb bay, a few villains walked carefully and nervously around the payload. 'Is it even safe for us to be here?' asked Killer Frost, pressing herself against the wall of the plane.

'A little late for that, chica,' grunted the hulking Bane.

Poison Ivy knelt close to the glowing green shape that hung in the bomb slot. 'I wonder if it knows what we're about to do,' she said softly.

'I don't think it cares,' replied Bane, 'And I'd step away if I were you. Its saliva can burn through your body faster than you can blink.'

Poison Ivy quickly backed away. 'The Bane of Markovia,' she muttered.

'Stupid name,' Bane growled, 'Just call it Chemo.'

Killer Frost checked her watch. 'We're almost at the drop time,' she said, 'Are we ready to do this? I mean, I'm a serial killer and proud of it, but this is…this is big.'

'That's the idea,' said Bane, 'A big statement. The Light is still here and is still motivated. Madara's return was just an appetizer, this is the main course.'

'We're in the drop zone,' said Killer Frost, 'Who wants the honors?'

'I'll do it,' offered Poison Ivy, wrapping her hands around the drop lever. Bane folded his arms and regarded Chemo. For a brief moment, he could have sworn that a neon green eye swiveled through the toxic muck of the entity to stare unintelligibly at him. He blinked and the eye vanished. With a curt grunt, he nodded to Poison Ivy and she yanked on the lever with a groan of effort. The bomb bay opened and Chemo dropped with a quiet bloop.

. . .

In the mayor's penthouse office in one of the tallest buildings in the city, the elected head of the city's government was shaking hands with a known mass murdered and crime lord. 'The streets are yours,' the mayor said, sitting back down in his plush leather chair, already imagining the yacht he was going to buy with the bribe money he'd just received.

'Hey,' said one of the crime lord's bodyguards, 'Y'all see that?' He pointed out the window towards a distinct and descending green glow.

. . .

In the vast slums of the city, two police officers shoved a shivering drug dealer to the ground. 'You've been holding out on us again, kid,' said one with a smirk as he drew his baton.

'Letting you peddle your junk outside of Whaler's High ain't free,' snarled the other. The dealer didn't pay attention to either of them. His focus was captured by the green dot falling towards the center of the city.

. . .

In the bustling red light district of the city, a fat man smacked away a nearby woman and glared down at the street urchin who had brought her forwards. 'I don't care where you get them from,' snapped the fat man, 'You get them younger. The younger the better. We got a lot of hungry men in this city to feed.'

The woman he'd smacked screamed suddenly. She had fallen to the curb and was now looking directly up at something green that was quickly getting larger as it grew closer.

. . .

At the newly constructed Bludhaven chapter of Arkham Asylum, a lone guard was surprised to see a wheelchair-bound woman rolling down the street towards the building. 'Ms. Nguyen,' he said, tipping his hat as she approached, 'Uh, we weren't expecting you for another three hours, ma'am.'

'I want to make a good first impression, Louis,' Paula said with a smile, 'If I am to run this establishment, I must know it inside and out, from dawn till dusk.'

'I guess,' said the guard uncomfortably, 'Uh, how'd you know my name?'

Paula smirked and pointed to the guard's name tag. As he glanced down at it in confusion, a sharp hue caught her eye and she looked to her left. In the sky above the city, a green shape was falling towards the earth. The guard followed her gaze. 'What the heck is that?' he asked, raising his cap to get a better look.

Paula gulped slightly. 'I think it might be death, Louis,' she said quietly.

. . .

It happened over the course of three seconds. Chemo hit the earth at the exact center of Bludhaven. As soon as its translucent skin broke on the surface, its toxic essence was scattered widely for several miles in every direction. All the people saw was a brief burst of green light that washed over them followed by a concussive shockwave. Those within a few blocks of the epicenter were vaporized instantly, along with the surrounding buildings. After the shockwave came the explosion. It was catastrophic, a massive fireball of explosive and poisonous chemicals that swallowed skyscrapers and used their materials as fuels. It lasted only a few brief moments, but it was long enough to turn half a city into a smoking crater.

For a moment after the explosion, there was true silence. No ringing of soundless void, no quiet of nothingness, just pure, true silence. Even if there was something to be heard, it would be inaudible. But the silence didn't last long. The screaming soon began.

. . .

'Breaking news,' said the anchor. She stopped talking and her face slowly twisted into a terrified expression as she read the teleprompter in front of her. M'gann frowned and Artemis leaned forwards on the couch.

'Something's wrong,' she whispered. Wally entered the room as the anchor regained her bearings.

'Breaking news,' she repeated, 'There has been a cataclysmic explosion in, um, in Bludhaven. Initial reports are-are sparse but we're being told that…that approximately half of the city has been completely destroyed.'

M'gann's mug slipped out of her hands and shattered on the floor. Her eyes were wide and her heart was beating faster than she could remember it ever beating. 'Bludhaven,' she whispered.

Wally stumbled back and leaned against the wall. 'Dick,' he murmured, 'You don't think…'

'Word is coming down from the State Department,' said the anchor, clearly relieved to have a formal response to report. She read quickly and her face paled to a sheet-white tone. 'The, uh, the State Department has confirmed that this may be a terrorist attack using chem-chemical weapons. The initial death toll is estimated to be somewhere around…oh Jesus, 100,000 casualties.'

Artemis stood up and shook herself back to reality. 'Honey,' she said carefully, 'Think you can run us to Bludhaven?'

Wally cracked his neck. 'Doesn't matter. Let's go.'

. . .

Roy stared in utter horror at the television as images of a devastated Bludhaven flashed onscreen. 'Oh God,' he whispered, 'Your mother!' He looked to where he thought his wife was sitting and was somehow unsurprised to find it empty. A piece of cloth flew at him from across the room and he caught it deftly. In his hand was a firm domino mask.

Jade stood in the doorway, dressed in her short, green kimono with her Cheshire mask tucked over her face. 'Get your bow,' she said coldly.

. . .

Hanabi was ashamed of herself. She spent almost thirty seconds staring at footage of Bludhaven before her shaking hands final found the communication buttons. 'Full league response,' she said after clearing her throat, 'All available allies and heroes get your butts to Bludhaven. Be prepared for toxic conditions. This is a rescue and recovery mission but be prepared, the attack might not be over.'

. . .

Platinum burst into the Infinity Island war room. 'Hiruzen-'

'I heard her,' said Hiruzen, pulling on his robes and accumulating his chakra, 'It's probably too dangerous to Zeta to Bludhaven so I'll use the Hiraishin.'

'We need to go to Chicago first,' said Platinum, 'The Metal Men and OMAC were specifically built for this exact situation.'

Hiruzen grimaced. 'That's going to really tire me out.'

'It'll be worth it,' Platinum assured him, 'Now let's just go!'

. . .

Alfred walked down the stairs behind the grandfather clock into the darkness of the Batcave. 'Master Dick,' he called, 'I don't suppose you could be so kind as to not spill protein shakes in the kitchen? I-'

His voice was cut off by the sudden blaze of a powerful engine. Alfred ducked and covered his ears as he slowly approached deeper into the cave. He arrived just in time to see the batwing, Batman's personal jet, soar out of the cave through the waterfall entrance at speeds it most certainly was not supposed to be going at until it got to cruising altitude. Alfred ran into the depths of the cave, coughing as he ran through clouds of smog the plane shot out. He dashed to Batman's supercomputer and reached for the communicator. 'Master Bruce!' he cried before he even got his hand on the microphone, 'Master Dick has-' He suddenly stopped moving and stared at the bright screen. In two hundred inches of high definition, Alfred was faced down with the images of a destroyed city, with the word 'Bludhaven' flashing in rad above each picture. 'Oh my,' said Alfred slowly, slipping into the chair at the computer, 'Oh good lord.'

. . .

Naruto winked into existence in the Tower of Fate's library, an endless corridor with bookshelves that disappeared into the stratosphere with occasional café tables strewn around for the aesthetic. Zatanna stood at one of these tables, her eyes flickering back and forth over a few scrolls. 'Hey,' she said, not looking up as Naruto approached, 'Fate is meditating in his Séance Chamber. He thinks he can access visions of the past by communing with dead spirits.'

'It's a possibility,' said Naruto, leaning against the table, 'But there's no guarantee.' He paused and glanced at Zatanna. 'Has he considered the obvious solution?'

'Of course,' sighed Zatanna, 'Raven will become the portal at the spot in which she was conceived. The fastest way to find out where that is would be to ask her mother.'

Naruto folded his arms. 'So why haven't we done that yet?'

'Because her mother is in Azarath,' grumbled Zatanna, collapsing into a steel frame chair, 'And for some reason, we can't get into Azarath. Some sort of inter-dimensional barrier is keeping us from getting there.'

Naruto closed his eyes and tried not to growl in frustration. 'Kent Nelson was practiced at such seal,' he reasoned, 'And Klarion is using his spirit as a familiar link to the earthly plane. He must have forced Kent to tell him how to seal off dimensions.'

'So we figured,' said Zatanna, 'We have some Sentinels of Magic working to undo the barrier, but Kent was good at what he did. They won't bring it down in time.'

Naruto cracked his neck. 'Please tell me we have more leads.'

'I wouldn't have called you here if I didn't,' Zatanna said, finally breaking a smile. She snapped her fingers and a manila portfolio slid into existence in Naruto's hand. 'John dug it up,' she explained as Naruto shifted through the papers within, 'He got the idea to take a look at former cultists after Shade showed his face last week.'

Naruto withdrew a small Kodak picture and peered at it. It was a scratchy image of a thin man in sunglasses ducking into a yellow car. 'Who's this?'

'We don't know,' said Zatanna, 'But we believe he's the key to all this. He went by the name Brother Blood in the mid-nineties when he was the head of a cult called the Church of Blood. The Church was widely regarded as just some run of the mill Satanists riding Crowley's coattails, but there's some evidence to suggest they had legitimate mystical power.'

'And you think they were somehow connected to Trigon?'

Zatanna shifted through a few of the papers until she found a second picture of Blood. He was standing before an altar with a strange symbol behind him. It was a scarlet, jagged 'S' with a pair of dots snuggled into the curves. 'This is one of the only accounts we have of the Church's activities,' she explained, 'That there is the Mark of Scath, the emblem of Trigon.'

Naruto furrowed his brow. 'So this is the guy who summoned Trigon to impregnate Raven's mother.'

'Possibly,' said Zatanna, 'The Church was dissolved around the turn of the century.'

'Around when Raven would be born,' Naruto realized, 'Their work was already done, they'd set the apocalypse in motion.' He quickly ruffled through the remaining papers, his Sharingan analyzing the information faster than a computer. 'He drops off the radar in 2010,' he said, 'Any clues as to where he could be now?'

'Even Constantine isn't that good,' said Zatanna, 'But there is a guy. I believe you met him once. Anything magical related in North America eventually trickles back to him.'

'Ah,' Naruto groaned, 'The zombie. I don't like dealing with him.'

'Well, you won't be alone.'

'A kind offer,' said Naruto, putting aside the dossier, 'But you're pregnant and even if you weren't, Dr. Fate has more emotional attachment to you than he would like to let on. He would not allow you to go.'

'Aw, cute,' said Zatanna, 'You think I'm going to see the zombie? Fat chance. I was talking about Kaldur. He's part of the magical task force Platinum put together, specializing in mystic defense. He's in the aquarium room, obviously.'

'Good,' Naruto folded his hands into seals, 'Excellent work, Zatanna. Stay safe.' He winked away in a flash of gold, but as he did a large ankh appeared where he had been standing. Zatanna took a step back as Dr. Fate stumbled out of the glowing figure.

'Doctor!' she gasped, rushing forwards to catch the Lord of Order as he fell, 'What's wrong?'

'So many dead,' he wheezed through his helmet, his head downcast, 'So suddenly, so many dead.'

. . .

'Well,' sighed Naruto as a blast of water shot in front of his face, 'This could have gone better. Maybe I should have brought Longshadow instead.'

Kaldur landed on the large wooden desk with a crouch and flicked his water bracers like whips. They cracked through the air and his opponent roared before smashing his giant fists into the desk. Kaldur backflipped away just in time and the desk crumpled like paper under the zombie's fists. 'Your existence is a perversion of Atlantean magic!' hissed Kaldur as he twirled his weapons.

'Bad fish boy!' shouted Solomon Grundy, his black teeth gnashing furiously, 'Grundy smash your face!'

Naruto sighed and stood up as the two returned to combat. 'While that's happening,' he said as Grundy's bored-looking secretary approached him, 'Any chance the big guy knows where a person called Brother Blood would be?'

The secretary raised her eyebrow and glanced at her clipboard. 'Brother Blood,' she said monotonously, 'Leader of the Church of Blood?'

'That's the guy. Anything?'

'You'll have to ask Mr. Grundy himself. He distrusts computers and doesn't share any irrelevant information more recent than 1993.' Naruto sighed and looked back to where Kaldur and Grundy were fighting.

'Kaldur,' he called, making a half-dozen clones, 'Forgive me.'

Kaldur had enough time to turn and say 'What?' before three clones tackled him to the floor and dragged him to the wall. They tore the water bracers out of his hands as the other three clones set upon Grundy, drilling Rasengans into the zombie's back and knees to drive him to his knees.

'Now that we've decided to be adults about this,' said Naruto, brushing off his shoulders, 'I don't suppose you know where to find Brother Blood, do you Grundy?'

'Grundy kill fish boy!'

'Yes, got it. What about Brother Blood?'

'Grundy smash him too!'

'Good to know. Where is he?'

Grundy opened his mouth to roar a retort, but stopped and thought about it for a moment, the synapses firing slowly in his undead brain. 'Grundy not know,' he said after a while, 'Last Grundy heard, Blood hiding in…in…' his face scrunched together in concentration.

'C'mon Grundy,' said Naruto, leaning in close, 'Where's he at?'

Grundy's eyes started to glow white and Naruto frowned, backing away. 'So,' said Grundy, abruptly coherent, 'The great Naruto Uzumaki is tracking me now, eh?'

Kaldur's eyes widened. 'Naruto! It's a mind spell! Get away!' Naruto scowled as Grundy's whole head started to shake. With a sigh, his Sharingan spun and his body became engulfed in purple fire, constructing a sturdy skeleton avatar around him. With a loud snap, Grundy's body burst, exploding like a grenade all over the room.

'Well that sucks,' muttered Naruto as the Susano'o died away.

The clones he'd made had been destroyed in the explosion and Kaldur retrieved his water bracers before speaking. 'It was a mental control spell,' he said, 'Blood locked away anything Grundy knew about him and if that filthy abomination had tried to access those memories-'

'He would blow up,' said Naruto dryly, 'And Blood would get to see who was asking about him.' He glanced over to the secretary, who was picking parts of Grundy's clothes off the clipboard she'd raised to block the brunt of the blast. 'Will he be okay?'

'He'll reform within a week,' she yawned.

'Pity,' growled Kaldur.

'Enough,' said Naruto, 'We're no closer to finding Blood and we've lost any element of surprise.'

'That might not necessarily be a bad thing,' Kaldur pointed out, 'In all likelihood, Blood will move his base of operations. A mystic source that large will not be able to make such movement unnoticed.'

Naruto slowly nodded. 'I'll get the Sentinels of Magic to keep an eye out. Any chance we can trace that mind spell?'

'Possibly. It would require a very powerful magician familiar with mental magic.'

'Constantine,' said Naruto immediately, 'He's dealt with demonic magic including possession and mind control. He might have experience. Can you work with him?'

Kaldur sighed. 'I find him…distasteful.'

'That's not a no. I'll send him over shortly.' Kaldur was about to protest when Naruto vanished.

. . .

The speedsters got to Bludhaven first, almost all at the same time. Flash and Bart skirted the edge of the smoldering crater for a few seconds before Wally skidded to a halt besides them. 'I've never seen anything like this,' breathed Flash. What was left of the city was in chaos. Large crowds were stampeding down the streets, their possessions in arms as they tried to flee. Some were trying to get to high ground atop the few buildings that were left.

'I…I never learned about anything like this in the future,' said Bart quickly, his eyes wide. Wally reached into his back pocket and slipped on his goggles. He had to adjust them, but their telescopic lenses still worked.

'It's, uh, it's not a clean blast,' he told them, 'Some of the buildings are still intact, just melted into each other and the ground.'

'Then there could be survivors,' said Bart nervously.

'No,' said Flash slowly, 'Not in the blast zone. But the rest of the city still needs us. We need to coral a police force, some kind of city government must be left.'

'That's not everything,' said Wally with a grimace, still looking into the depths of the crater, 'There's something moving in there!'

. . .

Overhead, Superman flew into the city, followed closely by Captain Marvel and Captain Atom. 'There's a cloud of gas over the crater,' said Superman, his eyes flashing through his various vision powers, 'Slightly radioactive, but too dispersed to be toxic.'

'What could have done this?' whispered Captain Marvel in horrified awe, 'A nuke?'

'A nuke isn't this clean,' said Captain Atom grimly, 'How do we approach this?'

Superman slowly turned around. 'The national guard is inbound from the west,' he announced, 'Captain Marvel, get a few others and help them establish a perimeter around the city and help them evacuate any survivors into the suburbs or Gotham if need be. Captain Atom, see if you can absorb the radioactive gas, we need that clear before we can safely look for clues in the crater.'

'Understood,' nodded Captain Atom as the two flew off in separate directions.

Wonder Woman soared down from the grey clouds and swooped next to Superman. 'By Hera,' she murmured.

'Yeah,' agreed Superman, letting the severity of the attack finally weigh on him. With trembling hands, he reached for the communicator in his ear. 'Batman, you seeing this?'

'Of course,' barked Batman, 'Three different people uploaded cell phone footage of the bomb itself. I'm analyzing the specs now. Be there in five.'

Superman was about to take his hand away from the communicator when Wonder Woman grabbed his wrist. 'Something's wrong,' she said, holding her hand out into the air, 'The wind is blowing wrong.'

Superman frowned and narrowed his vision. After a moment, his eyes snapped open and he flew higher into the air. 'Batman,' he said, 'There's radioactive gas in the fallout zone.'

'I know,' replied Batman, 'But it's not dangerous when it's that diluted and dispersed.'

'That's the thing,' said Superman, holding his hand out to catch a few stray molecules, 'The gas is cooling. Batman, it's condensing.'

There was momentary silence as Batman thought out the implications of the fallout condensing. 'Oh god,' he said simply when he realized it, 'The weapon is reforming.'

. . .

'Well,' yawned Tommy, 'This could've gone better.'

'I mean, what did we really expect?' grunted Firestorm.

'You young n's don't know the first thing about fightn' crime!' snarled the beefy old man in a black cat costume struggling in Tommy's arms.

'Still better at it than you, gramps!' roared Asami, pushing against Firestorm's grip on her, 'You can't stop a mugging without changing your diaper!'

'Keep talking!' shouted a hooded man with wrinkles on his hands and an hourglass hanging over his chest, 'I'll fill your mouth with my fists!'

'I'd like to see you try!' retorted Steel, hefting his power hammer onto his armored shoulder.

'Enough!' cried Tommy, finally pushing the old man off of him, 'We came here so you could teach these guys how to be proper heroes!'

'Yeah, it's supposed to be a learning experience,' agreed Firestorm meekly. For a moment, the dance hall that had been set aside for their meeting was quiet, filled only with the sound of light jazz from overhead speakers.

Then Asami clasped her hands together. 'Yeah, no,' she said simply, blasting her projection at the man with the hourglass. The man's eyes glowed as he turned the hourglass upside down just before the projection hit him. The energy bounced off his frail old chest and smashed into the ceiling, causing a heavy lamp to fall. With practiced synchronicity, the man in the cat outfit kicked the lamp as it fell and it slammed into Steel's chest, crumpling against his metal breastplate.

Steel grinned and raised his massive hammer, running at the old man. 'Dodge this, Wildcat!' he shouted as he swung the heavy weapon. The giant block was caught by a thin, glowing staff held by a withered old woman in a colorful blue and white outfit.

'Don't count out the Star-Spangled Kid!' she snapped.

Steel frowned. 'Uh, don't know how to tell you this, lady, but you're older than dirt.'

'Respect your elders!' she screeched, 'Hourman!' With a flick of her wrist, her curved staff sent Steel flying over her head where the man with the hourglass was waiting to punch the armored hero into the ground. As the blow hit, the two groups who dotted the edges of the room collapsed. Young Akatsuki members tried to use their training and youth to combat the wizened and experienced older heroes, with neither side showing any less pride or stupidity than the other. Asami and Katana slowly began to overpower Hourman, but Dr. Mid-Nite came to his aide and forced them back. Sandman and Wildcat began to double team against Terra, but Huntress and Spoiler quickly isolated them. Robotman fought hard against Steel, but they were then traded against El Dorado and Negative Man respectively. It was a complete and total mess, a meltdown of epic proportions with Tommy and Firestorm standing defeated and untouched in the middle of it all.

'Naruto's going to kill us, isn't he,' said Firestorm, more as a statement of fact than anything else.

'Naruto's going to kill all of us,' sighed Tommy, 'And sis is too far away for me to be at full strength. Can't you turn the floor into jelly or something?'

'Inorganic matter is really hard,' Firestorm said, 'Any chance they'll just get tired.'

'Unlikely,' said a gentle but monotone voice. Tommy turned to see a tall, muscular man step gently through the fighting crowd to join them. He was bald and had hard, staring eyes and was young enough to be a nurse, but wore a tweed suit instead of scrubs.

'You some kind of doctor?' asked Firestorm, 'Look sorry about all this. We'll pay for the damages.'

'Nah,' said Tommy suddenly, 'I know you don't I?'

'We met briefly,' said the man, 'I am John Smith.'

'Red Tornado,' nodded Tommy, 'The original supervisor of the team. What're you doing here? I thought you were on a vacation.'

'Indeed,' said John, folding his hands behind his back, 'I decided to go on a sabbatical following the Reach invasion. It was pure luck that I wished to visit some old friends from my days in the Justice Society of America on the same day that they were to pass along their knowledge and experience to a new generation of heroes.'

He ducked as Longshadow flew over his head, flung like a sack of potatoes by the Star-Spangled Kid. 'Still got it!' she cheered as she hopped into the air, flying on her staff like a witch's broom.

'Quite!' John called after her, 'It seems the lesson is going well.'

'That's one way of looking at it,' grumbled Firestorm.

Tommy glared at John. 'You weren't planning on, ah, joining the lesson were you?'

'I am afraid not,' said John, pulling a pipe out of his pocket and tucking it into his mouth. Tommy could hear the whirls of the machines and gears working the man's jaws and briefly wondered why a robot would smoke. 'This body is not built for physical combat,' John continued, 'And I generally prefer a more hands-off approach to education.'

'Much appreciated,' grunted Tommy, 'Hang on.' He tilted his head back and closed his eyes as he flexed his muscles and smiled. 'Sis and Batwoman are coming back,' he said, 'I can feel my power again.' He reached out and grabbed Wildcat by the arm. With a small smirk, Tommy sent him flying over the crowd of old and young heroes and into the wall.

'Was that truly necessary?' asked John.

Tommy cracked his knuckles. 'I saw him throwing some low blows.'

. . .

Naruto stood alone in the Watchtower's war room. Carefully and slowly, he sat down at the head of the table, images from Bludhaven flashing silently above him on the holoscreens. 'How did I not feel it?' whimpered Kurama softly, 'I…I should have felt it.'

It…it must have happened just…just as I Hiraishined, Naruto managed when he felt his mind had recovered enough to think again.

'We need to get down there.'

And do…what? I'm a fighter, I don't know how to-

'NARUTO UZUMAKI!' Kurama bellowed abruptly, forcing Naruto to clutch his head in sudden pain, 'YOU ARE A HOKAGE! You protect people with more than just your fists. '

Naruto coughed slightly. Right, right. I'm a Hokage.These people are under my shadow, so I protect them. He folded his hands together and, after a quick, silent prayer, Hiraishined away.

. . .

Amanda Waller glared at her screens, her fingers tapping a rhythmic beat into the arms of her leather swivel chair. For a moment, she considered grabbing the red phone in the bottom cabinet of her desk, a direct line to her funders. However, she stayed her hand and continued watching the footage of Bludhaven. She had not planned for this.

The Light had never promised to not launch an attack on American soil, but she figured it was an unspoken expectation. Slowly, she reached for a second phone, a white one with a black stripe down the middle. She took a deep breath and grabbed it, her hand numb. 'This is Waller,' she said softly into the line, 'Deploy Operatives Force and Black to Bludhaven.'

. . .

The Infinity Island compound was completely abandoned and silent. With nobody there, the Zeta Tubes abruptly activated and two figures stepped out in a blaze of light. One of them was Rose Wilson. 'I can't tell if you're really good,' she said with a grunt, 'Or if Akatsuki is just bad at updating their security software.'

'They certainly upgraded since the last time I helped you hack in here,' snorted the fat, hairy man that waddled behind her. He wore a stained T-shirt and jeans with a makeshift cape and a small computer hanging on a thick chain around his even thicker neck. 'But there's no computer the-' he interrupted himself to dig an inhaler out of his pocket and take a deep breath from it, 'No computer that the Calculator can't hack.'

Rose rolled her eyes as she crept towards the door and moved deeper into the compound. 'Stop calling yourself that,' she muttered, 'You aren't a supervillain, you're a kid from Jersey, and not even from the famous parts.'

'A kid from Jersey who has twice now hacked into the Akasuki Zeta Tube systems,' Calculator pointed out as he followed her with the approximate grace of an elephant.

'Which is why I even bothered to entertain the idea of you following me,' Rose said as she found her way out of the compound and onto the beach.

'Wow,' breathed Calculator, 'This place is beautiful!'

Rose stopped and looked around the beach. She was primarily looking for any strays who might have remained behind, but she was also observing the island's natural beauty. 'My dad used to bring me here when I was younger,' she said quietly, 'It was a training ground for the League of Shadows before Akatsuki moved in. I learned a lot about how to kill here.'

Calculator stared at her for a moment and blinked. 'Uh…'

'Shut up,' said Rose preemptively. Together, they traveled down the beach to the small alcove and lagoon where the simple gravestone rested. 'Here,' Rose reached into her pouch and tossed Calculator a small spade.

He caught it deftly but stared at it in confusion. 'What is this…' he glanced at the grave and his eyes widened, 'Whoa! Oh no! I did not agree to grave rob!'

'It's not exactly something you agree with,' said Rose, twirling her own shovel and jabbing it into the sand in front of the gravestone, 'It's just kind of something you do.'

'Well I'm not doing it!'

Rose sighed and drew out her pistol. 'Noah, don't make me shoot you. I can find other hackers.'

Calculator glared at her and hesitantly dug his spade into the ground. 'What exactly is the point of this?'

'It's for a special project for the Light,' said Rose with a shrug, 'They need some DNA.'

. . .

Captain Atom landed on the outskirt of the crater, panting hard and glowing slightly. 'I can't keep this up,' he groaned, 'If I take in much more of this radiation, I'm going to go off like a nuke myself. I need to release it into space.'

Superman nodded. 'Go ahead. We can contain the radiation until you come back.' Captain Atom launched himself into the air with not further prompting, quickly breaking the sound barrier as he shot towards the stratosphere. Superman slowly turned around and took a deep breath. He exhaled with the concentrated force of a small hurricane and blew back a cloud of green toxins. The radiation had condensed to the point of visibility. Most of it was forming into pools of bubbling, neon fluids, but some of it was congealing into gaseous mixtures that roamed aimlessly through the wreckage of the crater.

Superman turned to look at Conner. His younger clone didn't have his super-breath, but was using his immense strength to make shockwaves by clapping his hands together, forcing back any latent radiation. 'We can do this as long as it takes,' Conner said, 'But those clouds keep coming back thicker and thicker.'

'It's getting stronger,' agreed Superman, 'We need to find a more permanent solution here.'

A revving engine drew their attention and they turned in time to see the Batmobile skid to a halt right in front of them. The cockpit opened and Batman leapt out in one motion. 'The evacuation is almost complete,' he said as he landed, 'The death toll is still estimated to be around 100,000.'

Conner looked into the crater. 'What about Nightwing?' A roar of an engine overhead made them all look up to see the Batwing soar above them, dropping radiation-absorbing foam into the crater.

'He hasn't landed yet,' sighed Batman, 'And I can't hail him on any communicators I have in there.'

Wonder Woman touched down next to them, holding Green Arrow and Black Canary on her shoulders. 'That's the third pass he's made,' she said, 'When is he going to run out of that foam?'

'It's self-replicating,' said Batman, 'So long as he takes a few minutes between each run through, he'll run out of fuel before he runs out of foam.'

'His home city just got blown sky high,' sighed Superman, 'If something like this ever happened to Metropolis…I don't know what I'd do.'

'Look!' said Wonder Woman suddenly, pointing into the crater. Everyone turned in time to see a flash of golden light glimmer in the shrouded clouds of the pit.

'Naruto,' said Conner unnecessarily.

'About time he showed up,' grumbled Superman, 'Can he survive in the radiation?'

'His Shinobi physiology might process it differently from our own,' said Black Canary, 'He wouldn't teleport directly in there unless he had known he could handle it.'

'Has anybody taken responsibility yet?' asked Green Arrow.

'Nobody,' said Batman, 'But I think we can safely assume it was the Light. They stole the formula for a nuclear stabilizer from Vlatava. This right here might be how they committed the Markovian genocide.'

'But there were no traces of radiation in Markovia,' Wonder Woman pointed out.

Batman furrowed his brow. 'Hypothetically, if the radiation keeps condensing like it has, it could be extracted as a single entity.'

'Leaving no measurable radioactive elements to be detected,' finished Superman, 'Do you think the Light is going to try and extract the radiation here?'

'No,' said Batman simply, 'Markovia was a test run. This is the final draft.'

. . .

Naruto landed with a crouch in the rubble. His shoes crushed large pieces as ash and they disintegrated into a fine dust that drifted in the air, not carried by any wind but propelled by an unseen force. He took a moment to look around. The earth was completely scorched and covered with a thick layer of gray burn marks. Small pits of bubbling, green liquid were forming every few feet. Buildings were collapsed all around him, cracked in half or simply razed by the explosion. The remnants of roads were splintered and jagged. Bridges were imploded and broken.

Kurama…

'I know, Kit. It's just like the Hidden Leaf after Pain's attack.' Naruto took a few steps forwards and looked up. The skies were clouded and softly rained small pieces of ash that swayed back and forth as they fell, like pieces of paper. He turned to the side and saw the charred remains of a family, two large figures covering a third, smaller body as they huddled against a broken wall. Naruto gulped slightly and looked away. 'Kit,' said Kurama gently, 'It's M'gann. She's trying to get in your head.'

Oh! Uh, let her in.

'Naruto?'

'I'm here, M'gann.'

'Stay there, I'm coming to you.'

Naruto only had to wait a minute or two before M'gann drifted down from the stormy sky, her cape billowing out behind her as she landed. 'Hey,' said Naruto carefully. He looked into her eyes expecting to see pain, or anger, or sadness. Instead all he could grasp upon was numbness.

'Hey,' she replied, slowly stepping forwards. They stood in complete silence for a bit until Naruto coughed.

'How many survivors?'

M'gann folded her arms. 'Not many. The ones from the blast zone are being quarantined and the ones from the edges of the city have been evacuated into the suburbs or to Gotham.'

Naruto nodded. 'What kind of bomb did this?'

'We're still not sure. We think it was the Light.'

'Of course it was the Light,' spat Naruto. He spun away and walked to the burnt bodies of the family. His fear and shock had given way to pure and white hot anger. He punched the wall next to their bodies, but it crumpled into dust at the slightest touch. As it disintegrated, the bodies drifted into soot and Naruto stared down in horror. For a moment, he felt completely and utterly powerless and weak, but then he unconsciously tapped into Kurama's demonic chakra. The red energy boiled out through his skin and quickly enveloped him within the cloak of the Nine-Tails.

'Naruto,' said M'gann firmly as she floated next to him, 'Calm down. There's nothing you could have done.'

'I know,' murmured Naruto, a pair of red tails sprouting from his lower back, 'But that doesn't make it any better.'

'No it doesn't,' agreed M'gann, 'But that isn't an excuse to fly off the handle either.' Slowly and reluctantly, the red chakra reabsorbed into Naruto's skin and he lifted his head.

'You're right,' he said softly, 'You've always been right about these things.'

'Not always,' she reasoned back, 'Do you remember that time a few years ago at Wally's birthday party?'

Naruto paused for a moment. 'You were mad because I'd given Zatanna a mystic necklace,' he recalled, 'And because I told Wally we were dating.'

'I broke up with you for all of four hours before I realized how stupid I was being,' she said with a small laugh, 'All in all not one of the best points of our relationship.' They laughed simultaneously for a moment but both quickly quieted when they realized what they were talking about.

'So,' said Naruto after a fashion, 'What can we do right now?'

'Blue Devil and my uncle are starting to clear some of the debris in the north quarter of the blast zone,' said M'gann, 'Blue Beetle and Beast Boy are going to get started in the south soon.'

'Then we should join them,' Naruto said with a nod, 'With my clones and your telekinesis, it'll go a lot quicker.' Together, they turned and walked in silence towards the south. They got only a few yards filled with awkward glances before M'gann suddenly gasped and grabbed her head. Naruto grabbed her arms as she fell to her knees. 'What's wrong?'

'There's…there's something here,' she murmured, her eyes wide and wild, glancing every which way in search of the source of the voice inside her head, 'It's not alive…but it's not dead. I don't…I don't kn-know what it is but it hurts!' With a groan, she lurched forwards and fell on all four. One of her hands splashed into a large pool of the bubbling green liquid and she squealed in pain, quickly withdrawing her hand and shaking it in pain.

'Jeez!' hissed Naruto grabbing her hand and engulfing it in the green glow of his healing jutsu, 'Are you okay?'

'It burns!' she cried, her face set in a grim glower. Before either of them could react, the pool she'd touched erupted, wrapping itself around M'gann's wrist. She grit her teeth against the pain as the liquid quickly took shape, forming into a rounded, three-fingered hand. Naruto stepped back and held out his arm, letting blue chakra rotate in his palm.

M'gann backpedaled away from the pool and yanked the goop along with her. As she pulled away, the green liquid continued to form until M'gann was dragging along a fully formed human shape. It was grotesque and simple, but stood on two cylindrical legs and had two round, fat arms. Its head was dome-shaped and had a wide, flat mouth and eyes. M'gann twisted in agony as it's burning grip on her arm only tightened and it reached for her neck with its spare arms.

With a grunt, M'gann separated herself from her pain long enough to concentrate on her powers. Her eyes glowed green with fury and power as she flicked her wrist and the green arm on her wrist was ripped away. The figure stumbled back and Naruto pounced. 'Rasengan!' he shouted as he jammed the attack into the man's stomach. The liquid in the figure's abdomen spiraled and warped around the swirling chakra. The attack and Naruto went straight through the figure and he stumbled out the other side, tripping into the dust as his chakra dissolved.

'What is this?!' he cried as he pushed himself to his feet.

'No idea!' called M'gann, floating out of the blob's reach as it swiped at her, 'It's got a mind, but it isn't thinking anything. I can't control it.'

'Then beat it!' Naurto's hands wove together and he lunged at the thing's back, 'Chidori!' The crisp sound of a thousand chirping birds filled the air as Naruto's lightning attack sliced clear through the figure. It faltered for a moment as its top half started to slide off its legs, but it grabbed its hips to hold itself together long enough for it to mold back together. It turned and reached for Naruto, but he back flipped away and formed a hand signed in mid-air. 'Ninja Art!' he shouted as he landed, 'Shadow Possession Jutsu!' His shadow shot out and slipped between the blob's legs, trapping it in place.

M'gann slowly lowered her defenses. 'It can't move, right?'

There was a soft groan from behind Naruto and he turned slightly to see a second blob moving out of another green pool. 'Not that one,' he said with grit teeth.

. . .

'Well,' said Firestorm, scratching his flaming head in confusion, 'I guess this is the best we really could have asked for.'

'I think I actually would have liked it better if we let them fight it out,' muttered Tommy, folding his arms, 'This is too boring.'

'Knight to G7,' Asami said, moving the piece, 'Check.'

'Oh, c'mon Dodds!' snarled Wildcat, 'You're smarter than this young yuppie!'

'Quiet, Ted,' said the man in the green suit and fedora who sat across the chessboard from Asami, 'I'm thinking.' Akatsuki was huddled behind Asami, whispering secret suggestions in her ears while she stared into the gilded gas mask of the Sandman. The older heroes all stood around the table, their trained eyes scanning the board for possible moves. 'King to D8,' said Dodds after a minute of thinking.

Asami hummed slightly and fingered a pawn near her rear defense before instead selecting her last bishop. 'Bishop to F7,' she said, 'Takes knight.'

'Foolish,' sighed Dodds, 'I was hoping this would be an actual contest, but I'm already fifteen moves ahead of you. Rook to F7, takes Bishop.'

Asami cocked her head to the side and smirked. 'Queen to F7,' she jabbed, 'Takes Rook.

'And you wanted to let them brawl,' Batwoman grinned as she jabbed Tuppance in the ribs.

'Brother Tommy's right,' she muttered sullenly, 'This ain't as fun.'

The double doors to the hall burst open and a pair of scrub-clad nurses rushed in, pulling along a large television on a trolley. Everyone turned the face them and Tommy frowned. 'What's going on?'

'You need to see this,' said one of the nurses as the other plugged in the television and arranged the antennae's, 'Especially you people.' The television flickered on and Tommy unfolded his arms as the picture of a smoldering crater filled the screen.

'Again,' said the anchor nervously, 'We're getting reports from the ground in Bludhaven that blob-like beings are emerging from the crater caused by the explosion that took place less than two hours ago. At this time, it is believed that this may be an extra-terrestrial attack although we cannot confirm anything.' More images flashed onscreen as the room became deathly quiet.

After a few more minutes of watching the news, some began to cry. Star-Spangled Kid bit her quivering lip. 'It's-it's just like Pearl Harbor,' she whispered, 'All over again.'

Batwoman leaned forwards, her hands shaking slightly. 'We have to get out there,' she said firmly.

'R-right,' stammered Tuppence, 'Uh, how?'

'We find ways,' said Wildcat, rubbing his knuckles.

Firestorm spun in surprise. 'You-you're coming?!'

Faster than he had moved before, Wildcat grabbed Firestorm by the lapel and pulled his flaming head in close. 'Listen here, burn bum!' he snarled, 'I'm seventy-eight years old but I got fists tougher than cinderblocks and feet fastern' cheetahs. Now I pride myself on being a red-blooded American and I just found out some space man wiped his butt with old glory so I feel morally and personally obligated to introduce said ETs to the hands that went toe-to-toe with Ali in his prime! And if you want to try and stop me,' he reaffirmed his grip on Firestorm and drew him even closer. Firestorm's fiery head singed the whiskers of Wildcat's costume. 'Then I'll get to show you how I whooped up Omaha Beach and took down other young boys like yourself who felt like stepping up and chatting bold!'

The entire room was fixated on the confrontation as Wildcat released a bewildered Firestrom. 'Uh, yes sir,' said Firestorm quickly with a jerky salute.

'I can't tell if he's compensating for something,' said Dr. Stein in his head, 'Or if he's just tired of 'young boys like you stepping up and chatting bold.'

'I don't really want to find out,' Firestorm replied.

'So, uh,' muttered Tommy sheepishly, 'How exactly are we all gonna get to Bludhaven? Shinobi isn't here to teleport us and the Watchtower teleporter definitely can't handle all of us.'

Dodds stood up and flicked his cape back, revealing his pair of tranquilizer guns in crisp, leather holsters. 'Son, we were dodging around the world long before you had your fancy space station and teleportation whatcha-majigs. Let us old-timers show you how to move.'

. . .

Jaime grit his teeth as his sonic blast tore through an approaching green blob man. It had no effect other than briefly confusing the simple thing. 'A little help would be appreciated!' he called as he morphed his hands into twin, jagged blades and sliced wildly at another blob. He felt nothing and the blob seemed unfazed by the fact that it's arms were now missing, but in Jaime's mind the scarab screamed in technological pain. Looking at his blades, Jaime gulped to see that they were steaming and dissolving at the touch of the blob's corrosive skin.

'I got you bud!' cried Bart as he shot by. He spun out behind the three blobs that were approaching them and knelt down, pelting them in the back with dozens of pebbles per second, each thrown with the relative speed of a bullet. The rocks hit their targets, but either dissolved in their bodies or fell out the other side. 'Huh,' said Bart in annoyance as he stood up, 'Well that's annoying.' He rushed forwards and vibrated through one of the blobs experimentally. He emerged next to Jaime with a shiver. 'Ew,' he grumbled, 'They're so hot, they're cold!'

'That means they're killing your nerve cells man!' said Jaime, backing up slowly, 'Don't touch them!'

Bart stared at the blobs and then at his hands. 'Punching things is kind of my go-to method man. I don't really know what else I can do.'

'Go to Batman!' said Jaime, firing off a wide burst of his sonic cannon, 'Let him know we can't fight these things!'

. . .

'Humph,' grunted Rose, tossing aside her shovel.

'What is it?' groaned Calculator, sweat dribbling down his face and whole body.

'We should have hit the body by now,' said Rose. She kicked sand back into the whole they'd been digging and packed up her spade. 'Either Naruto buried it in a different place or it's already decomposed into the soil.'

Calculator sighed and tossed down his own shovel. 'So we've been digging this whole time for nothing?'

'No, you got a workout out of it. Now go erase our Zeta trip from the records while I cover this back up.' Calculator rushed off, motivated by the prospect of getting his hands on a computer again. When he was gone, Rose carefully filled in the hole and patted it down to look natural and untouched. She stood and regarded the grave for a moment and whipped her brow. 'Jinchuriki,' she muttered, 'Stupid name.' She reached into her utility belt and pulled out a small, black rose. Kneeling down, she tucked the rose into the fertile sand and blew it a small kiss before heading back towards the compound.

. . .

'We can't fight these things!' shouted Wonder Woman, her lasso sliding through the blobs like jelly.

'Speak for yourself!' said Superman with a grin, his eyes glowing red as his laser vision decimated a blob. It disintegrated from the heat, bubbling and oozing back into a pool. Within seconds, however, the pool had reformed into a humanoid figure. Superman scowled and lasered the thing again only for it to reform all the faster. 'Well,' grumble Superman, 'That's not good.'

'They can't be touched!' snarled Batman as he and Green Arrow leapt back. Green Arrow loosed a few arrows into one of the blobs, but they started to disintegrate as soon as they made contact with their targets. One managed to explode before it dissolved and blew off one of the blob's arms but the thing simply regrew.

'Well, I'm almost out of ideas,' sighed Green Arrow casually, 'Honey? You got something?'

'A few tricks,' snarled Black Canary, lunging forwards. Her mouth opened and her sonic screech reached new pitches as she screamed at the wave of blobs. Their gelatinous bodies wiggled violently and quaked for a moment before they simultaneously burst into fluid puddles on the ground. Black Canary finished her cry and fell on one knee, panting slightly.

'Wow,' said Green Arrow, lowering his bow with an admiring expression, 'If I ever forget why I love you, just remind me of this moment babe.'

'I'll chose to take that as a compliment,' muttered Black Canary with a smirk. She stood up and brushed herself off, but as she turned around to rejoin her comrades, the goop she had blasted across the ground and broken street wiggled violently. Fast as mercury, all the green slime congealed in one central point, growing higher and higher and forming into the rounded, simple man form that the other figures had been. Black Canary stopped when she saw her fellow heroes looking up at the twenty-foot blob in horror. 'It didn't work, did it,' she sighed, her shoulders slumping. She glanced over her shoulder and her gaze worked its way up the giant figure. 'Oh,' she whispered quietly, 'That's new.'

With giant feet, the living goop slowly stepped forwards and Black Canary backflipped away so as not to be crushed and dissolved under its heel. As she landed, she loosed another powerful blast of her canary cry. The sonic waves washed over the giant as it raised its arms in defense. However, it's gelatinous skin just shook for a moment before Black Canary ran out of breath.

'Oh come on!' groaned Green Arrow, grabbing three different arrows from his quiver.

'Hang on,' Superman growled, 'Let me try something!' He swooped into the air and hovered a few yards in front of the slow-moving blob. Taking a deep breath, he breathed out a hurricane-force wind with the wind temperature of a bad day in Antarctica. The figure braced itself and leaned against the powerful wind. Icicles started to form around its surface, but melted before they could touch or even chill the overall behemoth. Superman stopped his freezing breath to see he had only moved the giant back a few feet.

'Small victories,' Batman said more to himself than to anyone else, 'Small victories.' As the heroes watched, the giant grew a few feet as it absorbed the radiation around it and converted it into more green goop. It took one threatening step forwards before a beam of white light shot straight through its chest. The giant stared at the beam in what could have passed for surprise. Around the white beam, it's jelly skin warped and twisted, ultimately being absorbed by the light. Everyone looked up as Captain Atom dropped out of the clouds and dove into the skin of the blob, clenching his teeth and his fists as he did so.

The figure began to shrink and convulse as Captain Atom rolled into the fetal position within its stomach. 'Incredible,' breathed Superman landing besides Wonder Woman. Within seconds, the giant was back to being the size of an average man and moments later was completely absorbed into Captain Atom's skin. He writhed on the ground and cried out in pain, clutching at his head and stomach.

Black Canary slid to his side. 'Captain! What's wrong?'

'It hurts!' he cried out, ripping at his silver skin, 'It's in my head!'

Batman grabbed him by the shoulder. 'What is it saying?' he asked quickly.

'Nothing! Just-just Chemo!'

'Chemo,' Batman frowned.

'It burns!' wailed Captain Atom

Wonder Woman tucked away her lasso. 'Superman, take him into orbit,' she ordered, 'He needs to release all that radiation into space.'

'Right, hold on buddy,' said Superman grimly. He grabbed Captain Atom under his arms and rocketed towards the sky so fast he left a speed trail.

Batman watched as the clouds broke apart when Superman shot through them. 'It'll take him a while to let out all that concentrated toxins,' he reasoned, 'But it's good to know we do have a way to deal with these things.'

Before anyone could respond, Bart appeared in the middle of them, panting hard. 'Hey g-guys!' he said after taking a gulp of air, 'What's up?'

'Kid Flash,' Batman said, tucking his cape around him, 'Report.'

'Well,' said the younger hero, 'Don't know if you guys noticed but you can't touch these things.'

'We did,' Green Arrow muttered.

'Also,' Bart continued, 'I saw some of the blob people kind of mighty morphing into bigger blob guys and they're wreaking towards the edge of the crater. I'm guessing we probably want to do something about them.'

'Wonderful,' grumbled Black Canary, 'Just wonderful.'

Batman looked at his feet for a moment before quickly making his decision. 'Kid Flash, get to Flash and, um, Wally. Spread the word that everyone is to fall back to the edge of the crater and set up a defensive perimeter. The Team and anyone not League affiliated needs to keep the evacuation moving. The suburbs might not be safe for much longer. If you have to, move the refugees into Gotham or the rural areas but keep them moving away from here. We'll try to keep the fighting as contained as possible until Captain Atom can clear away enough of the radiation for a more streamlined approach.'

'You got it boss,' said Bart with a slight solute, 'Quick warning though; probably going to stop for food somewhere in there. Running low on calories to burn here.' With that, he shot off into the distance to find his fellow speedsters.

Wonder Woman stood next to Batman and put a hand on her lasso. 'There's no shame in a tactical retreat,' she said carefully, 'But I'm not sure we'll be able to hold these things for very long at the perimeter. If we can't physically touch them, our brawlers and fighters will be sidelined.'

'Which is where I come in,' said a voice in their ears.

'Oracle,' Black Canary sighed in relief, 'Please tell us some good news.'

'You're in luck,' said Hanabi from the Watchtower, 'I've been in touch with Lucius Fox at Wayne Tech and they're throwing together some kind of anti-radiation gloves so you can fight these things. He says he'll have a dozen ready for deployment within three hours.'

'That's a long time to last,' Green Arrow moaned with a grimace.

'Well if Queen Consolidated would like to throw in a few million dollars I'm sure it would go a lot quicker,' said Hanabi simply, 'But you probably won't need to because you have reinforcements inbound.'

Wonder Woman perked up. 'Reinforcements?'

'Hiruzen is leading a something called the Metal Men towards you,' Hanabi informed them, 'He says they're a special ops team designed to deal with natural disasters, including nuclear meltdowns and explosions. They'll be equipped to take on whatever those things are.'

'Chemo,' injected Batman, 'It calls itself Chemo.' All eyes turned to him and he looked away. 'The Light hit us with a living chemical weapon,' he explained, 'It doesn't have a mind, but rather a fractured half-consciousness with only one drive.'

'Mass murder?' Green Arrow assumed.

'No,' Wonder Woman realized, 'Stability.'

'By dropping it from the height of a plane, the Light destroyed Chemo on a cellular level and scattered his toxic essence in the form of an explosion,' Batman continued, 'Now, his only instinct and motive is to reform and become stable once again. He has to collect all the parts of himself that were blown away.'

'Oh God,' whispered Black Canary, putting a hand in front of her mouth as her eyes widened, 'The refugees. They've all been exposed to Chemo's radiation.'

'They all bear his toxic signature,' confirmed Batman, 'Chemo will hunt each and every one of them down until he has retrieved every last atom that made up his body.'

. . .

Roy gunned the engine to his motorcycle as he wove through the lines of military vehicles filled with horrified refugees filtered out of Bludhaven via the suburbs. The irony that such a scummy city was surrounded by such corny, white-picket fence americana was not lost on anyone, but was all the more obvious as the suburbanites quickly ushered spare refugees into their homes with promises of hot tea and an internet connection. Ambulances tore through the streets with their sirens blaring. Each time she heard them, Jade tightened her grip around her husband's middle and he drove a little faster in response.

They quickly moved through the core of the suburbs and got closer to the city itself. The clouds were still very much overcast and the shadow of the giant mushroom that had abruptly emerged above the city yet lingered. Roy cleared his throat slightly. 'Uh, you do know where your mother was supposed to work, right?'

Jade gazed up at billows of the clouds, dark with storm and radiation, and felt a rare moment of complete and uttered panic. 'I did,' she said softly as her heart beat uncomfortably out of rhythm. They entered into a completely urban environment, but had not yet reached the crater when an arrow sprouted in the asphalt in front of them and Roy brought his motorcycle to an abrupt and jerky halt.

'Hey!' The arrow was attached to a cord which Artemis used to swing down from a nearby building.

'Artemis!' breathed Jade as she hopped off the bike and ran forwards, 'Oh thank God you're safe!'

'I wasn't here when it happened,' said Artemis quickly as she hugged her sister tight, 'But Wally, M'gann, and I got here as soon as we heard.'

'Artemis!' Jade grabbed her younger sister by the face and ripped off her own mask so she could see her sibling's panicked eyes, 'Mom was in there!'

Artemis stared at Jade for a moment. 'N-no, she's in Gotham. She wasn't supposed to move here until…until…' Slowly, Artemis sank to her knees as she reevaluated her mother's schedule in her mind and realized exactly where Paula Crook would have been at the time of the explosion. 'Oh no,' she whispered, tears forming in her eyes, 'No. Please no.'

'It's okay,' Jade hugged her again. Her moment of fear was gone, chased away by her responsibilities as the older sister, 'We'll go find her together.'

'Take the bike,' said Roy, stepping off his motorcycle, 'I'll cover for you here.' He handed his helmet to Artemis who quickly wiped her eyes of tears and slipped it over her head while Jade took the handles of the bike. Artemis sat behind her and they were off like a bullet, tearing towards the blast zone.

Artemis squeezed Jade and looked away from the destruction. 'Do…do you think Mom's okay?'

Jade didn't want speak for a moment, not wanting to lie but unable to fully accept the truth herself. 'I don't know,' she decided to say, 'I don't know.'

. . .

'Well this is a fine mess you've gotten us into,' said Naruto with a small smile.

'Really?' snapped M'gann, 'Jokes? Now?' They stood back to back in what appeared to be the exact center of the explosion. On all sides of them was a veritable army of green blob men, including several giant-sized versions. 'It's getting harder to throw these things,' M'gann warned as she tossed away the closest approaching figure with her telekinesis.

'I can use my Shadow Paralysis, but I can't hold all of them. Not for too long at least,' said Naruto.

For a moment, they were both eerily quiet, but simultaneously burst into laughter. 'Oh wow!' said Naruto, wiping away a single tear, 'If I didn't know any better, I'd say we were in trouble!'

'Yeah, okay!' sighed M'gann with a smirk, 'You want to get this over with?'

'Might as well,' said Naruto, forming familiar hand signs. He bit his thumb to draw blood and slapped his hand on the ground. 'Ninja Art! Summoning Jutsu! Demon Trio!' Three giant plumes of smoke appeared with a slight poof and Naruto and Naruto shot into the air as a massive slug suddenly appeared beneath him. The encroaching blobs stopped to assess a

'Ooh!' cried Saiken with glee as he clapped his stubby little hands, 'Been a long time since Saiken was summoned!'

'You say that like it's a good thing,' grumbled Shukaku, 'I was enjoying a lovely nap, thank you very much.'

'Oh, quit your whining,' said Gyuki, his horned head held high, 'If our services are needed, then we are proud to service.'

'Good attitude, Gyuki,' said Naruto patting Saiken by kneeling down, 'Shukaku, do you know why I called you here?'

Shukaku's giant, diamond eyes glanced around at the army of globs surrounding them. They were beginning to get over their mild surprise and were once more rushing forwards. With a grunt of annoyance, Shukaku smashed his massive tail into the ground and the earth rumbled. The first wave of blobs tripped over themselves and splashed upon the grounds only to absorbed by the next swath of figures which absorbed their green goop into their own bodies, making them all slightly bigger.

'Huh,' snorted Shukaku, his giant hands making distinct signs as he wove his chakra, 'Earth Style! Multi Mud Wall!' He slapped both hands against the earth and, with a powerful vibration, four giant walls of compressed earth arose to surround the Bijuu, protecting them from the blobs. 'In answer to your question,' said Shukaku, dusting his hands, 'I'd say we're here because we're the only Bijuu with sealing jutsu and for whatever reason you can't put these things down yourself.'

'Very astute,' agreed Gyuki. M'gann floated around his horns and landed on his snout.

'Yay!' Saiken cheered, 'Saiken gets to make bubbles!'

M'gann smiled, Saiken's joy infectious. 'Yes, Saiken gets to make bubbles.'

'Don't encourage him,' groaned Naruto, 'I've almost gotten him to start using the first person.'

'Humph,' Shukaku straightened up and twisted his thick neck in intrigue, 'I suppose as long as I'm here I might as well help out.'

'Okay!' Gyuki smashed his fists into the earth and waved his head through the air, small droplets of ink spraying around him, 'Bring down the walls, brother! I'm ready to go!' Small chakra bubbles began to leak out of Saiken's mouth in preparation as Shukaku raised his hands. The giant walls shrank back into the earth and the three Bijuu lurched forwards only to stop after a single step.

'Huh,' said Naruto with a slight frown, 'Uh, what's going on here?' All the blobs of goop were completely frozen in place, unmoving despite the two human figures casually existing in their midst. One figure was tall and extremely muscular who wore what looked like the same synthetic skin Captain Atom had but golden and with a large, scarlet 'F' emblazoned on his lapel. He walked calmly between the blobs, touching them with his hands. As he made contact, the blobs would immediately shrink and absorb into his palm before he moved on to the next one.

The other figure was a lanky man with pasty skin and short hair dyed a violent shade of purple. He reclined leisurely against a large piece of a building in a long black trench coat, black skinny jeans and combat boots. He had a blue chest with the red and white crosses of the Union Jack, but closer inspection revealed this not to be a shirt, but rather tattooed into his torso. 'Oh,' he said, completely unfazed by the three giant demonic beast glowering down at him in surprise, 'Hellu.'

Naruto narrowed his eyes and leapt down off Saiken and onto the ground near the relaxed man. 'I'm not really in the mood for more surprises today,' he said with a measured voice, 'So I'm only going to ask this once. Who are you people?'

'Once is all that's needed,' said the man with a wave of his hand. He had a thick British accent that made John Constantine sound Canadian by comparison.

'Kit,' growled Kurama, 'I'm feeling something. It's strong, really strong.'

What are you saying?

'I'm saying that I think this guy's a psychic.'

Naruto took a bracing step back. 'M'gann, put up mental barriers.'

'Yeah, I feel it too.'

'I see you can feel my psychic presence,' said the man, 'Don't worry yer pretty little heads over it, we're on the same side.' Naruto and M'gann glanced at each other and the man cleared his throat. 'For now anyway,' he added darkly, 'Manchester Black's the name. It's my lovely handiwork that's keeping these blokes in what I like to call 'a state of not moving.'

M'gann scowled. 'How were you able to telepathically control them? They don't have a mind to take hold of.'

'Not if you know what to look for,' said Manchester, tapping his temple with a knowing smile, 'These things work on pure instinct. If you can isolate that instinct in each and every one of them, you can control 'em like anyone else. You can tell them to move, stop, and hold still while me mate Major Force over there absorbs their radioactive bodies.' He jerked his thumb back at the golden man who took a moment to glare at Naruto and M'gann with stiff, unflinching eyes. He grunted and resumed his work. 'Forgive him,' Manchester chuckled, 'He's not one for words.'

'Unlike you,' note Naruto, 'Where did you two come from?'

'Well I can't tell you specifically,' Manchester winked, 'A bit hush-hush it is. Suffice to say we're with the DEO.'

Naruto frowned and stepped forwards. 'The DEO? You work for Waller. Is this some kind of new Suicide Squad?'

'No, no mate! You've got us pegged wrong!' Manchester laughed, 'Nah, me and Force are law-abiding blokes. Joined up with Waller when you Akatsuki blokes flubbed up in Vlatava. Figured the proper authorities could use some heavy hitters if they wanted to keep you lot in check, which they clearly need to do.'

'Wait,' said Shukaku slowly, 'I'm confused. Are we still needed here?'

'Sorry big boy,' said Manchester with a slight solute, 'Job's all taken care of.' He turned to M'gann and gave her a sympathetic smile. 'Bad luck, dovey,' he said, 'Maybe fine-tune that telepathy of yours. Give it a few years and you might be able to break into my mind and get me secrets. But for now…' He waved his hand and M'gann gasped as jagged pain ruptured through her head.

Naruto scowled and shot forwards, happily wrapping his hand around Manchester's throat and lifting him off the ground. 'That's enough,' he said angrily, 'Let her go.'

Manchester narrowed his eyes, but his jovial smirk never faltered. 'You've got some formidable mental defenses on ya,' he said with a smack of his lips, 'But they won't hold me for long.'

'He's not wrong!' growled Kurama. Naruto could feel Manchester's power inking into his mind. Kurama was corralling the oily essence of his psyche back out, but his paws could only inch it back slowly.

Naruto grimaced and his Sharingan flared. 'I'm assuming you know what this can do,' he said, jabbing his thumb towards his cheek, 'So let her go or we'll see how your telepathy fairs against unquenchable fires.' He took a breath to say more, but that breath was immediately knocked out of him when Major Force hit him with a flying tackle to the midsection. Naruto grunted as he hit the ground but quickly wrapped his arms around Force's waist and flipped the larger man over his head, throwing him into a group of blobs. When he fell into them, they absorbed into his skin and he began to glow slightly. He stood up and brushed himself off before crouching down for a second attack.

Before he could move, a wad of black ink splashed over him like a giant spitball dropped from the heavens. Force stared down at the ink in surprise and tried to brush it away, but his arms quickly stiffened and his body froze. 'Sealing Jutsu!' snarled Gyuki proudly, 'Octopus Hold!'

Saiken took a deep breath and exhaled a plume of massive bubbles from his slimy mouth. They drifted over the army of blobs, each one swallowing a different figure before rising slowly into the sky, propelling them into the atmosphere. As they floated overhead, Manchester whistled in appreciation. 'Nice work,' he said. He snapped his fingers and M'gann stopped clutching her head, keeling over as the sudden mental release relived her. Naruto shot to her side and helped her sit up.

'Ugh!' she groaned angrily, 'It was like he had a chokehold on my brain!'

'I'll take care of him,' snarled Naruto.

'No,' M'gann grabbed his arm, 'Don't engage him.'

Naruto hesitated for a moment and glanced at Manchester. 'Oi!' the brit called out, 'Look, I know we just had a bit of a tussle, but Major Force just took in a lot of radiation and if he doesn't release that energy he'll go off like a nuke. Granted I don't think he can do more damage than what's already been done, but I'd like to think we don't want to add insult to injury here.' Naruto wanted to believe that Manchester was lying to save his own skin, but his Sharingan could see the nuclear energy pulsing in Major Force's chest like a warning light.

'Gyuki,' he said through the Tailed-Beast Telepathy, 'Release him.'

'Humph,' snorted Gyuki, but he raised two fingers and the caked on ink around Major Force shattered. Immediately, he knelt down and shot into the air, soaring up with the bubbles into the sky.

'And now that that's done,' said Manchester with a clap of his hands, 'I think my work here is done. I'll be moving onto the southern edge of the crater, get all the blokes over there. Care to join me?'

'No,' said M'gann and Naruto simultaneously.

'I think we're going to rejoin the League,' Naruto finished.

'Fair,' said Manchester, 'Good luck then, mates. Ta!' With that, he turned and flourished his trenchcoat as he calmly walked away.

He was only just out of hearing range when M'gann rounded on Naruto. 'I don't like him.'

'I know.'

'No, I really don't like him.'

'I know, me neither.'

'How does a human have stronger mental powers than a Martian? We evolved our telepathy!'

'I don't know. Maybe he's one of the Reach's metahumans.' M'gann was clearly dissatisfied, but simply folded her arms and looked away. Naruto held back a sigh and looked up at his Bijuu. 'Sorry guys,' he called out, 'This was kind of a waste of time.'

'Not at all!' Shukaku sarcastically reassured him, 'Not doing anything is my favorite thing to do!' He burst away in a giant cloud of smoke. Gyuki gave Naruto a sympathetic look before following suit.

Saiken looked around as the last of his bubbles floated gently into the sky. 'No more bubbles?' he asked in trepidation.

'No more bubbles, Saiken,' M'gann sighed.

'Aww,' groaned Saiken before he too disappeared. For a moment, M'gann and Naruto stood in silence before they wordlessly began walking in the opposite direction from where Manchester had left to.

'You're upset,' said Naruto eventually.

'Yes!' burst M'gann, 'My uncle told me I was the most powerful telepath he had ever seen! He said my mental powers could easily overpower his own! And he's the Martian Manhunter!'

'And now, for the first time in a long time, you've come across someone more powerful than you.'

'I-,' M'gann paused. She bit her hand to keep from crying out in anger. After a moment of this, she sighed and let herself go slightly. 'I must look like the biggest brat,' she muttered.

'Kinda,' said Naruto with a small grin, 'But that's not a bad thing. You've been reminded of what it feels like to be vulnerable. Remember this feeling the next time you save someone because it's probably what they're feeling.'

'You're saying I need to be saved?' M'gann rounded on him.

'No,' said Naruto, 'I'm saying you should use this to save others.'

M'gann glared at him for a moment before closing her eyes and looking away. 'I'm sorry,' she said, 'I'm a bit testy right now.'

They walked some ways before Naruto cleared his throat. 'Do you remember when we lost our memories in the Bialyan Desert?'

M'gann frowned. 'Yeah, Psimon wiped our memories by hijacking our mental link. Why?'

Naruto smiled slightly. 'Good times.'

'Good times?'

'I have fond memories of it.'

'Why? Because it meant you didn't have to write a mission report for Batman or because it was the first time we almost kissed?'

Naruto glanced at her and was privately overjoyed to see her playful smile flutter across her face once more.

. . .

'I'm not going to lie,' said Hawkman, levitating a few feet off the ground with the occasional beat of his substantial wingspan, 'I don't like these odds.'

He stood in a line with the almost three dozen heroes that comprised the Justice League. They were perched at the very edge of the crater, watching the disordered force of giant blobs moving towards them with a speed that could best be described as a shamble. 'Like chemical zombies,' Hawkwoman grumbled, 'Except you can't just shoot them in the head.' More than a few eyes turned to her in surprise and she glowered back into each gaze. 'What? I play video games like everybody else.'

'Superman and Captain Atom will be back in a minute,' announced Batman, drawing a few explosive batarangs, 'And even then, he can't absorb more than one of these larger ones at a time. We cannot engage Chemo directly so we'll be doing anything we can to slow them down. Anyone with a range attack, aim for the ground. Flyers will attack from above but avoid getting too close.'

'Understood,' said Flash, 'And how long do we expect that to last?' Before answering, Batman threw a batarang into the ground at the foot of the nearest Chemo. It exploded and took a chunk of the Chemo's leg with it, but the blob moved unhindered, completely oblivious as it began to heal itself.

'Not long,' sighed Batman. The distant chopping of blades caught everyone's attention and they looked up in time to see a helicopter swing over the remaining buildings around them and hover above their heads.

'A little too close for a news copter,' noted J'onn, 'But also not a military craft.'

Batman gave a tiny sigh of relief. 'It's a Wayne Tech prototype,' he said as a few cables dropped from the copter to the ground and several figures began to slide down them.

'Sorry we're so late,' said Hiruzen as his feet touched down, 'But I can't teleport this much inorganic matter.' As he spoke, Platinum dropped down next to him followed by five humanoid figures made of shining metal.

'Metal Men, activation code Platinum 14435,' she told them, 'Crisis theme: nuclear, chemical, and physical.'

As one, the machines opened their eyes and stepped forwards. 'Ready to protect,' they said with indistinct and synthetic voices. Platinum flinched slightly, but simply pointed towards the crater. The Metal Men charged in the direction of her finger and the Justice League parted to let them pass.

The first robot, Gold was the fastest and assaulted the nearest Chemo. 'You are leaking radioactive substances,' he said monotonously, 'Please remain stationary while I plug the leak.' Before anyone could react, Gold spun and delivered a debilitating roundhouse kick to knee of the massive Chemo. His leg slipped right through the ooze, but where his attack connected, clouds of microscopic nanobots were released into the blob. Within seconds, the Chemo's leg was dissolving into a steaming vapor.

'Uh, what's going on there?' asked Plastic Man, his neck extending to let him see around Batman's head.

'The Metal Men are made from the same nanobots that I am,' explained Platinum, 'But theirs are specifically designed to handle disaster like this.'

'The nanobots are breaking down the radioactive ooze on a molecular level,' announced a voice from above. Everyone looked up to see Superman holding Captain Atom bridal style as he descended from the heavens. 'They're heating up the individual molecules and breaking them into individual atoms, dispersing the radiation.'

'Cool,' said Rocket, 'So is that it then? Can we leave it to them?'

'Definitely not,' said Hiruzen, motioning to the ongoing battle. Gold, Iron, Lead, Tin, and Mercury were each engaged with their own lumbering Chemo, slowing down the pace of the dozens of giants behind them, but as they fought, they were using up their nanobots, slowing down the Metal Men and weakening them considerably. Lead in particular was built for seismic catastrophes and his large, slow body was not built for radiological combat. He swiped hard at a Chemo's leg but missed, his forwards momentum carrying him just under the foot of another Chemo. The giant blob stepped on his body and it immediately dissolved into a cloud of nanobots that ate away at the Chemo from the inside.

'We might have overestimated how ready they were,' said Platinum nervously.

'That's why we brought the big one, isn't it?' said Hiruzen, jerking his thumb up to the still-hovering copter. With a swivel, the copter fell out of the sky, spinning like a top in midair as it crashed in a fiery explosion on top of one of the Chemo's. From the wreckage leapt a massive human in a blue jumpsuit and a large, black Mohawk.

OMAC landed in a crouch in front of Hiruzen and stood up, bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement. 'Yeah!' he cheered, lightly shadowboxing, 'What's good! Get wrecked!'

Hiuzen cleared his throat and Platinum tried not to laugh at the image of the giant man acting like a college student in front of a mirror. OMAC suddenly realized in whose company he was standing and froze as he turned to look at some of the greatest heroes in the world behind him. 'Uh, hi,' he said quietly, 'Um, I'm, uh, I'm OMAC. Actually, I mean, I haven't really got a superhero name like you people. OMAC is the project that made me, so I'm just going to call myself that until I, you know, think of something bet-'

'Can you fight those things?' interrupted Batman.

'Uh, I mean, my nanobots have been calibrated to protect against heat and radiation damage so yeah, I should be able to.' Batman said nothing but stepped aside and pointed firmly towards the fighting. 'Right, right,' said OMAC. He knelt down into a runner's pose and shot forwards with Olympic speeds, dashing over the fractured landscape and leaping to deliver a running clothesline to the Chemo battling Tin. His hand slipped through the ooze but his nanobots protected him from the burns. The sheer force of his strike and momentum he carried caused the Chemo to stumbled back and OMAC set to work on its knee before it could recover.

Hiruzen closed his eyes and his veins sharpened around his eyes. 'Byakugan!' he said as he opened his eyes and unleashed his ocular powers. He assessed all of the Chemos simultaneously with his 360-degree vision and frowned. 'They don't have anything solid enough to land a hit on,' he announced, 'But they do have a distinct energy flow between the limbs and core. If we can somehow disrupt this flow, we might be able to destabilize their bodies at least momentarily.'

'We tried sonic, heat, ice, and nuclear attacks,' said Black Canary, 'But if we can isolate the frequency of the energy waves, we could try to match the frequency.'

'So when we hit them, the frequencies counter-act each other and we can make physical contact without getting hurt,' finished Green Arrow, 'Batman?'

'I have some scanning equipment on the Batwing,' he said, 'If we can get it down here, I might be able to analyze the frequency and send the schematics to Wayne.'

Platinum nodded. 'Sounds good, go get it and meet us about a half mile back.'

'It's not that easy,' said Batman, looking into the distance. Platinum and Hiruzen followed his gaze and saw the Batwing banking over a particularly large Chemo. The radiation foam spewed from its underbelly and coated the blob, absorbing enough of its goop for Tin to strike at it.

Hiruzen's brow furrowed as he saw who was in the cockpit with his enhanced eyes. 'Nightwing,' he said sympathetically, 'I'm guessing he's in shock.'

'At the very least,' agreed Batman, 'But we need those scanners. Hal?' One of the green lanterns nodded and raised his ringed fist. A green platform appeared under Batman and the two of them lifted into the air towards the Batwing.

'What now?' asked the Atom, nervously pawing at his arm.

'Batman gave you combat orders,' Wonder Woman planted her feet in the ground and rolled her shoulders back, 'I suggest you follow them.'

'Hey!' called a voice from above. Superman and Captain Atom flew down from the heavens and swooped up to land on their feet, although Captain Atom stumbled slightly. Superman looked around at Hiruzen, Platinum, and the other newcomers with surprise and confusion. 'Ah, did we miss something?'

. . .

'Help!'

'Where's my husband?'

'Mommy!'

Barbara had to blink every few seconds to shut out the screams and to keep from crying. 'Everyone please remain calm!' she ordered politely as she motioned for the grief and terror-stricken refugees to move further up the street, 'There is a rendezvous point just half a mile up the road! Once you get there, you will be taken to a safe distance from the city!'

A ragged man from the moving crowd leapt out and grabbed at her shoulders. 'My daughter!' he wailed, 'Have you seen my daughter?'

'No, sir,' she said, trying to gently remove his clutching hands, 'But I'm sure she'll find you at the rendezvous point.'

'Find her!' he cried as Tim grabbed him around the waist and pushed him back into the moving throng of people.

'Hey,' he panted slightly, leaning on his bo staff for support, 'You good?'

'No. You?'

'No.'

'So long as we're on the same page then.'

Jaime landed next to them and gazed out over the line sadly. 'You know who we could really use right now?'

'Cassie?' suggested Barabara, 'A flying half-god with a big mouth would be pretty useful.'

'Raven,' Tim said, shaking his head, 'Her empathy powers could calm the whole crowd.'

'Both good answers,' agreed Jaime with a cringe, 'But I was going to suggest literally anyone.'

There was a slight vibration in the air and suddenly Bart was kneeling in front of them. 'Oh,' he said between long gulps of air, 'Oh…wow…jeez guys. I don't…I don't know if…if I've ever been pushed like this…I'm seriously about to pass out here.'

Jaime grabbed Bart's arm and supported him on one shoulder, shakily bringing him to his feet. 'What's up, ese?'

'Transport,' groaned Bart, 'The transport…not coming.'

Barabara stared at him. 'The transport isn't there? Bart, we're about to have a riot on our hands if we can't evacuate these people to safety!'

'Said something…about Gotham…too dangerous.'

'But that was our only evacuation plan!'

'Don't be mad at me,' he grumbled, 'Just the messenger.' Barabara paused for a moment and looked hard at Bart. His knees were quibbling from the sheer effort of standing and there were gaunt pouches under his eyes. His body had become thin in the last few hours and his eyelids were drooping hard. He had been running messages and updates between Batman and the military as well as helping to carry supplies and round up the evacuees.

'Okay,' she said, taking a deep breath, 'Bart, get some rest. That's an order. And eat something, eat a lot of things.'

Bart tried to lift his arm to solute her, but was snoring before his hand could make it past his shoulder. Jaime sighed and lifted the speedster over his shoulder. 'I'll find him a medic and get an IV drip for him,' he said before his jet pack blasted him into the air.

Barbara groaned and rubbed her temples through her armored cowl. 'What do we do now?'

Serial Port Component For Lazarus Pit Bull

'We can use our vehicles,' suggested Tim, 'The Bioship, the Super-Cycle. Garfield can turn into an elephant or something. Maybe we can get in touch with Naruto and bring in a few Bijuu?'

'Naruto isn't linked up,' Barbara sighed, 'We can use our stuff but it'll be a slow process. We'll have to take at least a dozen trips to get everyone here, and that's discounting the people Superboy and Red Arrow are bringing in from the east.'

Tim groaned and slapped his forehead. 'I completely forgot about them!' he moaned.

The ground beneath them rumbled slightly and the crowd stopped moving in apprehension. The tremor stopped as suddenly as it came and the crowd screamed in unison, rushing forwards even faster than before. 'The fighting's getting closer,' said Barbara glumly, 'And this is going to turn into a stampede if we're not careful.'

Tim stamped his staff into the ground and it retracted into a small cylinder that he tucked into his utility belt. 'I wish we could just Zeta Tube them l out of here,' he sighed, 'Store them on the Watchtower. Nowhere's safer than there right now.'

Barbara nodded in disappointed agreement but slowly turned her head as her eyes widened. 'Why couldn't we do that?' she asked.

'What?' Tim glanced at her.

'Why couldn't we Zeta them? You and Jaime could go on ahead to Gotham in the Super-Cycle, dismantle the Zeta Tube there and bring it back here!'

Tim stared at her in amazement for a moment before rubbing his chin. 'It would take time,' he said, 'And we'd need a viable power source.'

'Captain Atom!' Barbara hissed in excitement, 'He's been absorbing the nuclear energy out of the blobs and can release that energy back into the Zeta Tubes! And once Gamma and Delta teams return, we'll have enough to split into two squads, one to protect the civies and one to help the Justice League push back the attackers!'

'Slowing them down even further and buying us time to set up the Zeta Tube and evacuate everyone,' Tim realized. He put a finger to his ear and turned to run away. 'Robin to Blue Beetle,' he said, 'Meet me at the Super-Cycle asap. Everyone else, listen to Batgirl. She has a plan.'

. . .

Dick was operating on pure muscle memory. He would be hard pressed to remember what the last coherent thought he had was; all he could remember was the emotions. The traumatizing horror, the side-splitting rage, the overwhelming and all-encompassing sense of failure and loss. The sight of a completely wreaked Bludhaven didn't have to flash in his mind, it was right in front of him, disappearing under the horizon line as he soared over the landscape.

He flew over what used to be the police station. In his civilian identity, he had been an intern to a detective there, working to become a sanctioned officer so he could fight crime both publically and privately. But the firm brick building where justice was doled out with a firm yet righteous hand was now a smoldering pile of half-melted clay.

As he turned the Batwing to face a distant blob, he felt the plane shift slightly. New weight had been added to the ventral hub. There was a tapping on the windshield and Dick looked directly up to see Batman knocking on the bulletproof glass over his head. He briefly wondered how his mentor had gotten up to the plane, but he decided that, given the circumstances, he didn't much care how Batman had pulled off one of his many tricks. He quickly halted the plane and kept it hovering almost a hundred stories above the ground.

Reluctantly and slowly, Dick flipped a switch and the windshield retracted into the hull of the Batwing. Batman vaulted down and landed on the hull in a crouch, his black cape shrouding his body and billowing around him slightly in the altitude wind. For a very long moment, both men were silent and simply looked each other in the eye.

Then Batman sighed deep and long. He reached up and pulled back his cowl, revealing his handsome face. His jet black hair swirled in the breeze as he fell onto his haunches and hunched over like a bored college student. 'It's been a long day,' he said. Dick didn't reply. 'We're all pretty shaken by this,' he continued, 'I don't think anyone out there knows what kind of pain you're feeling though. Not on the same scale at least.'

Dick turned his head so he wouldn't have to look at Batman. 'Do you remember when your parents were killed?' said Batman softly, 'It made your whole perspective of reality change. In a way, this is the same thing, albeit on a completely different level.'

Dick stayed quiet for a moment, but as he racked his mind, he realized that no, he couldn't remember his parents' deaths. He recalled how it happened of course, he could see in his mind's eye their two figures falling from the trapeze. He could see their expressions of confusion as their ropes snapped and they tumbled down almost fifty feet before their bodies landed in twisted heaps on the dirt floor of the circus ring. But he couldn't remember his own fear, just theirs. His loss, his grief felt real now, but what he had felt back then now seemed so distant a memory that he couldn't exactly say what he had felt that day.

Batman must have read this on his face because he nodded ever so slightly. 'It can be hard to remember,' he said, 'But that's part of the point. We don't do what we do to appease the ghosts of our pasts. We do it so that we can keep others from having the same phantoms.'

Dick looked over the side of the Batwing. From the south, a new battalion of freshly formed Chemos were making their way through the wastelands. 'This isn't going to end anytime soon, is it Bruce?' said Dick. They were his first spoken words in several hours and his voice was rusted and harsh from disuse.

'No,' said Bruce, 'It's not. But it'll go a lot faster with the scanners on the Batwing.'

Dick took a deep, shaky breath. 'So we have a plan then?'

'Sort of.'

'That doesn't sound great.'

'It's the best we have right now.'

Dick sighed and shifted his weight in his seat. 'Fill me in.'

. . .

Hiruzen clasped his hands together as a Chemo broke through the preliminary defensive line the Metal Men and OMAC had formed. 'Eight Trigrams! Air Palm!' he cried as he thrust his hand forwards. The burst of concentrated wind and chakra splashed across the Chemo's chest and it quivered for a moment. As it hesitated, Green Arrow shot an explosive bolt at its feet. The small bomb went off, tearing up the ground in front of the Chemo and further slowing it down.

Platinum lunged forwards and Hiruzen blinked in surprise as she wove like a fluid through the rubble, her nanobots parting to avoid rubble when she ran through some. With a leap, she drove herself through the Chemo's head while spinning like a drill. The velocity of her spin minimized the burns she received, but she still stumbled upon landing, her inner nanobots struggling to replace her burnt outer skin. HIruzen dashed to her side and helped her to her feet as the Chemo she attacked continued on through the rugged terrain Green Arrow had made.

'Are you okay?' asked Hiruzen. The fresh nanobots that switched out into her skin made her look shiny and pale, but Platinum's face looked anything but new

'That…that felt wrong,' she said quietly.

'What were you thinking?' Hiruzen lightly chastised, 'You're not like the Metal Men. Your nanobots weren't meant to take that kind of attack.

'I thought I might be able to read the energy frequency without Batman's scanners,' she said, 'But I couldn't feel anything but this weird…thing. It was like it took over all my sensors for a moment and blinded me to everything else. I…I think that hurt!'

'Those things are living nuclear reactions,' said Hiruzen dryly, 'Thank goodness you're metallic or a move like that would have roasted you from the inside out.'

Platinum managed to look up at Hiruzen and smile, her white eyes crinkling from the facial change. 'Oh so now you're happy that I'm a robot.'

Hiruzen couldn't help but laugh despite that carnage he stood in. 'Different circumstances,' he said with a chuckle. The hum of an engine caught their attention and they looked up as Batman rappelled down from the Batplane above, a thick, black case in his arms.

'I got the scanners,' he announced when he landed, 'We need to isolate one of the Chemos.'

'Can do,' said Hiruzen with a grin. He reached into the folds of his Akatsuki robes and withdrew a thin silver circlet and tucked it over his forehead. 'I can only bring a few thousand of these at a time,' he said as his sleeves dissolved into nanobots, 'But I can use them to grin up the ground beneath us. Once its fine enough, I can use Earth Style jutsu to trap one.'

'I'll help,' offered Platinum, 'It'll speed up the process.'

'I'll have this set up in two minutes,' said Batman, laying the briefcase on the ground and flipping it open, 'You have until then. That Chemo there will do.' He pointed to a somewhat smaller blob that was moving unhindered by the League and Metal Men.

Hiruzen nodded and frowned in concentration. His nanobots dove into the earth at his feet, drilling a tiny hole into the ground and spreading into the terrain beneath it. Platinum's body shimmered as her nanobots spilled into Hiruzen's, mixing and joining them on their mission. Within seconds, her body had disintegrated into its smallest components. Hiruzen closed his eyes, prepared to resist the queasy sensation he remembered from when their consciousness's had blended almost three months before at the end of the Reach invasion. To his surprise, it didn't come. Neither he nor Platinum were resisting each other and their minds seamlessly came together with one drive, one directive. It felt fairly robotic, but also natural. Through her, he could feel each individual pebble that their nanobots crushed into dust and swirled into a quickly growing whirlpool under the surface of the ground.

'I can take it from here,' said a distant voice in his head.

'Platinum?'

'Get to the Chemo. Slow it down and get it grounded so we can scan it.'

'R-right!' Hiruzen tore his eyes open and ran towards the blob Batman had suggested. As he got closer, he wove his hands together in seals. 'Fire Style!' he shouted when he'd built up his chakra enough, 'Dragon Fire Jutsu!' A swirling inferno erupted from his mouth and twisted around itself, narrowing into the shape of a serpentine dragon. The flames wrapped themselves around the Chemo's waist and dragged it down to its knees. Before it could stand back up, Hiruzen tapped into his nanobots and drew them towards him under the earth. They swirled about beneath the surface for a moment and he clasped his hand together. 'Ninja Art!' he said, sending a pulse of chakra to direct his nanobots, 'Sand Coffin!' The earth trembled for a moment before it erupted and showers of sand shot out, wrapping themselves in a lattice that wove up the Chemo. It struggled against the sand momentarily, but the sand pushed back, somewhat immune to its radioactive body.

'Hold him!' shouted Batman. He ran forwards with a small pack handing around his neck and a satellite scanner in his fist, 'This'll take at least a few of his energy cycles to narrow down the frequency!' Hiruzen nodded and kept his mind sharp, focusing on the sand as it snaked around the Chemo, trapping down any limb that managed to rip away from the coffin. This kept on for several seconds as Batman ran around it, pointing his scanner at any exposed bits of green flesh.

Hiruzen felt the ground crunch and he turned slightly to see a second giant Chemo stomping towards them to help its clone. Hiruzen grimaced and tried to weave hand signs, but felt himself losing control over his sand and nanobots. 'Uh-oh,' he muttered as the Chemo approached.

The Chemo raised its giant foot and Hiruzen prepared for the intense burning he was about to become engulfed by. Before the foot could land, however, a flaming purple hand grabbed its leg and threw it backwards into the remnants of a skyscraper. Hiruzen sighed in relief as Naruto patted him on the shoulder. 'You alright?'

'Yeah, I should be okay,' said Hiruzen, glancing at the older Shinobi. Naruto was surrounded by the fiery skeleton of his Susano'o, his left eye was bleeding heavily.

'Done scanning!' announced Batman, backing away from the Chemo.

Naruto turned to glare at the trapped Chemo. 'Platinum! Get clear!' he shouted as he readied his Susano'o. In its giant right hand, an orb of black flames wrapped around themselves. The sand fell away and the nanobots leapt away, either reforming Platinum or flying into Hiruzen's sleeves. 'Inferno Style!' said Naruto as the Chemo slowly rose to its feet, 'Susano'o Flame Control!' The black flaming orb in the Susano'o's hand morphed into a crossbow with a bolt made of pure Amaterasu. It fired and found its mark in the center of the Chemo's chest, immediately enveloping the blob in a thick cloak of black fire. The Chemo boiled and steamed as its skin evaporated from the heat of the Amaterasu. Within a few seconds, it had completely disappeared.

'Wish my Sharingan was strong enough to do that to each of them,' groaned Naruto as his Susano'o whisked away around him, leaving him on one knee. He put a hand to his face and gently rubbed his Sharingan to numb away the aching pain he felt.

'I'm sending the analysis to Wayne,' said Batman, fiddling with his scanner as he walked over, 'Naruto, where have you been?'

'M'gann and I cleared out most of the east quarter and the ports,' Naruto muttered, 'You're welcome. Oh, and tell Aquaman we may have tossed a couple of them into the bay to cool them off.'

'He won't be happy about that,' Batman sighed, 'But we have bigger problems.' His machine beeped and Batman grimaced. 'Fox says he can have gloves calibrated to this frequency produced and here within two hours.'

'We can hold them to the north quarter and suburbs until then,' said Platinum, 'But that still leaves the south and west quadrants. The last thing we want is a few of these going rogue towards the inland.'

'Actually, I think the west will be covered,' said Naruto, rising to his feet, 'M'gann and I ran into some superpowered characters working for the DEO. Last we saw, they were heading west and taking care of the Chemo's pretty efficiently.'

Batman frowned. 'Since when is Amanda Waller our ally?'

'Since Bludhaven got turned into a Mad Max movie apparently.'

'Then we'll need to mobilize to the south. The Team has an idea to evacuate the refugees to the Watchtower so we're setting up a Zeta Tube in the suburbs.'

Naruto nodded. 'Do they need a power source?'

'Captain Atom's on it.'

'Okay,' Hiruzen sighed, 'So how are we going to get to the southern edge of the city?'

The ground shook and everyone turned to see a pair of giant green hands tearing apart two buildings that were melted together. As they split, they revealed a fifty-foot tall Chemo and a corridor with dozens of Chemos of all sizes clamoring behind it. Batman tossed his scanner into the ground and drew a pair of batarangs. 'The hard way,' he answered.

. . .

Somewhere under Tokyo, in an old Cadmus base, Edward Nigma riffled through some manila folders on a dusty desk that wasn't his. 'Incredible,' he muttered under his breath, 'You'd think in the 21st century they would have abandoned these old paper files.'

'I'm surprised,' said Icicle Sr. dryly from across the room. He was turning over file cabinets and checking behind them with his ice gun raised high. 'You're a smart guy, you should be able to figure it out.'

Nigma glanced up in annoyance before returning to the reports. 'Come again?'

'An electronic paper trail can be hacked,' explained Icicle, 'Even on a private server, some government agencies have advanced enough technology to track back every file that has ever been introduced to a computer so long as they have one line of code to work with.'

Nigma turned over a paper and furrowed his brow. 'Like cloning someone with just one strand of their DNA.'

'Good analogy. If you need to have a paper trail, always make it a physical one. They're easy to destroy if necessary, can't be hacked, and can't be retrieved once gone.' Nigma nodded in understanding and grabbed the last paper in the file. It showed a large frozen tube with the figure of a young man sleeping inside. He had a backwards 'S' burned into his chest.

'Gotcha!' hissed Nigma in victory.

'Find what you were looking for?' asked Icicle.

'Yes,' Nigma rose from his chair, reading the file attached to the back of the picture, 'Next stop: Tuscany.'

'I won't ask what you're looking for,' said Icicle, kicking over a desk and examining its underside, 'But let me ask you this: will it hurt the Light?'

'Not directly,' admitted Nigma, tucking the picture into his pocket, 'But when they call on this particular asset and they find they no longer control it, it'll catch them off guard.'

'Good enough for me,' said Icicle.

He stalked over to the last desk and gave it a once over. Nigma regarded him with a raised eyebrow. 'May I ask what you're looking for here?'

Icicle kicked the desk but it didn't budge, its feet had been welded into the floor. 'That,' he said with a satisfied smirk. He felt along the underside of the desk until he found a button and pressed it. Nigma yelped in surprise as the floor vibrated and a trapdoor slowly retracted to reveal a staircase leading into black darkness.

'And what do you suppose is down there?' asked Nigma hesitantly.

'You ever wonder why this base was abandoned?' Icicle smirked as he lowered his ice gun and started down the stairs.

'According to the DEO files I saw, it's location was compromised.' Before he disappeared into the darkness, Icicle reached into his pocket and tossed a wad of paper at Nigma. Nigma caught it and unfolded it into a black and white photograph. It was old and wrinkled, but the image of a lit Tokyo street was distinct. It was blurred slightly, but one figure was remarkably clear. He stood in the entrance to an alley with his arms folded over his red armor. Thick black hair tumbled in jets down his back and his pale skin seemed ethereal in the white lights. Though he was deep in the background, Nigma could still just barely make out the ripple pattern in his eyes, staring directly at the camera.

'Oh,' said Nigma, physically feeling the blood leave his face, 'This…this is where he lived.'

'Wrong,' said Icicle's voice from the darkness, 'This is where they grew him.' There was a slight click and the darkness became awash with florescent light. Nigma quickly descended the stairs into a large, white lab. Against one wall was a tall, empty growing pod with various pipes and tubes attached. It was surrounded by lab tables and sinks with various test tubes filled with a suspicious red liquid. The rest of the room was a small bedroom, with a soft-looking king bed, a large television, and a kitchenette.

Icicle began playing with various instruments in the lab and examining some of the vials while Nigma stood in petrified horror. Icicle glanced up in annoyance. 'Don't worry, it's not like he's going to come back here.'

'No, it's just…' Nigma took a second look around, then a third, 'This is where he was reborn. This is where our world changed.'

'It's a little more complicated than that,' muttered Icicle, 'Now where is it?'

Nigma stared at him. 'This isn't a big enough find for you? We've stumbled on the holy grail of villainous wonders! Look!' Nigma knelt by a lab table and stared in amazement at the red vials. 'This must be Shinobi's blood! Or Ms. Martian's! Genetic materials that went into forming the body of Madara Uchiha!'

'Oh please,' grunted Icicle. He fell to the floor and patted it in places, testing its rigidity. 'Making his body was the easy part. Getting his soul inside it was the tricky bit. Ah-ha!' Icicle crowed as he punched the floor and heard the hollow ding within. 'Gimme a hand, will you?' He stood up and prepared his foot before smashing it into the tile floor. The white porcelain shattered under his heel and he sank up to his knee into the glass. Carefully, he pulled it out and started kicked at the edges of the hole he'd made. Nigma grabbed a nearby Bunsen burner and used it to knock more holes in the floor.

In a few minutes, they had uncovered a circular tub in the floor. It had a wooden base and was covered in black ink, scrawling a cryptic, encoded text in a circular pattern. 'Oh wow,' said Nigma, adjusting his glasses, 'If I'm not mistaken, this is the Shinobi alphabet, a variant font of Japanese. Some kind of sealing technique?'

'More or less,' confirmed Icicle, 'I don't know what it says, but I'm guessing this is how they transported Madara's soul into this world, bypassing the dimensional seal between our worlds.'

'Interesting,' said Nigma carefully, 'What exactly do you plan to do with it?'

'First off, this,' said Icicle, taking out a phone from his pocket. He walked the rim of the tub and snapped numerous pictures, even taking a second go around for a video.

'What was it you said about a paper trail?' said Nigma.

'Desperate times,' replied Icicle, 'Besides, I need the copies.'

'Why?'

'Because,' Icicle drew his ice gun and blasted it into the divet, cracking the floor and covering it with thick, dry ice. Nigma yelped and stumbled back in surprise.

'Clever,' he said as he rose. Icicle tucked away his gun and his phone. 'You officially have the only copy of that seal,' he continued, 'Except for Kalrion. I'm assuming he's the one who wrote it in the first place.'

'Lords of Chaos are predictably unpredictable,' said Icicle with a shrug, 'I'll take the chance that he doesn't remember it.'

'Why do you need it anyway?'

'Blackmail,' Icicle started up the stairs and Nigma quickly ran behind him.

'You want to blackmail the Light? How?'

'Simple,' said Icicle with a shrug, 'They threaten me or my son ever again, I send these pictures to Shinobi. Willing to bet the guy had friends in his old world he might want to bring back from the dead. Powerful friends, friends who could help him fight Madara if need be.'

Nigma stopped dead in his tracks. 'Oh,' he said. A slow, deep grin spread across his face and he rushed after icicle. 'Wicked.'

. . .

'On your left!'

'I see it!'

'No, your other left!'

'Oh, thanks.' Naruto spun around with a flip through the air and held out his hand as he leveled vertical to the ground. 'Rasengan!' he called as the attack shredded the earth, forming a perfectly curved divot in the ground just as a Chemo stepped in it. The sudden change of balance caused the Chemo to fall over and splatter on the ground. It quickly reformed and started pushing itself to its feet.

Naruto grit his teeth in determination and back flipped several yards. 'Idea! I have an idea!' he called, 'I need cover!'

'Got you!' shouted both of the Hawks at the same time. They swooped down and swung their maces at the two closes Chemos. The Nth metal was immune to the burn and sent both Chemos flying backwards as Naruto collapsed to the ground, folded his legs, and pressed his fists together in meditation. Carefully and slowly, he absorbed the natural energy around him and balanced it with his chakra. In only ten seconds, he had enough to enter Sage Mode. Orange markings formed under his eyebrows and he stood up. With a grunt, he lunged back into the fray and swung his fist at the head of a Chemo.

'Frog Kata!' he shouted as his fist became enveloped in natural energy. Protected by the senjutsu, his fist broke through the Chemo's burning skin and pushed it back several feet as it recovered from the blow.

Yes! Naruto cheered in his own mind, My Sage Mode keeps me from touching them and the natural energy is enough to hit them!

'But you can only balance the natural energy with your chakra for so long,' Kurama reminded him, 'Granted you've improved greatly over the years, but you can probably only keep it up for an hour. Certainly not enough time for Captain Atom and Major Force to absorb all of them.'

Thanks mister pessimist. This'll at least hold them back while the civilians are fully evacuated. Naruto delivered a devastating axe kick that split a Chemo in two. It recovered into two smaller Chemos who were blasted back further by Rocket's purple kinetic bubbles.

Naruto snarled and started forwards, but a hand landed on his shoulder. 'Come quick!' breathed the Flash in his ear, 'It's Batman!' Naruto grimaced but followed Flash back a few blocks. The containment of the fighting was failing hard, with Chemos being assaulted by small groups of heroes every few yards. The unthinking blobs were moving towards the suburbs inch by inch.

Flash pulled Naruto into a half-standing abandoned building. There, Black Canary was kneeling over a downed Batman, tying a bandage around a very nasty burn on his right arm. 'Forgot you couldn't touch them?' asked Naruto as he knelt down.

'Sensed one of them behind me,' growled Batman, 'Moved on instinct. Stupid muscle memory.'

'It's pretty bad, I'm not going to lie,' said Black Canary, biting her lip.

Batman shifted uncomfortably but didn't wince as he tried flexing his arm. 'Feels broken,' he announced as if her were discussing the weather.

'The heat from the radiation might have splintered your bones,' Canary chided, 'If you hadn't been wearing three different layers of Kevlar, you might have lost the arm entirely.'

'One arm is not going to matter if we can't keep those things at bay,' grunted Batman as he pushed himself to his feet with one arm, 'There's a reason I trained myself to be ambidextrous.'

Naruto tried to keep himself from laughing. 'What? You're gonna keep throwing random batarangs at them until they stop? Even I'm running out of option here.' As he spoke, his focus on the Sage Mode dissipated and the orange markings around his eyes vanished.

'What's the latest update on those radiation-proof gloves?' asked Flash.

'Inbound,' Batman said, 'But even with them, there are only so many of us who can wear them and the Chemos are playing a numbers game now.'

'We're not going out to an army of blobs,' said Naruto firmly.

'Well if you've got any more ideas, now would be the time.'

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't get a word out before he detected the distant hum of engines. He frowned and everyone turned to look out the door of the building. They walked out and stared up the street as the engine sound got louder.

'What is that?' asked Black Canary.

Batman squinted into the distance. 'It looks like-'

Flash gasped. 'No way!'

'Gangway young'uns!' shouted Wildcat, leaning back on his motorcycle as he revved the engine. Behind him, the small armada of old cars and bikes did the same and they ramped up debris to fly over the heads of the four heroes who watched them in shock. As Wildcat's bike spiraled next to Naruto's head, he managed to see Asami wave at him before they whizzed by and skidded to a halt behind him.

'Yeee-haw!' crowed Tommy from the shotgun seat of a shiny red convertible driven by Negative Man, 'Now that's what I call speed!'

Firestorm fell out of the backseat and scurried away from the car. 'Old people are crazy!' he shouted as he propelled himself into the air.

'You could've flown,' said Tuppence with a shrug.

'Atten-hut!' cried Wildcat as he approached Batman and saluted, 'Justice Society of America reporting for duty!'

'What's happening now?' asked Naruto in genuine confusion.

'We're facing a crisis,' Batman said, ignoring Naruto, 'We're under attack by nucleoid blobs we can't physically touch without, uh, this,' he motioned to his burnt arm.

'Whew-boy!' shouted Wildcat, scratching his head, 'Now why'd you go and do a stupid thing like that?! Mid-nite! Bat-brains needs a Medic!'

'I'm fine,' insisted Batman as Dr. Mid-Nite approached with his medical bag.

'Boy did you forget who taught you to box?!' Wildcat grabbed Batman by the lapel, 'Until you can whop my can in the circled square, you don't get to decide if you're fine!'

Batman blinked. 'Didn't I do that twenty years ago?'

'Wrong sonny! I let you win!' Wildcat pushed Batman away and clapped his hands, 'Now! How do we fight these things?!'

'We have combat gloves coming in from Wayne Tech,' said Black Canary, 'They'll be here-' Before she could finish, a black pod rocketed down from the sky and landed in the ground a few yards away with a crunch and a rumble. Everyone stared at it for a moment before Batman pressed a button on his utility belt and the pod opened, revealing rows and rows of black, adjustable gloves.

'Ionically charged, one-size fits all,' he offered meekly.

'Nice work, boyo!' shouted Wildcat, clapping him painfully on the back, 'Now what're you saggy maggots waiting for?! Get in there!' Faster than Naruto could believe, his Akatsuki trainees and the old, retired heroes were lined up and grabbing sets of gloves before running off into battle. The Terror Twins worked to double team a giant chemo, their gloves absorbing and disintegrating the radiation until the blob was an unmoving splatter on the ground. Batwoman attached her gloves to a pair of grappling hooks and threw them around a Chemo's neck, bringing it to the ground for Wildcat and Robotman to pound on.

Terra floated into the sky on a boulder and glared out over the battlefield. 'You are what destroyed my country!' she growled, 'You will not get the chance to do it again!' With a cry of effort, she lifted her hands and a dozen large chunks of earth flew up to her level. Her eyes glowed yellow temporarily and the boulders hurtled into the heads of a group of Chemos. They were too big to immediately dissolve and the force of the blow brought them to the ground, where the Metal Men set about destroying them.

The Star-Spangled Kid flew about the battlefield, using her cosmic staff as a witch's broom and firing spacial blasts at the smaller Chemos below. Their cosmic properties were fairly effective against the blobs, but would have been useless if Huntress and Spoiler were not there to take care of them permanently with the ionic gloves.

Asami ran at a medium sized Chemo and sent a projection into its chest. The projection shot a hole straight through the blob and El Dorado teleported within it, punching at the Chemo's core before the hole could be sealed. Longshadow grew his avatar to be the same size as the largest chemo and engaged it directly, without the gloves. He grinned as the Chemo struggled against his power and kicked the blob into a bent-over building.

Firestorm blasted flames into a Chemo, but it had no evident effect. 'It's made of pure, concentrated radiation,' Dr. Stein said in his head, 'The atoms are a mix of pretty much every dangerous molecule known to man.'

'So what do we do?' asked Ronnie Raymond.

'Just solidify the molecular structure. It'll pretty much turn the whole thing into a block of carbon.'

'Uh, parlez-vous englais?'

'For the love of Newton, just touch it!' Firestorm hesitantly put his palm against the back of the Chemo's head and gasped as he felt the molecules and atoms under his fingers straighten and align. The Chemo froze and turned black, slowly solidifying into an unmoving statue. Firestorm suddenly felt incredibly tired and he drifted to the ground before passing out.

Batman and Naruto hung back to observe the battle. 'Wow,' said Naruto quietly, 'I mean, wow. Why did those guys even retire?'

'They got tired of the fight,' said Batman simply, 'You've done well training your Akatsuki. They're very efficient in a full-fledge battle.'

'The tides are turning,' Naruto noted. Indeed, the first few rows Chemos were already being forced back into the crater of the blast zone.

'Doesn't mean this is over,' muttered Batman.

A metal clank behind them drew their attentions and they turned to see Red Tornado rising from a crouch behind them. 'I apologize for my lateness,' he said in his old robotic monotone, 'It took longer than I anticipated to transfer my consciousness back into my old body.'

'So long as you can help,' said Naruto, tucking on a pair of gloves, 'Think your wind can knock down some of the big ones?'

If he hadn't been a robot, Naruto believed Red Tornado would have smiled. 'We will find out.'

. . .

'Well, that about does it,' said Manchester, clapping his hands of dust as Major Force absorbed the last of the Chemos in the western quarter of the city. 'You into hoagies, mate? Best thing you yanks every invented. I could definitely eat a hoagie right about now.'

Major Force grunted and rolled his shoulders back.

'A lovely conversationalist you are,' noted Manchester with a playful smile. The two began walking east towards the middle of the city. 'I wonder how those heroes are doing,' mused Manchester, 'Obviously with a Shinobi on their side they'll win any fight they're put in, but that Martian couldn't even tap into the base instinct of these things. Don't know if they'll be able to keep the casualties down.'

Major Force grunted.

'A man of few words,' nodded Manchester, 'I appreciate that. You speak with actions, right?'

Major Force grunted.

'Right.' Manchester shrugged and they walked in silence for a way before Manchester suddenly stopped. 'Hold a tick,' he muttered. Major Force stopped and held his head back. He sniffed the air and growled lightly. 'You sense it too, mate?' Manchester slowly crept around to the nearest block. He carefully looked around the corner and his face paled. 'Oh,' he murmured, 'Eh, Force, mate. What say you we get the bloody bollocks out of here, eh?' Major Force grunted and walked around the corner.

He looked up at the new threat, folded his arms, and drifted into the air. 'Manchester Black,' the Englishman muttered to himself as he shoved his hands in his pockets, 'What have you gotten yourself into?'

. . .

'Well I'll be a rotten egg on grandma's porch!' shouted Wildcat wrapping his arm around Metamorpho's neck and giving him a hard noogie, 'That was just like back in the old days! You kids're alright!' Torrent din standards in english.

'You aren't so bad yourself, old-timer,' said Spoiler as Metamorpho escaped Wildcat's grip as a plume of sulfur, 'Think you could show me some of those boxing moves some time?'

'Ha!' crowed Wildcat, 'Drop by my gym in Coast City! First lesson's free. I'll have you prize-fighting crime in a month!'

'It really does look like the future of crime-fighting is in good hands,' said the Star-Spangled Kid as she shook Huntress's hand, 'You guys came to learn from us, but I honestly don't think there's much we can teach you.'

'Thanks,' Huntress replied, 'But we got our butts handed to us by a villain from your generation. We just thought maybe going back to the roots of the hero business would better prepare us for future encounters.'

'A villain from the old days? Who?'

'Shade. Ever heard of him?'

'Shade?' Robotman grunted and folded his arm, 'Yeah I remember that guy. He was always a sneaky one, constantly a few steps ahead of us.'

'The Doom Patrol couldn't catch him, the JSA couldn't catch him,' agreed Negative Man with a nod, 'Heck, we only ever caught him by accident.'

Spoiler blinked. 'You're saying that he was hard to beat even in your day?'

'Oh yes,' Star-Spangled Kid said, 'I remember now. He was a shrewd villain. We easily routed most of the others, more or less the same way you did today.'

'So we're not the problem,' deduced Tommy, 'This guy was just a seasoned veteran before he was even a seasoned veteran.'

'Not a chance, kid!' said Wildcat, 'I haven't seen anyone tussle like you since my old heavyweight days! How'd you like to enter little tourney I'm throwing this season?'

Tommy blinked. 'Uh, can my sister come?'

'Hell, sonny! She can sit ringside with her girl!'

Hiruzen stepped out over a pile of rubble and stood behind Mercury. 'I have to admit,' he said, tapping the metal man on the shoulder, 'I'm impressed. I wasn't sure if you guys could handle combat yet, but you held off the Chemos virtually on your own for over an hour. If you ever need help, give me a call.'

Mercury turned to look at him and Hiruzen was abruptly taken aback by his cold, dead eyes. He had expected them to shine with an inner light, like Platinum's. 'Identified: Hiruzen Hyuga,' said the machine, 'Praise recognized. Processing. Appropriate thanks offered.'

Hiruzen frowned and stepped aside as Mercury walked towards the line of Metal Men assembling a few yards away. 'Don't mention it,' he muttered.

Besides him, Red Tornado walked by with a phone raised to his head. 'I will be home in an hour or so, Kathy,' he said monotonously, 'But please put Traya to bed first. I do not want her to see my old body…I love you too dear. See you.'

He hung up the phone and tucked it into a fold of metal near his neck. Hiruzen stared at him for a moment. 'Kathy? Traya?'

'My girlfriend and our daughter, respectively,' Red Tornado said, turning to face Hiruzen.

'Uh, how?'

'We adopted her. She was orphaned in the Markovian Genocide and we took her in as foster parents. However, we fell in love with her and decided to become her legal guardians.'

Hiruzen blinked. 'No, I mean how can you be in a relationship? You're a robot.'

'True, I was born an A.I.,' said Red Tornado, looking at his metal hand, 'But I have transcended my original programing to become sentient. Though I cannot claim to be fully human, I am capable of feeling a wide range of emotions including love, affection, and care.'

Hiruzen bit his lip and looked past Red Tornado. A few blocks away, he could see Platinum tending to a barely-conscious OMAC, no doubt spouting cute, scientific jargon about how long it would take his nanobots to recover. 'But how do you know you're really feeling them?' he asked, 'How do you know the simulation of these emotions are not part of your programing?'

'Your question is illogical,' stated Red Tornado, 'Emotions, by their very definition, cannot be simulated.'

Hiruzen stared forlornly into the distance. 'I've been a fool, haven't I.'

'You phrase that as a question,' said Red Tornado, turning away, 'But your inflections tell me you already know the answer.'

Naruto watched the encounter with amusement before turning to Superman and Wonder Woman. 'We should scour the city,' he said, 'We don't want to accidentally leave one to reproduce.'

'Of course,' agreed Superman, 'And I also want to see if we can track down these DEO characters you told us about.'

'You two can handle that,' said Wonder Woman, 'I'm going to take a contingency to the Watchtower. We need to coral the refugees we're housing there and find a more permanent home for them while the politicians work out the rebuilding plans.'

Naruto looked around and sighed deeply. Despite their victory over the Chemos, they had been unable to prevent the deaths of the thousands that died in the initial explosion. 'Do we have an officially casualty report?'

Superman looked away and Wonder Woman cleared her throat. '100,006,' she said, 'That's what the military is saying anyway.'

Naruto closed his eyes, half in devastated quiet and half to keep himself from crying. The tears could come later. 'Is Batman-'

'Nightwing's taking him to the Batcave for further medical attention,' Superman confirmed, 'I think they have a lot to talk about.'

'I imagine.'

Superman smiled and looked around at the relaxing heroes. 'Your people did good today, Naruto,' he said, 'I don't want to jinx it, but if Akatsuki were to go up against Madara, we might have a chance.'

'Oh, we're not at that level yet,' sighed Naruto, 'And believe me, this isn't the way I wanted to unveil the new Akatsuki, but yeah, they did pretty good work today. I see a celebratory bonfire on the beach in their futures.'

Wonder Woman put her hands on her hips and looked around. 'I can't decide if today was a victory or a defeat,' she said grimly.

'The Light caught us off guard,' said Naruto, 'But we responded quickly and saved as many lives as we could. We were heroes today, and the world knows it.'

'That doesn't exactly answer my question.'

Superman folded his arms. 'A bigger question is if this is the Light's last move? They might have more Chemos hidden somewhere, or maybe this is their prelude to a bigger attack.'

'Of course it's a preshow move,' grunted Naruto, 'Raven's birthday is next week.'

. . .

'Well,' said Vandal slowly, 'I think we can hesitantly call this a success.'

'Our spies within Akatsuki managed to dredge out every available resource they had,' agreed Deathstroke, playing through a series of holoscreens with pictures of various Akatsuki trainees in battle with the Chemos, 'We can start analyzing their battle tactics immediately.'

'We didn't see Nightwing for the entire battle,' Brain pointed out, 'And their biggest loss was Batman's injury. It's not much, but I think that confirms Madara's point on psychological warfare. Where is our resident Shinobi?'

'With Klarion,' said Lex Luthor from a screen on the wall, 'Making last minute preparations for our trans-dimensional voyage.'

'Our?' Vandal arched an eyebrow, 'You aren't going with them, are you?'

'I'm surprised you're passing up such an opportunity, Vandal,' said Lex with a small smile, 'A worldly man such as yourself should be inebriated at the opportunity to see other worlds.'

'I will pass,' Vandal dismissed with a wave of his hand, 'My interests lie in mankind and its dominion.'

'Fair enough, but I seek greater perspective.'

'Enjoy the trip,' muttered Deathstroke. He looked around and cleared his throat. 'Is it right for us to be discussing business without our full roster?'

'Queen Bee is still sanctioned in Bialya,' Vandal reminded him, 'And Black Manta is overseeing our little prison initiative.'

Deathstroke looked him dead in the eye. 'And Ra's?'

Vandal glared back at him and pulled on his collar slightly. 'He has been…silent as of late,' he admitted, 'I haven't been able to get in touch with him since this morning.'

Deathstroke didn't blink as he maintained his gaze. 'Probably putting his affairs in order.'

'Perhaps,' said Vandal, 'Or maybe he's arranging your funeral, Slade. It's hard to tell with him sometimes.'

'In any event,' said Luthor, breaking the awkward tension of the room, 'I have further business. It appears our investment in the DEO is not going as swimmingly as we'd planned.'

'Take care of it,' said Vandal, 'And fast. That's a fairly valuable asset that we've sunk more than enough money into. Tell Waller if she wants to use metahumans, that's fine. But those metahumans work for us.'

'I'll pass it along,' said Luthor before blinking away.

. . .

Waller was eating a hoagie when Luthor's bald head appeared on her screen. 'You've been naughty, Amanda,' he said, sounding more like a disappointed parent than a benevolent boss.

'You!' Amanda tossed away her sandwich and pointed her stubby finger at the screen, 'You unbelievable little turd!'

'Language,' said Luthor calmly, 'Now, we need to discuss you putting agents in the field to deliberately sabotage the Light.'

'We have nothing to discuss!' hissed Amanda. She saw Luthor pause and knew that the pure fury in her eyes was not being missed. 'You attacked American soil! As far as I am concerned, that makes you an enemy of the state.'

'An enemy with diplomatic immunity, among other things,' said Luthor, 'Being the secretary general of the UN has its perks.'

'The next time any one of you Light freak shows show your face in America, you'll have a suicide squad and twenty battalions following you at all times!' Amanda shouted, 'And if you ever pull a stunt like this again, I'll give everything over to congress!'

Luthor arched an eyebrow. 'You know that would indict you as well, right?'

'So long as I get to see your smug grin wiped away by a 300-pound leather daddy in an orange jumpsuit, worth it.'

'Let me be clear, Amanda,' said Luthor sternly, 'The Light funds your entire DEO operations. Without us, you don't exist.'

'Wrong!' screamed Amanda, 'You got my department off the ground which is the only reason why you're not court marshalled as we speak. But the DEO has been surviving off government loans for months. We're a part of the system now, baldy, not your puppet spy operation! Oh, and if you ever contact me again, I'll personally come to your house with a rusty razor blade and switch your scrotum with your scalp!' She slammed her fist down on the button to end the call and found no small satisfaction in seeing Luthor's face blink away.

. . .

Serial Port Component For Lazarus Pit For Sale

Kaldur slapped the file in his hands in front of Naruto's face. 'It's all here,' he said proudly, 'Constantine worked fast and pointed me towards coordinates in Montreal. He also said that once Grundy reforms, he'll be mad enough at Blood to support the magical task force. I can't advise you accept his help, but if we're desperate, his zombie magic could be useful. In any event, I took the liberty of hunting down Blood myself.'

Naruto flipped through the files. 'Montreal?'

'I was surprised myself,' agreed Kaldur, 'His apartment was abandoned, but I found the local chapter of the Sentinels of Magic and they helped me track his mystic signature to a hotel in Ontario.'

'Did he put up a resistance?' asked Hiruzen.

'None,' Kaldur replied, 'Once he saw my water bracers he surrendered. It was very anti-climactic. The police took him away.'

Naruto took out a page of the files. 'This is it,' he muttered, 'This is where Raven was conceived.' The paper showed an image of a large, cavernous room. The walls were supported by pillars carved into unholy nuns. In the center of the room was a raised platform and a stone altar with demonic text scrawled on it. Distinct claw marks ripped upon the altar around the very peculiar shape of an awkwardly bent human body. Under the image was an address in San Francisco.

'Platinum find out where this is,' he said, handing her the paper, 'And good work today. Getting the Metal Men and OMAC probably helped save the day. If I were paying you, I'd give you a huge raise.'

'I'll settle for a field position,' said Platinum crisply.

'Done.'

'Really?'

Naruto grinned. 'Do me another favor and tell the Terror Twins, Batwoman, and Firestorm that they're off the bench too. From now on, all hands on deck means all hands.'

Platinum gave a light solute and smiled before she rushed out of the room. Hiruzen watched her go and then looked out the window at the setting sun. Kaldur and Naruto exchanged a glance before Naruto went back to reading the files. 'Hiruzen,' he said calmly, 'If you don't go to her right this instant, I'll kick you so hard in the stomach that your nose will touch your toes.'

Hiruzen stared at Naruto for a moment. 'Is…is that an order or a threat?'

Naruto glanced up and Hiruzen gulped as his Sharingan spun. 'Both.'

'Right,' Hiruzen quickly moved towards the door and called Platinum's name as he left.

Kaldur collapsed into the nearest armchair and cracked his neck slightly. 'It's been a long day,' he said with a sigh, 'Maybe you should go home?'

Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but closed it again when he saw Kaldur wink slightly. He stood up and offered a small smile. 'For future reference,' he said as he prepared to leave, 'Next time M'gann wants you to deliver a message, just tell it to me and don't try to be all subtle about it.'

. . .

'Platinum!'

Platinum stopped walking and turned. 'Hiruzen.'

The shinobi caught up to her and slid to a stop. He looked into her silver eyes and was relieved to see the bright spark of life in them. Maybe it had been seeing the mechanical monotony of the Metal Men or the legitimate happiness Red Tornado had seemed to find in his own relationship, but something in him was ready. 'Would, uh, would you want to get dinner some time?'

Platinum stared at him and waited for a long moment while Hiruzen sweated over her response. 'I'm conflicted,' she said finally, 'I want to say yes and follow the proper protocols you're setting by asking me out…'

Hiruzen winced. 'But?'

'But I also want to just kiss you and start there instead.'

'Oh!' Hiruzen blinked, 'Uh, I guess that's as good a place to start as any.' He had barely gotten the sentence out when Platinum had her hands wrapped around his waist and her lips pressed against his. It was uncomfortable, but only for a moment. They had kissed once before, but this was different, not frantic and charged but slow and affectionate. Her lips felt like copper, but tasted like peaches. Hiruzen briefly wondered how she got them to have a metallic taste, but then she gently poked her silver tongue in his mouth and he decided he didn't care.

. . .

Naruto Hiraishined into his apartment. The place was quiet, but the light was on in the living room. 'M'gann?' he said hesitantly.

'Come in,' she called back, 'We should talk.' Naruto took off his robe and stepped into the living room. M'gann was sitting cross-legged on the couch in her pajamas, eating a bowl of ice cream. 'So,' she said softly, 'It's been a long day.'

'Yeah,' agreed Naruto, running his hand through his hair, 'I'm sure we're about to have huge public repercussions.'

'Oh, we already have,' M'gann motioned to the turned-off television, 'I couldn't watch anymore though.'

Naruto sat down on the couch. 'So this is probably the wrong time to be asking this, but how are we? As a couple, I mean?'

M'gann closed her eyes and set down her bowl. 'I don't really want to talk about it right now.'

'I really think we should. I don't want to go to bed knowing there's a gap between us.'

'Okay, fine then. Naruto, you hurt me,' said M'gann frankly, 'You hurt me by pretending you were dead for two years and, while you were hurting me then, you got together with another girl. I…just thinking about all the different ways that hurts me hurts me.'

'I know,' whispered Naruto, 'And believe me, I am so sorry I did any of that. Rose was probably the biggest mistake of my life. One that I'll never repeat.'

'I get that you're not going to do it again, Naruto. It's that you did it all that makes my chest hurt.'

Naruto closed his eye, but too late to stop any tears. 'Yeah,' he said, trying to not sound as desperate as he felt, 'I understand.' They sat in silence for a bit and M'gann returned to her bowl while Naruto stared between his legs, his heart skipping every few beats.

After almost a minute, M'gann finished the last of her ice cream. She leaned her head back and stared up at the ceiling. 'I love you,' she said, 'You know that. I love you too much. I always have.' Naruto said nothing. He loved her back and wanted to scream it to the heavens, but he knew that at this moment, it would sound disingenuous. 'I know you'll never do this to me again,' she said softly, 'But I need to know two things. I need to know what you'll do to try and make this up to me and I need to know what you were thinking when you did this.'

Naruto closed his eyes and hung his head. 'I'll do anything,' he said honestly, his voice cracking hard as he wept, 'I'll…anything. Please, I just want you back in my life. I need you and being away from you has been a nightmare, not knowing if I'd ever even see you again. I can't imagine what it must have felt like to deal with that loneliness for two whole years.'

'I had boyfriends to break up the monotony,' said M'gann with a small chuckle, 'Of course, I thought the love of my life was dead so it's not exactly the same.' She closed her eyes and the smile left her face. 'What were you thinking, Naruto?'

Naruto took a deep breath and felt his lungs rasp. 'I…I don't remember,' he said, 'I was obsessed with Madara and the reformation of Akatsuki. I was tired from dealing with the underworld and lonely from being away from my friends. Then I ran into Rose, a girl with similar combat experience and the same disenfranchised view of the world and…we just…I wasn't looking for anything but…' He let the sentence trail and hoped it was a good enough response for her. They sat in silence again for almost five minutes, just listening to each other breath. M'gann kept her eyes closed, but Naruto was staring at her through her tears, counting her freckles as he liked to do whenever he was tired or anxious.

'Sometimes I wish I'd never left Mars,' she said, 'Back there, I could just read your mind and share your thoughts.'

'My mind is always open to you, M'gann.'

'I know, but I don't want to haveto read your mind to know you love me.'

'I do love you, M'gann, maybe more than you could know.'

M'gann took a long breath before opening her eyes and standing up. She held out her hand and Naruto took it. She raised him to his feet, standing close in his arms. Standing on her toes, she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. 'Come to bed,' she whispered, 'We're both tired and we both need a rest.'

'Thank you,' whispered Naruto as tears dripped from his face to the carpet, 'Thank you.'

. . .

In the bowels of a hellish dimension, Raven sat atop her throne of skulls. The infinite army of demons before her spilled their vices into her very essence and she smiled at the power they filled her with. Behind her, the dark cloud that had hung over the sky of this world since time immemorial was beginning to solidify and take shape. 'Are you ready, my child?' it whispered in her ear, 'Is my Prrrrriiiiiide prepared to march on her old world?'

'That depends,' said Raven, her voice resonating with pure sin, 'Blood! Harm!' At her sides, Harm and Jason Blood perked up. 'You will lead my honor guard into Earth, heralding my return and protecting me while I perform the ritual to summon my father, the great lord Trigon! Do you accept this honor?'

Harm snarled and knelt down, slapping his chest with his fist. 'Yes, my queen!' he hissed proudly.

Jason Blood stared up sadly at Raven and slowly fell to his knees, more in shock and shame then loyalty. 'What have I done?' he whispered, saluting her in the same manner Harm had.

'Then I am complete!' Raven stood and stretched her arms out for her demons to see, 'RISE!' she roared. Trigon laughed hysterically and the demon army surged forwards, afraid to touch even the steps to Raven's throne, but also afraid to disobey their unholy mistress.

. . .

In the middle of the night, the phone on Naruto's bedside table rang. With a groan, he rolled over and picked it up. 'This better be good,' he said into it.

'It's Platinum,' said the voice at the other end of the line, 'Listen, I know you don't want to be bothered right now, but you need to hear this.'

Naruto rubbed his temples. 'What is it?'

'You know that address you gave me? It turns out it was a library in the Presidio of San Francisco that got condemned at the turn of the century and was torn down in 2005.'

'Okay, why is that a concern?'

'Because the land it used to be on was bought out and renovated by an entertainment company called Golden Gate Genre, which is secretly a subsidiary of Lexcorp. They built a television studio on the whole site.'

Naruto thought for a moment before all the puzzle pieces came together in his mind. Lex Luthor funding a television studio over a satanic ritual site. Golden Gate Genre. GGG. 'Oh. My. God,' he said, sitting up in bed, 'This studio. What kind of shows are filmed there?'

On the other end, Platinum laughed. 'Oh, I think you know.'

'G. Gordon Godfrey,' muttered Naruto in amazement. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, silently cursing each and every member of the Light. 'Sneaky little jerks,' he sighed, falling back on his bed, 'Sneaky. Little. Jerks.'

. . .

Thanks for the reviews! Keep 'em coming!

Okay, real talk guys. I had second thoughts about posting this chapter today. I'd worked on it for weeks and its just bad luck that I happened to finish it only a little while after what happened in Orlando. Obviously posting a chapter about a fictional terrorist attack right after a very real, unfair, and senseless massacre of innocent people is in bad taste, but I ultimately decided to post it in spite of the timing.

I made this decision based on what comic and anime heroes mean to me. They are characters meant to inspire. We are supposed to identify with them and their struggles and then appreciate their victories because it makes us believe we can have our own tiny victories. They tell mythic stories that embody the best aspects of mankind and the innate humanity within all of us. Should I have held off on posting this, or maybe rewritten it entirely? Maybe, and I don't blame you if you think that and hate me for it. But to me, this is exactly the type of scenario that these characters are for, and showing the inevitable triumph of the championed heroes over the mindless, toxic goops that permeate within our midst is not only something I enjoy, but I sometimes feel it is my duty.

I wish everyone in Orlando and all my friends in the LGBTQ community the best and I know that we can recover from this attack. Believe it.