A/N: And now, proof the Justice League is not stupid and Kaiba is still a sneaky bastard.

Cameras Don't Lie

:Set.:

Kaiba twitched.

:You've grown well.:

The voice, that voice...he knew who it...was...

:So good to know you come at my call.:

It could not be...

:My son.:

Kaiba flinched and deep within his mind, Seth's memories and soul screamed and tried to hide. Kaiba struggled to free himself of the nightmare when something brushed his wrist, something familiar. He tried to focus on the familiar sensation in an effort to drown own the nightmarish voice. Yuugi, he realized; it was Yuugi's Shadow. He tried to reach out to it with his own Shadows but it was gone, ripped away, taking the dreaded voice with it. The Regent sighed and allowed his body to relax, drifting into a deep sleep.

The next time he felt the edges of wakefulness, Kaiba kept his eyes closed and reached out tentatively with his Shadow senses, noticing their unusually sluggish response time. He also tried to move but did not get far before noticing a distinctly unpleasant pressure over his wrists, ankles, and chest. His brow furrowed when he twisted his wrists experimentally and found them firmly bound to the bed by his sides. He was lying on his back on a badly padded table or bed, probably in a medical facility if the beeping nearby was any indicator.

But why was he here? How did he get here? Who would bring him here?

He felt a brief moment of near panic when he realized he could not feel his Deck on his person. He understood his gun being removed but not his Deck. Reacting to their master's emotions, the Shadows slithered as fast as they could in search of their Regent's Deck. They could feel the Deck close by but they could not quite reach it.

Well, this was an annoying situation. The Shadows were not responding to Kaiba's commands as quickly or as powerfully as they normally did which meant something was wrong; something was blocking or restraining them. Also, he was bound to a bed in the middle of a brightly lit room that cast very few shadows. It was so bright, he could see the red glow through his eyelids. The only Shadows Kaiba could faintly feel were the one directly beneath him on the mattress, the shadow cast by the bed he lay on, and the incomplete shadow of another person in the room.

He was curious to note the other person in his vicinity. He attempted to identify the other person and was stunned to find it difficult. The Shadows recognized this person but could not touch it or influence it directly which meant Kaiba was on his own. The other person's shadow was distorted across several directions on the ground confusing his Shadows. Omnidirectional lighting. Shit. That would make his escape complicated. Not impossible, just complicated and possibly headache inducing.

"Awake I see?"

Cold filled Kaiba's mind, recognizing the voice. "Telepath," he growled, opening his eyes to glare at the speaker standing on his left.

The Martian's sea green skin was smooth forming a humanoid body with a high forehead and prominent chin. Dark gold eyes ringed with black stared at him intently. They held no anger in their gaze, simply mild interest. The alien nodded. "Yes. Your dislike for telepaths has been expressed rather clearly."

"Good," Kaiba replied. "Then stay out of my mind."

"I'm afraid that may not possible," another voice interrupted drawing the attention of the two already present. The newcomer wore a grey suit with black boots, a black cape, and black cowl. No one would ever say Batman was not easily identifiable. "We need to know what you did to those people."

Kaiba snorted. "Is this an interrogation?"

Batman met cold blue eyes evenly. "If it has to be."

Kaiba smirked. "Then I want a lawyer."

"Not possible."

"Denying me my human rights." Blue eyes closed as Kaiba relaxed on the mattress. "You truly do have a dark soul Wane."

A part of him wanted to see Batman's reaction to hearing his civilian name. He had been unable to absolutely confirm Batman's identity. But if he was wrong, Batman would likely correct him, which he did not. Kaiba contented himself with scoping the so-called hero out with his Shadow senses. He had not been lying when he said Batman had a dark soul. The Shadows practically basked in the Dark Knight's presence, acknowledging his potential gift.

Batman's gift, if he ever tapped into it, would most likely enhance his ability to hide in the shadows as well as travel the Shadow Paths if he honed them correctly. As it was, Batman did not know of his potential ability and therefore had not used the Shadows. Kaiba could not help but feel a twisted sense of victory knowing that the moment Batman ever touched his latent Shadow powers, he would immediately fall into the Earthbound Shadow Kingdom and by extension under Kaiba's rule. Kaiba Seto would never pass up an opportunity to see that stunned expression on Batman's face, ridiculous bat cowl or not.

Because he could sense Batman so clearly in his mind, Kaiba was not caught of guard when the hero grabbed a handful of his shirt and yanked him up so his body strained against the straps holding it down. Instead, he merely opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow mockingly.

"People are dead because of you," Batman demanded, voice cold and powerful. "Whatever you did to that woman has her headed straight to an insane asylum."

Kaiba narrowed his eyes. "I killed no one."

"Liar."

Kaiba narrowed his eyes and met Batman's gaze with sharp spikes of ice. "I killed no one."

"And the woman?"

"Paying the price of breaking the rules."

"What rules?" Kaiba merely smirked and refused to say any more to Batman's intense frustration. "Look," Batman said, "it's either me or Green Arrow. And considering it's his city you've been screwing with, you can bet he won't be anywhere near as merciful as me."

"Do your worst," was all the CEO of KaibaCorp said before closing his eyes and deliberately ignoring the rodent hero.

"Suit yourself."

Batman released the captive and turned to J'onn. "Get what you can from him," he said quietly.

/Are you sure that is wise?/ J'onn asked. /I do not make a habit of intruding on other people's minds./

Batman cast a burning glare at the the young man strapped to the bed. /Wise or not, we need to know if he's guilty. He won't talk, so alternate methods are needed,/ he replied mentally.

J'onn considered a moment. /I will attempt to speak with him, but if he resists, I will not push him. I do not believe he is guilty./

Batman turned to J'onn in surprise. "No?"

J'onn shook his head in confirmation. "I do not."

Batman was silent in thought. "Alright then. I trust your judgement."

J'onn blinked, acknowledging the compliment, and waited until Batman was gone. When he was alone with the human who's mind burned, he spoke. "How old are you?"

"Google works wonders," was the confusing reply.

J'onn tilted his head. "I do not understand." A blue eyes opened and stared at him before Kaiba snorted, a smile tugging at his lips but did not clarify. "You are young and your power is significant," J'onn continued. "You use a power I have never seen before."

The young man remained silent, closing his eye and taking a deep breath, releasing it in a put upon sigh. J'onn sighed sympathetically but nevertheless, reached out with his mind and brushed the young man's thoughts. He braced for the expected burn but surprisingly he was met by nothing. A swirl of darkness met him instead. It resembled the domes of darkness he had observed earlier that day in Starling City. Curious, he placed his fingertips lightly on the dome and was assaulted by a blinding flash of white, glowing blue eyes, and a deafening roar.

He retreated from the young man's mind with a terrified cry. He stumbled back, arms raised in defense, and noticed he was back in the simple holding room. He glanced down at the bound prisoner when he heard laughter. Sure enough, the young man was literally shaking with semi-controlled laughter. Blue eyes flickered to J'onn's face then all control fled and laughter echoed in the room.

J'onn had the distinct feeling he was the brunt of a very sick joke. That laughter was neither lighthearted nor sane. It tinkled with a hysterical edge that made J'onn distinctly uncomfortable. His senses were screaming at him to flee the room and he obeyed that urge with no regrets. Whatever beast guarded that young man's unhinged mind was not something to be taken lightly.

He made his way down the winding halls to the Control Room where his fellow Justice League members were gathered. He needed something to drown out that insane laughter from his mind. Surprisingly, Superman was there near the huge screen on the far wall.

"J'onn," the Kryptonian called. "Glad you could make it."

"Clark, I was unaware of your return," the Martian replied, nodding in greeting.

"I only just arrived." Superman glanced at the hooded vigilante leaning over a computer and talking in low voices with Flash. "Arrow managed to get a hold of some security footage of the incident from the building. Apparently, even vacant floors are watched these days."

"In high rise buildings that house multiple companies at a time?" Batman said. "You bet they are. Corporate espionage is very real."

Superman nodded sagely.

"Got it!" Flash hollered. "I'll put it on the monitor."

The large screen on the wall above them ceased glowing a dull blue and fizzled into a series of grey-scale videos with time stamps on the lower right hand corner of each. The video in the upper left hand corner showed the stairwell entrance, the video in the upper right hand corner showed an empty expanse of floor with windows in the background, the video on the lower left hand corner showed another empty corner of the floor with more windows in the background, and the video in the lower right hand corner showed a corner of the floor that was occupied by three individuals. Flash hit the play button and the videos started moving.

"No sound, Barry?" Diana asked, walking into the room with two cups of coffee in her hands. She handed one to Shayera who walked in after her.

"Nope, sorry," Flash replied.

"Why not?" Shayera asked.

"Most security tapes don't have sound to protect personal information," Arrow answered.

"What is that?" she asked, pointing to the black sludge web that appeared on the video holding the red headed woman captive.

"I don't know," Arrow replied.

The companions watched the videos closely for several minutes before Diana broke the silence. "Wait," she said. "Go back a bit. There. Look at the video of the stairwell."

Barry obediently rewound the video several frames, paused the video, and enlarged the stairwell video so it took up the majority of the screen. He pressed play again and they watched the door crack open and something block the narrow stream of light. After a few seconds, the opening enlarged and someone stepped into the dark room. Barry paused the video and zoomed into the person's face as far as the resolution would allow.

"Kaiba," Arrow breathed.

"Kaiba?" Superman asked.

"Our guest," J'onn clarified.

Zooming back out, to the full image, Barry played the video and they watched Kaiba shifted, easing the stairwell door closed. The video Kaiba glanced around the room before melting into the darkness.

"What just happened?" Batman demanded. "What did he do?"

"I'm not sure," Barry said. "But it was pretty cool."

"Move back to the other videos and see if you can find him."

Flash shrank the stairwell video back into the corner so the others were readily visible and the group scoured the images for Kaiba.

"What's that by the stairwell again?" Batman asked.

"That's us," Arrow replied. "Shayera spotted someone running across buildings and alerted us. We didn't know it was Kaiba at the time."

Batman nodded and they returned their attention to the videos. A black dome appeared over the people in the lower right video hiding them from view. Barry immediately enlarged it.

Superman leaned forward in surprise. "What is that?"

"That, we don't know." J'onn said calmly.

Then Diana gasped. A humanoid shadow detached itself from a nearby column in the video and moved towards the dome. "Is that-?"

"Kaiba," J'onn answered again, watching the footage carefully. "He has the ability to shroud his appearance."

"Among other things," Arrow muttered.

The video Kaiba studied the dome, brushing a hand against it. The League watched in fascination as strands of darkness from the dome swirled around Kaiba's fingers. Then Kaiba pulled his hand back and walked straight into the dome.

"Wha-?"

"Wait!" Barry interrupted. "Keep watching."

The group fell silent and continued to watch. Arrow hurried across the floor from one video to the one with the dome moments after Kaiba disappeared. Flash and J'onn followed shortly after. The video Flash said something that was inaudible before reaching out to touch the dome. He quickly withdrew his hand when it passed through the darkness only to reappear right next to his wrist reaching for him in a bizarre effect.

"It appears to be a distortion in space of some kind," J'onn said simply at the collective gasps of surprise from the League members who were watching this for the first time.

"Seen anything like it before?" Arrow asked Superman.

The caped hero shook his head, still recovering from the shock of what he was seeing. "I have not."

The dome on the video convulsed suddenly before seeming to burst outward forcing the League members on the tape to fall back. Then the darkness abruptly changed direction and came rushing in as if imploding on itself. The humans from before plus the shrouded Kaiba remained in the wake of the dome's disappearance.

"What's he doing?" Shayera asked, watching Kaiba's reaction to the inflow of darkness in something akin to awe. "He looks like he's worshipping."

"Or being worshipped," Diana added uncertainly.

"I do not know for certain," J'onn said. "But when I witnessed this in person, I could not help but feel something..."

Arrow glanced on his friend. "You never mentioned this before."

J'onn almost blushed. "I...did not know how to explain it."

"Bad or good?" Batman asked, breaking into that line of questioning.

"Good," J'onn replied, relieved by the distraction. "I believe I may have experienced some of Kaiba's emotions in that moment. I remember feeling the ragged darkness that accompanied the previous crime scene dissipating, replaced by a wilder, more powerful version."

"Kaiba's?"

"I believe so."

They returned their attention to the video and watched the Arrow on the screen get up to his knees, knocking an arrow and aiming it at the Kaiba's back. He did not release right away but watched as Kaiba approached the man and red headed woman and checked for a pulse. The J'onn on the screen caught Arrow's arm and prevented him from taking the shot when it appeared the vigilante would fire.

"Why did you stop him?" Diana asked.

"I recognized the presence accompanying Kaiba," J'onn replied. "I did not yet know his identity, but I recognized the mental signature. It was the same presence that has been following us for the past day or so. I spoke with it at the Arrow Cave earlier that night."

"Don't call it that," Arrow muttered, ignored by everyone.

"Check this out," Barry interrupted.

Everyone followed Flash's gaze to the monitor and saw another black dome rise, this time around the blonde woman and Kaiba. The Arrow on the screen yanked his arm free of J'onn's grip and fired, the arrow missing its target, colliding with the dome instead. But due to the dome's affect, the arrow returned the same direction it came from forcing the vigilante to duck. The Arrow on screen was obviously not happy with this result.

The Martian had meanwhile moved back to the open area and knelt before the petrified man speaking to him with unheard voices.

"Did he have anything interesting to say?" Superman asked.

J'onn nodded. "He said Kaiba was the one who stopped the blonde-"

"Abigail," Barry interrupted. "I just looked her up. Her name's Abigail Harris, 28."

J'onn continued. "He said Kaiba stopped whatever Abigail had started. He mentioned our guest spoke a foreign language he had never heard of before."

"Japanese probably," Arrow said. "He is a Japanese citizen after all. Could he identify the language if he ever heard it again?"

J'onn nodded. "The man-"

"Edgar Elwis, 32," Flash interrupted again.

"Edgar said Kaiba commanded a monster to obeyed him."

"Monster?" Batman asked.

"Yes," J'onn replied. "It was described as," he hesitated, "a 'purple crocodile thing.'" J'onn blushed faintly. "According to Edgar, Kaiba said something in another language and the monster vanished with the darkness."

"A 'purple crocodile thing'?" Shayera asked incredulously.

"Could be one of the monsters from Greek mythos," Batman said, glancing at Diana who shook her head.

"I've never heard of anything like that," she said thoughtfully.

"I looked into the ma- Edgar's mind," J'onn hurriedly corrected before he could be interrupted again, "and saw the creature. I too could not recognize the language but I did see the darkness and the monster vanish after Kaiba spoke."

"So perhaps not an enemy, then," Diana whispered.

"Look!"

The group turned back to the screen to see the other dome convulse in a familiar pattern before bursting outward again blowing the group on the screen to the ground with the force of it before retreating back into Kaiba's shrouded form. The blonde human woman knelt limply on the floor before the tall and imposing Seto Kaiba. The video Arrow raised his bow at Kaiba's face and they watched as the shrouded young man turned to face the vigilante. Then madness erupted.

"What just happened?" Shayera asked.

"The woman screamed," J'onn answered, his face scrunched in thought. "I felt her mind. It was lost just like the survivors of the other crimes."

"So Kaiba is the culprit."

"No, I do not believe so," J'onn countered, voice sure. "The darkness I felt in her mind was...different from that inhabiting the other survivors' minds. That darkness was evil and methodical in its destruction." He met Shayera's eyes evenly. "The darkness in this woman's mind was chaotic but not necessarily evil."

"It did the same damage though, didn't it?" Batman insisted, drawing J'onn's attention.

"I...believe so," the Martian conceded. "But I stand by my belief that Kaiba is innocent."

"Good," a new voice interrupted the proceedings. "One less idiot to deal with."

The Justice League whirled and see none other than Seto Kaiba standing tall in the doorway to the Control Room, cold blue eyes narrowed, arms crossed, belt with both holsters back on his hips, and trench coat flaring out behind him.