He just Ninja'ed us!
-.-
D/C: I own nothing.
-.-
Takes place during "Downtime."
-.-
"What did you do to him?"
"Stuff.
"What kind of stuff?"
"Just… stuff…"
"Conner… what did Shikamaru do to Superman?"
"You don't want to know. He told me, and I saw what he did. You don't want to know." Conner stated, he glanced over at Shikamaru and restrained himself from shivering in fear. For someone that considers everything troublesome, he knows how to pull off intricate plans. Extremely intricate plans… "You just don't want to know."
-.-
"Superman is temporarily out of commission for the time being…" Batman made it a point to stare down at Shikamaru as he said this. The now again twelve-year-old let out a yawn, not even caring what he did to the alien superhero. He then turned his attention to Superboy. "Once he comes back, he made it a point to finally take you on as his apprentice."
'Mission…success.'
-.-
"Why aren't you out there with them, Insight?"
Shikamaru rolled his eyes at his 'Superhero' name. Insight. Someone from the team picked it out for him after he considered it too troublesome to come up with a codename. He couldn't call himself after an animal, Kid Flash stated it wouldn't work considering the lack of motif. They went ahead with the suggestion without his permission and was dubbed as such. Now back to the original question. "I broke my arm emotionally blackmailing Superman."
"…Will, you ever going to tell anyone how you actually broke your arm?"
Insight swiveled his chair around to come face to face with Martian Manhunter. When Manhunter saw the cast on the preteen, he simply blinked and wondered if he actually told the truth. Considering he can't the young boy's mind, it is… rather difficult to figure out what going on in there in the first place.
"Batman still doesn't trust me yet to not kill anyone but he trusts me enough to man things from here." Insight motioned to the holographic computer with his good arm. Images of the Team fighting against Clayface covered every screen. "No matter what strategy I throw at them to use, it isn't good if their minds are in the clouds."
"Explain."
Insight swiveled the chair once more so that he was facing the computers. "Aqualad, despite the fact showing tremendous leadership skills, his mind is elsewhere. Questioning himself, does he belong here or back at Atlantis. Robin… he's fighting to prove his worth. He may have what it takes, but he's still young and not mature enough to see that he's proved it time and time again. Kid Flash… he may act like an idiot like Green Beast, but within him, there's something more. The only thing holding him back is his insecurity. What it is, I have yet to have all the information on him to have a full analysis. Artemis, she wants to prove to everyone she can make it on the Team and that she's isn't like her father."
"How did-"
"Batman shouldn't have trusted me fully with the computers."
"…Noted. Continue."
"Miss. Martian… she's too eager to please and still unfamiliar on how to interact with the others. She's trying but it shows with her work. She does, however, work rather well with Superboy. With brings me to him… Where do I start with him…? I dare say, Rock Lee, is doing wonders for him."
"What is your weakness? You seem to know your teammate's weaknesses, could you recognize your own?" Manhunter asked the youth earnestly. He watched as Insight closed his eyes and seemed to scour through his mind for an answer. The Martian swore just for the slightest moment, he could see into Insight's mind.
The memory showed a battlefield, an army going up against what seems to be a plant like a monster, on top of said monster are two men that are pulling the supposed string of said monster. Within the army in charged to take them down is an older Shikamaru just heard the last words from his father.
Another memory is of a man dying in Shikamaru's arms and the teen crying out and promising to look after his teacher's child. The scene changed to the same man alive once more, Shikamaru and his teammates having to go up against him for the last time before releasing his soul once more.
"Excuse me for a moment, Beast, remember the Exams?" Insight stated through the earpiece, he got a confirmation when Green Beast blurred out of sight. "Aqualad, electrocute him the moment Beast gives you an opening, everyone else keeps watch and get out of the way once that moment comes."
"Exams?"
"…Too troublesome to explain."
-.-
It was safe to say, despite the fact they defeated the villain it was still felt like a massive loss. Insight was only supposed to observe the fight, put in advice here and there, or get in contact with someone from the League in case they needed more help. No. The preteen, or was it, teen, gave them the plan to defeat Clayface the moment before Batman arrived to do the job for them.
Things only got worse for one when Batman requested to talk to Aqualad alone and excused everyone to head home. Still… good day?
"He, sir-thinks-a lot, had a plan, why didn't he say anything in the first place." Artemis grumbled just loud enough for everyone in Miss. Martian's ship could hear.
"Insight was only there to call for emergency. He gave us advice…which not all of us took to begin with." Aqualad stated as he entered the ship. He looked around to see that everyone looked completely exhausted, except for Green Beast. "Next time, we will have to heed his words in combat."
-.-
"We need to talk."
Robin looked over to see Shikamaru at the entrance of his designated room at the Cave. He and the others had just arrived, and they were going their own way for the day. He, Artemis, Kid Flash, and Aqualad will be leaving while Green Beast, Insight, Miss. Martian and Superboy are staying behind doing whatever. The Boy Wonder had hoped he won't be facing Insight anytime soon, he still hasn't exactly gotten over what occurred in their first meeting each other. "On what? How did you get in my room?"
"Batman." Insight stated in a blunt tone, he walked into the room and closed the door behind himself. There was just enough light in the room to produce the bare minimum to still be able to see. Robin quickly began to realize this the moment he was in the same room as Insight. Contrary to what many believe, he and Insight never really 'talked' about what occurred that night.
Insight shrugs it off in his troublesome attitude, showing no apology. True that Robin been through a lot of similar situations but that time just… it was the first actual time he felt death was near. Batman wasn't coming to save him.
That and it irks Robin to no end how this… the new guy just come into the picture and jus-
"Look. I am not going to sugar coat this. If you were being hunted down back where I'm from… depending on which country, they either bring you in in a bloody bag or just barely alive to torture information out of you." Insight stated, all the while not even changing his expression or his tone of voice. "Imagine myself, after dealing with so much troublesome crap and having unknowns after me… I went on survival mode."
"I… How different is your world from ours?"
"We don't have people running around in their underwear like here. Well… there was that one time I was dared to take Naruto and Kiba's clothing…and then there's the whole onesie's thing Lee wears… Oh, Kami… What a drag…"
"Do I even want to know?"
"No, unless you want to lose a couple of brain cells or have the highest need to pull your eyes out of your skull… where was I going with this?"
"How different your world is from this one."
"Right… That reminds me… Batman is looking for you."
-.-
Shikamaru and Rock Lee had planned to scout out the area of the Cave, however, the both of them could sense they were being followed and ditched that idea. It would be too much of a hassle if they ditched the stalker then it would arise problems so…
"What should we do now, Shikamaru?"
"You could always train?"
"I am still waiting until the new training equipment comes in for me to use and you are still recovering from when you broke your arm on purpose."
"Right… We could always go cloud watching on top of the cave? Mental training exercise."
"Hm… Guy-Sensei has been telling me to do so such a thing! If I cannot do this then I wil-"
"Lee…shut up."
-.-
Superman finally felt well enough to return to his superhero work. After spending some time with Ma and Pa on the farm, he felt well enough after seeing the things he saw. As he flew over Mount Justice, he nearly got a heart attack. There was Shikamaru Nara and Rock Lee walking up straight on the mountain. They were not climbing, they were walking up straight as they headed up towards the top of the mountain.
Superman inwardly twitched, taking in a deep breath he turned around and headed back to the farm. Maybe he'll call Lois to come down for a visit.
To be continued…
R/R.