Disclaimer: Do not own Young justice or the Justice League. They are property of DC Comics and their respective creators/writers.

Short a/n- So I'm thinking this story is finally coming to a close. Maybe another less than ten chapters or so before the finale but who knows. It's been real and I'd like to thank the people who have stuck with me and this long haul. If I was wearing a hat I'd take it off for you. This chap is rather short I know but I had to get it out there.

Um so yea…Enjoy.

Last on EoBaW

Stalking back towards the male, Lei's eyes bore into his not a word passed between the two. "You will do." Not able to ask what the woman was referring to Lei continued past him reaching a manicured hand to the door. "Meet me at the Windsor Hotel 1:30 tonight. There is much to be discussed.. You are very welcome to come too Batman," Lei spoke as she continued out of the door with one last glance to her brother she left.

Cold air soon hit the older male as he turned to the window that had, seemingly, opened by itself.

"I should have known," Lee spoke, deflating a bit as the Dark Knight entered through the window closing it swiftly behind him.

"We need to talk."

"That, is an understatement."

Continued…..

It had taken Roy, Wally, and Dick a while to get to the museum without the help of the Bioship, having hailed a taxi after of course walking a ways from the Zeta tube. If there was one thing they knew it was to keep any and all prying eyes off of them and getting a taxi near an abandoned warehouse like that was not the way to do it.

"So where do we start?" Wally asked looking around the rather large lobby. He, like the other two standing in the mostly empty hall hadn't had the time previously to enjoy the cultural esthetics. Now it wasn't like they could enjoy it today either, with everything heavy weighing down on them.

"Anywhere would be fine," Roy grumbled heading directly to the first exhibit.

Giving Dick a slight nudge to get moving, they shared a quick glance, a small smile gracing the raven's features, before they quickly followed after Roy. Once again it wasn't much as far as Wally was concerned, his focus half on his younger friend, but it would do. Once all of this was over Wally was going to force all three of them to a week of nothing but movies. No classes, no team missions, no outside disturbances. Just them, the TV, and a crap load of popcorn.

Making it into the first exhibit, Wally walked up to a rather large document that Roy had been staring at for who knows how long. The male walked way too fast when he was on a mission. Finishing up with the manuscript that was surprisingly in English, Wally moved onto glancing around the room realizing that the white walls were decorated with nothing but historical papers. Thankfully not all as massive as the ones they stood in front of.

After a few more seconds of gazing upon the document, Roy moved onto the next one, this surrounded by glass. Focusing his gaze on the documents behind the glass, Roy spoke keeping his voice low enough for just his two younger friends to hear, even with only two other people on the other side of the room. "There's a lot about you that guy knows about. Especially when it comes to this business we're in right now."

"That Dorian guy," Wally pondered; speed reading through the same document Roy had ceased to read before moving onto the next one. A smack from Dick was all he needed to slow his role having forgotten that they were in public. "What's up with him?"

It took Dick a moment to answer not at all sure how true what the strange male had said was, feeling deep down somewhere that it was. "He said he was my Uncle."

"Half uncle," Roy butt in stepping away from the document moving onto the next glass covered paper. "And from the looks of it I'm going to guess and say your father's side of the family."

That was something Dick would have to agree on. "…Yea."

"So this guy?" Wally asked stepping up to another document, this one depicting a samurai not unlike the ones that stood out in the lobby. Really it would help to have some form of clue as to what it was they were looking for. Right now he felt like just any other person who frequented the museum to just stare at history.

"That's all he told me before Sammy came." The only thing of real importance, that is. Honestly he wished he had more time to talk with the older male, at least get a feel for himself just what Dorian was up to.

Nodding his head Roy kept his eyes on the new document Wally was staring at. Nothing was popping out to him what-so-ever. "He showed up at the hospital."

This got two sets of eyes to tear themselves from their purchase on the picture to him. "For what?" It was Dick who had voiced the question that was on the tip of the younger redheads tongue.

Tearing his own eyes from the manuscript to the youngest member of their group Roy studied Dicks face. "Come on." Without question Wally and Robin followed the older redhead to a more secluded portion of the room before posting up against the wall. "Dorian and I talked. Apparently he knows a lot about what's going on right now between you, the items, Ying, and the Jade Sun. On top of whatever it is those three gangs have been up to in the past."

Taking in the information, Dick was trying his best to put two and two together. There was a reason why the older male had chosen now of all times to reveal himself. "So why is he here?"

"Dorian says it's to protect you."

That was not the answer that Dick was expecting to get. He, however, knew Roy to not be a liar. He may have been one to bend the truth from time to time but that was only when it involved Ollie and this was not one of those times. "But you don't believe him." He had caught onto the slight sarcastic tone that Roy's voice had gained at the end of his words.

"Not one bit."

Answered rather quickly, Wally would take that reply and run with it. "What did he want?"

"I have three days to kill Ying. Finish his job. I'm pretty sure if I don't he won't just stop at finishing that off. "

Wait, woah, what? "He's the one that…"

"Once again…To protect you."

"Why?"

"From what he says, Ying was originally down here to kill you. With his association with the Jade Sun and Shadow Oni, and your mother being a Guardian…It could be bad blood." Stepping off the wall Roy began to walk again albeit slowly keeping his voice down as they continued onto another exhibit. "Something must have happened between her reading that book and leaving Asia with at least the locket."

Nodding his head, Dick couldn't agree more with Roy's deductions. "For them to send over a would be assassin to get it back, yea."

"Either that," Roy spoke up, stopping once again, this time in front of a rather large jade dragon in the next room. "Or something bigger was going down. Crimson admitted Ying was there to get rid of him. There was something going on that the organizations didn't want him leaking but regardless of that Ying didn't do it."

"I doubt they told Ying exactly what that information was, if that were the case, just as long as he got rid of Lee. However he did it could have either been up to his discretion."

"Or he was meant to bring us into the mix," Wally mused thinking of the events. How likely was it that he would have worked his way to getting to become the Crimson Avenger's partner, someone who was not a member of the League, into working alongside the League and their partners? All for the sake of what?

Going with the 'Here to kill Dick theory…'

Ying would have to know that the League would be suspicious, more so than they were before, if he had of just shown up out of the blue without some form of backing. The League, especially the founding members, would be less likely to trust him let alone allow the male permission to work alongside the Young Justice by himself. So you have Roy accompany them and virtually have Black Canary on stand-by (no doubt the older hero had been doing her own form of research on Lee and Ying.)

Between that, Batman would have done extensive background checks on the male as well, if he hadn't already, meaning that any and all information would have been gained within like what…A few days of them having worked with the Ying. Meaning that since they had worked with the older male for a little over a month, Batman had found nothing incriminating on him, at least enough to pull him from further working with Robin and them. So he had a pretty solid and very fake alibi, but would that be enough to fake out the Bat?

If he were indeed a threat then Batman would definitely have gotten that squared away with from the jump. There must be something that they were missing.

"Which could have meant that Ying knew beforehand who Lee Travis actually was," Dick finished the thought out loud bringing Wally back to the conversation at hand. "But since he was sent here to kill him I doubt that's the case."

"Lee Travis is a well-known writer in New York. He brings a lot of crime syndicates as well as crocked multi-billion dollar companies to the light. Think what he could do to a major drug gang," Wally mused stopping himself from delving further into all the possible implications for what was going on. They were definitely missing something.

For some reason two of the three associations had joined forces against another one, deduced from Ying's Tattoo's. All for the sake of the items it was safe to assume, so that meant that Ying was Jade Sun (by blood apparently) and Shadow Oni (blood as well?). He wouldn't have been the only one probably. What people would place all of their apples in one basket? So they were either together through family ties or through business. Sun, Oni, and the Guardians? Against the Eastern Snow Leopard? They still had no clue how the seemingly ghost like organization played a part in all of this.

If it was-

"Why?"

I really need to stop doing that, Wally thought as he looked over to Roy who had answered the rest of the unasked question. "Figure out if he knew more than what they could afford."

"Could have been that he found out about Lee being Crimson later on in the game," Wally said placing his hand to his chin in thought. "He's been here for what…four years. It took you less time to find out about you know who and if I remember correctly Rokuro's name had been thrown around for at least the past two maybe three years. Use that to get in good with the league and finish up his job. Two birds with one stone."

That was plausible, Dick thought before Roy spoke.

"After your mother, you'd be the next guardian if they go by lineage, or one of her siblings. But considering that instead of her father's sibling gaining the items, even being alive, it was passed down to her."

Definitely plausible. "That would mean that the Shadow Oni would still be watching over the Guardians and make sure that whatever happened with the first guardians didn't happen again."

Sidling up to Dick, Wally kept his gaze on the paintings in front of them, these done by a retired samurai during the Meiji period. "Use that information to get close to the league and ultimately you in the end."

"And find out just what exactly I would do with the items," Dick finished the thought not liking where this conversation had gone. "Either find them and return them to their resting place."

"Or use them for bad."

Either way he looked at it Ying was not coming up as the good guy in this. "Suicide mission."

"What changed?"

They were once again at that question. It could have been a million things. "Lee….The man is well…He's hard to explain…But whatever it was either saved your life or put it in even more danger than necessary. Besides if it is true then your life wasn't the only one put in danger by the Shadow Oni and Jade Sun. It could be why Dorian wants Ying out of the picture."

"But three days?," Dick asked. "Sounds like he's playing his own game."

"What if Ying wasn't sent here at all for Lee or you?" Wally added. "Yes, the man is pretty hated amongst crime syndicates but exactly what could he have found out about one all the way in another country? One that Batman hadn't even heard of till just recently?"

"Dorian."

"You think that," Wally cut himself off, his mind quickly digesting the possibilities of what Roy had just said holding merit.

"He hates the organizations. All of them. What if he somehow figured out what they were doing with the items considering he is your half-uncle and is using Ying to drag them out one by one."

This was just becoming too much, Dick thought to himself before voicing his opinion turning back to the statue. "But that would mean he's more than just some throw away assassin."

"No group would allow their family to be sent out on something they had no way of coming back from."

"Or he volunteered to prove himself," Roy spoke, adding to the 'what if's.

"Or his families just as twisted as they come." Turning away from the dragon, Dick ran his hand through his hair before moving to the next statue. A phoenix carved from the same stone. "What's bothering me is how Ying would even know that I was Mary's son. Assuming that he is here to off me."

"The book."

Dick's hand stopped mid run though of his hair.

"Remember he did have position of it for a time and it was specifically given back to you. He said nothing about it to the rest of the team regardless of our little talk about being more open about what was going on the previous day."

This was making more and more sense as the pieces were beginning to click, Wally's mind running a hundred marathons in his head. "If he even just read the first page to figure out what it was then that would have given Ying all he needed to know there was some form of connection between you and MeiLi."

"He was trying to get a reaction out of me."

Nodding his head Roy's arms crossed further over his chest. "Any reaction could have been perceived as a positive reaction."

"So this whole scenario falls under what?" Wally asked, slowly walking around the phoenix. "Had he not known about Dick until recently?"

"It's a possibility that whoever Ying is working for or with knows your family. Personally," Roy added keeping his gaze upon Dick.

Right now the raven haired male wished he could talk to someone, anyone really that knew what was going on. Anyone that could make sense of his past. Two were dead, one wanted who knows what from him, and the others were either in a coma or wanted him dead. Whatever answers Dick knew he could get, still, were encoded in a language he had yet to grasp. "We need to go back to that diary. Backtrack everything that we know."

"Agreed."

Deciding it best to try and go through the museum again, with fresher and more pairs of eyes, Dick, Wally, and Roy headed out of the museum walking past a few exhibits they had yet to venture into.

Smack in the middle of one exhibit was a bronze statue sitting on a black marble podium. Immediately catching Dick's eye the young male stopped dead in his tracks veering off into the otherwise empty room. Noticing his behavior Wally and Roy were not too far behind wondering just what had gained their younger friends attention so quickly.

"Oh." Was the only thing that escaped Wally's mouth as his green eyes lay upon the statue. The only thing in the room, it was a stone carving of a small village surrounded by mountains and a large grassy plain. Little stone villagers were scattered about, carrying on everyday activities from farming, to fishing, and playing. An otherwise peaceful scene till you looked at the mountain.

As if slowly stalking down the side of the mighty rock formation, was none other than the Nian. Even in carved rock the creature held such horrifying power to it, mouth slightly open in an angry scowl, broad shoulders and a powerful build. And the people had no clue that they were in grave danger of having their very lives snuffed out, their village destroyed.

Tearing his eyes slowly away from the Nian, Dick walked around the carving a few times, scanning just about every inch. There was something else that had called him to stop at the exhibit but for what he had yet to find out. On his fourth trip around an imperfection in the marble holding up the carving caught his eye. Bending down to get a better look Dick had gotten the second surprise of the week.

Indented into the slab of marble on the lightest portion of the otherwise black marble was the pendant he wore around his neck. The dragon inlaid with its claws wrapped around a sake jug, the upside down silver fan, and two guardian lions on either side of the dragon with the swords in their mouths crossing in the back of the dragon.

"Beautiful isn't she?"

Whipping around all three males turned to see an elderly Asian male wearing a blue jumper leaning against a mop. A crocked almost toothless grin spread across his face that did nothing to sooth Dick's slightly faster than normal heart rate. It had been a long time since someone had snuck up on him. A quick glance to Wally and Roy was all Dick needed to know that he was not the only one whom had been caught off guard.

About to open his mouth and ask what the older male wanted, Dick stopped, noticing a growingly familiar tattoo on the males hand. It was a circular bud with a little crown at the top, sap seeping out of the middle, a flower with a darker middle sitting behind it. Both overlay the symbol of the sun, the characters for gunpowder running along his pointer finger.

Jade Sun...

End Chapter