Ladies and gentlemen, it is March and I am back! We've got an action packed chapter for you today, picking up with the state of the Teen Titans in Jump City! We'll also be getting a nice peak into Naruto's mind for a battle with the most twisted jester of all time. This chapter's going to have a faster pace to it, which is a nice contrast to the last chapter. Take note, Choice will be a heavy theme in this chapter. Also, some of you may have noticed that I went back and added soundtracks to all my chapters, and if you'd like to, please suggest a song to use as a chapter soundtrack in a review or somewhere like that. I can't promise it'll get in, but I'll do my best. Enough talk, let's get to the explosive battles! Thanks for reading and please review.

Chapter Soundtrack: AC/DC-Highway to Hell

The Teen Titans had prided themselves for the longest time on being one of the most courageous teams of heroes ever assembled. Jump City had been almost as bad as Gotham for a time, and they'd known they needed a hero to save they. Yet, they'd gotten not one hero, but five, and they were five of the greatest heroes they could've asked for. Now those heroes were running with their tails tucked between their legs, praying that Deathstroke's team of reanimated villains didn't catch them. Nightwing had his arm around Starfire, helping her limp through the alleyway with Beast Boy in lion form behind him. Cyborg was slung over the green boy's back and Raven watched all of their backs, seeing the group of villains they were running from right on her tail. She used her powers to collapse the walls of the alleyway, hoping it would stop the foes in their tracks. After a few moments of silence, Raven thought she was safe, so she turned around and picked up the pace with her friends. Mere seconds later, the Electrocutioner busted through the wall, firing his searing bolts at the heroes, "Stop running you punks! When I kill you, I'm gonna start up your heart so I can kill you again!"

"Don't toast them up to good," Firefly called back as he flew ahead of his comrade, "Burning up little goody goodies is my game! BURN BABY! BURN!"

Cyborg raised his head up, raising his sonic cannon up as best he could, and fired a shot off at Firefly, hitting the villain dead on. It sent him crashing into a wall, making him fall behind the rest of his team. This caused another villain to feel the need to step up. Lady Shiva jumped foreword, using the Electrocutioner's back as leverage. She took out three throwing stars, chucking them at Nightwing. Starfire wasn't going to let her lover get struck in the back like that, so she used the last of her strength to pick him up and let them fly for a few feet, making the throwing stars go right under them. Nightwing was grateful for the assist, "Nice move Starfire, now bring us back down. I think I know a way we can lose these guys!"

Reaching into his utility belt once they landed, Nightwing pulled out two pellets that contained a foam Batman had created years ago. He threw them directly at the Electrocutioner, as they were especially effective against attack of an electrical nature. They went off the moment they hit the metallic chest of the villain, exploding into a wall of adhesive foam. The Electrocutioner shot off the largest current of electricity he could manage in attempt to burst the wall. What he didn't know was that Nightwing had been counting on him doing just that. Each spark caused a chemical reaction within the foam, hardening it near instantaneously. No matter how hard he thrashed, the man was unable to move. Firefly and the Electrocutioner were down for now, but Lady Shiva, Copperhead, and Deathstroke all jumped over the wall of harden foam, meaning they were still in the game. Deathstroke's actions during all this had been bothering Nightwing, as he'd seemingly been holding back to let the other villains make their strikes. There must have been a reason for this behavior, so Nightwing decided to have Beast Boy help him run a little test, "Beast Boy, there's about to be two dumpsters on your left! You know what to do with them!"

"Gaahhhh," Roared the lion formed Beast Boy, who then morphed into a gorilla and grabbed the metallic dempster's as he ran by them. He threw them directly at his pursuers, forcing them to slow down and dodge the attack. Nightwing had been paying close attention to the assault, and noticed that both the remaining undeads had become more sluggish the moment Deathstroke had been forced to react. That was a bit of information the Nightwing was sure would come in handy later. With them distracted, the heroes now had the chance to figure out what to do about quickly oncoming wall. Knowing that Starfire was too heavily burned to fly again, Beast boy decided to take action. Once they were ready, he transformed once more, this time into a pterodactyl, and grabbed Starfire and Nightwing, making sure to keep Cyborg on his back.

They all began to fly up to the rooftop of the building they'd been stopped by, Starfire calling out as they flew, "Nicely done friend Beast Boy! Now we can lose the bad guys and regroup."

"Don't be so sure about that Starfire," Cyborg called back, watching as Copperhead used the chain she'd choked Beast Boy with as a grappling hook to climb up the building. Deathstroke and Lady Shiva used a similar technique, meaning that they would be right back on the hero's tail before long, "We gotta figure out something quick, or we're gonna be dead in the water!"

Nightwing had an idea, but he knew his team wasn't going to be crazy about it, "Beast Boy, I want you drop me down on that roof so that I can take on Deathstroke one on one. Don't worry about me, I'll be just fine. I think I might have figured out a weakness to these toy's Slade's got."

There was no world in which Starfire was willing to let that happen, "Have you gone mad? If you're wrong about this theory of yours, you end up seriously injured, or worse! I forbid you to go through with this."

"I was afraid you were gonna say that," Nightwing replied, giving her his trademark smirk before moving into a position where he could slide out of Beast Boy's claw, "Because now we're gonna get into a big fight when I get home. Wish me luck."

Starfire was too burned to stop her lover from sliding out of her friends grasp. She screamed as she watched him activate the glider on his suit and descend onto the rooftop below, "Nightwing! Friend Raven, you must go after him!"

Even though she'd never been one to go against Robin's wishes, Raven decided that it might be a good idea to chase after him this one time, "Don't worry Starfire, I'll keep him safe. You guys get home and get rested up. Something tells me gonna need to be at full strength if we ever have to face these guys again."

"Be careful," Starfire pleaded, "Those fiends want nothing more than our demise. The three of them will stop at nothing to defeat you!"

After a somber nod, Raven began to fly down to the battle ground, hoping that Nightwing really did know what he was doing there. Their leader was largely the glue that held the team together, so she doubted it would survive if he didn't. This battle was going to mean a lot to not only the team, but the entire city as well.

It had been a long and tedious process for Bruce and Mei to choose the team they wanted to send their son to Jump City with, and that was for a damn good reason. One wrong move, even a small one, would undoubtedly lead to end of their operation. The moment that the real villains found who Naruto was and that he had any link to Batman, they would rip him limb from limb. If he was anywhere near the Scarecrow, it would likely end up a nightmare. Indeed, the ideal team was needed, and the couple felt like they'd finally found it as they went through the team one last time.

"Alright, so from Gotham we're only planning on having Selina and Killer Croc, correct?" Bruce asked, looking through the file they'd made for the two of them, "Of course we can trust Selina, and Croc will do whatever we ask him to as long as it's in his best interest."

Mei nodded in agreement, "Those two are pretty much perfect for what we're looking for. On my side of things, we'll have Zabuza and Haku. We've done an excellent job keeping it a secret that they're no longer a missing-nin so that they can go undercover if need be. This seems like the perfect time to use that asset. It's not like we have to worry about whether or not we can trust them."

That brought the total up to four as Bruce pulled out another file, this one containing various designs for things like costumes and fake names, "With Haku's ice based powers, we'll obviously have to give him an ice themed design. Let's see, how about a name like Frost Bite? Give it a sort of wolf overtone, tie it into Kakashi's theme somehow."

"Oh, so we are for sure sending Kakashi then?" Mei asked, not realizing that they'd made that official yet, "Good, I thought he was one of the better choices we had. What theme were thinking with him? Something revolving around his his lightning jutsu's I'm guessing?"

Bruce had that particular name already picked out, "Thunder Fang was my first suggestion for Kakashi. Then for Zabuza, I'd round off the canine theme with a name like the Mist Mutt or something. None of those names are perfect, but we can work out that detail later. Having them as a team from some far off land will make it more believable that none of the other villains have ever heard of them. The last two we were thinking were Kankuro and Sasuke, were they not?"

The latter of the two names earned a small frown from Mei, "Sasuke, I'm still not sure I trust him. From what I've been told, he almost ended up working for Orochimaru. If hadn't been for that talk he and Naruto had during the battle with the Hidden Sound, he probably would've gone. Are we sure that's the kind of person we want Naruto with on this mission?"

"He made a mistake, we all did when we were younger," Bruce responded, thinking back to his own desires for revenge at that time, "He's gotten better, or at least that's what Kakashi said the last time I saw him. Besides, I think he'd help set up my cover story for Naruto. I was planning on playing him off as a test subject of Waller's in an experiment of young superhumans. Having Kankuro and Sasuke there to act like they're from the same test would make it seem even more believable."

Mei could see that plan working fairly well, though it did raise another question for her, "Why are we sending Kankuro over Gaara? Kankuro's talented, there's no doubt about that, but we both know Gaara's stronger and he's seems closer to Naruto. We could send Gaara instead of Sasuke, and I'd be fine with that too."

"Sending Gaara would've ideal, and I even offered him one of the first spots on the team," Bruce replied, surprising his wife, "But apparently he's about to be named the next Kazekage. He didn't want anyone to know just yet, but he still wanted to have someone to keep a watchful eye on his best friend, so he suggested we take Kankuro instead. Temari would've been a possibility, but we all agreed that it would be best not to have any of Naruto's current flames on the team. You really don't need to worry about Sasuke darling, Kakashi should be more than capable of controlling him. If I thought he would put Naruto in danger, I'd never let him on the team."

She knew that fact well, though Mei wondered if her husband underestimated the degree of Sasuke's arrogance. Bruce's instincts were typically good though, and she'd have Zabuza there to keep things under control, so she felt comfortable enough to let it go, "I suppose things should turn out alright in the end. Now, let's move on to their themes as well…"

"You've improved quite a bit Nightwing, more so than I expected," Deathstroke quipped as he narrowly avoided a strike from the hero's palm, "Not enough to beat three separate villains with just yourself and Raven, but a lot nonetheless. What can I say? You haven't exactly gotten any smarter, now have you?"

It felt to Nightwing like his enemy was using the same technique he'd been using for years; talking to his opennet so much that he got inside their head and made them make mistakes. The fact that he was using this technique actually got the hero thinking he had the upper hand in this fight, "Really Slade? Trying to out smack talk me? You must be getting desperate to go for something like that. Your hits and dodges are slower than usual, which I bet you were hoping I wouldn't notice. Only problem is, I did, and I bet I know why you're out of sync too."

Deathstroke didn't get the chance to responded right away, as Nightwing's right elbow met the left side of his face and nearly broke off his mask. A little blood spilled from the man's mouth, which he was glad said mask covered up. He didn't want his enemy to know how much that had hurt, "Perhaps I've merely grown bored of kicking your ass time and time again. Did you ever think of that my boy?"

"That's not your style, and we both know it," Nightwing replied, backing away as he watched Deathstroke take out his combat knife, "No, my theory is that you overlooked one fatal flaw in these new toys you got here. When you've got to control this many people, it forces you to divide up your attention. You have to keep sending mental signals to your toys so they can make adjustments."

As the ex-boy wonder said that, the 'Toys' we're going at Raven with everything they had, which included Copperhead spitting clouds of poisons and Lady Shiva attempting to strike any pressure point she could find. Both of the villains seemed slower as well, which Raven certainly didn't have any issues with. She'd been using her powers to break off pieces of the roof and launch them at the fem fetals, as well sending any projectiles they fired at her right back at them. With his two partners on the losing end of things, Deathstroke was beginning to look worried, "I stand corrected; you have gotten smarter. Sadly though, you're still not smart enough. Allow me to show you the ace I've got up my sleeve."

The contract killer made as though he was going to slash at the hero, making him jump back even further. Nightwing was about to find out he was tricked, as Deathstroke flipped the knife over in his hand and pressed a switch on the end of the handle. Both Copperhead and Lady Shiva cried out seconds later, their eyes glowing a neon reddish color. Small cracks appeared on their faces and they began to charge Raven heistrically. There were only seconds for the girl to spare as she flew up into the air, avoiding the slice from Copperhead and the kick from Lady Shiva, "Good god, what did you do to those two? They were like a couple of raging bulls!"

"That was what I like to call the world's most dangerous autopilot," Deathstroke said with a grin under his mask, "I send the power that's keeping them alive into overdrive, which makes them go berserk on the first thing they see. I don't have to control them anymore, so I can focus all my attention right onto Nightwing here. Sadly this means they'll self destruct in about 20 minutes, but I suppose you left me with no real choice. Oh dear, and your friend there probably can't keep up with those two for much longer. Either Copperhead will poison her, or Lady Shiva will hit right pressure point and take her out of the game for good. Of course you could send her away, but then you'll have all three of us coming right for you. My my Nightwing, what on earth will you do? You'd have to beat me at my best to save both yourself and your friend. So, do you want to sacrifice yourself and be sure your friend lives, or gamble and risk the both of you dying? Choose quickly my friend, because you're running out of time."

The mercenary wasn't wrong; Nightwing was indeed running out of time. Raven was good, but not good enough to keep up with them forever, and she'd never run if it meant risking her leader's safety...unless he told her to. Nightwing knew who he was though, and he was nothing if not a protector. It was who Bruce had taught him to be, "Raven, get out of here! That's an order! I follow you as soon as I can, I promise."

Raven gasped at the very thought of abandoning him, "Are you nuts? You'll end up dead for sure! I'm not leaving without you!"

"Dammit Raven, there's no way we can shake these guys with both of us running! All we'd do is lead them back to our base," Nightwing yelled back, startling the heroine, "I'm not letting the woman I love or my friends die because I was afraid to pay the price! Now go, and if I don't make it back...tell Starfire I'm sorry."

Silence was all that could be heard once the heroes speech was done. Even the two revived berserkers had stopped. The heroes soon found out why as Deathstroke started an ironic slow clap, "How touching. I was so moved, I pressed the kill switch on my little friends. Of course I can have them up and moving again in a second if your magical buddy tries to jump back in. Fly away now little birdy. Leave before I change my mind and decided to simply take my chances with the both of you."

Raven wanted desperately to stay and fight alongside her friend, but she knew he was right. Her staying there would only serve to put both of them at risk. If Nightwing could last 20 minutes with Deathstroke though, then he could run and get reinforcements, and everything would be fine. Of course, that was assuming Deathstroke was true to his word, "I'm leaving Slade, and you'd better keep your word! Just you and Nightwing! No bringing in the other two!"

"I won't need them to beat this naive fool," Deathstroke responded, waving Raven away, "No begone little girl. We've got a score to at last settle."

Begrudgingly, Raven flew off to head back to the team's base. That left Nightwing and Deathstroke standing face to face, rage filling both of their eyes. This rivalry had gone on long enough. It was time to see who the true fool was.

It had been almost a month since Naruto last visited the Hidden Leaf village, so needless to say, the boy was happy to be back in his homeland. However, nostalgia wasn't the only thing that had the boy happy to be returning. The Joker's power over him had become far too great, and he needed someone who could go into his mind to put an end to clown's life once and for all. Naruto had actually realized there wouldn't be any need to kill him, as the Joker was essentially already dead. All that remained of him was a twisted virus that had once been the bastard. That virus's hold over its host's mind could be severed, or at least suppressed, by someone like a Yamanaka. Weather he'd choose to ask Ino or her father to do this was something he was still debating as he walked the streets of village with his parents by his side, attempting to listen to Bruce speak while maintain his train of the thought at the same time, "You're sure you're satisfied with the team we've picked out Naruto? You could be dealing with these guys for a matter of months, so they need to be people you can at least somewhat get along with."

"Hm? Oh, I know that dad, and I like everybody you picked out pretty well, so it's all good," Naruto responded, only half paying attention, "So did we just come to pick up these guys for the team or did you have some other things you wanted to do?"

Bruce took a moment to think, then shook his head, "Not that I can think of. If you wanted to go visit with some friends, I'd be fine with that. That is what you were getting at, right?"

It wasn't absolutely correct, but it was close enough for Naruto to say, "Pretty much. I wanna see the Old Lady, probably Ino, stop by Ichiraku's for some ramen, and maybe a few other things. What are you guys gonna do?"

"The first thing we was going to do was go visit Tsunade, so all of us can do that together," Mei suggested, which made sense to everyone involved, "And after that, your father and I will round up the team members and start introducing them to this plan of ours. Which reminds me, make sure your back in the Hokages office around 2 o'clock, because that's when we're starting the meeting. Before that though, seeing as how you mentioning ramen gave me a craving for it, let's go to Ichiraku's and get something to eat. I think my little girl's hungry."

Naruto was never one to turn down his favorite food, "Sounds great. Hey, you guys think of a name for her yet?"

Sadly, they still drew a blank in regards to that issue, as Bruce soon pointed out, "Nothing we've come up with so far sounds good. Maybe once we see her in person, something will come to us. I've had plenty of people tell me that's how it went for them."

"I could see that," Naruto replied as he lead the way to the ramen stand, "I mean, it is kinda to pick out a name for someone when you've never even seen their face. Hey Mom, who do you think can eat more ramen right now, me or you?"

Mei loved that Naruto had taken to calling her mom, as she knew the boy was truly her son, blood relation or not. She smiled as she replied, "Usually, I'd give you the edge, but right now, with how hungry your sister's been making me, I think I could give you a run for your money."

Now that was something Naruto wanted to see, "I'm gonna make you eat those words!...I swear to god the pun wasn't intentional. Never mind! Let's get eating already!"

"Huh, well this place changed an awful lot since I last took a stroll through here," The Joker mused, as he walked through the somewhat green meadow that was Naruto's mind, "Let's see, where's the giant furball? Fido, where are you? Here boy, uncle Joker wants to play!"

A rumbling came from a few hundred yards off, making the Joker turn to find the massive wooden cage the held back Kurama. He was growling, as this was the last person he wanted to see inside Naruto's head, "I'm not a dog you dense jester! What are you doing here? If I wanted to talk to you I have plenty of ways to do so!"

The Joker grinned his wicked grin and sauntered over to the tailed beast, ready to do more than nearly shoot the breeze, "There you, in all your legendary, horrific glory. How are you old boy? Enjoying this swanky place the kid went and set up for you?"

"I'd enjoy it much more if you weren't in here bothering me," Kurama snarled, gnashing his teeth, "Get out of here, before I make you regret it. I can make life miserable for you, more miserable than simply being stuck in this kit's head anyways!"

That threat did nothing to sway the Joker. In fact, his grin grew even wider, "I believe a more accurate statement would be 'We can make each other's lives miserable.' Neither one of us can get rid of the other, but boy can we have one hell of a prank war. With my control over the kids mind getting better, I can do lots of fun new things. For example…"

Rather than finishing his sentence, the Joker pulled a lighter out of his sleeve and held it up for Kurama to see, letting a little flame flicker from it. The Fox had no idea what to make of it, "Where did you get that and what do you think you're going to do with it?"

"I'm not going to do nothing with it, at least not yet," The clown responded, waving the lighter back and forth to taunt him, "Of course, I could always drop it and let everything Naruto worked so hard to make you burn in matter of minutes. That would be a laugh, wouldn't it?"

Kurama failed to see the humor in the suggestion, "And then I retaliate by sending all the chakra I can muster to the virus you're living in. The best it'll do is slow it down a bit, but it'll also hurt you like hell, so I'd say we'd be even."

"Of course we would be, but neither of us wants to go down that road, now do we," The Joker fired back, having anticipated every response the Kyuubi would throw back at him, "Here's what I propose. I put this lighter away and we pretend as if I never had it, because that's what friends do. Do you know what else friends do? They help each other take over the body of person who's holding them captive."

Subtlety was obviously not the Joker's strongsuit. No one could miss what the villain had meant, and Kurama wanted no part of it, "Are you insane? For god's sake, look who I'm talking too! Listen close you psycho, cause I'm only gonna say this once. Naruto's the most tolerable container I've ever had, and you're the most unbalanced person I've ever met. Given the choice between you and him, I'm always gonna pick him! Don't bother trying to persuade me otherwise."

This was yet another reaction the Joker had planned for, "Ah yes, your trust of blonde brat. I thought this might come up. Do I need to remind you of all the horrible things humans have done to you? The numerous times they tried to steal your powers? What about them sealing you away for these years? Basically they did every monstrous thing they could but kill you!"

"I could never forget those things," Kurama said in a low, dangerous tone, "But I sure as hell know working with you wouldn't be any better! This isn't a phrase I say often, but I think it's rather fitting here. A little something I picked up from Naruto's time in Gotham...Go fuck yourself!"

The Joker had no response for that. Not because it was something that he hadn't seen coming, but because he'd found the Kyuubi's choice of words simply too damn funny, "Haha! Fido's got some bark to him, doesn't he? Hahaha! Oh man...well, I guess you haven't seen the light yet, but I think you will. I'll give you a chance to reconsider. I warn you though, make the wrong choice, and I'll put this place up in a blaze so big, it would make Firefly have to go change his pants. Anyways, see ya!"

With a bow, the Joker disappeared into a pile of what was looked like muck. The muck sank into the ground, leaving Kurama to ponder everything that'd just happened, "Of all the people Naruto could've gotten stuck in his head, it just had to be the one person in the world with a more sadistic mind than mine. Kit, you'd better find that Yamanaka fast, or you're gonna end up ten times worse than any monster that village thought you'd become."

"What is that imbecile doing?" Orochimaru spat as he watched Deathstroke and Nightwing duke it out through a camera feed Scarecrow's men had hacked the night before, "I told him only to use that self destruct function only if he felt it was absolutely necessary! He could've killed that fool by now if he'd only use my new Edo Tensei puppets! How am I supposed to test if the results of the improvements I made to them if they're destroyed so soon? Why must he set back my work?"

Scarecrow, who was the only other person in the room with the sannin, responded with a calm tone, "For the same reason you told me you had to be the person to kill your teacher and not one of your minions, and for the same reason I must break the Red Fox myself; it's a matter of principle. You want to see the hope go out of their eyes yourself, otherwise the victory feels hollow. Yes, Slade sacrificed your reanimated villains to make sure that he could kill Nightwing himself, but those ones were merely experiments anyways. I recall clearly you saying that you still had much work to do before this new version of the reanimation technique you have could be complete. If after all the work he's done, our friend Mr. Wilson wants to see this thing through himself, he's earned that right. Now please be silent, I wish to watch the remainder of the fight. Nightwing doesn't seem to be doing too well…"

When in a fight for one's life, the human body is able to create insane amounts of adrenaline in order to keep itself moving. Pain becomes meaningless, and horrible things like broken bones can simply be powered through. Animal instincts take over, and a person will do anything to survive. More than once this phenomenon had saved Dick Grayson's life during his outings under his various hero alter egos. The first time it had been against Bane, during the period after he'd broken Batman's back when they were trying to find people who could come in take over while the hero recovered. Second had been against Poison Ivy, who'd given him a pheromone laced kiss that pushed his body to it's limit to break free of her control. Finally, there had been a battle against Blackfire, the demented sister of Starfire. She came to earth in an attempt to pin the many crimes she committed on her sister, but Nightwing had been able to hold her off long enough for the people who were chasing to realize Starfire had done nothing wrong, and that it was Blackfire they were after. Now he was in that state again, fighting with his heart and soul to stay standing against one of the world's greatest combat specialist.

Deathstroke had spent the last fifteen minutes pounding the life out of Nightwing in every way he could think of. He'd buried a katana into the hero's shoulder, shot him in foot, broken his nose, dislocated his arm, though Nightwing had managed to pop it back into place, and had punched him in the stomach so hard that he fractured multiple of the hero's ribs. The fact that he was still standing on that roof was a testament to how tough he was as far as Deathstroke was concerned, "Nightwing, my friend, you have more fight in you than almost any man I've ever met. The Batman has his flaws, but he's taught you well. If only he could've given you the ability to comprehend the sort of things that you're truly capable of. A few months with me, and I could show you how to take the world! Don't make me kill such a talented individual like yourself!"

"Any kind of world where I have to kill to get ahead isn't one I wanna take," Nightwing fired back, spitting out a glob of blood, "Don't sit there and think you're gonna kill me just yet. I could still make it these last five minutes."

Using his good arm, and calling it a 'good arm' was stretching it a bit, Nightwing took another hard swing at Deathstroke, which was easily deflected by the villain. This gave him a chance to pull out his combat knife once again and stab Nightwing in the abdomen with it, being careful not to hit any vital organs, "I'm only going to give you one last chance. Either you agree to side with me, or I kill you, here and now. If I can't get through to you, then I need to be done playing games and move on, no matter how valuable you could end up being."

Nightwing tried his hardest to speak, but his mouth was pouring out blood. The adrenaline was wearing off, and he was almost ready to pass out. He dug deep within himself, finding the strength to say, "I've come too far...to let you take away...what I've done...so shut up…and do whatever it is...you need to do…"

"What a pity," Deathstroke sighed, pulling the knife out as Nightwing panted out every word, "I suppose I have no one but myself to blame for all the time I wasted on you. At least now I can collect all those various bounties you've got on your head."

No words left the hero's mouth. He remained stoic, refusing to give Deathstroke any satisfaction by saying anything else. Slade at last admitted a sort of defeat, slashing the blade in one fluid motion across Nightwing's throat. Blood shot from his veins like something out of the Sweeney Todd musical and covered the villain, making some of the black portions of Deathstroke suit match the red portions. Nightwing fell the ground on his knees, then collapsed to his side. With his work complete, the contract killer threw the knife over to the side, as he had no desire to keep it. Other than the money he'd be getting for the hero, the years he'd spent trying to convince this hero to join him was wasted time. Seeing as his undead puppets would disintegrate soon, and the hero's team would be along shortly after, Deathstroke decided to make his exit. He could hear a faint scream as his puppets followed him off the building, the voice of a woman that he assumed was Starfire calling out, "Nightwing, no!"

He was correct that it was Starfire, along with the rest of the Teen Titans, who were now all huddled around the no longer breathing Nightwing. Beast Boy didn't even noticed Deathstroke as he began to shake his leader, thinking that would somehow wake him up, "Nightwing, come on dude, wake up! Please, get up! This isn't funny!"

"Don't do this to us man, we need you," Cyborg pleaded, looking over his wounds as if there was something he could do, "Maybe if I cauterize some of these wounds, or get some blood into him or something."

Starfire couldn't hear the word that they were saying. Her face was buried in her lover's chest, crying into it, "Please my love, you can not be gone! It is not your time to go! You're too strong, too kind to leave! This world needs you! I need you…"

While the rest of the team was teary eyed over the loss of their friend, Raven was silent. Not silent in a manner that implied she didn't know how to react, but in manner that shown how hard she was thinking. She placed a hand on Starfire's shoulder, pulling her off Nightwing, and placed her other hand on the man's chest. The other three heroes gave her a confused glance, noting that she seemed as though she was looking for something inside of Nightwing. Raven was about to take command of the situation, "Cyborg, I need to start sealing up all the places on his body that he's bleeding from. Starfire, I want you to set any of his broken bones. Beast Boy, get the Red Fox on the phone, now. I need him on board with this if I'm going to make this work."

"Make this work? Raven, the man's dead," Cyborg said, feeling the lack of a pulse in his friend's wrist, "I hate to break this to you, but there isn't a whole lot we can do for him."

Normally he'd be right, but with someone like Raven there to help, there were some other routes they could take, "That's not entirely true. There's a spell I know that can slow down a person's trip to the underworld. If can keep him from being brought to the Judge too quickly, I can travel down to the underworld and bring his soul back myself, as long his body is in a usable state. It's dangerous down there though, and I'd be willing to bet Lucifer isn't too happy with my progress. The Red Fox has all kind of spiritual powers that can be used down there, and I think the Kyuubi could make sure he was properly transported too."

Cyborg nearly fried his circuits trying to comprehend what Raven had just said, "Wait, Lucifer, as in the Devil Lucifer? How does he know you? And who the hell's the Judge?"

"Let's just say Lucifer and my father used to be friends, and yes, I do mean that Lucifer," Raven explained shortly, as Nightwing's body began to glow with her dark magic, "And the Judge is the creature who decides if you're sent to Paradise or Damnation. Look, I don't have time to explain it all, just get to work right now, and maybe, just maybe we can pull this thing off! Needless to say though, we don't have much time...Naruto, you'd better come through for me here."

Ino was certain at this point that she must be dreaming. What Naruto had just requested of her was the sort of thing you'd expect to hear from someone writing about the end of days on the walls of a mental institution. There was no way in her mind what he'd just said could be what he really wanted, and she felt the need to repeat it simply for the sake of her own sanity, "You want me to go into your mind and hold off the Joker with the help of the Kyuubi, because your brother was murdered, but his sorcerer friend can take you down to the underworld to get his soul back before it's too late? And when you get back, you plan having me and said tailed beast repress the killer clown enough so that you can stab yourself with a magical sword, which will make the virus the Joker's living in leave your body?"

"It's a little more complicated than that, but yes, that's the idea," Naruto responded, totally aware of the irony of what he'd just said, "I know how crazy this sounds, and that's why I didn't go to your dad for this. You're my friend Ino, and I need you to come through for me here. I promise on my life that Kurama won't hurt a hair on your head, but I can't say the same for the Joker. I wouldn't ask you to do something like this if I didn't absolutely have to, but Dick's life is on the line. So, are you going to help me or not?"

Despite the madness of what the boy had said, Ino found herself incapable of saying no to him. Naruto was one of her closest friends, and was part of the reason she'd worked so hard to become the skilled ninja she was today. She owed it to him to do this, "Alright dammit, I'll do it. You only get one chance to be a part of the story this crazy, so I may as well jump at it. Oh, and you'd better put in a good word for me with Lady Tsunade. I really want that apprenticeship with her!"

Naruto felt Ino was a good enough ninja that she didn't need his word to get the job, but he gave her his word nonetheless, "I promise to do just that. Whenever you're ready to begin, we'll enter my mind, have Kurama send me down to whatever Underworld Dick's been sent to, and then pray to whatever god is listening that we make it out of this in one piece. Think you can handle it?"

"Well when you put it like that," Ino deadpanned, putting her hands up to Naruto's head in a triangle formation, "Alright, here goes nothing!"