A Nobody

by Jebest4781

Living a new life in another reality, Naruto now must handle a lot of complications of him interacting with various heroes, villains and anti-heroes. How will things go with them interacting with a Nobody. NarutoXHarem Rated M for language, violence and lemons. NarutoXDC ComicsXKingdom Hearts Please leave reviews. On Hiatus.

57. Darkened Invaders

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Naruto, Disney, Square Enix or Detective Comics. They rightfully belong to their respective owners.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

Radio/TV

"Headset/Flashback"

-Scene Shift-

Chapter 57: Darkened Invaders

Sounds of fighting could be heard within the magical space underneath Jason Blood's home. It was rather distinct with metal clashing against metal with grunts added into the mix.

"Firaga!"

*KABOOM!*

Along with the occasional explosion here and there.

Skidding across the wasteland-like terrain, Naruto gritted his teeth as he used his Keyblade to block Jason's latest attack yet again. Seeing another one of the Firaga blasts heading his way, the Uzumaki had to roll out of the way before dashing forward with an explosion happening right behind him.

With a focused gaze, Jason quickly drew his unused hand forward and spoke out a spell. "Thundaga!" Arcs of lightning shot out of his palm, causing the former shinobi to leap into the air. Knowing this would happen, the immortal smirked. "Aeroga!"

Naruto widened his eyes when he felt himself spun and flipped around with a powerful gust of wind tossing him all over. Gritting his teeth, the Keyblade wielder jolted his body in order to recover from Jason's latest attack. Falling down from above, Naruto drew his key-shaped weapon and brought it down to strike the ancient knight.

In response, Jason quickly swung his old broadsword to intercept the younger man's attack. When the two swords met, a small part around them shook before Naruto's feet met back onto the ground.

"You're doing well, Naruto."

"Thanks, old man."

"Old man, you say?" Jason spoke with a raised brow. "I quite say I'm remarkably spry for my age."

Naruto merely rolled his eyes, breaking the sword connection before kicking the knight away. Seeing Jason quickly balance and adjusting himself in his sword-wielding stance, the writer shifted his weight into his back foot, propelling himself forward to get back into their training spar.

When he came by yesterday with Rachel to further discuss what happened on the previous day, Jason eventually asked Naruto about his fighting prowess. This confused the writer on what the occultist meant by this. But he humored the man and spoke about his time as a shinobi, what he learned from Talia al Ghul (which earned some reaction from Jason), and parts of being self taught.

At its end, Jason got a basic understanding on the publisher's fighting skills, asides from what he previously saw.

Reason behind this? The ancient knight wanted to see how capable Naruto was with wielding the Keyblade. Not to mention offering to teach him how to wield it… in a basic sense of things. Despite neither knowing it's full capabilities, both knew the Keyblade was essentially a sword and if using it, one needed to know how to properly use it in fights and confrontations.

Naruto understood what Jason was getting at upon the offer. Morgana and Mordred would no doubt want to get their hands on the Keyblade after their failed attempt to retrieve the meteorite ore for their purposes. Especially with the fact wafting around upon hearing that other magically influenced individuals might follow the Witch of Camelot and Knight of Betrayal's example. And the publisher would not want that to happen in the slightest.

Naruto accepted Jason's offer, which lead to his second training session under the man.

Jason remained unmoving as he studied the younger man's movements. At the last second, he stepped out of the way of the Keyblade's path before knocking it further away with his broadsword. Naruto seemed to have predicted this as he quickly swirled around and delivered another downward arc-swing at the occultist.

Surprised, Jason stumbled back a few steps which had him evade a downward strike that had split the ground from the younger man's efforts. Acting quickly, the knight swung upwards causing Naruto to backflip away from the assault. Lunging forward, Jason pursued the younger man as he tried to get some distance away for an upcoming attack.

Wanting to get the upperhand in their spar and to further assess Naruto's skills, Jason called out a spell that might hold him in place. "Septendecim spiritus glaciales, coeuntes inimicum concidant. Sagitta Magica, series glacialis. (Gather, 17 spirits of ice, cut apart my enemy. Magic Arrows, Series of 17 Ice Arrows.)"

Orbs of ice quickly formed around Jason's form before they shot out towards their target. Seeing the attack, Naruto did what he could to evade them. Yet to his frustration, they were homing attacks. Jumping into the air, the former shinobi readied himself with the ice arrows coming closer and closer before quickly batting them away, which soon exploded into giant frozen stars soon afterwards…

With one ensnaring his limbs in the process.

"Crap!" Naruto growled out, falling with the recently added weight tied to him.

Phasing his limb out of the pointy ice sculpture, the whiskered writer was soon met with Jason, who had leaped into the air to deliver an incoming swing moments prior.

"You're too slow, Naruto." He called out as his attack held true, smacking Naruto and quickly sending him to the ground. And for added hurt, the Merlin's former scribe channeled magic into his sword, swiping it downwards and sent out an arc of lightning to crash into his sparring partner.

"GAH!" Roared the publisher as he was met by both the ground and the lightning attack.

Finishing in a defeated bounced, Naruto soon struggled to get back up onto his feet all the while Jason calmly walking towards him. "You seem to be doing better than yesterday."

"I know." Naruto rasped out, using his Keyblade as an impromptu crutch. "Would've done better have I used my other weapons and skills."

"True. But remember, we needed to see how you'll handle with only the bare minimum skills and your Keyblade. Nothing else."

Getting back into a combat stance, Naruto held out his Keyblade as both of his hands gripped it's handle for the first time in this spar. With a firm hold, he adjusted himself for the continuation of their fight.

Jason chuckled under his breath. 'He's rather tenacious, I'll give him that.'

Letting out a held breath, the ancient knight leaped forward and closed the distance between them rather quickly. Reacting to this, Naruto spun around to avoid the hit and used the momentum fuel his strike against Jason's exposed back.

The occultist grunted, but didn't let up on his drive. Stomping on the ground, Jason turned his heel in order to face the whiskered man with an upward swing of his broadsword. Naruto ducked and swung his Keyblade in retaliation, which was soon met with the opposing weapon. The two blades clashed, ringing upon impact and causing their wielders to step back before they charged at each other once more with their respective battlecries.

Their weapons struck each other again and again with their sounds reverberating through the air. Attacking, defending, evading and parrying was done at every given moment as neither let up on this spar. Even with both combatants receiving various blows to their bodies when either were too slow to react or becoming too sore to quickly intensity of the mock fight continually grew as both combatants were getting near relentless in their spar.

But there was that part in their minds that reminded them that this was still a spar and not a life and death scenario.

Clashing their swords once more, the two stared each other down with either a smile or smirk gracing their faces.

"You're pretty good." Naruto said with what Jason could only consider a look admiration.

"Thanks... you too." Jason grunted out as both he and him shared the same feeling…

That the two of them were having fun!

But like all things, this spar must come to an end…

*RING~ RING~* *RING~ RING~* *RING~ RING~*

...with an alarm clock to signal it.

Breathing out a relieved sigh, Jason pulled back and rolled his shoulders as he felt a few creaks being made. "I swear, I must be feeling my age with joints aching."

"Then that means you're not as spry as you say you are." Naruto chuckled out as he too relaxed as well.

All this earned was a dry look coming from the immortal.

"Geeze~ Take a joke, why don't ya."

Jason rolled his eyes before summoning his scabbard and sliding his broadsword into it. Walking over to the nearby alarm clock, he turned it off before looking back at the Uzumaki. "We best get back upstairs, Naruto. We'll pick up our spar tomorrow."

"And when will ya start teaching me some of those spells?" Naruto questioned.

"Probably when I deem you worthy." Jason said without looking back as he walked towards the stairs leading towards the surface.

Cue eye roll. "Uh huh. Right~"

"Or you might learn on your own."

"...And why those options?"

"You're a resourceful lad. I'm sure you can come up with things to make up for what I won't teach."

"...And why won't ya teach me right away? Kinda feels like a cop-out to be honest."

"Because I like teaching one student at a time in a certain subject. With you, it's fighting. With your ward, it's magic."

Naruto blinked. "And the reason behind this is because…"

"For one, I tried taking in an additional student -in one particular subject- while I had a more senior one in it. Didn't work out as I had to split my time focusing more advanced studies with the beginner one's." Jason cringed at the memory. "Suffice to say, things became conflicted and became messy. Since then, if I wanted to take on another student for a subject, the more senior one had to either complete their studies under me or leave for whatever reason."

The former shinobi rose a brow. "And I'm guessing there's another detail behind this, right?"

"Merlin." Both men kept ascending the stairs as Jason explained. "He originally brought up this teaching method onto me when I was his scribe. He didn't like having too many students at a time in particular subjects as he wanted to fully focus on each one at a time. For instance, he gave me a proper education while I worked as his scribe. And later on, after I was no longer needed under his care, I then learned how to become a proper knight in Arthur's court."

Reaching towards the top, he opened the door as he continued. "Before I even came under Merlin's tutelage, the Magus of Flowers secretly gave Arthur a proper education as well while he squired under both Sir Ector and his son, Kay. After that, Merlin soon taught Arthur everything that was needed for him to become king."

"And what of Morgana?"

"She already had other forms of education prior to being under Merlin's tutelage, because of her being of noble birth and being the future Lady of Cornwall. By the time Arthur pulled Caliburn from the stone, she studied under him in the ways of magecraft."

Naruto nodded on the facts as the pair made their way towards the living room. "I can understand that… somewhat, but I remember you telling me you telling me the other night you previously fought that one Keyblade wielder alongside Morgana."

"You are correct."

"And I assume you fought him with magic, right?"

"...Yes…"

"Then how'd you know such things as you were just Merlin's scribe while he taught Morgana that craft?"

The occultist became a bit embarrassed and let out a chuckle. "Self study… and eavesdropping on his lessons towards Morgana." He then formed a smile. "Merlin was impressed of me on how well I did without proper means. And he said that once Morgana was finished learning under him, I would've been properly taught in the craft." The expression then became bitter. "Yet it was never meant to be. Morgana had her rebellion and Camelot eventually fell. With him gone, I had to learn all that I could through his many tomes and scrolls while I traveled the world."

Naruto nodded in understanding with his arms crossed. "So if I can't learn certain magic under you right away, then I gotta learn it through other means. Correct?"

"Basically, yes." He then looked at the writer with a curious expression. "By having the Keyblade, from what I've gathered, you inherently have the capabilities of utilizing magic as well as higher forms of combat that can be created by you alone. Though I do wonder why you can't incorporate some of your already known skills through your Keyblade."

"I know that, Jason, and I've already been thinking about it. But I just wanted to expand my range of techniques, per say. Don't want to keep using the same ones all the time. Hell, there might be an opponent I could come across that would've known them beforehand and predicted on what I could do. I need new moves and ways of fighting. Can't remain stagnant now, can I?"

"Quite understandable." The former scribe then scratched his chin. "But what of your Rasengan techniques, for instance? Surely those might suffice."

"...Technically they are all the same attack. Just different variants if I'm honest about it."

The occultist gave a brief nod in understanding. "Then if you want to possibly learn more on expanding your skills, you could either ask your ward for some tips since she's quite the exceptional child."

"Which she is." Naruto interrupted with a bright smile.

Jason shared the same expression before it became neutral. "Right. Now either you ask Rachel or you could read up and did what I did under Merlin's care."

"Self study? Right." Naruto then made his way towards the door and opened it. "I'll see ya tomorrow, Jason."

Jason gave a brief wave before attending to his own devices for the time being.

-Uzumaki Residence-

"...Sorry to hear about your schedule as of late, Perdita."

"It's quite alright, Rachel. It's just something I'll have to juggle and get used to even more."

Sitting in the living room, the ashen child was on the phone with her second best friend in the whole wide world for their weekly chat. They would've done it like every couple of days, but moments on their respective ends made it hard to do so. The same could be said on Artemis' end.

To somewhat compromise, Perdita would try to call her American friends either on the weekend or a slow day when her workload is rather light on the weekdays; which would after the Gothamites' time at school. Obviously it wouldn't always work, but it's the best they could come up with.

"You have your various tutors, from standard education to political topics. You have your continuous paperwork and meetings in order to make your country prosper again. I'm just surprised you haven't gone insane at this point."

Rachel heard the queen sigh over the line. "I'm surprised as well. Luckily I have a good secretary to keep everything manageable."

"That's good at least. But do you still have time for yourself?"

"Why wouldn't I if didn't have time to talk to you and Artemis." This got the two friends to laugh a little. "I do have moments to unwind, Rachel. Reading, playing a few video games, going for some runs in order to clear my head and to keep my heart in check."

The half-demon nodded before a thought crossed her mind. "Just wondering about this but when would you start opening trade to the States?"

"Within this year." Came Perdita's answer. "Well, at least I hope. When it does, then I'll try to get in business with Queen Consolidated and Wayne Enterprises for starters."

"Why's that?"

"Still need to get several neighboring countries on our side before seeking contracts from outside of Eurasian territories. For instance, as much as I'd like to get Kasina back into friendly relations; it's up for debate right now as they are having civil conflicts between the North and Southern areas of their country. And to my understanding from my advisors, in the coming years it might escalate into a civil war."

"I can probably see where this is going. You and your people are recovering from one conflict and don't want to get into another."

"We could, but we don't exactly have the resources to properly handle ourselves if this were to happen quite yet."

"So could you still try to do trade with Kasnia?"

"It would only be for a minor contract, per say. If it were a major one, then it would be much harder to back out as the drawback would be rather damaging to Vlatava's economy."

Rachel leaned back in the couch and raked her fingers through her violet locks. "And what other places would you try to open trade with?"

Perdita paused for a bit to collect her thoughts before listing them off. "There's Kahndaq for trade pertaining their fig and olive oil. My country could consider this a good blessing. There's also Pokolistan as they're struggling as we are and I think it'll be good to support each other. Qarac has a good history and is lead by good leaders throughout the past generations. But I don't know if I could possibly work alongside them."

Rachel rose a brow while voicing the obvious question. "Why's that?"

"Their neighboring country of Bialya." Came Perdita's response. "It's currently ruled by a dictator publicly known as Queen Bee and I had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting her when my father was alive. I don't know what is up with her, but something about Queen Bee gets under my skin in just the wrong way."

"Naruto has said to trust your instincts and try to follow with it."

"I'll do what I can with that. But having to put my pride to the side, I need to look more into Bialya before I can move forward if I want to request trade with them and Qarac. It's just that there is civil dispute between the two nations and I don't know if it's wise to quickly side with them right away. Hell, that's even going to be even more of a struggle than what my advisors suggested me looking into the North and South Rhelasian nations." The young queen sighed with the ashen child imagining her friend rubbing the bridge of her nose. "It's going to be quite the trick in keeping the politicians off balance. Making them underestimate you one moment and then overwhelm them the next. Most of all, never show weakness to a strong opponent and more so to a strong ally... even if they become your closest friend... possibly."

"...Something one of your tutors taught you?"

"No, my father. It's something he tried to use often in his work, but the stress he was dealt with made him falter in this trait. I think that if he were to do this more often, then our country would have recovered quicker… and still be alive. Just wish that with all I'm doing to search for trade routes and good relations with other nations, I hope I don't get called the 'beggar queen'."

"You probably won't if you're not some sort of whiny, spoiled girl that keeps wanting everything your way."

"Which I'm not."

"Then there you go."

The magic practitioner could tell her friend after hearing this. "Luckily I already have the alliance with Markovia… due to what my father made with the royal family prior to his death."

"...And that is…"

"An arranged marriage."

The half demon blinked at this. "Oh… Umm… congrats?"

"It's quite understandable that this can be quite a shock to others not in the know. But this has been kept under wraps so the media coverage won't cause problems for our nations. For instance, what if word got out of the eventual marriage and either me or my betrothed get into quite the mess on whatever subject. It would be really hard to recover from."

"I can probably see your point, Perdita." Shifting in her seat, Rachel asked another question. "So tell me, have you even met your betrothed?"

"I have. It was shortly after I returned home from Starling City and on my coronation day. The Markovian royal family was in attendance on both times and I got the chance to chat with the second in line to their throne, Brion, who is my eventual husband. He's rather nice and cares for his family and people. I just hope this whole arrangement turns out well to strengthen our nations. Hell if it wasn't for Brion's family and their ties to other nations then Vlatava's recovery process would take longer than expected."

"As long as he treats you right then that's all that matters, right?"

"Pretty much. And in a few years, I'll be seeing him more often as he'll be courting me to see if things will eventually click between us."

"And if things don't click?"

"Then adjustments towards our arrangement will be made for Brion to pursue someone else while our nations still work together. I mean, both of us would want to at least try and make this work."

"Then I wish you the best of luck."

"Thanks. On the bright side, I was able to make another friend because of their visits."

The purplette thought for a moment, trying to remember this detail in a past conversation. "Did you tell Artemis and I about this? I think you didn't."

"Probably, but it could've been a passing topic that flew over your heads as it were."

"Guess so. But tell me, what's your new friend's name."

"It's Brion's younger sister, Tara. She's around our age and she's rather shy given the few encounters we had."

"Probably bound to change in the coming years."

"True as it's much like everyone. Give them enough time and they'll change in various aspects." Perdita then sighed. "At least you know how to keep up the conversation unlike Artemis."

"Why's that?"

"She needs the occasional help from her mother or father on certain subjects I end up talking about for her to better understand. Even Jade tries to help but can only go so far. But with you, you are a bit more knowledgeable and informative compared to her… no offense."

"None taken. But give Artemis some time and she'll come around… eventually."

"I hope so since it would be nice to get another friend's thoughts and opinions with some words of encouragement on what I'm dealing with."

"That's true."

"Enough about me, Rachel. Tell me how are things going on your end."

Figuratively seeing the change of subject, Rachel compiled in answering. "It's been rather fine. School's starting up next week, so my schedule -along with Artemis'- will be a little packed with our studies. And my magical studies have been coming along quite well, in fact."

"Oh~ I would really love to see you perform some magic, Rachel."

The ashen child giggled a little as she imagined her friend's eyes sparkle upon hearing this. To a normal person, they'd brush aside the idea of magic being real, but Perdita was a firm believer of the craft. Even more so when Rachel sent over a gift that was magical in nature with it working before her very eyes.

"When you get back to the states -so we can finally meet- I'll do some for ya." Rachel could hear the giddiness over the line. "But it won't be like any of those magic shows you hear about."

"I know that quite clearly."

Rachel merely shook her head. "Getting back to things… Hazel, Rose and Thorn are doing alright. Pam's still trying to figure out how to slow down their rapid aging process as they look like 3-4 years old right now and neither of us want to deal with some awkward moments out in public by the time it feels appropriate… or something of that nature."

While it seems unfair Rachel hasn't revealed this detail -and of her powers- to Artemis and Jade, who are two of her friends, Perdita knows of her guardian being Vanitas. With this, the half-demon felt fine revealing the Vlatavan queen more of Naruto's current life.

Hence the knowledge of the sporelings and how they came to be in order to clear up some confusion.

And Rachel hoped she could introduce them to the Crock sisters when the time came… without the odd complications of not being properly prepared. After all, it'll become quite the can of worms that'll snowball into other problems.

"I still find it rather fascinating on how that worked." Perdita admitted. "Yet my knowledge in the field of science still flies over my head."

"Same here, but then again we're not even teenagers yet. Not to mention we're not aligned with said field."

"True." A pause was soon given as if Perdita was thinking things for a quick moment. "I'm getting off topic here for a quick moment. So forgive me on this."

"I'm fine with it. So what is it?"

"Is Pamela there with you?" Asked the young queen. "I'd like to ask her about that formula of hers pertaining plant growth. It could help my people out very much."

Rachel gave a brief nod, knowing what her friend was talking about. "She's not here, Perdita. But I can be fine relaying the message to her so you two can discuss about it further."

"Thank you. And what of Selina?"

"Currently at the vet for Isis' check up and mandatory shots." Was the magic user's response. "After that, I believe she'd be running other errands until this evening." She then paused with a curious thought being voiced. "Need her for something?"

"Just wanted to inform her -along with Pamela- of the progress on the wildlife preserve."

"Of course." Rachel said with a nod. "Now then… recently there was quite the interesting event that occurred a few days ago."

"Really? What was it?"

The half-demon then regaled the young queen of what occured on Dorian's island in her perspective. How she, Naruto and Jason confronted the legendary Morgana le Fay and her shockingly revived child, Mordred, before conflict ensued; all for a powerful meteorite. She obviously couldn't get into detail on her guardian's fight, but she went into most detail on hers…

Minus her tapping into her inner darkness as that was a very delicate bit of info she didn't want to talk about.

"...If I didn't know of you and Naruto having powers," Perdita started with an astonished tone with a possible wide-eyed expression, "I would've thought your experience was straight out of a fantasy novel."

"Understandable." Sighed the ashen child. "Yet it was quite the fight for my life. Even if Morgana wasn't using her full strength, I believe."

"I bet."

The violet haired girl breathed through her nose for a moment and was going to speak of another topic before she heard something… odd.

-Insert The Umbrella Academy OST: Vanya-

'Is that a violin playing?'

"Rachel? Is something wrong?"

Said girl snapped out of her thought for a brief moment to give Perdita a response. "It's nothing, I think." Her eyes wandered a little as they worked alongside her ears before finding the source of the music. "We can talk again later, Perdita."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Don't know what else we can talk about, dragging things along before you need to get back to your duties and bedtime."

A small chuckle was then heard over the line. "I guess you're right."

"Then have a good week."

"Thanks and I'll give Artemis a call sometime tomorrow on my end."

Hearing the phone call end, Rachel placed the phone down on the receiver. She then got up from the couch before making her way to the sporelings' bedroom. As she got closer and closer, the music seemed to get more defined.

'This seems different than what music they're used to listening to.' Rachel thought as she neared the bedroom door. 'That is unless they started changing their tastes again with their growing maturity.'

Opening the entrance to the sporelings' room, Rachel expected to see them listening the music from either a radio or a cassette/CD player…

"Good to see you again, Rachel."

Not a familiar face sitting cross legged on one of the beds, playing on an unique-looking violin.

"Didi?" Rachel spoke with utmost surprise in her voice. "W-What are you doing here?"

Didi -otherwise known as Death- was doing a small performance in front of Hazel, Rose and Thorn. Each sporeling were rather drawn into the song -even Rachel- as it told quite the story without a single word being spoken.

It was one of sorrowed hardships with hardly any joy being mentioned at all. It tugged at their heartstrings as each girl yearned for something good to appear. Sure there were some little exciting moments around the upbeat middle -not that they really noticed- as the feeling was present throughout its entirety with hints of longing set throughout the piece.

Not much could've been given towards the sporelings as neither of them truly felt any bad moments in their lives… except for Thorn with her being experimented by Grimley after her birth. Regardless, neither of their eyes were dry as some tears were shed with how they were moved by the song.

Yet the one that was affected the most was the resident half-demon.

Memories flooded through her psyche, both good and the bad. The bittersweet moments of her back in Azarath with her conflicts growing up there. How her mother tried to cheer her up in her worst moments. And they soon escalated towards it's downfall with Rachel accidentally summoning her father into her home, which then lead to her mother's death.

Before she knew it, Rachel felt her arms were tugged by Rose who wore a look of concern on her face.

"Are you alright?" Asked the pinkish-skinned sporeling. "You're crying."

"So are you, Rose." Hazel bluntly said as she quickly wiped her tears away.

"Like your any better." Thorn voiced out.

"It's quite alright, girls." Didi spoke up as she placed the violin right next to her on the bed. "One doesn't need to simply hide away the fact that you're touching a sensitive feeling."

"But it's strange." Rose said, placing her hand over her heart. "I… never felt this way before."

"Nor have I." Added in the dark-skinned child.

"But I have." Thorn said, getting her sisters to nod in knowing what she was referring to. "You two just haven't experienced it yet."

"I don't know if I wanna feel that way again."

"Sorry to break your bubble, Rose, but it's something you'll touch upon more often than you'll realize as you get older." Didi said with a soft smile.

Finishing drying her tears, Rachel looked over at her… unique friend before looking over to the instrument she recently used to play that moving number.

It was a fine looking violin as it didn't have a single scratch or flaw to it. It seemed relatively brand new as it was kept in mint condition, showing the tender care placed upon it. Yet the only thing strangely amiss about it was the coloring.

Instead of the typical black and brown hues one would see in a violin, this was was white. Not that it was just white, but it was completely devoid of any other color at all. As if any of it that was there to begin with was drained of substance and texture.

Not only that, but the ashen child felt overwhelming power radiating off the musical instrument.

"I wouldn't touch it, if I were you."

Rachel blinked upon hearing Didi's words. She was confused on why she said this until seeing her outstretched arm. The half-demon withdrew her hand, which it's tips were only an inch away from the violin's neck.

"Umm… sorry, Didi." Rachel apologized, grasping her upon instinct.

"It's quite alright. Your demonic side was being drawn to it." Said the gothic woman. "And you weren't aware of it."

Rachel slowly nodded, understanding the fact. Any creature of demonic nature are often drawn to power, no matter how powerful or weak they are. Yet the former ones are far more controlling in this instinct as they learned how to keep it under check.

"When… and where did you get it?"

"It was quite recently." Death soon rested it on her shoulder before resting her chin in its place. She then swipe the bow across the strings, giving off a pleasant tune. "And as for where, it came from an opera house where a lot of work started out for me today."

"What happened?" Thorn innocently asked.

"A lot of people passed away and I had to take them elsewhere."

Rachel looked between Didi and the sporelings and wondered if the three sisters knew who they were talking to. Not just that, but they seemed rather comfortable around her.

'Do they even know who she is?' Rachel thought in curiosity. 'Seems they do… I think.'

"That wasn't very specific, lady." Hazel bluntly said.

"Hazel…" Spoke the magic practitioner. "Be nice. You sounded rude."

The dark-skinned sporeling looked away, but gave a quick apology to Death.

Said woman merely smiled as she accepted it while the violin bow still ran across the strings. "If you want me to be more specific, you could've just asked." Closing her eyes, the gothic woman spoke with the melody filling the room. "To start things off, the first batch of people passed away as they were trying to have the Apocalypse follow through. They were fighting against a small, dysfunctional family who tried to stop it."

"And were they successful?" Rose questioned.

"In part, yes."

This confused not only Rose, but also her sisters and Rachel. The blonde sporeling then voiced their shared thought. "What do you mean 'in part'?"

"The siblings were able to somewhat stop the Apocalypse on how they intendedly thought." Didi kept playing the violin as it gave off a soft glow. "The one causing the event had the power to manipulate sound waves."

Rachel and the sporelings' confused expression merely heightened upon hearing this.

"I know it sounds silly and an odd concept to most people. But in actuality, it can be quite dangerous regardless if harnessed correctly or not." The room's other occupants slowly nodded as Death continued to explain while the music still went on. "Anyways, this person would've originally drawn in a planet-killer asteroid from the far reaches of space while using this violin as a fishing line by generating enough power in order to reel it in." The younger people soon eyed the violin and wondered how that would've worked. "But after several instances, it all changed. She didn't reel in the planet-killer asteroid from deep space, she merely made one."

While the sporelings were confused on this detail, Rachel became more weary on the idea.

"How'd she make one?"

Didi stopped playing before looking out of the nearby window. Both the sporelings and Rachel were curious on what the ancient entity was looking at. Moving over to the bed, they aimed their heads roughly where the Didi's line of sight was at.

And it was there they saw the object barely visible in the daylighted sky.

"The one being fought against, the youngest of the dysfunctional family, ended up blowing up the moon." A feeling of dread filled up Rachel's core while the younger girls were more and more curious. "It's remains rained down upon the globe, wiping out many lives in the process. Yet the biggest one of them all destroyed it."

The gothic woman materialized a violin case by her side. She then opened it up and placed the stark white instrument and it's bow inside. Closing the lid, she then saw the younger girls look at her.

"Why did it happen?" Thorn questioned.

Death sighed, leaning back on the bed while using her arms for support. "Several factors really. One being her father as he wasn't a great person raising her. He meant well, but he did quite the crappy job raising her and her adopted siblings. Practically made them total wrecks in their own respective ways."

"And what are the others?" Hazel asked.

"Said father shunned away a boy that wanted to be accepted by him as he told the boy wasn't special in his eyes. This spiraled the boy down a dark path as he slew his surviving, abusive parent and years later, his vengeance towards the one who shunned him made him to manipulate the youngest of the adoptive siblings. Which -in turn- made him ignite the fuse to the apocalyptic bomb."

Didi then looked at each of the younger girls before her. "It greatly saddens me that many lives are ruined all because they are not given the chance to show how special they are. Even hiding or destroying the fact one does have. Each has the potential to do extraordinary things -no matter how big or small- as they greatly affect others." She then frowns with a downcasted look. "But to squash it all down hurts me deeply… especially if it's done by ones closest to you."

Death soon felt several hands placed on her. She formed a small smile in knowing the children wanted to comfort her to the best of their ability.

"Thanks for the gesture, girls." She said, patting each of their heads. "I appreciate it. I don't experience this bit often, ya know. So promise me you lot won't do such a thing towards each other, will ya?"

Both Rachel and the sporelings smiled in their respective manners, giving the ancient entity their answer.

As the moment passed, the half-demon looked over to the locked up violin. She could barely feel the power from it now, even if she can't see it.

"...And what are you gonna do with that violin, Didi?"

"Storing it back at my place along with other items that are World Ending." She chuckled as she briefly glanced to see Rachel's shocked expression. "Trust me, I have quite a lot in my collection through the many Worlds I've reaped."

This unsettled Rachel a bit as she briefly wondered how many there were exactly.

"Yet I do plan on giving it back to its rightful owner after she better controls her powers."

This snapped Rachel out her thoughts. "Excuse me?"

"What?"

"How are you going to give it back if everyone in that world died?"

Death blinked when hearing this. She tilted her head a little as a coy smile graced her lips. "Who said that everyone there died?"

A small reboot went on in Rachel's head at this point.

"So…" Rose started out with a perplexed expression. "That violin's owner is alive?"

"Along with her adopted siblings, yes."

"...How?"

Didi's smile stayed on as she 'booped' Rose's nose. Said girl recoiled a little on the act. "I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, now would I?"

This merely confused the sporeling and her sisters even more while Rachel's mind barely processed what was just spoken after booting back up.

Shaking her head a little, the ashen child spoke up. "Uh, Didi."

"Yes?"

"You… didn't exactly answer my earlier question."

The gothic woman adopted a thinking position to remember a little on what question Rachel was referring to. After a moment or two, she nodded. "Ah~ right. Why I'm here, correct?" She saw the purplette nodd. "I'm just taking a small break after doing that big job on the world I mentioned earlier. I mean it's quite the big moment I don't do often."

"...Okay."

Didi then stood up from the bed, grabbed the violin case and walked out of the room. "And before I get back to work, I'm famished." Cue stomach growling. "Doing all that works up an appetite."

Rachel blinked as she followed her much older friend out of the sporelings' bedroom. "I thought you didn't eat or drink until your holiday, Didi."

"Oh, I still do. It's just extra special when I have a mortal body." Coming down to the bottom the stairs, Death made a beeline straight towards the refrigerator. "Hope you guys don't mind if I take some food to go."

Rachel briefly thought it would be rude for her friend doing this suddenly…

...But this was Death herself…

Would it be offending if she refused to not let her have some food?

Before she realized it, Rachel saw Didi diving deep into the refrigerator and pulling out an armful of food before slamming the door shut with her boot. Placing the items onto the counter, she rubbed her hands together with a smile on her face.

"...That's quite the spread you got there." Rachel said before cringing a little. 'The others aren't gonna be happy when hearing this.'

"Yeah, I know." Didi pulled out the loaves of bread from their bags before getting into the many deli sandwich fixings. The meat containers, the cheese blocks and balls, the bars of salami and pastrami meat, the anchovy containers, the lettuce bags, jalapeno and pickle jars, the sauces and spreads… the whole nine-yards of sandwich makings.

"Need some help with all that?"

"Nah, I got it."

Before Rachel's eyes, Didi became quite the literal blur as everything seemed to have been hit by the fast forward button. The kitchen knife chopped everything in a flash with the meats, cheeses and veggies flying all over. Yet instead of it becoming a wild mess, they strangely fell into a decent sized stack.

Rachel could only watch in morbid fascination at the flawless movements of Didi coupled with intense and concentrated expression that sliced and diced all of her assembled ingredients. Even the odd accuracy of when the gothic woman squirted the condiment bottles from her oddly coordinated movements.

'I don't know whether to be amazed or… scared.' Rachel internally thought to herself watching the shredded cheese, chicken and tomatoes all pile up into neatly constructed food pyramids.

Didi then reached behind her and seemingly pulled out a pepper grinder from nowhere with a spinning flare of skill and began spreading small black flakes over the chicken in an extremely intricate and near artistic fashion making sure each piece of every chicken had a happy balance of pepper.

Moving onto a pantry, she got out the flour, sugar and dough and placed them onto a clear surface of the kitchen counter. Didi rubbed her hands together in anticipation with a glint of manic hunger in her eyes at the site of so many possibilities.

"Are you merely feeding yourself or a small army?" Rachel spoke in a bland.

"Hey, a girl's gotta eat, little Raven." Didi said knowingly, wagging her finger at the young hybrid. "When you're as busy as I am, food is a comfort I am ill ever afforded."

"Please, don't be poetic with your obsession of being a glutton." Raven said rubbing the sides of her temples. "Naruto read me his holy bible on Ramen for that already. I even think Harley is converted because of her odd lunacy."

"Oh, I have one to!" Didi proclaimed, pulling out a red book with her picture on it wearing a set of shades, a chefs hat with a whisk and spatula in both hands.

"Peachy Keen." Didi declared proudly. "My guide to all the best meals in the physical and astral plain that I know of to date with blank pages that are always ready for more recipes and ingredients."

Raven could only stare in utter bewilderment at the literal personification of Death when the title registered in her head.

"Peachy Keen?" Raven repeated. "Wasn't that something you said when we first met?"

"Yup." Didi proudly nodded her head. "I'll have you know I couldn't have picked a better title cause my reviews are like the book title. Very satisfactory. Originally, I wanted it to be supercalifragilisticexpialidocious but Walt wouldn't let me have it since technically it was owned by Disney so I went with the next best thing. "

"Probably that or you killed the critics if they gave you bad reviews." Was the half-demon's comment.

"There was this one guy who didn't like it." Didi said in a downcast frown. "Took me a while to find the right dish but by golly I succeeded."

"And what would that dish be?" Rachel found herself regretfully asking.

"Nothing beats a good old Grilled chicken cheese sandwich." Didi said, opening up her book to a specific page. "Rye bread with thinly slice paprika and salted chicken pre grilled and on top of that shredded cheese along with whatever add ons you like."

"You know, when I first summoned you here it wasn't for cooking lessons." Raven wryly stated.

"I know." Didi giggled happily. 'It's just that aside from Dream and Naruto, i never get to talk about my hobbies."

It was at this point that the sporelings came down the stairs when they smelled something delicious coming down the kitchen. They were merely going back into playing in their room before the smell reached their cute little noses. By the time they got there, the three saw the large amounts of food prepared.

"...Is something special going on?" Hazel asked.

"I have no clue, sis." Responded Thorn."

"Wonder if we could have some." Rose added in with some drool leaking out of her mouth. "It looks very good."

"If ya ask nicely, I'll let you three have some." Didi chimed in as the stove roared with fire. "Just to let ya know, the majority of this is all mine~"

"...Okay." Sounded out the sporeling sisters.

After what seemed like an hour… more like several minutes… the large spread was completed. The amount of food shown before the younger girls was quite large as they wondered what they could take. Even Rachel was a little curious on what certain meals tasted like.

"Now what do you girls say?" Didi teased while cleaning up her hands.

"Can we please have some, Didi?" Asked Rachel and the sporelings.

"Yes you may."

Just as the four girls were about to get some food within their grasp, it all suddenly disappeared in a blink of an eye. They whipped their heads around and wondered where it all went. They soon heard a zipper, causing them to look over to see Didi zipping up a black lunch box hanging by her side like some sort of purse.

Didi snapped her fingers a moment later and they all suddenly found themselves seated in the living room with a plate of sandwiches in the center.

Didi herself had changed into a different attire, wearing a pristine suit with her hair slicked back and a fine curled mustache on her lips.

"...You look funny." Hazel commented before Thorn elbowed her side. "What? You know it's true."

"Dig in, my friends." Didi said extravagantly, making a flourishing bow towards the food.

"You know, I strangely think this seems odd of you to do Didi." Spoke the half-demon as she took a small bite of her brunch.

"Eh~ blame Delirium for adopting this trait whenever I'm hungry."

Hazel was the first to take one sandwich and bit into it hungrily. Chewing her food for a few seconds, tears began shining out of the corner of her eyes.

"It's… I-It's so…"

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!" Didi sang happily making Hazel, Rose and Thorn nod their head vigorously in agreement.

Rachel could only deadpan at her now. "You were just waiting to say that, weren't you?"

"Guilty~" She then ripped off the moustache and rubbed her hair to get it back into it's wild look. "Now if y'all excuse me, I best get back to work. 'Em souls won't go to their destinations all on their own."

Heading towards the kitchen again, she went back into the refrigerator one last time to pull out a can of soda before snagging the violin case she placed on the side. Without further notice -after a brief wave goodbye- a sound of flapping wings was heard within the loft as Death disappeared before their very eyes.

Blinking at this, Rachel slowly shrugged before getting back into her meal. When she did, her eyes saw a sheet of paper on her lap attached to some little rolled up scroll. Placing the sandwich down, she picked up the note in order to read it better.

Rachel,

If ya want to chat with me again at a later time, you can summon me with what is written in the scroll provided.

-Didi-

P.S. I recommend you leave out some food for me when ya do as some little payment compensation for my time coming over. I'm a busy girl after all. So surprise me. I'm not picky.

At the bottom of the note was an odd chibi drawing of Didi giving her a peace sign while winking at her. And right behind it was her Ankh symbol in the background.

Rachel gazed at the note for several moments before a small appreciative smile began creeping up her face. It was strange to make friends like Death herself. Then again with her life the way it was it was ironically more natural then making friends through conventional means.

-Arkham Asylum, Cafeteria-

Sitting in the main mess hall of Gotham's infamous asylum, Harley was waiting for several inmates to arrive for today's group therapy session. Many tables were moved about so various seats would be filled with the colorful patients that she wants to help fix. Hopefully being able to have them return to society in a safe, peaceful manner.

Even if it's only a temporary manner as a lot of the criminals always return here one way or another.

Over a century old and Arkham Asylum was still standing. Crumbling, due to the many breakouts done in past years, but the land was still standing.

A lot of money was channeled towards this place in order to properly keep it up to code. But from what Harley has heard as of late through the grapevine is that the current warden of Arkham, Quincy Sharp, is pushing the governor and Mayor Hill to set up a new Arkham Asylum by Gotham Bay at one of the islands along the coast. It would be a way to better isolate the inmates as it would often make things difficult for many of them to escape.

With the sudden surge of inmates was due to the recent spike in Gotham's 'criminally insane'. The state's budget for all prisons, including Blackgate, was already stretched too thin with how many mobs and criminals were brought within their walls. But there was a surplus available for medical spending for hospitals and -of course- asylums.

Mayor Hill lobbied hard and won over the governor to ensure that the legendary Arkham Asylum, an almost forgotten but protected historical landmark, would become a national leader in psychiatric care for this new emerging age with metas and super criminals on the rise. The new asylum being designed and built will be reinforced and customized with 'supercells' to take the unique criminals resounding prisons didn't want would be a bonus… at first thought as Arkham's well known M.O. was admitting the specialized sort.

The idea seems sound at best, but it could prove difficult in various aspects along the way.

Zoning would have to be made and approved of with what land could be used for construction. But with the recently changed island that was once owned by Dr. Emile Dorian, Mr. Sharp wants construction to happen immediately.

With this happening, environmentalists would no doubt become concerned with what'll happen. People like her girlfriends Selina and Pam, along with the eco-terrorists of Professor Pyg and Mr. Toad, would cause some sort of uproar. Yet their respective please and arguments would no doubt be ignored as long as a more public opinion is positively received.

Many tech companies would no doubt donate a lot of money and state of the art product into this project that if it's done well, spreading throughout other areas around the country to raise the standard of prisons with the growing times.

As the new asylum would be closer to completion, transfers will obviously happen at a slow pace. Once everyone is fully moved to the eventually named 'Arkham Island', the old asylum will be used as a training facility for upcoming employees to the new establishment.

Sitting in her seat with continued patience, Harley's eyes wandered all over in order to entertain herself a little.

For a brief moment, she eyed the passing form of Dr. Penelope Young as she was going to the next patient on her list for today. She even saw Dr. Joan Leland quickly walking by to check up on said doctor as they soon conversed on some topic of some kind. But from her knowledge, Joan was supposedly going to chat with Pam about her mandatory 'parole' meeting.

Soon enough, she then saw a man passing through the cafeteria doors. This made her think her group therapy participants were finally coming in. Yet to her displeasure, it wasn't the case as Dr. Hugo Strange came waltzing in… and came towards her position.

"Dr. Quinzel." Hugo Strange greeted with a disarmingly calm smile. "What a pleasure to see you once more. I hope life has been treating you well enough."

"More or less." Harley said with a shrug. "Least the crazies keep life interesting."

Unfortunately for her, Hugo took a seat right in front of her, eyes glinting in interest and… something else she couldn't quite make out.

"Ah yes, you're supposed to have a little meeting to day with several of the inmates." Strange said, making Harley's eyes narrow slightly at that correct assumption.

"I am." Harley said evenly. "How do you know that?"

"I'm very astute at observations and patterns, Ms. Quinzel. Almost to an obsessive degree." Strange humbly admitted. "That and I forgot to inform of this earlier, but I'm going to be taking over today's session."

"...You're joking." Harley saw the unreadable expression on his face, before speaking with a tone of annoyance. "You're not."

"I'm sorry on not-"

"But I've been preparing for this for days." The changed blonde frustratingly said. "Been reviewing each of the group members over and over again in hopes of getting a good balance on topics to discuss. Do you have any idea how complicated it is to delicately work it all out?"

"I do know as I too have gone over their files extensively."

"Then why are you taking over the session today and not wait like the others?"

"More experience in the field as I'd be able to discern various thought and facts than what you could've figured out."

"Right~ Yet I've worked with most of these patients more than you."

"True, but I understand more than you do." Strange said in a strange manner. "For instance, I feel the masks those vigilantes and villains wear are their true faces while the ones underneath are the masks."

"Cultures often depict many masks to be representations on either their gods, monsters or various beings that are often not fully understood. Yet they wear them in order to become something else… someone else."

"Right you are, Dr. Quinzel."

"...I've seen your office once, in passing. And yeah I get the idea you have a mask fetish."

"More like a fascination." Hugo Strange corrected. "When so many begin cropping up at an exponential rate, each with a clear distinction from the other I can't help but find them interesting. That and after working with many individuals our society has dubbed as menaces, it is a refreshing change of pace to see those who use mental trauma in a positive light."

"You assume that these masked vigilantes perform these acts of heroism out of trauma? Even the criminals?" Harley questioned. "That's quite an assumption to make, Doctor."

"Perhaps so but when working with individuals like the ones here in Arkham, the one thing I've noticed is the pattern of the 'breaking point' as most people call it."

"Breaking point?" Harley repeated in confusion.

"A simple phrase really but something practically all of these inmates share in common with each other." Hugo Strange said with a gleam in his eyes to signify his underlying enjoyment of his job. "A collection and string of events and experience that constantly piled and culminated into a singular moment where *SNAP* their perception of reality is forever altered as is their outlook on life, their purpose, even their very appearance is a reflection of this change."

Harley Quinn couldn't hide the grimace of her face, having a very clear idea as to whom shares that description perfectly for Strange.

A crop of brilliant green hair, ashen white skin and an insane smile accompanied by a maniacal laugh.

"Mental illness has often been seen as a survival mechanism." Harley blurted out without realizing it.

"Indeed it has." Strange agreed. "However, these aren't illnesses these individuals are born with. Nay, it appears that the outside world is becoming a greater influence upon the singular person in comparison to the nature argument of what makes a human an individual."

"This all interesting in theory, Dr. Strange, but you're gonna need more than that to truly have this apply to everyone." Harley cut in.

"What makes you think this could be applied to everyone?" Strange questioned challengingly

"Because you're a psychologist and a psychiatrist." Harley stated with a knowing look in her eyes.

Strange could barely contain the amused grin that found its way to his face, chuckling lowly.

"Guilty as charged, Dr. Quinzel." Hugo admitted, falling into momentary silence as to contemplate his next set of words as many thoughts were running through his mind right now.

"People are often afraid of progress, yet we keep making it. A fascinating contradiction to humanity, is it not? Always having a desire, a want, a need so to speak to change to become stronger, faster, better, more enlightened and yet we find the fear of change not long around the corner."

"It's human nature one could say." Harley remarked. "An eternal contradiction of words and actions."

"Precisely, Quinzel." Strange said a bit excitedly. "Evolution of humanity has given way to a plethora of conflicts with these contradictions. I believe it is also why we are living in such a tumultuous era right now."

"Huh?" Harley tilted her head in clear befuddlement at the somewhat jarring conclusion. "What is that supposed to mean? What's evolution got to do with this?"

"If you're looking for the cause on an evolutionary scale? I'll give you one." Dr. Strange calmly bore his eyes into Harley's. "With the rise of power throughout the world, everyone wanted a piece of what gave it so. The start came when Homo Sapien lifted a up a rock and saw it had greater purpose to it than just being a fragment of the Earth. From that one thought came the dawn of mankind with the stone age. Soon after, the discovery of metals and geometrical innovations led to the Chariot, sword, shield and spear and thusly the Bronze Age and a growing age of empires where new weaponry, societal laws, medicine and science exploded. Thousands of years, many different ages like the Iron and Renaissance until we arrive within the last 300 years of human civilization. A near unprecedented level of explosive innovations and advancements in so many fields that you couldn't even begin to fathom where to start. Guns and explosives, Atoms and Neutrons a literal arms race that seems to have no end. And before we knew it the nuclear missiles and its deterrents became the tipping scale.

And now? Now we have the metahumans joining in on the arms race of powers and egos. We might not see it now, but it's starting to grow at a steady rate all over the world as each of them act as gods in their own right.

Yet what we have here in Gotham contains a different problem."

"And that is…"

"One of our guardians, Batman, being just a man." Hugo answered. "An alpha beast in a concrete jungle… and others rise to challenge him at a constant rate. People, Dr. Quinzel. Not Gods."

"Yet you forget, Dr. Strange, we also have Robin as he too is just a man. Not to mention that blonde Siren girl and Batgirl." Harley added in, while leaving out Red and her Puddin that as much as she hates to admit it, both could be considered gods with their powers.

"And same with Selina Kyle, the Catwoman, as I commend them for their efforts for what they've done as our mortal guardians."

Harley suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. 'Only if you knew more on Kitty and I.'

Not knowing her present thoughts, Hugo continued. "Batman is too good in his craft, Harleen. Too skilled, and so, even on this early level of arms race begins. He brings batarangs, they bring freeze rays, electrokinesis, toxins, mutagens… In the root of it all, it's an age old game of dominance. A war of wannabe alphas whose sense of control is challenged and they lash out in, albeit creative ways; even the majority of them don't have powers. And, honestly, most of them don't even belong here.

"Like you said, it's a jungle. I admit that." Harley calmly said. "And the Law of the Jungle is based on self-preservation."

"Dr. Quinzel…"

"I've said this earlier, but mental illness has been seen as a survival mechanism. One would do what they can do to live another day, despite the hand they've been dealt with. Some are the end result of a long series of moral compromises made under times of extreme danger and personal duress. Others do not. The inability of the individual to deal with their sense of guild results instead with them reshaping their own view of the world."

"I understand this quite well, Quinzel. I have read your varied reports, papers and research. Even with the ones pertaining the Joker and he is nothing like what you have spoken and wrote about."

Blue eyes narrowed, glaring and burning a hole into the man before her. "Oh. I know plenty about that, Dr. Strange."

"Why of course you do, Harleen. As you know, he doesn't have a sense of morality. He lacks it completely. Whatever he had before what he is today is long gone." He then listed off several points. "Lapse of judgment? Non-existent. Moment of weakness? An act… or often not as one would exploit if looked well enough. Rationalizing his actions? He laughs at them on what he does with guilt going through one end and coming out the other with no effect at all. The only sense he has is for his own self-preservation by using others for his own means of survival and entertainment."

Releasing a sigh, Harley closed her eyes in order to digest what was spoken. Before long, she opened her mouth. "Makes me think of a previous session with the Joker."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"If you've read my reports on him -no doubt you have- you would know the Joker thinks we all are irrelevant in the bigger picture of life. Law, order and control is quite the elaborate illusion to him that he seeks to shatter as an agent of Chaos." Harley then scratched part of her head. "He then brought up some facts of metas out of the blue as he pertained them in this illusion."

"One would never think of himself being concerned with metahumans."

"My thoughts exactly but he stated he never developed an inferiority complex, despite how sudden it may seem. He merely sees them as a metaphor. Their actions reflect the world as he sees it. Gods fight, people die and no laws can fully stop it, despite many of them getting locked up in the process. As he sees it, he compares them with the Batman, a man he has quite the fixation with. A hero that desperately attempts to show that control is possible without having powers to combat metas. I had asked him how he sees himself in this scenario."

"I already know what he spoke about, but I'll humor you and ask: what was it?"

"Joker sees himself as what happens when society takes itself too seriously."

Hugo hummed, being silent for a moment before speaking. "Tell me, what was your result after the Joker tortured you and dipped you in that vat of chemicals?" Strange gave her a quizzical, calculated look while noticing her tightening her hands into fists. "I'm surprised there weren't any reported acid scaring when you were bathed in it, asides from your skin and hair tone taking on a paler tone."

Harley contemplated if she should give him an answer or not. It was a rather touchy subject, but she knew the man would be relentless in getting a response one way or another. So to save her the time and annoyance from him, she gave in and responded.

"When I was being electrocuted and fell into that vat of chemicals, all I physically felt was sporadic pain on the former while utmost numbness on the later. I didn't know if it was the combination of the two which shot my nerves for that time before it all ended. It could've been them or the outright, overwhelming fear I took on when it all happened."

She sighed, rubbing the spots on her head where the Joker placed the electrodes all those months ago. "When the electricity ran through me, I heard this strange high pitch in my ears. I didn't know if it was the result of the pain I was experiencing or me screaming my lungs out being drowned out. But I swear I heard something in that odd pitch… Actually, scratch that. I felt something."

This got Hugo rather curious. "Any idea what it was?"

Harley pondered for a moment before answering. "I felt an odd sense of… comfort?" She saw Strange giving her a raised brow. "Yeah, it confused me as well whenever I think about it. Me being put through quite the strenuous moment with me possibly dying by the end of them." She then scratched the back of her head while looking away from him. "And it wasn't just that time but it was also when I took that dip into that vat of chemicals… where something else added into the mix."

Her blue eyes grew distant as she recounted the event. "Even if I couldn't hear the words, I strangely felt them, the same way I could almost feel the world around me. More than any other, like your sense of touch grounds you. It makes the world around you feel real. And... while I could feel some of it fleeing from me as reality slowly crept up on me. All the subtlety was gone. The world oddly felt right for the first time since I was a child. Things felt split before they mended back together as a balance. Attachments, detachments. Deranged, luminous. They felt… natural with me as if they were there to begin with."

"...One would say that you're not mentally connected with the rest of society." Was Hugo's response.

"Who knows for sure, Dr. Strange." Harley then got up from her seat and gathered up her belongings. "What I do know is that I have to keep on doing what I do best so I can be for the sake of myself and those I truly care about. Even if I'm unbalanced or not, then that's all that matters to me."

Hugo sat there, pondering on the blonde woman's response as she left the cafeteria.

The man was present at the time when the Joker was brought back into Arkham last month. In the interrogation, several questions and answers were thrown out on his time impersonating the deceased illusionist. After that was done, Strange wanted to chat with the deranged clown to personally see about the man's psyche.

He had read all of the reports on him prior to the meeting as he wanted to be prepared to mentally fight against the Joker to get one over him.

After some standard methods of his, giving him a decent layout on what to combat the clown with, Strange questioned the pale man on the time when he last broke out of Arkham. Sure the man had his laughs when describing the event. Recounting on him, his men and fellow inmates ran wild and performed various acts on the guards, staff and their fellow men.

The details that were more frequent and pronounced was his fixation towards Harleen Quinzel. Yet it was a tad hard to tell if they were romantic… or something else with the Joker's twisted mentality.

The torture has been a no brainer from a normal perspective. After all, Dr. Quinzel had taken advantage of the sessions she had with the Joker before putting on her full, personal sentence on him.

To be fair, the deranged clown had pushed her limits with his one stunt with presenting her a severed limb of her late sister's killer. One could be somewhat grateful on this approach, but this was too much for her to handle, causing her to wipe her hands clean of him and move on for her mental sanity.

Strange can commend her for that. She knew her limits, unlike most he used to know.

Now going back to the torture, Hugo thought there was more to it than meets the eye. A more accurate report would've been given if Harleen was fully awake at Ace Chemicals before her dip. Yet he sufficed from getting the information from the Joker, despite the maneuvering he had to take.

What he eventually put together on the Joker's torture and later reported fixation made the psychologist figure out the clown's motive. Long story short, the Joker would have wanted Harleen to become like him and make her his bride. That or something else that's brewing in that psychotic brain of his was hidden away.

Hugo thought on the reason why the Joker became interested in her, despite what she did towards him. Could it have been out of respect as no one had the metaphorical balls to do so? Or could it have been that he saw something in her that he merely wanted to bring out for his own pleasure.

After hearing Harleen's little proclamation, Strange started to question if she became more like the Joker than she would ever realize. Instead of going off the rails and becoming a danger to society, she was more grounded and is doing her best to contribute towards it.

'Seems I'll be needing to keep a closer eye on her than I previously thought.' Strange pondered before seeing several inmates walking into the cafeteria with armed guards escorting them for the group session. 'Might need to send some people to survey her whenever she's not working here.'

Walking down one hallway, Harley sighed with her arms crossed behind her head. 'Getting tired of Strange getting the better favor here. Practically has the warden by his beckon call, if I think about it.'

Many of her fellow co-workers practically shared this line of thought. Ever since Hugo Strange started out here last year after the last big breakout, most of them slowly noticed the Blackgate transfer gaining more power here. It wasn't visibly shown or loudly spoken, but the hints were there.

'I wouldn't be surprised if Strange will practically order Sharp to resign as warden so he can take his place.'

"Dr. Quinzel?"

Harley snapped out of her thoughts upon hearing someone address her. Turning around to see the source, the Arkham psychologist saw a frequent guest to the asylum coming towards her.

"Oh, hey Grace."

"Hello."

One would normally think the former District Attorney and his future wife were still together, despite Harvey being incarcerated into Arkham. It's known to happen with many prisoners throughout the world. Despite one being inside of a cell, individuals would still be in a relationship with each other.

Yet there are times when they actually break up due to these kinds of circumstances. Either because one can't take it anymore with what's happening, became quite the struggle to keep it together or something else.

The current circumstance on the relationship between Grace and Harvey 'Two Face' is summed up into one word: strained.

Officially the pair are still considered engaged, yet it's being juggled around that the idea is falling apart. Both Grace and Harvey have been trying to get it to work. But the issue pertaining to the 'Big Bad Harv' persona makes it quite difficult. Not to mention what's happening on Grace's end in both her work and social life.

"Here to see Harvey today." Harley stated, not questioned. After all, why wouldn't Grace be here otherwise.

"Yes and I was wondering if he's available at this time."

"Well he ain't gonna be available for quite a while." Harley informed. "He's supposed to be in a group session right now."

"You sure?"

"Yup. Was even supposed to lead it today."

"...Sounds like you aren't."

"Cause one of my co-workers took my spot today." Sighed out the psychologist. "I had all this stuff planned out on what I wanted to do with each of the desired patients today."

"With Harvey included?"

"Along with Jervis Tetch, Jonathan Crane, Edward Nygma, Waylon Jones, Matt Hagen and several others you wouldn't really know."

Grace nodded as the pair walked through the corridor. "Then would you know when Harvey will be next available?"

"If ya got nothing happening in like ninety minutes or so then you can come by then." The asylum doctor then scratched her head. "Though with Strange leading it, I'm afraid he'll be pushing it to two hours."

Grace let out a frustrated, yet tired sigh. "I see."

"I'm taking a guess it's going to conflict with your schedule?"

"I hoped to talk to Harvey and try my best to get through to him again. But he often pushes me away."

"It's good that you're not giving up on him. Even though he's acting this way in order to keep you safe."

"I know, but…"

"But what?"

Rounding a corner and getting closer to a common room area, Grace continued with a downcasted expression. "But I don't know if I should comply with his wishes… stop visiting him… and see someone else."

Harley looked over with a mixed look between shock and sadness. She knew things were getting bad between the two but the asylum employee didn't know it was hitting this point now.

"You shouldn't give up on this now, Grace. You two seem to be making good progress in fixing things. Why stopping this now?"

"Family… friends… things have been starting to decline with my relationship with them. It's really hard to handle as they're a mix of supporting me one way or the other. Most of them believe it's already over and I should be seeing someone else. I've even complied in going out on several dates just so they could get off my back. As some seemed rather fine, I keep thinking I'm turning my back on Harvey and I don't want to do that to him while we're still together… yet it might not matter anymore."

Hearing the breaking in Grace's voice hurt Harley very much. She wanted to help more on this relationship, but she didn't know how to mend it further than it already is. Harley even tried requesting more time with Harvey, like by trading work times with other doctors. Yet there can only be so much she can get from the former DA.

On each session, Harvey would always bring a coin with him. Either one he pilfered from a guard or made by himself. Always using it as a means if he would want to answer certain questions or give out different responses from what one personality would want to give over the other.

It's often difficult to work with, but it's one obstacle Harley has gotten over with over time.

Running her mind at top gear, Harley racked her mind to figure out on what she could do now. Sorting through various questions, one crossed to the forefront and seemed like a good starting point.

"Tell me, Grace, how'd you and Harvey to first meet?" Came Harley's question. "Harvey never told me. Maybe it could help me out to change his mind in complying more into the relationship."

Harvey's fiance… well more like ex -due to her current mindset- thought for a moment before giving her response. "You can… stereotypically say it was because of work."

"Transfer?"

"Pretty much. Originally wanted to work elsewhere due to me being disturbed by most of this city's reckless behavior that supposedly keeps it alive."

"You mean with the criminals and actions done towards this city?"

"I'm not referring to that… well somewhat." Grace then recomposed in order to correct herself. "What I meant to say being the reckless behavior and destructive attitudes of most of Gotham's rich that disturbs me."

"...I don't follow. Mind explaining?"

Grace nodded in compliance. "Gotham City can be considered bankrupt in several aspects. Despite the arrival of Batman, Robin, Vanitas and whoever else tries to save this city; crime rates continue to stay steadily high. This city isn't standing because of miraculous government leadership, natural resources, masked vigilantes or any capitalist industry. Gotham stands because of the hubris of the rich."

Harley kept her gaze on Grace, unsure of where she was going with how Harvey and her ex met and soon fell in love.

"The rich, despite their fast cars, big paychecks, beautiful trophy wives and husbands and even hotter misters and mistresses live rather dull -and danger-free- lives. A few people here and there partake in high stake gambling, yes, but never without a safety net."

Harley shook her head and released a chuckle. "No doubt about that with most of 'em, Grace. I mean it's practically a dick-measuring contest in various shades of grey." She then coughed into her hand and went through various voice pitches. "Oh look at my new yacht. Oh look at my new boytoy."

"See how much money my company made this quarter because of me." Grace added in with a scoff in a whiny tone. "Not only that but see how expensive this thing is." She then went back to her normal voice. "Most of the time it's just how they enjoy their money and validate themselves."

"In actuality, it's simply how they pass the time since they have the money and resources to do so."

Grace nodded in agreement before adding more fuel to the fire. "It's also how they compete and have it as the best part of their thrill."

"Sad thing is, that's pretty much true." Harley sighed, racking her fingers through part of her tied up hair. "Normal people do their best to avoid danger. Those caught within it flee. The psychotic seek it for pleasure."

"Before Batman arrived, Gotham City had the highest crime level of any city in this country. It's fallen over the years -no doubt about it- but now it's home to the most dangerous crimes in possibly the world. The rich stay in Gotham because it's exciting. They live in this horrible cesspit of human misery so they can brag about it. The part that makes it damnable though is that how many other innocent people they hurt."

"What do you mean?" Asked the psychologist.

"They lure innocent people to this cursed metropolis with flashy commercials and promising jobs so there are enough pawns on the table to provide an interesting show." Grace straightened herself out. "That's why I often hate this place."

"And the rich, apparently."

"Pretty much." Grace then looked away in a far away glance. "But things slowly changed when I met Harvey."

"Yeah, you didn't explain on how you first met him anyways."

Harvey's (ex) fiance nodded, remembering the question from earlier. "Right. But I just wanted to put in my thoughts on the whole matter before getting into the topic, Dr. Quinzel."

"It's quite alright." Harley said, motioning for her fellow blonde to continue.

As the pair got to a waiting area, Grace told the story on how she and Harvey first met.

"It was really any ordinary day in Gotham." Grace said with a far away, reminiscent look and tone. "Crime as per usual with the corruption of the police and District Attorney's office up to your damn waste."

"I worked in said office actually." Grace said, chortling slightly. "My job description was liaison to the GCPD but really I filed out reports between the two. Never really met much of the 'fine men in blue' from our Police department, but I think that was for the better. Things weren't exactly bright at that time. By the time I had arrived, Batman had been a growing figure for the past few years. A lot of the cops and assistance were pissed off that he was doing their jobs so much better than they were. But if we're being honest here, I think most of those guys were mobbers -or at least associated with them- who were more angry with the fact that the Bat was throwing all their friends in jail."

Harley snorted but remained silent allowing Grace to go on.

Grace sighed. "A few months of writing down and storing papers talking about criminals being thrown in jail only to get released just a few weeks later. And then… I see him."

"He was drenched from head to toe cause of the thunderstorm that day and he didn't have a briefcase." Grace sniggered. "I think it was stolen but he basically waltzed right in, walking past everyone and right to his new shiny cubical on the first floor. Nobody even batted him an eye unless he came too close to them. Then they would just back away cause they didn't wanna get wet. Nobody saw him but me, this young determined idiot who slumped down into his chair and just…. Got to work. He worked faster than anyone I ever saw and was done with a mountain of papers and rushed upstairs to talk to the head of the DA. I don't know why I couldn't look away but the moment he came downstairs, he was fuming, throwing his papers up in the air and storming out the building. That sure got everyone's attention."

"So where's the part of the story where you two made googly eyes at each other?" Harley asked teasingly.

Grace shot her a dry but amused look. "That part comes later, Doctor." Coughing into her hand, she then explained. "It was a week later that we spoke for the first time and officially met."

-Flashback, Eight Years Ago-

Harvey Dent was glaring in frustration at the printer in front of him. He was trying to make it work so he could finish the reports on trying to get one of Carmine Falcone's head honchos behind bars. But it seems that it isn't just the people in this city that's against him…

It's this god damn printer as well.

Kicking the drawer stand it was positioned on, Harvey leaned on the nearby wall closing his eyes with a groan of annoyance.

"Whoa, easy there jawline. The printer didn't do anything to you." A female voice said from beside him.

"Yes it did." Harvey countered. "It's not doing its job of printing out papers. Which should be considered a crime here when you think about it."

The woman couldn't help but snort at the man's attempt at humor. He grinned slightly, opening his eyes to face his new acquaintance.

"So you're the new guy." Grace said knowingly.

"Is that all I'm known for?" Dent asked.

"Well there is that time of the day where you throw your papers up into the air." Grace remarked with a shrug. "Paper tosser feels more appropriate."

Harvey only rolled his eyes. "Ok that was only one time and it was for good reason."

"Oh, and what might that be?"

"The DA is corrupt to the core." Harvey bluntly stated in a bitter tone. "I had so much evidence against the Falcone family, but they just looked at me and laughed. Then threw me out the office."

Instead of being stunned or affronted, the lady only sighed wistfully leaning on the wall beside the new guy.

"Yeah, there's not much that can be done about it here in Gotham. Half the damn city is either owned by the rich or by the mob. And sadly it's the half that the mob controls that really controls the city. Most of the rich just stay out of it."

"It shouldn't be that way." Harvey said in a bit of a depressed tone.

She looked at him sympathetically when she realized…

"I never got you name, Jawline."

Harvey chuckled at the nickname, hand tracing over said feature she keeps pointing out.

"Is it really that noticeable? I'm Harvey Dent."

"Grace Lamont." She introduced herself. "And yes, it is very noticeable. Seriously, it looks like you can chisel marble those bones."

"Yeah well, it ain't doing me any favors right now with this stupid machine." Harvey said, hitting the top of the printer for emphasis… which in turn booted up the system and started printing out his files.

Both stared dumbly at the machine, slowly looking to one another. A few moments later they devolved into hearty laughter.

-Flashback End-

"...That little printer area became a kind of meeting spot for the two of us." Grace said with a fond smile. "Either it was fate or just coincidence. But once a day the two of us would just bump into one another there all the time. From there, the small talk turned into conversations that literally took an hour out of our scheduled work hours until finally the time came where he decided to man up and take me out for coffee."

Harley snorted. "The age old courting ritual of all co-workers."

"He said something similar along those lines." Grace chortled. "He was a bit of a goof at first. Stuttered a bit but he was honest. He kept saying how he's not dated anyone in a while and forgot how to do this." She then leaned in-in a mock gossiping fashion. "Between you and me, I think he didn't know how to date to begin with."

Once again, Harley snorted while imagining Harvey doing just that.

"From there… I don't know what it was but the two of us found ourselves at his favorite diner a week later and later that night back in my apartment."

"Grace!" Harley said in a joking scandalous tone. "Grace the Bold should be your nickname."

"It would be had it not been for the leftover ice cream we basically gorged ourselves on." Grace said. "Then and then and then and then... I finally asked him why. Why was he trying so damn hard to work his way up the ladder to be the head of the District Attorney."

"What did he say?" Harley asked, getting enraptured in the story now.

"The same cheesy line that fueled his campaign the first time." Grace said with a sad smile. "I believe in Gotham City. He may have had his flaws but like this city, he knew that there was greatness to it that was waiting to be brought out. Harvey worked for his position through blood, sweat and tears. And I was with him from the get go. Harvey was relentless. Always preaching about the dawn coming from the darkness."

Grace barely reigned in a choked up tear that managed to escape her, reliving the memories.

"And we were actually doing something about it all." Grace whispered. "We got the right people, the right group of friends to back us up and be by our side from the get go. Bruce Wayne, Naruto Uzumaki, Selina Kyle, Jim Gordon. They were all willing to fight together, fight the corrupted stench of Gotham and show that this city can be something greater."

Grace fell silent. "And then… I lost him to madness."

She hung her head in sorrow, silent tears trailing down her cheeks. Harley could only watch on with a downcast expression.

Wordlessly, Harley pulled out a handkerchief and held it out for Grace to take. Ms. Lamont momentarily stared at the tissue in confusion when she saw Harley give her a nodding gesture to take it.

Giving her an appreciative smile, grace took the Handkerchief and blew her now and dried her tears.

"You still love him?"

"With all my heart and soul."

"Then I'll be rooting for you. I believe in the two of you. And happy endings." Harley said with a joking laugh.

Grace gave her a truly grateful look, handing back the handkerchief.

"Are you in a relationship, Dr. Quinzel?" Grace abruptly asked, surprising Harley slightly but the answer was easy.

Harley had a warm smile on her face. "I am."

"Then mind telling me how you two got together? Seems only fair, I think."

The psychologist giggled a little. "You can say it began when he went to check up on me after a certain… situation… occurred…"

"Doctor?"

Harley didn't respond back as her attention turned elsewhere. Her eyes caught onto something that seemed amiss. She could've played it off due to the lighting in the area, which no doubt needed the lightbulbs to be changed.

But she swore she saw an odd pair of beedy, yellow eyes in the shadows. They stared at her for several moments before closing up and stayed like that not long after.

Harley also thought she simply imagined it, especially when seeing the shadow move from one corner to the other. But there was this feeling running around her gut that said otherwise.

"Dr. Quinzel? Is something wrong?"

Harley snapped out of her thoughts and turned back to Grace. "Sorry about that. Just my mind was elsewhere."

Grace nodded a little, but could tell something was going on. Yet she doesn't want to pry right away. But for now she wanted to know how the woman in front of her got into her current relationship…

Not knowing what was happening at the asylum.

-Spiral Publishing-

"...And over here is our design department for our magazine and book covers." The silver haired Uzumaki pointed at the room with a man holding up a sketch of a cloak figure. "We take both talented and rookie members that always make the best of both worlds every time." He walked up to the door to knock on it, to show a thumbs up for the cover as the others cheered at another success. He turn see Lois rolling her eyes at his way with people. "I'll show you the break room that has some pinball machines."

She laughed as she walked with him, but before he can show her the way. A young man ran up to them, "Hey, Mister Uzumaki, I need some input. My team was thinking of adding a either cooking or technology section to the new magazine we're launching around this Fall. Usually we would ask for both if you let us, but it seems were divided in this. What should we do?"

The blonde moved towards the employee as he took a clipboard, "Ok are these the statistics on the subject? It seems new tech is coming than those holiday spike up for seasonal recipes. How about this, the tech company is having an expo three months prior to releasing them. So get the scoop there and we'll run a small section on the other mags and see if it holds well. If not, we run the recipes for that instead. That alright, Banner?" Naruto asked as the man nodded, writing what his boss said as they continue to run a bit more detail as Banner left the two alone.

"Well, well, someone has the job on lock down." The reporter said with a chuckle leaving her mouth. "You really gotten the handle of things here."

"Did you think otherwise, Lois?" He said with a smirk.

A coy grin graced her features. "I don't know~ You were rather hectic during the time working at the Planet."

"Hey I was still learning the ropes I had barely enough to go by with everyone pull the new guy to help and abuse his trust!" He complained/joked with his old coworker.

"And now you know how to make the perfect pot of cheap coffee." She concluded as the two enter the break room, where Naruto found the coffee maker and pour some into empty cups. She took the creamer and noticed the flavor, "Chocolate caramel? That's more of a dessert than milk."

"Either that or peppermint, we take votes for weekly flavors." Naruto shrugged as he pulled out the second flavor, "We just finished the last regular creamer."

"Well I have to admit, you keep the workers happy with this positive atmosphere and this friendly stuff. I just hope they don't take advantage of you." She warned him as she didn't want his good nature to hurt him.

"Don't worry most of these guys I screen personally, so they are good hard workers." he said with a nod of confidence.

"Color me impressed." Lois said, pinching his cheek with a coo. "Ah Wittle baby Naruto all grown up."

"Need I remind you I hold the fate of your favorite book series in the palm of my hands?" Naruto said irritably, swatting off her hand. "Lest I reveal to you the true ending to the series."

This got her to hold off on her teasing with an obvious eye twitch present.

"Geez~ You just had to hold that over my head now." Lois said, puffing her cheeks out before giving him a soft smile. "Still, I'm real proud of you for what you've got here, whiskers."

Naruto chuckled as the two continued the tour of his workplace.

After meeting up for lunch, the whiskered writer brought his old friend and colleague over as promised. It was quite the interesting work environment for him to establish, but whatever made people productive and active in order to make better articles, designs, etc. was fine with her.

"And here I thought the Daily Planet had the busiest building in the world." Lois said aloud, watching people work at a rapid pace with papers and files flying up in the air and littering the floor with ideas, drawings the such.

"I wouldn't say about that, Lois. There's other places that could outshine me. And before you ask-"

"SIR!" A young man rush in front of him, canvas in his arms of a hand-drawn gorgeous and voluptuous individual posing sensually. "Do you think this could be a good cover for the next book or should it be serialized? Johnny and I have about 12 of these on standby."

"THIRTEEN!" A voice yelled over the commotion.

"Right, sorry sir, Thirteen." The young man corrected himself, still holding out the canvas to him.

The abrupt arrival was something Lois was rather surprised about. She was about to comment about it and present situation, but Naruto beat her to it.

"Hey, that's really nice." Naruto complimented, eyes raking over the drawing. "Good form, nice image, easy to work around for more. You got thirteen more of these, Roland?"

"Yes sir, and another pair on the way." The now named Roland said, nodding his head eagerly.

"What do you think of it, Lois?"

Lois gave the canvas more time to admire it before giving her thoughts. "It's rather good. Can't wait to see it done… along with knowing what it's for, I think."

Naruto nodded before putting his attention back to his employee. "I'll meet you guys at your location later so I can get a better look at them for what comes next."

Roland nodded once more before heading back to his work station.

"So where'd you snag him?"

"Oh, I got him from this one little town in New York called Riverdale. Nice kid despite him living in the Southside where the highschool in said district being not all that great."

Lois nodded while wondering what well known significance was from said town. Took her a bit to pull from her mental filing cabinet in order to find a few. One being the current residence of the not so well known, business tycoon of Hiram Lodge. The other was the ongoing family business of Blossom Maple Farms where a very rich, flavorful and all natural maple syrup comes from. Anything else about the town sadly never came to mind.

As the pair got to a hub area of the building, Naruto felt his phone going off in his pocket.

"I gotta take this, Lois."

"No problem." She said with her eyes wanding elsewhere. "I'll do some small exploring for myself."

With her going deeper into the hub area, Naruto pulled out his phone and saw it was coming from Harley. Curious about the call, he answered. "Hey, what's-"

"PUDDIN!" Harley yelled out over the phone, causing him to quickly pull away. "YOU NEED TO GET HERE QUICK!"

Putting the phone back to his ear, Naruto spoke out of concern. "Harley, what's going on?"

"Something's happening at Arkham!" Was the response with alarm sirens being heard in the background. "These shadowy, sauces of death-"

"Sauces of death?"

"DON'T INTERRUPT!" She yelled. "Sorry, but it's the best I could come up with right now. They're crawling all over like inky shadows and attacking a lot of patients and staff! They sound like 'em things Brucey warned you about!"

This got him really worried by now. "Don't worry, Harley, I'm on my way."

"Hurry! I don't know how much longer I can hold them off with my hammer and guns!"

Ending the call, Naruto sadly walked towards Lois in order to make an excuse for him to leave. Said woman was briefly watching something on the nearby TV monitors while chatting with someone.

"Lois, something has come up."

Prying her attention from the conversation, Lois rose a brow. "Really? Like what happened yesterday or is it legitimately work related?"

Naruto was going to answer when all of the TV monitors abruptly went into a news coverage.

"We interrupt your scheduled programs to deliver this breaking news." Spoke Summer Gleeson in an even, yet worried tone. "Moments ago, the city's South District was attacked by numerous unidentified creatures." This suddenly drew the attention of many nearby personnel, wondering what exactly is going on. "Witnesses describe losing sight of victims during the mayhem. Many also said they saw strange, floating heart symbols in the vicinity of the missing victims. City police are urging citizens to stay inside and not go outside. And for those just joining us, only minutes ago, the South District was attacked by-"

"Now this is rather interesting." Lois commented with a narrowed glance. "I don't know if this is a common occurrence in Gotham or not, but I wanna know what it is. What you think, whiskers?"

There was no response given.

"Naruto?" She turned her head and saw her old friend was nowhere to be found where many employees showing many levels of concern with what they just saw. "The hell did he go?"

-South District-

Pandemonium reigned in the South District of Gotham City as all around were the sounds of gunshots, screams and explosions with people fleeing the area whilst the police shepherded them out of the scene.

"Can someone please explain to me as to what the hell is going on?" Commissioner Gordon barked aloud, now arriving within the district.

A young officer jogged up to him and pointed ahead. "That sir."

Up ahead was a gaggle of some of the strangest creatures Jim had ever seen and he has seen some strange things here in Gotham. Most of them were short with unusually shaped legs, tiny clawed arms, jagged antennas with their bodies being entirely pitch black crawling along the sides of buildings.

They were not alone however as they were accompanied by some equally bizarre humanoids that ran about with flailing arms while those that stood still twitched and spasmed about violently. These creatures wore silver helmets and possessed a lanky set of clawed arms.

The one defining feature all of these monsters shared were the bright glowing, sinister yellow eyes that kept jerking about rapidly, spotting the fleeing civilians.

In the blink of an eye, one of the silver helmed dark humanoids swiftly bent low and flung itself into an unsuspecting woman who froze in fear. That was tragically her final move as the creature jammed its claws into her chest.

"NO!" Gordon yelled allowed in horror.

To add to Gordon's fear as well as rising confusion, the woman instead did not slump over dead like one would have first expected. Instead her eyes were wide with her body immobile even when the monster pulled its claws out of her.

The woman's eyes began to close as she fell back in slow-motion from Gordon's point of view. But then, she began to fade away before his very eyes when a glowing heart floated out of her chest where she was struck and before she could even hit the ground she vanished entirely.

Jim was at a loss for words as he, nor anyone here had ever witnessed anything like that in their life. He sucked in a terrified breath upon seeing one of the shorter creatures converging upon another group of cornered citizens.

Fumbling with his gun momentarily, Gordon pulled it out of its holder and fired upon the creatures. The bullets struck several but all they did was make them jerk their heads slightly from the force of the metal.

That did nothing in stopping their advance upon their next set of victims.

Jim could only cry out for them in a vain attempt to get the attention of the dark monsters.

The head shadow creature -given his larger than impish size- crouched and jumped forward at the frightened huddle of people. Just as the clawed hands reached out to strike her, a flash of metal cleaved right through the monster and it was destroyed with dark wisps floating away.

"Get to safety, now!" Spoke the helmeted hero, having the civilians quickly nod before running like bats out of hell.

Vanitas turned to face the oncoming horde of darkness, Keyblade in hand. Metal wire wrapped around the bottom area of the grip, Naruto flung his Keyblade forward and swung it forward.

Holding on to the end of the wire Naruto whipped his oversized weapon around in one swing, eliminating most of the of the black creatures that surrounded the civilians. Seeing that they in the clear, Vanitas quickly told them to run to safety.

Not needed to be told twice, they fled with their savior right ahead of them to keep their escape clear.

"Vanitas."

The masked hero turned to see Jim Gordon approach him with several SWAT members in tow.

"Commissioner." Vanitas said respectfully in a nod.

"Mind telling us what in the hell is going on right now?"

"Wish I knew." He said, taking a moment to see that more were starting to appear beyond the barrier that the Police had formed. "But what can you tell me so far, and fast please."

"These things pop up out of nowhere and I mean nowhere." Jim listed off quickly. "No pattern, no communications just show up and cause people to vanish in front of us without a trace. We don't even know what the hell these things are."

'Heartless… Dwellers of the dark…'

"Heartless." Vanitas blurted out, surprising himself along with Gordon.

"Pardon?"

"They are Heartless, these things are called Heartless." Vanitas stated, rubbing his head.

"...And how do you know that?" Gordon asked after a brief second.

Vanitas instead looked towards the oncoming wave of Heartless that were starting to appear by the dozens now. Glancing down to his Keyblade, he gripped the handle more firmly this time.

"I'll answer that later, Commissioner." Vanitas said in total seriousness. "Right now you should get your men to steer clear of these things and help anybody else you see. I'll handle these guys."

"You sure?" Gordon asked hesitantly. "We can help, you know."

"Yes, I am." Vanitas said, now getting into a pose. "Get going, Gordon. We've got a long day ahead of us."

Gordon could only grimace in silent agreement of those words, turning to instruct his men on their objective while Vanitas's eyes narrowed at the site of the Heartless all making a beeline towards him in particular.

-Insert Kingdom Hearts II: Rowdy Rumble-

Grinning slightly underneath his helmet, Vanitas launched himself forward with a spin in the air. He cleaved through several of the Shadows on his descent down to the ground, destroying another one of these creatures this one being one of those silver helmed monsters.

"Come on boys, I haven't got all day." Vanitas called out to the horde, casually tossing his Keyblade up into the air. "I have other places to get to."

Several of the humanoid Heartless jumped at him in response.

Just as the Keyblade flipped down back into his hand, Naruto grabbed the weapon and whacked them away and destroyed one of them. He did not notice the light that shot out and flew to the sky.

"Huh, so you're a bit sturdier than these little Shadows." Naruto commented. "Guess I'll have to hit ya a little harder."

To back this statement, Vanitas slashed through another helmeted Heartless and destroyed it in the process. What he did not expect however was the heart shaped symbol that burst forth from where the Heartless once stood and flew up into the air before vanishing.

"The hell was that?" He muttered, tilting his head in confusion. His instincts then roared at him to moved, ducking in time to dodge another chrome head from bashing his face in.

"HEY, I WAS DISTRACTED." Vanitas yelled aloud in faux anger. He dashed forward, slashing through a large contingent of the Shadows before getting through towards the helmeted Heartless.

"There's got to be a better name for you metalheads." Vanitas murmured. "You guys look like bad excuses of knights. Maybe something revolving around that."

'Soldiers… the legions of Heartless…'

Eye twitching momentarily, Vanitas impaled one soldier followed by cleaving through the others around him.

"Are you just gonna do this for the rest of my life now?" Vanitas shouted to the skies above, getting no response. "Typical."

Suddenly, he heard a car speeding his way. Turning to the source, it was being chased by several flying Heartless. They appeared to vaguely look similar to the Soldiers, except they had bat-like wings while wearing an old styled, aviators hat and goggles.

Reacting quickly, Vanitas threw his Keyblade towards the car. As it got closer, he teleported back to his key-shaped sword before whacking them away. Landing back on the ground, he heard the car crashing right behind him.

"Crap!" Running over to the car, he quickly opened the door and automatically asked the obvious question. "Are you-"

"Vanitas!" Yelled a familiar voice. "You came!"

Looking at the back seat, the costumed Uzumaki saw Artemis strapped in the backseat. And sitting right next to her was Jade, who appeared to be knocked out from the recent crash.

"Is everyone alright?" Vanitas asked

"I… I hope so with my sister." Artemis spoke. "But mom-" A small groan could be heard from the driver's seat. "Mom! Are you alright?!"

"I… I think so." Paula groaned out, holding her head.

"Don't worry. I'll get you three outta here." Vanitas said, helping getting Harley's neighbors out of the vehicle.

Paula stumbled out of the car with Vanitas steadying her for a moment. He then opened the back seat door for Artemis to quickly get out to be by her mother's side. With her out, Vanitas crawled in to unbuckle Jade's seatbelt before prying her out.

With the small family out, the hero was about to summon a clone to escort to safety when he was slammed from behind. The attack caused him to tumble across the street with Jade's body coming along, due to her still in his embrace.

"Cut me some damn slack here." Vanitas growled out.

Looking at his attacker, he saw quite the large Heartless with rotund protruding belly.

'Talk about your big bodies.' Naruto internally mused.

This new Heartless was large with a spherical shape. It had large massive arms, feet and hands though with contrasting small legs and head. It seemed to wear a sleeveless bodysuit with gold trims and horizontal laces. Its head was topped off with a silver colored metal hat that ended with a curl, similar to that of the Soldiers. On both arms were manacles that had chains dangling from them and like all the other Heartless he encounters, this large Heartless had glowing yellow eyes.

Quickly getting up, Vanitas readied himself to defend Artemis' unconscious sister for the incoming attack as it charged with it's belly glowing red. Just as it got closer, it was knocked away via aerial kick to the head. Before it could react quick enough, a small bomb was detonated on it's back. The blast was strong enough to disburse it into blackened smoke, but as opposed to the red heart being seen earlier, it was yellow in color.

"Sorry I'm late to the party, Vanitas."

"No, you're good as any showing up, Batgirl."

The commissioner's costumed daughter formed a smirk, turning back to face another fat Heartless that arrived to take the place of its fallen kin.

"What's the word on these guys, Vanitas?" Batgirl asked. "They're popping up all over the place."

"First off, they're called Heartless." He said as Paula and Artemis quickly rushed over to them to see Jade's condition. "And second, I have no idea why they're here."

"Heartless?" Batgirl repeated, pulling out a few batarangs.

"Don't ask."

The masked redhead merely shrugged. "Any name good as any right now."

Flinging her projectiles forward, the large Heartless merely stood there with its belly swaying back and forth. The batarangs then bounced of its large stomach while it was scratching its head in a daze.

"Well that failed miserably." Vanitas wryly observed while briefly seeing the Crocks running away from the scene.

"Oh shut up." Batgirl countered, now pulling out a metal stick from her utility belt that extended into a Bo staff.

"Doesn't Robin use that?" Vanitas inquired, watching her twirl the Bo.

"Gave me a spare." Batgirl answered

"Good to know." He said, readying himself with Keyblade in hand.

"And where'd you get that?"

"Long story. I'll tell ya later."

"Can't wait."

The two proceeded to run forward at the heartless who was now starting to hobble its way towards them. Both swung their weapons at the same time only for them to bounce off its thick belly. The Heartless proceeded to swing its arms back in attack with both dodging.

Seeing as these large Heartless, these Large Bodies, were immune to attacks on their front, the heroic pair had to maneuver around towards their backs in order to effectively damage them.

Grabbing Batgirl's wrist, he threw her over the Large Body while sliding around in a curving arch. With a horizontal strike followed by a downward bashing, the large body was flung forward landing on its belly.

"Got it." Batgirl fist pumped.

"But we didn't destroy it like you did with that last one." Naruto reminded, making Bab's nod her head while the Large Body got to its feet.

What neither of the two expected was the Heartless to glow a burning red while jumping about like it was having a tantrum. It flailed it's arms all over while on the move. One of it's limbs were able to hit them, causing both to take a painful blow as they tumbled away.

"Ok that hurt." Vanitas grunted, getting to his feet with Batgirl.

The Large body was not done it seems. With a pound of its belly, the Large Body jumped forth and barrelled towards them upon the ground like a cannonball.

"DODGE THAT." Naruto exclaimed, tackling Barbara out of the way.

The Heartless crashed into the side of a building, completely caving in the brick wall.

"Geez, that thing can move." Batgirl groaned, getting helped back to her feet by Vanitas.

"No kidding." He murmured, Keyblade at the ready as the big bellied Heartless stepped out from the rubble still glowing red.

Pounding on its belly once more, the Large Body shot itself forward again.

This time Vanitas grit his teeth and swung back just in time as the Large Body was a mere foot or two away. The clashing of the Keyblade upon its belly made both combatants flinch, with the Large Body rolling away on its stomach while Vanitas had his Keyblade raised in the air, balancing himself on one foot.

A brief flashing of light came from the Keyblade as Naruto slammed his foot to the ground and flung his Keyblade forward in a spinning fashion. The Keyblade slammed itself against the supercharged Heartless.

Yet Naruto was not done, raising his hand again and the Keyblade reappeared for him to toss it once more. This time it destroyed the Large body but in its place, Shadows appeared from the ground and Soldiers -both normal and aerial- arrived on the scene.

This gave Naruto further incentive to use the move he came up with during Jason's spar session yesterday and pulled off in rapid succession.

"STRIKE RAID." Vanitas roared out, annihilating groups of Heartless with every throw and return with his weapon glowing in the process. "See ya!" He cried out on the final throw that seemingly got rid of the last of them.

Grunting, Vanitas momentarily fell to his knees to take a breather with Batgirl by his side.

"Vanitas!" Batgirl cried out in worry "Are you alright? Better yet, what was that just now?!"

"Man. I definitely need to work more on that." He said, rolling his shoulder. "A simple thing as that should not have exhausted me so."

"Well what was it then?"

"Strike Raid." Vanitas explained. "Little something that came to me when i was learning how to use this oversized Key."

Then out of the blue, large plumbs of dark smoke appeared around the pair to reveal more Soldiers, Air Soldiers, and Large Bodies.

"For Fuck sake." Naruto gritted out in annoyance. "These assholes just don't let up!"

"Thundara!"

Suddenly, the large group of Heartless were electrocuted -with some evaporating into smoke and yellow hearts- before the rest looked around for the new attacker.

"Blizzara!"

The ground below the group suddenly froze over before large spikes protruded upwards. The attack skewered most of them while the others were entrapped. Said ones were trying to break themselves free before-

"Fira!"

They were roasted alive in their confined state as the last of them went away in both black smoke and yellow hearts.

Both Vanitas and Batgirl blinked at the sudden display of elemental magic, turning their heads on the direction of a young girl wearing a cloaked hood while floating in the air, hands lowering to her sides. Any attempt of seeing what was seen from underneath the hood was all for naught as it was like staring into a darkened void.

"Hello. You're new." Batgirl said to the younger, cloaked girl.

"I am." Raven bluntly said.

"Raven. What are you doing here?" Vanitas questioned the new arrival. "Weren't you watching the girls?"

The cloaked girl shifted her feet as she seemingly looked away from her guardian. "I… was." She could feel his bland stare right on her. "Hey, I was protecting them when they were inside-"

"Are they alright?" He quickly asked.

"Yes, but-"

"Hey uh, guys, not to cut in or anything but most of the South District is still under attack by the… What was it again? Heartless, right?"

"That's a weird name." Raven commented.

"I agree, but Vanitas said it's what they are or whatever."

"That's what you came up with for them?"

"I didn't. It was a voice in my head… or something like that."

"...Should I be concerned on this, right?"

"Oh don't get me started, Raven." Vanitas deadpanned. "You of all people should be the last…"

Batgirl abruptly coughed into her hand, getting their attention once more. "Hello! Heartless! South District! Go! Now!"

The costumed guardian/ward pair nodded before proceeding to make their way towards more of the action with Batgirl not far behind them. Got to one point when Vanitas summoned a Fair Play card, enlarged it and had them ride it to get there faster.

"By the way, forgot to ask." Vanitas looked to Batgirl. "Where's Bats and Robin in all this? Feels like they would be out here."

"They are." Batgirl confirmed for him. "They went ahead while I saw that speeding car. I think they went more towards the center of the District."

"I know this may sound generic but do you think that that's the place where it's the center of the attack." Raven said aloud.

"Probably." Vanitas said, taking a turn in the direction of the center of the District. "Never hurts to look."

"I think in this case it just might." Batgirl pointed out.

"Duly noted Batgirl, but let's check it out any-"

-Insert Kingdom Hearts II: Tension Rising-

Several dozen Air Soldiers abruptly appeared before them, following the floating card platform.

"-way." Naruto finished, Keyblade in hand.

"Does this confirm my theory?" Raven asked. She drew out her arms with black mana coating them.

"Backs it up for now." Vanitas said, already moving to engage the Heartless.

As the card platform flew in between many buildings, Batgirl had to quickly adjust herself with every twist and turn. Though she didn't waste most of her movements by swinging her Bo staff at the nearby Heartless. At one point, she did fall off, but with a quick use of her grappling gun, she was able to swing back onto the card platform in order to resume the fight.

Raven weaved her hands in a specific pattern, murmuring to herself. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

Pillars of black magic shot out from the nearby buildings, buffeting the Air soldiers destroying some while others fell to the ground.

At one moment, she was knocked away from one of the Heartless. She briefly screamed as a result before feeling a hand grasping her arm.

"I got ya, Raven."

"Thanks, Batgirl."

Vanitas in the meantime corkscrewed in between several heartless, destroying them quickly. Landing on his feet, he let out a slight yelp as he inclined his head back in time to avoid the swipe of a Soldiers clawed hands.

Dispatching his would-be attacker in an instant, Vanitas was on the defensive momentarily as Air Soldiers dive bombed him.

"Assholes." Vanitas said, making quick work of them as he was swinging with much greater power now.

Batgirl and Raven were back to back facing the Air soldiers that surrounded them.

"Think you can pull them in?" Barbara asked.

Wordlessly, Raven's hands were surrounded by her magic. Each Air Soldier was suddenly encased in black spheres with only their heads visible.

Throwing her arms together while crouching down, the heartless came towards the two. Spinning her staff with all her might, Batgirl smashed her metal Bo into the heads of each Heartless successfully destroying them.

Letting out a shaky breath, Batgirl grinned at Raven who had a small smile of her own.

"Good thinking." Raven praised.

"And nice swing there." Vanitas said, jogging over to the two of them. "Let's go, we're a few blocks away from the center."

Nodding, the trio resumed their run to the center of the South District swatting aside a few Heartless here and there.

The moment the three made it to the central part of the district -which looked rather trashed with many vehicles burning and toppled over- they lurched forward as something knocked them off the card platform. Tumbling across the ground, each of them recovered in their respective manners. Looking at their offenders, they briefly expected to see Air Soldiers… only to see something else.

Sure they were somewhat modeled like them, but they seemed to look more like architectural gargoyles in nature. They had dark grey, purple themed colors with jagged horns protruding from their heads with craggy, unhinged maws. Their longs were long, but not nearly as alien as their feet. And their leather wings were more pointy than the Air Soldiers.

"Well ain't you guys creepier than the last ones." Barbara commented, pulling out several batarangs from her belt.

"These look like some of the gargoyles on buildings here in Gotham." Vanitas noted, taking a moment to observe them. Each had a misty air of darkness surrounding them.

"They look like they're possessed." Raven said, hands glowing.

"Whatever the case, we need to get rid of them."

With that, the group went into action as the gargoyle-themed Heartless flew right towards them. Meeting them at the middle, Vanitas was the first to strike with a swipe of his Keyblade. One Gargoyle didn't give out a sound as it was smacked around but it was rather noticeable with the pain it was receiving. It was soon destroyed by Raven's Fira spell as it collided with a few others in the process.

Batgirl was having a slightly difficult time as every time she struck a Gargoyle, her hands wrung. The metal impacting the stone-like bodies of the Gargoyles made her Bo vibrate which brought great discomfort to her body with every movement. Playing smart, she used her weapon to pole vault over one of them, landed on it's back, placed a small bomb and jumped onto another to repeat the same process. Leaping away from a few more, she soon detonated them as each Gargoyle she contacted were destroyed.

"Whew." She whispered to herself.

A Gargoyle had attempted to get the drop on her from above when two figures swung in and bashed the Heartless into the ground, effectively destroying it.

Turning around, Batgirl beamed at the welcomed site of some friendlier faces.

"Batgirl." Batman greeted, approaching her with his protege by his side.

"Seems this is where all the action is at now." Robin said with a smirk.

"You came just in time." Batgirl said happily

"Any idea what the hell these are?"

"They're called Heartless, Robin." This drew curious looks from the Dynamic Duo. "Don't ask me. Vanitas was the one who got the name."

Batman nodded on the little bit of information.

"And how'd he get name?" Robin couldn't help but ask.

"Voice in his head." Raven said as she blasted several Gargoyles and newly arrived Large Bodies away.

"Hey, Rac-Raven." Robin spoke, quickly correcting himself from calling out her real name as he maneuvered around a Soldier and kicked it away. "Didn't expect to see you here."

"CIrcumstances made me come here."

"If you say so, kid."

On the other side of their attackers, Batman swiped his batarangs through several Soldiers in order to get rid of them. He soon saw a pair of Large Bodies coming right at him with them glowing red and their arms flailing. He dashed out of their way before coming at them once their glows died down. The Bat struck their protruding stomachs, but realized no damage was done at all with his attacks merely bouncing back.

"You need to hit their backs, Bats!" Vanitas yelled out, cleaving a Heartless' head from its body.

Taking the advice, Batman jumped up and used the Large Bodies head to help flip over. Landing on the ground, Batman put all his might into a roundhouse kick followed by a set of explosive batarangs that embedded themselves into its back. They blew up upon the Large Body hitting the ground, finishing it off in an instant.

With that opponent out of the way, Batman soon saw large pools of darkness forming around him. Creeping out of them, he saw humanoid Shadows with blue veins running through most of their bodies with large pairs of jagged antenna curling back. They appeared far more formidable than the Shadows and other Heartless.

Without much notice, the Neo-Shadows leaped at the Dark Knight.

Acting quickly, Batman spun around and kicked the closest one coming to him. He then grabbed another and used it as a blunt-force object for a brief moment before tossing it away into an incoming group. The bat-themed hero then shot his arms forward, punching several in rapid succession before kicking them up into the air, with one of them colliding into an Air Soldier.

One however got past Batman's defences and slashed at his side. Clenching his teeth in pain, Batman utilized his clawed greaves to slash at the Neo-shadow and took it down with a quick flurry of jabs and kicks.

"Bats." Vanitas appeared, quickly dispatching the last Neo-Shadow. "You alright there?"

"Fine, I've had worse." Batman said, pulling out an adhesive bandage from his utility belt and quickly placing it over the claw marks. While doing so, he saw the Keyblade in Vanitas' grasp. "That's new."

"You're not the only one commenting on this thing." Commented the helmeted Uzumaki. "Got it from a meteor if you can believe it."

"When it comes to you…" Batman left the statement hanging and unfinished.

"Did… Did you just make a joke?" Vanitas asked, head slowly turning to the World's Greatest Detective.

All he got was a grunt before the older hero rushed into the nearest Heartless.

"You totally did." Vanitas called out, running after him. "I can't believe you. You never say one when you wear your getup."

"Focus on the task at hand." Batman chided, booting away a Soldier.

"Sorry, sorry." Vanitas said sheepishly while cleaving through an Air Soldier. "But you just gotta understand Bats."

"Do you have anything else on you that could help us out on this?"

"If you're asking if I have another Keyblade, sorry I don't."

"What about your other weapons?"

"I think they could." Vanitas shrugged. "But your style is working, isn't it?"

"Doesn't feel like it's enough." Batman admitted.

"Then what you want?"

"Your daggers."

Vanitas and focused in creating a good number of his electrified daggers. Once done, he handed them to the Dark Knight before rushing over to a pair of Large Bodies.

With his new weapons on hand, he opened up his gauntlets before inserting a pair of daggers into them. Closing them up, he activated his shock gloves. Just in time too as a Neo-Shadow came right at him, which had him punch it instantly. And it was there he saw a simple punch became more damaging as the pitch black opponent evaporated into smoke and green hearts.

"Really effective now." He commented before seeing the green heart go into the ground where a new Neo-Shadow formed. "...Perfect…"

Raven was levitating high in the air, a dome surrounding her. She had remained there for sometime as she was gathering her magic.

Air Soldiers bounced off in an attempt to get at her but failed.

Down below, her friends and comrades continued fighting on none-the-wiser on her floating above. Feeling the accumulation of magic reach its peak, Raven's eyes snapped open in their ethereal black glow.

"Azarath… Metrion… THUNDARA"

Over with Batgirl and Robin, they having some more difficulty now with their respective Bo staffs becoming less effective now. It wasn't much of the case when confronting the different Shadows and even both the Soldiers and Air Soldiers. But the Large Bodies were becoming quite tedious. Not to mention with the other Heartless in general coming in droves, relentlessly attacking the crime fighter.

CRACK THROOM

A flash of light from above followed by a rain of blackened thunder bolts cascaded down upon the Heartless, leaving the four standing in the center of it all in complete shock and befuddlement.

The lightning cleared to reveal all the Heartless to be completely annihilated, leaving a now empty District.

"Damn…" Robin voiced out with Batgirl nodding in agreement.

Vanitas and Batman only looked up to see Raven floating down towards them. Landing, Raven stumbled forth and fell only to be caught by Robin and Batgirl.

"Holy hell, Raven." Batgirl said aloud. "That was incredible."

"How'd ya do that?"

If either of them could properly see under her hood, they would've seen the half-demon giving a small smirk. "Magic."

"...Lame~" Batgirl drawled out.

"That's the best you could give us?" Robin asked in equal disappointment.

"It's the only one that makes sense." Raven said weakly, looking up to the both of them.

"Sadly, that's usually the case with magic." Vanitas said, walking over to them. "Great job there, Raven. You really saved our necks down here." He threw up a thumbs up for added praise.

Raven smiled slightly, using the support of her friends to get back and stay on her feet.

As the group of heroes tried to recover themselves from their recent fight, they saw a large pools of darkness forming ten or so feet away from them.

"Oh Come on." Batgirl whined. "Can you give us just one moment?"

"Vanitas."

"Yeah, Bats?"

"Give Batgirl and Robin one of your weapons." Requested the older hero. "They'll need it for what's to come."

Briefly slamming his Keyblade into the ground, Vanitas formed a pair of his Kazekage lances. With them out, he handed them to Batgirl and Robin before taking hold of his key-shaped sword.

"Thanks." Robin voiced with Batgirl nodding.

The pools of darkness converged into one spot before floating up into the air. Out from the darkness burst forth a Large Body but this one was distinctly different. Covered in armor, including a round shield on its back, arms sporting gold and red-violet gauntlets this body was no simple one. This was a Large Armor and it wasn't alone with there being a dozen of them along with other Heartless.

"Well… they're colorful." Robin noted, readying his lance.

The group paused once more as from behind these new Heartless came one last one to form from the darkness which completely outsized these new Large Armored Heartless four or five times.

Taking shape, the Heartless was a gigantic one with large plated shoulders and gauntlets around both arms with jagged, yellow swirls taking place as it's eyes and a red horn on its forehead. It was metallic in nature, wielding a giant double bladed ax with what appeared to be some sort of face on it.

"Oh come the fuck on!" Batgirl exclaimed. "What in the hell is that supposed to be?!"

"A severe pain in the ass." Vanitas grumbled.

"Kinda reminds of a troll." Robin murmured. "A giant Metal Troll with an Ax."

"Thank you for pointing that out." Vanitas dryly said

And if that wasn't enough… a second, more rock-themed version of the newly named Metal Troll appeared not long after. A Rock Troll if you will.

"...SERIOUSLY! WHAT THE FLYING FUCK!" Batgirl yelled out

"Ok, I'm not usually one to say this but…. That's bullshit right there." Raven stated, none to pleased with this newest addition.

Both trolls stepped forward, their footsteps shaking the grounds letting out roars of challenge at the group of heroes.

All five had their weapons or in Ravens case, magic, at the ready with both side going into a momentary tense standoff to see who would move first.

Before anything else was said or done, Robins ears perked at a strange tone far off in the distance that was getting louder… which meant it was getting closer.

All attention was shifted away from the eventual fight as the music was growing louder and clearer with it clearly going in their direction.

"Is… Is that Ride of the Valkyries?" Robin voiced their same thought.

"As in, Richard Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries?" Raven repeated for clarity.

"And why is it in a bell jingle?" Batgirl questioned.

Vanitas had a strange feeling came over him. "Why do I feel like… I may have an idea as to why it's this song."

With the music getting louder and louder, the group of heroes heard the sounds of tires running across the pavement with an engine roaring. Turning towards the source… they saw something quite unusual.

"Is that… an ice cream truck?"

"It is." Came the Bat's blunt response.

"I know who it is now." Vanitas confidently said.

As the ice cream styled vehicle sped past the group, everything seemed to go slow motion in their vision. There they saw Harley waving at them from the driver's seat with a bright smile on her face. And she wasn't alone as in the neighboring seat was Poison with Catwoman standing in the middle while having a cheshire-like grin.

'What the hell is she doing?" Batgirl questioned with widened eyes under her mask.

"Improvising… most likely." Robin commented as he mirrored Batgirl's reaction.

"GO FASTER!" Selina yelled out from the middle.

"PLEASE DON'T!" Ivy responded.

"WHEEEEEEE!" Was all Harley could sound out as she floored the surprisingly fast ice cream truck. Soon enough, she swerved the vehicle over to a flipped over car. "BE READY TO BAIL GIRLS!"

By the time their jacked ride came into contact with the impromptu ramp, the Sirens quickly got out of the vehicle in their respective manners. Either through the front window or from the sides. And it wasn't long after with the ice cream truck crashing into the giant Heartless and exploding soon after.

"WHOO." Harley jumped up, oversized hammer in hand. "That was awesome!"

"I know!" Catwoman said as her grin never left her face. "We should do that again!"

"I'd rather not."

"Ladies." Said a familiar knowing voice. "I see you're all alive and well."

Whirling around, Harley gave a brief wave. "Hiya, Batsy."

"Glad to see you're all on your feet." Catwoman remarked, brushing away some dust on her arm.

"Uh guys." Robin pointed ahead. "Gigantic bad guys, remember?"

Turning to face them, Pamela and Catwoman blanched a bit at the sight of the two gargantuan Trolls now facing them.

"Oh… that's a lot of sauces of death…" Was Harley's response.

"They're called Heartless."

Harley rose a brow when hearing this. "And where'd you come up with that name, Vanny?"

"...Would you believe it was from a voice in my head?"

"Yeup~" She then snorted. "Though I should be worried if you are hearing voices in your head."

"Don't you?" Selina rhetorically said.

"...True."

"What happened at Arkham?" Vanitas asked. "When you called-"

"Oh, right. That." The hammer wielder jabbed her thumb at the Green Champion. "Ivy here came and helped out-"

-Insert Kingdom Hearts III: The Consuming Dark-

"INCOMING!" Batgirl yelled out.

Raven instinctively threw up a large barrier, encasing them all. It shattered upon impact due to both trolls utilizing their axes at the same time.

Falling to her knees, Vanitas shot forward with Batman by his side as the two ran at the trolls.

"Fight now, talk later!" Vanitas shouted out.

Batman pulled out his grappling hook and fired at one of the large spikes on the shoulders of the Rock Troll, using it to avoid the Metal Troll's arm.

Vanitas zipped towards the Metal Troll in a zig zagging fashion, confusing his opponent enough to actually make the swirls for eyes spin.

Seeing that it was confused, he leapt forth with a spinning swing, striking the troll right in its face. The behemoth of a Heartless stumbled back but shook its head and swung its own ax in retaliation.

Vanitas was thrown off by its speed, narrowly ducking down in time to avoid the large ax.

Unbeknownst to any of the heroes, a pair of cars quickly pulled up to the scene at a safe distance. One was a news vehicle with Summer Gleeson and her camera man coming out while the other was a civilian one with Lois Lane being the driver.

The news crew was obvious as to why they were there. Wanting to record the latest event and air it towards the Gothamites. They knew of the dangers presented to them and were ready to take the risk for the sake of their jobs.

As for Lois, she was being a bit reckless in coming here. With these creatures roaming about, her life could be at stake, even if they're primarily focused on the Gothamite heroes right now. But old habits die hard as she wanted to be there as this took place, no doubt wanting to get a great story for the Daily Planet.

Getting ready in record time, the cameraman motioned his partner to start. "This is Summer Gleeson, coming to you live from the South District where right behind me a clash between our city's heroes and these monstrous creatures are taking place." She briefly turned around to see more of the action as it was rather hard to not pry her attention away from it. "Given the small statement from Commissioner Gordon, he spoke that these creatures are called Heartless by Vanitas. Don't know how or why he came up with the name but they seem appropriate right now."

As this live report was going on, Lois Lane was standing nearby as she was observing the fight taking place. She was quickly writing through her notepad as she was quickly describing what was happening in great detail. The reporter from Metropolis would no doubt hound either of these heroes in order to get more information on what's going on.

Back in the action, Raven was casting out spells left and right in getting rid of a lot of the smaller Heartless… well small in comparison to the two Troll ones. She even had to occasionally pay attention to her companions for whatever assistance was needed.

Pamela was a great boon in terms of being on the offense while assisting her allies as well with her vines being used as leverage in riding and launching themselves at the Heartless. Even calling out some of her giant, sentient venus fly traps to snag and devour some of the shadowy creatures. Though they had to spit them back out with how tainted they were.

The Large Armors were proving to be exceptionally difficult to handle as other than Raven's magic, most of their attacks unphased the fat Heartless.

"Whoa." Harley let out, feeling herself spin from her hammer bouncing off the back of a Large Armors shielded back. "Gonna need to think of something else to take ya down, busta."

Selina wasn't doing any better from the mixture of her whip to using her Red Champion abilities of augmented strength and speed. Yet not much couldn't be done as her physical strikes couldn't do much on the Large Armors as opposed to it's lesser cousin and other Heartless.

Robin and Batgirl were working in tandem together, taking down many Heartless like the typical ground and Air Soldiers. Their borrowed Kazekage lances were doing wonders in cutting down many Heartless with ease. No doubt with the power provided in them.

Yet like the rest of their allies, the Large Armors were proving to be the most difficult in fighting as practically their entire body was encased in armor that was seemingly immune to most physical attacks.

That was until Harley got extremely frustrated with her lack of damage. Using a nearby car for a boost, Harley let out a war cry as she jumped into the air and slammed her hammer down upon a Large Armors head effectively destroying it.

Blinking, Harley grinned maniacally looking to her allies, several of which saw what she did.

"Well, this became easier now." Pam said, conjuring forth more vines with a plan in mind now.

Over with Vanitas, he was giving it his all when striking down both the Metal and Rock Trolls before him. Yet they seemed to be visibly doing nothing.

Batman was utilizing long ranged projectiles and distraction based tactics to keep the Trolls from landing a good hit upon Vanitas yet it did nothing in damaging them.

Things changed when the two giant Heartless brought their axes towards the ground, stepped on top of them… and spun around like a mad spinning top. With rocks and the occasional car being flung in all directions.

"Holy-" Vanitas let out before frantically swatting aside the rocks only for a car to slam into him. Managing to get out from the car that struck him, he saw yet another big piece flying towards him. Acting on instinct he sliced through it in half.

Batman in the meantime was crouched down in cover, thinking hard on how to take down these Trolls, seeing the minimal damage they had managed.

Once they stopped spinning, both Metal and Rock Trolls charged at the two heroes. Batman and Vanitas avoided the incoming attacks.

"God you two are such a severe pain in the ass." Vanitas grumbled out. "Any ideas, Bats?"

"Their heads seem to be the only weak point so far." Batman said, recalling Vanitas attacking the Metal troll and successfully stunning it momentarily when he hit the head.

"So… Aim for the head then?

"Aim for the head."

"Works for me."

The pair made their respective ways of getting close to the Rock Troll's heads. Vanitas channeled power into his legs in order to jump rather high and rapidly clashed his Keyblade onto it's face. Batman however jumped when the Metal Troll swung it's weapon down to the ground. Once this happened, he landed on the weapon and ran up the giant Heartless' arm. Getting in close, he started punching the creature's head with his powered gauntlets.

The Heartless however didn't take to kindly to damage it was receiving and managed to flick him off. Grunting in pain, Batman recovered by using his cape to stall his descent. Upon landing on the ground, Batman had no choice but to leap up once more to avoid the ax swing coming his way.

Thinking quickly, Batman fired off his grapple gun and had the claw tie around the handle of the ax. Using his own strength on top of the Metal Trolls momentum, Batman managed to guide the ax right into its own owners face. The Troll greatly stumbled back, falling down onto its behind.

"Vanitas." Batman called out to him.

"I saw, nice thinking, Bats." Vanitas said, moving to attack the Rock Troll with an objective in mind this time. With a quick series of strikes to the head, Vanitas jumped back and waited.

As expected, the Rock Troll began pursuing after him.

"Hey Bats, lure yours over." Vanitas shouted.

Batman saw the Metal Troll get back to its feet and charged at him.

Taking Vanitas's advice, Batman began to duck and weave all the while heading in Vanitas's direction who was using the same strategy.

The two then bumped into each others backs. Whirling around to face one another, their eyes widened momentarily and both ducked at the same time.

Both Axes swung overhead, striking one another directly in the head of the opposite troll.

The damage to both made them stagger, with small cracks appearing on their heads.

"It worked." Vanitas said aloud with a grin beneath his helmet.

It was at this point when the two Trolls brought their axes up… and placed them on their heads.

"The hell are they doing?" Vanitas questioned.

This was answered as the two giant Heartless glowed in a pinkish hue and started charging all over in a random manner. Not liking where this is going, Vanitas got close to the nearest Troll and started laying some damage on the Heartless. Yet nothing seemed to be working to get it to go down.

'Seems I'll be using that.' He thought before looking at his Keyblade. 'Might become easier through this.'

Jumping a good distance away, the helmeted hero channeled power into his Keyblade in creating a Rasengan at it's tip. Adding something extra into the mix, his purple colored sphere turned bluish-white with sparks radiating off of it. It then shifted with an ethereal arrow from the middle.

With it reaching it's point, the costumed Uzumaki focused aimed his attack at the two Troll Heartless. Oddly enough, his vision darkened a little with his Hawkeye ability activating in targeting said Heartless with the occasional other ones roaming about.

'Lightning style Rasengan: Rasen-Yajirushi! (Spiral Arrow)!' He thought aloud, unleashing his attack from the Keyblade's tip.

The arrow-styled orb shattered the moment it got close enough to the Heartless. The shards homed directly towards their targets, striking them with many of the shadowy creatures getting destroyed. Not to mention the jutsu struck with a powerful effect on the Trolls, causing the masks dispelling off both Heartless and turning back into their axes.

"Neat." Vanitas remarked, smirking down in appreciation at his Keyblade.

"Think you can try that again?" Batman asked.

"I've got a better idea." Vanitas said with a mischievous undertone.

Holding out his hand, another Rasengan formed with Wind being infused into the swirling sphere. Once completed, he tossed up the sphere and winded back with his Keyblade.

"FORE!" Vanitas shouted, striking the Rasengan with his Keyblade like a baseball bat.

The Rasenshuriken shot forth right at the Rock Troll. When it hit the Troll in its face, the Rasengan exploded out with the Heartless stumbling back. The wind kicked up around it and converged upon the Rock Troll with the wind forming into spears that shot into the Troll greatly damaging it.

"AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!" Vanitas threw his hands up in victory only to be shoved aside hard by Batman to save him from the Ax that the Metal Troll brought down on both of them.

"Stay focused!"

"Sorry!"

The Metal Troll jumped onto its Ax once more and spun about, flinging rocks at both heroes. They avoided the debris, yet the largest one of them flew over and past them. Instinctively looking over, Vanitas saw it was flying towards the news crew and Lois.

"No… No No No NO!"

Rushing forward, Vanitas sped towards the intended landing zone with his arm stretched out. He didn't know if he could be able to reach them in time from getting crushed and killed.

"NO!" Vanitas roared aloud, throwing out his hand.

Desperation filled his very being as he might not be able to make it… until he felt a odd, familiar warmth spread from his heart and crawled from underneath the skin of his arm.

Suddenly, ethereal silvery-white chains rapidly shot out of his limb and flew through the air before imbedding themselves into the large debris.

'The hell?' He thought before he was feeling dragged by the latched object. Responding, he tugged HARD in order to stop the piece of earth from crushing both the news crew and Lois. It did come close to it as it fell onto the ground a few feet away.

Glaring back at the Troll Heartless, he quickly grabbed the ethereal chains before using all his might in dragging the debris back. As it started coming closer, he started spinning around before taking careful aim at the giant opponents. At the last moment, he brought it down upon them, causing quite the amount of damage in the process.

The Metal Troll was now grounded, unmoving at this moment. Wanting to take it out, Naruto sped right towards it with his Keyblade poised in taking it down for good. Jumping high, he then brought it down onto its face as it's tip dug into the metal-themed giant.

The moment it happened, it disbursed into a large plumb of dark vapors with a giant, glowing red heart floated up into the sky before disappearing.

"Well ain't that something." Harley commented as she saw this happen along with everyone else before resuming the fight against the decreasing number of Heartless.

Seeing as it's metal cousin was destroyed, the Rock Troll made its way towards the Keyblade wielder with it's ax poised to kill.

As it was brought down, Vanitas performed a quick parry to knock the Heartless' weapon away. The action did ache his arm greatly, but he sucked it up and swung again with his Keyblade channeling his power. With a diagonal swipe, an arc of power came out of the weapon and struck the Rock Troll's face and created a massive gash. Once this happened, it started falling back as darkened vapors escaped from the wound before it died. And with that, another giant red heart floated up into the sky and went to parts unknown.

With these two giant Heartless gone, the remaining smaller ones saw no further point staying around. Most were encompassed by dark clouds, disappearing from the battlefield. Yet the other heroes managed to pick off a few that tried fleeing before all were gone.

Vanitas collapsed onto his ass, letting out a sigh of utter exhaustion. "I need a vacation."

"No kidding~" Batgirl agreed, coming up to the helmeted hero. "No doubt I'm gonna be really sore in the morning. Don't even know if I'll be stuck in bed all day or not."

Batman in the meantime switched over to surveillance, getting into contact with Alfred to give a sitrep on the situation in the city overall.

"We seem to be in the clear." Batman informed the tired group.

"What ya mean, Batsy?" Harley asked.

"Appears that the rest of the Heartless vacated the city." He revealed, getting varied looks from the others. "Highly doubt it, though."

"Well, let's not look a gift in a horses mouth and ignore it." Robin said. "We should do a sweep of the city to be sure."

"Do we have to?" Catwoman said, nursing her wrist which was aching a great deal from excessive use of her whip and empowered punches. "I wanna go back home now and snuggle in my bed for a well deserved catnap."

Before anyone could do anything else, they were soon confronted by not only both Summer Gleeson and her cameraman but also Lois Lane as both wanted to interview the heroes on what just occurred.

…..

…..

…..

…..

Standing at the edge of a far off building, a man wearing a leathery black cloak peered at the central area of the city's south district. With a hidden smirk, he brought his hands up and started clapping.

"Now that was quite the show." He said with glee. "Kid's got quite the nice spunk in fighting those Heartless for the first time. Well… outside of the Deep Dive, that is."

Raising a hand to his chin, he idly mused to himself while strolling back and forth upon the building's edge where he watched the battle from.

"Should I stick around? Watch some more? Or Leave?" He asked himself. "Dilemmas, Dilemmas all around me."

He then looked up towards the sky where the moon shined so bright. Bringing his hands up towards his vision, he brought them together like he was framing the giant space rock in a picture. He then formed his hands to encircle most of it as if it was some sort of heart.

"Wonder how long it'll be before we reach to that."

Glancing back to the Keyblade wielder, he was speaking with the tall imposing Batman while everyone else was patching themselves up with the two reporters interviewing them.

"Will he'll learn how to use his Keyblade effectively so soon or not. I mean, he struggled…" He paused for several moments before shrugging while speaking in a whimsical tone. "Meh, he can figure it out for himself."

And like before, wisps of darkness appeared around him before engulfing him completely in an ovular dome before retreating back to the ground to show that he was gone. Nay a trace or hair of the individual that stood there could be found.

All the while the heroes down below remained none the wiser.

-End Chapter-

AN:

Once again, gotta thank free man writer for TREMENDOUSLY helping out on this chapter. Greatly appreciate it, immensely. Wished I could've gotten this out last week on my birthday, but things happen.

One weekend weeks ago, I saw the reboot of She-Ra: Princess of Power show on Netflix as I was bored as hell. Gotta say it looks good on the animation, but there is only a few things from the show that I liked: Catra, Scorpina (barely) and Entrapta. Everything else was rather hard to sit through watching the rest of season one.

The writing was not that great on various moments and episodes, making it seem rather slow and cringy. Almost all of the princesses are lazy as fuck and don't do what's needed to defend their respective kingdoms against the Horde, except for Glimmer and her mom, Queen Angella. Not to mention several are just very stereotypical on their respective character traits that made me hate them very much.

Oh and Bow… more like Stupido Cupido… and Seahawk… and Swiftwind… very annoying… enough said.

On another note, saw the Umbrella Academy on Netflix and I gotta say it was a pretty good show. Sure I admit I never read the comics in the first place but understood the premise quite well. Even though it's a superhero themed series, it's primarily about family developmental drama. And this show is supposedly adapting a better job from the source material to make events and details better.

Though I do have things concerning the series getting into it for the first time as I believe a lot of the problems originated from: Sir Reginald Hargreeves.

He is no doubt a shitty guardian/father/parent. Reginald had fucked up his wards/children considerably in various manners. Sending Luther away for four years on the moon for a bogus mission in order to give him purpose. Made Klaus a druggy because of locking him up in a mausoleum for hours on end in order to communicate with the dead. Not to mention using Allison as an accomplice in taking away Vanya's powers by pulling an Xavier move like what said mutant did on Jean to lock away the Phoenix. Said action fucked up Vanya badly by making her ostracized from her family, making her a timid mess and falling for the man that wanted revenge on her guardian/father for rejecting him into his Umbrella Academy.

Sure this is the Netflix show and I haven't read the comics, but it's enough for me to know how Reginald did a horrible job in training and properly raising his wards/kids.

Now back onto DC material… it's official folks, Arrow is reaching its final season as Stephen Amell released a statement to all that the show's final episode will be on the CW's Crisis crossover event.

With Marvel… seriously… Captain Marvel was not great with how it turned out. Two directors, five writers, an actress pushing more on her political views all over the place were mere factors that caused things to go really bad. The only good things to come from the movie were Nick Fury, the head Skrull and Goose the Cat.

Anyways, be sure to review this story guys! Would like the criticisms. Please and thanks you!

R&R