As Itachi aquatinted himself with this new world via internet, Sasori felt vibration of his phone hit from his pocket. He left the room swiftly after reading the collar ID. Now on the still snowy roof, Sasori answered the phone.
"Doug, I wasn't expecting your call so soon."
"Things have been heating up here boss." A clearly panicked voice replied.
"Two Face moving in on Penguin's territory already hu, any particular reason?" Sasori staring at the glistening snow.
"You know how he is. Just flipped the god damned coin of his and decided we're moving."
Sasori bit his lower lip in annoyance. Chance had always been an enemy for him. " When?"
"Tonight. Oh rumor has it Batman was as the docks last night."
"He usually makes his rounds there everyone other night. What's so special about this one?" Sasori asked.
"Because Jacob contacted me this morning. Penguin's pissed off something fierce about Gotham PD seizing a shipping container. Courtesy of the bat freak." Doug replied.
"His newest batch of weapons?"
"Not the usual stuff according to Jacob. Whatever was in this one cost four times what Pengi usually pays."
"I see." Sasori nodded understanding. "But if it's still something that minor, why'd you contact me?"
"Jacob's been found out. Pengi's planning on feeding him to that shark of his in the Iceberg Lounge right after he spills everything about you, me and the entire group."
"God damn it." Sasori gripped his phone so hard that it threatened to start cracking. "Any time in particular?"
"He said he wouldn't live to see tomorrow. What's the plan?" Doug asked.
It was simple, Jacob had become a loose end. It was time to tie him up. Sasori took his free hand and made a hand sign."Jacob has served me well…" Sasori started before his eyes widened.
"You can't just treat people like their tools!" A sharp femine cry echoed into his mind. The voice vanished quickly afterwards, but the damage had been done, despite his brain's orders, his body couldn't activate a mind destruction jutsu. Sasori released a low frustrated growl before speaking back. "And he will continue to do so. I'll take care of it."
"Gotcha boss. I'll keep you informed on Two Face."
Sasori hung up shortly after. He took a deep breath and looked out over the highways going in and out of Gotham then finally to the towering sky scrapers of Gotham itself that almost seemed to sparkly under the sun.
" Damn it all." He growled. He was going to have to get directly involved for the sake of his underlings, and it annoyed him to no end. Ah well, at the very least he could use the exercise.
"No data available."
That damn statement had been repeating itself ever since Batgirl had logged into the Bat-Computer. Itachi Uchiha must've really been an enigma if Batman didn't have anything on him.
"I take it nothing of use, Ms. Gordon?" Alfred asked bring her a small tray of tea. Batgirl thanked him and nodded.
"Not a single detail. I figured he was new but I honestly thought Bruce would have something on him."
"Master Bruce likes to appear he knows everything about everyone."
"He doesn't?" Batgirl asked in mock surprise.
"Usually he does. But there are those he can overlook or hasn't had time to focus on. Do you remember that one young man he met who managed to escape him?"
"Not really." Batgirl answered trying to remember. "What'd he look like?"
"Bruce didn't get a decent picture of his face but he mentioned that his hair was one of the reddest he had ever seen." Alfred replied. "But anyway my point stands. If Master Bruce could be everywhere and know everything, he would hardly need the rest of us would he?" He finished with a smile that spread to Batgirl.
"Yeah. Fair enough." Her thoughts drifted back to Itachi. "It's just something about this guy felt different." She remembered his admission that his parents taught him how to kill. "Did we have anything on the League of Shadows recently?" Batgirl asked.
"I can ask Question and Huntress to look into them for you."
"Thanks Alfred." Batgirl replied as the elder smiled back.
"No thanks are necessary. Though I must ask you to take special care of master Drake tonight."
"Will do." Batgirl nodded. He was right. Tonight's patrol took them to the Iceberg Lounge. Not exactly a place to let your guard down.
The door to the Titan's infirmary slid open with a light hum as Robin walked in to see their new guest. Said guest was currently lying unconscious in a small comfortable custom made hospital bed as his Cyborg continued to stand over and scan his vitals as well as any other information he could decipher from the very weak red head.
"I'm surprised you're still here, I thought some trouble was brewing downtown." Cyborg said to his friend.
"Nothing unusual Star, BB, and Rae got it.." Robin replied quickly as he walked up beside him. "Anything new?"
"Nothing really. He's unconscious, weak and almost scarily thin." Cyborg said continuing to peer over his patient. "Well it is actually a little worse than that."
"What do you mean?"
"I took several X-rays of his body before hooking up to the machine. This guy's been through a lot." Cyborg replied as several pictures of the man's bone structure became visible. Robin peered through each photo before focusing on one particular one located on the spine.
"What the?" Robin said glaring at almost a dozen small black rods of metal lodged all long the man's back, just barely hidden beneath the skin, three of which looked like they were piercing the spine itself.
"Yeah. Jesus, right?" Cyborg agreed pointing to the pierced spinal points.
"Can he even walk?"
"That's another weird thing. It looks the vertebrae somehow fused with the rods. Same for the other bones all along his back. I've never seen anything like it."
"Any idea how he got them?"
" Considering how he looks, it can't have been willingly." Cyborg said as the X-rays vanished. " I'm pretty sure, I can heal him up fine but there's still that blinding light he appeared from. What's the plan here? Should we tell the League?"
"Let's talk to him before we do anything. I don't want assume anything about this guy and getting the League involved would bring a bunch of attention I don't want right now." Robin said looking over to the redhead with an unreadable expression.
"Gotcha." Cyborg replied. "I hope this guy wakes up before we go to Gotham though. I'm not leaving him alone in the tower. " Cyborg then turned back to the patient and over to his friend. "Speaking of which, are you gonna be ok going back there?"
"If I wasn't, I wouldn't be going back." Robin answered slightly annoyed. "Look, I've put that behind me. And I'm hoping they did too."
"Great. So what happens when Star fines out?" Cyborg asked. Robin's posture stiffened as he realized hadn't really found away around that.
"I uh….I think the best thing to do would be to not tell her."
"Flawless thinking. Puts the robot in me to shame." Cyborg said giving him a false salute.
"Look, I'll deal with it ok?" Robin defended. Cyborg chuckled to his friend before slapping him on the back.
"Relax man, it's gonna be a lot easier than you think it'll be." Cyborg assured him.
"So you've had a girlfriend who cheated on you with your mentor?"
"Well, no." Cyborg replied being honest. Robin slapped his head in annoyance as Cyborg chuckled. "I meant, it's only gonna be as awkward as you make it. Just try and catch up with them and forget about it. It's what I try to do whenever I meet my folks."
"You were on bad terms?" Robin asked surprised.
"For a while. Me and dad didn't exactly see eye to eye when I decided to do the hero thing full time." Cyborg explained. "And it took us a while to actually sit down and hash it out. But we got there. Same thing will happen with you and Batman. I'm sure of it."
"It's still going to be a pain in the ass though."
"I never said it wasn't gonna be." Cyborg agreed. Both of them laughed lightly as unknown to either of them, the eyes of the man in the bed twitched ever so slightly at the mention of pain.
Itachi had just finished reading a summarized history of the United States thanks to website called Wikipedia when Sasori re entered the room.
"We're gonna have to cut your history lesson short." Sasori interjected. "We've got something to take care of."
"And what is that exactly?" Itachi asked closing the monitor and rubbing his slightly strained eyes. "Have you find out about any the others?"
"No. And if we don't hurry, someone will find out about me." Sasori replied getting Itachi's attention. " Come with me."
Itachi followed the redhead to the back end of the hi tech room and watched as he pressed his hand up to a monitor. There was a slight buzzing noise before a series of locks went off and a portion of the wall opened up to reveal a small armory containing several packs of kunai and shuriken and a no small amount of handguns.
"You've been busy." Itachi said glancing over the items and grabbing a two or three packs of ninja weaponry.
"I'll be damned before I'm unprepared." Sasori responded doing the same as well as taking a pair of small pistols. He noticed Itachi not grabbing one.
"You don't want one?"
"Won't need it." Itachi replied strapping a pack of kunai to his right arm, a pack of shuriken to his left, and a second pack of kunai to his left leg.
"You'll also need some new clothes. More when the action picks up." Sasori said throwing him the bag he had brought back into the room with him. Itachi opened up the bag revealing a very fancy looking black suit complete with matching shoes, vest and tie.
"Where exactly are we going Sasori?"
"The Iceberg Lounge." Sasori replied. "One of the strongholds for a crimelord known as the Penguin."
"The penguin…" Itachi started trying to hold back a slight chuckle.
"A stupid name certainly but he's not to be underestimated." Sasori spoke taking out a suit of his own. "But with luck we'll be in and out before he notices."
"Any particular reason for this excursion Sasori?" Itachi asked as he started to put on the suit.
"I told you, he has sensitive information. I want it back." Sasori replied simply. Itachi's eyes lingered on the red head wondering what that actually meant.
It was a blisteringly cold and snowy night in Smallville when Clark and Lois finally finally spotted his family farm.
"Is that it?" Lois asked clearly hoping to get out of the car.
"Yep, home sweet home." Clark answered.
"Finally." She sighed in relief before looking at everything that surrounded it. "Jeez. Really don't have to worry about neighbors huh?"
"What are you complaining about?" Clark asked back.
"There's nothing out here. Just fields and snow."
"Nothing like small town America." Clark agreed.
"Christ, you know what you are Clark? You're the text book definition of sappy."
"Guilty as charged." Clark once again agreed. "I bet I could give Superman a run for his money."
"Don't get your hopes up Smallvile." Lois replied pulling their rental car up to the Kent driveway. Clark winked to her as he got out and she sighed in response. This was really happening. Lois Lane was going to spend the holidays in a middle of nowhere house far from any possible excitement. Just great.
"Ma. Pa. You up there?" Clark asked up to a figure who looked like he was shoveling snow off the roof.
"Clark!" An older woman's voice rang out from the porch. Lois looked over to see a grey haired woman walk out cloaked in a light jacket. Soon enough, she was engulfed by Clark who practically lifted off the ground in a hug. "The snow didn't keep you did it?"
"No worse than usual Ma." Clark replied with a loving smile. He let her back down and looked over to Lois. "Lois, this is Martha Kent."
"Oh…Hi." She waved awkwardly to the elderly mother. Martha laughed lightly at the scene.
"Wow. So this is the famous Lois Lane." She said walking over to her. "She's quite the looker." She said causing Clark to rub the back of his head sheepishly as she greeted the famous reporter. "Maybe a bit too thin but I'm sure that's just that Metropolis fast food. We'll put a little meat on your bones before you leave dear. Don't worry." She said shaking Lois hand with a surprisingly firm grip for a woman her age. It wasn't fierce though, just energetic.
"Some food actually sounds great right now." Lois said.
"Don't worry dear. Jonathan's inside warming up some ham."
"Inside?" Lois asked thinking back up to the roof. "Then who was shoveling the snow?"
"Oh, that's right." Martha said snapping her fingers in realizations and looking back put to the roof.
"You can call it a night dear. Snow'll be there tomorrow."
Lois and Clark looked up as well trying to get a better look at the figure. "Is there a ladder or…."
She could barely finish as the figure slid down the side of the roof, flipped beautifully through the air and landed smack dab right beside Lois who nearly fell back in surprise. It turned out he was a she, garbed in a thick dark blue jacket and two pairs of jeans that were tied loosely to her waist by a belt. Nothing really that outstanding until you saw her long pure blue hair and orange eyes.
"Whoa." Clark said surprised by the display of agility. "Ma, who's this?"
"Konan." The woman replied in a cold voice before Martha could speak. "My name is Konan."
As the moon shined down clearly over Gotham, Itachi and Sasori left thier home and made thier way to their new destination. Or rather Sasori made his way thier and Itachi just followed. Leaping from building to building so as to not be slowed down by either traffic or onlookers. On one particularly high up rooftop though, the pair stopped.
"You said you hadn't gotten a chance to look at the stars yet right?" Sasori asked tilting his head up towards the sky. Itachi shook his head as he did the same. "Well thanks to the lights of this city you won't be able to get the whole picture but you should still be able to realize something." Sasori finished.
Itachi squinted towards the sky trying to get a good look past the bright moon and to the surrounding stars. What he saw or rather what he didn't see widened his eyes. Not a single star from the elemental nations was to be seen. Sure it made technical sense considering the apparent lack of anything related to their home but it was nevertheless jarring to behold.
"It took me a while to get used to that." Sasori said. "And I'm still trying to digest the idea that several of those stars are actually home to other livable planets."
Itachi's eyes widened yet again at the thought. But before he could think on it further Sasori took off back to his objective and Itachi swiftly did the same.
"So uh, where's she from?" Clark asked clearly curious about the woman who was staying in his old home.
"It's the damnedest thing. We found her out in the cold about a month ago. Naked as the day you were born and frozen half to death." Jonathan replied after chewing on small piece of cold ham. "She took a few days to heal back up, and you know how impassible the road is this time of year so we just offered her a place to stay."
"And you don't get any bad vibes from her?" Clark asked turning his head to peer back inside the house. His gaze pearled through the walls to see his mother currently chatting with Lois and Konan sitting on the couch making origami.
"No actually. She's a little quiet and can come across as cold but she's clearly been through some shit."
"What do you mean?" Clark asked.
"Well her body was littered with scars when I found her for one thing. Some pretty damn old ones too. And she can't be more than thirty five." Johnathan replied looking out to his many acres of empty snow covered land. "And uh, I don't think she's shown you yet but she's real good with paper."
"She's a meta?"
"I'm no expert on that so don't ask me." Johnathan replied. "Look all can say is she's good hearted. She's been helping around the farm since she's been on her feet. And you know hew this place can be in Winter. It's been nice to have extra pair of hands here again."
"Well, as long as she' ok. Though I was worried you were gonna replace mom."
"You know that's not a bad idea…" Johnathan
"I heard that." A voice replied from inside the house. Clark and Johnathan laughed while Lois and Martha shared a chuckle of their own.
Konan for her part looked at the two conversing women and thought back to the friends she had lost who now seemed to be gone forever.
"We'll always be together Konan." Yahiko said wrapping his arm around her neck lovingly.
"It's a promise." An equally young Nagato with purple spiraled eyes agreed.
Time however would prove to make that promise impossible to keep. One by one her friends left this world before she too left the world of the shinobi for what was supposed to have been forever. Really the last thing she expected was wake up cold and naked in the snow. Where she was or how she got there were questions she could barely comprehend. She was fairly certain she had been killed. She tried her best to stop Madara but her best wasn't enough. She accepted that as he crushed her throat and resigned herself to her fate with the hope that the blonde that had renewed her hope as well as Nagato's would find a way to beat him. What she could comprehend however was the care that these two elders gave her. A warm room, food, a bed, some clothes. All of which they had given freely. It had been far too long since she had experienced such kindness and felt a need to try and repay it for as long as she would stay here.
Wherever here was anyway.
"Hot chocolate?" A voice asked bringing Konan back to the present. Konan looked over to see the black haired woman who had just arrived at the farm. She looked at the red mug that the woman held before reaching for it.
"Thank you." She said swiftly almost devoid from all emotion save for a small hint of nostalgia in her voice that Lois's reporter ears picked up on.
"I didn't interrupt something did I?" Lois said sitting down beside her. Konan didn't reply instead focusing back to the snow that continued to fall from the behind the window.
"I guess I did huh?" Lois said with a light chuckle. "Sorry about that."
"It's perfectly fine." Konan replied. "Just….remembering some friends is all."
"Ah. An activity tailor made for this time of year." Johnathan said entering the living room with his son. "I usually think of a few friends I've lost over the years as well."
"You and me both." Martha spoke up. "Remember the Fitsgivens? From before Clark was born?"
"Damn right I do." Johnathan replied. "Gone way before their time. What about you son?"
"I usually think back to Dan." Clark said growing a nostalgic smile. "You remember him Lois?"
"He wasn't exactly the forgettable type." Lois agreed remembering the outspoken man who had been murdered tragically by Darkseid years ago. " Then again, It's hard to forget the people who've left a mark on you." Lois continued. The other four in the room nodded in agreement.
"Oh, Konan dear, could you show them that trick you do?" Martha asked eager to change the subject before everyone got too down.. Konan nodded and looked over to the perfectly folded origami crane that sat on the table. Seconds later, it's paper wings began to flap and it's head bobbed up and down as it flew into the air and began circling all around them. Lois and Clark looked shocked by the display while Martha and Johnathan looked on for what must've been the hundredth time in awe.
"My teacher taught me about origami when I was little. He called these types of birds, paper angels." Konan said once again thinking about someone she had lost as a small river of guilt flooded through her. Lois looked like she noticed it but decided to keep that information to herself as the five of them decided it was time for supper.
Well I think I'll call it a chapter here. I know that last line by Konan wasn't really cannon but I don't think it's that far fetched to believe Jiraiya would say something like that. As always let me know what you thought of it. Good or bad, leave a review and let me know.
See ya guys later.