Martha took a small sip of her coffee as she opened the door to her porch, hugging the coat she had thrown over her clothes just as the morning air hit her. She had a love hate relationship with this time of year. On one hand the snows this time of year were her favorite type of weather going back to when she was just a girl. A kind that blankets everything and gives of beautiful shine that she couldn't find anywhere else in the world. "On the other hand." She muttered out loud. "It's always too damn cold to fully enjoy it." She silently berated herself at the swear when she noticed she wasn't alone.

"Good morning Ms. Kent." Konan greeted with a light head bow in her direction. Martha looked surprised at the blue haired shinobi.

"A cold one, anyway." Martha sighed. She tilted her head at the girl. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"I went to sleep the same time as your son. Woke up not to long before you did." Konan explained.

"Honey didn't anyone ever tell you that it's good to get eight hours of sleep if you want to stay healthy?" Martha walked over to brown rocking chair right next to the girl who had settled for on the fold-able lawn chair.

"Yes. But where I'm from, such an amount was a luxury. Not a necessity." Konan looked out over the snow covered fields. "One that I never had the privilege to enjoy.:

Martha pity for the girl swelled yet again and her motherly instincts took hold. "Well, whatever happened to you before, you're here now. Rest up a bit." She smiled reaching across and handing Konan her coffee mug. "Learn to enjoy life a little bit."

Konan hesitated to accept the gesture but not wanting to seem rude, she relented. Martha chuckled at Konan's face as she lowered the mug from her lips. "Not a fan of espresso I see."

"It tastes like dirt!" Konan scowled shivering as the aftertaste lingered in her mouth.

"Sorry dear. I've got some flavors in the cupboard if you want to try something else."

"It's fine." Konan handed the mug back to her. A small smile graced her lips as Martha took another sip. "Nagato would've liked it though."

"A friend of yours?" Martha asked. Konan nodded. "You've never mentioned him."

"Apologies. I didn't wish to bother you with stories of my past."

"Dear, look at me." Martha gestured to herself and what she imagined to be a typical grandma look. "Do I look like someone who doesn't want to be bothered with stories about the past? You just wait until I pull out Clark's baby pictures."

Konan's smile held and as Martha laughed. "So go ahead. Tell me about your mysterious friend."

Konan leaned back into her chair thinking of the perfect way to describe her oldest friend without letting on about some of the more questionable things they did. Peering down at them from his room, Clark kept his eye on them while listening to the words from the Hall.

"I've got nothing Supes."

Clark tapped the wall in frustration putting only the tiniest amount of force behind it to not leave an indention. "Nothing?"

"Look I'm not Batman all right." Mr. Terrific replied from the Hall sitting in his chair and scanning over pages and pages of profile pictures. "But I'm telling you that she's not on record as missing, dead, or living. No criminal activity under the name Konan either, unless she's a barbarian in her free time."

Zipping right by the joke Clark continued. "Ok, what about all the files on Cadmus?" Question had looked through most of them back when they were a threat but he did also 'lose it' for a bit when he saw the Justice Lords file. It was entirely possible he missed something.

"Nope. Still nothing." The voice came back. Before Superman could grumble in frustration, "I do have something else though. It's another file seprate from the Justice Lords but still under 'Alternate Dimensions'.

"Dimensions?" Clark repeated quietly, taking care not to wake up anyone in the house. "What's the interest?"

"It seems to have been written by Waller herself. And it talks about how some guy apparently showed up here in the 80s. Weird powers, and Asian descent. Sound familiar?"

Clark was unconvinced. "How does this link back to Konan?"

"You said she was part of a group right?" Terrific explained. "Well, one of the only things on this guy is that he said he was part of a group too."

"That's pretty vague." Clark sighed.

"Hey, you asked for my help remember?" Terrific pointed out. "Ask Batman about her. He's probably already knows about it and just didn't tell you."

Clark really hated the fact that he couldn't argue. "All right. Thanks Terrific."

"Sure thing." Was the final reply before static.

"In short, I summoned an ancient demon husk from the moon and that gave me the rods in my body." Nagato said from his bed. He lifted his palm and summoned one such rod to his hand. "As well as the ability to recreate and use them at will." He placed the rod at the foot of his bed right next to emerald colored teen he had met last night.

"You're weird dude." Beastboy replied.

"Yes. I have been told so." Nagato smiled. He looked over to the man who looked to be half machine and half human. "Is that saying a lot?"

"Oh yeah." Cyborg nodded as he continued to run his scans that rattled Nagato's ears with their annoying beeps. "And believe me, we have seen some shit."

"The demon part sounds familiar though." A third voice said entering the room. Nagato looked over to see another teen clad in some rather strange colored armor and an 'eyes only' mask seemingly glued to his face. "Did you ever here of the name Trigon?"

Nagato shook his head. "Can't say I have."

The scanning noises died down and Cyborg put on a smile. "All right. Good news is looks like you just collapsed from exhaustion when BB caught ya. And considering how thin you are, I can't say I'm surprised by that."

"Yes. I have not..." Nagato looked down at his body still under the sheets and frowned. "...had the luxury of my legs for a long time." He looked back up to the trio. "And you are certain no one else appeared along side me?"

"Not that I saw." Cyborg confirmed as Beastboy shook his head in agreement.

"Was anyone with you when you dropped in?" Robin asked crossing his arms and leaning up against the wall.

"The last thing I remember..." A sudden pain ran through his head as he tried to remember. He groaned out an answer after it weakened. "Itachi."

"Itachi?" Robin repeated. Nagato nodded.

"He is...was and old acquaintance of mine."

"He dangerous?"

"Incredibly so." Nagato smiled, giving Robin the sneaking suspicion that his words were more an understatement than a description. "But if you're asking if he'll go around attacking innocents, Then I wouldn't worry."

Robin knew he couldn't take the word of a stranger alone but at the same time his instincts weren't giving him anything to worry about. Though the man seemed somewhat awkward, he didn't seem like he was lying. At least at the moment. He uncrossed his arms and moved towards Nagato's bed. "Ok. What about you then? Would you consider yourself dangerous?"

Nagato's smile faded and he looked down towards his white sheets. "I am."

"And you say your were friends. A falling out?" Robin asked.

"I wouldn't call it that." Nagato sighed. "And I think friend is a little too generous of a word. We knew of each other but we hardly spoke about anything."

"Partners?"

Nagato's face darkened as he shook his head. "No. I only ever had one partner."

Robin caught the man's meaning and looked to the other two in the room. Cyborg stood quietly next to Nagato's bed pretending to read further diagrams and Beastboy putting on his best blank face though making it apparent that he was bored. The pair clearly weren't enjoying the interrogation and wishing for something else to do. "Cyborg, run scans over the city for any dimensional, anomalies. Science, magic, whatever just make sure we're not gonna get any more surprises. Also access every camera you can get. And see if any other portal opened up while Nagato was resting."

"Sure thing." Cyborg nodded.

"Beastboy. Take Raven and run go on patrol. Anything stand out or you need help, call." Robin ordered.

Beastboy nodded and quickly followed his friend out of the room. Closing the door behind him and leaving Robin to talk with the man alone.

"You really think it's a good idea to leave them like that?" Beastboy looked back, regretful he didn't ask it himself.

"You know how Robin is when he gets that whole "Batman" way of talking. Works best when he's alone."

"Yeah. But..." Beastboy remembered the power he felt from the man as he stopped the rain last night. As well as the image the man gave off with the thunder and lightning behind him. "I'm just not sure about this guy. I feel like we're only seeing one side of him."

"Look he tries anything, Starfire zoomes in and handles it. And that's if Robin can't handle it himself." Cyborg said trying to reassure his friend. "Relax. Raven doesn't like it whenever you're high strung."

"What the hell does that mean?" Beastboy raised an eyebrow. "She doesn't like me at all."

"Then she likes you even less when you're high strung." Cyborg corrected with a laugh. "Point is, keep a clear head. We don't know what we're looking for so that means it could be anything."

"On it." Beastboy's skin began to morph. "Let me know if you find something." He said before bounding down the hall as an emerald cat.

Itachi wasn't sure when he dosed off but he awoke with to what sounded like crashing wood. He rubbed his eyes as he sat up from the couch opening them to see the hazy figure of the newly found masked bounty hunter.

"Morning." Kakazu muttered keeping his attention focused on one of the now active bowling alleys. In his hand a round black sphere and at the other end of the alley, a pair of pins that stood opposite of each other on the left and right sides. Kakazu took a breath before swinging his arm behind his back and stepping forward. His arm then swung forward and the sphere crashed onto the alley spinning violently along the edge of the path. Then just as it got to an inch away from the pin on the far right, it dipped into the gutter. "God damn it." Kakazu grumbled.

"So that's bowling?" Itachi asked with a yawn. "Doesn't seem like there's much to it."

"That's what I thought." Kakazu replied. "But trust me, damn thing's harder than it looks."

"Ah, so the Uchiha has decided to grace us with his prescense." Sasori's voice rang out form behind them. Another box of pizza in his hand just as yesterday. "Breakfast."

"Is that what you eat every morning?" Kakazu asked.

"Not every morning." Sasori shrugged. "But it's cheap. And the delivery girl seems to enjoy the tip money."

"And I bet you enjoy the information you gain from her."

Sasori's blink was all Kakazu needed to tell he was right. Itachi's chin dipped as he realized it as well.

"So, anything about us?"

"Nothing on the major channels anway." Sasori replied. "Official story, Bane attacked the Iceberg Lounge and rampaged around until the heroes stopped him along with Croc who looked like he was hit with an accidental explosion on the roof."

"Nothing on Kakazu?" Itachi raised an eyebrow. He and Sasori had been careful to not draw unnecessary attention but their masked associate hadn't felt the need to do the same. Sasori's eyes drifted towards Kakazu.

"Not a damned word. Officially."

Kakazu smiled faintly under his mask and threw his hands behind his back. " Smells like Waller."

"Who?" Itachi asked with a tilted head. Sasori's eyes narrowed as he recognized the name.

"Amanda Waller?!"

"I'm willing to put money on it." Kakazu replied, all but confirming it to his fellow associates. You'd never get him to put up his own money otherwise.

"And she is?" Itachi repeated, getting annoyed with the lack of an answer from either of them. Sasori muttered a particularly long line of curses under his breath before replying.

"Amanda Waller is a US government agent who until recently was charged with keeping the Justice League under surveillance." Sasori rubbed the side of his head in annoyance. "As well as running a top secret operation called Task Force X. A military unit made up of life sentenced criminals that go on missions to reduce their sentences."

Itachi took the information in stride, narrowing his eyes as he processed it all. Judging by Sasori's mannerisms, she wasn't someone to be taken lightly. He looked back over to Kakazu who looked to have just finished a slice and put his mask back up. "And just how do you know her?"

Kakazu rubbed the back of his neck. "She and I go way back. She watches my back, I watch hers. That's about all there is to it." His bored gaze met Sasoir's suspicious eyes. "She's probably the reason you never found out anything about me. She likes to keep her assets out of sight."

"Does she know what you are? Where you're from?"

Kakazu shook his head. "Didn't see much of a reason to tell her. Figured I could find you on my own if one of you guys ever popped up. Low and behold." He gestured to Sasori and Itachi. "So now, the million dollar question is what happens next."

"You're not worried about screwing with Penguin?" Sasori asked. Kakazu's chuckle made him smirk

"As far as he knows, I took down a guy who looked like Batman. He lost him. Sure he'll be pissed about it but he'll get over it. I'm more concerned with what you two have in mind."

After a brief silence, Itachi spoke. "If you've been here for decades, then it's entirely possible that others are here as well."

"Or will be." Sasori continued gesturing to Itachi. "You just arrived a few days ago. Who's to say no one else has? Or if they won't in the future? And that's not even the most frightening thought."

"Hidan just randomly falling from the sky seems like a pretty fucking scary thought." Kakazu groaned, wondering where the redhead was going.

"The question you asked last night."

"Oh you mean the one you ignored."

Itachi's smile did nothing to lighten the mood as Sasori continued. "We're supposed to be dead. All three of us. We need to know how he got here and why."

"Agreed." Itachi said. "But if Kakazu hasn't found answers after decades of searching..."

"Who said I've been looking?" Kakazu interrupted. The eyes of disbelief annoyed him so he continued. "Look, you both know I could give a damn about the "who's" or "whys". "

"Then why ask us?" Itachi wondered.

"Curiosity." Kakazu shrugged. "And I figured one of you would make that priority so I might as well help out."

After a particularly long sigh from Sasori, he refocused sitting down at the same table as the other two. "Very well. I guess we should start by considering the most likely possibilites."

"Which are?" Itachi asked.

"That we are either aliens from a different planet, or that we've summoned from alternate version of the same planet."

"Great. One of those theoretical "universe" questions." Kakazu groaned.

"Look, I'll leave you two to discuss it." Itachi stood up. "I get the feeling I'll be asking more questions than offering answers if I hear anymore of this."

"Fine." Sasori replied. "But make yourself useful and check on the new arrivals. I got them staying in In the spare room."

"New arrivals?" Kakazu asked.

"Yeah. Apparently I'm giving out jobs to the homeless now." Sasori groaned to the Uchiha who gave a thankful nod and smile. He still wasn't sure what had happened to him here, but he seemed to have a little more compassion than before. The same went for Kakazu, who despite apparently knowing the woman who drove the home still never would've parted with money as far as he remembered. But he couldn't complain. Having his old asscoiates change who they were was definately for the better considering who they had been in their previous lives...Previous life.

Those last worlds lingered in Itachi's mind as he strode up the stairs. He had no clue what Sasori was hinting at back, but maybe at the bottom of it, there was a way for him to get back home. Maybe even see Sasuke again. True enough, he had parted telling him everything he had neglected to in life when he broke the jutsu that Kabuto had been using to snare the souls of the dead, and there really wasn't an urgent need to go back. He had faith that both his younger brother, Naruto, and the newly formed Shinobi Alliance could find away to beat Madara without him. But still, despite the lack of urgency or the knowledge of where they were, or how much time might've passed. Itachi hoped that one day he could go back home.

He stopped at the sounds behind a nearby closed door. Familiar voices reached his ear and he smiled.

"Working for Penguin? Were you high?!"

"Hey, It got us money didn't it?" Wallace defended raising his hands. "It wasn't gonna be a long job anyway. Just enough to get us a place and hunker down."

"Do you know what could've happened to you?!" Janice yelled, cradling the side of her head with an ice pack. "That little bastard's fed people to sharks for Christ's sake."

"I was doing fine, Janice." He grumbled. "Besides someone was going to have to pay for your hospital visit." Guilt hit him as soon as the sentence left his mouth and Janice went quiet sitting back down on her dusty bed and staring blankly at the ground. "Jan I'm..."

Paul waved him off stepping away from inspecting his new little shelf that sat next to own his bed. "She knows you didn't mean anything buy it. But c'mon man, you know she's right. We don't need you risking your ass to help us." He reached up and tapped on his friends shoulder. "We can't go to Irene's without your money if your dead."

The two smiled just as Frank spoke up. Who had been looking out the window for quite some time. "On the bright side, you did find us a place to outlast the cold."

"You can thank Itachi for that." Wallace replied just as the door opened up.

Itachi noticed the room was rather large, containing a small kitchen, a bathroom, two dusty beds, a raggedy couch, and a folding lawn chair peering out through the window. In short, it was probably more than enough for the four who now eyed him favorably.

"Well well, lady and gentlemen our guardian angel has joined us." Paul laughed.

Itachi shook his head. "Far from it. Just a friend."

"Son. I've had plenty of friends all my life." Janice said walking over to him. She embraced him harder than he had been expecting but a smile still splashed across his face. "And not too many of them would help us out like you did."

"Saving Wallace, getting us a place to stay, you did more than I ever could." Frank said tipping his ball-cap towards the man. As Janice lifted the embrace Itachi felt a small bit of embarrassment. It had been years since he had been thanked and felt truly good about it. Feeling it now after all this time was a little off putting but certainly not unwelcome.

"It's nothing really. I'm just glad Wallace got you guys over here."

"Oh yeah." Paul realized with a snap of his fingers. "Sort forgot the obvious question there but what the hell did you need from Penguin to break into his home?"

Itachi opened his mouth to explain but Frank went first. "Some thing that I'm sure is far more important than us, Paul. Now don't you have more stuff to do? You volunteered after all."

"Yeah. Yeah." Paul sighed. "I'll be on the roof in the freezing cold if anyone wants to, ya know, help a guy out." He walked by Itachi, slapping him weekly on the back in a move that reminded him of Kisame. "Thanks again." He said before leaving.

"The roof?" Itachi asked.

"We found a leak earlier." Frank explained. "Paul volunteered to fix it for...well I guess our new land lord. Guy still won't give us a name."

"I wouldn't wait for one." Itachi chuckled. "He's a pretty private person but you can trust him."

"A friend of yours is a friend of mine." Frank replied, Janice smiled in agreement as Wallace nodded. "So you doing anything in particular right now? Paul could probably use a little help with the roof. And Wallace and I don't do well with heights."

"Frank, leave the boy alone." Janice chided.

"It's fine." Itachi replied. "It would be good to work with my hands for a little bit and not worry about fighting."

"Awesome. Here." Frank replied tossing him a small device. "I just fixed up the radio if you want play some music."

Harley wasn't quite sure what time she made it to her home last night but she did make it back to her bed before she passed out so that was good. With the smell of breakfast in the air, she threw herself out of bed and onto the icy wood floor. True, the cold Gotham weather had made it even more cold than usual, but she didn't care at the moment. Bounding down the hall of her apartment, she soon spotted her roommate clothed in a bright green robe that almost perfectly matched her skin tone yet complimented her pure scarlet hair. "Morning Red." Harley laughed hugging her friend.

"You want to explain why you left in the middle of the night?" Ivy asked suddenly.

"I had a job for a friend." Harley said brushing off the question. "No big explosions or death rays. Just a simple pick up and drop off."

Ivy's cold tone eased slightly at the words but not enough to stop entirely. "Oh...Well just let me know next time."

Harley's smile could light up Gotham. "You wanted to come with?"

"Just to make sure you don't do something stupid." Ivy laughed turning away from stove with a pair of plates. Each one with either crispy bacon or scrambled eggs. Seeing the glint in her friend's eyes, Ivy stopped her from immediatly devouring it. "Now wait up, we've got a third roommate now remember?"

Harley looked dejected by the request but nodded before shouting "Z! Get up! Breakfast's ready!"

A particularly long groan emitted from another room just down the hall. Soon afterward a pair of footsteps echoed through the apartment and a pure white humanoid figure appeared in the kitchen. Dressed in a blue striped robe, he looked at his roommates with raised eyebrows. "What? I thought I could sleep in today."

"It's one pm." Ivy replied. "You only got to sleep that long because Harl stayed out last night. Now hurry up and get over here."

Z sighed scratching his messy green hair that still looked like it needed to wake up but moved to the table hoping some food would wake him up further. "You stayed out?" He asked to the blonde.

"Just to help a friend out of a jam." Harley replied snatching up some bacon. "I owed him a favor or two."

Z nodded pointing his yellow eyes down at the plate of eggs. He'd ask more after some food.

"Hand me a nail would ya?" Paul yelled out outstretching his gloved hand towards the Uchiha. Itachi did as he was told and handed him the little piece of metal. "Thanks." A few repeated whacks with a hammer soon followed brushing off some of the snow that still surrounded them and sliding some more ice off the roof's edge. With a look of satisfaction, Paul stood back to his feet and looked over his work. "Not bad if I do say so myself." He then looked out to the several other clones of Itachi spread out over the roof. Each one gave him thumbs up gestures with their empty hands while holding hammers in the other. He looked back towards the original who stood next to him. "Exactly what can't you do?"

"I can't play instruments that well." Itachi said after a brief moment of thought. Paul's laugh went on for a good minute before calming back down.

"Yeah? Well let me give you a taste of what quality music is." Paul said sitting back down and reaching for the radio. Itachi took a second to admire the view from up there. He could see the skyscrapers of Gotham stretching into the sky and gleamedunder the sun's shine but there was also plenty smaller neighborhoods that sat between him and them. It was a nice peaceful view. One he'd even compare to Konoha from atop the old Police building.

He was brought out of his flashback by sounds completely alien to him. High pitched chords of an instrument playing at an incredible speed, reached his ears through the radio. "Ah damn it. Just missed the solo." Paul groaned.

"What is that?" Itachi asked.

"98.3. Home of Rock and Roll." Paul looked over to him. "You like rock and roll?"

"Not really sure." Itachi said before words erupted out of the radio.

"And that was Shark-Skin by the Seven Swordsman." An enthused voiced called out. "Coming up next..."

Itachi's mind went blank after that. Those words. "Shark-Skin." "Seven Sworsdman." That couldn't possibly be what he thought it was. But if it was... He leapt off the roof, quickly dispelling the remaining clones and dashing inside.

A/N: Tada! Here's another little chapter. Nice to get back to writing these things. Hoped you enjoyed it and hope to see you next time. By the way, don't worry. I haven't forgotten about Hidan.

See ya next time.