"Jump City?!" Ivy's voice came through Harley's phone like a hammer. "I thought you said you were taking them to the airport!"

"I know, red." Harley whimpered, trying to calm Ivy back down. "But the League showed up looking for K, and then this guy turns into another guy and says he's hired me."

Ivy's voice took on a confused tone. "You're with Clayface?"

Harley shook her head even though Ivy couldn't see it. "No, it's one of K's friends."

"K has friends?"

Harley smiled. "I know, it's weird."

Harley could hear the echo of a laugh over the phone but knew Ivy would quickly focus back. "That aside. I don't like the idea of you going off on some adventure right now. Especially without me."

"Trust me, the sooner I can make it back home the better." Harley sighed. "The League's onto these guys for something and I don't want to get mixed up in it. How's Z doing?"

"Just wondering where you are," Ivy replied, looking over to Z sitting quietly in front of the tv. "You want me to put him on the phone?"

"No. I'll be back to talk to him soon enough." Harley sighed. "I'll call you when we're settled. See ya, Red." Harley said before the line was disconnected. Once the conversation was over, Harley banged her head on the passenger seat in front of them wondering just how the hell she got roped into going across the country. Just then, the distinct wispy sound of Red X appearing to her right caused her to groan.

And then there's this new guy, She thought. "Ya looking at something, skull-boy?"

Red X shrugged his shoulders "Just wondering why Joker's rebound girl is here?"

Harley's face went red with rage. "Rebound girl?!"

Red X shrugged his shoulders again. "He's clearly got the hots for Batman, so...yeah." Red X replied.

"That's..." Harley paused and once again hit her head on the seat in front of her. "...not actually far off." She looked back up to him with a curious blink of the eyes as her anger dissipated. " I went with them to avoid the League. How'd they drag you into this?"

"I work for him...sometimes." Red X replied pointing towards the sitting bounty hunter. "Whenever I need the money and he needs a job done. These last couple of times, I've been flying helicopters and planes. Figured I'd join in and head back to Jump City for the holidays."

"Got some friends out there?"

"Just some people I like to annoy." Red X laughed. "I was hoping this was gonna be an easy job then I saw the League turn up." He looked back over to Kakazu. "Just what the hell do they want with him, you think?"

Harley looked over to K as well. "Well, he used to work for the government so it could be any number of things."

"K was a spy?" Red X sounded surprised.

Harley's smile darkened. "No, we were a little more hands on." She had barely finished her words before K got up from his chair.

"Real good at keeping quiet, aren't you Quinn?" He grumbled as he moved further up the rows and away from the two.

Harley shrugged. "Asshole."

"Yep." Red X nodded in agreement.

Itachi's stare out the window continued unabated even as Kakazu walked over and sat down right across from him. "You don't look that happy."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"About finding the blue bastard?" Kakazu elaborated. "You two always seemed to get along. So I figured you'd be happier about finding him."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Did I ever appear to be an emotional person?" He asked.

"Fair point," Kakazu replied, annoyed. "I'm just saying, out of all of us you two were a pretty good team."

Itachi's eyes lingered on the window before looking at the bounty hunter. "He was my friend. I didn't have many of them."

Kakazu leaned back in his chair and pondered. "I don't know. Having friends always felt like leaving an opening to be stabbed in the back later on in life."

"Speaking from experience?"

"Personally, no." Kakazu shook his head. "I was usually the one doing the stabbing." He looked back to Sasori who was still hard at work on his laptop. " And it's not like any of us were that social, anyway."

Itachi tilted his head at the bounty hunter. "Is there a point to this conversation, Kakazu?"

"Fine." Kakazu sighed. "I'll cut to the chase. Let's say we get to Jump City and find Kisame. What happens next?" Itachi narrowed his gaze as Kakazu continued. "Are you just looking for a friend, so you don't have to be alone here, or do you have a larger plan going on in that clan-killing head of yours?"

Itachi bit his lower lip in frustration at Kakazu's words but also knew that he wasn't technically wrong. He hadn't really been giving much thought to what he was going to do now. He looked back towards Kakazu. "Do you have any suggestions?"

Kakazu shrugged. "So no plan. Can't say I'm surprised. Coming back from the dead in a completely different world wasn't part of my long term goals either." He sighed and decided it was his turn to look out the window. "We could form our own mercenary company. Make a lot of money that way."

"You still want to keep fighting?" Itachi asked, almost disappointed.

Kakazu looked stunned by the Uchiha's question. "Fighting's what we're good at." He stated bluntly. "And if you're good at something, you should never do it for free."

Itachi blinked at the bounty hunter before looking away. "No interest in going back home?"

"None," Kakazu said with a shake of the head. "And I can't believe you asked that, after dying twice back in the Nations." He paused and narrowed his gaze on the Uchiha. "You did get resurrected for the war right?"

Itachi's eyes returned to the bounty hunter. "I did."

"You get sealed up too?" He continued.

Itachi shook his head."No. I helped break the jutsu and return us to the dead." He had to fight back a light chuckle. "Seemingly anyway."

Kakazu's eyes widened slightly, clearly impressed. "Damn. So the guy that betrayed Sasori gets betrayed by own soldier. That's ironic. Speaking of which..." He looked over to the former puppeteer. "Hey, Sasori. Any big plans for if we find Kisame? You want to get the band back together?"

The typing redhead looked didn't look away from his screen. "I want answers to how we ended up here. It's possible Kisame might have them." He then looked up to the pair. "And if we could please keep the puns to a minimum. I'm sure once we reach Jump City, Kisame will have too many for us to count."

"Logical as ever." Kakazu sighed. He crossed his arms. "I don't see why it matters. We're back to life and in a new place free from our pasts. Seems like a pretty good deal to me."

"I've been meaning to ask." Itachi looked over to Sasori. "Why do you have an alias for Jump City?" Itachi asked the puppeteer. "I thought you spent most of your time in Gotham."

Sasori froze for a brief moment before continuing. "I have. But on occasion, I have traveled to the West Coast. To enjoy the fresh air."

The mercenary smiled under his mask. "Fresh air?" Kakazu repeated.

"Leave it, Kakazu," Itachi ordered. "If it doesn't involve us, we don't need to know."

"It doesn't." Sasori's answer was too quick not to be suspicious but it seemed he didn't care what the other two of them thought about it. "The point is, I have a condo we can stay in."

Sasori could almost see a smile under Kakazu's mask."Excellent, I don't have to pay for a hotel. Bastard owners always gouge their prices this time of year."

Kakazu's voice started to fade as Itachi noticed that the previously clear if cloudy skies were starting to look whiter and whiter. "It's snowing?"

"Probably passing over Kansas," Sasori replied. "They're always in the middle of a storm, this time of year."

The sunset was barely visible through the snow clouds that lingered over Smallville. The few sprinklings of light that did reach through swept through the town. Coating it a bright surreal color that Konan wasn't sure if a name existed for it. To be truthful, she had been having a hard time finding the words for anything the last few days. The town of Smallville and it's a stark contrast with Amegakure. The Kents and the kindness she had received since arriving here. The inquisitive and spirited Lois Lane and the subdued but honest Clark promising to help her whenever she needed it. It was almost overwhelming when she thought about all the kindness she had been shown. Especially after all she had done back home.

She tensed up yet again, and for a brief moment, she could feel Tobi's hand ensnare her throat like a vice. Her breath slowed and she tried to focus as her windpipe began to strain. She should've been able to stop him. The man she and Nagato had thought was the true way to peace in the world had been manipulating them from the start and only when her best friend had perished, did she realize they had been wrong. So when the bastard turned up wanting Nagato's eyes, Konan broke out all the stops to try and kill him. But even then, it hadn't been enough. He had survived and now...

She struggled to think about what that monster was doing back in the Elemental Nations. No doubt he would go after Naruto just as she and Nagato had but his goals wouldn't end there. She needed to get back home. The problem was, she had no earthly idea on how to do that. And the last thing she wanted to reveal to the people who had been so kind to her was what she really was and what she had done.

"You clearly like the roof," Clark replied. Floating up to her side from the snow below. He was dressed in a brown jacket and blue jeans with a bright red scarf around his neck below his glasses. "You ok?" He asked when he noticed her tensed up.

"Just...some bad memories," Konan replied as she finally felt the pressure on her neck fade. She looked out passed the Kent barn and to the rolling fields that surrounded their home. "I can't thank your parents enough for being so kind to me."

"They're the best parents I could've ever asked for. That's for certain." Clark replied with a smile. "You've been quiet since this morning. Something on your mind other than memories?"

"I wish I knew how I got here," Konan admitted. "The last thing I remember was blacking out and..." She looked up to the sky and let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "I failed someone I promised to protect. And now I don't know what I'm going to do."

The defeat in her voice was almost unnerving to hear. Especially to someone as hopeful and optimistic as Clark. "You told me you were a part of a group earlier in life," Clark replied, remembering their previous talk. "Do you think you could track one of them down? Maybe they'd know more."

Konan shook her head. "I'm quite sure they're all dead. And even if they weren't...I'm not sure they'd be happy to see me again. Or vice versa."

There was a brief moment of silence between the two as Clark struggled with finding the right thing to say. He didn't think a Superman-style speech on not giving up was gonna work all that well here. He then thought of something else. Something that always got him in a better mood, ever since he was a kid. He just needed to understand one more thing about this girl before he asked.

"How do you keep getting up here, by the way?" Clark asked. "You got super jumping or something?"

"I can fly," Konan replied. As she spoke, large wings made up of hundreds of pieces of paper began to materialize on the back of her clothes. "I've been low on chakra for past few days, but I'm slowly getting back to where I used to be.

While filing away the word 'chakra' for a later date in his mind, Clark's smile grew. "Cool. If you're up for it, I say we play a game of fly-football for a while. It usually clears my head so maybe it will help with yours."

Konan thought for a moment. "Fly-football?" She asked.

Clark smiled. "It's not as cool as it sounds, mainly we just head up and into the clouds and toss a football around. Try and do some tricks to show off."

Konan knew he was attempting humor but she also thought about this practically. Flying in the snow would be something new and maybe it would help clear her head so she could better think on ways to get home. She gave a swift nod and Clark immediately dove off the roof and ran into the house. He returned not a second later with a strange oval shaped ball in hand. Without another word both of them began floating into the air. Clark kept glancing at her for any signs of fatigue but she seemed fine so he upped the speed a little bit. She followed suit. Not long after that, The two shot off into the clouds, blazing through the waves of falling snow and like it wasn't even there.

"You're okay with it getting colder, right?" He yelled back to her. Konan didn't even try to reply with all the wind blowing around them and instead kept following him. They flew for a few more seconds until they finally passed through a particularly long stretch of grey cloud and came to a clearing in the sky. The sun shined down from above and Clark finally turned back to face Konan. He tossed the football into the air and it landed on back in his hand. "Catch." He said tossing it to her.

Konan stretched out her hand and caught it yet was surprised at how fast it had flown in a perfect spin through the air. She examined the object then looked back to Clark. "You didn't use your super strength."

"I toned it down as much as I could." Clark sighed. She tossed the football back to him with a little less finesse than he to her but he caught in nevertheless. "Out of all the gifts I have, my muscles tend to annoy me the most."

Konan thought back to the previous weeks and where she had seen him as Superman stopping incredibly powerful foes with little more than a finger flick. "Why is that?"

"I used to be a pretty hands-on guy when I was younger. Handshakes, hugs, pats on backs, that was me." Clark replied, flipping through the air and catching the ball in his arms. "You can imagine the problems that might arise for someone to do that when he has enough natural strength to bend steel at twelve."

The ball came whizzing back to Konan who took the information in stride. "And you've only gotten stronger since?" She asked.

"Yep." He replied, catching the ball with his left hand.

Konan nodded and continued to think as Clark decided to put a bit more power into his throws. The ball soared over Konan's head but she was quickly after it. She caught it after flying another fifty feet into the air and flew back down before tossing back."How strong would you say you are now?"

Clark clicked his tongue as the ball flew straight at his chest. "I don't really know. My friends joke that I can bench press a planet but I doubt it's that bad." He caught the ball and tilted his head. "Why do you ask?"

"It's good for someone to know their limitations," Konan replied. "It puts things in perspective."

Clark gave a thought to Bruce and his philosophy on limitations. "A friend of mine would argue it's better to not know your limits."

"So what would happen on the day that your friend finds out what they are?" Konan asked, remembering what happened to Nagato when he went up against the Kyuubi.

"I'll let you ask him that sometimes," Clark replied with a laugh.

Clark's smile proved infectious and Konan gave a small chuckle. "My friends didn't think they had limits. They thought they could do anything, and when they finally realized that they did, it was too late." Despite the sadness of her words, Clark could tell she was remembering the fun times she had with them. "What were their names?" He asked.

"Nagato and Yahiko," Konan replied, quickly wiping away what might've grown into a tear from her eye. "I don't want you to make the same mistake as we did."

"Tell you what." Clark gave a cocky smile. "I'll put about two percent power into this throw and you can see if you gauge my limits from it."

"Why only two?" She asked.

"Anymore and the ball will break," Clark replied simply. He stretched his arm back and gave a yell. "You better start flying back."

Konan did as she was told, flying back for several seconds until he was no longer visible. She then heard what sounded like a yell of "GO LONG!" Before a shockingly fast object zoomed past her and tore a visible path through the air and into the far off clouds. She was after it instantly. Blazing through clouds and snow trying to keep a vague outline of the object as it continued on unabated. She decided now was a good time to test her own limits and push her chakra to the max. Increasing her speed and finally closing in on the ball. It had started going down now but she wasn't going to let that stop her. With one last burst of energy, Konan's speed matched that of the ball and she reached out and grabbed it.

With a satisfied grin and a few breaths of relief, Konan started to fly back the way she came but a loud droning noise soon drowned out her thoughts. The noise increased in power and Konan barely had enough time to glide out of the way of a small plane that would have most assuredly flown through her. Konan kept her grip on the ball and scowled at the object but did have to admit her curiosity did outweigh her annoyance. This was the first time she had seen an airplane this close and she figured she might as well fly closer to get a better look.

By no means a slow object, the plane didn't match the speed Clark's football had mustered so catching up with it wasn't too hard for Konan. Still, despite the slower speed, Konan did have to admit being in awe of the ingenuity of this land's people. While some like Clark seemed to have gifts that allowed them skills similar to that of trained shinobi, Regular humans without the use of chakra had also mastered the ability to fly. Now the activity was little more than a carriage ride to them.

Flying up to the side, Konan wondered whom she would spot in a window. Lois had talked a lot of families flying to different places over the holidays so Konan was a little surprised when she saw only one face visible through the window. Thanks to the snow, she didn't get more than an outline but he/she seemed hunched over in his seat. A moment later, the figure cocked their head to the window seemingly out of annoyance and froze. Konan took that as a sign that she'd been spotted. She gave a wave and vanished from sight.

"Sasori?"

The puppeteer looked back to the bounty hunter with a shocked face. "Did anyone else see that?" Sasori asked.

The question caught all the occupants by surprise. "See what?" Itachi asked.

Sasori blinked a few times and looked back out the window for a moment, when the figure didn't reappear, he let out a sigh. "I thought, I just saw Konan."

If by some chance he didn't have the full attention of Itachi or Kakazu before, he had it now. "Right outside the window?" Kakazu asked.

Sasori nodded. "I'm not sure if she recognized me but she gave a wave."

"X, where are we?"

"Somewhere over Kanas, I think." The young criminal told him, appearing beside him. "Why? Should I find an airfield?"

"In this mess, waste of time. Besides we need to keep going if we want to find Kisame." Kakazu looked back to him and frowned under his mask. "Seventy-five thousand dollars if you find her and get her to us in Jump City."

Itachi could tell Red X wasn't happy with the idea even before he spoke. "You want me to jump out of a plane, scour all Kansas, in a damn snowstorm, to find a friend of yours?" He crossed his arms. "I can tell you what to do with you seventy-five grand."

Kakazu looked back to Sasori and Itachi but didn't say anything.

"Why are you looking at us?" Sasori asked.

"Do we really need her?" Kakazu asked right back to him.

Itachi almost felt like chuckling but kept a serious face. "Kakazu."

"Fine!" Kakazu relented. He looked back to Red X. "God damn it. One hundred thousand it is."

"Two hundred." Red X replied.

Harley could hear K seethe from the few rows she sat away from him. "Get. It. Done." He warned Red X.

Red X nodded. "Awesome. What does she look like?

Clark was still floating a few hundred feet above his parents' house beside when a static voice rang out from his ear-piece. "Superman?"

Batman's voice always caused for alarm. "Yeah? What's going on?" Clark asked, half expecting to hear of another alien invasion.

"Some interesting things have been happening over the last few days, I wanted to check in and see if anything strange has been going on in Smallville."

Clark almost laughed. If he didn't know better, it almost sounded like Batman was worried. "Do I need to remind you that I'm on vacation? Or that you should take one every now and again?"

Clark could hear the typing of Bruce's bat-computer as he replied. "The world doesn't stop turning simply because you want it to."

"I don't know, I feel like I could make a decent case for it." Clark laughed before refocusing. "What's been going on?"

"A few strange individuals have been appearing all over the place. A crazed moron named Hidan vanished from Atlantis after injuring Aquaman, another worked with a mercenary to cause an uproar at the Iceberg Lounge."

"Who was the mercenary?" Clark asked.

"K. He's got ties to Waller," Batman told him.

Clark narrowed his gaze. "That doesn't sound good. Should we go ask her about him?"

"I've dealt with him before," Batman explained. "He's dangerous but he's not the type for large scale destruction. At least, without someone paying him."

Superman rubbed his eyes. Mercenaries had never set right with him but if Batman didn't seem worried about him at the moment, he'd put it out of his mind. "Fine, so who's this other mystery man?"

"Name's Itachi," Batman told him. "Rather plain looking one but seems to be experienced, warrior and soldier. Consider him dangerous with an unknown motive."

"Any other people?"

"I was going to ask you that," Batman explained. "Anyone strange pop up in your neck of the woods?"

"It's Smallville," Clark chuckled. "It's hard to find anyone strange around here."

Batman, however, didn't share his sense of humor. "You didn't answer my question."

Clark thought back to Konan. She seemed to be haunted by her past but the way she was now, she can't have been that bad a person. And even if he was wrong, he was there with her. If something did happen, he was fairly certain he could take care of it.

"Yeah, my parents found a woman out here some time ago. She's been with them ever since."

"You're with her, now?" Batman asked.

"Yeah, just tossing a football around." Clark told him. "Look, I can't speak for any of the other strangers that are popping up but Konan seems like a good person."He knew his impression of Konan wouldn't matter all that much to Batman but Clark felt like he should add it in any way.

"That aside," Batman told him, did she say anything about her past or where she came from?"

Clark thought back to her earlier conversations with her and remembered the details. "She mentioned that her home was something called Amegakure to Lois. But she couldn't make sense of it."

"Amegakure?" Batman asked back for to himself than for Clark to answer. "That's Japanese for village hidden by the rain." Another link that led back to Japan. "Anything else?"

"She did say she was in a group at one point but I haven't been able to get any more information about it," Clark remembered the two names Batman had given him. "You think she used to run with those other guys, Hidan and Itachi?"

"They're certainly linked," Batman admitted. "If nothing else than all three were of Asian descent. Probably Japanese." Batman remembered Hidan's blood-related power and just how different it seemed to everything else he and the League encountered. "Does Konan have any abilities that would be considered different from the people we usually face off with?"

Clark wasn't sure what he meant by that considering they fought some very strange people with even stranger powers over the years but he nevertheless gave his answer. "She can manipulate paper." He chuckled. "Right now she's flying around with two wings made out of the stuff. She also said something about being low on chakra."

There was a brief pause in Batman's typing before he replied. "That doesn't seem weird to you?"

"No more than usual," Clark replied. "You dress up like a bat for a living so are you really one to talk?" He thought he could almost hear a chuckle from the caped crusader but more than likely it was the static temporarily kicking in.

"What are you planning to do with her?"

"She'll probably stay through the holidays with me, Lois and the folks," Clark explained. "I'll keep an eye on her until we figure out this whole mess."

"Good," Batman replied. "I'll be in touch."

"Bruce?" Clark asked.

"What is it?"

"Learn to take it easy every now and then." Clark laughed.

This time he definitely heard a chuckle. "No promises," Batman replied before finally cutting out. Clark smiled at his friend's antics. The man was always going to be serious natured but Clark was glad he was able to get him to emote even only slightly. If nothing else, than to remind Bruce that he's still a man under all that cape and angst.

Clark looked back up to the sky to see Konan drifting back down to meet him. "I throw it too hard?" He asked with a smile.

Konan shook her head. "No, I just wandered off for a bit."

Unlike her two teammates that sat in virtual awe of the man's ability to scarf down food, Raven wasn't quite sure what to make of it. One would think he hadn't eaten in days. Fifteen plates of nothing but shrimp and crab. Some of which hadn't even been cooked fully now sat stacked up in rows around the group. Drago himself tore into another crab as Raven finally spoke what was on her mind.

"You weren't kidding, were you?"

Drago gave a swift nod. "I try not to lie so much these days. So whatever I say, you can take it as the truth."

"All right," Cyborg replied, after chowing down on a few bites of shrimp himself. "How'd you get so strong?"

A loud snap was heard when Drago tore a piece of the leg off the cooked crab. "Practice." He answered.

Raven kept her stare at the man. "No experiment went wrong or natural born gift?"

Drago let out a subdued cough. "You guys make it seem like being strong comes with some prerequisites." Drago replied."I'm just not that interesting."

Raven still didn't buy the answer but it was Beastboy's turn to ask a question. "So does everyone else in Seven Swordsman have powers?" He asked.

Drago thought of all the ways he could answer that before shaking his head. "Nah. They're just a group of Russian misfits who I thought could benefit from each other's company. Then it turned out that they liked music and that was that."

Raven cocked an eyebrow. "So you're not Russian?"

"What gave it away? I thought I was doing pretty well on my accent." Drago replied with a laugh, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. " I've lived there for the past few years but..." There was a pause and Raven could see a glint of sadness in Drago's pale eyes. "I've never really felt like it was home."

"So where are you from?"

"Will that be all for you, Titans?" A server asked, interrupting before Drago could give his reply. Though he looked like he could eat more, Drago nodded.

"That'll do it for me." He answered. Cyborg nodded and handed the server a card though not before letting out a burp. She laughed as did Drago who was quick to follow it up with a reply. "Sure, and I apologize for our friend here."

Cyborg seemed to take the joke in stride and looked over to a nearby empty stage. "How about a song?"

Drago chuckled. "How about no?"

Even though he didn't create the idea, Beastboy liked it almost immediately. "I second that."

"Overruled." Drago continued, still defiant.

Beastboy would have none of it, however. "Dude, c'mon! We bought you food."

"After I saved your asses," Drago replied. "Besides, I don't sing."

"You're in a band." Raven reminded him. "Which makes you way more qualified than the rest of us."

"Look, " Cyborg spoke up. "I know BB can't sing and I know Raven wouldn't be seen trying. So just do us a favor and sing for a bit. We'll call it even."

"All right. Fine." Drago sighed. "But don't expect something too energetic."

"Yeah, why would we assume that from the rockstar?" Raven added.

Drago scowled at her got up from his chair and walked to the small stage as a few onlookers gave light applause for someone finally going on. In truth, He was more than capable of really letting loose in this place but the talk with Raven about home had brought up some memories. Some good and plenty bad, but neither really put him into a mood of rocking out. He grabbed an old, worn guitar that sat to the side and sat down on a stool in the middle of the stage. He checked the instrument making sure it was rightly tuned all the while thinking of what song he should play. A light bulb went off in his head and he started playing a nice low tune.

"Maybe it's time to let the old ways die. Maybe it's time to let the old ways die. It takes a lot to change a man. Hell, it takes a lot to try. Maybe it's time to let the old ways die."

Cyborg, Raven, and Beastboy all looked surprised at how somber the song was from the man who always seemed to be energetic but it was by no means terrible coming from him.

"Nobody knows what waits for the dead. Nobody knows what waits for the dead. Some folks just believe in the things they've heard and the things they read. Nobody knows what awaits for the dead."

"I'm glad I can't go back to where I came from. I'm glad those days are gone, gone for good. But if I could take spirits from my past and bring 'em here. You know I would. Know I would"

Drago's face scrunched up for a brief moment but the look quickly disappeared as he moved on with the song.

"Nobody speaks to God these days. Nobody speaks to God these days. I'd like to think he's lookin' down and laughin' at our ways. Nobody speaks to God these days."

"When I was a child, they tried to fool me. Said the worldly man was lost and that a Hell was real. Well, I've seen Hell in Reno and this world's one big old Catherine wheel. Spinnin' steel."

"Maybe it's time to let the old ways die. Maybe it's time to let the old ways die, It takes a lot to change your plans. And a train to change your mind. Maybe it's time to let the old ways die. Oh, maybe it's time to let the old ways die"

There was a brief moment of silence before the restaurant rang out with subdued applause. Drago smiled and got up from the stage, walking back to the table the Titans were sitting at. He was more than surprised when he saw that in addition to the clapping of Cyborg and Beastboy, Raven herself added her own. "That, that was surprisingly nice."

"I told you not to expect something loud," Drago replied, sitting down. "Something's got me feeling sentimental."

The group went right back to their food and any following conversations were kept light with little inquiries into the life of a musician and the life of a superhero. Cyborg kept him riveted with his talk of cybernetics and his overzealous love for the T-Car. Beastboy talked his ear off about being a huge singing champ in Japan and insisting he had the skill to go global if he wanted to. Raven didn't seem to share her friend's enthusiasm for talking but Drago did manage to get a few words out of her; saying how he liked the cloak and how he used to have one back home though it varied in color and design.

As the conversation went on, Beastboy could note Raven lowering her guard at the man. She still kept her seemingly uncaring attitude and her answers to his questions were quick and very vague in description. Yet Drago seemed to smile the most whenever she did answer as if he had been used to talking to someone who didn't talk nearly as much as he did.

"Well Titans, I better be hitting the water," Drago said group as the exited back onto the street. "I gotta say though, I had fun today."

"Same, dude!" Beastboy exclaimed as the group walked down towards the pier. "Where are you staying at?"

Drago smiled. "Tahiti."

"That supposed to be funny?" Raven asked.

"I think so." Drago laughed. "All joking aside, I do have an island in the Pacific. It's where I stay when I'm on vacation."

Cyborg looked confused as they continued to pass by a series of nice looking boats. "Wait, then how did you get here?"

Drago stopped just as he passed the last visible boat at the pier and stood just above what looked like a rough looking surfboard. "I surfed." He stepped onto the surprisingly steady board. "As I said, I'm just in town to check up on the band." He looked to Beastboy and smiled. "You ever want tickets you just mention my name to Ivan and say Samehada." He laughed as he almost forgot he was standing in front of superheroes. "If they don't give you them in the first place."

Beastboy opened his mouth to say something when all three of the Titans communicators rang out in alarm. Cyborg was the first to open his and Robin's voice came through. "Titans! We got trouble at the tower!"

"On our way," Cyborg replied just as a large explosion rang out from across the bay and towards the distant T shape tower. Raven immediately took to the air, carrying Cyborg with her magic.

Beastboy looked up after them and then back to Drago. "See ya later, I guess." Beastboy smiled and shapeshifted into a hawk and shot into the air.

Drago's smile faded as the trio began to blur as they flew off to their home. They were good kids, he thought. Much more so than him at their age. He looked down at his board and sighed. He needed to get out of this city before his blood got boiling again. But before he could shoot off into the bay, another loud explosion rang out from the Tower. This one echoing far louder than the one before. Not a moment later, Drago felt a wave of chakra spill out through the bay. His smile returned and he decided he was still unsatisfied with the bout from earlier. Maybe someone over there could provide a challenge. And if not that, maybe he had finally found a familiar face.

A/N: Well, this took longer to get out than I wanted it to. I don't really have a good reason for the wait so, apologies. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to some action in the next installment.