Notes: Okay, dinner's in the oven (home made tuna pockets! YUM!), time to work on my fic and hash out three things.

First of all, the parts with Ichigo and Yoruichi are still early morning timeline day one. The parts with the retrieval team are four days ahead of them. That would put the attack of the adjuchas on Atlantis to three days before the fic began.

Thats two things, now the third is...

MINECRAFT HUMOR RULES! SKY, CAPTAIN SPARKLES AND YOGSCAST ARE HILARIOUS AS ALL HELL!

In the immortal words of Thousand Foot Krutch, lets get this thing shaking like a DISCO BALL!

Doctor Fate was due to come and have a look at their visitor in a couple of hours. Sheiyera and Vixen were checking on Ichigo every couple of hours, for that is the name that J'on managed to pick out of the boy's scattered unconscious fever dreams. They had patrol starting about the same time that Fate was due to arrive. J'on had been assigning them repeatedly with John Stewart. Presumably to try to force the three of them to bond or some crazy psychological shit. All it really did was make Sheiyera want to beat her head against the nearest wall.

She poked her head into the infirmary for the umpteenth time, and noted the boy's hair had turned white. "Huh?"

The white was spreading all over his body. "Trippy." Vixen commented. "I'll go get the medic! Keep an eye on him. I don't like that he's going as white as Grundy!"

The League's head medic hurried in, a couple of curious onlookers poking their heads in. Sheiyera noted Etrigan, Booster Gold, and Zatanna peering around the door frame of the infirmary.

The medic checked him over with a scanner. "Amazing, this energy is only a few percentage wavelengths difference from a demon's. Its not the same though. But very similar."

Etrigan took a position against the wall of the infirmary to listen in. The man glowered at the strange pale youth.

"I'm a hollow stupid." The boy growled. "This isn't even all of me, the real Ichigo's exhausted, tired, has a headache the size of rhode island and is irritable as hell and wants that nosy green shithead to stop prying into his head."

Sheiyera chuckled, realizing he meant J'on. "Well we had no freakin clue who you were..." Etrigan snickered. "How were we supposed to try to find... oh I dunno, your next of kin."

"Karakura Town Japan, and though King's dad knows all about me, it might be better to contact Urahara. What I wanna know is who the hell are alla you!" Ogichi looked around, confused, King's memories and knowledge didn't include masked freaks!

"My name's Sheiyera Hall." Hawkgirl tended to go by her real name more often than not now.

"Vixen!" Vixen chimed up.

"Etrigan, the young lady keeping watch outside is Zatanna, and the /oaf/ stickin his nose where it doesn't belong is Booster Gold and his robot /pet/ Skeets!" Etrigan looked fairly irritated with Booster. "Whom i'm NOT SURE WHY WE KEEP IN THE LEAGUE!" He glared irritably at Booster, who was outside the door, only a sliver of him visible. "God damn showboater. You just watch, he'll only start takin this seriously when he gets hisself a girlfriend!"

"And how can /you/ be so sure? You're a demon." Zatanna pointed out.

"When yeh got somethin ter protect, suddenly bein a hero means somethin." Etrigan replied cooly. "Just watch, when he gets hisself a damsel to sweep off her feet Booster'll be more gold and less BAFFOON!" Etrigan sniggered that last bit.

"King believes that having something to protect makes you fight harder." Ogichi said quietly. "I quite agree. But I'm his instinct so that doesn't account for much."

"What's that mean?" Sheiyera asked, head tilting at Ogichi a bit.

"What it sounds like. You don't know what being a "hollow" means do you?" Ogichi smirked. "We're the instinctive selves of our people. That primative self that will do anything to survive, that clings on to the slightest foothold of life even when things look grim and just won't quit. When I first split from King's mind, I was pretty savage. I tried my hardest to dominate and take him over... now... I don't know anymore. The soul society where our friends live is at war. There's plenty of violence to satiate me in war... and yet I feel colder..."

"Thats war alright." Muttered Etrigan. "Yeh feel alive and yet dead all at once."

"Yeah..." Ogichi said quietly. He looked disheartened. "listen... King is gonna be missed a lot, and he's weak right now. I just wanted to make sure he wasn't gonna be taken advantage of in his sleep. Please help him find his friends when he wakes up? He's gonna be really upset if they aren't there." Ogichi's black eyes turned kinda dull.

"You're hiding something aren't you?" Sheiyera asked Ogichi, trying to figure out exactly what this odd fellow was about.

"Something private to King and not relevant to the situation." Ogichi replied. "I don't answer to you, as long as he can beat me into submission in the world in his head, I only answer to him." Ogichi lay back down and closed his eyes. The white drained away, revealing Ichigo's normal form.

"Interesting..." Batman mused as Sheiyera recounted the tale just before she woke up. "Etrigan, what's your assessment?"

"This entity that took the boy over was demon like, but not a demon." Etrigan replied. "Even ones like me, the change from human to demon is far less subtle. The color drained from the boy and his eyes changed, thats all. No flash of fire or light, no flare or..."

"This boy is not only not human, his soul is split." Doctor Fate concluded his 'checkup' of the orange head lying there on the medical bed. "I have not encountered his sort before. He is a divine being, but the divine and the mortal meet in him. There is more, the boy's mortality is waning."

"you mean he's dying?" Zatanna sat up straight in her chair, a look of alarm on her face.

"Not in the physical sense, by our standards he is both alive and dead at once. He must have a body somewhere. But my guess is separation from it for too long would kill him, rendering him a full spirit and not inbetween living and dead as he is now."

"Alright..." Zatanna sighed. "I'll arrange a search party in metropolis. Surely something..."

"Superman is on patrol at the moment, go see him first. His X-ray vision may help you. The sort capable of projecting the soul from the body need a secure spot to put the body or somebody to guard and tend it."

Batman moved to the nearest console and hit a few keys. "No missing persons in Metropolis with red or orange hair."

"Doesn't mean someone isn't missing him." Zatanna sighed. "Mister Terrific needs to test his new scanning program. So lets see if he and Superman can give me a hand."

"I don't think we're gonna find anyone." Batman said quietly.

Zatanna gave him a dirty look as she strode out the door. "PESSIMIST!" Batman smirked. Zatanna was an ally he was rather fond of. He couldn't handle magic, not well at least. She covered that end for him and shored up a very pronounced weakness in his skills.

Then to, Batman's attempts at magic usually created a very spectacular explosion or shockwave and nothing more substantial. In the end he'd given up, and instead worked on snapping up as much salvaged Nth metal from the thenegarian invasion as he could to make gadgets with.

"That's so weird..." Lois was looking out the observation deck of the daily planet building, repaired in a single night and morning by the League's ever efficient engineers. But then, superpowered builders tended to get the job done far faster than non.

She and Clark were looking up at the clouds that seemed to be clinging to the sky over the harbor. In them, blue and green lightning crackled. Jimmy was trying to get some nice photos, but you couldn't really get good shots of lightning with the camera he had. "damn... I need higher resolution." he muttered.

Lois pulled out a pair of binoculars. "Hmmm..." She peered through them. "There's a current through those clouds but I don't see anyone or anything causing it. Here, have a look Clark... Jimmy keep trying to get some good photos, the weather guys are gonna eat this up." She handed the binoculars over to Clark Kent.

"Aye aye captain!" Jimmy said cheerfully. "i'm gonna need another roll at this rate though."

"Interesting light show... thanks for these Lois." Clark indicated the binoculars. "So strange... those colors are so pale..." He mused, looking at the cloud formation through them. Sure enough, nobody and nothing in those clouds, and a slow circular current. "The good news is thats too slow to be a tornado cloud. I've seen quite a few out in Kansas, this isn't a super cell."

"There's no water in that cloud." The meteorologist came running out. "GUYS! Its a cloud without water! NOAA just got us their satilite assessment and local doppler confirms. That cloud has no water!"

"Then what's making the lightning?" Lois mused. "Isn't water kinda required for lightning?"

"Actually we don't fully understand just where lightning comes from Ms. Lane." The meteorologist said quietly.

"Alright I've got work to do, keep an eye on it guys..." Clark slipped off to change. He needed a better look at that cloud.

Deadman wasn't the only spirit drawn to that cloud above metropolis. Ghosts of all strengths and sorts were coming to look, drawn by some inexorable force. He lay back in the odd cloud over metropolis and sighed blissfully in relaxation. "oooooh, this is wonderful."

"Huh? Who the hell are you?" Superman had flown up into the cloud to have his look around. Startled that he hadn't seen all the ghosts with the binoculars.

"You can see me?" Deadman blinked. "i'm a blinkin ghost and you're still alive and you can..." He trailed off, sniffing the cloud material a bit. "hey, this isn't water vapor! This is somethin spiritual! Oh what the heck I'm not complaining! LIVING PEOPLE CAN SEE ME HERE! YIPPIE!"

"mmmmmm..." another ghost floated dreamily by them. "Whatever this mist is, it feels /amazing./ I feel so relaxed and energized. Like going to a fine fiiiineee spa!"

"you mean this weird cloud is affecting you guys somehow?" Superman blinked, somewhat taken aback by the ghosts' behavior.

"Close yer eyes and breathe in!" Deadman all but chirped in delight. Now normally he'd be a bit on the morose side, after all, he /was/ dead. But something about this cloud reminded Boston Brand of a good strong cup of tea, they were both calming and invigorating all at once.

What the heck, Doctor Fate had taught Superman some good breathing exercises. So he floated in the cloud for a bit in a meditative posture, taking good deep lungfuls. "Odd, you're right, I do kinda feel sedated... don't spend too long in here..." he frowned. "Heeeey! I recognize you now! Long time no see Deadman!"

"Bingo!" Brand grinned hugely. "Aw I haven't felt this great since I was alive!"

"i'm gonna go look deeper." Superman told him. "Enjoy this if you find it relaxing, just be careful."

He flew up into the cloud's center. Within it was a darker portion of sky and what looked like a depression with a jagged hole in the center.

A familiar figure was meditating in the depression, faint green light rippling over his pale form. "Spectre?" Superman blinked.

"I'm holding this opening stable..." Spectre said quietly. It was clear he was distracted. "You had better try to close it and put things right... I can hold it for weeks, maybe months, but eventually the energy its discharging will dump itself down into the ocean off the shores of Metropolis, sending energy surges and a water surge much like a storm surge down on the city. Many may be empowered by the energy surging from this rift, good and evil alike, but many more will be harmed."

"I'll get Doctor Fate..."

"not here... your comlink..." Spectre was trying to concentrate, and it was making speaking difficult. Superman could see the effort the angel was putting out on his face. When he tried the com, Superman found the cloud was blocking the signal.

"Alright, I'll go take this to the league." Superman took one last look at the hole and then sank a bit down to the familiar figure in the circus costume. "Deadman!"

"yeah?" The ghost looked up from his floating, almost as if he was lying in a soft bed of... well... cloud material.

"Stand guard over Spectre but don't bother him." Superman told Deadman. "He's up in the center of the cloud holding back a dimensional rift from getting wider. Thats the source of all this and if the energy from the rift hits the ground the city's in trouble. Get him anything he says he needs just make sure he keeps holding that hole still!"

Deadman nodded and flew up higher towards where the angel was. He sat down in the odd cloud like material and waited.

Superman darted back down towards the Daily Planet building. "Anything up there?" Lois asked him, waving cheerfully at her boyfriend.

"Plenty, I'll head over to your place tonight and give you the scoop then okay? Or not... you might want to use your discretion on this one." Superman sighed, not sure how much of this would panic the public.

"Okay! I'll hold you to it!" Superman hurried off, finding a discrete place to contact the league.

Only to run into Zatanna in the lobby near the payphones. "Zatanna! I was just coming to find a magic user at the league."

"And I was coming to find you, we need your x-ray vision to look for someone that looks like our red headed visitor. You?"

"That cloud up above the city, the one sparking? There's a dimensional rift at the center and its being held back from causing potentially dangerous energy surges by Spectre."

"THE spectre? Superman do you know how rare it is to see the angel of vengeance?"

"Thats not all, the cloud material has attracted ghosts. It has some kind of sedating or calming effect on them. A friend of Batman's, codename Deadman, was drawn up there. Not only that, but all the ghosts there are visible. Most people can't see them normally right?"

"Yeah, there /are/ a few exceptions but for the most part ghosts can't be seen by most people. Psychics and magic users primarily are able to see them. Themiscyrans and Atlanteans have the ability as well but..."

"Greaaatttt..." Superman imagined Wonder Woman's reaction to Spectre. "I don't think Wonder Woman's been introduced to Spectre yet. And her last encounter with Deadman wasn't a good one."

"Ouch! Okay I'll do what I can but I need you to help me out a bit." Zatanna replied. "I've already gotten Mister Terrific to turn his new scanners to the city to see if he can help. Basically our visitor is able to astral project, leaving his body while he does. But he needs that body back or Doctor Fate says he's gonna be a ghost forever rather than a kid that's part spirit. We need to find where the kid hid his body /or/ who's taking care of it in his absence."

Superman winced. "I hate when ghosts and magic become involved, it always becomes too thorny." And painful.

"Thats why you have us magic users!" Zatanna said with a huge grin on her face.

Superman sighed, not looking forwards to the task or the explanation for /this/ mess. "Alright, I've got to start on patrol once I've contacted the league. I'll help you out."

Ten minutes of explaining the issue to Doctor Fate and J'on and Superman was darting up into the sky for his patrol.

Between Doctor Fate, and Wonder Woman Zatanna managed to get herself and Etrigan up to the rift zone to speak with Spectre.

The angel didn't reply when they addressed him. Doctor Fate frowned. "Its taking too much effort for him to speak. Let me..." He extended his hand, mumbling an incantation.

Instantly the strain on Spectre's face eased. "Thank you... I felt like Atlas the Titan for a minute there." Spectre sighed in relief.

"What is that thing?"

"A dimensional rift. A massive amount of spiritual energy is flowing out of it..." Doctor fate concentrated, gathering a bit of the pale blue energy into his hand. "This, this is what is pouring out. Zatanna I believe there's a containment case in the bag J'on sent with us. We need samples for analysis, hurry!"

"Whatever it is, its having an effect on us ghosts!" Deadman added. "I haven't felt this cheerful since before I died!"

Zatanna couldn't see the expression on Doctor Fate's face, but... he seemed pensive. She looked over at Wonder Woman, the most senior member present.

"I swear I've breathed this energy before." Wonder Woman frowned. "hmmm..." The princess' face was wrinkled up in thought. "TARTARUS! Thats it! This energy, its like a much cooler version of Tartarus' energy. I'm going to go call mother and see if she can offer some insight. Get analysis on..."

"its not Tartarus on the other side of that rift." Doctor Fate told her quietly. "But the energy feels similar. Spectre?"

"No, no signs of demons coming in and out." Spectre replied. "I'd have been attacked while guarding it if they'd tried."

"So who..."

Zatanna reached out to touch the rift gingerly.

"DON'T!" Wonder Woman hissed, "You might get sucked in!"

"Are you crazy girl?" Etrigan demanded.

"no... this... feels familiar..." Zatanna pushed her hand against the rubbery surface of the rift. She muttered an incantation, focusing all her senses on the barrier. "Yalper!" A simple word, "Replay."

A shadowy image of Ichigo and Grimmjow shot from the rift, shooting downwards towards metropolis, lining up with the newly patched hole on the Daily Planet building. The shadowy image of Grimmjow stood there gloating and laughing, drawing his sword and saying something, the words were silent as neither figure could speak.

"I can read lips, thats "Grind Pantera..."" Doctor Fate mused.

There was a burst of energy, whorls of mist gathering around Grimmjow. Then his body changed, becoming half cat, half human. Grimmjow then shot downwards after Ichigo.

"Wow..." Zatanna blinked. "Hey Etrigan, weren't we supposed to be trying to trace Ichigo's origins?"

"Yeah, along wiv Superman and that idiot scientist." Etrigan mused. "Looks like we found it!"

"I knew that energy felt familiar, Ichigo was dripping with it when he was in the infirmary."

"Ectoplasm perhaps?" Suggested Deadman sarcastically.

"What do you think this is, ghost busters?" Zatanna demanded. "Look, Deadman, you're gonna have to help Spectre when we leave. He can't move from this cloud because if he does it will send a surge of energy down on Metropolis. You helping Spectre here helps the city Superman is most attached to."

"Besides, after what happened /the last/ time we saw you?" Wonder Woman arched a cold eyebrow at him. "As far as I'm concerned you /owe/ us."

"But he was gonna kill you!"

"I'm immortal and invulnerable, not to mention Batman has a phobia of guns!" Snapped Wonder Woman. "Using his body to shoot a gun? Dispicable." She darted down from the cloud back towards the city, clearly annoyed.

"I deserved that. I was just trying to save her life."

"You're gonna have to tell me the story someday, but Deadman Batman has serious issues with guns. Even I've seen it. You notice he never uses a firearm, never carries one." Zatanna sighed. "Look, whatever went down I'm sorry Wonder Woman couldn't stay professional. Her temper is pretty legendary. But my best warning to you is never, ever, bring a gun around Batman. I know him better than Diana does. Of course, I knew him as John for twenty years... but what the heck."

"John? Really?" Deadman blinked in surprise.

"Yeah, John Doe."

"ouch." Deadman winced.

"We need to get these samples into containers AND BACK TO THE LAB." Doctor Fate said sternly. "We seem able to focus this energy and manipulate it." He pulled open a few vials and began collecting and concentrating the energy. It formed a pale blue liquid. Deadman looked nervously over at Spectre and then around at the others.

"Good luck." Spectre said quietly. "I have been ordered to keep this rift guarded and sealed. I cannot leave it but my mind can contact you if something happens."

"Ho boy, please tell me you're not a stiff! I was a lively irish guy when I was alive! I can't take quiet!"

"My host is Irish, and he's nowhere near as annoying as /you./" Spectre replied cooly.

"Way to boost a guy's spirits Green Riding Hood."

Zatanna inwardly facepalmed at this back and forth. Really, this guy was a contact of Batman's? She managed to fill several glass vials and bottles with the substance, which Fate promptly levitated outside of the cloud. From there he carefully eased them down to the Daily Planet building below. "oye!" Zatanna greeted Lois. "Got any day old newspapers you're not gonna use?"

"Plenty. Lemme get you a stack. Samples?"

"Yeah, this is the concentrated cloud material. The league's gonna do an analysis."

Doctor Fate eased himself down. "We're going to have the league bring some containment measures down. Sorry to have to borrow your balcony Ms. Lane."

"You're welcome. Need something to drink?"

"I could use some water." Zatanna replied. "Not much, just something to wet my throat."

"I got some four ounce bottles in the break room." Lois nodded and headed inside. She came back with a case of twenty four four ounce bottles of water and a stack of old newspaper. Etrigan and Zatanna each took two, gulped them down, and started wrapping up the vials and bottles in old newspaper. Jimmy poked his head out, taking a few snapshots with his camera of Zatanna expertly twisting the paper around the sample containers.

"What do you need to wrap them for anyway?" Lois was taking notes. "And /where/ did you learn to wrap like that? I should hire you to wrap presents for my family around christmas!" She joked.

"For starters the sample containers are glass, so the newspaper should cushion them in the case." Zatanna pointed out. "Its also an unknown substance. And a magic user, medium or psychic would be able to tell that this substance is potentially volitile. As for wrapping well... I learned to make paper birds for prop use when I was a child. I'm very good at making sure paper does what I want it. In this case, shock insulation."

"Ah, here we are." An Nth metal case was teleported in, and Fate levitated it carefully to the ground, the box wobbling wildly as it fought against his levitation spell. Zatanna then used her wand to carefully move the wrapped samples into the case as she finished them.

Lois scribbled away on her pad while they worked. Before long the case was packed with sealed, newspaper wrapped samples. "So how's this sound... the process of wrapping and packing the samples was quick, quiet, and efficient, levitation was used to minimize the chance of spillage or breaking containers. The visiting league members only stopped for a drink of water before hurrying the samples away to the lab for analysis."

"Quite accurate. Zatanna has the poise and confidence born of life lived on the stage." Doctor Fate seemed to smile under his helmet. "If she hadn't been a magician, she probably would have been a news girl like you."

"Aw shucks Fate, you're making me blush!" Zatanna giggled.

"Well its true." Lois told her. "You handled yourself quite well with me. Anyway, its been an interesting morning. But that cloud..." She shook her head. "There's something off about it."

"Its attracting a /lot/ of ghosts." Zatanna told her. "It seems to have a sedating and cheering effect on them. I mean seriously, its like they took antidepressants or tranquilizers or something."

"Ghosts are depressed?" Lois blinked.

"Duh, they're dead and they haven't passed on, isn't that enough to be depressed about?" Zatanna asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"I guess so."

"But you might want to leave that bit about ghosts out, because the spirit at the cloud's center is keeping the cloud from forming an energy surge that could hit the city. So keep people away from it." Zatanna told her.

"Thaaaaat, might be what Superman wanted me to use my discretion about. Alright, I'll let the dead rest in peace." Lois scratched the note about ghosts out of her notepad. "If that will help I mean."

"That spirit is concentrating very hard Ms. Lane, he should not be disturbed. If he loses his concentration it could send a surge down onto the city." Was Fate's parting warning before they teleported back up to the station.

The boom in the Justice League laboratory was heard three floors above and below the watchtower's analysis lab. The lab tech yelled at Booster Gold as he scooped up Skeets and ran. "oh boy, I'm in trouble."

"WHAT did you do?" It was four hours since they'd returned to the Watchtower. Etrigan walked out of the lab and grabbed Booster by the collar. "YOU ARROGANT SWAGGERING MORON!" Etrigan's face was covered in soot. "THAT EXPLOSION BURNED J'ON'S HAND! HE'LL BE ON THE INJURED LIST FOR WEEKS!"

"SORRY! Skeets thought he recognized the compound."

"Not good enough Booster. You're on cleaning duty." Martian Manhunter floated out of the lab, cradling his burned right hand with a pained expression on his face. It was excrutiating. J'on wasn't very happy with Booster at the moment.

Booster went white under his goggles. "Sorry sir..."

"You were just trying to help I know. But curiousity killed the cat." J'on told him curtly.

Zatanna poked her head into the lab. "oh boy." It was wrecked. Charred notes, broken bottles and equipment. "Was this from our samples?"

"Only from a half dozen of them. The substance needs to be moved to explosive containment." J'on winced in pain. "And this hand is going to be very painful for the next few weeks. I think it would be better if Batman handled our remaining samples."

"A sound idea." Batman strode in, surveying the damage. "A half dozen vials? Did this? That case you transported earlier, if it had exploded it could have leveled half a block."

"We'd better aprise Miss Waller of this discovery." J'on shook his head.

"not yet, she's military and diplomatic type. I don't want this being used as a weapon."

"I /am/ the Government's liason to the Justice League... I'd hope that you wouldn't think of leaving me out of the loop of a potential crisis." Waller pointed out. "So... any of you care to tell me what happened here?"

"An accident with some samples. It was an unknown non lethal substance that we were trying to identify. It came from those clouds above Metropolis."

"They aren't just in Metropolis anymore. I came to bring you that news actually, there's one over Gotham. The airforce was able to identify humanoid figures in the mist, very ghost like. Also, it causes major radio and compass outages near it. If you flew a javalin into that, you'd loose all navigation ability and planes are already being warned out of the area."

"They /are/ ghosts that those pilots saw." Zatanna told Waller. "They seem to be drawn to it, and it has some kind of sedating effect on them. Like chamomile times ten coupled with a good day at the spa. Normally in my work when I find a ghost, they're really morose and miserable. Who wouldn't be in their situation? But these ghosts felt almost... happy... when they were in that cloud. They were floating in the material like they were in a hot tub, and it made them appear to be semi solid."

Waller frowned. "So... what's in there besides ghosts?"

"A dimensional rift. There's a report that the first one, in Metropolis is being held back by Spectre, the angel of vengeance. He's holding back the energy that caused this explosion. While its not in this concentration in the clouds, if it hits the harbor it can cause stormsurge like waves." Batman told Waller. "In a major metropolitan area thats a huge hazard."

"But this other rift?"

"Something or someone would more than likely have to be holding that shut as well. There is one more thing, these rifts are traversible. We have the unconscious traveler through the first one, but his assailant escaped." Batman told Waller. "The boy's been drifting in and out of consciousness and he's likely to be in poor health for a few days more. What bothers me is that if there are two rifts, where's the impact from the other rift? Did a person come through that also? Are they injured? Or are they biding their time?"

Waller shuddered. "Keep me aprised. I have paperwork I have to do. And if I recall I'm supposed to have observer status on your meetings. I'd like to hear more about this incident. There's over a hundred physicists who's work could be revolutionized by a traversible interdimensional rift. It could revolutionize transport, trade, and most of all our understanding of our place in the universe. As for these samples, I need a list of the barriers someone would need to cross to weaponize it. Just in case some terrorist or supervillain gets the idea to turn it into a bomb. This was how much?"

"Half a dozen vials ma'am." Zatanna told her.

"That oaf Booster's robot, Skeets, thought he recognized the substance! As if a ROBOT made of metal could understand a spiritual substance like THAT!" snorted Etrigan.

"you don't think a robot could recognize a magical substance?"

"No, /hag/ of the US Army, I don't think a robot could. The damned idiot tried to access the sample. I want Booster banned from all decks that house laboratories and magical workshops! I will not have that /bull/ treating my study like a CHINA SHOP!" Etrigan snarled. "And look at J'on's hand! Look at that mess! He'll be on the injured list for weeks! Just riding a desk while the rest of us go down to fight because that OAF couldn't control his own familiar OR KEEP HIS HANDS TO HIMSELF!" Etrigan snarled. "Well?" He turned to Batman and J'on. "You two are seniors! Can't you do something about this?"

"The next senior member meeting is set for the dinner hour." Batman said quietly. He offered Amanda Waller the most polite glance he could. "Ms. Waller, my Butler will be doing the cooking tonight, and sending it up via the teleporters. Its a good hearty clam chowder. I hope you'll have some."

"I'll keep on this. At least we know my case and the clouds are linked." Zatanna sighed.

"yes, but I'm worried about this assailent that escaped Superman. I have some years experience working with US Mps. So I know a bit about police work. Enough to be conversant in it... I may be able to help." She smiled briefly at Zatanna. "You know, I brought my youngest son to one of your shows for his tenth birthday. His eleventh is in two months, if I brought you a top hat could you sign it for him?"

"Sure." Zatanna smiled. "He do magic tricks?"

"Quite a few." Waller smiled as she indicated they should leave. "he's gotten quite good a prestidigitation."

The two women walked down the corridor. "Card tricks huh? Tell you what, I'll take an hour or two out to teach him some good ones for his birthday."

"Really?" Waller smiled. "I'm sure he'd like that. He wants to get the sawing a person in half part down. But all he's done so far is ruin his stuffed animals." The look of amusement on her face was quite unlike her normally stern demeanor.

"Did I just see Booster covered in soot?" Wonder Woman asked them, striding down the corridor. "And did he come out of here?"

"Down that way, touched off an accident that burned J'on's hand. Etrigan's really mad." Zatanna added.

"oh boy." Wonder Woman hurried off. "Thanks for the warning!"

As they headed for the mess hall via the lift Wannabeast stepped in. "Going down?"

"yeah, the mess."

"I've got an assignment further down. Have fun ladies, I recommend the earl grey tea. I swear, if tea could kick butt."

"What's your assignment?" Zatanna asked as the lift began to descend.

"Flood relief down in rural Missouri. Some animals were injured in the recent storms there and the vets need all the help they can get."

"Good luck and wear thick boots. Missisippi river mud can and /will/ get everywhere." Amanda Waller warned him.

"Thanks for the warning Ms. Waller. I'll see if the ASPCA aid workers on scene have some extra galloshes." Wannabeast cast her a huge grin as the lift opened on the lounge.

Tea... with Amanda Waller, their former enemy. It was odd. Zatanna didn't mind, they mostly kept quiet. Though there was a lot of league gossip going on at other tables about both the visitor /and/ the recent spate of storms in the Midwest. Ice and Fire had worked themselves to near exhaustion the last time the Big Muddy overflowed her banks. If Zatanna recalled correctly Waller had brought them chicken soup and the president's thanks for such a valiant effort. Still, towns were being swept away. And with that huge hurricane last year... Zatanna was getting worried.

"So... the US government is thinking of offering free emergency response courses and first aid classes to Justice League members. Any thoughts?" Waller asked suddenly.

"I'd suggest offering it to the non super powered members, or ones that aren't as strong. Don't get me wrong, the seniors who haven't got a heavily science or military based background could still benefit. Its just that the non super powered justice league members often feel marginalized."

"Any particular members in mind?" Waller hrmed, this was new to her. She was the league liason, and wondered if maybe her record with Cadmus was the reason she wasn't yet trusted with the thoughts of individual league members."

"Wildcat... honestly... he's getting old. He's our martial arts coach, and sometimes he feels left out simply because of his age. And I'd also recommend Vigilante for first aid training. He's got good people skills and a talent for getting members of a group that normally don't get along working together."

"I noticed that. He's got a very earthy personality and a tendency to speak plainly and simply." Waller's smile was smaller now, but no less genuine. "I wish some of the people I worked with in the military could speak the way he does. Wouldn't have been half as much politicking at Cadmus if we'd had somebody like that. Who else?"

"Well..." Zatanna hrmed. "I'd like to take them. My show schedule is fairly busy but... now that the idea's out there I rather like it."

"like what?" Flash and Green Arrow sat down at their table, Black Canary a few seconds behind them.

"Waller said the government is thinking of offering emergency responder and first aid training to league members who want it. I told her I thought it would be a good idea for Wildcat and Vigilante to take first aid classes."

"not a bad idea." Canary agreed. "Sometimes Wildcat really feels his age and it gets him depressed. Something to do is considered healthy for men his age. He's in his fifties and the less he thinks about how old he is the better for him in my opinion."

Waller nodded. "When you hit half a century, you tend to feel left out of things at times. Don't want to admit the aches and pains that come with age. I remember my grandfather had arthritis. Terrible back pain. I hated seeing him wince whenever he stood up."

"Not a bad idea for Vigilante to take first aid, his personality gets him put on a lot of PR related missions." Flash chewed on his hot dog, swallowed it, and then added. "I think you should add Booster Gold and Shining Knight to that list. Knight is from medieval times, so any modern skill that can help him in the field is useful but I think veterinary first aid should be added to that. Booster is a prankster, I really think he needs some extra skills under his belt... lets see..." He frowned, gulping down some of his soda. "Oh yeah, you should have Wannabeast and Vixen learn veterinary first aid. Wannabeast already has some solid contacts in the ASPCA helping them with animal cruelty and disaster response issues regarding animals. You should have seen the rescue work he did in the big hurricane last fall. He had dozens of lost dogs and cats running to him for help when he called to them. Had birds locate trapped victims. Got thirty people and fifty animals to come out to rescuers when the eye of the storm hit. One of the coolest things I've ever seen. And if Vixen understands animals better it might help her with her own skills." Flash finished off the last of his hot dog.

"I rather like this idea." Green Arrow grinned. "I'm certified for CPR /and/ portable defibrillator use though. I once survived on a deserted island for months. After that, I learned any skill I could that could save lives in an emergency. And I also agree on that assessment of Booster. Sometimes learning a skill can instill discipline, and thats really what he's lacking. That and direction."

"Alright." Waller smiled. "Anyone else?"

"I'd like to." Flash grinned. "Whenever I find injured in a disaster I have to move them to a hospital in a hurry cause I don't know how else to help them. Wonder Woman should as well. Her temper is legendary but she's got a warrior's heart."

"Alright, I'll put this list to the Senior members." Waller smiled. "Black Canary what about you?"

"Sure, why not? Waller you'll find that a lot of Justice League members focus primarily on honing their skills and refining their control when it comes to their training. Anything that helps us help others better, we'll try at least once. If we aren't good at it, we're not good at it. Knowing that sort of thing is helpful anyway. Green Arrow's gonna be teaching me some of his wilderness skills this summer. We've even got a spot in Brazil picked out for the practice thanks to Fire's recommendation on camp sites."

"Alright, I think I've got enough that I can suggest it to the seniors." Waller smiled to herself, getting up with her notes and finishing off the last drops of tea.

"First aid lessons huh?" Superman asked that evening at the end of the Senior member meeting. "Sounds like a good idea. I've got three suggestions to add to your list, actually. Since I'd like some first aid training myself, Question should get it, but only so that he can take care of minor things himself. He's a bit on the paranoid side. And then there's Hawk and Dove, who represent war and peace."

Waller chuckled. "Well, Hawk and Dove should get along fairly well with the instructor then. Female drill Seargent with fourteen field medical certifications and awards."

"Nice..."

"I'll give her your business number." Waller slipped her work into her brief case and turned to leave. "Oh and Superman..."

"Hmm?"

"I'm glad to be working here, whatever my history. Don't let anyone tell you different." Waller strode out.

The odd girl with a hawk like helmet was waiting by his bedside that night when Ichigo awoke. And with her was a man in an odd blue and gold armor. "Hey, I know you're probably feeling sick, just stay down okay."

"I need some water."

The man gestured, and a glass of water appeared on the nearby bedside. Ichigo eased himself up, took the glass, and drank slowly. "Honey?"

"And a bit of ginger to help you keep up your strength."

"Now why is ginger becoming such a popular flavor at the watchtower lately?" The woman snickered.

"It has many medicinal qualities, the chef probably decided it was good for muscle injuries. But I also don't want the boy throwing up what little fluids he has in his stomach."

Ichigo groaned. "I feel like I've been completely drained of energy."

"Alright, well, we figured out a bit of where you came from." Sheiyera said quietly. "An interdimensional rift over Metropolis... near as we can tell that enemy of yours blasted you into a whole other universe."

Ichigo groaned out of annoyance again. "Fucking grimmjow."

"That's his name?"

"yeah."

"Metropolis PD have an APB out for him. With a note to /call/ us."

"He's really dangerous. Grimmjow Jaegerjaques is only the sixth strongest Aizen's got. That bastard. We've been fighting him for months now. Demoralized the squads... tore up all the captains and lieutenants... stopped my bankai with a single finger." Ichigo shuddered. "If he's coming here, terrible things are on the horizon for the place he chooses."

"How terrible?" The woman asked.

Ichigo nearly passed out, he was trying hard to get his warning across but his body was very weak. His head was swimming! The man gently touseled his hair. "If you concentrate on the image, I can telepathically see it in your mind."

Ichigo nodded. "mkay... concentrating." So much easier than using his mouth at the moment.

The image that the man saw in his mind, and Ichigo knew him as Doctor Fate now, was of Karakura town, suddenly disappearing and collapsing in a burst of dark purple light. Thousands of souls screaming in agony including Ichigo's sisters and father, his mother's grave, his friends, his school, everything he'd known.

When the light finished...

The O-ken, a powerful tool to open the way to the divine. He who possesses it can enter the realm of the Spirit King, but must destroy 10,000 spiritually saturated acres of land and compress 10,000 souls into the device. As you can imagine, its an extremely destructive tool to create.

Its a terrible tool to create, but what can he gain by it?

Destroying my world. He wants to supplant the Spirit King. If he does that the world will be destroyed. He thinks he can replace the Spirit King and maintain it. I'm not so sure. Nor do I have any desire or need to question. Aizen hurt my friends, tried to have one of them executed, kidnapped another, and if he had his way, he would have taken and destroyed not only my home city, but my home, my family, and everything I've ever known. Ten thousand innocent souls would have suffered and everyone else back home would have died an agonizing death.

Ichigo's eyes were filled with determination. Aizen will not take a soul on /my/ watch. I swear on the blade of my soul, and my bankai, to protect my friends and my family!

Ichigo shared with Fate the moment of Aizen's defiance, his treason. How any captain not defeated in the scuffle over Rukia and the "Ryoka Bandits" was beaten down by Aizen. How Rukia was lifted by the throat and the hogyoku forcibly extracted from its hiding place.

And Ichigo, his bankai stopped by a single finger.

And then the menos extraction of the three traitor captains, Aizen's taunting parting remarks and Tousen's parting comment about his path being the most just one.

Doctor Fate broke the telepathic contact. "Sheiyera, are the other seniors asleep?"

"All but Batman why?"

"I must contact him immediately then. His tactical acumen will likely give him some good insight into this matter. I will present what I saw to the league in the morning."

There was something on the air that made Harley Quinn uneasy in her cell at Arkham. Lately she'd been barely able to get more than three hours of sleep a night. The guards and doctors always seemed to give her one next to Poison Ivy and with a good view of the harbor. But Ivy's cell was empty at the moment. By now, Quinn knew the sound of every regular boat to go in and out of Gotham Harbor. She /even/ knew the sound of the Bat Boat and Nightwing, Batwoman, and Robin's seadoos.

So the sound of an unfamiliar motorboat echoing across Gotham harbor roused her from her bed and her vain attempt at sleeping. "I swear, one more night of this and I'm asking for a god damned sedative!" The woman grumped. She crawled across the bed to her window and peered out, then she gasped.

A large swirling cloud of mist had formed over Gotham harbor, pale blue lightning sparks flying from it. The mist was descending towards the harbor in a slow, inexorable spiral. "Uh guard?" Harley turned towards the door of her cell. "GUARD!"

"What the hell is it?" This particular female guard was very, very grumpy.

"Look out there! There's a weird cloud!"

The driver in the motorboat was familiar, cat ears, a tail... CAT WOMAN! She was headed straight for the cloud to take a look.

"Thats been there all evening." The guard told Harley. "Appeared right about sundown."

"No kiddin!"

"Try to sleep Harley." The guard told her. "Remember Batman should be coming tomorrow to visit you and check on your progress."

"i'll try, that thing's creeping me out!" Harley shivered. She turned to the window, leaning her head against it. Catwoman's boat was circling the cloud, trying to get as good a look as possible. "Carefull Selena, you don't know what's in there." Harley muttered as she watched.

A second boat joined the first. Harley knew the disfigured, two toned figure any day. Two face was going out to look at it now?

And then a third figure rose from the water on top of a mass of sea weed. "Red!" Harley whimpered slightly. "Be careful, I don't like that thing."