Notes: I have home made pizza, beer in a canning jar, and the song "citizen soldier" bolstering my WPM. Time for some awesome night time adventures. Heheheheheheh. My roomie can /have/ his Stargate SG1 with portuguese fansubs. I have /FANFICTION!/ I'm 26 years old, been on this site for a decade now! Heheheheheheh!

"Interesting story miss Isling..." Grodd mused, he and Poison Ivy were playing poker at the bar he used as a money making front. Poison Ivy had just finished telling him about her harrowing ordeal in a ghostly Gotham with no electricity. "Ah Roulette, thank you for the wine." He added, taking the two glasses his newest henchwoman had gotten them. "I must say, the idea of Gotham minus electricity is intriguing. I have some black market shipments I can move in, generators, solar device chargers and devices and the like. Should be in hot demand right now. Oye! Roulette the gennies that we've been hoarding, be sure to get them onto the black market in Gotham along with a few solar powered fans and device chargers. Stupid humans will be /itching/ for something to charge their iphones and droids and other shit with."

"Thanks for letting me rent the room."

"For the amount of Nth metal shards you're bartering you can get almost anything from me my dear. I am looking for some backup for a little... excursion into Metropolis. Nothing really in it for you but I can make it worth your while. I have some heirloom apple trees I've no room for in the green house in the back and 300 grand with your name on it if you'll give me a hand. Mind you, it won't be easy, but I can throw in medical care for any wounds you might incur. Such a pretty face shouldn't be covered in battle blood."

"Shards" were an underworld currency of cast precious metals and elements. They were automatically measured into troy ounces and .999 percent pure. Grodd and a few mob bosses had come up with the idea some years ago and it had taken off in the underworld. Now, criminals across America and even some international ones were using ounce shards as the underworld's personal form of coinage. Any stolen metals could easily be converted into "shards" and this included gold, silver, and base metals like copper and nickel as well as rarities like Nth metal.

When she'd found a wreck from the thenegarian invasion in her favorite bed of edible seaweed, Poison Ivy had availed herself of the coin makers' services. Gotham city's stamp was the rose, a reference to Rupert Thorne the authorized mob boss for making the stuff. Ivy had squirreled a number of them away around the city. The best part was that all "shards" could be recast as the owner wanted them to be. But Ivy had no use for shiny metals. Though... perhaps she should get a few implements made. A fixed blade knife would be handy trimming some of her more difficult creations and in any number of scrapes. And if Nightwing had Nth metal cuffs she should think about getting something... oh but Ivy hated metal.

Grodd had never met Poison Ivy, he knew her reputation and did /not/ want her mind control pollen anywhere near him. But it might do him in good stead against the enemies in front of him. A fighter that can fight Superman on even ground and his comrades were not people he wanted to take on alone.

"I'm listening." Poison Ivy sipped the wine with a devilish smile on her face. Heirloom plants were historical keepsakes. Trophies to her, unpolluted by man's genetic tempering, bearing fruit that was as sweet as candy. And she could grow more apple trees from that tree, using old fashioned horticultural techniques. Hell, the next time that blasted bat caught her the doctor at Arkham might even let her have them to work on.

So Grodd sat down and explained what had happened to him. "I don't want to face an enemy that can fight Superman on even ground alone. Your... talent... for plants may be able to help me set up an ambush. I even have ample space for you to train that new skill of yours."

"If you'd like, my plants have quite a few nasty tricks built into them. Secondary abilities that make the Batman jump through /hoops/ whenever I bring them out."

"Tell me more."

"ah ah ah, trade secret." Poison Ivy smirked. "Whatever these new powers of mine are I want to take them for a test drive. Tomorrow morning once I've eaten maybe."

"Sure, I'll have the access key to the training ground waiting in your room." Grodd grinned. He really liked the looks of Gotham's most dangerous blossom. He wasn't going to go for an all out invasion, no that kind of strike was far, far too difficult. No, he was going to harass, terrorize, and generally give the enemy hell. Sabotage was the best course of action here.

It was late that night that the doctor finally came out of the OR. "John Stewart survived, but he's going to be bed bound for months, and not fit for duty for close to a year." Vixen and Hawkgirl sat up abruptly from where they'd been sitting outside the medical wing and ran inside.

Superman had this look on his face, this anguished, frustrated look. "There now Superman, he's nowhere near as difficult a patient as you are." The doctor patted the man of steel on the back. "Sometimes heroes need someone to be their hero, for that you have me. That said... I had to remove his spleen and he might still lose one of his kidneys. Damn near bled to death. His ribs cracked, dangerously close to his heart. Punctured a lung, had to fix that. Damn bastard that did this to him, you give him what for!"

"I'm more worried about our orange haired guest now." Superman sighed. "Thank you for letting me know."

"You're welcome, so the ring chose a girl hm, someone from the league or an utter rookie?"

"An interdimensional traveler with healing super powers." Superman sighed. "One who isn't happy with her normal abilities being over ridden by the ring."

"Oh dear." The doctor sighed, lilting in his brittish accent. "Give it time, this place has a certain charm about it."

Superman chuckled, turning to head for the guest quarters. He slipped a note under Orihime's door letting her know that John was alive and turned to head for the monitor womb. There he sent a simple message to Kilowag letting him know John had survived and went around to the remaining seniors one by one to let them know their friend was alive.

Once Superman got to his quarters, he left a note to J'on not to bother him in the morning, set his alarm for an hour late, and got some much needed rest.

Doctor Fate found that Aquaman had company for once. The Atlantean King tended to brood, and not like company from the surface. So the group huddled around the fire sipping generous helpings of Atlantean Wakame soup caught Doctor fate by surprise. The man closest to the King carried himself with the bearing of a noble, and his glossy black hair would make several women of the magic user's acquaintance jealous.

"Thank you for waiting." Doctor Fate smiled as he sat down.

"Things get that out of control in Gotham?"

"Considering that John Stewart nearly died tonight, why yes."

Aquaman shook his head. "Whoever did it, pray the Justice League gets to them first. They will show mercy where I will not."

"Who's this John Stewart guy anyway?" Shinji asked.

"You're kidding, you've never heard of the Green Lantern John Stewart?"

Shinji shook his head. "nope."

Doctor Fate sighed. "The green lantern corps are an honored military force who protects the peace of the universe. Stewart is their representative on Earth. He's a good man, typical military personality, he was in the marines for awhile. What's shocking is the ferocity with which his opponent struck. Aquaman, I've rarely seen such a barbaric slaughter. There were skeletons half vaporized, half singed in that wreckage. Forensics will be lucky to get a chromosome out of those ashes."

"Did you get a description of his attacker?" Byakuya asked quietly. The boys next to him said nothing. The one that looked like Kurosaki's double had not escaped Fate's notice however.

"Black hair, white mask on one side of his head, green markings beneath his equally green eyes, and deceptively small for such a powerful fighter." Fate replied.

Byakuya gritted his teeth. Ulquiorra was far far from them, he only hoped Rukia could hold her own. If Rukia fought Ulquiorra alone it was not going to be a good match. However, with Renji's bankai, Uryu's high speed attacks and Orihime's healing skills they /might/ manage.

"Its a perplexing situation." Doctor Fate continued. "Stewart must have thought he was going to die, he initiated a ring search. But the girl his ring chose, she already had natural powers of her own. It seems to have overidden most of them."

"The ring normally do that?" Aquaman asked with a suspicious growl.

"It only could do that if her powers were tied into the emotional spectrum in some way. Which is odd, she is not a hard light user." Fate muttered.

"Must be Rukia-chan..." muttered Kon. "Ooooh oneeee-chan! You would look so dashing in green!" Kon's eyes were filled with hearts.

"So what's she like?" Aquaman asked. "Details man." Aquaman passed Doctor Fate a bowl of the soup. He sipped a few bites before continuing.

"oh yes, such brilliant orange hair." Fate shook his head. "Very gentle natured as well... I doubt she'll be asked to fight much. They're sending Hal Jordan to do his share of the work and Kilowag to train her."

"Really, what sort of a trainer is Kilowag?"

"Tough on the field, both training and battle, but a bit goofy off it." Chuckled Doctor Fate. "A bit hard headed."

"Is that so?" Aquaman chuckled. "Lemme know if Kilowag needs a sparring partner. He sounds like an interesting match."

"I will." Doctor Fate chuckled. "I'm concerned about the new girl's ability to cope however. A gentle soul has no place on the battlefield. But I can assist in her mentorship if Kilowag will let me."

Byakuya frowned, clearly Orihime had come into some kind of new power and it was interfering with her current abilities. It also seemed the gotei thirteen may have some kind of analog in this world in the form of the Green Lantern Corps. But that was really all that he could figure out from the conversation.

"I would like to meet these Green lanterns when your mission is over. For now... I will help you in your mission. And my condolences to any of Atlantis' casualties." Byakuya said quietly. "Tell me, this girl, she is safe at least?"

"Oh yes, her friend from back home showed up, so she has someone familiar for emotional support, and she's surrounded by super heroes. So physically she's in the safest place she could possibly be."

"Very well." Byakuya said quietly. "We'll pick up the trail in the morning."

"You sure lil Bya?" Shinji asked with a smirk.

"Don't undermine me, considering that I out rank you." Byakuya said coldly. "And if you use that nickname again, you won't like what Senbonzakura does to you in retaliation."

"Mind if we have a word with each other in private?" Shinji asked, arching an irritated brow.

"Not at all." Doctor Fate smiled into his bowl, eyeing them as they passed him.

Shinji dragged Byakuya away, and then lit up a cigarette. "Listen. I honestly think we can be of more good going directly to Orihime. We can't let her healing powers fall into the wrong hands. And if this Green Lantern Corps is anything like the gotei thirteen, we don't want their sociological equivalent of central 46 chambers getting their hands on her." Shinji replied. "C'mon Bya..."

"We need information." Byakuya said quietly. "And our mission is to retrieve Kurosaki. We'll go back to get Inoue once we're sure we understand more about this dimension. Shinji, Orihime has to grow up sometime. She can't remain the little sister everyone takes care of forever. Sometime, she's going to have to become independent and be at peace with herself, or get out of the business of dealing with hollows entirely. We put personalities like hers in fourth division for a reason."

"Yeah but she's surrounded by strangers, possibly with one of the fighters we need /or/ Kurosaki."

"And she is safe up there, surrounded by strangers with an over exaggerated sense of honor. Not only will she be safe, but extracting her will be a proverbial 'piece of cake' as Kurosaki would say." Byakuya had a gleam in his eyes. And that, more than anything he said made Shinji quiet down.

"Fine." The two rejoined the group at the fire.

"so... Sado you said it was." Aquaman asked. "You haven't spoken since you introduced yourself."

"I'm not known for being talkative." Sado said quietly. "Mi abuelo always told me, actions speak louder than words. If I'm quiet, it doesn't matter so long as I keep my hands gentle."

"Sado got picked on as a kid." Kon added. "He was gigantic compared to other people his age, and /before/ his super powers showed up, he was able to take a steel girder to the back. /BEFORE./ He's like the proverbial immovable object. He used to fight all the time, until his Abuelo finally interfered and taught him to use his huge bulk and his fists to protect people. Ever since then he's never punched a soul that didn't deserve it." Lucky for Kon, Ichigo had told him the story.

"Interesting... an intreaguing contrast." Doctor Fate mused, eyeing the giant a bite more curiously. "And yourself?" That was directed at Kon.

"Aw heck I can't do too much. I got really strong legs thats all." Kon blushed furiously. "That and a perverted streak a mile long."

Doctor Fate frowned at the creature/thing inhabiting Ichigo's body. It was a soul, but there was nothing natural about it. So... Ichigo used an artificial soul to animate his body? No wonder his connection had faded over long distances. His body had probably gotten confused and thought this was the default soul. He turned to Shinji, arching a brow.

"Me? Trade secret, not tellin nope!"

Byakuya chuckled. "I am a master of the fighting arts, and my sword can shatter into millions of twirling blade fragments. I send them through the air like sharpened flower petals, a beautiful and poignant end to an opponent. We aren't... what do you call it... super heroes? We are soldiers. We're used to a battle where its fight or die. That said... I'm not allowed to use my blade on a human. My skill with restraining spells will be valuable with human attackers I gather?"

"Restraining spells? Care to demonstrate one? You don't have to hold back." Doctor Fate told him confidently. "I work in magic myself..."

"Ah... this is not magic a human can learn, but I suppose you wish to know how strong we are?" Byakuya was watching every move that Doctor Fate made, trying to judge the man's motives and general personality.

"Something to that effect. Aquaman said you fight these masked beasts for a living? When we are finished here, Gotham will need you."

"Agreed. By then, I will be able to give your superheroes a rest, just for a bit."

"Would that Batman would rest, he's the hero who protects Gotham City. He has no super powers, he is simply a man with an incredibly disciplined mind. Now, you may demonstrate." Fate stood up. "Don't hold back."

Byakuya smirked. "Bakudo 61 Rikorikojo." CRUNCH! The bakudo closed around Fate's armor, denting it. Now that armor was made by Nabu, a lord of order, it was /very/ tough. The bakudo had dented it, poking uncomfortably into Fate's ribs. If Byakuya had gotten a second blow in, it most certainly would have buckled his armor.

"I can release it."

"No, let me try to get out first." Fate concentrated on his own magic and his own soul, struggling against the Bakudo. It cracked, but it would not break and resisting the spell took an impressive amount of energy. He could not get out of it. After ten minutes, he told Byakuya. "Alright, I give. It will do..." A restraining spell that strong? By the Lords of Order, if it could buckle /his/ armor, he suspected a strong enough "Bakudo" as Byakuya had called it, could hold Superman, or Grundy, were he still alive. A few well placed spells, and his armor was slowly hammering itself back into place. But Fate had to recite the repair spell no less than three times per dent. Once his armor was hammered out, Fate was flabbergasted to realize the Bakudo had bruised his ribs. From the aching, it was entirely likely that he would have black and blue marks under the armor twice the size of his hand on each side. "If you'll excuse me, I must go have the bruises that spell left seen to." Fate wasn't sure he'd be able to heal those bruises with magic. A "bakudo" seemed to be a powerful divine spell.

He managed to teleport up to the station, where Superman found him. "You're up late my friend." Fate told him.

"Couldn't sleep, you're up late too."

"I think I've found Ichigo's body and some of his friends. He's got a soul animating it, an artificial one. I asked one of his comrades to test their restraining spell on me." Fate eased off the chest plate of his armor.

Superman's jaw dropped in shock at the raw black and blue marks on Fate's chest. "The spell got you through your armor?"

"yes, dented it. Had to cast the repair spell /three/ times per dent to get the armor fully fixed. If he had cast it a second time, it almost certainly would have pierced through the armor and lodged between my ribs. Nasty nasty piece of work. I suspect, since the man used no incantation, that the spell was not at its full power. No doubt, this is not only a very purifying or divine magic, but also one powerful enough to pin you quite strongly." Fate started rummaging for a device used to heal large bruises, a dermal regenerator. "I doubt my magic would be able to heal this. It is a very, very powerful purifying spell. I suspect higher level spells of this type could reign in fighters well known for their strength, like you and Wonder Woman, but it may even be capable of stopping the Spectre in his tracks and slashing up a higher being like Darkseid quite badly."

"That strong?"

"It isn't just the strength of a spell that matters Superman, its the type, intent and polarity. That was a purifying magic, typically used to restrain evil or renegade spirits. A magical or spiritual centered opponent could be devastated by it." Doctor Fate stopped for a moment while regenerating his bruises with the dermal regenerator the infirmary kept on hand. "THATS IT!"

"What's it?" Superman blinked.

"Think of the power we saw from Grimmjow and Ulquiorra. Think how strong they were. This... Bakudo... spell, thats what the man called it. What if it was designed to restrain creatures like Grimmjow and Ulquiorra?"

Superman hrmed. "My mother used to say, 'necessity breeds solution.' A powerful evil necessitates something to balance it."

Doctor Fate sighed. "Well, we know why Ichigo got up all of a sudden. He was close enough for his body to recognize his soul was present and restore his connection."

"yeah..." Superman sighed. "Where are they by the way?"

"In Metropolis, on the shore near suicide slums. Aquaman is there with them. I will be MIA for a few days helping Aquaman with an issue involving these hollow creatures of Ichigo's. I'll keep a close eye on this group and see if I can learn something."

"Good, Batman sent Question to see if he can find any other extradimensional visitors and keep an eye on them. Plus he's got to ferry medicine and supplies to those too old or infirm to leave their homes." Superman sighed, yawning a bit.

"here." Doctor Fate handed Superman a small charm. "When you get to bed, hang this around your neck, it will keep you asleep for 8 hours. Its a charm to help keep circadian rythems on track. Late nights can be bad for you if done too often."

"Thanks." Superman clutched the charm and headed for his quarters.

Doctor Fate returned an hour later with a backpack of extra gear from the tower and the chess set Aquaman favored when he was on land.

"Excellent." Aquaman said when he saw the board. "Any of you good at chess?"

"I will take a 'shot.'" Byakuya said confidently. "From what I've heard its just like shogi."

When he'd settled down to sleep, J'on Jonzz found himself once again in the strange sideways city that was Ichigo's world.

"Yo." Ogichi greeted him.

Zangetsu was standing quietly next to Ogichi.

"Greetings, I take it I'm invited this time?" J'on asked.

"Yeah, I need you to do somethin for me." Ogichi told J'on. "Its a bit personal, so... its better I ask you in here..."

"Does Ichigo know about this?"

"No..." Zangetsu replied. "We are pieces of Ichigo's subconscious. He will feel... different, but not sure what, if anything is wrong."

"Well its not wrong, not really." Ogichi shrugged. "Not for me at least." The two looked at each other. "Tell me, what do you know about souls Martian?"

"Just that they exist, and some can wield powers, some of them very strange. On Mars they tended to produce higher grade psychic abilities, but at the dawn of my people far greater powers were common, our genetics however, won out and standardized our skills."

Ogichi hrmed, trying to figure out how to explain this. "Inside of every human soul and a good number of non human ones, there is a shinigami and a hollow. They usually only come to the surface after someone dies. Ichigo is clearly an exception. A hollow is a more primative version of those masked beings that attacked your friends in Gotham, weaker, not sentient at all, a monster. But that hollow was once a human, and one dwells in every living human's soul."

"But obviously they do not come to the forefront."

"no, not while a person is alive." Ogichi replied. "Normally a person can only become either a shinigami or a hollow when they die. But some hollows and some shinigami can evolve into a blend of the two. A shinigami with an inner hollow and hollow abilities to match is a vizard. A hollow who develops shinigami powers is called an arrancar. Arrancars are like Grimmjow and Ulquiorra. They're stronger than most of the most powerful shinigami officers. They're terrifying as hell, and they killed their way up from the bottom in a place where the only law is survival." Ogichi told him. "Make no mistake, arrancars are seasoned killers. The only mercy is that they don't need to eat human souls, so most of them won't." Ogichi growled.

"I see, it sounds like a dreadful existance. Surely they could be dissuaded if allowed to settle somewhere more pleasant?"

"Perhaps, but their strength is immense martian." Ogichi replied. "now a shinigami with hollow powers, a vizard. Ichigo's one of them, and the high level ones kinda develop the same reproductive cycle as some high level hollows. At the highest levels, their bodies even change."

"How powerful is he?"

"Very." Ogichi replied. "At my peak, my power becomes the vizard equivalent of a vasto lordes, the highest level of our evolution."

"You are telling me that Ichigo is near this cycle."

"Smart. You did that without reading my mind." Ogichi sighed. "Yeah... when it happens you need someone to get me to my quarters without coming into contact with anyone. I may also possibly need sedation if one of my friends can't be found. There are risks, but there always are. As a telepath you /are/ very vulnerable. Anyone with psionic abilities up here will be. Your options in that case would be more or less, find someone to screw, spend the next day or two sedated, /or/ get out of Ichigo's range. That won't be easy, his reiatsu is huge enough that it envelops the entire station."

"Reiatsu?"

"The force his soul gives off. Its like the spirit equivalent of blood pressure." Zangetsu replied. "Ichigo's strength is a massive, difficult to control reiatsu that tends to envelop a large area and protect, but also overwhelm and dampen, the psychic senses of nearby fighters. Where he's from, everyone who is spiritually gifted has a reiatsu field and low level empathic abilities. It comes hand in hand." Zangetsu poked J'on between the eyes. "You too could learn to develop spiritual abilities, your reiatsu is pronounced, but not controlled. Learn to concentrate and control it, and you have a valuable tool in understanding our world."

J'on's eyebrows went up as he slowly processed all of this. "So his reiatsu field is the range of effect?"

"Yeah, and moving him very far is not gonna be easy or a very good idea." Ogichi told J'on. "The further you move Ichigo the higher the risk of something untoward happening. Not to mention putting him down on the planet isn't a good idea either. Most people, including super powered folks like the justice league, wouldn't even feel a thing unless they ended up bein the one screwin an effected telepath. The good news is, if you can find Ichigo's friends, there's at least one acceptable partner among them that can keep him occupied, and then instinct is more or less gonna keep him in private for a couple o days. Sucks ta be you though. That said, yah might not get a high enough dose of that reiatsu empathic thingy ta cause ya trouble but physically touchin King'll make it more likely."

"Thingy?" Zangetsu questioned. "Really Ogichi."

"Well whaddyou expect? King's the brains of the operation, and he's street and people brained, not intellect brained. I'm just the one that gives him a backbone."

J'on wasn't happy with what was just put in front of him. When he'd put together a cover, J'on had picked an elderly female human for a mate for a reason. Part of it was the quiet. A lot of elderly humans tended to like peace and quiet just as he did so an elderly male form and an elderly mate fit the atmosphere he liked. But the other was... after losing his wife, his family, his parents and everything he'd ever known, J'on really did not want to make a sexual connection with the locals. Including entering into a relationship where sex would be an expectation. All these centuries, and he still felt as if he were in mourning and attaching in a way where mating would be involved was somehow infidelity to his martian wife and betrayal of his martian children. Hell, his elderly human mate /still/ sometimes felt like cheating.

"You are not happy with the situation." Zangetsu stated quietly.

"I believe the polite way to put it is that I have... 'intimacy issues.'" J'on said quietly. "Still, my phasing ability is the most efficient way in the station to get from point A to point B without coming into contact with anyone."

"You cannot have them forever can you? Earth is... a lonely place for an alien to be." Zangetsu was trying to be tactful.

"What are you two to Ichigo anyway."

"his subconscious animated. Ichigo is not consciously aware of the impending... situation... he will be in. We have been trying to aherm... nudge him... towards one friend or the other before he came here. But... for a teenage boy he seems quite shy."

"Really?"

"Hn, he is tough skinned with a sensitive heart." Zangetsu replied. "And a foul temper. If he had been born here, he would have been a very good super hero. His protective streak is a mile wide. It would be a loss if his stay here did not enrich that pure, protective heart of his. While he is here J'on, please enrich my wielder's experience as a protector. Your world, and your line of work as a hero suits him, for though he doesn't wear a mask all the time, nor was he born among them, my wielder is a hero to /both/ his peoples, human and shinigami."

And with that Zangetsu released J'on into his normal sleep patterns.

Every so often J'on did need to sleep, and then Vigilante and Shining Knight took monitor duty, its most dreaded shift, graveyard. Occasionally if he couldn't sleep Booster Gold dropped in to play checkers and he always brought hot chocolate with him. But the young, bleary eyed teenage girl in a Green Lantern uniform that blundered into the Monitor Womb was not a normal visitor during these shifts. "Wow, wish we had more redheads around here. You must be new here or ya wouldn't be blundering in in the middle of the night lil lady."

"I couldn't sleep, I thought I'd get some water and fruit from the mess. But... I kinda got turned around."

"Salright, we got crackers and some hot tea up here. Come and sit down. Its not water but I hope it'll do." Vigilante had his new textbook for first aid classes in his lap, going over the diagrams with Shining Knight, who was shocked at the detail modern doctors had worked out about the human body. "Name's Vigilante, and this here's Shining Knight."

"I'm Orihime Inoue, from Karakura town..." Orihime blushed. "I'm normally not much of a fighter, I was my team's healer."

"Poor kid... whelp, ya stumbled into one of the least interesting but most important duties up here on the watch tower, Monitor duty. Iffen ya learn how to work the system we got up here you can take a monitor shift when things get to be too much."

"That would be nice." Orihime said shyly. "So... do you watch the whole world up here?"

"Well, not all at once, the computer warns us when there's something we need to see and keeps track of any on going disasters. Right now the big muddy's a right mess and we got a team down there though, so even though its normally not an eventful shift, I do gotta keep an eye on my comrades." Vigilante pointed to the monitor labeled "Southern Missouri Flooding" where a camp of law enforcement, firemen, EMTs and Evacuees was watched over by a very depressed looking Vixen. Sleeping nearby, Bwannabeast was in a rowboat anchored to a nearby rock. A cup of something steaming sat in Vixen's hand and Orihime suddenly felt a huge pang of guilt. She hadn't missed Vixen's upset over John Stewart.

A woman cloaked in green fire flew over the river and landed at the camp, Vixen waved half heartedly and headed to the tent while the woman took her position on watch. "At least Fire's english is coming along. You wouldn't happen to know Portuguese would you?" Shining Knight asked Orihime. "She and Ice are good fighters and fliers but they don't speak the language very well. Its lead to some awkward conversations in the past."

She shook her head. "T... that woman that just went to bed, I saw her crying over Stewart-san."

"Oh yeah, her boyfriend, or rather, the man she and Hawkgirl have a feminine competition going on for." Vigilante chuckled. "They're both head over heals for the guy, but they got a lot of respect for each other too."

"I see." Orihime said quietly.

"Hey now, don't feel guilty. You aren't responsible for that attack, all your anguish shows is ya got a kind heart and while thats painful, its not a crime."

Orihime sniffled back another crying fit and sipped the tea she was served. "I wish being kind hearted didn't hurt. Sado-kun is gentle too, but he can still fight! He can take a girder to the back and walk away even without his powers active."

"Who is this 'Sado-kun?'" Shining Knight asked. "Some kind of demon giant?"

"Nope! He's a human giant!" Orihime grinned. "He's hispanic and japanese! He used to get beat up on and made fun of for his size all the time! He used to get really mad about it until his Abuelo taught him not to."

"Abuelo?" Knight had never heard the word.

"Spanish for Grandfather." Vigilante chuckled. "Ah well, sometimes being big is worse'n being small. Lookit all the guys out for Superman's hide. He's easily earth's strongest hero, but he's got to contend with all sorts of folks that wanna kill him on a regular basis."

"I wish I was strong like Superman-san." Orihime whimpered. "my healing powers won't even work anymore." Orihime drooped.

"Who cares about healing, you're the green lantern now Orihime." Vigilante told her. "yah got allies and friends across the whole universe now. The Green Lantern Corps is a family, however wide spread they are. When people worlds away see you with that ring, all the good its done for sentient species everywhere... ya won't miss your healing powers for long."

"An inspiring speech." A hologram burst from Orihime's ring, it was Kilowag. "hey there lil poozer, just checking up on you."

"Er... arigatou Kilowag-san." Orihime stammered. "anooo..."

"What is it lil Poozer?"

"Why do you remind me of a bull dog? I wanna scratch you behind the ears and play fetch!"

Shining Knight's jaw dropped. Vigilante started laughing. "oooooooohahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Sorry Mister Kilowag, the look on her face is just so cute!"

Kilowag blinked, confused, and Vigilante just laughed harder. Then he joined in, though not as hard. "Tell ya what Lil Poozer. Why don't you use your ring to make a picture of a bull dog for me so I get the joke too!" Kilowag suggested. "Just focus on the image. Vigilante switch me onto a smaller monitor."

It didn't take long for the switch to be made and Orihime concentrated hard on the image of a wrinkly old english bull dog. A big green one leapt to life from her ring, barking and begging for treats. "Oooooh!" Kilowag grinned in comprehension. "I see the resemblance lil Poozer. I guess its not too bad a joke then. Can you make it behave like a bull dog?"

"How?"

"Just think what you want it to do. Move the construct like its an extension of your body." Kilowag was gonna see if he could get a mini lesson in. If he could get Orihime able to make a puppet construct like a dog, it was a good prelude to ring combat 101.

"hmm." Orihime thought for a minute. "Speak!" Orihime commanded.

The dog barked. "RUFF!" A deep bass bark.

"Roll over!" Orihime commanded it.

The dog construct rolled over on its back and came to rest in a lying down position.

"You see? Now try doing it without speaking!" Kilowag grinned.

Orihime concentrated, and the dog ran around the Monitor womb eagerly.

"kay, see if you can make it fly!" The dog sprouted wings and leapt into the air, running towards the monitor womb ceiling. It ran right by Robin, who was keeping an eye on things in the watch tower for Batman. Robin woke up, having fallen asleep on the job, and blinked before looking down at the fun. "heh... might as well go say hello to the new Green Lantern, especially since she's so cute and all." Robin swung down with an easily placed grappling hook. "hey, thats pretty neat."

"Batman sent you up here to keep an eye on things aye Robin?" Vigilante pointed to the snacks. "have yourself a bite."

"Huh? This kid is a teammate of Batman's?" Kilowag peered past Orihime at Robin.

"yep! I'm the Boy Wonder, Robin!" Robin grinned at Kilowag. "Batman's staying in Gotham with all the trouble we've been having so he wanted me to keep an eye on matters here and let him know if stuff gets worse up here!"

"Well then." Shining Knight pointed to the nearest empty chair. "Come and watch Orihime's impromptu lesson will you? I suspect the young lass needs some encouragement to grow into that ring on her hand."

"mkay!" Robin plopped down. Nervous at her audience, Orihime did her best to focus on the lesson. If she couldn't sleep she might as well learn how to use that dratted ring.

Batman collapsed into his chair in the Batcave, exhausted. It was midnight, normally he was spry this time of night but after the horror he'd witnessed and the exertions he'd gone to trying to clean up the carnage down town he was emotionally and physically drained. Ulquiorra's savage attack was unlike anything he'd ever encountered in the city before. Batman not only didn't know how to deal with it other than clean up the mess and help the people, but his curiousity was piqued by the situation and the stranger's reported grudge against the Green Lantern corps. A guardian was on his way to earth, perhaps he could make a discrete inquiry.

Shadow, Robin's new super pet cat leapt nimbly from the Batmobile. The cat bounded over to Batman and hopped up into his lap, purring.

"You know, I'm the only one around, and I know by now you aren't an ordinary cat. Its okay with me if you keep an eye on my charge but... I don't really like this charade you're putting on. I won't put you out, you can heal your wounds in peace if you want."

'Shadow' meowed and yawned hugely, curling into a ball and going to sleep, or pretending to if Batman's theory was right. 'We have huge amounts of work to do.' Batman thought. 'I can't be bothering with a cat that may not be a cat at the moment. Just have to keep an eye on her.'

Footsteps alerted him to Gear's approach. "Hey, I finished a damage assessment on the bat computer's backup server. About a week's worth of data has been lost but the rest is safely backed up if you can get a working interface and monitor. The back up bat plane and bat boat are alright but the backup bat mobile's faraday cage was faulty. The crack was as thin as a hair, hard to find too. Had to have backpack go over the whole surface with a scanner and microscope to find it."

"damn. Good work Gear. With any luck this will make carrying cargo to the repair sites easier. Should have the bat computer online by noon tomorrow." Batman sighed. "I think I'm gonna have to put the bat plane on duty with EMS. No choice with some of the idiotic injuries that have been coming up. Report tomorrow at 0900, gonna need at least two people for this and J'on's dominant hand is burned."

"Sir?"

Batman massaged his temples. "People trying to manage third floor walkups in the middle of the night with no lighting. People gassing themselves by accident using a portable barbeque grill to cook in their apartment. One guy put his eye out with a hand crank tool because he didn't take precautions and a splinter flew up into his eye." Batman looked highly annoyed at the injury list on a clipboard on his desk. "Four house fires in a fourty eight hour period because the landlord didn't turn the gas valves off when the pumps stopped working. Five poisonings because somebody was so thirsty they didn't bother to filter and boil the water and twenty five cases of salmonella due to attempting to consume spoiled food. Tonight Question and Huntress are out doing welfare checks on the elderly equipped with replacement epipens, an insulin cooler pack each, anti seizure medicine and a number of other medications for chronic illnesses that tend to be in short supply in an emergency. They'll likely be on that assignment for the next four days. The accident rate in Gotham has tripled since the lights went out. Just /getting/ repair parts in here is requiring all the javelins and they won't be free for relief supplies for another four days. I'm just lucky that Superman and I convinced the Metropolis and Gotham regatta clubs to sail emergency supplies in and we've got twenty four kayakers bringing small loads of food and messages up and down Gotham's rivers. They're bringing freeze dried meals only, because there's no refrigeration whatsoever."

Gear whistled, shaking his head in the candle light. "If it makes you feel any better, Captain Atom just reported in upstairs. I saw his signal while testing the back up Batplane's system's."

"Batman!" The accent came in right on cue, the silver figure hovering at the top of the stairs called down to him, descending slowly to the batcave's main deck. "Can't stay long I got more work to do, just to let you know I managed to get the Gotham Nuclear plant to go into graceful shut down. Ace Chemicals is at seventy percent full containment, passed over it on my way here the lock down is going swimmingly."

"Good." Batman picked up a medicine bottle from the damaged bat computer keyboard and strode off into a side storage room.

"you had iosat sitting at the bat computer?" Captain Atom asked, tilting his head slightly.

"I've learned not to underestimate a number of things under any circumstances, two of which are nuclear energy and man's capacity for error." Batman replied as he came out of the store room. "Especially given the accident rate among Gotham civilians lately. Do me a favor when you get up to the watchtower, have Martian Manhunter call Mercy at Lex corp and see if they can deploy some of those modular power stations and some power tools here. Tell her I'll pay her for them. We need some way to get ambulences on the road /now/ though, modular power plants won't be able to do that." Batman frowned, wishing that as Bruce Wayne he'd subsidized electric vehicles more. He was a billionare, 10 million here or there for alternative vehicles research would not have been an issue at all."

"Good lord." Captain Atom picked up the injury list. "This is just in two days?"

"It's the unfortunate by product of modernization." Batman replied. "People not knowing what to do with themselves without electricity or understanding /just/ how much their well being is dependant upon it. They're trying to do things without electricity that their ancestors did, without the experience of living without grid power to benefit from. I'm gonna be stuck running ambulance duty tomorrow afternoon. Remind J'on to put me on the shift. The backup Batplane is working. We should be able to increase response efficiency by 5 percent."

"Sir…" Alfred was at the top of the stairs. "Master Dick just arrived."

"I'd better go." Captain Atom flew out.

"Hey!" Nightwing sauntered down the stairs, four figures walking or floating behind him. "you said you needed backup. Now I see why you called by ham radio."

"There is some good news." Batman greeted the titans as they descended the stairs into the batcave. "The Batboat and batplane's backups survived and so did the bat computer's backup server."

"Good, Cyborg you and I will get to work on this tonight." Nightwing grinned. "Get some sleep old man, we got this!"

Gear's jaw about hit the floor as Raven levitated the clipboard to her, leafing through the report. "Wow… seriously… anybody in this city ever heard the words "safety equipment?""

Gear's eyes looked ready to bug out of his head. "Gear, go with Nightwing and bring him up to date with your damage report."

"Uh… sure…" Gear followed Nightwing and Cyborg out of the main batcave. "wooooow! I'm a huge fan of you guys! If it weren't kind of urgent I'd be asking for your autographs."

"aw shucks, you're gonna make me blush!" Cyborg grinned. "Stick with me Gear was it? I wanna see what you can do."

"Titans east will be taking over our tower while we're away." Added Raven.

"Good, Raven the JLU is going out in teams of two to do general welfare checks. You, Starfire and Beastboy… I mean /man/." Batman smirked at the tall, slender, well muscled figure watching them shyly from the stairs. "Orion and Atom are currently assigned to making a delivery to the GCPD stables, could you fly out and give them a hand?"

"Delivery?" Starfire's head tilted. "What sort of supply delivery would require five people?"

"The four legged kind, especially considering that neither have ever had much need for horses."

"We're on it." Raven said coolly. "I'm not too good with horses either but being quiet and calm always helps with skittish animals."

The three of them flew off, Shadow hopped immediately onto the back of Beastboy's pterodactyl form, making a very fantastic leap for a cat. Beastboy gave a startled squawk of protest and then they were gone.

Batman watched them go for a minute before getting up and heading to a small sideroom he had set aside for sleeping. He had a bedroom, yes, but it was much quieter down here and with no lights Batman would be sure to have an undisturbed rest.

"Thanks a bundle Montoya." Huntress sighed as she carried her saddle and saddlebags towards her assigned mount. "Been years since I rode but I remember the basics at least."

"I know the basics, haven't ridden in my life." Question supplied with a sigh, scratching his head over his route map. "The cross icons indicate what?"

"Homes of doctors in the city. In case you have an immediate medical issue you can bring them to where they're needed." A couple of police mechanics working in a nearby stall distracted Huntress for a minute. They were working on an archaic looking horse drawn fire engine. Man this was bad wasn't it? That thing they were refurbishing looked like it was from the nineteenth century.

They turned the corner to the stall that Huntress' horse was supposed to be in and found the mare on all fours, lying down protectively. Cuddled up against her was a blanketed figure and there were some bits of glowing light visible through the old horse blanket.

Huntress gestured for the other two with her to be quiet then crept into the stall.

The mare was completely unimpressed with Huntress' attempts to not get on her maternal side and whinnied angrily, treating the figure just like she would a foal. The bundle of blanket and glowy thingy jumped, and was revealed to be a young woman in a black and white uniform, her hand on her sword. The woman relaxed when she realized she wasn't being attacked. "Nihongo ga dekimasu ka?"

Huntress had no fucking clue what the girl just said, but Question, bless his inquisitive nature, replied in Japanese. "I do, my friends here do not. What are you doing here? Are you connected to those lights in the sky?"

"hai! Hai! One of those was me! I'm looking for my friend! He's got bright orange hair and a foul disposition. He carries a sword the size of me and wears the same uniform. Have you seen him?"

"Ie." Question replied. "My friends and I have business to do, we need that mare. Do you require medical attention?"

"No, the kido should heal my wounds by morning! The mare was very warm and accommodating, and I needed a place to rest. A police stable seemed safe enough! Do you not have cars in this city?"

"We were hit with an EMP, all but a few were damaged beyond repair." Question replied. "Where are you from?"

"The soul society! My older brother is head of the Kuchiki clan! He was supposed to be with us, he has long black hair and a scarf, he wears a coat with the kanji for six on it! If you see him can you tell him where we are?"

"Of course, do you even know where you are?"

"nope… I know some words of English. I was going to have Uryu translate for me but he didn't land with me. I don't know where he is."

"I can translate for you, what's your name?"

"Rukia Kuchiki! Us Kuchikis are nobility back in the soul society!"

"Alright." Question turned back to the other two. "Her name is Rukia, she doesn't know much English, and she needs a translator." Question quickly relayed what they'd said. "We're on a welfare check run anyway, we can keep an eye on her and get our mission done."

"You're just curious about how she fits in all this." Huntress accused Question.

"Well its obvious she does." Question mused.

"Alright. She can ride with me."

"Why not me?" Question asked, clearly hurt.

"So I can make sure you don't /harass/ her too much." Huntress replied. "Women need women when they're in a strange place."

"We're gonna be down here on assignment for a few days." Question told Rukia. "You can travel with us."

"Suuureee!" Rukia put on the cutest "i need help and i'm so lonely" face she'd ever done.

Uryu smiled as he worked on the scraps of denim, blue felt and calico. "Thank you for letting me have these ma'am." He told the shop owner. "I'll be sure to work them off tomorrow."

"oh no problem young man." The elderly shop owner smiled. "You can have my daughter's old bedroom. Ever since she went off to Coast City to work at Farris Aircraft base she hasn't come back to visit me. Have you ever been to Coast?"

"No." Uryu smiled as he sat and sewed and sipped tea with the old woman.

"Wonderful place, its a military town, pilots are worshipped like old greek heroes there. Its the favored city of the Green Lantern corps. They seem to love it there. Although, i do wonder. Two years ago a giant green tiger appeared there. It bellowed something in Japanese and then disappeared. I wondered if it might be one of the Lantern corps constructs. But to my knowledge they don't have anyone capable of speaking Japanese. How could a construct have spoken a language the Lanterns don't use?"

Uryu silently filed away the information.

"Its a pity, one of them fell tonight. I'm putting up a special sale on green fabric tomorrow morning in their honor. Not the only one you know. One of the souvineer vendors down the street put up Green Lantern bandanas for sale an hour ago."

"is that so?" Uryu shivered at the memory of the charred bodies that Ulquiorra had left.

"Are you going for the Blue Arrow look?" the old woman chuckled when Uryu finished the hat he'd been sewing.

"The what?" Uryu asked.

"One of the Justice League's heroes is "Green Arrow" handsome young blonde devil he is. He's a master archer, modern day robin hood he is! So cuuutee! I just want to pinch his cheeks."

"I was kind of going for the renfaire look actually." Uryu mused. "I'm fairly good at archery myself." now he knew he was definately going to make a "blue arrow" costume. This woman had been going on and on about the superheroes of the area and this "justice league." Uryu thought he might be able to get away with searching for his friends and openly using his power to do so if he did the super hero thing here.

There was a knock at the door. "who is it?" The woman got up and headed to the door.

"Green arrow ma'am, we're doing a welfare check of the area."

"oh come in, let me get you something to eat dearie." The old woman let out a small squeal of fangirly delight and pinched arrow's cheek. "Uryu sweetie, entertain the guests while I put the kettle on."

Uryu's face was twitching. "Be careful. She's a cheek pincher. I just got a job here tonight and I found that out in the first five minutes."

"How'd you do that?" The blonde woman in black with "Green Arrow" asked.

"I sew very quickly." He picked up some scraps of cloth he'd pinned together to make a denim cap and started up some high speed sewing. In about thirty seconds he had a completed renfair cap. "Hurts the fingers, can't do it too much but she just loved the stuffed toy bat I sewed her from scraps. Just to show her what I could do. Ms. McDavies seems to have a lot of scraps. My fingers'll bleed but i should be able to make a bit of extra money on the side. You know how it is when you're in school, so much you want but it costs a lot."

"I do indeed." Green arrow chuckled. Uryu kept trying to peer behind him to see his weaponry. Looked like a high durability bow with an arsonal of special arrow heads. Only a master archer would have weaponry like that. "heh, curious about what I'm packing kid?"

"I'm captain of the school archery team." Uryu lied. "i know quite a few tricks with a bow. always curious about the masters."

"Really."

"Coach says I inherited my father's talent." that lie made Uryu strongly desire to barf up the hot meal Granny McDavies had given him.

"Is that so... well keep practicing, one day you might even get to compete on my level. That would be something to see."

You have no idea. Uryu thought.

"Don't tell me you're looking for Speedy's successor already. The kid isn't even through with highschool yet." The woman sighed. "I'm Black Canary by the way, you know, in case the leather didn't give it away."

Thank you, since I have no idea who any of you people are. Uryu wanted to pull out his bow and write his name in arrows on the wall just to wipe the smirk off Green Arrow's face.

Granny McDavies came back in with two hot covered paper cups of tea and a package of sandwiches. "So glad I bought that propane stove. Now don't be a stranger the next time you need material to replace that costume. Or to take it in, such a skinny young man, why I think only Uryu's skinnier. You need to put some meat on those bones before you waste away." She beamed up at Green arrow and pinched his cheek even harder. "oh I love the color green so..."

Black Canary snickered.

"Anyway kid, keep practicing. Archery is a forgotten art, doesn't have to be." Green arrow smirked at Uryu, then he was gone.

The man known as Bane fell backwards onto the mat. Kensei cracked his neck. The thugs with Bane to help in his protection racket of the boxing club Kensei was staying at stared in shock. Not hard to figure out why given Bane's strength. Even Kensei had to admit the guy was pretty powerful.

But instead of ripping out Bane's venom injector, Kensei had repeatedly hammered on his diaphram and joints. He and Bane had been going at it MMA style. That meant kicks, punches, holds and other moves boxers normally wouldn't do.

"I don't believe it."

"Madre de dios!"

"This man is El diablo! He beat Bane in a submission win!"

"Lets get out of here!"

All six of them ran for their lives out the door and left an unconscious Bane wheezing and twitching on the ground. Kensei picked up Bane and carried him out of the boxing gym. Looking around for any sign of a policeman and finding none, he sighed mightily, trussed Bane up, found a flagpole six blocks over, and left him dangling by the very venom injector cable he'd declined to break. "I did this to make a point you know." He told the unconscious Luchador. "you probably won't get it though, but the point was that there is always a bigger fish.

It was then that Kensei heard the thundering of hooves. "GET OUT OF THE WAAAAAAAAY!" A woman with orange skin and red hair was hanging off the lead animal in a huge herd of horses that thundered through the empty streets.

"kami-sama." Kensei sighed in disgust. He set his weight, lowered his center of gravity, and plucked the girl from the lead horse's back with the greatest of ease.

Others seemed to be driving the herd. "WOAH!" a voice called out from above.

"easy there easy easy!" The herd stopped around the flag pole, whinning and looking for the nearest strip of grass. A man seemed to simply grow from the back of one of the mares, dressed in a skin tight red and blue outfit with an atom symbol on it.

Others were gathering with him, a man in a red jumpsuit hovering in a rocket pack with a taciturn expression, a green pterodactyl that transformed into a skrawny looking young man, and a gothic, somewhat depressed looking woman in a black cloak and leotard.

"i was quite alright mister... um..." the orange skinned woman stammered.

"Kensei." Kensei supplied. "And that wasn't what it looked like."

"But i wasn't clinging to the horse that is gelded on the bottom, I was flying beside him." The woman said brightly, lifting herself into the air.

Kensei scratched his head. "I don't speak english well, but even I can tell you speak it funny. Hey do you know where the nearest police station is? I tried to find it to hand 'em this guy." he jerked his thumb at Bane. "Damn idiot tried to pull a protection racket on the old man down at the boxing gym. I beat him into next week. Stupid steroids this jerk juices'll rot his brain."

"DUUUUUDEEE!" The green youth exclaimed. "Dude its BANE! This guy just beat BANE!"

"Who?" The orange woman head tilted cutely mid air.

"BANE! The cuban terror! He's juiced up on fucking venom twenty four seven dude! He's the stuff of nightmares! Remember that story Nightwing told us about how he damn near killed his mentor? The bat is like, the /best/ ever, and he damn near killed the dude." The boy in his early twenties was gawking up at Bane, jaw near the ground. "You're telling me you beat him unconscious in a flat out fight?!"

The woman in black floated around the flagpole to take a look at the back of Bane's head. "His venom injector's still attached, so it must be."

The taciturn man in the jetpack sighed. "I'll take him."

"No, I will." The black haired woman replied. "Levitation Orion, if he can't get traction with the ground all of Bane's steriod induced strength is useless. Its safer if I take him." She levitated the brawny cuban from the pole and kept him carefully aloft. Then she flew off.

Kensei watched her go, then gently poked the green youth. "He gonna be alright?"

The orange woman helpfully picked her friend up and put him on the horse she'd been "flying with." "now he will be, friend Beastman is in awe of friend Nightwing's mentor, of whom Bane is an enemy. To fight Bane to unconsciousness rather than simply cutting his injector cable is a rare feat Kensei. Not everyone can do it."

Kensei shrugged. "I'm just gifted like that. Just wish my friend Mashiro, she's nearly as strong as me, would stop acting like a child so I could have some decent rounds with her." Kensei grunted. "But the boxing gym should keep me occupied, just got a job there as an MMA trainer. And well... the old man really needed help getting this guy off his back." Kensei indicated the direction the woman in black had taken Bane.

"Not a bad feat no not at all." The man in the red and blue suit with the atom icon on it grinned, clapping Kensei on the back. He slipped a business card from his sleeve. "Name's the Atom, could use a hand on occasion from somebody strong, how are you with construction?"

"Fairly good, why?"

"Call me tomorrow. There are some power transformer stations gotta be rebuilt and the entire city's gonna be in need of building material and copper wiring. Gotta get some local drywall and copper wire being made first though, that means getting the factories going again."

Kensei nodded. "Will do... the local prison can keep this guy locked up?"

"He's a regular. Venom does crazy things to the mind. Pure poison for human neurons. I've seen the individual molecules." The Atom shuddered. "Nasty stuff. Wreaks havoc the amygdala and hippocampus." (1)

Kensei hmmd. Every mission needed money, looks like he'd be able to procure plenty. "Alright, I'll give you a ring in the morning."

Atom grinned, shrinking down to fit back in the mare's mane and getting a good grip. It took a couple of minutes but the group of heroes got the herd going again.

Kensei headed back to the gym, eager to tell his new friend about the encounter and that Bane was going off to jail where he belonged.

The blackness of the Bulk was where 5th dimensional beings speant most of thier time. And it was in the bulk that Ambush bug heard a cry. HELP ME! PLEASE GET ME OUT I WANT TO SEE MY DAD!

Floating closer in the void, in a half dreaming state, Ambush bug heard more cries. Please help my mom's probably really worried!

My friends and comrades need me! get me out of here!

Ambush bug was being woken slowly out of the state called "the Dreaming" that all 5th dimensional beings had to spend time in or risk becoming mortals by a chorus of human children crying out for help. Five voices, each calling desperately for someone to hear them.

I want Unkie Hal! A teenage girl's voice sobbed in a southern accent. oh please I want to go home!

*CRACK* the Dreaming was shattered. Oh well, Ambush bug had nearly finished his hibernation cycle anyway, an early wakeup wouldn't hurt.

Ambush bug began to examine the voices. His abilities slowly waking up. He couldn't speak or take a physical form as of yet, it would take an hour or two.

Five children, two boys, three girls, each in costume, each caged in the belly of... My god, its "the Four Great Ones and the Divine Dragon!" Ambush Bug realized he knew the figures of the tiger, dragon, turtle and phoenix these children were floating in and the huge golden dragon creating a pyramid formation above them. The great ones were ancient entities even older than the 5th dimensional beings, four powerful spirits with the ability to regulate the flow of energy in the multiverse, or contain energies. They rarely spoke, in fact they were only conscious when summoned into a universe.

Ambush bug would be able to get in, but he wouldn't be able to get the children out. They had to be accessed from the universe the children were sealed in in order to remove them. However, some manipulation was possible from his side, mainly signaling for help. But since the Great Ones were gods in and of themselves, they had the ability to block direct attempts at interferance by 5th dimensional beings.

His abilities weren't going to be fully up to scratch for a good three hours. But he could read their memories and try to find who did this to them and where they came from!

Closing notes: I'm sorry its been so long, my computer broke and I got mine online but my drivers won't download very quickly except in the early morning and Time Warner is being a total dick about maitenence. This last bit will lead into a four part Gaiden. I've been flirting with a gaiden arc or story the entire time I've been without a computer. I have some OC's from a bleach multiverse rp with a friend who's gone off to gradschool. And well... she's in gradschool, so i never hear from her. Last I heard from her she was interning at the LHC.

1. The fear center of the brain and the center associated with long term memory. In otherwords its made Bane foul tempered and stupid.