Whoa, it's been a hot minute. Bet you thought this baby was dead. It's not. I just have too much stuff irl to stay as active as I would like in fanfiction. Add the fluctuating interest in pretty much any project I work on and here we are. A heads up this will probably be a bit shorter of a chapter, but it is what it is.

Anyway we are back.

A review by maxperseus130 said: I admit I am bit confused by Naruto's powers in this fic. Are they just ninjutusu, or are they along the lines of Avatar element bending? The fact that he hasn't used any lightning, or seemingly used handseals along with that beserker state that is so similar to the Avatar state seems to support the latter.

At the same time, Chakra is easily explained in the DC universe. As it is the result of the combination of spiritual and physical energies, it can be equated to the product of the reaction between the energy Martian Manhunter uses for telepathy and telekinesis, and the energy he uses to alter his body's properties to change shape, density and opacity. As Hakainian biology would carry out this reaction automatically, very few would be capable of controlling the two energies separately as Martians do in this theory, hence the existance of Royal and Noble classes. And, of course, the literal translation of Chakra is Power, so not recovering his power fully is an even more acurrate statement.

My response: You are pretty much spot on with Naruto's abilities. My general thought behind the castes of the Hakainian people was that the citizen caste have slightly more fit and durable bodies due to the more harsh environment and larger size of Hakainian and its colonies compared to earth. The Warrior caste are typically augmented with greater capabilities in speed and durability as well as strength and reflexes. While some warriors get further augments to try and put them on the level of Superiors, they lack the pre-birth augments that give a superior chakra and a completely overhauled body. Once made a superior though a superior can only have superior children. Lastly the nobles and royals lack the physical prowess of their subordinates being roughly on par with citizens while possessing incredibly potent abilities with chakra beyond simple elemental control or utilization of the energy. As a final note, Naruto is himself an incredibly rare hybrid between a Superior and one of the Royal/Noble caste. There have been roughly a hundred of such births and the last century and nearly all simply chose to join the royal caste and live a peaceful life of luxury. Unlike our hero.

Review by tyrell2000 said: pretty good story so far, but I have one question. will there be NTR or any SO stealing or anything like that? that is my only real concern, based on your descriptions of Batgirl and Robin in chapter 1. otherwise, the concept seems unique enough and the grammar and spelling is very good, only a few misspelling here and there, and the progression doesn't seem too fast or too slow as of now.

My response: You can rest assured there will be no ntr. That being said, this is a harem story. I previously mentioned I was still in the process of deciding exactly who he would find himself with. I have settled on five, though it will be quite some time before progress is made outside of the relationship between Naruto and Starfire. While it will be a harem those two are by far the main pairing and have a better bond.

Anyway let's get this show on the road.


"This is not as good as the pizza but it is still quite pleasant." Starfire said between bites of the peanut butter and mustard sandwich.

"Do you want to try mine?" Naruto asked while offering over the bun with chicken alfredo smothered in tabasco sauce.

"Only if you try mine as well." She chirped.

The rest of the team struggled desperately to ignore the meals their colleagues were eating, though Wally did seem a bit curious about how Naruto's sandwich tasted. They were all enjoying the fact that the kitchen in the tower was not only operational but also fully stocked now. Naruto and Starfire both had made it clear that they were happy with the fact they could have real meals and had both been trying as many earth dishes as possible as well as forging some Frankenstein monster style meals as well.

"I can't tell if it's cute or gross." Barbara sighed lightly.

"Definitely gross." Raven supplied before turning back to her own very simple meal of a salad.

"It could always be both. Right?" Cyborg said, trying not to judge the Tastes of his two teammates too badly. Plus it was kind of nice seeing the two of them so close.

Before the conversation could continue alarms went off and Robin stormed into the room almost a single heartbeat later with his face set into a scowl.

"Gear up everyone. The Hive Five have gotten free again and are hitting another target." Robin bellowed.

Those in the kitchen frowned and in some cases even poured. This was roughly the fourth time in the last two months since the same team of villains had broken free somehow and begun wreaking havoc. They were all starting to get a bit tired of it.

"Let's go, Titans. Beastboy is already changing into his uniform and we need to move." Robin said getting the others to abandon their partially consumed meals and begin rushing to get dressed.

Barbara paused briefly beside Robin as the others headed for their rooms. They had already spoken of the topic before but by now neither could deny it.

"Someone is letting them loose everytime we bring them in. We aren't going to make any real headway as long as that continues." Barbara said.

"What do you want me to say, Barb? Just go get ready, we need to hurry. I'll brief you all on the way." He replied.

"Don't take that tone with me Dick…" She snapped causing him to sigh.

Either way she raced off to get ready to take on their team's recurring opponents. Robin soon headed down to the vehicles and was joined along the way by his teammates.

Naruto was the last of the group, his armor wasn't exactly an easy thing to assemble on his body. Luckily the opposite was true for Starfire and she happily acted as a spare set of hands to quickly place his armor on.

"We may need to speak with friend Cyborg about some mechanism to hasten this process." Starfire commented as she finished buckling the pauldrons into his suit.

"Agreed. Thank you for helping me, Kori." Naruto said with a toothy smile.

"I am happy to help." She smiled back.

"That's sweet but we need to go!" Robin barked.

"I am in the vehicle and Koriand'r can fly, Robin." Naruto said with a deadpan look causing the other boy to scowl.

"I can't close the top of the car until she moves." Robin snapped before dropping into his seat and starting the engine up.

"I will activate my communicator to stay in touch. Since I don't know where it is that we are supposed to go." Starfire said with the latter half somewhat under her breath though the entire team clearly heard her over the communicator system.

The custom vehicle shut it's led and roared to life before Robin gunned the engine and rocketed down the tunnel beneath the bay toward Jump City proper. He clearly heard Starfire but ignored her. Mostly.

"You all want to mess around then do it later. We have a job to do." He said only to be interrupted before he could begin briefing the team.

"Relax dude. We've beaten the Hive like a ton of times. They only beat us once because they had the drop on us." Beastboy said with a grin that could be heard in his voice.

"That could just as easily be flipped around on us. Listen, alright. Take this seriously this isn't a game. We are doing serious hero work here and-" Robin began to lecture.

"Robin! Brief us already, talk down to us later." Batgirl cut him off.

"Or you know, just don't talk down to us at all." Cyborg added with some serious heat in his voice.

Robin audibly heaved a sigh out as he reeled in his desire to lecture them all.

"We don't know how the Hive escaped…again, but we know that this time they haven't targeted a bank or a financial center at all. Instead they are raiding the MACE chemical plant on the north side of the city. They haven't attacked civilians directly, thankfully, but they had purposefully damaged a lot of the more volatile chemical containers."

Some of the team winced at that. Maybe Robin had a reason to be so worked up.

"Why attack the plant though? What do they gain from simply destroying the facility?" Naruto asked.

"Good question. At first I was confused as well but I soon realized that only some of the Hive is hitting the plant. Cameras caught all but Gizmo and Jinx present. I don't think that they are there at all." Robin explained.

"A distraction." Raven realized.

"That's my guess." Robin agreed.

"Then we need to keep an eye out for whatever they are planning." Batgirl said.

"Exactly so, Starfire, Raven, Beastboy. I want you all high up in the air keeping an eye out. We can't risk whatever they have planned going how they want it to."

"And the rest of us get to smack around the rest of the Hive." Cyborg said happily.

"This is going to be another walk in the park. No matter what they have planned." Kid Flash said over his comms, running alongside the vehicle.

"Maybe, either way, scout it out Kid, tell us what you can find." Batgirl ordered.

"You got it." The boy replied before shooting off toward the plant.


Jynx grinned as Kid Flash appeared suddenly among the rest of her team. He started running his mouth, probably saying something snarky before speeding around the rest of the Hive too quickly for anything to be done about it.

"There's the first one." She said.

"This plan is not going to work, Jinx. Even if it does we won't get even half of this slime the client is paying us for."

The teen girl twitched as the whiny voice of her partner in crime entered her ears. He really got on her nerves every time he opened his mouth.

"You would be right if the trucks I'm having you steal were the only ones, but they aren't. Just do as you are told, Gizmo. For once in your pathetic waste of a life. I'm actually asking nicely." Jinx said between clenched teeth. She was tired of being questioned by this pipsqueak at every turn.

"Nicely? That's such bullshit." The rat complained loudly.

"It's nicer than me trying to set you on fire, right?" She asked.

Gizmo sneered at her but quieted down. If he would just stay that way she would actually probably enjoy working with him. Probably not, but who knows.

"Here we go, there is the rest of the team. Get going." She commanded.

She ignored the floating boy flipping her the bird as she continued to stare through her binoculars at the scene unfolding at the MACE facility. Most of the other Titans had arrived. They were tearing her boys apart as well.

Even with three of their members absent, the Titans clearly had her comrades handled. Then again her guys weren't trying to really take the Titans out at the moment, just drag the fight out.

Just as she wanted. Everything was going right for once and all she had to do was remain patient.

Sooner enough, from inside the MACE central building, three crudely constructed trucks with drone pilots controlled by Gizmo burst free from the receiving section and made for the freeway.

Of course it was short lived for one of the trucks. Blue Beetle was quick to act and with the arrival of a giant green squid in the middle of the road they stopped the rearmost vehicle.

The second was stopped by a black field of energy that tore it's wheels off and the third was forced to dodge green bolts of energy launched by Starfire as she began to strafe through the air behind the truck as it fled.

"Good luck, Gizmo." She snorted with humor before turning and striding off toward a separate facility. A smaller, more specialized chemical plant owned by the little known Collins Chemical Company. The 3C, specialized in a small handful of industrial solvents one of which was very expensive compared to the rest.

"Alright everyone, looks like we are safe, the Teen Titans have those Hive creeps handled so we can get back to work and make those deliveries!" Jinx said with a smile.

"Whatever you say Miss Collins." One of the foremen replied.

Jinx smiled. It had taken a lot out of her and she had needed a hand before hand in putting an illusion into the head of all the workers here. Thankfully while most of her team was drawing the attention away she had been able to cast her spells one after another on the driver's.

As she climbed in with the first truck and the convoy of four semi trucks headed out she smiled at the sight of the Titans rounding up her team. They would be back out in a couple days and their heist had gone off without a hitch.


"They tricked us!" Robin all but roared as the team returned.

The others weren't pleased either but Robin was doing a pretty good job of turning everyone's bad mood against him personally. Naruto wasn't sure if that was the other boy's intention or not though. He could see the use in giving them a target to vent toward, but that probably wasn't the best course of action.

Especially when it really was his fault. He had ordered Starfire and Raven both in rather than leaving one of them to watch for something.

None of them noticed the overloaded trucks casually driving right past the fight. Even though all other traffic had stopped and the drivers fled, the workers from the 3C company just casually continued on, being led along by Jinx's ability to create illusions and weaken her target's ability to think logically.

"We should have realized something more was going on when Jinx wasn't there." Robin continued.

"It was a double fake out, man. They played us well. At least all the workers were fine. Even if all those chemicals were stolen." Jaime pointed out.

"What do they even need all of that goo for anyway?" Beastboy asked.

"Nothing good, little dude. That's for sure." Cyborg said.

"I doubt they will use it themselves. I think that we are going to start seeing the Hive go after more than just banks and armored trucks. They're probably taking jobs now." Batgirl commented.

"Which means now that they have a win like this under their belt they will be pulling even more contracts." Kid Flash grumbled.

"Why did you call down Starfire and Raven? We could have grabbed Gizmo and all of those trucks while one of them stayed." Jaime asked.

"I- I thought that they were both on those trucks." Robin said. He was clearly angry with himself.

"It doesn't matter. We need to figure out who wanted that slime stuff and why they needed so much. Four tanker trucks full is nothing small." Batgirl pulled the focus back onto their tasks at hand.

"We should also keep an eye out to see how it is that the Hive team keeps being let loose." Naruto added in.

"Exactly. They are all currently being….held…at." Batgirl began before she reached over to activate the alert on her datapad.

The audio was already connected to the rest of the team's communication gear so they all heard the robotic voice report the sudden release and disappearance of the captured members of the Hive. Just like that. Like the cell doors had been opened and they had simply been let go.

"I don't understand. How does this keep happening? The facility is secure." Starfire said.

"Because the Hive have friends in high places." Robin said, not with a snarl but a sigh.

"Everyone…get some rest." He said as he headed toward his room.

The others looked between one another while Batgirl quickly pursued after him. One by one they slunk off to their own rooms as well feeling even more defeated than the first time that the Hive had beaten them.


Jinx knelt as the hooded figure before her seemed to stare down at her with endless patience and apathy. She knew that they were happy to keep her kneeling on the uneven and painful floor while they continued their work on the computer.

It had been nearly half an hour since she knelt here and by now she could feel nothing but the pain coursing through her knees and shins from the rough knobs sticking randomly out of the floor.

"Ah, now onto you…Jinx was it?" The man in the hood asked.

He knew very well who she was. She knew very well that he did as well. It was all a game, but one she had grown used to, unfortunately. As it stood she may have been the Master's current favorite pastime but his enigmatic interest fluctuated at unknowable times. Even if she was his current favorite though, such status did not protect her from his vaunted Council of Seven or his mistress. All of whom she imagined were as depraved and sadistic as the unknown man before her was.

"Yes, I have completed the task as the Master wished. The chemicals were delivered and the rest of my team have received their cuts. They think the trucks were delivered to some contractor just as the Master wished." She said clearly.

"The master hardly cares for the minutiae of what was done, only that the task he set out for you was in fact completed. I however do have an interest in the way you did things. Like the reason you used your team as such expendable fodder. Are they not imperative for your success within the Hive?" His voice was higher pitched as he questioned her. Clearly goading her into saying something he could punish her for.

"They had a purpose as a distraction. It allowed the easy theft of the target and was of little issue thanks to our contacts." Jinx said only to lock up as she felt herself pushed down into the floor by an invisible force.

"My contacts, you ungrateful wretch. My contacts repeatedly used to liberate your little team of nigh on useless children. The same ones used to liberate you time and again. Were it not the express wish of the master that you be educated and helped along like the mentally deficient girl that you are, well…I would have left you to rot." The man said before casually releasing whatever had suddenly pressed Jinx against the floor so painfully.

"As it is, after some discussion with the master it has been decided that you need a new lesson. If you consider your teammates to be so expendable you must learn what to do should you not have access to one anymore on a much more permanent basis. Pick one of your peons…the least useful if you are wise, and kill them. Return the corpse here so that I might extract what little knowledge I can from such a base creature."

As the man continued to speak, eventually ending things with a blunt dismissal, Jinx mentally froze. The words he had said so simply to her shook her very core.

So far she had managed to get this far in her life and career without having to actually kill someone. Not even civilians had found themselves as collateral damage during her jobs.

The Master had initially commended her on such restraint. Her powers and skills could easily snuff out a life and they both knew it. However, where she claimed it was simply to keep her off of the list of the likes of the Justice League, the Master had admired her supposed efficiency.

That was something that struck her harshly now though. She knew, from the very start, that she would have to kill someone for the Master and the Hive. She wasn't excited by that but she had more or less been certain it wouldn't matter much in the end. It would have to happen, if only to prove her willingness to do whatever the Master commanded of her.

She just never thought it would be one of her subordinates. One of her teammates that would have to be the sacrifice.

At least it would be an easy choice. She hated that little twerp Gizmo anyway.

Except the hooded man was right. She needed to remember each of her people had uses and as much as she hated him, Gizmo had by far the most use.

That meant the little brat couldn't be the one to go.

Not to mention, once she did this the Titans would have even more of an advantage over her team.

"I have an issue." She suddenly said drawing the man's attention again.

"Oh, you're still here. What?" He asked with an annoyed tone.

"I need a way to even the playing field against the Titans. I will be down a man, and I can't be seen to kill one of them, the League will come crashing down onto us before the corpse cools off." Jinx explained.

The hooded man sat still. Completely still.

"I can see your reasoning. Very well I will forward a contact to you and make some adjustments to the Hive's budget. Be wary with this contact Jinx. Should you or your motley crew manage to antagonize him the Hive and the Master will not consider you a worthwhile venture and leave you to be terminated."

"I understand." She said.

"We will see. Now get out." He said before turning his attention back to monitors that Jinx couldn't see.


Jinx stared at the rest of her team as they laughed and bantered. They mocked one another but never too harshly. Enjoying burgers and fries that had been delivered to the abandoned warehouse above their hideout.

She felt her eyes burn and a lump in her throat as she stared out at them. Her choice was already made and she knew how she was going to handle things.

Starting down the stairs toward her team Jinx paused as Seemore saw her first and waved followed by all the rest of them.

"How was the meeting with the boss? He happy with how we pulled a fast one on those Teen Titan posers?" Gizmo cackled.

Jinx opened her mouth to reply but clamped it shut to try and swallow down the lump in her throat.

"Jinx?" One of the others asked.

"You need to do it girl. Your boss told me so either you do what he wants or I start shortening the list for you to pick from." A dark voice said from behind a metallic mask.

"Woah what the fuck?" Gizmo cried as The Terminator, Deathstroke stepped out of the shadows behind Jinx.

"Who is this guy, and what's he talking about?" Billy demanded while jumping to his feet. The gun suddenly pointed at his skull had him drop back into the seat just as quickly with a nervous look in his eyes.

"Choose one." Deathstroke commanded, causing the boys to all stare at Jinx in shock.

"I already have." She said tightly. It took all she had to fight back tears as understanding slid across the faces of her boys.

She didn't say anything more as her hands flickered outward from her sides rapidly and in a brief moment Private FIVE found his body suddenly igniting as mystical flames bubbled up through his flesh and spread across his form.

The entire room seemed to freeze and watch in silence as the boy screamed in agony for a few short moments before collapsing and dying on the floor. He kept burning though even as the stench of his body hit them all and a couple of the team lost their fight with their stomach to throw up.

Jinx didn't however. She didn't cry, she didn't puke, she didn't try to set Deathstroke on fire. She simply stood there and watched as her teammate and maybe her former friend died by her hand.

"Is that enough? Will you go do what you're being paid to do now?" She asked.

"I was paid for this too. Don't think I came here to watch you without a reason. Doesn't matter now though. I'm going to handle the rest of the job now." He said before disappearing up the stairs once again leaving Jinx with the terrified and betrayed expressions of her team staring at her.


Batgirl was in a terrible mood. She was doing all that she could to distract herself with work. Sadly, it wasn't making much of an impact. After their loss against the Hive, she had tried to talk to Robin, but he had snapped at her and pretty much sealed himself away.

She could only imagine he was probably doing the same as her and trying to figure out who all was involved in freeing the Hive team. Hopefully he was having better luck than her. Well, maybe if he was pulling his hair out in frustration she would be a bit more pleased. The way he had snapped at her earlier had pissed her off.

Still, she wondered if he was hitting the same wall she was. It was the same in every case. The guards on duty lose track of time for an hour, all the cameras and monitoring equipment similarly just seem to pause for an hour. No recollection, nothing. Not even the slightest sign of struggle.

Of course she found no sign of struggle, there was none. However her theory of it being someone high up letting them loose felt flimsy now. All it took was some sort of powered individual that could somehow cause all the guards and cameras to blank out for an hour and the Hive were free to go.

That also meant that whoever this was wasn't limited to freeing the Five. She needed to look through similar crimes, across Jump City to hopefully find…anything.

Sadly that was where she was really hitting the wall. There was nothing. It was mind numbing.

She needed a break.

Luckily it seemed some of the others were headed out to various places to eat or hang out. She was pleased to see Cyborg and Beastboy heading talking about going to the arcade while Kid Flash and Jaime were trying to get the group all together to grab some pizza…again.

"So we all want to head out? Want to go together or split up?" Batgirl asked the group.

"Well, Raven already headed out to some bookstore in the city, Robin still locked up in his room I think." Wally said with a sigh.

Barbara scowled slightly at that before shaking her head. "Raven will probably be happier to browse the books anyway. We can see if she wants to catch up for a meal later. As for Robin…leave him. He's in a mood."

"If you say so, hey we could use this as a chance to show Naruto and Starfire around the city properly. Every time we have tried in the past we get interrupted." Wally said with a grin.

"That would be much appreciated. I am very interested in the arcade. Cyborg and Beastboy have both told us much about it." Starfire chirped.

"I am also a bit hungry." Naruto agreed to going out.

"Then let's go, someone send Raven a message to see if she wants to eat with us." Batgirl said as they all headed for the door.


"I am glad we decided to get these burritos instead. You were right, Beastboy, these are wonderful." Naruto happily said after swallowing down a second Burrito.

"That's great dude. I'm glad you like it." Beastboy replied somehow out eating all the others despite being much smaller than them.

"I have to admit, they are pretty good." Raven said as she slowly worked on her own burrito.

Naruto grinned toward her. It was nice that they could all get out and come together like this. He wished that Robin had joined them but the boy seemed incredibly determined to figure out who was working with the Hive.

At least they had finally gotten to see most of the city without interruption this time. The Arcade, the bookstore that Raven enjoyed, several very nice parks. Naruto and Starfire were intent to also visit the mountain trails that were just outside the city. Kid Flash had told them they were a great place to hike according to all of the reviews he had seen.

"I have to say, I'm pretty happy that Jump City was the place we all ended up together in. The weather is nice almost all year round, and the people are really friendly for the most part. I can't even complain that most of what we do is handle non-super criminals. It's kind of refreshing to just be helping people and not going toe to toe against someone trying to black out the sun or something." Jaime commented.

"Amen to that." Barbara agreed.

"So what next?" Cyborg asked the group, brushing his hands off after finishing his meal.

"Ah, well Kori and I were hoping that she and I could perhaps go to the mountain trails." Naruto said.

"That sounds like fun I guess." Beastboy shrugged.

"I'm sorry friend Beastboy, but Naruto and I were hoping to perhaps go alone." Starfire said with an awkward look.

"What? Why would you-" Beastboy began before Raven jabbed him in the side.

"Oh. Oh! Uh cool, well the rest of us can like, go to the mall or something. Right, guys?" Beastboy asked.

"Yeah." Barbara said before standing up. "I hope-"

She was cut off from wishing the possibly new couple good luck as the sound of a rifle cracked loudly and their little break was ruined.


Well, cliffhanger on who got hurt. Damn.

Till Next Time