Hello! I know it's been too long once again, but I'm continuing with this chapter! I hope it's enough for all of you to enjoy!

I've also got something on my mind, but I'll explain at the end.

Metropolis

Daily Planet

UTC 21:00

The Daily Planet was one of the largest and most famous newspapers in America. Celebrities and politicians would scramble to be interviewed by them when they wanted to be heard, and feared them when they had something to hide. Even with the rough transition into the digital world, the Planet thrived.

Was it any wonder Clark Kent chose this place?

The journalist/super hero worked tirelessly at his desk. He had some puff pieces he needed to put out; he hated them, but in the short term they paid the bills. He still had a promising story on Intergang, and there was a rather shady deal Luthor was involved in. This one interested him not only because Luthor was essentially his archenemy (and any trouble he could cause him as Clark Kent was an accomplishment in his book) but also because he might also find a clue about those inter-dimensional ninjas the Team was currently housing.

"Anything good, Smallville?"

Clark looked up to see the woman of his dreams standing over him: Lois Lane. A tall and beautiful brunette, Lois had a fiery personality and drive that made it difficult for other men to approach her beyond professionalism. Probably something to do with her being a general's daughter. But that just made her even more attractive in his mind.

"Nothing much." He smiled as he turned back to his laptop. "Luthor just hired a team of quantum physicists."

"Probably a secret project. Military, most likely." Lois said as she leaned on his desk.

"He also was seen meeting with a professor from Kyoto University."

"What's his field?"

"Japanese Culture and Anthropology."

Lois raised a brow. "While I know Lex has a bunch of art from all corners of the East, I don't think he's THAT interested in that sort of thing."

"Oh, he definitely has an interest in this." Clark thought. "You never know." He answered, not wanting to lie directly.

"Anything you got for me?" She asked.

"Sorry." Clark smiled mischievously. "We had an agreement about not butting in on one another's stories."

"Well, I still have to get back at you for that exclusive with Superman."

"I let you have the next one with him!" Clark protested.

He then noticed the skin around her cheeks redden, and her heart beat slightly. "Yeah…" she smiled as she held a hand to her cheek.

Clark leaned back in his chair, and sighed. He met with Lois during that interview, and that was the night she fell in love with him. As Superman. He wanted so badly for her to fall for him as Clark Kent. "I knew I shouldn't have complimented that mole under her eye…at least not then…"

Suddenly, a bang shook the building. "An explosion?" Lois asked. Everyone looked out to see another explosion near Midtown. "Well, Clark. This looks like a job for-" She looked to the desk, noticing his empty chair. "…Clark?"

Civilians quickly evacuated an apartment building, caught off guard by the explosion. They were so preoccupied with saving themselves, they didn't even notice the giant clay bird flying above.

Deidara looked on; he was told any mayhem would draw the Superman out. Eventually . "This better lead to a bang." Deidara loved destruction, but only when it was targeted specifically. Anything else was just chaos in his mind.

"I take it you set off that explosion?"

Deidara turned, and smiled. Superman was there, hovering in the air with no apparent force being responsible. "Fascinating. I can't sense him using any chakra for this power." He then addressed him directly. "I am. Just to lure you out."

"Whatever you want, there may be a way to settle this." Superman urged him.

Deidara frowned. "I was told you were pure of heart. How…disappointing." Deidara reached into his pouch, feeling for the kryptonite. "Not yet." He thought. "Let's see how much fun I can have with him first."

The Atlantic, 45 miles East of Washington DC

Oil rigs were an aging but still very necessary apparatus for the grid. They could pump several tons of crude in an hour, enough to fuel a city. There was a risk of spillage though, contaminating the ocean.

Thankfully, this rig had a great safety record. And it was under Atlantean supervision; they shared a portion of their technology in the spirit of good will. However, none of them could have foreseen what was about to happen tonight.

A bandaged object broke the surface below, like a shark's fin. As one of the workers finished his inspection, he looked to the sea. He raised his binoculars, trying to figure out what it was. The purposeful direction and speed at which it approached told him all he needed to know. He grabbed his walkie talkie only for Kisame to jump out of the water and decapitate him before he could even breath into it. The body hit the floor with a thud. Kisame smirked. He then noticed a puddle in the corner, and like it was a portal, he simply sunk into it.

Two workers came by, shocked at the sight of the their dead co-worker. "Hank! Hank!" One shouted, oblivious to his mortal condition from shock. Quickly, Kisame jumped out of the puddle and grabbed one of the workers by the back like a rag doll, smashing him against the pipes.

The other worker fled out of fear, knowing he could never save him. But he could at least call for help. "Sure hope those fish-people will keep their word!" He smashed a red button.

Atlantis

"My king!" An Atlantean soldier swam into the throne room.

King Orin, otherwise known as Aquaman on the surface, was seated on his throne. His Queen, Mera, heavily pregnant and seated next to him in her own chair. Though he looked irritated, no doubt the two having a tender moment earlier, the King was always one to take his responsibilities seriously. "Speak."

"The Atlantean Alliance refinery has been attacked!" The soldier said.

"How many?"

"We are not sure…but it seems to be only one!"

"Perhaps Kaldur can investigate?" Mera suggested.

"If it is only one, it means it is someone powerful." Aquaman said as he rose from his throne. Swimming to the other side of the room, he eyed a trident. It was not as powerful as The Ocean Master's, but for him, it would do. He took it, and looked to everyone present. "I will handle this personally!"

A worker struggled as he was lifted up off his feet. Even Kisame's silhouette seemed to be smiling, as he ran the poor man through with Sadehama. Dropping the corpse, Kisame walked towards the edge, eyeing the horizon. Seeing nothing, he sighed "He should be here by now."

Hearing something drop, Kisame turned his attention to a hard hat dropping onto the platform. Looking up, he saw another worker. "Seems I missed one." As the worker ran for his life, Kisame sneered and jumped up onto the platform. The worker fell on his butt, trying to scramble away. "I'm sorry, but it seems this Aquaman hasn't shown up." Slinging his living sword over his shoulder, he gave him a toothy grin. "Perhaps you can entertain me for a few minutes? I know how to apply a tourniquet; I promise I can keep you alive until I get bored...or kill you if you become a threat."

Just then, the water to his left seemed to churn. A sudden rush of water rose straight up, and a figure shot out of it. Landing perfectly between him and the poor worker, Aquaman revealed himself, holding his mother's old trident. Kisame calmed himself. "You are the one they call Aquaman?"

"I am." Aquaman said, standing without the slightest hint of fear. "And it seems you caused all this destruction just to draw me here."

"Indeed I have." Kisame twirled his sword, before crouching in a battle stance and pointing his weapon at the hero. "So', let's not waste anymore time. Agreed?"

Star City

21:30

A Star City officer sighed as he typed away at the computer, finishing a report. Star was never a crazy dangerous city like Gotham, but the Green Arrow practically left them stuck with nothing to do but handing out parking tickets. "Wish something exciting would happen here…" he mumbled.

The saying "Be careful what you wish for" had never rung truer in this instance as a scream of pain filled the room. He got up from his desk to see one of his fellow officers fly into the office. His skin went cold and his blood boiled at the same time, as he saw the man was sliced right down the middle.

The other policeman raised their pistols at an individual with slicked back white hair, carrying a strange three-bladed scythe and dressed in a black cloak with red clouds. He only smirked. "Not here for you…" He twirled his weapon. "…but I'll have some fun until HE arrives." He cut through one, causing the other officers to fire. One went down, loosing an arm. Another looked on in horror as the bullets didn't stop the assailant. He hit him, he knew he did!

As the man turned on him and raised his scythe, something hit him in the back of the head, causing him to fall forward. One of the officers stood and did a quick scan of the area. One thing stood out: A green arrow. It had no tip, the end blunted. Everyone turned: the Green Arrow was there, his bow drawn and ready. "Everyone, clear out!" The policemen gathered their wounded and cleared the area. Green Arrow was very mortal and on the lower tier of the league, but in general when a superhero arrived for battle, it was wise to give them a wide breadth.

"So…" GA said. "I've never seen you before. As far as I can tell, you have no reason to be here…except…"

"To kill you." The man forced himself up and turned around to face him. "Name's Hidan."

Washington D.C.

Mythology was a fascinating study. Though some would dismiss it as having no value in the real world, to others it was an important psychological study into the imagination of ancient man, understanding previous values held, and, in some rare cases, uncover parts of history thought lost. Of course, when one of the most powerful beings on the planet had second-hand knowledge of these events, there was bound to be some correction. "And Heracles did not come up with the solution himself?" A middle-aged woman, Professor Kapatelis, asked as she made some notes in a large book of Greek myths.

"No." The woman across from her smiled. "Heracles was known as the strongest man in all of Greece, and not the smartest, for a reason."

"I suppose that's to be expected." The professor sighed, closing the book. "Ancient men loved to exaggerate when the truth is more enlightening."

Diana Prince, or Diana of Themyscara as she was born as, was the best thing that came into her life. On one hand, Kapatelis learned many things about ancient Greece and the origin of their myths that no other academic had access too. The downside was that sometimes the truth was disappointing, and even disturbing. Such was the reality of academia. "It's a wonder you didn't do this sooner, back when you were with the Justice Society."

"No one asked." Diana replied. "Of course, man's world as a whole was much less accepting of me than they are now."

"That must have been difficult." Kapatelis said.

"It was frustrating." She said. "But, I think in the end my presence helped the world of man advance. You've still a long way to go, but it's a start."

Diana had another name: Wonder Woman. She was beautiful, tall and deadly. Back in World War 2, when she first came into Man's World, she joined the Justice Society, or All-Star Squadron as it was sometimes called, as their secretary. Though she was happy to help out at first, she soon pressured them to have her join the fight. Through many debates that sometimes escalated to fights, they realized the injustice they were perpetuating and allowed her to join. Putting her on the front lines turned the War around. She retired for decades, and returned to Man's World when war once again threatened her home. She joined the Justice League, and ever since she was content to stay with them to protect the modern world.

As she and her friend were going to look over another encyclopedia, Diana heard an explosion and turned her head. Looking out the window, she saw several civilians flee.

"Who is it?" The professor asked. "Cheetah? A minion of Ares?"

Diana squinted her eyes. "No. It's someone new." Running to a closet, she opened it, revealing her colored one-piece armor.

"Ahh!" A civilian ducked as a black tendril launched towards him, thankfully only shattering the glass window of a car where his head was.

It retracted to a man in all black. Only his green eyes and dark skin due to age showed under his mask. "This better be worth it." Just then, a woman in a colorful uniform landed in front of him. "You must be the Wonder Woman." He said.

Wonder Woman noticed the hiate; the children wore similar headbands. "I take it you're from the world as those ninja children," she said.

"Astute observation." The one known as Kakuzu said. "I hear you have lived for a long time. Tell me; what is your secret?"

"That information is public; it is nothing a mere mortal like you can hope to obtain."

"They always say that. I've lived over a century to prove them all wrong."

Before she could answer, Wonder Woman felt something very large tackle her into a building on the other side. Looking up, it seemed to be a creature of pure black with a white mask. Before she could question what it was it opened its mouth to reveal a fire coming to life. She kicked at it to put some distance between them, and covered her face with her bracelets as it breathed down on her.

Central City

21:45

Toy stores were normally a place of joy for children. This was not one of those times, as puppets armed with swords appeared terrorizing the customers as they ran out the door. Sadly, in this world, this was not the first time this happened, with villains like Joker and the Toyman regularly using their own twisted versions of toys as weapons. Just the first time this happened in Central City specifically.

As they evacuated, a hooded figure looked on from the janitor closet. "So, will this person be worthy?"

Barry Allen sighed as he typed data into the Police Station's computer. As a forensic scientist, using science to help solve crimes was a great career for him. But he HATED the paperwork. He was itching to go for a run, something a bit further than the block. He then saw the cops beginning to run and secure their weapons. Barry rubbed a ring on his finger; looked like he would be going out soon after all.

Getting up from his seat, he jogged up to one of his friends on the force. "Paul, what's up?"

"Something about killer puppets." The cop said. Sighing, he added "Normally, I'd be asking what this world is coming to. But then again, we have the Justice League and their bullshit to put up with, so I'm not going to bother with asking."

"Right." Barry tapped his finger. "You be careful out there, okay?"

"Sure thing, Barry." The officer waved.

As they turned to leave, so did Barry. Turning a corner, and satisfied no one was watching, Barry ran out of the station, too fast for anyone to see clearly. Barry then opened up his ring, pulling out a red suit and changing into it. A normal man would have struggled for 10 minutes to pull the elastic material over the body, but Barry did in less than 2 seconds, becoming the Flash.

The police officer fired his rounds into the puppet. Such an idea should have been laughable, but there was no laughing matter here. These things were armed to the teeth with blades, and they were fast! Whatever they were, they were durable as well. The bullets couldn't shatter them, some bounced off altogether. One of them tried to shoot a puppet in the eye, but its two arms suddenly split into 6, armed with blades and saws. It lunged at them…and something red went by, really quickly.

The Flash appeared, the puppet having been taken apart in the blink of an eye. Another lunged at him, and Flash attacked it. He vibrated his arms, shaking it and destroying the atomic bonds that held it together. Like dominoes, it came apart and fell harmlessly to the floor. "Are they possessed?" One of the cops asked.

"No." Flash answered. "They're just puppets. Twisted ones, but they're not alive." Under his mask, his eyes twitched. Being a speedster, he could see light emitted at frequencies a normal human could not detect. And he saw strings of it retreating from behind the toy store. "Stay here. I got this."

The Flash kicked down the door. He could have vibrated through it, but he found going Batman on barriers left a stronger impression. "I heard tales about you." A voice said. "I found them hard to believe…but then again, in this world that's not saying much."

Flash paused for a moment. "So you're from their world." He noted. "So, who are you working for exactly? Vandal Savage? Luthor? Bialyia?"

Even for him, what he saw coming nearly gave him a heart attack. Several needles came towards him, faster than a bullet. He ducked, the needles embedding themselves into the wall behind him. They looked like they would have been an inconvenience at best, but Flash knew from both his experience and those of the strangers, best to assume the worst. "Not bad. Most mortal men would have been struck down…even on my world."

Flash's eyes widened under his cowl, as he wasn't sure what stood before him was a man. It was like some sort of hunchback. The head seemed to have dreads behind him, but they looked more like flint. And he had a scorpion-like tail of metal too. "Yikes." Flash hissed.

"The name's Sasori…" he said. "And I'm here to kill you."

Star City

22:00

Another perk to living in Star City was the natural beauty behind it. The mountains contrasted with the metal of the city, and getting to nature was just a hop, skip, and jump away. Or a motorcycle, anyway.

Dinah loved a good ride around the area. While Oliver was doing his own thing, Dinah would just enjoy the feeling of the wind and the road. She then got a signal from him. It was on his Arrow line, which meant it was an emergency. "Green Arrow!" She said, careful to use his hero name in case someone was listening in on them. "What's wrong?"

"In a bit of a jam here!" He said. "How far are you?"

"Far." Black Canary answered. "But I'm on my way." She lifted the front wheel up, spinning around and driving the opposite way. "Where are you?"

"At the SCPD! We've got quite a character here!"

She heard the sound of something slicing, thankfully it was clearly something inanimate. "Ollie!" Suddenly, Dinah caught something in her side-mirror. At first, it seemed a large bird was flying towards her, but could see the body was human. Something shot forward and shattered her mirror. Those same projectiles hit her wheels, snapping the tires and flipping the vehicle. Most people would have been rolling across the road, but not Black Canary. She righted herself mid-air snd landed on her feet, bending and letting her durable boots skid her across the ground.

As soon as she stopped, she looked up to see her attacker was another woman. She was quite the exotic beauty, with blue hair tied in a bun, eyeshade and a nose stud. The white flower was actually origami, and her wings were made of paper too. "It seems you're not from around here; I've never seen you before." Black Canary noted as she stood straight, keeping her guards up. "And I'm guessing you're from the same place as those kids."

"We are not ready for the jinchuriki." Konan said as she lowered herself down to the road. "But all the same, I cannot let you be an obstacle."

"You may find me rather difficult to remove." Dinah charged, ready to throw down.

Gotham City

Arkham Asylum

Arkham Asylum. It was built as a safe haven to care for the mentally ill of Gotham City. But over the decades, it committed more patients than they cured. Now, it was considered Gotham's unofficial jail. With supervillains overrunning the city and having insanity as a valid defense, most of them were sent here. While the workers genuinely tried their best to care for their patients, the outright heinous nature of their patients often forced them into cruel acts in order to ensure their own safety.

At first, it seemed it would be a quiet day at the asylum. The patients were behaving themselves or were contained, and it seemed the orderlies and guards would complete their shifts without incident. However, they were not trained to deal with anyone sneaking in.

One guard patrolled hallway as a shadow landed behind him, not making a sound. The shadow rushed and got the guard in an armlock, banging him against the wall. The man turned, but his eyes widened, and felt himself grow sleepy. As he slumped down, a ringed finger grabbed his card key. Itachi looked at it. "Such technology. Meanwhile, we are stuck with metal rods." Itachi looked into one of the cells.

One of the inmates sat on his bed, twiddling his fingers and muttering. He was shirtless, scars covering his body. Judging by the placement and consistent size between them, they were most likely self-inflicted. Itachi inserted the card, and the door opened. The killer known as Zsazz looked at him quizzically, wondering if this was real. "Go on." Itachi prodded him. The man ran past him, ready to wreak havoc.

Itachi looked at another, where it seemed some mud splattered against the glass wall. "What makes that loser so special?!" The glob of clay shouted.

"Nothing." Itachi answered as the alarm went off. "But you are."

He unlocked his cell, and the criminal known as Clayface stepped out. "Why?"

"Because men like you know how to get the Batman here."

Wayne Tower

22:30

The office workers at Wayne Tower gave the owner and CEO a wide breadth as Bruce Wayne himself briskly walked down the hall. He was not known to be especially cruel and inconsiderate of his employees, but the look in his eyes unsettled them. Thankfully, he was able to make it to his private elevator without a single interruption.

As it closed, now confident he wouldn't be listened in on, he unmuted his ear bud. "Has the situation changed?"

"No. In fact…it's no different than before." The commissioner, James Gordon said on the other line. "The orderlies called reporting a riot, but now we can't contact them. And the patients have not made an attempt to escape as far as I can tell…"

As the elevators opened to reveal a dark corridor with the batmobile, Bruce stepped out, the wifi pushing the signal through the deep cave. "Keep your eyes peeled. I'll be there soon." Pressing his palm against a scanner, a tube opened to reveal one of his many bat-suits.

22:45

Batman snuck in through the attic of the asylum. The power was out, and all was silent. Normally that was a VERY bad sign; chances were a lot of people were dead.

Making his way to the main floor, he had to do a double take. The orderlies seemed to be in a trance, and the inmates were doing all sorts of things, dancing, laughing…but they did not go out of their way to harm anyone. In fact, they seemed rather content to just do whatever, oblivious to others around them. He looked to Zazz, carving marks on the wall instead of his body. He walked over, first waving his hand in front of his face, and snapping his fingers. No response.

"They don't know you are here. In fact, at the moment, they're not aware of anything. I gave them a vision of what truly made them happy; they will not interfere. And you won't have the excuse of worrying about them hurting others." Batman turned to see a man in a black cloak with red clouds. His black hair reminded him of the Sasuke kid. In fact… "I hear you have given my brother shelter."

Batman's eyes narrowed under his mask. Sasuke only briefly mentioned Itachi in his testimony, but that was all he needed. "So, you're the one." Batman put his guards up. He wasn't sure if he could take him in a straight fight; the kids were already a challenge. Even he had reason to fear what an adult from the ninja world was capable of. "Why are you here?"

"I bear you no grudge. In fact, if it were up to me, I would have made sure we would never cross paths. But as it is, we must fight!"

"Then you've got it!" Batman rushed forward, trying to tag him with a flying kick to the face. However, he burst into an explosion of crows. "Illusion, maybe?"

"Catch me if you can."

Batman turned to see Itachi in the corner, reforming as the crows coalesced into his form. Batman fired his grappling gun, lifting him to the ceiling and letting him gain the high ground as he kept chasing the ever vanishing Itachi.

Unknown Location

"It has begun." A tall, tan woman said as she looked at the various monitors recording the Akatsuki battles.

"Excellent." Savage said, observing from the comfort of his chair.

His guest, the man in the orange mask, looked on. "I figured our two forces would clash eventually…but for most of these duels, I would put my money on my men."

"Regardless, for now we need the League alive. And don't underestimate them." Savage reminded him. "I have tested them in earnest for years. I have found they're most powerful where often they're most vulnerable…and the heroes who should be very mortal often prove to be the most unpredictable of all."

"What of the others?" The masked one asked.

"The Lanterns and Hawks are off world. Sivanna is currently occupying Captain Marvel, and Fate will not intervene unless the entire world is at stake. I do not foresee any interference. Besides, our main goal…" He looked to a monitor, indicating a tsunami heading for Happy Harbor. "…is to flush the real obstacles out."

The masked one said nothing; he felt the jinchuriki would survive this.

Mount Justice

UTC 23:300

One hour. That's what Sakura told herself when she sat down with the boys. It was already four since she joined, only stopping for a walk outside and once that hour was up, they were back to the console. "You're really getting into this, Sakura-chan." Naruto noted.

"It's more fun than I thought." Sakura said, not taking her eyes off the screen.

Naruto's character, a man with shades, suddenly did the splits and punched Sakura's character, a blond lady, between the legs. "Ohohoh!" Naruto tried to suppress a laugh. "Sorry, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura, however, just shook the controller; Wally was concerned that she would really break it. "Oh, you're going to pay for that, baka!"

The lady on screen suddenly grabbed the man and elbowed him across the jaw; the game took time to go into x-ray mode and show his jaw shatter. The woman then landed several punches across the sternum and followed with a kick, the game showing the man's lungs being punctured. The woman then pulled out a bowie knife, and threw it right where he hit her earlier. They had x-rays for that part too, much to Naruto's horror. And somehow, it seemed that was NOT the end of his character's life. "Finish him!" The tv shouted. The woman then took out some powder, blew it into her opponent's face…and he was reduced to a smoldering skeleton. "Sonya Blade wins!"

"Shannaro!" Sakura shouted in triumph, jumping up and down on the couch.

Naruto just looked like his soul was sucked out, his skin white as a sheet. "Why does this game give me the bad feeling Sakura will do that to me for real if I'm not careful?"

"I think you made your point, Sakura." Wally noted.

Suddenly, the alarms went off. The teens got up, wondering what was happening. "Are we under attack?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Attention everyone!" Aqualad announced over the speakers.

"We have a situation!" Aqualad warned them as he stared intently at the radar. " A tsunami has been detected, and it's heading our way! Everyone, take cover and brace yourselves!"

"Aw man!" Wally groaned as he dropped his controller. "That's 30 bucks wasted!" He scooped up Naruto and Sakura, running towards high ground, leaving them on one of the outcroppings inside the cave.

Superboy also jumped into the cave, digging deep into the rock. Artemis shot a trick arrow, embedding it into the roof and lifting her clear off the floor. Zatanna cast a levitation spell, lifting her high into the air, while Sasuke ran up the walls of his own volition. Just in the nick of time, as the water rushed in.

Though Aqualad was aquatic, the force could have still slammed him hard into the wall, and he braced himself with a pillar. When it finally subsided, the entire floor of the cave was submerged, even worse than the time Tornado's robot siblings invaded the cave.

"Kalduron!" M'gann swam in front of him, having changed her form into an almost mermaid-like form, her legs having fused into a tail and her neck sporting gills. "Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine, M'gann!" Aqualad said as he swam towards her.

"This shouldn't be happening!" M'Gann said. "I know this region of the world almost NEVER gets tsunamis!"

"Then this was forced!" Aqualad said. "And the only force that could make this…is Atlantis!"

Out in the bay, a large platform rose to the surface. Ocean Master, along with some of his rogues, stared ahead at Happy Harbor. The tsunami was large, but not enough to completely submerge the tiny isle. Still, the citizens would be in a panic, and the Team was most likely all his now. "Focus our attacks on the mountain!" He pointed his trident towards Mount Justice. 'But if anyone interferes, feel free to kill them at your leisure!" His henchmen, all in atmospheric suits to help them breathe on the surface, pounded their chests, and swam towards the target.

Ocean Master sighed as he thought of one member of the team in general. "Well, Kalduron. I have been hoping to pay you back for robbing me of that which is rightfully mine." His trident crackled with electricity as he held it close to his face. "And my Atlantis will have no room for half-breeds."

Generally, it is a strict personal policy of mine to not talk politics on my fics. After all, most of you are not here for that and I'm no policy maker.

But recent events, namely the shooting in Ulvalde, have pretty much forced me to speak my mind on the issue. I know there was another terrible shooting the week before and another after, and when they blend together that just proves how exhausting the whole thing has become.

I can't really say anything that hasn't been said before in regards to empathy for the victims and their families. I feel that seeing children, not young adults, but CHILDREN gunned down has brought more people together than previous shootings, but it is a terrible thing we even had to reach that point.

For the record, I'm not for a BAN on firearms. I think they should be regulated like cars though. Get insurance, register ammo, whatever. I can't say any one policy will stop all shootings, but there was no reason for an unstable 18 year old to just walk up and buy military-style weapons.

There's a bunch of pivots on the issue, and in the broadest sense I can say, many countries with stricter gun laws have as much if not more freedoms than the US, and many countries with oppressive regimes allow their privileged citizens to own firearms. If nothing else, the policies of Switzerland are worth a look.

And many will picot this to mental health, which, to be fair, was a major factor for Uvalde. We can certainly address that too. My issues with this are twofold: one, it implies everyone with mental health problems is a killer that needs to be locked up before they commit a crime, and two, these politicians who bring it up frequently cut funding to mental health programs.

Nothing was more infuriating in Ulvade though than the cops who just stood out there while the shooter did his work, caring more about protecting themselves than children. They had the gear to deal with such a shooter, they trained for this, and win their citizens needed them most, they did nothing. I do not wish for anyone to go head on into a suicide mission, but police work will always carry a risk of death, and if lives are in immediate danger, there is no excuse not to act.

To my surprise, congress actually did pass a bill in response to these events. From what I've heard, it's pathetic and toothless but I'll take any start we can get. Unfortunately, I fear it will take having something terrible happening to our politicians to force them to act appropriately.

For maybe one final thing to say on the matter, people have focused on either arming themselves or simply fleeing the country so they don't have to risk their children's lives over what is supposed to be routine. It's a sad sight, and unfortunately both are responses to the symptoms and not the problems.

I really don't know what else to say. I guess just stay safe, seek whatever kind of help you can and don't fear whomever you deem to be "the other".