From Down Below

"Ugh… I'm so boooored." The pale woman said as she laid around, hardly doing anything at all. "There's nothing good to do right noooow."

Today was the fourth day into Harley's little vacation after getting out of the hospital, while it was two days after the big reveal on her puddin's past. It was honestly a lot to take in for her as a lot of information was given. She understood on how odd, sad, and interesting Naruto's past was and it made her feel closer to the love of her life.

But that's besides the point at the current moment…

Even though Harley enjoys having a good week off from work, outside from being at the hospital for obvious reasons, she feels that it is making her lazy to some degree. Most people would agree that if they are not working for a given amount of time, it'll be hard for them to fully do well when getting back on the clock. There wasn't much for her to do at all really with not knowing on how to properly kill off the rest of her little vacation without being bored to death.

Sure she had a really good shopping spree with her puddin yesterday and shared several kisses throughout the experience. But something seemed off to her during that time. Harley then realized that it was because that she was wearing a lot of makeup to cover up her pasty white skin that wasn't covered up by her clothes. She even brought Naruto to a lingerie store to show off her impressive figure in varying attires to get a good laugh and rise out of the whiskered male. But with the current makeup on, it would've ruined a lot of the experience to show off the horrid lines and smears. And she couldn't go out in public without the makeup on or else things would be hard to blend right in.

'Though it was rather sweet of puddin on cheering me up.' She thought as she stared up at the ceiling of her apartment. 'With taking me out to see a movie and having a nice lunch.'

When that day was done and over with, Harley had the small idea of possibly seeing if she could spend time with her foster nieces for today. She had checked, but Paula told her former student that she, the kids and her husband Lawrence were going to be spending the day together since he came back from an out of town job. The intern wished them luck on having fun, but this left Harley nothing to do at all.

After talking to her neighbor, she called Selina if she wanted to do anything for the day. Unfortunately for her, the environmentalist had to go to a lunch party and sneak in so she could get some donations for this one cause she wants to currently help out on. Harley tried watching shows, but they were boring reruns and the movies at her place didn't seem to spark her interest at the current time.

Even reading couldn't pick up her spirits at all.

*Sigh* "I don't know what to do." She muttered before grabbing the fox plushie by her side. "What do you think I should do foxy?"

'Maybe call your puddin and see if he has any free time.' Foxy spoke out inside of her crazed mind.

Meet Foxy the Pirate plushie, Harley's gift from Naruto during their arcade time together. He wasn't much honestly, asides from a little comfort to the Arkham intern. But after her little accident, Harley seemingly hears Foxy inside of her head and tends to help out every so often on ideas and whatnot. Although in reality, he's apart of her mind taking form to help repair some of the damage caused by the Joker's torture.

Something to help cope with life's traumas. Something like an imaginary friend Harley used to have named Delirium of all things. She was there for her after Ino died and had been her friend for the longest time, but left before the pale intern became a teenager. Delirium was fun to play with like how crazy and interesting she was.

*Gasp* "That's a great idea!" The intern said as she hugged the living stuffing out of her little fella. "You're the best plush ever!"

'Yeah well don't try to suffocate me to death Harl.' He said getting Harley to pull away and look at her little friend oddly.

"But you don't have lungs."

'...True.'

Once placing Foxy down, Harley called her puddin's cell and waited for him to answer.

"Come on. Pick up, pick up, pick uuuuuupppah."

"Hey Harley. What's up?"

*Giggles* "Nothing but the ceiling baby."

*Chuckles* "Cute. So what's going on? Need something?"

"Well~ I was wondering if you have any plans this evening." She said with a hopeful tone. 'Please let it be no! Let it be no!'

'He probably does Harl.'

'Shut up Foxy! Don't jinx it!'

"I actually don't have any at all this evening." He said getting to fidget a little in her seat. "Why you ask?"

"Ummm…. I was wondering…. If you'd like to cash in that dinner rain check you promised me." She said while playing with her hair in a nervous fashion.

Nothing was said on the other end as Harley guessed her puddin was thinking things over. The anticipation was killing her with the silence. She wanted a good answer to make her day better.

"Sure Harley. I'd actually like that." Her boyfriend said making her silently cheer in her seat. "We wouldn't actually be dating if I didn't take you out on dates now would I."

"Yes. Yes we wouldn't." Harley said before thinking to herself. 'Gah! Why'd I say that?! I might end up ruining things!'

'And you said that I might jinx things.' Foxy spoke with a little snicker.

'Foxy… Don't make me put you in the closet.'

'...I'll be good.'

"Besides, I did promise you that we would go to that one chinese restaurant. So we might as well do that."

"That's great! So what time will you pick me up?"

"Eh… Probably around 7, 7:30."

"Great! I'll see you then!" Harley before she hung up her phone and jumped in absolute joy. Even much so that she ended up picking up Foxy and flung him all over the place. "THE HILLS ARE ALIVE!~"

'Oh god *Hurk* I'm going to throw up.'

"But you don't have a stomach."

'It's in here somewhere you know.' He retorted before bringing back to the topic at hand. 'Well it seems that you've got your date for the evening.'

"Yes! I know Foxy and I could die and go to heaven right now!" 'Please don't.' "And it won't matter since it's perfect right now."

'You say that now with it being perfect, but you need to realize one thing.'

"...Which is what exactly?"

'You need to figure out what to wear.' He commented getting Harley to freeze in place. 'Not only that, but something that helps out in your skin problem.'

Hearing this made the pale woman's eye twitch before she groaned out in the realization Foxy brought upon her. Harley then ran towards her closet where all of her clothes were kept so she could find the perfect dress for the evening. Part of her kept going through dresses that would fit her current pale skin tone while another went with her previous creamy one.

*Groan* 'I know that I really want to wear some of these really pretty ones with my pale complexion, but that would make people stare at me in response.' She thought before looking at the other pile of clothes she had made in her assortment. 'With those, they worked well with my previous skin tone, but it'll be a complete pain to apply makeup in some of those hard to reach spots.'

'Then might I suggest something Harl.'

"What is it Foxy?!" She snapped at the fox plushie with her mind mostly focused on the dresses laid in front of her on the bed. "Don't you see that I need a lot of my attention on this. I want this date to be perfect."

'I know and that's what I'm trying to help you on.' Foxy stated before speaking once more. 'So I'm suggesting the one dress over yonder in the closet. I believe it still fits. It's appropriate for any good restaurant, and it helps cover your back unlike the other dresses you currently have.'

Harley did as she was mildly instructed by looking at said dress. It seemed hanging by it's lonesome in the closet and she was surprised she didn't even touch it while finding a good dress for tonight. If she remembered correctly, she wore it a few years back and didn't wear it since.

So without any hesitation, she quickly changed into said dress before modeling herself in front of her mirror. It was a short, dark red (almost black), asymmetrical, sleeveless dress that's split up the right side and has a black collar. There were faint, decorative black swirls covering the left side of the dress and continue up the left side.

"I-It's perfect." She said as she visualized herself in her previous skin tone. It even works well with her current one.

'You can thank me later if you want Harl.' Foxy said as he was seemingly ignored with the pale woman continuing her inspection for any little imperfections. 'So if you're done, what are you going to do about the rest of your time until your date?'

"What do you mean?"

'Well… You have roughly nine hours until your boyfriend picks you up.' He spoke getting the intern to know the plushie was right. 'So I'll ask again. What are you going to do for the rest of your time until then?'

As she pondered at this, her eyes drifted onto the various things around her bedroom to see if it'll preoccupy her time until the big date. There were the books, magazines and newspaper clippings she had lying around instead of being in her living room; all of the dresses she'll need to put away, her old costume, her research notes…. Wait. Go back a little….

Her old costume?

"Wow… Haven't seen this in a while." She muttered as she picked up the old Halloween costume she wore a year or so back. Hard to remember when exactly due to obvious reasons. A red and black jester outfit that was a play on her name: the Harlequin. It was entirely out of cloth that shown some little tears here and there, but appeared to still be whole.

As she held it up to herself, the pale woman soon reflected back to when she and the girls were inside of Naruto's mind. Where they ended up seeing their own Heart Platforms respectively. Harley remembered what she looked like on her's specifically on the designs and the material that were probably used to make that outfit. It was truly captivating for her on how unique she appeared to be in it.

'I wonder…' She thought as her eyes caught onto some of the newspaper clippings of her puddin as Vanitas. Little side project of hers after seeing him talk to Magpie for the first time, so she could try and understand him. Harley practically does now after the reveal two days ago, but that's besides the point right now….

What is important were the stray thoughts coming through her head now. And with a growing smile, her eyes gleamed before she shot around the apartment to gather what she needed. Her boredom quickly extinguished as she has work to do now as she thought of one last thing.

'I now know what I'm doing until puddin arrives.'

-Evening-

Don't you hate it when rain seems to come out of nowhere? Well that was the case for the evening as storm clouds started rolling in and started to rain a little while ago. It wasn't really bad per say, but many wished that it wouldn't last too long.

Naruto got out of his car, after parking in the guest spots of the apartment complex, and made his way towards his girlfriend's place. He was currently wearing a blue button up shirt with a black jacket and pants with an umbrella opened up to protect himself, and his date, from the rain. He wanted to make a good impression on their first official date and didn't want to look too good given where they were going.

Once closing the umbrella, Naruto walked up to her door and knocked before hearing her yell out 'Just a minute.' on the other side. Didn't take long as Harley opened the door, getting him to hold his breath for a brief moment.

Harley was rather stunning with her wearing a short, dark red (almost black), asymmetrical, sleeveless dress that's split up the right side and has a black collar. There were faint, decorative black swirls covering the left side of the dress and continue up the left side. On top of her makeup covering, Harley had some light red mascara with red lip gloss while wearing a few charms on her wrist along with wearing one inch black heels with a matching black purse and jacket she had hanging from her arm.

Honestly, in his opinion, he thought she was rather eye catching with him liking her 'all natural look' (even though it was currently covered up), but she was rather beautiful now. Especially with her dress hugging her form rather nicely to show off her rockin body, with curves in all of the right places, that most women would kill for after years of gymnastics training. With her hair slightly curled on the bottom with the rest straightened out to frame her face.

"Well hello handsome~." Harley said as she looked at her boyfriend's appearance. She soon giggled and spun around a little to get her love to inspect every inch of her. "So… What do you think puddin?"

"I've got to say Harley," he briefly spoke with a small blush gracing his face, "you look very beautiful. *Chuckles* Hell... I can even imagine you now without all that makeup and you would still be a knockout."

The changed intern blushed at this before she hopefully asked him. "Really?"

"Why would I lie Harley?" Naruto spoke with a coy smile that made her heart flutter a little more than before. "I've told you before that you look like an angel to me. Even more so now."

"Th-Thank you very much Naruto." She joyfully said as she fidgeted in her spot. As for what's going inside of her head though…

'Hells yes!' She yelled out as chibi personas of herself were waving victory flags like no tomorrow. 'He loves it! He loves it! Even more that he said that I'm really beautiful!'

The two were about to head out when they heard some people coming up the stairs to the current level.

"...And I told you, we should've left sooner to beat the traffic." Paula's voice called out to signal Harley that the Crock family has returned.

"Well how was I supposed to know there was going to be a few accidents on the way back Paula." A male voice called out with a little hint of damaged cords to it. "We were doing just fine heading back on time like we planned. So at least we got back before it was too late for the girls."

"That's besides the point Lawrence…"

Soon the couple saw Paula, with Artemis in her arms and Jade walking right behind, walking beside a tall strongly-built caucasian male, with an intimidating figure. He has short blond hair and light brown eyes. From what Naruto could tell, the man appeared to to be in his mid-thirties. But the way he held himself with his physical condition, he was possibly older than he appeared to be. Another thing the former shinobi noticed was that he was possibly sending off signals of her personality being arrogant, cocky and blunt.

*Groan* "Will you two please quiet down? My head has been killing me from you two arguing." Jade muttered as she was rubbing her head.

"Oh pipe down little girl." The man said with a roll of his eyes. "You'll get that out of the way soon enough once inside." His eyes soon landed upon the couple standing in the hallway, getting the man to raise a brow at the man standing beside his neighbor. "Who the hell are you?"

Hearing this, Paula looked over and noticed Harley was dressed up beside Naruto. Given the way the two were dressed gave the Vietnamese woman the idea that the two were finally going out on a date. So with a small chuckle, she decided to speak towards them.

"Hello Harley, Naruto."

"Hey Paula." The two spoke at the same time before they looked at each other for a brief moment. Harley then took over and spoke towards her neighbor. "Hope you guys had fun today."

"It was pretty good to say the least." Her former teacher stated before continuing. "Though some moments could've been better."

*Scoffs* "Like I told you before Paula, that one jerkwad was being unfair at the stands." Her husband said as he watched his language a little with their kids present.

"Yet you had to threaten him Lawrence?" She responded back with a raised brow.

"Whatever." The now identified Lawrence answered before looking back at the silver haired man in the hallway. "And like I said before. Who the hell are you?"

'So this must be Lawrence then.' The publisher thought before he held out his hand towards the man. "Naruto Uzumaki."

Wanting to indimidate the youngster, the blonde grabbed ahold of the offered hand and gave it a very firm squeeze. "Lawrence Crock." The two seemed to hold their ground as both were not backing down. "So you're the guy my girls won't shut up about…. And you've got a very good grip there kid."

"Yes well being a business owner, I need to have one hell of a grip." Naruto responded with a smile that seemed to tick off the man a little, but tried to not show it. "And it's nice to know that Harley's 'nieces' are talking about me. Good things I hope."

Knowing what this might lead to, Paula decided to end things here. "Well it's nice to see you again Naruto. So are you two going out now?"

"On a date? Yes Paula." The Uzumaki answered without breaking his grip with the older man. "We were just about to head out."

"That's good to know. And Harley…."

"Yes?"

"You've gotta let me know the details on how your date goes." The mother said with a smile.

"Uh… Yeah. Sure thing Paula." The intern responded back with a nervous chuckle.

"Well come on Lawrence. It's your turn to make dinner for the night since your back in town." Paula said to her husband since she wanted this little 'competition' to end now.

Knowing that he's not going to possibly get any tonight if he continues, he ended the little 'gripping match' with a little scowl. "Yeah. Yeah. Well nice seeing you again Harley."

Once the man unlocked the door to his home and entered inside, Paula sighed a little at this.

"Sorry about dad Naruto." Jade spoke out for the first time in the little conversation. "He tends to be rather competitive."

"It's no worries Jade. Dealt with guys like him before. I'm sure I can possibly handle him."

'You say that now…' Paula thought before she felt her youngest stir in her arms.

"Are we home yet mommy?" Artemis spoke out in a tired tone.

*Chuckles* "Yes we are Artemis. So it's time for you to try and wake up when possible."

"Okay." The young girl mumbled before drifting back to sleep.

"Well ain't that cute." Naruto muttered at the site before he addressed the conscious Crock women in the hallway. "Well it's nice seeing you two and hope you have a good night."

"You as well."

"See you around Naruto." Jade spoke out as she and her mother went inside of their home with the dozed off Artemis in tow.

"Well we should get going now Harley." The former shinobi said as he held out his arm towards his date. "Got a reservation at the place you requested and hope we can get there in time."

"Yes. Lets." Was all she said as she wrapped her arm around his as they went down the stairs and into the parking lot. He opened up his umbrella for her so the rain won't damage any of the makeup covering up her pale skin. Once inside of his car, Naruto drove off towards their destination.

-Shun Lee West Restaurant, Chinatown-

It had taken them less than half an hour to reach their destination. It would've taken longer with some reported accidents along the way, but Naruto knew his way around to get there quick enough. Although… the publisher did have to park his car in the border of chinatown and the Theatre District so the two would walk the rest of the way back….

Not that Harley minded with her hugging close to her puddin and being quite the gentleman escorting her towards the restaurant.

As they got there, Harley rather surprised in where they were eating tonight. From what she knows about the place, it was a high-end Chinese fare in a semi-formal atmosphere that draws pre-Lincoln Center diners to this fixture. It was an interesting look when getting inside seeing it being pretty packed due to how popular the place was.

Naruto stepped up towards the receptionist desk and addressed the hostess currently present. "Excuse me."

"Yes. Welcome to the Shun Lee West. How may I help you sir?" The hostess answered.

"I've got a table for two under Uzumaki." He said to get the hostess to look over the schedule. "I was wondering if it was available right now."

"Well good that you've come in sir, but the table won't be ready for a few minutes." The employee stated getting the publisher to nod at this. "I'll be sure to let you know when it's ready though."

"That's fine." Naruto said as he escorted Harley by one of the chairs nearby as the two waited. Nothing was said between the two for that time as they were doing their own thing. From Naruto scanning the area due to his old shinobi/intern habit to Harley nabbing a few mints to freshen her breath more.

It wasn't long till they were called by the hostess, who led them to their table.

"I hope this table is to your liking." The hostess said as she presented the table to Naruto and Harley.

"Yes it is and thank you." Naruto said as he saw the hostess place the menus on the table before leaving. The Uzumaki then pulled out a chair for Harley and scooted her in once she sat down before he took his own seat.

"I've gotta say puddin, but this wasn't what I was expecting for our first date in where we would be going to."

"And was there any other nice chinese restaurants in chinatown to do good business meals from time to time?" He rhetorically asked with a small smile. "Not really as I could tell, but this place is a good as place as any in my book."

"So since you've been here god knows how many times, what seems good to have Naruto?" Harley asked as she opened up her menu to scan its contents.

"In my experience here, I would always switch things up from the varied dumplings and the dan dan noodles for an appetizer while other items are great to have for the entree." Naruto briefly listed before quickly adding something to her. "Though I recommend staying away from the tongue and lamb meals. My personal preference of course."

"That's fine." She simply replied with a shrug.

As she went through the menu, there were several things she wanted to talk to Naruto about. But with the place being very packed, she didn't want anyone to hear into their conversation. Especially with what topics she wanted to discuss.

It didn't take long though for a waitress to appear and asked for orders. Both of them requested waters with lemon and lime along with different dumplings for starters. After that, they ordered their meals respectively while Harley asked for the waitress' opinion on a few just to be sure. Once she was gone, it left the two all by themselves.

"So... just asking this out of the blue, but how's work coming along lately?"

Hearing Harley's question, Naruto quickly replied back to her. "Not all that bad really. Just going over different articles as of late for the next issue of our magazine while getting some books processed to be sold in stores."

"Like what exactly?"

"A new, promising writer with a book titled 'A Man with Two Souls' and the latest book from Robert Jordan with his Wheel of Time books. With the former, it was an interesting concept and thought it was interesting, especially with my experience having 'multiple personas' if you know what I mean."

"Great to know." She said as the waitress came back with some waters before leaving again. "There are other things that I'd like to discuss, but…"

"But what Harley?"

"Well… I don't want other people to hear by accident." She admittedly said getting her boyfriend to look at her for more on this. "Some topics I'd want to talk about seem a bit personal within our little circle."

Naruto nodded at this and brought a hand up to 'scratch his chin', but the changed intern saw a faint glow coming from his hand before it expanded and seemingly disappeared from her view.

"Now we have the privacy we need till our waitress comes back with our appetizers and entrees." He said getting a wide eyed look from the intern.

"What was that?"

"Huh?" He asked in a playful tone that seemed to bug her a little.

"What was that thing you just did with your hand?"

"Oh that. *Chuckles* Well I had put up a silencing field around us." He said before explaining a little to her. "I've told you yesterday during your shopping spree that I lost my chakra abilities when I came to this world right? Well I got something in return that deals with a 'Void' of sorts." 'Among other things.' "And what I just did was one of the abilities. So no one outside of our tables won't hear a thing from us unless they are within the 'bubble' I made."

Hearing this made Harley adopt a thinking pose as she thought of various possibilities onto what that kind of ability could do exactly. Some were interesting on the concept while others seemed to numb her brain. Knowing that thinking too much on this would get things too complicated, she decided to move onto what she wanted to talk about.

"Well that's a useful thing to have."

"Though 'silencing' my alarm clock without knowing made me late for work one time was not fun at all." He offhandedly said causing her to giggle a little at this.

"I bet. So with this 'bubble' of yours up, we can talk really privately right? Well I'd like to know how Red is right now. With the stuff with getting her old job back and whateva."

"Well…. She's doing alright for starters." The publisher stated as he leaned back a little in his seat. "Been preoccupying herself since yesterday morning from unpacking her belongings, updating her resume to connecting herself with her powers to get a better feel of things."

"Like what puddin?"

"Talking to Yggdrasil and seeing what else could be done for herself. Other than that, I have no clue." Naruto finished explaining as the waitress came over to drop off the dumplings.

"And what about your other job?" Harley asked as her eyes started to sparkle a little in excitement. "I bet it's really exciting."

"It… Well…. It has it's moments." The publisher stated before going into detail on some past patrols.

As this was going on, a little meeting was taking place in a far corner of the establishment. It was dimly litted as two people were privately chatting with one another. Although in one part of the table was seemingly darker due to the person's placement.

"...So… How's your progress coming along with bringing Mr. Wayne to one of our 'club meetings'?" The darker man spoke out before taking a sip of his drink.

"Not doing so well as I have hoped sir." A female voice spoke with some frustration laced in her tone of voice. "He keeps coming up with excuses into not coming along whenever I invite him."

"Another attempted failure it would seem." The man said as he took a bite from his meal and chewed it for several moments before swallowing. "Though I have told you several times doctor, that you mustn't put too much pressure into making him come along. Even if it's just one time."

"I know that sir."

"Then again, for example, you offered the same offer to Mr. Uzumaki one too many times, in rapid progression mind you, to make him not interested into coming along."

"The opportunity presented itself sir and I wanted to take the chance." She said in her defence.

"A chance to take hold of an upcoming, influential man. Yes, I know of that. Yet you didn't properly prepare to slowly influence him." The darkened man pointed out as he slowly crumbled the woman's defence. "So, in the end, you have possibly costed us a valuable piece for our group."

Knowing that her superior was right, all that she could only do was nod and accept her little consequences. "I understand that sir, but I assure you that I will make up for this by bringing in Bruce into our cause."

"I hope so… for your sake Dr. Ravencroft." The man said towards the now identified Bethanie Ravencroft. "Now moving onto other matters Bethanie. How's progress coming along in repeating the results from Margaret Sorrow?"

Bethanie could only shake her head as she took a bite out of her meal so she could think of a way to report this correctly. Once swallowing, she decided to bluntly state it. "It's not doing all that well I'm afraid."

"Explain."

"As you may have remembered that my former partner, Joe Braxton, was the one that majorly designed and created the device into taking away and returning one's memories. All of his blueprints for the prototype were destroyed when I went back to look for them at the psychiatric hospital. Margarette apparently stole them from Joe and when the workers at Arkham searched her, they saw burnt up pieces of the blueprints on her person and they threw it away. Though from what reports were told by one of our men stationed there stated Margarette attempted to reverse what was done to her and things didn't go all that well in the end."

"Hmm… I understand that, but was there any success in making a new one?" The man questioned, only for Bethanie to shake her head once again.

"Not good ones apparently from what I've done to help out sir. I only knew so much from the original blueprints, but with Joe's mind gone it would take a miracle for him to remember."

"I see." The man simply said in a calculating tone. "It seems that we'll need to procure Ms. Sorrow, one way or another, and get the information from her. Even if I'll have to procure her myself if I have to."

Hearing this made the woman stiffen a little before questioning her superior. "Are you sure that's wise sir? I mean, I don't know if you should-"

"I'm very aware of this doctor and I might be able to save you time if I have to."

"How so."

"Thats for me to know and for you to later find out my dear. But until then, just focus on getting Wayne to the Argus Club when possible."

"Of course." Bethanie said as she silently ate her meal while thinking of ways on how to bring Bruce to the Argus Club. As she did this, she missed the look on her superior's face as he gazed at a peculiar publisher and his date eating and chatting with each other.

'Hmm… Seems I might have an idea for a later time.' The man thought as his gaze focused more on the publisher's date. Several thoughts were going through his mind as his eyes seemed to narrow behind his circular bifocals before the man went on with his own meal for the evening.

-On the streets, Theatre District-

By the time the couple left the restaurant, the sky started to clear up with the only evidence of the rain was the various puddles lying in the streets and sidewalks. The two were glad that their date had seemed to go without a hitch and they might be able to relax for the rest of the evening. Even walking back towards Naruto's parked car helps to burn off the food in their stomachs.

"This has been a great night so far." Harley said as she hugged her puddin's arm.

"That it has Harley. That it has." Naruto said while the two were walking around the puddles on the sidewalk. Even the publisher making small barriers so that any water from the street won't splash onto them so it won't ruin Harley's makeup disguise. "Nothing could ruin this night. I'm sure of it."

"My purse!" A woman yelled out getting the couple's attention. "Help! Thief!"

"You were saying puddin."

Seeing her slightly deadpanned look, he gave out a sheepish chuckle before he looked around for anyone nearby. With no one close enough; he fazed his arm out of Harley's grasp, much to her disappointment, before running into a nearby alley and formed his Vanitas attire so he can catch the thief. Naruto then ran out and jumped on top of the various cars to make it towards the other side.

Once getting there, he saw a small cloaked figure run further in before coming into a complete stop. It was like the person was lost and didn't know where to go exactly. Of course a police car soon drove its way into the alleyway and almost hit the cloaked person, if said person didn't jump out of the way in time. But this didn't stop the car from stopping as it was heading straight towards the black and white themed hero.

"Oh shit!" Naruto cried out as he jumped high into the air so the police vehicle wouldn't hit him. This caused the driver to swerve a little for the person's surprise of one of Gotham's heroes in being right in front of him moments ago. As soon as the vehicle stopped, the occupants got out of the car and started to search.

"Leprechaun's and Vanitas." One of the cops spoke out as he and his partner was looking through the alleyway with their flashlights. "What is this city coming to?"

High above them, Naruto was hanging onto the side of the building with his clawed fingers dug deep into the bricks. He had picked up on what the one officer said due to his enhanced audio receivers in his helmet. Though the bit about him and the leprechaun's seemed odd enough for him to see more on this later tonight.

But for now… he needed to finish up his date.

-Harley's Apartment-

"Leprechaun's Naruto!" The pale intern cried out inside of her apartment, now out of her makeup and in a pair of pajamas. "Actual leprechauns."

"I wouldn't say actual leprechauns Harley." The publisher said as he was sitting on his girlfriend's couch. "I would say little person really. Midget would make things too insulting."

After the failed attempt of stopping the purse snatcher, he made a clone and had it search around for any sign of the supposed leprechaun. There was no such luck in that department. Though when Naruto told Harley about it, who was a little miffed that she was left behind like that, she instantly cheered up on the idea that a leprechaun was in the city.

"But weren't you listening Naruto?! Actual leprechauns are in Gotham!" She joyfully said as she started to imagine seeing tiny green men with varying hordes of loot hidden away. "Do you think that when we catch one of them, we'll get his or her pot of gold?"

"Ehhhhhhh….."

"Or. Or what if that gold was invisible? Would it still be valuable?"

…..He didn't know what to say as the Uzumaki just gave her an odd look as a response.

"Oh. Oh. What about capturing one of them and cutting the person open and see if the leprechaun is actually made out of Lucky Charms?"

Now at this point, Naruto's mind seemed to go to a grounding halt with what Harley was implying. "Uh… Harley."

"Yes puddin?"

"Are you alright?"

"Why yes I am." She said in a chipper tone. "Why you ask?"

"Well… You… Were talking about leprechauns, their gold and wanting to see if they were made out of Lucky Charms."

"Really? I was?" She questioned with a tilt to her head.

'Yes Harl. You were.' Foxy spoke out getting Harley to look at the plushie nearby her puddin. 'Though I must say, it was rather dark on what you were possibly planning to do there.'

"Hehe. Sorry on that." The intern said as she rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish grin. "Didn't know how it came to that."

'You losing all common and rational thought for starters.'

"Shut up Foxy!"

"...Who are you talking to?" Her puddin asked with a raised bow. He looked around and came across the fox plushie nearby and picked it up. "Are you talking to this guy?"

"Got a problem with that?"

"Nope. No problem at all." Naruto said as he placed the plush doll back down. 'She must've had further problems due to the torture than I thought.' He shook his head at this before speaking out. "Well regardless, there's the stuff pertaining to the crime earlier at our date."

"Really? But I thought it was just a simple snatch and steal."

"Well from one of the things Kakashi-sensei has told me is to always look underneath, the underneath. And I think this 'snatch and steal' is not as simple really."

"How so?" She asked as she sat down next to her boyfriend on the couch.

"Well my clone couldn't find the culprit with the person being within the vicinity. But something about this is gnawing at me to investigate."

"Sooooooooooo~ you're going back out?"

He blinked on the way Harley asked this. "Yes…. Why you ask?"

Her response ended up rather energetic as she started hopping on the couch and was repeating the same thing over and over again. "Can I come?! Can I come?! Can I come?! Can I come?!"

"Woah. Hold your horses Harley." He said as he tried to calm her down. "You want to come with to investigate?"

"Uh huh!" She furiously nodded while jumping on the couch. Of course she slipped and fell over, but Naruto caught her in time from the fall. "I wanna come with and help out!"

"I don't know Harley." He stated as it seemed to deflate her from her joyful feeling. "I don't know if it's going to lead to something bad or anything and I don't want you getting hurt."

"But… But…"

"I'm sorry but I don't-"

*Sniffle* *Sniffle*

"Harley?..." He asked in concern seeing his girlfriend's head tucked downwards to not see her facial expression.

"Y-You don't *Sniffle* wanna have me *Sniffle* come?"

"Now Harley…" He tried to say to her, but the moment he saw her eyes he knew he was in for big trouble.

With her beautiful blue eyes building up tears made the ocular orbs much more bright and innocent than from before. Her bottom lip stuck out a little in a quivering motion to add more onto the effect she was giving off. This was something he had only heard about it, never experienced it first hand. Something that would make it impossible to resist and hurt the loved one in the process if he did so…

The puppy dog pout.

"B-But I wanna spend more time with you puddin." She said with a shaky tone that made his heart quake. Wanting to make her happy again. But... he needs to resist… he can't fall for this!

"Please~ Can I come with you?" She asked one more time before a resounding sound of the Foxy plush doll was squeezed out to add more to the blow.

"Gah! I can't take it anymore!" Naruto cried out as had to look away from the truly, evil technique used on him. "Yes! You can come Harley! Just put those eyes away!"

In an instant, Harley went back into her cheerful self like nothing has happened at all.

"YAY! YAY! YAY!" She cried out before bringing her puddin into a bone crushing hug. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"But there's the fact that you don't have a costume." He said to her, making her stop the hugging process. "So unless you have one ready then I'm afraid I can't take you."

He then felt a gust of wind pick up in the apartment to see Harley quickly running into her room. He was confused on how that happened and how she performed the Shusshin technique from back home. Though all other thoughts were crushed down when she seemingly appeared in an odd outfit of sorts.

Harley was dressed in a red and black leotard with on one side was red while the other being black to show the interesting design. The same could be said with the elbow length gloves and knee high boots doing a similar fashion. There were some diamond designs to it, especially with a diamond shaped chest window to show a nice view of her perfect breasts. To top off the rest of the outfit, Harley was wearing a domino mask, purple cape with a hood attached, fishnet leggings, and her hair spray painted with the right side being red while the left being black.

(It's the outfit Harley uses in her team up with Powergirl in new 52. Look it up for a reference. Added the hood and domino mask for added security.)

"Tada!" She presented herself in an odd hero like fashion with the cape somehow fluttering in the back. Though from what Naruto saw behind her, she seemingly had the fan turned on to make that effect happen. "So… Whatcha think Naruto?"

…..

"Loss for words aren't you. Well I'd be surprised if you weren't." She said in a happy tone as she ignored the look he was giving her. "Been drawing out sketches all day, but the ones I liked were too complicated to make within a day. So I went with this one and made it before our date."

"You… What?" He spoke out as he didn't know what was going on. Not only that, but how the hell did she change into that outfit so quickly! But once his mind finished rebooting, one thing came to mind and he ended up voicing it with narrowed eyes. "You planned this didn't you."

"Yeeeeup!" The pale woman declared before a thought came to mind. "Well not the purse snatching thing earlier, just convincing you to let me come paroling with you. Though I didn't expect this to happen so soon."

*Sigh* 'She's probably going to give me a headache by the end of the night.' The publisher thought as he didn't want to disappoint Harley, but she might as well experience some of this now at least. "Alright you can come Harley…"

"Yes!"

"But you've got to follow my lead." He said with a stern tone that made her straighten out. "This is no fun and games Harley and I want to be sure that you do well out tonight. After this though, no more okay? I just don't want you doing this thing and get hurt in the process."

"No problemo honey-poo. I won't let you down."

"Good." Naruto simply said as he formed his hero attire around his body, making Harley's eyes sparkle at the display. "Now we're heading back to the Theatre District for an encore."

Those sparkles from before quickly died out as she gave her boyfriend a flat look.

"What?"

"...That was a horrible pun puddin."

*Sigh* "Let's just go."

-Theatre District-

As the night's been rolling through, water from the streets have been seeping through the sewer gutters for the past several hours. Fresh rain water, despite being contaminated from the dirty streets, came rushing through the sewers below. Some might think the water would automatically hit the filth littered about down below, but something was amiss as placed pipes and channels were fastened. These led towards deeper underground than previously thought, before it eventually entered a large cavern…

A cavern full of children.

Children doing various tasks in the area. From sewing, farming (wondering how that is able to work without sunlight) and stowing the various stolen goods they've pilfered from the streets above. When looking at each and everyone of them, they were practically miserable with what they have been doing for god knows how long. With their dirty bodies, raggedy clothes, and skin tones a shade or two lighter than their normal ones.

Though one particular child seems different from the rest. While the various other children show different ethnicities and their 'normal' physical appearances, this particular child appears to have traits that are very unusual amongst others. With her ashen, light grey skin and her strong shade of purple hair (almost black in most times) to match her wide and beady, innocent purple eyes. But similar to many of the fellow children around her, beneath those innocent eyes hold pain and suffering like all the rest, but possibly much more than that.

Said child was doing her menial task of sewing the various cloths lying about to form the various articles of clothing for her fellow children to wear. She tried her best to make the clothing acceptable as best as possible. But with the continuous wears and tears, it makes it harder each day for the ashen grey girl to sew the holes back up.

As the ashen grey child was working her little fingers to the bone, someone cried out in pain.

"Ow..."

Now normally such a thing wouldn't be too much of a problem. But with how quiet the cavern is, asides from the continuous sounds the children digging through the dirt with their metal shovels and pick axes, the cry of pain resounded throughout the entire area in an echo.

*Sigh* 'Here we go again.' The ashen girl thought before...

*Ding Ding* *Ding Ding* *Ding Ding* *Ding Ding*

...the bell sounded off. It was rather quite loud to echo through the entire cavern. As the bell rung, every child had dropped their current tasks and made their way through the various corridors. Along the way, the ashen girl saw one of the boys that was digging through the dirt have a new injury on him.

'Seems he was the one that cried out.' She thought as she eyed the bandana wrapped around the boy's leg.

The children eventually ended up in a decently lighted room where many candles brightened things up in the darkened environment. In the far off part of the room was a dark haired man, sitting on a makeshift throne wearing Victorian styled clothing with some jewelry here and there to make himself look like royalty. Especially with him having a Victorian styled cloak to add more towards the appearance. Though he had other additions towards his appearance as well from a walking staff of sorts and a pair of glasses with the left lense blackened out for an impromptu eye patch.

This man was known as the Sewer King, the master of these children in the underground, and he seemed rather angry with the ever present scowl on his face.

"Hurry up!" The Sewer King yelled out before getting off of his throne. "Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" His lack of patience was beginning to show before he saw the last of the children enter the room. "Now are all of you ready for your lessons? Yes?"

…..

"Yes I think so. I think so." The man said in a slightly cheerful tone as he paced around seeing all of the children crouched down or kneeling before him. "Well so am I. Your ruler, your teacher, your leader, your king. Ready I am." *Chuckles*

…..

"Yes well for those that have forgotten that lesson number one is… NO! TALKING!" He yelled out in rage making the various children closest to him flinch and scurry back from the man's wrath.

"Children are meant to be seen, not heard. For we are the Underdwellers, the silent ones. For we follow the invisible creed. But, but, but, but, but…. Someone was talking." He then pointed towards the child with the bandana wrapped around his leg with an accusing fashion. "You, you, you, you, you were heard!"

The accused child was shaking like a leaf at this, but the Sewer King wasn't having any of that.

"And we all know of course the punishment is for talking. Don't we boys and girls." The king then grabbed the boy by the hem of his shirt and dragged him along. Knowing what was going to happen, the various boys and girls in the room covered their eyes while others could only look on in pity with the ashen girl being one of them.

"I think he needs to see the light!" The Sewer King yelled out as he opened a metallic door and threw the child inside. That was before he flipped a switch from the outside to turn on the phosphorescent lights. "A few hours in the light would make 'Jack a bright boy'!" With a resounding *Clang*, the door was shut leaving the hurt child in the brightened room. The ruler of the sewers walked back towards his 'subjects' with a small smile on his lips.

"Now lesson number two is… ALL OF YOU UP TO THE STREETS!" The man yelled out before going down to a lower tone of voice. "Bring lots of pretties. Bring lots and lots of pretties for your king. NOW!"

And just like that, the various children ran off as the Sewer King let out a bellowing cackle. The children then gathered their makeshift cloaks before heading towards the various entrances to reach the surface to do their 'king's' bidding and steal from others. They didn't want to do this, but what other choice did they have.

As this was going on, Naruto and Harley were on their way towards the alleyway where the former saw the 'leprechaun' last. The two were previously ridding one of Naruto's Kazekage lances with Harley hugging her boyfriend's form from behind. It was quite the experience the changed intern was having of being high in the sky. Seeing what her lover got to see for a while now was rather breathtaking.

The ride eventually came to an end when Naruto landed a few blocks away from the last known location. She wondered why he didn't just land closer to their designated spot. But he stated that since it's her first patrol, they might as well do it in a bit of the old fashion way: walking, climbing and going in stealthily.

"You know Naruto," Harley grunted out as she was climbing over a wooden fence, "it would've been better if you landed us in an alleyway that didn't have all of these *Grunt* fences."

"Well it wouldn't be as challenging if obstacles weren't in the way Harley." Naruto stated as he was on the other side waiting on her. "Also couldn't you use some of your gymnastics training to just jump over the past several ones."

*Grunt* "Well you could've told me that earlier." She said before jumping down from the top. Of course there was a bit of snag in that action as the end of her cape got caught by the top of the fence. This caused her to get strangled by her own cape and start fidgeting around.

"Geh! GAH! NOT LIKE THIS! NOT LIKE!" She yelled out as her pale face started to quickly gain a shade of blue due to the lack of oxygen she was getting.

"Harley!" The masked publisher yelled out as he quickly grabbed his girlfriend and phased her out of her predicament. "Okay that's it! No more cape for you! This thing is too much of a hinderance."

It was true. When Harley was getting past some of the previous fences, she ended up getting her cape snagged one way or another. With the first, it got snagged closer to the bottom half of the fence causing her to be pulled back when walking away. The second wasn't really snagged, but Harley landed on a crouch and she stepped onto her cape and fell back in the process when standing back up. The last one made her trip and smacked her head against the nearby wall.

"I'm sorry puddin, but Batman and Robin made the cape look cool to wear." She spoke out once she regained her breath. "I'd thought that I could've handled wearing it, but I have no idea how they gotten used to it after all their time as heroes."

"Maybe capes were their thing." Naruto stated with a shrug before he looked around to see their location. "Okay we're close. Just one more block to go and if I know this area correctly we can just run the rest of the way without anything blocking our way."

"That's good to know."

It didn't take long for them to reach their destination. By the time they got there, they looked towards one end of the intersecting alleyways to see where the theft happened during their date. Knowing that they were in the right place, Naruto activated the the multivision function on his helmet to find any clues his clone couldn't do before.

It was a stupid thing really that his clone couldn't have any of the tech on him. So if he wanted his future clones to have the tech, he'll need to work more on them. But getting back to business…

"Huh… Should've realized there was a door here."

"What was that puddin?" Harley asked as she saw her boyfriend place his hand on a section of brick wall. Once doing so, he pushed hard to get the wall to give way and fall back to give the two a clear path. "Oh, nevermind."

"You better stay close to me Harley." He said as he pulled out a flashlight from his utility belt before handing it to her. "Don't want us to get separated wherever this leads to."

"Right."

The two carefully made their way through the steep decline for a few minutes before coming onto flat ground. It took a bit more as they were making their way through the underground access tunnels that seemed to be connected to the hidden entrance from earlier. As Harley was using her flashlight to keep track of her puddin, part of the light seemed to hit a message on the wall right next to her.

"Beware the Sewer King?" Harley read out loud getting Naruto's attention.

"Perhaps a leader of homeless people here in Gotham." The publisher guessed as he kept moving forward. They continued onward with their trek before the sounds of the subway started to echo throughout the darkened corridor. This gave the masked Uzumaki a better pathway on where to possibly go to next. It even helped when the two saw bright lights on the end of the tunnel to get them to realize they were almost out of the hidden passage way.

Though once they got past the large grate, their pathway through the subway tunnel came to an end when they were met with a deadbolted door.

"Huh… Same writing on the door." The intern commented as the flashlight landed on the spray painted lettering getting the former shinobi to frown a little. "Seems we might be close to something." He didn't say anything as he summoned a card into his hand and sliced through the doorknob to give the two access through the locked doorway.

At this time, the ashen girl was walking through her own pathway as she exited through a metallic door. As per usual habit, she looked around to see any of the subway workers were present before she continued onward. By the time she was ready to hop on down to the tracks below, she heard her makeshift alarm made out of cans to make her realize someone was coming.

"Why are there cans here?" A female voice called out getting the ashen girl to know her assumptions were true. So the ashen girl ran off to possibly get away from the possible intruder. "Hey look. Someone's down there."

"I see that." A male voice responded. "Come on."

She needed to get away and she didn't know what would happen to her if they caught her. With what the Sewer King has done in terms of convincing her and the other children, she was scared that she'd get extremely hurt when someone found her. So she ducked into a small hole and crawled on through the watery pipe until she made it out to the other side where the deadbolted door was located. Once making past that, she looked back to see if the people following her lost track of her….

Only to find that they were a few steps away from her.

"Hold on a second kid." The darkened man spoke out, making the ashen girl really startled underneath her hood. "We aren't going to hurt you."

*WOOO WOOO*

But the sound of the subway train startled the girl more as she tripped onto the cloak she wore and fell back onto the train tracks below. She soon got back up, but saw the incoming train and stood there in fright. Even more so that the train's body was soon replaced by a fiery ball with the train light's turning into four yellow eyes. The ashen girl didn't know what to do as she stood there helplessly for what might be her demise.

"PUDDIN!" The girl heard as she was pushed aside and fell down off of the tracks with a larger body on top of her. She didn't know what to do exactly as she wanted to run away, despite being saved by the stranger, but the person had a firm grip around her body.

"Hey it's okay little one." The man spoke in a comforting tone. "It's alright. You're safe now."

The girl wanted to get out of the man's hold, but something about the man seemed odd to her. Something that she hasn't felt in a long time. So as the girl was trying to figure out what this was, the person from above came down and walked towards the man holding the ashen girl.

"What were you thinking Naruto?!" The woman screamed out, making the hooded girl flinch without the other two realizing this. "You could've died!"

"Well what was I supposed to do Harley. Let this girl die?"

This seemed to quiet Harley down a little as she seemed uneasy on the response. "I-I'm sorry puddin. I-It was just so sudden and-"

"Don't worry about it honey. What happened, happened." The masked Uzumaki said before he formed a giant playing card right under the three. "Okay. You better get in close since I'm getting us out of here."

Harley did as she was told before they were lifted off of the ground in a slow manner. By the time they reached the ceiling, Naruto used his phasing ability to get everyone on top of the card to go through the street above without a problem at all. The group started to get higher and higher so that no one below wouldn't see the group all that well if they were to be seen down below.

"Harley. Mind taking ahold of her as I properly steer this thing." The pale woman complied as she grabbed ahold of the child under her boyfriend's arm. The ashen girl squirmed a little, but when she saw how far up they were the girl tensed and clung onto the woman holding her.

"Hey it's okay kiddo. Harley's here to help ya." The costumed intern said as she rocked the little child in her grasp. "I'm here and nothing bad is going to happen now. You're safe."

With how soothing the woman's voice was, the warmth and the rocking motions said woman was giving; the ashen girl was starting to drift asleep from how tired she has been feeling for a long time.

-Morning, Naruto's and Pamela's Loft-

The sun's rays started to seep through the curtains of the guest bedroom as they eventually landed upon the sleeping girl's face. Feeling the discomfort of this, the ashen girl covered herself with whatever she had on top of her. But as she did this, she paused in her action before slowly opening her eyes to take in her surroundings.

'This… This isn't the underground.' The ashen girl thought as it took a bit of time for her eyes to adjust to the faint morning light. From what she could tell about the room was that it had a standard plain look on both the walls and furniture. 'Am… Am I home?'

The child then got out of bed and hesitantly walked out of the bedroom with slightly glazed eyes. Everything around her seemed to adjust to things of her memories of her home. But adding to the fact that the place felt warm, truly warm, made the environment more convincing to make the waking dream feel real.

Soon the sounds and smells of cooking filled the air as the ashen girl walked through the small hallway to see the stairs that lead downstairs. Once walking down, the little girl's eyes soon gazed at the figure doing all of the cooking in the kitchen. Seeing her made the little girl's eyes widen when taking in the details of the person's appearance.

The black hair with tinges of purple in the mix that reached towards her mid back, the light creamy skin and the rich purple eyes that were filled with love as the woman was humming a light tune. All of this made the ashen girl's eyes water and become a little shaky with what the child wanted to say. But only one thing came out of her mouth in a faint raspy like whisper.

"Mommy..."

Hearing the girl's voice stopped the woman cooking, as she turned her head towards the stairs. "Oh...You're up already? I'd thought you'd sleep in more."

The girl heard the woman speak towards her and it made her heart beat faster than it was before. She suddenly ran from her placement by the stairs and went towards her 'mother'. Once close enough, the little girl hugged the woman from her current height and gave the person a mild shocked look on what just happened.

"Mommy! You're alive!" The ashen girl cried out as tears streamed down her face.

Now this caused the woman to stand perfectly still, with widened eyes, on what the little girl just said to her. From what the 'mother' could tell from the amount of love radiating off of the girl, made the hugged person's heart clench. She didn't know what to do exactly, but the feeling alone made some instincts slowly come towards the surface for the very first time.

But before anything else could be done…

"Pam!" Naruto spoke out as he walked into the living room with Harley right behind him. "I heard someone shout. Is the little girl awa..ke? Oh…"

When hearing this, the ashen girl broke her hug to look at the new arrival. Before she could speak though, a thought soon came across her mind. 'Wait… My mother's name was Angela... or Arella as she prefers to be called… And this man said 'Pam'.' The child thought before looking towards her 'mother' and saw her form slowly shift to what 'Pam' looked like. Seeing the realization made the girl back off and start to cry a little, making the hugged woman feel uneasy on what's going on.

"Hey it's alright sweetie." Pam said as she tried to calm the little girl down. "It was an honest mistake."

*Sniffle* *Sniffle* "R-Really?"

"Yeah." The botanist replied at the little bit of hope in the young pair of eyes. "Now let's whip you something good for you to eat."

"And I'll help out." Naruto added in as he came up to the little girl before crouching down to her level. "Sorry about earlier little one. We didn't know you were waking up so soon." Seeing her slowly nod at this, the publisher brought out a hand for her to shake. "My name's Naruto. You already met Pam and the other person here is Harley."

The child could only stare when inspecting the man in front of her on his physical descriptions, due to her not getting a better look a bit ago. She did the same towards the redhead before the third person in the room. This soon left the publisher to dropping his hand on the neglected handshake. The changed intern was the one that peaked the child's curiosity the most, due to the woman having deathly white skin.

Of course this little inspection didn't go unnoticed from the intern as she decided to talk towards the child for the first time.

"If you're wondering about my skin sweetie, it's not natural." Harley started off, giving the girl to gain an answer yet a few more questions. "You can blame a certain deranged clown for that, but I won't bore you with the details."

"...Mmm. Okay." The child said in a raspy voice before she was lead by the pale woman towards one of the stools by the kitchen counter where the two continued their little conversation.

As this was going on, Naruto and Pam were making breakfast together.

"...I'm just saying Pam. You looked rather off when I saw little one hug you is all." He said while making the waffle/pancake batter for the current people in the loft.

"I know Naruto, but something about her…" She briefly spoke before taking some moments to think things through while chopping up the ingredients for some omelets. "When she hugged me, mistaking me as her mother… I… I don't know how to describe it."

"How so?"

"I… I think my motherly instincts started up again… Or what I think they are." The botanist said as she tried to think more on her reasoning. "When I saw your memories as a little child, I wanted to hold your younger self and tell him that things were going to be alright. Comforting you and help you through many problems you had to possibly endure."

"Well thanks for that Pam and possibly my younger self would've appreciated it."

"Your welcome, but that's besides the point. When you brought the child in last night… and when I saw her state… She made me think of your younger self."

*Sigh* "Yeah… I know what you mean..."

After getting back from the Theatre District, Pam was in a bit of a shock of seeing Naruto and Harley with a hooded girl with them. Asides from giving Harley an odd look on her current appearance and later questioning, Pam was given details on what happened after the pale woman's date and what lead up to the current moment.

When the three took the hooded child to one of the guest rooms upstairs, they removed the hooded cloaked and were shocked in what they took from the child's appearance. A child no more than nine or ten years old, but it would've been slightly harder to tell due to the how skinny she was. With her ribs and joints were protruded to show the slight malnutritional state the ashen child was in. They wondered how the hell she was able to survive.

But without a second thought, Pam's instincts went on autopilot and she grabbed some flowers nearby and made the serum she made for the three people in their open relationship and injected it into the child. Well after giving the girl a strong sedative from the first aide kit in the loft to deal with the pain that would've awoken the child. She didn't know what came over her, with the two other occupants questioning this, but the botanist didn't want to see this child's current state at all.

"...But something else about her seemed to strike a chord with me."

"How so?"

"Don't know if I told you this or not, but I have a sensory ability that I'm still trying to work on." Naruto started off before getting into a little explanation with bringing this skill up. "On the way over here last night, I was feeling something from the girl that, for some reason, seemed rather familiar with me. It was like Kurama's power, yet different. It was faint enough for me to notice and the power alone was trying to keep the girl alive."

"So she's like you in a way?" Pam asked as she was finishing up the omelets for the current occupants in the loft.

"Maybe, but I don't want to dwell too deep into this right now." Naruto stated as he was pouring the batter into the waffle iron. "Right now, I just want to make the girl happy before I ask her to help me out on who did all that to her."

Before Pam could say anything, the door to the loft was opened up showing Selina with what appeared to be several bags of clothing.

"What's with those Selina?"

"Well you can thank Harley for calling me this morning." The ravenette started out before closing the door and locking it. "She asked me to go to the marketplace that sells clothes and get some child outfits. Was rather skeptical on it, but Harley told me the details and I complied."

"And when was this Harley?" Naruto asked since he didn't know his pale girlfriend did this without him knowing.

"When I had to go use the little ladies room." She responded back with a shrug. "Didn't want you hearing that and wanted to give you the surprise."

"Which, by the way, you owe me."

"Oh don't worry Selina, I plan on paying you back." The intern responded back with an uncaring wave.

The little girl could only stare onwards towards the incoming ravenette before said woman placed the bags of clothing on the ground. "So… I finally get to meet you, little one. If you haven't already guessed, my name is Selina."

"H-Hello." The ashen girl said with little hesitation. Can't really fault her due to interacting with four older strangers all at once.

"So mind telling me your name or do I have to guess." The ravenette said with a small smile since she didn't want to upset and pressure the child. Of course the older woman looked up towards the three other occupants and directed the next thing on her mind towards them. "Unless you three already got her name before I came in."

"I-It's Rachel." The ashen girl spoke out to fully identify herself with the others. "My name's Rachel Roth."

"Well ain't that a very pretty name Rachel." The environmentalist said getting the now identified girl to fidget a little in her seat.

Hopefully this could be a good start for the day.

-Hours Later, The Sewer Dwellings-

The large gathering of children surrounded the Sewer King as he sat in front of a large spread of food… All for himself. With how appetising and delicious this looked, it made the various children very hungry and wished they could have their filling quite soon from what leftovers their 'king' would leave for them. Which isn't very much just for one's information.

As the 'king' was cutting into a giant turkey, he decided to speak out for the first time into this meal. "Ashley. Hand me the rolls if you please."

Soon a pair of feminine child hands brought over a basket of rolls towards her 'leader'. As the child got closer, the man was going to grab ahold of one of the rolls before he saw who brought them over to him. In a quick reaction, the man grabbed ahold of the girls' hands and slammed the child close to the table.

"You're not Ashley!" The Sewer King stated as he saw the child squirmed in front of him. "Where is Ashley?!"

Now one might wonder who Ashley is. Well the Sewer King didn't want to bother himself knowing each of the children's birth names, so he gave them new ones from what he could think of really. There was a Frog, a Hamster, Dolphin, Lion, and various other animal names from what the man thought of when taking each child's appearance. Though the person the 'king' was referring to as the ashen girl, with how grey her skin was that it reminded him of 'ash'. Hence, Ashley.

"I'll ask again! Where is she?!" The man yelled out as he smacked the girl away with an angry scowl. "After all I've done for you, you ungrateful little monsters! I took you all in when no one else would have you! For it is I who care for you! I who provide for you! And only I know what's good for you! So would you all rather have me send you back into the light?! Back to those who hurt you?!"

The man didn't really get a response as the children cowered from him and couldn't give him any verbal responses at all... Just like what he wanted really. Much so that he inwardly chuckled at their expenses.

For you see, all of these children are a mixture of orphans and runaways that he had taken off of the streets. With promises that he'd be there to take care of them. For in reality, he was using them for child labor ring to fill his own pockets. A man that fell into poverty some unknown time ago and wanted his wealth back. So he had the idea to have children do the work for him. Through digging through the dirt in hopes of making food for him and themselves, but in reality digging out precious minerals from the deep. Along with the fact of having the children pilfur purses, wallets and other valuables from the streets above.

So for him to keep control of these children, he'd had to be harsh and threaten them in various ways to be sure they follow his every rule. Even would threaten to feed them to his giant alligators that he has around as his pets. This was all so that he can keep things in his designed plan so that he'd be rich in the end. But if any of the children were caught and ended up telling the police and officials, then he'd be sent to jail for life for what his crimes truly were.

And he can't have that.

So the Sewer King went back to his table full of food and flipped the entire thing over, ruining the entire spread in front of the children's eyes.

"THERE WILL BE NOTHING TO EAT UNTIL ASHLEY IS FOUND!" The Sewer King yelled out before he stomped on several pieces of food that could've been edible if salvaged properly. "NOW OUT! OUT WITH ALL OF YOU!"

-Back in the Loft-

Time has past inside of the loft as the four adults interacted with Rachel. They didn't want to overwhelm the child at all with questions, but they probably guessed on some details with how the child interacted with them. When Pam brought up the little fact towards the other adults that Rachel mistook her as her mother and saying 'you're alive.', it made them realize that the girl was an orphan. An orphan who lost her mother some time ago. Nothing on the father though.

There was also the fact that when she interacted with some of the entertainment systems, it also got the adults to realize that Rachel was possibly raised in a closed off environment without any of these things in her life. The child had seen them several times prior to today, but never really interacted with them. The four adults didn't want to pressure the girl on this fact as they let her have fun of listening to some music or watching Looney Tunes and My Little Pony (Generation 1) on the TV while the adults talked among themselves.

This wasn't all that they did though as the girls helped Rachel take a bath to fully clean off the grime. It did unsettle Selina when seeing her condition as it reminded her a little of both of her and Naruto's childhoods. Though, in Selina's case, she did know ways on how to fend for herself once she ran away from her foster home and afterwards. But it was just the memories that were brought up as she looked at Rachel's conditions.

As for Harley, she practically smothered the girl in hugs and played with her for most of the day. She did help the ashen girl laugh several times while the intern was mentally writing things down on the child's behavior. It wasn't all that great, but the changed woman hoped that she could improve the child's mentality at some point.

With Pam, she was enjoying her time with the child as several things kept plaguing her mind. Memories would pop up of when she and her own mother had fun together in their own ways. It made the botanist yearn for those old feelings again, but didn't know about doing so with the child she is only knowing for within a day so far. Sure she did talk to Naruto about possibly adopting a child one day, but something about the girl wanted the redhead to spend more time with her. To feel more on what she is currently feeling more often.

As for Naruto though…

"Why did you girls have to-O-O-Ooooooo!" The publisher purred out as Rachel, who was currently in a pair of clean clothes, was petting his cheeks while the other three occupants held him down.

"Because it's fun silly!" Harley said as she sat on her puddin's legs. "We had to let Rachel know of 'whisker time'."

"Besides… You did say that you would do anything to make her smile." Selina added in with a smirk on her face as she held down one of his arms. "And look, she is."

"At my own expense SelenA-A-A-O-O-Oooooo!"

*Giggle* "So he is a catman?" Rachel asked for a little confirmation as she kept rubbing his cheeks.

"He insists on being called a fox actually." The pale intern corrected the little girl, who nodded at this bit of information.

'I haven't had this much fun in a long time…' The ashen girl thought before she slowly stopped her current actions. 'Possibly… ever.' The girl then remembered what happened later on and brief remembrances of the underground came to mind. As this happened, the others saw the girl's sudden mood change and became worried because of it.

"Is something wrong Rachel?" The Uzumaki asked.

"I-It's the others…"

"Others? What others?" Naruto asked as this little revelation is starting to worry the other occupants in the loft.

"They need help."

-Underneath the Theatre District-

"Are you sure this is the right way Rachel?" Naruto asked in his Vanitas attire as he was being lead by the ashen grey child. She only responded with a nod to the head as she lead the disguised man through the sewers.

It was a bit of a shock to her when seeing the kind man summon an outfit in front of her and wondered if there were other magic users in the world than from where she came from. Though she didn't voice it, she had mentally questioned it. Asides from that bit of information, she had somewhat guessed the man that saved her last night in the subway was him earlier with the oddly dressed woman was Harley. Hard to mistaken really after hearing her voice.

Anyways… after Naruto went into his suit, he asked the girls to call the police if they don't hear from him in an hour or so with some information Rachel told them. It was sickening for them to hear and made them want to come to take care of this 'Sewer King', but Naruto drew the line on this. He didn't want them to be involved and it would turn too many heads their way if they were seen rescuing the children. They argued a little, but Naruto won out in the end of the discussion before he left with Rachel on a giant Fair Game card.

As the pair traveled through the sewers, they heard a loud hissing coming throughout the tunnels.

"Well… It seems we might be close." Naruto muttered as he remembered Rachel telling him about the Sewer King's giant pet alligators.

It didn't take them much longer as the ashen girl lead the disguised Uzumaki through a few more tunnels until reaching a specific doorway. Once opening it, she quickly went ahead of him to make the man jog right after her. The moment he caught up with the child, the publisher was soon greeted with the site of various children silently greeting her. They were weary at first, but Rachel gave out a nonverbal saying that he was okay.

Though the moment Naruto saw all of them, his blood started to boil. Seeing all of the children kept down here against their will due to lies the Sewer King had kept them under. Seeing their current conditions made Naruto remember his times as a child when he was living on the streets before Jiji Hiruzen gave him his apartment. It made him sick.

But with a tightened grip, he started to calm himself down…. Slightly. He needed to think things through better and get things taken care of immediately. But first…

"Evidence." The helmeted man muttered as he pulled out a disposable camera from his utility belt and started taking various photos in the area. His old intern instincts kicked in as Naruto took the various photos throughout the area of the children's conditions as he was going to give this to the police. Once this was done, he placed the device back into his belt before looking around the children to find Rachel. "Now where is he."

The ashen girl then lead Naruto through a few other tunnels before the two ended up in a larger room with a variety of candles lighting up the area. It was there that they saw a lone child sweeping the area before he spotted the two. He was scared at first of seeing the taller man, but seeing Rachel made the child happy. As Naruto came closer, Rachel pointed out the rope tied to the bell above and motioned him to ring it. Nodding at this, he went over and pulled.

*Ding Ding* *Ding Ding* *Ding Ding* *Ding Ding*

As the sounds of the ringing bell rang out throughout the sewer tunnels, the many children came rushing in with them thinking the Sewer King needed their attention. It soon came to be a surprise as they saw the black and white themed man ringing the bell above him. Before long, the man started pulling harder and harder to break the beam above.

*Ding Ding* *Ding Ding* *Ding* *CRASH*

"Well that's taken care of." The hero said as he dusted his hands off before turning his attention towards the gathered children around him in a soft and caring voice. "I don't know what kind of barbarian did this to you. But I promise all of you, that it's over. That you'll be treated like human beings."

"Well I think we have something to say about that." A voice called out from a corner of the room. Vanitas and the children turned around to see the Sewer King in his glory with two giant alligators at his feet. They soon hissed out as they wanted to be free from their master's grasp so they can feast on the children and man before them. "Oh yes we will. So how about it my pets, say hello to our guest."

And with that, he let go of their chained restraints. The two giant gators ran towards the group, causing all of the children to run away and get away from the beasts, but Vanitas kept his ground. As one of the gators got closer, Naruto grabbed ahold of the fallen rope tied bell and swung it around to knock against the gator's head.

'Sorry about that.' The former shinobi thought as he saw the gator trying to pry the bell out of it's mouth. 'Selina would kill me if I killed you guys.'

HHHHHHIIIIIIISSSSS

'Though I'm gonna need animal control after this!' He thought before rolling out of the way as the second gator leapt towards him with it's widened jaw. The moment it came crashing down onto the ground, Naruto got on top of the beast and wrestled with the creature. It was quite the struggle, but with his better strength Vanitas got out on top. But to be sure the gator won't be going anywhere, the hero formed his grappling scarf and wrapped the durable cloth around the mouth and limbs of the beast.

Off to the side, the Sewer King watched in absolute fury on seeing two of his pets being disabling by the black and white themed hero.

"KILL HIM!" The Underdwelling king yelled out towards other gators that seemed to crawl out of the tunnels. "DESTROY HIM MY PETS AND FEAST ON HIS REMAINS!"

Hearing this command, Vanitas turned around to see the other gators coming his way. One of the gators got in close and planned to take a bite out the hero, but said man grabbed at its jaws at the last moment. He used his strength to push apart the jaws and with more pressure into it, Naruto somehow was able to knock the beast out.

Of course a few other gators came closing in causing the hero to groan out in frustration as he didn't want to deal with these beasts any longer. So he focused his power to form a void rasengan in each hand before slamming them into the gators. The child spectators watched in awe and amazement on what just happened as the giant alligators were sent flying towards the walls behind them with spiral like markings on their forms before they were knocked out of commision.

"GAAAAAH!" The Sewer King yelled out in frustration. "I'll show you who's the ruler of this kingdom you interloper!"

"Your kingdom?!" Vanitas yelled out as he turned his attention towards the madman, only to see said man have a child in his arm that struggled to get free. "Put him down! NOW!"

"Oh I will… since I think it's feeding time for my pretties." The 'king' said in a threatening tone as he held the child out towards the edge of the room where some alligators were at.

But before the man let go of the child, Rachel came swooping in from a hanged rope and nabbed the boy. The two soon ended up on top of the balcony above, leaving the bespeckled man below seething towards them.

"You miserable little shit!" The man growled out at the ashen girl above him. He then noticed the girl's state of dress and realized that she was the one that is causing problems in his kingdom. "I'll have your hide for this 'Ashley'! You ruined everything!"

"I don't think so!" Vanitas yelled out causing the Sewer King to run off into one of the tunnels. "Get back here!"

The hero gave chase and had to activate his helmet's night vision function due to how dark the tunnel was. But it seemed he did this too late as he suddenly fell through a hole. It was rather bumpy on the ride down, but he eventually plummeted out of it to see a large watery pit of alligators down below. So out of instinct, Naruto grabbed ahold of a hanging pipe and grabbed ahold of it, only to break due to the sudden pressure to leave the hero hanging on a broken one.

"Well…. Ain't this wonderful." Vanitas sarcastically muttered as he saw the various gators snapping their jaws at him. "And here I thought your breed was endangered with how big you all are."

*Clapping* "Bravo. Bravo." The child slaver chimed out from above before his face gained a scowl. "You've caused quite the trouble for me you annoying hero. Yes. Yes. Yes, you have. You've hurt my pretty pets and my beloved children!"

"Beloved children?!" Naruto yelled out in questioned wrath.

"Why yes. I've clothed them, I've fed them, I discipline them, and I teach them lessons." The man listed off as he walked closer to the hanging hero.

"BULLSHIT!" Naruto yelled out as he swung upwards and kicked the man's chest to make the slaver fall back. "You tortured them! *Smack* Manipulated them! *Punch* Starved them! *Kick* And there is no way in Hell they are your beloved children!" There was one last blow against the man before he stumbled back from the gathered pipes and fell down below where all of the gators resided.

After the large splash, the various gators dived down to possibly feast on the man's body.

"I hope the gruesome bastard died in a gruesome way." Vanitas muttered before his eyes soon saw one of the gators coming out of the water with the Sewer King on the beast's back. "Are you kidding me?!"

"HAHAHAHAHA! You should've realized that my pretty pets wouldn't hurt me at all hero! So have a nice swim! HAHAHAHAHA!" The child slaver yelled out as he left through one of the other tunnels with the helmeted hero narrowing his eyes in discuss.

Not wanting to lose track of the man, he jumped on down and quickly formed a Kazekage spear to swing from it. Naruto stumbled a little on the landing, especially with the gators behind him, but his recovery helped out before running after the madman. It took Vanitas a bit to catch up, due to how confusing the tunnels were leading, but the hero got the idea where the slaver was going. He followed his instincts, which eventually lead him to a locked door. He contemplated for a quick moment to blast right through it, but he decided to phase right through to give him the element of surprise.

Luckily for him, it paid off as Naruto saw the man walk away without really noticing what was behind him. So he used his silence manipulation on his feet to give him a quieted walk before coming behind him. As he was a few steps from the madman, the Uzumaki started to smile on wanting to see the man's reaction. So he tapped the man on the shoulder, making the Underdweller jolt in shock and turn around to see the hero right behind him.

"What?! You?! But how?!" The Underdweller king questioned as he backed away from the hero. He didn't make it far as he was punched right in the face, breaking the glasses he was wearing and the few shards of darkened glass piercing his damaged eye. "FUCK! MY EYE!"

"That's the least of the pain you should worry about asshole!" Vanitas growled out as he grabbed ahold of the man's coat.

*WOOO WOOO*

Seeing the oncoming train, the hero pulled the deranged man close to the train. The man screamed out in terror as he felt like he was about to die. Though at the last moment, Vanitas pulled the man back and slammed him against the all.

"WHAT?! WHY?!" The 'king' questioned in terror as he stared back into his reflection from the dark helmet.

"As much as I would want to pass judgement on you and end your life right now, I'd rather let the courts handle it!

-Two Days Later, Arkham Asylum-

*Sigh* "What a day!" Harley said as she was resting a little in her office from taking care of a lot of paperwork. It really piled up after being gone from work for so long, but her little vacation had to end though. "Somewhat wish I could've relaxed more."

The past two days were pretty crazy on what happened with Rachel coming into her life and on the reveal on what was happening in the sewers with the child slavery. She and the girls were worried on how long their boyfriend was taking to reach back to them. This caused Harley to quickly call the police by the half hour marker and told them what was going on. Though it did upset Selina and Pam on the intern jumping the gun, they did admit they would've called by now if Harley hadn't.

Once the call ended, the three turned on the TV in Naruto's loft and switched towards the news channel and waited. Though about fifteen or so minutes later, hard to keep track really on how anxious the three were, they saw a live news bulliten of what was happening at the Theatre District. The news shows various police cars and vans by the designated address when the manhole cover in the intersection popped off and showed Vanitas coming out first with a child hugging close to his form. Once handing the child off to one of the officers there, he then ushered the others to help him out getting the other children out from down below.

Her puddin made a big impact really by revealing what was going on down in the sewers below. Even had a clone of his come up with the Sewer King and handed the bastard over to the police as he explained what the man done. Suffice to say, the child slaver was going to be locked up for the rest of his days.

After that day, which was yesterday; Naruto went over to child services and asked what the conditions were with the children. It was going to be very hard to sort things out, but the children were going to be okay after being sent to the hospitals and several other places. Though when it came towards Rachel, Naruto had to partially lie that he and his date found the girl on the side of the street and took care of her for the day before she revealed what happened.

Though when it came back to the ashen grey child, the publisher asked what was going to happen to her. They ran Rachel's name through their servers and it showed her possible next of kin was located in Jump City, but had turned up missing roughly a decade ago. Only thing was once the name was brought up, Naruto told child services that Rachel told them that her mother died some time ago.

He did ask everything they had on Angela Roth and it was very little on what they had. The only information provided was that she was an orphan herself and was a loner. But something came up that Angela was drugged and became a rape victim by a supposed cult before being reported missing by her neighbors and coworkers.

It was a hard pill to digest on what he and his girlfriends learned on that information, but they needed to move past that. Naruto then asked on what was going to happen to Rachel now with the latest info and the service workers explained that she'll possibly end up in the foster system until further notice. The publisher was fine with that, but the moment he saw her again at the building he knew what he had to do.

"Still can't believe Naruto became Rachel's foster daddy." Harley muttered to herself as she looked at the new photo taken yesterday with Naruto, Harley, Pam and Selina huddled around the shy looking Rachel. It was rather cute on how it turned out and she can't wait to possibly introduce the little girl to her foster nieces. "Hope they end up becoming friends."

*Knock Knock*

The intern heard the knocking of her door and quickly checked her mirror for a quick second to see if there was any smudges to her makeup disguise. Seeing that there were none, she called out as she adjusted her reading glasses. Not that she needed glasses anymore due to the changes she got, but it's just for old habits for work purposes. "It's opened!"

When the door opened up, she was greeted with the site of Joan standing in the doorway.

"So how's your first day back Dr. Quinzel?" Dr. LeLand asked with a small smile on her face.

"It's doing well so far Joan. *Sigh* Just having to catch up with all of the paperwork and whatnot you higher ups left for me."

*Chuckles* "Sorry on that, but we wanted to give you something to work on until you can get back to your regular session assignments."

"More like trying to kill me with all this paperwork." She mockingly cried out with comical tears running down her cheeks. It was only done for a quick moment before she too chuckled at the little joke. "But yeah, I understand what you are trying to do ma'am."

"Good to know."

"So is there anything else you need to talk to me about Joan or was this just a social chat?" Harley questioned only for her superior to shake her head in response.

"As much as I would like it to just be a social call, I'm here to inform you of a few things."

"Like what?"

"Well… as you remember what happened in the breakout that various inmates escaped and are still at large. Not only that but various staff members died due to those events."

"Like with Dr. Serrano?" The disguised intern grinded out in disgust in remembrance of the doctor that tried to kill her.

"Yes… her. *Sigh* After the statement you told the police about her death, on why she was in your office in the first place. The board needed to get a better, stricter doctor to take her place. One that would hopefully help our reputation get better."

Hearing this coming from Joan seemed odd for the intern, but realized that she was correct in that fact. "So… Who's coming to replace her and when will he or she arrive?"

"He's actually right here in fact." The female doctor said before walking further into the office and onto the side.

This gave the person the cue walk on in as it gave Harley a first impression on the man. He was in the 6 ft range in height with a sophisticated look and aura radiating off of him. He also appeared muscular as well with what the intern could tell from how the clothing seemed to stretch a little on some places. Other than that, the man was bald and had a pepper colored beard with a pair of circular glasses that seemed to cover a calculating gaze.

"Well hello Dr. Quinzel. It's nice to finally meet you." The bald doctor said with a sophisticated voice as he brought out a hand for the intern to shake. "I've read your past evaluations on the patient's you've worked on and I dare say they've been very entertaining, yet informative."

"Why thank you sir." The disguised intern said with a small smile as she shook the man's hand. "So why have you decided to come working here in the first place?"

"He actually transferred from Blackgate prison actually and wanted to help us out until further notice." Dr. LeLand stated getting a raised brow from the intern.

"Really? Huh... Well that's interesting."

*Chuckles* "True. But when I heard of what happened here, I wanted to come on by and lend my services for the time being."

"So why haven't you come by earlier?" The changed blonde asked before quickly adding something else. "No offence if I seemed rude."

"None taken Dr. Quinzel, but for one I wanted this place to recover from it's previous incident. Not only that, but I wanted to familiarize myself with the staff here on what information was provided. I had actually started working here yesterday and was going through various patient files when I came across your reports. Reason why I wanted to introduce myself to you today."

After hearing all of this, it was odd on how this was going. But hopefully this new doctor might be better than the woman he's replacing. "Well that's good to know Dr..."

"Oh yes *Chuckles* I forgot to properly introduce myself." The man said as he smiled at the younger woman. "My name is Dr. Hugo Strange and I hope we'll work well together for the unseeable future here at Arkham.