Trust Your Instincts

It was in the dead of night with the full moon at its peak, shining it's lunar light upon Gotham City. Nothing seemed amiss as the majority of it's residents were either asleep or working the late night hours. Though with the later, that can be quite said with a pair of shadowy figures scurrying their way towards one part of the city. They would've made it towards their destination faster, but for the thrill this evening the two went for the old fashioned approach.

The two figures soon reached their destination: a heavily guarded japanese styled mansion belonging to businessman Hideo Katsu. The man has been questioned as his late in terms of investigations, but no success has been proven on his other activities… so far. Inside of his residence lies a vast, extensive collection of antiques. In which the two figures were targeting this evening.

Standing ontop of one of the rooftops of the estate grounds, the moon was briefly shown from some passing clouds to reveal Vanitas and Catwoman (with Isis around her neck) observing the patrol.

"Are you sure you want to do this Selina?"

"I'm pretty sure honey." Said the confident thief. "I'm getting paid on doing this and I thought it'll be a great bonding experience."

Selina was anonymously hired by someone to steal a particular jade lion statue from Katsu's gallery. She was going to decline, but the amount for her services were pretty big that it was hard for her to turn down. Upon a bit of research on the man being quite shady, Ms. Kyle decided to take the job help with back up of her now robbing those of questionable nature.

Using this little job, she dragged her lover along for the ride so she can do her thing while Naruto could find incriminating evidence against the businessman.

"Uh huh… Though I don't see much bonding as it were with me finding Katsu's office and you snag that statue."

"...Well if you put it like that, then what's the point honestly." She responded with a cutesy pout that made him roll his eyes at this.

"Maybe we can hit the man's office first before his gallery… You know, business before pleasure?" Naruto suggested, getting his dark haired lover to momentarily gaze at him before looking back at the patrols. "I mean, you told me once before you wanted me to see how you work when getting incriminating documents. So maybe this'll be a good chance to do so." She didn't relent, but stiffened slightly when feeling his arms around her and brought her into a comforting hug from behind before whispering into her ear. "And I'd really like to see how you work Selina, in both getting said documents and snagging your target tonight."

Feeling a little hot under the collar now, she leaned and rubbed herself slightly onto him. "Hmm… You somewhat know the sweetest things to say to me Naruto."

"Somewhat?"

She got out of his hold and gave him a coy smile. "After these months being together, you don't know everything about me. It'll take a long time for you to know every detail about me."

He chuckled under his helm before speaking. "Then I believe we've got plenty of time to do so… But we can talk about that later Selina, let's get this done and over with."

The two jumped down as Vanitas made a silence field around them so they wouldn't be heard by any of the patrolmen. Even though they weren't giving off any sounds, the two were still careful on their approach when entering the building. They kept checking their corners while passing every other corridor so they wouldn't get spotted. There were close calls when opening every door to hopefully find Katsu's office, but after a good number of minutes the lovers found it.

"This guy is obviously compensating for something." Selina muttered as she eyed the heavily decorated office.

"Maybe making himself look more handsome to balance out his ugliness." Her lover responded with a shrug, earning a little chuckle from the thief. This caused Isis to wake up and jump off of her 'mother's' shoulders and walked about.

They soon searched the room by lifting up paintings for a potential wall safe, checked behind bookcases for a secret passage way, and even looked through his filing cabinets and drawers. Nothing could be found find that would've been valuable evidence against the businessman. The two were about to head on out to find the gallery when Isis called out to them.

"What is it girl?" The thief asked before seeing Isis paw something against a piece of furniture. Upon closer inspection, she saw faint indentations against the wall. "It's probably nothing."

"Looks can be deceiving Selina." Spoke the hero as he crouched down and pushed the furniture slightly. He inspected the piece of wall with his finger and felt a hidden keypad behind the wallpaper. "Well… Seems Isis is getting some nice tuna and chicken once we get back for finding this. Good girl."

Isis purred in response as her 'father' petted her in just the right places, along with knowing she is being gratefully rewarded for finding the keypad.

Turning on the scanner in his helmet, Vanitas saw fingerprints onto the wallpaper in a precise order. Trying out his luck, he let his instincts drive him and carefully typed down the desired sequence. Nothing worked at first until Naruto saw faint fingerprint traces a bit lower and fully got the idea.

"#-5-6-3-2-*" He muttered as he pressed the buttons. Soon a small compartment opened up on the floor that had a variety of documents stored.

"First try? Man you're really lucky Naruto." She said with a wide eyed look before it narrowed. "Give me some of that luck next time."

"It wasn't luck… I just followed my instincts and it worked." Not wanting to waste time, Selina pulled out her camera and took pictures of each and every document in the compartment before closing it while Naruto got the furniture back in place. Neither wanted Tatsu to know that someone was in his office once they left. "Now let's find Tatsu's gallery."

When finding the gallery, it was actually a little quicker than finding the office with the entrance being grander looking doors. Once entering, the two saw a vast collection of Asian, Japanese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese and Korean antiquities. Greed soon gleaned from the thief's eyes as she practically drooled of the amount of jewels shown in varying displays. But her lover snapped her out of her trance by grasping her shoulder and turning her around.

"We aren't here for those Selina. We're here for the lion, remember?" He stated, causing her to scratch the back of her head and nervously chuckle at her expense.

"Oh, yeah. Right." Her eyes soon landed on the prize for the evening as the jade lion was presented on a pedestal on the far side of the room. "Me-ow~" She was going to walk forward when Vanitas grabbed her and pulled her back. "Okay. What's the big idea now?"

Nothing was answered right away as the hero pulled out a can from his belt and sprayed it's contents into the air, revealing a moving security laser grid protecting the gallery. "I don't know about you Catwoman, but I think you're ignoring your instincts as of late."

"I am not."

"Yes you are." She could only glare back, causing him to sigh in response. "Can we do this when we get out of here, please?"

-Insert Ocean's Twelve: Laser Dance Song-

Nothing was said from the thief as picked up Isis off of her and placed the cat in his arms. Turning around and walked away several feet before turning back to run into the laser grid. Before getting close, she performed several front handspring flips. Twisting her body around several times so they wouldn't touch the laser grid before landing right in the middle of the grid. Adjusting herself, Catwoman moved about in a sensual manner when avoiding the security beams.

Having to duck down several times, she arched her back and slowly flipped over and firmly placed her feet in front of her. Using her back muscles, Catwoman pulled herself back up and ducked once again before moving her feet in a sweeping fashion to get away from the traveling light. Getting back up, she performed several cartwheels to get closer to the end of the gallery.

She was almost there when her feet slipped and fell onto the ground. Selina berated herself on this, but soon rolled out of the way from the incoming lasers. She did have to stop towards the end and suck in a lot of air to help lower her chest before exhaling once the last laser past by her. Quickly getting back up, she did a front roll to get out of the laser grid and ended up right in front of the pedestal.

"How's that for 'ignoring my instincts'?" She said as she glanced back at the gallery entrance, only to find Vanitas and Isis missing. "Where'd you go?"

"Right here."

"GAH!" Selina jumped in her suit as she quickly turned around to see him standing there with Isis looking right at her 'mother'. "H-How did you get here so fast?!"

"...I walked around the gallery Selina." He answered, pointing to the narrow areas where the lasers weren't touching. "It wasn't that hard. Though nice show there."

The thief's eyes started to madly twitch at this before seeing her 'baby' giving her an odd smile, knowing that Isis probably found this amusing. "It's not that funny."

"Let's just finish this up please." Once again, no response as she just walked past him and grabbed the statue. Realizing of a possible security measure, he called out to her. "Selina wait!"

But it was too late as she lifted the jade lion and smiled back at him. "What's the big deal? Nothing happened."

*BWEEE* *BWEEE* "BWEEE* *BWEEE*

"It had a pressure sensor Selina!" He yelled out as he grabbed ahold of her and formed a giant card underneath them. "Hang on! We are getting out of here now!"

Commanding his construct to float, the two soon zoomed and phased right out of the building. Just in time as several guards came rushing into the gallery with the alarms still blazing. Finding the source in the disturbance, they saw the jade lion statue missing on the far side of the room.

"Well shit. Katsu's going to be pissed."

"Definitely… Though we should blame him for not having better security measures."

"...Like security cameras for instance?" One of the guards stated as he looked around the room for any sign of them. "He got moving laser grids installed but he forgot to get cameras. But seriously though, anyone could just walk right in here and steal all this stuff."

Coming to the realization of this, the other guards looked around and smirked before going to some of the displays, took some of Tatsu's belongings and bolted out of there to officially quit their jobs.

-Selina's and Shizune's Loft-

Getting back to the loft was rather quick for the two. Then again with the very moment the alarms went off made the masked publisher push their transport faster. If his girlfriend was caught in the act, then she'd be sent back to prison and that would not be great.

"Don't know if it's just me," Selina stated as she pulled back her mask off of her head, "but I'm so glad to be back here." Going to her sofa, she dropped the bagged prize onto one of the cushions before sitting down.

The publisher nodded in agreement as his suit went up in smoke. "So since that is done and over with, what should be done with the jade lion?"

"I'd need to drop it off for the buyer." Answered the thief before her eyes landed on the camera in his hands. "And are you going to develop those photos now?"

"Well not now-now. Just a little later with a clone doing the work." As much as he'd like to get these done and over with before dropping them off to the GCPD, Naruto wants to fully relax for a little bit with no clones or anything else for that matter. "And of the buyer? Do you need any backup?"

"I'm sure I can take care of myself honey. You can trust me on that."

"But the buyer is anonymous Selena. He could be some creep that would maybe try to kidnap you or something..."

She raised a brow at her lover as he went on with odd scenarios pertaining to her safety. Even Isis, who was currently on her mother's lap, looked at her father oddly. Having enough of his paranoid ranting, Selina got up and walked towards Naruto before placing her lips onto his to shut him up for a kiss.

Once parting the lip lock, the ravenette patted his cheek slightly with a cheeky smirk. "You can be such a worrywort sometimes."

"Yes but it does help at times with me being paranoid… to some degree." He responded before he kissed her once again.

"And yet his ass has been kicked more times than I can count." A voice called out from the kitchen area, making the two lovers whirl towards that direction. "But he has done his best to make up for that."

"Who are you?" Naruto demanded as he got into a fighting stance. "What do you want?"

The two only heard a slight scoff before the voice spoke once again. "Geeze, such hostility Naruto... Then again I have come here unannounced, so I apologize for that." Wasn't long after the man spoke that the lights were flipped on to reveal...

"Kurama? The hell are you doing here?" Naruto asked in bewilderment as he saw the crime lord sipping from one of Selina's tea cups.

Selina was in a similar expression as her lover as she wondered why the humanoid Bijuu was here. The thief only knew him from the memories she saw in Naruto's mindscape some months ago and only saw his human appearance for a brief moment. And like Naruto, she too wondered why he was here.

"Several things really." Was the Bijuu's response as he placed the cup down onto the kitchen counter. "Mostly seeing how things were going for you lately."

"And yet you would already know that with that network of yours."

Kurama chuckled. "True. So I might as well get to the point of me being here." Turning towards the cat burglar, he spoke. "I'm here to finish our business arrangement Ms. Kyle."

"...Excuse me?"

"I should probably remind you what I'm paying for exactly." Kurama mock sighed as he pointed his clawed hand towards the bag on the couch. "I'm here for that."

Realization dawned onto the lovers as Selina voiced their thoughts. "You're the buyer?"

"Yup and I gotta say Naruto, but you were quite rude on saying such things towards me." The crime lord pouted that didn't sit right with his appearance. "And with all that we've been through together."

"Right… And yet the majority of our time 'together' was you just napping in my gut while I got my ass handed to me, as you put it."

"Once again true." Walking towards the couch, Kurama reached for the bag as Isis moved out of the way. "Good kitty."

"I do have a question for you though." Selena spoke towards the redhead in the room. "Why hire me to get that for you?"

Pulling the jade lion out of the bad, Kurama spoke as he inspected the statue. "I wanted to test you out a little on your skills from what I've heard."

"...And?"

"And I wanted to finally meet the last of Naruto's mates today." Was all the Bijuu said as he tossed the statue towards Naruto, who caught it with an alarmed expression.

"You did what now?"

"Meeting your girlfriend's Naruto and I gotta say both of them were entertaining in their own right." Kurama stated before he listed them off. "Harleen was interesting when I spoke with her at Arkham as she tried to psychoanalyze me the entire time. And I gotta admit she had hit several things right on the nose, which I'm glad she promises to keep things between strictly doctor-patient confidentiality.

Pamela was an odd case, when I visited her once you two left, as I felt nature wafting around her. So much, that given time, she could possibly rival Hashirama's strength when he was alive. And she was such a nice host once I gave her some rare and exotic plants for her garden outside of city borders."

Naruto didn't know what to do at this point now as he heard the compliments towards his other girlfriends. He'll obviously need to talk to them when he has a chance just in case Kurama made them unsettled in their conversations with him. Though all that he could say one thing on this moment. "Thanks, I suppose."

"Though I wish I could've chatted with that daughter of yours." Shrugged the Bijuu as Naruto and Selina stiffened slightly. "But she's currently having that sleepover with Harley's 'nieces' I believe so I couldn't get a good, personal assessment from her."

"Rachel's not my daughter Kurama." Naruto corrected as he stared his former tenant down slightly. "She's my ward."

"Doesn't seem that way when I chatted with your lovers, since they told me that you've been quite the father to her ever since she's been in your care."

Selina couldn't help but silently agree with the man's statement as she looked over to her boyfriend. Despite being Rachel's guardian, Naruto has acted more like her father than he realized. On nights when she woke up screaming from nightmares, Naruto was there to calm her down and stayed with her throughout the rest of the night. Rachel got his full attention whenever needed and he'd get her everything she wanted, even though it's very little she desires.

Wanting to move back to the subject at hand, Selina spoke towards the unexpected guest in her loft. Even as she looked at the jade lion in Naruto's grasps. "What did you need this statue for anyways?"

Looking at the object in question, Kurama spoke towards the publisher. "Mind phasing your hand through the statue please?"

"What for?"

"Just humor me."

Not getting what Kurama was getting at, Naruto complied so he can get the furball out of Selina's loft. He slowly phased his opened hand through the statue's body slowly and was going to leave it like that. But as he did so, Naruto felt something in his hands.

"The hell?" He said before looking at his hand to see a floppy disk. "Why was that in there?"

Walking over to his former landlord, Kurama snatched the disk from Naruto's grasp. "Because Katsu put it there for starters." Seeing their curious expressions, the crime lord explained. "Hideo went to such lengths to hide this from me so his underworld connections wouldn't get exposed as he tried to weasel his way into Gotham's underbelly from Japan. And I had my suspicions in where he kept this, but I wanted to be sure."

"And the point in hiring Selina? Couldn't you have Anko or Claudia get this for you?"

"I would've, but where was the point." Stated the Bijuu, earning an eye twitch from the former shinobi. "Though the thought did cross my mind, but I did remember about Selina needing some work so I wanted to hire her for this endeavour. Possibly hire her for future ones if the situations present themselves."

"She will do no such thing Kurama!"

"Oh~ And why not?"

"Because I'm pretty sure she's not going to be safe while involved with you!"

"Hey!" Selina spoke out as she walked in front of Naruto. "I can speak for myself you know!"

"Selina…"

"Naruto, I can understand you being concerned for my safety on this situation. But you need to remember I've done this far longer than you've known me. And my life has been in danger time and time again. So whatever offer he has for me, I can accept it or not since I'm quite certain he needs my willing consent to do so."

As much as he'd hate to admit it, Selina was right. She is her own woman and has the right to do and say whatever she wants to… as long as it's not really illegal or anything in that nature since Selina's been thieving around and help deliver justice in Gotham.

'And I really don't wanna get into that argument with her again like that time when Magpie broke out of Arkham.' He thought before speaking to the human Bijuu. "Okay... She could work with you, not for you, since I don't really know what kind of assignments you'd give her."

"It'll mostly be stealing artifacts or sensitive documents from specific people in mind. Something that Selina here knows quite well, mind you." Kurama stated his intentions as he looked at the ravenette in question. "After all, she is a freelance thief with an environmentalist cover… before her arrest got that blown wide open back in January."

"Right… And is there anything else I should know about this possible position your offering?" She asked with a curious glance.

"We can discuss terms for the contract on a later date Ms. Kyle, but I'll be sure to not have anything too demeaning of your expertise. Even on certain… assignments, since I'm going to let either Anko or Copperhead deal with those ones."

Not knowing on how to respond on that, Selina just nodded in understanding.

"Then I best be off. Need to look over this disk and do some clean up work." Kurama said as he slipped the floppy disk into his suit jacket. "As for talking or locating me, ask Naruto to help you out."

"And where's my payment?"

"Hmm?"

"I was getting paid for this, right?" Emphasising her point, Selina pointed towards the jade lion in Naruto's grasp.

"Oh that? Keep it. It's worth at the valued price I messaged you. Possibly more, depending on who you sell it to." As fire appeared beneath Kurama's feet as it slowly started to consume him, he spoke out one last thing before leaving the loft. "And by the way, your welcome on the Penguin debacle."

Once the Bijuu was gone, Selina walked over to where he left and crouched down to inspect the floor. "I hope he didn't leave any burn marks or else I'm gonna kick his ass."

"He probably didn't." Naruto responded as Isis jumped into his arms before being petted once the jade lion was placed onto the couch. "Though he has done that to my office at work a few times and it was a bitch to clean off of my carpet. Probably did those just out of spite on having a bad day or wanting to annoy me."

Getting back up from her inspection, with no scorch marks left behind, she had a curious look on her face. "What I don't get is why he mentioned Penguin and me thanking him."

"Oh yeah… that."

"...Is there something you're not telling me?"

He would've held his hands up in surrender, but they were currently occupied by the black cat in the room. "I was going to bring that up Selina, honest. But I just… forgot to mention it."

"Mind explaining then?" She demanded with a narrowed glance that made Naruto nervously chuckle. All that he could do at this moment was he mentally beat his past self on not explaining sooner.

-Days Later, Spiral Publishing-

'As much as I'd like to use clones right now, I don't want to be caught in the act so suddenly.' Thought the publisher as he went through document after document so far today. 'I sometimes wonder how Sarutobi and Tsunade dealt with this in the past without clones is beyond me.'

Getting up from his seat to shake his legs, with them falling slightly asleep for the past hour, Naruto had been going through a lot of things on his list for today. Signing many documents for his Starling City branch opening and seeing who will be good for the transfers over there. Not only that, but he had books he needed to go over that he hoped wouldn't take too long with his speed reading. All consisting from R.L. Stein on both his Goosebumps and Fear Street series.

Though with his ever present workload, with the possibility of it growing today, he might have to use clones to help take care of it while he slipped out with no one noticing. Naruto did promise to take Harley and Rachel to the arcade sometime today to have some fun. And there was no way he'd break any promises.

His desk phone started to beep, indicating that his secretary needed to speak with him. Pressing the button on his desk phone, Naruto answered the call. "Yes Jillian?"

"Your appointment at 11:30 is here."

"Ah yes. Send him in." It wasn't long until the door to his office was opened to reveal the man Naruto wanted to see. "Hello Mr. Trent. Hope your day so far is doing well."

Simon Trent is a man in his late 50's, with his grey hair slicked back and his light grey eyes to match. His weathered features held strong over the years, but with what he had to endure was shown. Simon was currently wearing a red button up shirt, dark pants and shoes with a brown jacket.

"It's doing quite well Mr. Uzumaki." Simon said as Naruto came up from his seat to shake his hand. "And thank you for asking."

"Your welcome."

"And before we get started, I just wanted to say that I've love some of your novels since they've been a great read. Especially with your Loveless novel."

"Why thank you Simon." Naruto said with a small chuckle. "Would you like some refreshments? Something to drink perhaps?"

"Just water." Going over to the small fridge in his office, Naruto pulled out some bottled waters he keeps on hand for people he would have appointments with. "You know, I was surprised to get a phone call from you the other day."

"Life can be quite unexpected in one's perspective." The publisher stated as he handed the man the bottled water.

"True, but asking me to come here about a potential book deal was something I didn't expect."

"I know that Simon, but with your fame being rekindled after what happened last month, I heard opportunity knocking."

On what Naruto was referring to was during his time back West were a series of events that took place in Gotham. One of them pertained to Simon Trent specifically as he was involved with a string of mass bombings that happened all over the city. It was crazy on what happened and Naruto wished he could've been here to stop those from happening. And in an interview, Simon Trent explained on what happened and how he was involved in the bombings.

You see, Simon was once a great actor that portrayed a character named The Grey Ghost from the same show his character was named from. The show was a hit among fans back in the 50's and 60's, but once the show ended it eventually caused problems for the actor. Simon was too well known as The Grey Ghost and all of the auditions he did for other roles couldn't really take him on.

As years went by, his bank accounts started drying out and forced to sell his shows memorabilia to make ends meet. At one point, he sold what remote controlled cars he had in his possession to an innocent toy collector and store owner. But this act would eventually rear it's ugly head back around, which happened last month.

A string of bombings happened and Batman was on the case. Though after some investigation, the Dark Knight tracked the actor down to find out more on details with the bombings. Reason being was that recent events reminded the hero an episode of the Grey Ghost named 'The Mad Bomber' on the exact details used in said episode.

Simon didn't explain on how he teamed up with the Gotham hero, since it was something very personal to him, but in the end the two were able to catch the Mad Bomber. Turned out the one toy collector was in fact behind the attacks with Trent's remote controlled cars to hold the city ransom for a fortune. And after what happened, Simon was inspired from his team up of a lifetime to release the entire series filmed footage.

This action got Simon Trent back on the map as new and old fans alike fell in love with the show as it went back on the air. This got people investing money to get the entire series to VHS tapes and from what the publisher heard, the event will be happening sometime later this month. And this gave Naruto an idea to get his business more profit and to help a man desperate for an honest pay after so many years.

"Still though, why come to me for a book deal?" Questioned the actor. "I'm not that good of a writer at all to tell you the truth. Not even the time when I helped write the script on one of The Grey Ghost episodes that it was just more on input really."

"I know that, but I have told you over the phone that I could be interested in publishing your memoirs. Knowing stories on most of your life, both good and bad. The ups and downs on what you had to deal with could be an interesting read to your growing fan base."

"I don't know about that Mr. Uzumaki." Simon stated as he scratched his head. "I don't feel comfortable in writing a lot about my life."

"And it's quite understandable really. I've published several autobiographies and I came across the same action each of those people stated. And to tell you Mr. Trent, it's your novel and you can write whatever you want with it. You don't have to put absolutely everything in there you know, just subjects that you think are comfortable for you to jot down.

Take Robert Reed for example. I ended up publishing his autobiography and it was quite interesting on what I read on what he put down. Stating that despite him being successful when The Brady Bunch ran it's course, he absolutely despised his role. He considered himself a real actor and thought the role he was in was beneath him.

So most people don't even get to do the Brady Bunch of the thing they want to do with their lives. You're in a really good position at this moment because you can pretty much do anything you want now with your recent success. So you're responsible for your own happiness, despite on the struggles you've dealt with. And you've worked hard to try and land an acting role for a long time now, but with recent events you could get back out there in what you truly love to do."

"...I guess you're right on that." Simon soon saw the publisher pull off a folder from one of his desk drawers and opened it up to reveal a company checkbook. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Naruto rhetorically asked. "I'm writing you a check."

"B-But I haven't agreed to signing on with you."

"I know that Mr. Trent, but I want to at least help you out on this endeavor." Pulling the check out, the publisher handed the slip of paper to the aging actor. "So I hope this amount could help as a start up for you to get writing about the parts of your life you want others to possibly read about."

Taking a look at the check, Simon had to pull his collar slightly when seeing the amount written down. "Didn't expect to see this amount."

"Consider it a down payment. And, if needed, I could get you in touch with one of our ghost writers. He or she could help you out on this opportunity."

"...Can I at least think about it?"

"Yes and if you want to accept the offer, deposit the check and contact me so we can get started. If not, still contact me and turn down the check so I can cancel it."

Nodding in understanding, Simon shook Naruto's hand before heading out of the office. Though before he could leave, he turned around and spoke. "Still thank you for offering me this opportunity Mr. Uzumaki. I think it might mean a lot to me, along with people enjoying the old show again."

"You're very welcome Mr. Trent. And good luck out there." Seeing the man smile at him one last time, Simon left Naruto's office to deal with what he needs to do next. With the actor gone, Naruto looked at the clock before seeing his workload.

"Hmm… Maybe I should head out now." Creating a clone, Naruto pulled out his phone and called Harley to see if she's still good in meeting him at the arcade with Rachel. Not with his clone, but himself so it would feel a little bit better for both parties.

-Later, Wonder City Arcade-

"Wonder what games the owner now has on display." Naruto said as he, Harley and Rachel entered through the front doors of the establishment.

"I heard there are several out right now that are all the rage." Harley added in with anticipation in her voice.

"I do hope the owner got the games Artemis and I suggested."

"We'll have to see for ourselves Rachel." Her guardian said as the group went up to the counter to pay for their tokens. "Remember, the owner can't get all of the games all at once or else customers wouldn't be all that interested on the releases."

For years, Wonder City Arcade has been a hangout spot for several generations with the original owner growing up at the time when Gotham was called Wonder City. As years past, his next of kin kept up the business by adding in new attractions to the arcade. And once computer and video games started hitting the market in the 70's and 80's, the owner at the time wanted to incorporate them to keep up with the newer generations. Even maintaining the steampunk decorations as years went by to keep the atmosphere alive.

"Same thing goes with bookstores I take it." Harley guessed, earning a nod from her boyfriend. "Yeah I remember this one place I used to go to wouldn't release all of this one book series all at once in order to maximize profits."

"Pretty much."

Once the party got their tokens, they made their way to find what new games were in stock or what they could be fine with playing with. Harley had spotted a few weren't there before, assuming they were new. From Wolfenstein, Dune 2 and Doom apparently being shooters while the new X-Men game and one Bucky O'Hare being side scrollers.

Getting closer one of her favorite arcade games called Dragon's Lair, Harley spotted a familiar face she hadn't seen in awhile as he and one other person were playing said game.

"Oh hey there Dickie!" She called out, getting said person to flinch on being called out. "It's been a while."

Turning around, Dick Grayson saw the changed Arkham doctor with Naruto and Rachel walking towards him and the girl he's currently dating at this time. "Oh hey guys. It's been a while."

"That it has Dick." Naruto stated with a smile. "And who's this?"

The girl standing next to Dick is an attractive blonde girl around the Wayne ward's age as she wore a casual set of clothes. Nothing fancy at all, just simple to compliment her appearance. Though her sky blue eyes held a lot of joy behind them as she stood next to Dick.

"This is Lori Elton." The Wayne ward said before he introduced her to the coming group. "And Lori; this is Harley, Naruto and his young ward Rachel."

"Hello." Lori greeted to each of them. "So you three here for fun or what."

"Pretty much." Was Harley's chipper tone. "Wanting to have some fun before schools start in a few weeks. And when that starts, then Rachel here will possibly be bored depending on who is teaching her."

"I hear that." Came Dick's reply with a small smirk. In his first two semesters in college, he didn't enjoy certain teachers as they were pretty bland that the acrobat almost fell asleep several times. "But grade school can't be all bad you know Rachel."

"I know that Dick, but I'm just nervous really for my first day."

"As do all of us Rachel. Whether it's school or work. First days always make people nervous no matter what. So you won't be the only person out there."

"I'll take that to consideration then." Was the ashen girl's response.

"Let's not talk about something so dreary that's right around the corner please." Lori said in a chipper tone. "Come on, we're here to have fun. So let's have fun."

Harley couldn't help but agree with the younger blonde as she matched the same tone. "Then let's have some fun." The changed blonde dragged Rachel along as they tried to find something to play with that wouldn't upset the ashen girl.

As Lori followed her fellow girls, Dick and Naruto were left behind to chuckle on the doctor's actions.

"So how are things going for you Dick?"

"Doing well actually. Why you ask?" The young ward asked as they walked down the aisle to catch up with the others.

"Well I heard some stuff that happened last month while I was away and I didn't get the chance to talk to either you or Bruce about them."

"Like what exactly?"

"For one being the string off robberies at some of Bruce's businesses for starters." Naruto started off as they turned the corner. "Seven robberies in two weeks, all done by a ninja of all people."

"Right, that." Dick shortly said as he waved off the statement. "At least it was taken care of and that's all that matters."

"If you say so Dick."

Once said, the young acrobat thought back of what happened last month while Naruto was away on business out West. One Kyodai Ken was behind the robberies as he wanted to have revenge against Bruce ever since he was banished from the dojo the two studied at years ago in Japan. Kyodai trained for years and came to Gotham in hopes of robbing Bruce of much of his fortune. The exiled student was later defeated at the charity event at the Gotham Museum with Bruce as the victor, but Kyodai escaped in the end to evade custody.

"Though there is one thing that I really do want to ask you Dick." The publisher said as his tone was a bit more serious. "How are you really feeling?"

"About what?"

"Tony Zucco's arrest." Dick stopped his movements for a brief moment before moving forward as he took small breaths. "I knew he was behind your parent's… passing, but I'm glad that Batman and Robin were able to finally catch him for about 8-9 years from evading arrests."

It was shortly after the Kyodai incident that a big event happened in Dick's life. It started out as a simple patrol for him and Bruce until things eventually went sideways that got Bruce to change quite suddenly. Once using the Batcomputer, Dick learned that the sudden change in Bruce's mood was when hearing one of Tony Zucco's aliases and thus made the young ward change his mood as well.

Dick went on his own and tracked the man down to get revenge on what Zucco did on that very night that changed his life. The man who took his parents away from him and Dick wanted to be the one to take his life as well. After defeating the man, Dick was so close into going past the line as things were going very blurry on that very moment.

But he was extremely glad that Bruce stopped him in time from doing the action. Dick asked for forgiveness from the man who took him nearly a decade ago. And yet there was nothing to really forgive since after taking the man to the GCPD, Bruce said he would probably be in the same position as Dick on the day he finds the man who took away his parents. Admitting that justice and vengeance will truly be blurred in his eyes and it would truly test everything he grew up and believed in.

"Yeah… I'm glad about that as well." Dick said with a small smile as they approached the girls, who stopped wandering around and were playing a game on the far off corner. "At least I'm glad my parents can finally rest in peace now that he's in prison now."

"Then that's all that matters." Naruto said as he stood a bit away from the girls, so they wouldn't hear what he says next. "It wouldn't be great if you had let that consume you and wished the man dead in the end."

"Excuse me?"

Wanting to elaborate, Naruto spoke to his younger friend. "Vengeance can be a double edged weapon Dick. It can strengthen us, yet weaken us. And I know all too well in what it can do to someone who falls into that nasty, abysmal pit."

Memories came to the forefront of the Uzumaki's mind as he reflected back to his former rival. Sasuke wanting revenge against the man who practically wiped out his clan. He had let it all go towards his head as he wanted power to kill his older brother and did treasonous things to do so. Sasuke did kill his brother, but the Uchiha learned more truths that Danzo was behind the clan's execution and he sought to kill the man as well. Once the Root leader was dead, Sasuke wanted to kill all of Konoha to finish things off.

Kami knows what would happen if that were to happen and possibly beyond that. Something that Naruto sometimes wonders from time to time and yet doesn't wish to imagine at all.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Nah, I'm good Dick." Wanting to change subjects, Naruto went back onto the main topic. "So are you planning on going to Zucco's trial?"

Knowing what Naruto wanted to do, Dick humored his older friend. "I pretty much have to. Me being a prime witness on what he did back then, I need to state to the judge and the jury on what happened to me. It's not going to be great on recounting that day, but I've got to do what I've got to do."

"Just so you know, if you want me to, I could show up at the trial for support."

Smiling at the given offer, the college student accepted it in stride. "I'd like that very much Naruto. Going to need all the support I can get to finally move on."

"Then I'll be there."

"What are you two standing around there for?" Lori spoke up as she ended their conversation. "Aren't you two gonna come and play?"

"Sorry Lori." Dick apologized on Naruto's behalf. "Guy talk."

"Yeah yeah. Whatever." Joined in the changed psychologist. "Though you should at least see Rachel do a good job on this game so far."

Feeling interested in what his ward is currently playing, Naruto stepped closer and saw it being one of the games he sometimes plays while at this arcade. Nearly a decade old, the arcade machine was still popular with many customers. Playing as a simple maintenance man as he tries to fix up the apartment building he lives at from a wilderness man.

"I'm gonna wreck it!"

"Not today Ralph." Rachel muttered as she was in the zone as her left hand was working the joystick while her right handled the buttons. "Not today."

"Damn… Rachel is doing well on this game." Lori commented as she saw the ashen girl's hands blur on the machine console.

"No kidding." Harley said in agreement. "I'm afraid she might smack me if I try to stop her."

"Sucks that this game isn't two player or else I would've tried to play with." Naruto said with a slight pout. "And of course she wants to try to beat my score."

"Your scores? What about mine?" Dick questioned as he saw Rachel's score reaching towards one of his lower ones.

"Oh boys." Lori sighed out as she and Harley saw their respective boyfriends start complaining about each other's video game scores before trying to go against each other on one of the nearby arcade machines.

The changed psychologist could only chuckle in agreement in seeing them go as she stood by Rachel to eventually cheer her on to beat her guardian's scores.

-Evening, Club Plush-

Outside of one of Gotham's many nightclubs, a white haired woman stepped out of it's entrance and strutted her way through the crowds of paparazzi waiting for her entrance. Her hair was slicked back with some stylized on top to look like bird feathers to match the dress she was currently wearing. Said dress appeared to be made out of white feathers with a black belt around the waist. To finish off her appearance were the black heeled shoes, the pink mascara around her green eyes and the scowl across her features as she spoke into her cellular phone.

"...I don't care how expensive or endangered they are!" The woman yelled out as she rounded the corner towards the parking lot, where her limousine was parked. "I am Azzura, one of the best fashion models in the damn city! So there's no way in Hell that I'm doing the show without wearing Condor!"

Ending the call, the now identified Azzura approached her limousine and opened the door. She had expected her bodyguards being inside of the vehicle, but they appeared missing with the other door opened. Going around the other side, Azzura saw the guards passed out on the ground with what appeared to be tranquilizer darts lodged into their necks.

"What the hell?" She muttered out in worry before hearing someone approach her.

"I can understand your shock, little bird." The large man said as the model slowly backed into her limousine. "We hoped you could've come out sooner, but we were too impatient with your guards lying about."

"W-We?"

A figure soon landed onto the vehicle's roof from above, causing her to shriek on the surprise. Though Azzura then held her breath as she saw the grotesque being looking straight at her, with it's large amphibian eyes in the old English styled suit. It would've looked fine for most people, but in the model's eyes they only made the being's presence more horrendous.

"I know, I know." The amphibian spoke out with his ghastly smile. "My looks are both a blessing and a curse."

"W-Who are you two?"

"Not 'who' dear, but why. Why we are here exactly?" The larger man stated as the light shined upon him to reveal his pig mask towards the model. "Do you know how many birds had to lose their plumage so you can look absolutely atrocious?" Coming close to the model's face, Professor Pyg yelled right at her. "Do you?!"

"S-Six." Azzura weakly answered, causing the two eco-terrorists to look at her in disgust.

"That was actually a rhetorical question my dear." Pyg said with malice laced in his voice. "But this one isn't. So please give me your honest thoughts. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a bird who can't fly?"

Fearing for what might happen to her, Azzura opened her mouth and screamed.

-Meanwhile-

"Mmm… This is good." Selina muttered as she savored the dish being served.

Naruto chuckled as he shook his head at the display in front of him as he ate. "You and your seafood Selina."

"What. Can't I appreciate really good, tasting fish?" She rhetorically asked, once swallowing her food. "Besides we try not going out that often so the dates feel more special."

"Same goes with Harley and Pam, you know."

"Yeah, yeah I know." She said as she cut into the next portion of her meal. "Though you have forgotten one other person."

"...Rachel?" He asked. "Then yeah forgot to mention her." Naruto would sometimes take his young ward out for breakfast or lunch every so often to help explore her interests. With her not able to experience such things before he took her in.

"No, not her."

"Then who?"

"Cat Grant."

"Oh… Right."

It was on Naruto's second day while in National City, he called his girlfriends and informed them on how things went so far. From the earthquake situation and him helping out throughout the entire city as a result. They were happy to hear about this, but ended up a bit iffy when learning Naruto slept with his old Metropolis friend, Cat Grant.

Pam was accepting on the idea as she knew how much Cat was to the publisher, even as the changed botanist knew the two were in the 'friends with benefits' kind of relationship. Harley was okay with it, but wanted to meet with the Media Queen to know more about her. As for Selina, she was along the lines with somewhere in between Pam and Harley's reaction to feeling something else on the situation.

To simply put it, Selina was angry. Angry that he slept with Cat Grant while he was away and that hurt the ravenette in a way that was hard to describe. Selina is completely fine with sharing Naruto with Pam, and eventually Harley, since she's great friends with the two women and vice versa. But Naruto sleeping with someone that she hardly knew about made her hurt, causing her to cloud her judgements on the whole thing since Naruto told them over the phone.

"Look Selina, I'm still sorry on what happened." His hand reached out and grasped her free hand to give it a comforting squeeze as he said this. "It was a spur of a moment at the time, since I didn't expect that to happen. But…"

"It felt right, didn't it." She stated as she looked in his hazel eyes. "I can understand that, since we had such a thing months ago. But you sleeping with her on the very day you two met again after five years is not what I expected."

"You and me both." He sighed out as he ate some portions of his meal. "Though, right now, Cat and I are still trying to figure things out between us."

"Yeah, I heard." Taking a sip of her drink, she continued. "Especially this morning before you headed off to work."

"Hey in my defense, she called me and I do try to respond back to her calls quick enough when she's not at work. Though can't say the same with Rachel and Artemis on their respective calls with Perdita. I swear there needs to be good time placement for them if they want to appropriately call each other without much hassle."

Selina chuckled slightly when seeing some of those moments. She was going to comment about it when noticing Naruto rub his eyes in slight frustration. Knowing what it was exactly, as she saw it herself several times, she spoke.

"Are your eyes bothering you right now?"

"Yeah… along with memories of my clone after a long day at the office. A lot to take in and it doesn't help with them breaking my concentration lately on the suddenness."

"So what are you seeing now?"

"A lot actually." Purple circles then entered the publisher's vision and went towards different people in the restaurant. "I see a waiter taking money from the register, a cheating husband… and a couple entering a restroom which I have a distinct feeling they're gonna have sex in."

"Huh… thought I wasn't the only one." Stated the thief as her eyes traveled around before chuckling a bit. "Though I also see outside of the window a pickpocket getting his ass handed to him by an old lady. Which by the way is quite entertaining."

Turning his head to the side, he saw what was happening outside on the other side of the street. Naruto chuckled as well on the sight he was seeing. "Can't help but agree on that."

"Though can you turn it off Naruto?"

"Honestly? It's hard to do so, even with this ability of mine." He said as he focused on shutting off his zooming ability. "You?"

"It's the same actually. Living on the streets for most of my life, I had to constantly keep it on if I wanted to pickpocket at the right times so I wouldn't get caught to trying to get certain jobs done successfully."

"Yet you weren't all that attentive at Katsu's mansion."

Selina could only roll her eyes at the reminder yesterday. "Reason why I have Isis help me out on such things."

The two continued chatting as they finished up their dinner before Naruto paid the check. Once leaving the restaurant, the two made their way towards his car when both of them saw several people running past them. Curious on what's going on, they followed and eventually approached a growing crowd in front of the city's clocktower.

"The hell's going on." Naruto muttered as he saw everyone staring up at the clock. Activating his zoom ability in his eyes, he widened them as he saw a woman in a feather dress dangling on the hour hand with a speeding minute hand. If that wasn't enough, the minute hand had an attached meat clever as it was ready to cut the woman's restraints.

"Selina, I'll be right back." He said without getting a response from her. Rushing towards the nearby alley, Naruto shifted into his Vanitas attire and summoned his wind lance before shooting off into the sky. "Let me make it, please."

Just as Vanitas drew close to the hanging woman, the hands met as the clever sliced through the ropes holding the woman in place. The woman fell screaming for dear life and would've perished in the end if it wasn't for the helmeted hero catching her half way down the tower. Whipping back around, the hero landed his lance onto the nearby building and checked to see if she was alright.

'Just passed out.' He thought as he removed the bird mask from her face. 'Must've happened during the fall as it was too much for her.' His eyes soon landed upon a strange piece of parchment attached to the woman's belt. Taking a closer look, he saw writing in a bad form of penmanship: One for the dame.

Back at the clocktower, at the very top of the structure, Professor Pyg and Mr. Toad saw the whole spectacle as they sat down while having tea.

"...It's really quite good you know." Mr. Toad commented as he lifted up a plate from the picnic basket next to him. "Would you like a biscuit?"

"I really shouldn't, old friend." Replied the larger man. Just as Toad was about to put the plate away, Pyg spoke up. "Maybe just one before we need to leave."

"Right. Wouldn't want Vanitas to catch us this early in the game huh."

"Indeed."

With that said, the two eco-terrorists clinked their tea cups and drank it's concoction before making their way towards their next destination.

-Selina's and Shizune's Loft-

In the living room; Naruto and Selina watched from their respective spots as the news report was on the nearby TV set.

"...Earlier tonight, Azzura had been kidnapped outside of Club Plush with her bodyguards incapacitated by eco-terrorists: Professor Pyg and Mr. Toad." Summer Gleeson stated as the model's picture was shown on the corner of the screen right next to the mentioned terrorists. "She was later seen dangling at the Gotham Clock Tower before her eventual rescue by the hero Vanitas as he eventually brought her to GCPD custody for her safety.

For those not aware of who Azzura is, she's one of Gotham's top models in the circuit at this time. Though her methods on the runway are questionable with her only working with clothing made with exotic animals. Probably the reason why the eco-terrorists have targeted her in the first place." *Click*

"And she deserves it." Selena stated with a scowl before seeing the received look from Naruto. "What~ You know she does."

"As much as I do agree with you Selina," said the publisher as she held the TV remote, "it doesn't give them the right to have her suffer from such methods." Naruto looked back at the one piece of parchment placed on the kitchen counter. "Asides from not getting any fingerprints or any form of DNA, what do you know about these words?"

Looking back at the parchment, she read it over as a bit of remembrance came to her. "These are from the nursery rhyme 'Baa Baa Black Sheep'." Holding out her fingers, she listed off the lines. "One for the master, one for the dame and one for the little boy who lives down the lane."

Nodding at this, Naruto pulled out a map of the city and located many of the streets with 'lane' in the name. "Since rhymes are typically the calling cards of Pyg and Toad, along with Azzura clearly labeled as 'the dame', they'll want to target two more times to finish off the rhyme. And the 'boy who lives down the lane' must be the next target on their list."

"But with so many 'lanes' in this city, it'll take forever to find who might be next." Muttered the thief as she tried to think of where'd the terrorists will strike next. "I mean, there's at least a hundred 'lanes' in this city."

"And I have it narrowed to three." Naruto stated, getting a confused look from his lover. "I'll explain on the way. So let's get going."

-Downtown Gotham-

Sounds of machines filled the air as a man was working on one particular project for the evening. Not just any project, but one of fashion as he had a mannequin placed not far from him with a specific outfit being made at this time. To drown out some of the noises in his workshop, the man had his headphones on with latin music played at it's maximum volume.

If he didn't have the loud sounds going on, the man would've heard the elevator to his studio ringing out as it's doors opened up. But even then, the designer was too focused into his work and music to notice anything outside of his vision. Though that seemed to stop as a pair of shadows came across his work table to see the well known eco-terrorists.

"H-How did you two get in here?" The fashion designer muttered out as he backed away from them. "And why are you here?"

"You have lousy security, for starters." Answered the walking amphibian.

"As to why we are here," Pyg spoke as he walked closer to the designer, "we're here to punish you on your crimes against animal kind."

"Not to mention fashion." Mr. Toad added in with a smile. The talking amphibian raised his cane and pressed a button to cause fire to shoot out of it's bottom. The designer screamed as he ran out of the way, causing his current project to literally go up in flames.

"It seems that he's suffering quite the case of thanatophobia." The 'professor' stated as he placed his medical bag onto one of the nearby tables. "An intense fear of dying."

Just as the designer was about to reach the exit, Mr. Toad jumped above him and kicked the designer back into the room.

"It's rude to leave while you're having an appointment." Exclaimed the Toad as he saw Pyg sort through his bag. Taking out scissors, pliers and his trusty saw until he pulled out his rifle.

"Here we are." The professor said as he aimed his weapon at the recovering designer. The man tried to retreat, but once the weapon fired the man thought he was dead, only to end up flying to the nearby wall as he was ensnared by a metallic net.

Coming up to the fashion designer, Pyg brought up a stethoscope onto the man's chest. Hoping to hear nothing at all, except he heard the man's heart beat. "Such a shame, the man's still breathing."

Back with Vanitas and Catwoman, they came across the last destination on their list on the hero's wind lance when they saw the gaping hole inside of the building.

"Seems third time's the charm." The thief muttered as she got off of her lover's weapon.

"And we've got no time to lose."

Rushing inside, the two saw the varied security detail knocked unconscious and checked the directory. Seeing their destination in mind, they quickly went down the stairs to the basement and opened the door to see the damage done to the workshop. And on the far end of the studio lied the fashion designer as he was tied up with a cat mask on and columns of engineered band saws coming closer and closer to him from both sides.

"What do we do?" Questioned the feline fatale.

"Trust your instincts." Came his reply as the two walked closer to the man to see how to stop the machine.

Looking over the contraption, Selina was able to get a good idea as she went to one of the nearby tables and picked up a pair of tools. Taking aim, the thief threw them at the gears on top of the contraptions, causing them to grind and halter long enough for her and Vanitas to pull the man free. Once away from the bandsaws, the tools broke away to let the machine work once more until the blades came in contact with each other.

"That was a close call."

"Pretty much." As Vanitas inspected the unconscious designer, he saw a piece of parchment tucked into the man's jacket pocket. Pulling it out, it was the same as the one from earlier. Though this time, it had the following words: the little boy who lives down the lane. "Seems we got one more target left before Pyg and Toad go back into hiding."

Looking at the piece of paper, Selina's eyes caught onto something that seemed odd and commented about it. "Do you see what I see?"

Confused for a moment, Vanitas looked back onto the paper and inspected it. Not focusing on the writing, he saw something on the edge of the paper as some smuggy material. "Huh… Good eye."

"Thanks." She smirked before checking on the unconscious designer. Pulling off the mask, Catwoman recognized him. "This is Liam Taylor."

"Who?"

"Right… You don't know fashion all that well." She muttered as she handed the hero the cat mask. "He does bold statements in leather, exotic leather as a matter of fact."

"Not a fan I take it."

The thief scoffed as she narrowed her eyes on the man. "Not at all. He gets paid a pretty penny with designing clothes with the skins and furs of the feline variety." Growling a little, Selina walked away a little from the downed man. "Should've let those two finish the job to rid the world with him."

Sighing out on this possibly being a thing with his girlfriend, Vanitas inspected the mask before seeing a familiar logo. "Cole Plastics huh… Great. Now I'm gonna have to rethink my business opportunities with them."

"Why's that?" She asked, once turning back to him.

"Spiral Publishing does some work with them on some of the children's books we publish. Like the plastic coverings for some of the 'kid-friendly' coverings to stop choking hazards on the electronic parts." He explained as he handed the parchment to her. "I'll check them out while you head over to the Botanical Gardens and ask Pam to help us out on this."

Selina nodded as the two headed back upstairs before going their separate ways. Though before leaving, Catwoman asked Vanitas to make his motorcycle so she can ride it. With that done, she went off to see her friend at the gardens.

-Gotham Botanical Gardens-

"How's the project coming along Pam?"

"It's doing quite well Luisa." Said the changed botanist as she stretched out a little in her seat. "Some of the acquired plants we got are doing wonders in the crossbreeding."

Smiling at the news, Dr. Cruz looked over at Isley's current work. "And what of this one here?"

"From what I've noticed in the video feeds in the past month, this little guy only grows in moonlight." Pam stated as she looked onto the grown plant with the unblossomed white bulb. "It's quite strange since we tried to mix several extinct plants in a stronger fortitude and it turned out like this."

"Then I can't wait to see it blossom."

The Green champion smiled at her supervisor. "Me too."

Taking a sip out of her mug, Luisa spoke a certain question in mind. "And what of your other project?"

Rubbing her arm slightly, Pam was about to answer when someone knocked at the door to her lab. Turning their attention at the entrance, the changed botanist was surprised to see her shared girlfriend in a pair of street clothes.

"Hey Red." Selina said with a smile. "You got a moment or should I come back a little later."

"You can talk to Pamela now if you want." Luisa said as she started to head out of the room. "I planned on heading home anyways. So don't stay here too late Pam."

Once gone, Selina closed the door to Pam's lab and looked at her friend with a raised brow. "Something I should know about this project you're working on? Sounded important."

"Just a personal one that Luisa is helping me out with." The botanist answered as she seemed relieved somehow. "Though I'm glad that you did show up since I didn't know how to tell my boss on the progress so far."

"Not well I take it?"

"It's still in the early stages, with different theories mind you, and there are bound to be many errors at this point in the project."

"Mind giving me some kind of hint?" Pondered the thief as curiosity was getting to her. "It's fine if you don't want to, with science being completely out of my field."

Not seeing any problem with it, Pam answered. "It's pretty much hybridization of adding specific plant traits with animals to see if we can improve immune systems so far. It just takes the correct ratio to see if things will properly work."

"And what kind of testing have you done so far?"

"Rats are the typical test subjects for first trials before later ones." Pam stated as she pointed to the cages on the far end of the lab… with a lot of them dead. "Though the ones we have at the moment majorly died, making me have to figure out the proper sequence to have things work."

"Ain't that a bummer."

"Tell me about it." The redhead said as she rubbed her eyes. "We thought that things were well at first with many of the rats performing extremely well. But it turned out the specific ratios we introduced to them shortened their lives considerably, from the typical six months to literally a few weeks."

"And is this for your one project your boss mentioned or is it just a starting point for what you're really going for?" Selina questioned as she looked at her friend dead in the eye. "I know that most of the time since you started working here, you'd either spend much of your time either here or at your private garden outside of Gotham with very little time with us."

"I'd rather not talk about it Selina." Responded the botanist. "So if that's all, I'd like to get back to this project right now before heading home. It's been a long day."

"It's not just me checking up on you Red, but something else Naruto and I are working on right now." The thief said before going into details of what's been going on since the date earlier tonight ended. With the details on both the model and fashion designer targeted by Pyg and Toad.

"I'd agree with you on those two people deserving such things." Stated Pam's darker half as she didn't like such things towards nature. "And as I'd like them eaten by some of my more… carnivorous plants." Taking a deep breath, Pam took back control with an even tone. "But possibly this could get them to change their ways for the better, I suppose."

Selina rolled her eyes before pulling out the parchment she acquired earlier and handed it to her friend. "Anyways, Naruto was wondering if you could check out this resin while we hunt down Pyg and Toad. We don't know what they plan to do, but something tells me this resin is apart of this."

Ignoring the writing on the parchment, Pam saw the resin in question and nodded at her friend. "I'll get right on this when I have a moment Selina."

"Great and let us know when possible."

"Will do." Pam said as she saw Selina walk out of her lab and placed the parchment to the side before sighing out. "I should really work on this. Need a little break from work after I check on the rats." Stretching out a little, Pam soon walked over to the rat cages and checked on the live specimens and saw another one was dead. "Hmm… another day better than the last rat then."

-Meanwhile, Cole Plastics-

Landing on top of the building's rooftop, Vanitas dispelled his wind lance as he walked towards the skylight. The helmeted Uzumaki peered through the window and saw nothing amiss before he phased right through. Landing in a crouch, Vanitas activated the heat sensors in his helmet to find the eco-terrorists.

'Might be easier to find Pyg since Toad is a cold blooded being.' Thought the hero as he looked around the area. 'Though I wouldn't be surprised if the big guy was cold blooded as well.'

Moving around the area, Vanitas silenced his footsteps so he wouldn't make any sounds. The added silence made the factory extra sensitive that for any given sounds will immediately give out either of the eco-terrorists positions. And that seemed to work as Vanitas heard some chains rattle from up above.

'Got ya.' Vanitas thought as several daggers materialized in his hands. Throwing up into the air, he heard Mr. Toad cry out as he dodged out of the way from the rafters. And before long, the hero heard loud steps coming towards him from behind.

Vanitas tried to move out of the way in time, but Professor Pyg seemed to be extra quick as he lunged himself at the hero. The larger eco-terrorist grabbed ahold of Vanitas and tossed him into a grouping of mannequins. Collapsing onto the hard material, Vanitas stood back up and readied himself as he saw Mr. Toad join the party.

"Hello Vanitas." Mr. Toad spoke as he placed a monocle over his eye. "Welcome to our Summer lair."

"As much as we'd like to invite you for a spot of tea, you were quite rude of showing up unannounced." The 'professor' stated as he pulled out his hacksaw from the inside of his coat. "So I'd think it would be best for a good old fashioned pummeling."

"I couldn't agree better myself." Said the hero as more daggers formed into his hands.

Just as Pyg lunged at Vanitas, the hero threw his daggers at Mr. Toad. Said amphibian jumped out of the way as he didn't want to be skewered from the blades. As this happened, Vanitas had to block several blows from the larger eco-terrorist before he grabbed ahold of Pyg's arm.

"How about you go on a nice ride on the merry go round." Vanitas stated as he used a lot of his strength and spun the larger man around before letting go. Professor Pyg cried out as he ended up colliding against his smaller associate into more mannequins.

"That was extremely rude Vanitas!" Pyg growled out as he got onto his feet. "As a physician, I'm quite concerned about your violent outbursts. Rage, after all, is a common problem with hypertension."

"Well my psychologist says otherwise as fighting helps relieve my stress." The hero said before thinking to himself with a smirk. 'Among other things.'

Pulling out a pair of portable defibrillators, the larger eco-terrorist turned them on to have sparks fly from the metal plates. "Then maybe we should give your heart a quick stress test. Just to be safe, you know."

"Heh. I'd like to see you try."

Without another moment, Pyg ran towards Vanitas as he swung his arms around in hopes of landing hits on the hero. Vanitas rolled out of the way and grabbed a few broken mannequin pieces and threw them at the larger man. Same man landed his defibrillators on the pieces, causing them to break quite easily as they fell onto the ground with smoke coming off of them.

Once back up, Vanitas came right in and delivered a series of punches across the man's masked face and torso to skid him back some feet. With a roar, Pyg jumped and used a lot of his strength to deliver a mighty blow against his opponent. The attack did land, but that gave Vanitas the opportunity he needed. As the shocks ran through his system, Vanitas grabbed ahold of Professor Pyg's waist and lifted him up to perform a german suplex onto the terrorist.

Getting back up, the hero breathed out several breaths as he felt the shocks go away. "Man that guy was heavy. Now where the hell is Toad."

"Right here." Was all the warning Vanitas got as he was blasted by a sonic attack from behind, sending him to the far side of the building. Once impacting the wall, the hero fell onto a series of shelves holding up varied materials before falling onto the ground with said materials and shelves covering him.

The two eco-terrorists came up to the large pile with smiles on their faces. And with a little joy in his voice, Mr. Toad asked his larger associate. "May I do the honors?"

"By all means, my friend." Said the larger man, getting the smaller one to clap his hands in glee. "You do have quite the flare in this kind of work." Taking in a deep breath, Mr. Toad was about to launch another sonic attack when the two of them heard sirens coming from the distance. "Oh drat, the police. Gotham's killjoys arrived too soon." Letting out a sigh, the professor turned to his friend. "We should make a hasty retreat."

Slowly puffing out the large breadth, Mr. Toad let out a huff as he wasn't pleased in hearing this. "Oh phooey and fiddlesticks."

"Language Mr. Toad."

With that said, the two terrorists ran off as they left the factory in a quickened pace. Once leaving, Vanitas pushed the shelves out of the way before pressing a button on his helmet. This caused the police sirens to go off, making the helmeted Uzumaki let out a small chuckle.

"Gotta love that little function." He said as he moved his arms to get rid of a few kinks. "Helps stop certain fights pretty quickly if needed." He was about to head on out and possibly catch the criminals when he noticed some blueprints nearby. Coming closer for a better look, he saw they were building schematics. Though for which building, he looked onto the bottom corner to see they were for the Gotham Opera House.

'Need to call Selina.' He thought before calling said lover through his helmet. Before long, she picked up with sounds of wind in the background. "Catwoman, where are you now?"

"I just left the Gardens Vanitas and I'm heading to you now!" She said over the line. "How was the factory?!"

"Pyg and Toad tried to ambush me, but I made it out well. But that doesn't matter now since there's a change of plans."

"What do you mean?!"

"I know where the next target is going to be." He said as he phased through the building's wall. "Can you meet me over to the Gotham Opera House as soon as you can?"

"Did you say the opera house?!"

"Yes I did. Though do you know something I don't?"

"Saw some ads along the way showing an event is going on over there!" She replied as the sounds of the motorcycle engine going off a little louder. "The Masters of Fashion are stationed there this week!"

"One for the master." The hero muttered as he visually thought of Selina nodding. "We need to stop whatever is going to happen over there and fast."

Ending the call, Vanitas brought forth a Kazekage lance and rode it to his next destination as fast as the wind can take him.

-Gotham Opera House-

Sounds of motorcycle engines were heard on the streets as two blurs went through them. Both Catwoman and Vanitas rode their respective rides through the parking garage underneath the opera house. Once the male hero got close to the thief along the way, he dispelled his lance and made an extra motorcycle for himself to ride alongside his partner.

"Question!" Catwoman sounded off over the motorcycle engines. "What are we looking for?!"

"I'm guessing a large bomb hidden in plain sight!" Vanitas yelled out as his hawkeye ability was currently on in hopes of finding what they're looking for.

The two kept riding further in until Vanitas stopped his motorcycle with Catwoman soon following.

"What is it?" She asked as she looked around. Though her action stopped once her eyes landed on a large delivery truck with an ad plastered on it's side. "Pat O'Dygs BBQ. Our ribs are da bomb… Seriously?"

"Might be, but only one way to find out."

Getting off their bikes, with them dispelling soon after, the two ran towards the truck and opened the back to see many oil drums with a timer on top of one of them. And checking said timer showed that less than a minute was left before the truck exploded.

"Vanitas." Catwoman worriedly said as she looked at the man beside her. "What are we gonna do? Disarm this?"

"No." Jumping inside of the truck and ushered her to follow. "We're gonna let this blow outside of the building."

Getting the idea, she followed his command and closed the door behind her. Coming to the front seat, Selina saw Naruto hotwire the truck and started up the truck to move. He navigated through the parking garage as he tried to find a good way out of the area. But with the seconds passing by, he won't make it in time.

"We're gonna have to jump soon."

"What?"

"I'm going to phase us and the truck out of the garage and hopefully get this to either the street or the water." He said as he floored the pedal to make the truck go faster.

"Then I hope you do it soon since we don't have much time!"

As the timer was coming closer to it's end, Catwoman grabbed ahold of Vanitas' arm and waited for the inevitable. The masked publisher narrowed his eyes at the wall in front of him and poured much of his power into the truck to get them through the wall at the right moment. Though once free from the concrete area, the truck fell down to the waters below as the two lovers phased right through the vehicle's roof. Quickly summoning a giant card beneath them, they saw the truck explode underneath as they let out the breath they unknowingly held in their chests.

-Selina's and Shizune's Loft-

A can of catfood was opened, causing Isis to jump onto the kitchen counter as she waited for anticipation for her meal.

"Here you go Isis." Selina said to her beloved 'daughter'. "We're celebrating after a long night and stopping those pesky eco-terrorists' work."

*Meowr* Sounded off the black cat as she dug into the tasty chicken and tuna presented to her.

"Now I need something for myself." Selina muttered to herself before seeing her boyfriend stare off into space. "Not celebrating?"

"We missed something." Naruto said as his mind was going in overdrive. "I can feel it Selina."

"Pyg and Toad got away Naruto. Either we or Batman and Robin can catch them another day you know. So relax, we stopped the deaths of many tonight."

"That's just it Selina. The timer was set to only blow up an empty building. And why not earlier instead when the building's packed with all of the guests for the runway show? They really can't make a point if there aren't victims involved."

The thief sighed out as she opened the fridge and pulled out a gallon of milk to treat herself with a nice, cold glass of nutrients. "You really need to turn off your instincts Naruto, sometimes they might just drive you crazy. Hell I think I Batman might have the same problem as you have right now."

*Ring Ring* *Ring Ring*

"Now who's calling at this late hour?" Selina said as she placed the gallon of milk on the kitchen counter. Going over to her cellular phone, she saw that it was Pam and answered. "Hi Red. What's up?"

"Hey Selina, just calling to let you know that I'm finally heading back to the loft."

"Really? And why not sooner?"

"Got carried away on the project I'm working on. Sorry."

"It's fine. Though you should try and get some sleep in your comfy bed once your back."

"I will. Especially since I don't want to end up sleeping at the garden at work or else I'll get in trouble… again."

"Again?" She asked in bewilderment. "When did that happen Red?"

"Sometime on the first week I worked at the botanical gardens actually." Came Pam's honest answer. "I just really liked the feel of the place and the ancient tree in the garden was very soothing when I slept on it's branches. Though Dr. Cruz did give me a lecture that morning when she caught me instead of the other scientists and workers."

"So is that all Pam? I was just about to celebrate a good job well done after Naruto and I stopped the bombing at the opera house."

"That's good, I think. But no, that's not why I also called." The botanist said over the phone. "I was able to check out the resin you gave me, before I left, and found something odd about it."

"Right~ The resin. What about it?"

"It's quite odd Selina since I had to use some special equipment in one of our labs to find out it's properties. And it turns out that it's a rare phosphorus resin from African toads."

"...Did you just say toads?" Selina asked, getting a bad feeling on what's about to come up.

"Yeah, I did. Though whoever messed around with the resin altered it to explode once exposed to high heat." Pam explained as she breathed in a bit in annoyance. "Had to test it, just in case, and the thing left scorch marks on the lab table. It was not fun to clean up, just so you know."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes I am Selina and you need to let Naruto know asap." Was all the changed botanist said as she ended the call.

Turning towards her boyfriend, she spoke. "Naruto, we got a problem."

"Yeah I heard Selina." He said as he was looking at something in his hand. "Apparently you need to get the volume on your cell to go down, just for future reference."

"Sorry."

"Don't be, well not at this moment." He reassured her. "Since we just got the last clue on what Pyg and Toad are planning to do." Handing over the object in his hand to the thief, he explained. "They were planning to attack 'The Masters', but the opera house was a diversion from the real location."

Looking at the object, she saw it was an invitation to the fashion show's after party. "Wait, why were you invited?"

"It was addressed from one of my employees, since she was going out of town this week with her family." He said before shaking his head. "But it doesn't matter, we need to get to this party immediately."

"And when did it start?"

"Two hours ago Selina." Naruto stated as he went into his Vanitas attire. "So we need to get moving."

-Gotham Harbor-

Music can be heard if you were near the docks as it was blaring from the charter yacht. Making people feel very upbeat to celebrate a job well done on the runway show earlier that evening. Though under the surface of the party lies something sinister that's a threat towards the party goers.

Landing with a small thud on the ground, Catwoman and Vanitas arrived onto the scene as the helmeted hero dispersed their form of transportation.

"Okay, I'll go below deck and hopefully find Pyg and Toad in time." Said the masked Uzumaki.

"And what will I do?"

"Try to get people off the boat." He replied as the two walked closer to the yacht. "We don't want them to panic, so do it quietly."

Selina could only sigh as they went their separate ways. "Easier said than done."

Sneaking onto the side of the charter boat, Vanitas soon phased his way through the hull and navigated his way through the varied corridors. Checking every room with his clones for any sign of the eco-terrorists. But the hero figured that the only way to really cause so much damage to so many people will require an explosion from the engine room.

Once entering the room, the masked hero saw the same kind of resin he saw earlier this evening heavily layered on the pipes.

"Bravo Vanitas!" Professor Pyg called out from down below. Whirling towards the source, Vanitas saw the two eco-terrorists standing in front of several dozen heated coil pillars that must've been installed recently or several days prior. "Seems you finally found us out!"

Jumping over the railing, Vanitas landed onto the bridge below as he faced Pyg and Toad. "You're misdirect failed. Give it up."

"Oh I wouldn't say that." Drawled out the Professor.

Jumping up and down in anticipation, Toad spoke in excitement. "Oh tell him the plan boss. I love it when you tell the plan."

"Heh, why not." Turning over towards their opponent, Pyg explained. "You see Vanitas, we rigged the upper deck with a state of the art body-heat scanner. Such a device was hard to come by, but it was worth it as it's connected to the contraption on the other side of this room." Turning around, Vanitas saw a metallic counter as it slowly went up. "As each animal oppressor enters the party, their temperature raises the coils by one degree. And once hitting 280 degrees, then there goes the lot of them."

"That's not going to happen Pyg since guests are being evacuated as we speak."

"Really?" The professor asked with a sigh. "Such a pity. Then it seems we've got to end the party much sooner than we hoped. Mr. Toad, will you be so kind to help."

Smiling at the request, the anthropomorphic amphibian chuckled. "It will be my pleasure."

Mr. Toad leaped from his position as Vanitas tried to stop him, but Pyg threw a handful of scalpels at the hero in the room. Having to block the projectiles, Vanitas was forced to take care of Pyg while the smaller terrorist messed with the machine. Not wanting this to happen, the masked Uzumaki had to quickly create a clone to hopefully stop the amphibian.

"Not gonna happen Toad!" Called out the clone as he smacked the amphibian away from the machine.

Growling at the clone, the smaller eco-terrorist retaliated as he assaulted the masked man. "No fair! No fair! You're cheating!"

"On the battlefield, cheating tends to make the upper hand you poor excuse of a toad."

Both ends of the room, each eco-terrorist dealt with their own Vanitas as they tried to incapacitate the villains. Each could do real harm on the terrorists, but that might cause problems in the long run. All that both the original and clone could do was try to knock out their opponents.

Pulling up a giant hose from the side, the professor called out to his opponent. "Let's slow you down a bit, shall we?!" Releasing the high pressured valve on the hose, the resin was sprayed all over the place as Vanitas tried to not get caught. Though that can't say the same with the clone as it got blasted from behind and poofed out of existence.

Wanting to help his larger companion, Mr. Toad leaped into the air and fired a sonic blast at the original. This sent Vanitas into the hanging wires in between a pair of heated coils. The masked Uzumaki was about to phase his way through his entrapment when Pyg released the hose's valve and sprayed the altered resin onto him, hardening him in a thick layer.

"Seems that you're in quite the pickle Vanitas and soon you'll be… What's the word I'm looking for Mr. Toad?"

"Crispy?"

"Ah yes, that's it." Aiming the hose at the captured hero, Pyg smirked a bit more. "Though just to be safe, let's add in a second coat."

Just when the valve was turned, a whip latched onto the hose and quickly got it out of Pyg's grasps. Before he could do anything, a figure landed onto his back and kicked his head before leaping towards Mr. Toad. The smaller terrorist was knocked to the side to be rendered immobile.

"Sorry I'm late." Catwoman said with a smile. "Wasn't great trying to get a lot of those rich snobs off this ship."

"And are they all off the boat?" Vanitas asked as he phased out of his bindings.

"The evacuation is still going on right now."

"You know, I really hate party crashers." Pyg growled out once back onto his feet. "Mr. Toad, mind giving these two a good lesson in etiquette?"

"With pleasure." Came Toad's response as he fired a sonic attack at the couple.

Not wanting to be sent flying back, Vanitas quickly formed a barrier around them. "Not this time Toad!" As the amphibian kept up with his attack, Vanitas quickly made a clone as it and Catwoman left the barrier to deal with the terrorists.

The thief went around the heated coils and used her whip to snag Toad's legs, causing him to fall down to the ground. He tried to get back up, but it was useless with how tight the leathery bindings were. Using her strength once spinning around, Selina was able to send the amphibian flying away.

Pyg made his way towards the controls, but the clone brought out his ice shield and bashed the larger man away. Pyg pulled out a hacksaw from his jacket and slashed at the clone, but the shield held up. Growing tired of the assault, the clone came in close and smacked the hacksaw away before bashing the larger terrorist across the bridge.

Seeing the counter rising and rising, the clone didn't know how to stop the machine. So the best thing he could come up with was raise his ice shield and slammed it onto the controls several times. And in each time, ice spikes struck the contraption until the counter stopped several degrees from its targeted number.

"At least that's over." Stated the clone.

"Not quite!"

Whirling around from their positions, Vanitas, Catwoman and the clone saw Pyg and Toad ignite several bombs in their hands and tossed them at their opponents. In quick reflexes, Catwoman and the clone smacked the bombs away, causing them to quickly explode. Vanitas was able to protect his lover, but the clone quickly dispelled as his shield wasn't able to handle the largely unexpected explosion.

As the blast settled, Vanitas and Catwoman saw flames from the explosion rise higher and higher. Not wanting the flames to touch the explosive resin, Vanitas quickly summoned his ice shield and slammed it down onto the ground as he poured much of his power into it. This resulted with ice spikes to protrude from the sides as none punctured the surrounding engines. With the heat contacting with the ice, the area started to cool down considerably until the flames were extinguished.

"Nice thinking Vanitas."

"You're welcome Catwoman."

"So what are we gonna do with these two?" She questioned as she pointed to the unconscious eco-terrorists.

"What do you think?" He rhetorically asked with a hidden smile.

Summoning several Dusks to help place the two terrorists onto a giant playing card, the couple spoke as they made their way to drop their captives to GCPD.

"I admit, I didn't expect the misdirect." Selina admitted as the wind breezed past her exposed face. "I figured that once we solved the clues, the case would be done and over with."

"Same here, but things like that always can't be easy. I even couldn't shake the feeling that we missed something."

Not much was said afterwards once the masked couple dropped off the terrorists and made their way back to the publisher's loft. Wanting to have a well deserved rest after a very long day. No sex at all, just a peaceful sleep with his lovers was all he wanted at this time.

-Naruto's Mindscape-

"Okay… Why am I here?" Questioned the publisher as he stood on the white platform in his mindscape. "I only show up here for mental training, seeing each of my girlfriends' memories or doing stuff for Yggdrasil at different trees around the city. But I'm not doing either of those things."

Naruto had wandered around the white platform in hopes of finding any stained glass walkways for him to travel on, but none appeared. He even tried to summon any of his Nobodies, yet they would not appear. Naruto had done the summoning dozens of times in the past in his mindscape and they always showed, but not this time.

"This is really odd." He muttered as he scratched his head. "What the hell is going on here?"

Naruto didn't know what happened next, but he felt something truly chilling run down his spine as his eyes landed on his shadow. He didn't know why, but it wasn't his at all. Especially with the white dots for eyes.

Before he could comment about it, Naruto's 'shadow' stretched and grew on the white platform. Once stopping, a figure emerged from the shadow and came to a stop once it came to roughly Naruto's general height. Possibly more, but hard to really tell as the figure was quite imposing to the former shinobi.

It was a tall, gaunt man with the most pale skin than Naruto has ever seen, almost white as snow and paler than Orochimaru. His pure black hair was truly disheveled that could make a wild mane look like bed hair. His eyes were bottomless pits of pure inky blackness; his pupils were like radiant stars that shone brighter than any other of the stars in the sky. It gave the impression that if you looked too much into said eyes, you could run the risk of losing yourself inside of them forever. As for the man's clothes, they seemed as if he was covered in a mantle of stars; as if the most starry of the nights had enveloped him and cloaked him entirely in its infinity.

Naruto's instincts were running wild as he didn't know what to do as he gazed at the man before him. He didn't even know what to do as this being before him made him truly scared without realizing this. Though one thing came to mind and was voiced.

"W-Who are you?"

The man merely stared at the publisher, which felt like an eternity to him. And before long, the man spoke in the smoothest tone one could ever hear. The very sound of his voice felt as something far older and wiser than the earth itself.

"Hello Naruto Uzumaki. My name is Morpheus and I need your services at this time."

-End Chapter-