Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Young Justice or any related characters or properties.

MOUNT JUSTICE
SEPTEMBER 6, 21:22 EDT
TEAM YEAR ZERO

Naruto's fingers twitched, the memory of the wound still fresh on his mind. His powers had, over the past couple of days, allowed him to regrow them. But it was such an exhausting affair that he had spent much of his time under supervision in the entirely too small infirmary. Thankfully, others were keeping his company.

"I can't believe you and Garth actually battled Black Manta. I'm so damned jealous."

Kaldur smiled. "Believe it, my friend. I wish that we had been able to detain him, but several of his group were taken into custody. Orin and Orm are confident that they will be able to decipher information about Manta's organization from them."

"Awesome." Naruto nodded. "I mean, seriously though. That guy's been causing Atlantis trouble for years, and you two had a chance to take him down. I'm really impressed."

Wally leaned down to tie his shoe. "Yeah, man. It's almost as impressive as taking down Mirror Master with the Flash a couple months ago. Err, before the Team started."

Naruto and Kaldur glanced at each other. "Sure, Wally, sure," the blond offered. "How's Tula?"

The pointed question was noticeably painful, but Kaldur put on a happy face. "She is doing well. Garth has entered into a romantic relationship with her." The tension was there, but only Wally was oblivious to it. Naruto frowned and used his good hand to pat his friend.

"It'll be okay buddy. Gotta be happy for em." After several seconds, Naruto pointed to the room around him. "Any chance that you two'll spring me from this eternal prison? My hand is fine." He wiggled the fingers, still too numb from the freshness of the skin. "I'm a little surprised that I'm the one still stuck here. You were in worse condition."

"Black Canary was adamant that you stay for as long as she deems necessary." Kaldur glanced down for a moment, to his watch. "Ultimately, my body rehydrated quickly, but your injuries were more extensive."

"And gone now!"

Wally sped over to the other side of Naruto's bed and grinned. "Of course, Canary's on a long-term assignment right now, so I'm sure no one will notice..."

Naruto raised an eyebrow as a thought occurred to him. "Prison break!" The two of them shared an exuberant grin and started to whisper plots, before looking at Kaldur expectantly.

Confused, the older teen stared at them blankly. "Why are you trying to re-enact that Shawshank movie? The only one of our mentors here is Red Tornado, and he has never been authoritarian."

Wally zipped over to lay an arm over Kaldur's shoulder, awkwardly considering their difference in height. "It's The Shawshank Redemption, my friend, and any time you can replicate it is a good time to do so."

The Atlantean gestured to the door leading outside. "We are not confined to this room, so performing this feat would be a waste of time and resources."

"Exactly!" Naruto declared, earning a sigh from his friend.

"I will have no part in this. Good night."

TAIPEI
SEPTEMBER 7, 19:23 NST
TEAM YEAR ZERO

Roy glanced over the calm before the storm, standing carefully behind his perch. The crowd outside the summit was littered with armed guards dressed in suits, designed to make Tseng from South Rhelasia look less militaristic. A subtle form of manipulation that was utterly ineffective to anyone who gave it a moment of thought. Opposite him were the North Rhelasian group with their formal officer uniforms, a stark contrast that was mere PR.

One particular man in the crowd stood head and shoulders above all the rest, an intimidating figure to behold. His arms must have been as big around as Roy's thighs, and at least six inches taller. He appeared to be hired muscle, though he did not fit the persona of any other guard there. He was so odd that Roy was sure that he wasn't connected to the League of Shadows, though he also couldn't tell which side the man could possibly be on. Maybe a third party mercenary already in place to protect the arbitrator when he arrived?

The focus on this unknown entity took away his focus, though he still needed to identify Cheshire. Pressing a finger lightly, pretending to brush his hair back over his ear, he called the Cave.

"Aqualad."

"Red Arrow. No time to kid around. Grant access to the Justice League's database. Looking for the exact height of the League of Shadows' member Cheshire."

There was a probably irritated sigh, and a pause. "Cheshire is one point seven meters."

"Um?"

"Five foot six inches tall."

Roy reached to activate the built-in HUD on his sunglasses, feeding the data into it to watch over the crowd.

"Do you need back-up?"

"No time for chit-chat."

The computer indicated the crowd, just as the car indicating the arrival of the arbitrator pulled around. He managed to identify Cheshire's location, already moving quickly to assemble his bow from the briefcase. He had precious few seconds…

The motorcade stopped and Roy moved as his sunglasses registered that she had moved. Dipping from behind the pillar, he pulled automatically and the arrow reigned true.

In far too much time to normally see, Roy watched as the arrow slid into the barrel of the RPG, just as the explosion fired. Superheated containment foam and shrapnel met in mid-air, splattering over a good chunk the area. The assassin was blown off of the roof of the magazine stand, and chaos exploded nearly as quickly as the missile would have.

Roy grimaced at his handiwork; several people who were standing closely enough to the explosion now faced severe burns from containment foam, the guards were standing on edge as though waiting for more enemies, and the giant man was stepping up the motorcade. Roy was almost certain that the man saw him in his peripheral vision, and he really didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

Tseng and Manh Li were both escorted away quickly, and the assassin poked her head around the corner.

Roy frowned, pulling another arrow from his bow, and Cheshire was already moving toward the motorcade again. Burns decorated her uncovered legs, and there was no way of telling how debilitating the damage actually was. She brandished her right hand regardless, her left dangling uselessly at her side. That showed determination; or perhaps desperation. After all, there was no chance that Ra's al Ghul appreciated failure.

Just as Cheshire engaged Tseng's remaining guards, Roy leaped forward and fired a net arrow, hoping to trap her for interrogation. She spun and shoved the closest guard in the way of the net, and it entangles him easily.

Red Arrow barreled forward, a small part of him admiring her ingenuity, and readied another foam arrow. However, he barely reacted in time to avoid the sai hurled in his direction, a knick bloodying his cheek.

The guards of both nations suddenly decided then to get competent, and surrounded her entirely. Their guns are pointed directly at her, and she throws up one hand in resignation, clearly unable to easily move the other. Blood dripped onto the concrete from an undamaged sleeve.

He glanced toward the news reporter, a cute blonde he can't really remember, report on the assassination attempt. Lucky for their ratings, he supposed, keeping his body turned toward Cheshire just in case she tried something fishy.

The arbitrator decided at that moment to step from his car calmly, his driver opening the door for him. Standing there was a bald man that Roy knows very well based only on sight: Lex Luthor.

The CEO affixed his tie and then shook the hand of the giant man first. Roy couldn't hear their hushed tones, but he pressed a button on his sunglasses to maybe record their conversation visually. There was a lot you could learn from lip readings after all, and whoever this guy was, he was an unknown entity.

MOUNT JUSTICE
SEPTEMBER 7, 06:40 AM
TEAM YEAR ZERO

"Are we really going to let him handle this alone?" Naruto felt that he really had a point, had a stake in this. Kaldur needed to cheer up, and having him help Roy would definitely help him to cheer up. "I don't know much about nuclear weapons, but any two countries that have 'em are definitely bad news." He honestly wished that Superboy were here, because if he were, he could just ask him to rattle off all the relevant science and history about them.

"I understand your point." Kaldur was pacing back and forth in the empty mission room, and Naruto paced along with him just to burn the energy. "But Roy has been on a mission for self-discovery as of late. He would only see us helping him as interference."

"Bullshit." Naruto stopped suddenly and looked earnestly. "The rest of the Team is busy, but you and I can definitely help him." The golden drachma around his neck, usually unnoticed, felt uncharacteristically heavy. And then, something occurred to him. "Wait, before you respond, think about this. The last time that we tried to stop the League of Shadows, we fought Morpheus." Kaldur's eyes widened. "Are we really going to risk Roy's life to a god just because he wants to prove himself worthy of acting solo?"

"You are right. I have been… distracted."

That just won't do. "Let's get you undistracted then. That was the whole point of the trip home, remember?" Naruto gestured to the computer to bring up the marker for Roy's location, somewhere in Taipei. A second screen shows the current news of the situation, a horribly captured continuous replay of the assassination attempt.

"I will contact Batman. He will authorize Zeta-Tube access for the two of us."

It does not take long to reach the Dark Knight, currently on monitor duty on the Watchtower. "Yes?"

"Are you watching the situation in Taipei?" Kaldur's question was less direct than Naruto liked.

"Can you authorize the two of us to go help Red Arrow?"

Batman flexed his fingers for a moment. "Yes, I am watching. And yes, I can do that. But why should I do that?"

"The last time that we faced the League of Shadows, a god made sure they got their target. What's to stop Morpheus or someone else from interfering again?" Naruto asked. Inwardly, he was excited for some chance that he might get revenge.

"Normally, Batman, I would respect Roy's wishes to take care of the situation alone," Kaldur added. "But facing down a rogue god on his own is suicide."

Batman considered their words for several seconds. "An astute observation. Considering the potential threat level, utilizing the League's top tier combatants would be more apt. Wonder Woman would be ideal, given her background." He paused and turned to Kaldur. "Can you think of a reason why that isn't a viable option?"

Kaldur blinked. "Is Wonder Woman available?"

"Yes. I could send for her with a flick of a button."

Naruto was incredulous at the implication. "Why won't you?"

"It's not that I won't, Riptide. I can't. Why can I not do that?" Batman asked, turning his attention to Kaldur.

The older Atlantean seemed to finally get it. "The UN Justice League charter. This is just like with the Bialya mission a few days ago. If you were to send a full League presence, on the slim chance that something more is going on, then it could escalate tensions and harm the peace agreement."

Naruto followed that, but the restriction was a little bit alarming. "Can't people just be happy to have someone watching their back? From a god no less?"

"The Justice League is a UN organization, but has the public perception of being very Western-oriented, if not altogether an American one," Batman explained. "If we were to send in operatives publicly, there might not be an agreement altogether. I do not know the specifics behind their choice of Luthor as a third-party arbitrator, but the perception of American intervention is lessened."

The surface world's politics were not so different from the city-states down below. Naruto couldn't remember much of the details, but they did not seem to be openly fighting as often as they were before Poseidonis became the seat of the High King. But even if they were similar, this was a different level. And it was stupid.

Kaldur, apparently, was understanding this a bit more, frustratingly. "So what you're saying is that you'll send a few of us- that is the Team- to investigate quietly, and intervene if necessary?"

"Yes. You and Riptide for now, Aqualad," Batman explained. Naruto couldn't see the man's fingers typing, but he could hear them through the microphone. "I will place Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman on reserve duty as an absolute last resort. If Morpheus becomes involved again, then the League will intervene directly; we cannot risk a repeat of your last encounter. Until then, your assignment is to support Red Arrow in his mission."

Kaldur cleared his throat. "If I may, Batman. Red Arrow is under a certain amount of stress to prove himself. Having me take command of the mission would likely lead to tension, tension that the mission should avoid."

The man nodded. "Then I recommend that you follow Red Arrow's lead, assuming that his leadership demands are reasonable. I have permitted access to Taipei for the two of you."

"Thank you!" Naruto shouted, quickly shutting the communication window and bounding toward his room. All that time sitting in that infirmary has only made his adrenal glands work harder.

TAIPEI
SEPTEMBER 7, 19:47 NST
TEAM YEAR ZERO

"Why should either side trust you?"

"Because," the suave businessman began, "LexCorp is a company founded on peaceful enterprise for all humanity."

"Cut the act, Luthor!" Roy started, information running through his mind rapidly. "I've got intel that the LexCorp shell companies sell weapons to both Rhelasias! You're profiting off of this war. So what's your angle?"

Luthor stepped forward, leaning in. "War income is pocket change compared to the billions to be made investing in a peaceful and united Rhelasia. And isn't it better to have peace, even if that scoundrel Lex Luthor profits from it?"

"That scoundrel may not survive to profit," Roy reminded. "Cheshire failed, but the League of Shadows won't stop until the contract is fulfilled." He almost shuddered at Kaldur's recounting of Serling Roquette's death.

Lex turned, interested. "Which… does beg the question: 'who hired the League?'"

"And are you really the target?" Roy asked, looking toward the two dignitaries on the stairs above. "Or was your death just a convenient way to sabotage the summit?"

Lex grinned. "Allow me to hire you to find out."

Roy turned, ready to respond, but the communicator buzzed in his ear, interrupting his train of thought.

"Red Arrow, Batman has authorized our departure. We will be there to assist you in whatever way you see fit until the summit is over."

"We're going to help you kick some ninja ass!"

The two Atlanteans were not welcome, as far as Roy was concerned. He scowled, and met Luthor's eyes. "I don't want your blood money."

"What the hell are you talking about? Kaldur, wha-"

"Riptide, be calm. He must be speaking with someone."

"Right."

Irritated, Roy stepped away from his rapport with Lex. "Would you shut the hell up?" He hissed. "I'll contact you in a few minutes."

For several seconds, Roy continued to be distracted, but Luthor finally cleared his throat. "Trouble at home?"

"Something like that," Roy said, rolling his eyes.

"So since you don't want my money, you'll do all of what you'd normally do for free then? Good on you, hero." Lex started to walk toward the podium. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a hemisphere to save." As he passed, he nodded to the all too tall man standing at the foot of the stairs, and Roy's eyes narrowed.

TAIPEI
SEPTEMBER 7, 20:14 NST
TEAM YEAR ZERO

"You're going to go in there and interrogate her?" asked Naruto. The three heroes were standing in the hallway of the small police station, just outside the cell where Cheshire was being held. The girl had been sedated for a few hours, while an emergency medical team helped stabilize her. Her body suffered no life-threatening injuries, though her left arm sustained major loss of function afterward.

Every few seconds, he caught someone in the precinct staring. He flashed the small receptionist a shark-toothy grin, and she paled. "Let me go with you."

"No." Roy shook his head, fingers already on the doorknob. "My mission, my perp."

"Don't give me tha-"

"Riptide." Kaldur's voice was firm. "Red Arrow's rules."

Naruto had several reasons to want to question this Cheshire, considering their last encounter led to their client dead. Unfortunately, he bit his tongue, and allowed Roy to walk inside. The door closed behind them, and they watched silently.

"How long do you think it will take?" Kaldur asked.

"Someone with that as their job? Killing people on missions for money? There's no telling."

Passing the time, Naruto counted how long he could hold the leaf from his pocket to his forehead. After several days of practice, the Leaf Sticking Exercise had become easier and easier. As it was now, he was holding onto the entire leaf with only the stem of the Leaf touching his skin, the rest held outward. Theoretically, he wanted to manipulate it such that it stuck straight out and removed the curls that drooped down, but baby steps.

After several minutes of that, his impatience grew. Naruto wished he had his training dummy here, an idea percolating in his head to insert a bottle of water within it and manipulate the water inside the dummy to do damage internally, as well as externally. He'd already practiced on a watermelon, and watching the fruit explode due to his machinations was enlightening. He wondered if the League would ever even consider it a possibility to actually use in combat. The human body was mostly liquid, liquid that a skilled hydrokinetic could use.

Suddenly, a loud thoom rocked the precinct, and he flinched. The leaf, remarkably, stayed exactly where it was, and Kaldur did not recover as quickly.

Barging into the wrecked room, he witnessed several things at once. Roy was slumped against the wall, though getting ready to stand. Someone had used some kind of explosive on the wall inside the cell, and a rope was dropping to the room level.

Ignoring the masked cat-like assassin with his back turned, Naruto whipped his hand outward, a blade of wind arcing automatically toward the opening. Nearly instantly, the rope separated at the highest point he could see, and whoever was using it to climb down awkwardly slammed inside with their leg. They recovered relatively quickly, kicking off of the roof and then pushing back inside.

Sportsmaster. Naruto's mind immediately rushed to Kobra, and he was just not having any of that bullshit today.

The masked man caught Naruto's eyes, and then beckoned quickly. "Come on, Little Girl, we have a lot to climb up."

The voice, the situation… it reminded him of Artemis… her dream. Morpheus's dream/nightmare. The man behind the prison cell. He wanted to think about it, but couldn't afford to. A problem for another day.

Kaldur rushed to start pulling on the bars, but Naruto stepped forward again. "Get out of the way." A ball of wind pulsed in between both of his hands, gathering pressure for a half-second, and then he released it quickly.

The silvery-air slipped through the bars and headed right for Sportsmaster. The man managed to kick outward and narrowly avoided the brunt of the ball of wind, but his foot caught the edge of it. Grunting, the spiraling Sportsmaster smacked against the wall hard with his right shoulder.

"You're not getting away," Kaldur said. Roy stood and trained an arrow directly on Sportsmaster's form, and Naruto focused his eyes intently on Cheshire.

"If you move a single muscle, this arrow finishes the job Riptide's magic started. Ever tried to walk with your Achilles' tendon severed?"

The man narrowed his eyes. "But you're too goody-goody for that, aren't you?"

"I can tell that this one has anger issues," Cheshire said, nodding at Roy. "The fingers on your bow are too strained, your knuckles too white. You… really would kill him, if given the chance, wouldn't you?"

"Maybe you're on the wrong side," Sportsmaster said with a grin. "Not that it matters."

Naruto felt the winds in the room shift before anyone else did, and then suddenly, a helicopter was in view of the room through the opening. Bullets sprayed freely, some glinting off of the metal of the bars, and it was all he could do to shove Roy out of the way.

Kaldur had similarly dodged, rolled to an upright position, and conjured his hard water shield. He peeked behind it to survey the scene, bullets bouncing off of the defensive move. Naruto checked to make sure the less durable archer was okay and turned back.

But Cheshire and Sportsmaster had disappeared from the opening, the helicopter flying away at top speeds. Naruto thought that he could take out a helicopter fairly easily, but he'd need to be much closer. And with every second, it got farther and farther away. If only he could fly like he could in Morpheus' dreamscape…

"You idiots!" The archer bellowed. "You let them get away."

Kaldur attempted to defend their actions, but Naruto ignored the conversation, reached forward and pulled the bars apart with a great heave of his strength. He stood over the hole in the wall, curious to see if there was an easy way to follow. He might could propel himself forward, perhaps glide downward, but even then, the speed he could move was limited. Maybe if they had the Bio-Ship, they could easily follow, assuming it was close enough for them to reach in time.

"Riptide, your little stunt nearly cost me my-" Something caught Naruto's eye. Fresh blood. "-perp. What the-"

"Oh shut up." He reached down, focusing on his magic briefly. Tattoos flared to life for a split second, and the blood lifted from the floor to hover above his hand. "Give me a few minutes, and I should be able to track them."

"Track them? Had you not gotten in my damned way, maybe I could have placed a tracer on the heli."

"Well, we did, so too late." He reached with his free hand into the small pouch at his side, clipped to his belt, to reveal a conch shell. Last time he'd used this, he'd tracked the Leviathans down the West Coast. Sportsmaster paled in comparison to that.

The blood drifted inside, and the shell glowed with gold as he began to chant under his breath. It took several minutes, most of which Roy spent furiously pacing as Kaldur dealt with the authorities who came to investigate to explosion.

"Oh, quit your pacing. I've got their location." He placed the still glowing conch shell to his ear, and Roy rolled his eyes.

"Fine, give it to me. If you two really want to help, go protect the summit. I'll follow them."

Naruto shook his head, the sound of the magic giving him a trail to follow. "Sorry, magic only works for me, and Kaldur doesn't know the spell. I'll have to come with you."

Roy looked like he would object, but Kaldur interjected. "I'll watch over the summit until you two return. Recon only."

The archer scowled. "Fine."

TAIPEI
SEPTEMBER 7, 21:03 NST
TEAM YEAR ZERO

The tracking magic led the two of them to some kind of secluded estate in not far from the center of Taipei, on the other side of the city from the summit. It must be really old because it doesn't fit the style of the buildings at all. Maybe ceremonial or something? Naruto didn't know much about Asia to be honest. Those anime that M'gann likes are the only exposure he's had to it.

They were lying flat against a roof overlooking the central courtyard, where Cheshire and Sportsmaster were standing. She held her left arm steady as she waited, and the man was favoring one leg. They argued over something, though none of the voices made any sense to him.

"Can you do anything else useful like amplify their voices with that air of yours?" Roy whispers carefully, staring through binoculars.

Naruto shook his head. "Hmm. Never thought about it. But even if I could try, they would notice."

Some figure stepped forward from the inside of the manse and approached the two, gliding carefully down the stairs. Cheshire automatically knelt at his presence. Naruto had no idea who it was, but Roy's body tensed.

"Ra's al Ghul!"

"Who's that?"

Roy sighed. "Head of the League of Shadows. Likely the most dangerous non-metahuman in the world."

Naruto could definitely see how running into him would be bad news. Though he'd faced worse with Morpheus. Knowing the last time they'd run into the League, he felt his back tense with anxiety.

When Red Arrow raised up, Naruto was already moving. Dropping to the ground below as the archer loosed an arrow, a spiral of air spun around him. Cheshire's response, a fancy metal sai knife, embedded two or three inches into the wood on the other side of the clearing, deflected by his shimmering shield.

Sportsmaster knocked the arrow out of the sky as Ra's dipped backwards, though not completely out of sight. Naruto darted across the ground, lines of compressed air trailing behind him, pushing him slightly beyond the normal realms of speed. It pained him to say that it wasn't faster than Wally, but he'll deal.

A column of air lashed out like a whip, attempting to slam into both of the assassins, but they nimbly avoided the attack. Chips of stone and earth clattered from the maneuver, but Naruto had herded them closer together. One of Roy's trick arrows activated, expanding into a huge net halfway to them. He had to hope he had kept them distracted enough for Roy's trick to work.

Cheshire narrowly slashed the net with a well-placed swipe of her remaining sai, and Sportsmaster somersaulted away from Naruto's vicinity, running toward Roy's position on the roof to his right.

"Protect our master!" the man declared. "I'll get the archer!"

Naruto's blood boiled as he rushed toward the cat-like girl, guilt at Serling's death fresh on his mind. If he had gotten everyone away from Morpheus more quickly, he might have succeeded in saving her life.

"Anger does not suit you, little boy." He couldn't afford to let her sultry voice distract him.

Bullets of compressed air fired after her, and she flipped out of the way, dropping pellets from her sleeves. Immediately, they spread purple-tinged smoke that diffused so quickly that Naruto's eyes stung.

A quick wave of air in all directions dissipated the cloud nearly instantly, but before he could really be happy about that, a blurry object collided with his face, flinging him to the ground.

Standing over him was the well-dressed leader of the assassins, a sword at Naruto's neck.

"Admittedly, it would be unbecoming to kill you myself. That honor belongs to another. But I believe that he would forgive me if I simply maimed you."

Naruto's heartbeat quickened, brain running several miles a minute. He pressed hard into the ground to avoid the cool metal of the curved sword touching his skin, inches from his jugular. He had precious seconds to figure out what to do, so maybe stalling would work. He wasn't confident that he could activate a spell in time and avoid getting his throat cut.

"Who is the person you're talking about?" Naruto asked, intensely aware that Cheshire had just walked up, standing next to her master. "Morpheus? Kobra?" Did anyone want him alive?

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Ra's mocked, a sadistic grin on his face.

"I would. I'll need to know what to tell Batman after this is over."

Cheshire preened. "Confident little one, aren't you?" Wind fluttered through the bushes behind Cheshire's feet, grabbing his attention.

The leaf! Oh my god, the leaf! Naruto went through the steps as quickly as he could, guiding his chakra toward his neck. Grabbing onto the blade with that unnatural stickiness, he had to hope it would be enough.

"I have plenty of reasons to be confident. My stellar good looks and natural charm." A flash of his teeth accentuated the point. "My amazing combat skills."

One, two, three!

He jerked to the right, the sword stuck along for the ride, and the leader's arm was yanked forward with it, stumbling just enough to throw the well-trained man off guard. And in the next moment, he grabbed the scimitar with one arm, attached it to his palm with chakra, and hurled it away from Ra's. That powerful bond was enough to overcome Ra's hold on the blade, and it skittered across the rocks.

He jumped upward just in time to avoid Cheshire's sai and then twirled his upper-body. Immediately, wind picked up in a horizontal wall of compressed air, a dome of magic hurling the two assassins away.

Checking with his peripheral vision, Roy was simply standing in front of Sportsmaster, his bow lowered, like he wasn't even fighting. A secondary column of air connected him to Ra's again, putting as much distance between him and the two ninjas.

"I told you. Amazing combat skills."

His feet pounded against the ground, hurrying toward Roy. Whatever the reason was for why Red Arrow hadn't moved, he needed to get the two of them out of there.

Another cautionary wall of wind helped keep the two from pursuing him, and he leaped upward with a powerful burst of magic, the bushes below him fluttering in the wind.

Landing on the roof, Sportsmaster diverted attention to him, but he shoved a rough pressurized ball of air in his direction, expanding it in whatever direction the man tried to dodge. When it hit, the ninja went flying toward the center of the courtyard, rolling several yards and to the feet of his leader.

"Roy!" he shouted, trying to get away. The archer did not respond, like he wasn't even looking at him. "Forgive me for this later."

He shoved the archer toward the harbor and then dove in after him.

TAIPEI
SEPTEMBER 7, 22:38 NST
TEAM YEAR ZERO

Roy shook his head suddenly, unfamiliar surroundings of some kind of office immediately throwing him off. Last thing he remembered was Sportsmaster about to throw a spear at his head. Needless to say, he threw himself forward, and the first thing he saw was Lex Luthor.

Mercy placed herself between them, but Lex threw up a hand.

"Red Arrow, it is all right." Kaldur's voice calmed him considerably. The situation was starting to come back to him. He looked back to see the two Atlanteans behind him, and he sighed lightly.

"Please, boy, calm yourself," the businessman replied, stepping up from his seat on the couch. "Your friends have brought you here after your brief catatonic state."

Naruto nodded to confirm. "Had to drag your sorry ass through the city. Expect weird pictures in the papers tomorrow. Why did you stop moving like that?" He pantomimed the way that Roy's body had slacked.

Roy tried to calm down, idly remembering. The details were hazy, and he didn't really feel like he had experienced them, but they were there nonetheless. "They… threatened Green Arrow, my parents and all my friends. The League of Shadows using their full manpower to take out everyone I've ever loved. I… think it freaked me out."

Lex stepped forward, and Roy tensed. "I mean you no harm, boy. Look at your right arm." He glanced down at it and frowned. A three-pronged wound, not from anything natural, lay on his bicep. "That bears a striking resemblance to a particular syringe used by Johnathan Crane. It must have been a very low dose, given that you have recovered, but you should still seek a psychiatric evaluation."

Roy's eyes widened. He felt fine… now. "Why are you so willing to help?"

"I've hired you to protect me, have I not?"

Kaldur nodded. "And we're here to help as well. Clearly this is above your paygrade, so we will be helping you to protect Luthor." He gestured toward the door. "Don't you have an appointment?"

The man grinned. "Of course."

TAIPEI
SEPTEMBER 7, 22:55 NST
TEAM YEAR ZERO

"Unification is unthinkable!" Manh Li shouted. "Our peoples no longer have anything in common!"

Naruto was, admittedly, practicing his newfound stickiness. Chakra held him up to the ceiling, behind a pillar, where he had a strong perch to watch the festivities. It was a low enough height that if he fell, he wouldn't be hurt, but he'd already figured out that he could stand there indefinitely if he focused. He'd decided that if he could grab a sword out of someone's hand using only his neck, clinging to the ceiling would hardly be difficult.

He didn't think anyone one had noticed him yet, and securities of both countries had been informed not to glance upward to reveal his position. He had quite a good perch to see where everyone was seated, and to notice any irregularities.

"Gentlemen, this is mere rhetoric." Cameras flashed in Lex's direction, seated between the two dignitaries. "Despite your differences, you still share an appreciation for many things, like the exquisite art of the Rhelesian tea ceremony."

There she is. The one that Kaldur and Roy had picked out of a crowd, and Naruto felt dumb for not noticing it before now. Cheshire, obviously, disguised in some kind of costume, ready to deliver "tea" to the dignitaries; it's easy to see that it's her, given the unnatural way she's holding her arm. Kaldur flips around from his position in the crowd, holding up his Water-Bearer to hold her off. Roy readies an arrow, and Naruto crawls along the ceiling to get a better position.

Then suddenly, she shoves her cart forward, and Kaldur slashes outward with his tool. Liquid condenses quickly, nearly immediately, rushing into a hardwater shield that blocks the heat and iron shrapnel. When the smoke clears, and the water falls, Naruto looks again to see that the twin statues fell and blocked her access to the diplomats on the dais behind them. The explosion tore a massive opening through the glass pane windows, bits of the frame crumbling around it.

Security teams are quick to respond, ushering them away from the room. Roy vaults over the statues and points an arrow, while Kaldur stares down Cheshire, tattoos ablaze.

Naruto remains where he is, as was the plan, waiting for an opening. Already, the unnatural but familiar wind is rising, and he can tell her reinforcements are almost here. Naruto's hoping that Cheshire has not located him yet, and he wished he knew that cloaking spell that Tula had likely mastered by now. Maybe he could engineer something like it with chakra?

Naruto couldn't hear their conversation from where he was, but he supposed it didn't matter. Because as though on cue, the helicopter from before rose from below and sat sideways in front of the opening, hovering lightly in place. The doors were open, revealing a team of assassins and Sportsmaster.

The security teams from South Rhelesia rush forward at the urging of Tseng, and the chaos of battle immediately began.

Naruto knew his role. He crawled across the ceiling carefully, one palm in front of the other, as Kaldur somersaulted over Cheshire in a move that would genuinely impress Robin. Roy intercepted the ninja with an arrow.

Once he finally reached the edge, somehow without being noticed, he dropped down, rolled, and immediately whipped out a palm. A gale of wind blew Sportsmaster forward before he could intercept, in time to meet the business end of Kaldur's mace-like whip of water.

The copter pilot must have somehow noticed his drop, despite Naruto's attempt at stealth, because the heli began to move away. The Atlantean knew what he had to do, so he leaped forward, wind propelling him in a straight shot, and he rolled inside the cargo area.

A guard reached downward to grab him, but he kicked outward from his roll and knocked the man against the ceiling of the copter, shaking the entire craft. A fist smacked against his jaw, a second hand preparing a knife strike. Black Canary's training warned him of the signs, and he latched onto the man's wrist, flinging over his shoulder and into the pilot seat face-first.

He met the pilot's eyes, already moving toward him. "Hope you don't mind if I borrow this?"

The pilot, impressively, slid out of the way of Naruto's palm strike, but considering his position, he was outmatched with maneuverability. It was unsurprisingly difficult to fight hand-to-hand aboard a helicopter, and they likely didn't expect Naruto or anyone to make it aboard.

He jabbed the man again, a chop to the neck, and the man heaved even as he fell forward, unconscious.

The helicopter, at this point, began to swing toward the city. Naruto didn't have time to pull the pilot away from the controls completely, but he managed to yank hard on the controls just enough to ease it in the right direction toward stability.

"C'mon!" he said to no one, trying his best to aim the vehicle away from any buildings, while steering it toward the ground safely. Thankfully, the summit is not far from the harbor, so he pushed it onward.

Just as he got toward the home stretch, one of the – are they called fins? Naruto wondered – caught on a window of an office building, breaking the glass and ruining the fin. Bits of metal and debris fall toward the ground, but he couldn't do anything about it now.

"Sorry!"

Metal twisted from the strain, and whatever lift this thing generated was quickly disappearing.

Shit.

Using chakra to hold himself steady, he ran toward the back door, still open, and reached outward with his upper body as the machine crumpled toward the seaside highway. The wind billowed around him, and it took no more than half a second to harness the motion that was already there. Tattoos burned to life as silvery air currents pushed extremely hard against the bottom of the copter at an angle. It tumbled again and again, but throughout the effort, Naruto lost control of his chakra.

Falling toward the ocean, he smacked hard against the water, stinging even his durable body. The helicopter collided with the waves, a great splash of water rising upward to meet it.

Wincing, Naruto swam toward the sinking craft, propelling himself more swiftly than he could remember in a long time. Grabbing his opening, he latched onto one man, yanked him out of the craft and shoved him upward on a current of his own controlled water. The second was nearly as simple as the first, but the third was far more difficult.

Swimming into the craft as it fell lower and lower, the pilot had awoken by this point, and he's struggling to unlatch himself from the seat while holding his breath. A quick burst of his magic produced an air bubble around the man's head, giving him a few seconds more to breathe.

Naruto gave up quickly trying to unlatch the buckles, magically cutting into them with a concentrated blade of water. Sure the man was free, he grabbed the assassin and shoved outward with all his might.

The cockpit crumpled, and within a few seconds, the pilot floated on the top of the water alongside his buddies. The copter continued its descent, landing somewhere on the harbor floor below.

"That was a close one, eh?" Naruto joked, but the pilot somehow produced a gun from his belt and pointed it at Naruto's bobbing head. "Oh come on!"

TAIPEI
SEPTEMBER 8, 00:29 NST
TEAM YEAR ZERO

"Yes! Quite a coup for Lex Luthor!" the blonde reporter, Cat Grant Naruto thought, stated into her camera. "Under his leadership, North and South Rhelesia are signing a treaty which could eventually lead to re-unification!"

"What a load of shit." Naruto couldn't agree more with Roy's assessment.

On the plus side, they captured several League operatives, including Sportsmaster. He and the others were currently knocked out and held within the foam of Roy's last container arrow, ready to be transported via the Justice League's resources. Cheshire, somehow, got away on foot, but the Taipei Police Department were combing the city for her. Had Naruto not gotten rid of their transport vehicle, he was almost certain that they might have gotten away.

"You're right, Roy," Kaldur replied as they walked outside, sure that the threat was over. "Ra's and the League of Shadows wanted to sabotage the summit, but the signing of the treaty renders their contract moot. It is over."

"Is it?" Roy asked, looking at the two of them. "I heard what Sportsmaster said. Do you really think there's a mole on your team, feeding him intel?"

Kaldur opened his mouth to respond, but Naruto whipped around quickly. "Wait. A mole!?"

Hey guys! Life's been really busy. Definitely wanted to get this out there as quickly as possible, but the last two years of college have been really difficult. Here's hoping for more frequent updates.

Some things are different, some aren't. Always fun to plant those seeds and see what changes occur because of them. Fun.