Chapter XVI: Trapped

Itachi tried to raise both arms, but his broken arm fell and he winced, 'My forearm bones are completely crushed. Even with Medical ninjutsu this will take a really long time to heal.' Itachi activated his Sharingan and started fighting them with one arm. They didn't have much skill, but their physical superiority was evident, and Itachi killed them quickly by neck snaps, stabs, and broken windpipes. Although some of them were still standing. They were obviously in pain but they wouldn't die for some reason. Itachi pulled out a kunai and cut the connection from their brain to the rest of their bodies, killing them.

He took a deep breath, "This place is timeless, and Superman said I could survive here. I'm assuming that all normal body processes are frozen here, although..... as soon as I leave I'll start dying again. God dammit, Batman."

He walked to the edge of the floating rock he was on and looked down at all the other floating rocks, some had people on them, and some didn't. It looked like it went on endlessly, an endless sea of blue, pink, and purple lights everywhere.

He looked at a couple other seals on his body with enough Chakra to recover him twice over. 'Good thing I came prepared. While I'm here, I should take this as an opportunity to find the Teen Titans, hopefully they're all still alive. I might be able to find a way out of here too.'

Itachi manifested just the Susanoo wings and started flying around. Over the past seven months he improved his control over his Susanoo and can summon just one part of it at a time now if he wants, he also improved his Chakra reserves.

In the real world a day passed and Sinestro brought an officer that was a part of the siege to Superman. Superman still bore his yellow ring and sat on a throne. "Officer Sprague. You were a part of the attack on this hall and on its heroes."

The cop stared at him stone faced until Sinestro grabbed his face with an energy hand, "Answer him!"

Superman put up a hand, "It's ok, Sinestro. Let him go," he stood up, "I appreciate your loyalty, I understand that Batman.... inspires this in those around him. But I want answers."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Superman's eyes glowed blue, "There's nothing you can hide from me. I can hear your heartbeat, I can see your shoe prints on the street outside. I can see your fingerprints around this room. The rest are hiding. You're the only person from Batman's group who went to work today. I was watching, I was listening," his head turned, "I can see your wife. She's at work. The children at her school seem to like her."

The cop looked down at the ground, "What do you want?"

"You know what I want. You took our people. I want to know where."

"I don't know what we did with them. I promise, I'm telling the truth."

Sinestro smiled, "We will see."

Itachi continued to fly around, for a really really long time. 'This place is like a maze. There's got to be a better way to do this.' He stood on a rock and activated his Mangekyo Sharingan, and started to observe. 'Superman said this place was parallel to our own universe once, so maybe I should be navigating it in a similar way, there might even be multiple ways to escape this place.'

He walked towards something strange in the air and tapped it. It was like a rip in reality. A sound came out of it and it vibrated slightly. His hand retreated for a second, before touching it again. This time he pushed all the way through it, and he heard a sound. It sounded like cars, and he could see. He saw buildings in Gotham. He tried to step through it, but he couldn't. He could observe the normal universe, but he couldn't go back to it. 'I'm starting to understand this place.'

At the home of Jason Blood someone just broke in and their blast killed both Bullock and Jason Blood, along with injuring Detective Chimp. Zatanna started a spell, "Tcetorp lla edisni siht esuoh!"

Batman looked at Constantine, "What is it? What are we up against?"

"I don't know."

Klarion's eyes went wide, "Constantine."

"What is it, Karion? What do you see?"

"Oh, this isn't good. It's the Spectre."

Zatanna kept on holding back the Spectre's power, "Hnng! John! He's too strong."

"Zatanna, we need an exit. Can you get us all out of here?"

"If I drop the protection spell we'll be crushed."

Batman commanded, "Batwoman! Huntress! Search the house. Look for a cellar or"-"Are you kidding?!" Constantine gestured his hands, "That's the Spirit of Vengeance out there! You think he's going to be fooled by the great strategy that is hiding in another room?"

Batman's mouth tensed, "I'm trying to"-"I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to take control. Well, you need to do better. This isn't your world, mate. This isn't capes and tights and punching bad guys in the face until they don't get up again. You can't control this!" His hand waved to Jason Blood's skeleton, "You think you can protect us from the Spectre? He just reduced one of the most powerful sorcerers in the world to a stain in the carpet. Look at you! You can barely walk. You're being held up by pain killers and stubbornness! YOU'RE BLOODY USELESS!"

Batman punched him right in the face, flooring him. "Zatanna. As soon as you feel the attack stop, drop the protection and get everyone to the Tower Of Fate."

"Where are you going?"

"Out."

Catwoman said, "I'm going with you."

"No. You're not."

"If you think for a second that I"- He looked over his shoulder at her, "You're a criminal. You can't help me. That's the Spirit of Vengeance out there. He punishes criminals. He and I have something in common."

He walked outside, "Spectre."

He stopped his attack, "Batman."

Inside Constantine was wiping blood off his nose, "Klarion. What's happening out there?"

"Batman is just... talking to the Spectre."

He smiled, "Jesus. Bollocks the size of coconuts. Brilliant."

"You're supposed to be a Spirit of Justice. You killed a good, innocent man in there. His name was Harvey Bullock."

"Do not lecture me, Little Bat. He stood beside a Demon."

"Tropsnart lla ot eht remote for etaf!" Everyone inside the house disappeared 

"What?!" The Spectre grabbed Batman, "Deceiver! How have you done this? Where have the magic users gone? How have you hidden them from me?!"

"Reappa! Yawa!" Zatanna grabbed Batman and teleported away."

"No!"

Later in the Tower Of Fate Batman called out to Constantine again, "Constantine."

He showed a side smirk, "You gonna hit me again? If so, can you make it a body blow this time? I use my face for some of my favorite things."

"You pushed me on purpose."

He looked to the side. "I don't know what you're"-"Don't lie to me."

He sat down and put a hand on his face, "You've been hiding for almost a year."

"I was healing. Superman broke me."

"No, he broke your back. I don't know what happened to the rest of you. You've been off your game. You had a chance to take Superman down. You blew it. People died, and your double agent got captured. Some of the things we have to do... I need you angry. I need the guy I saw today. The guy who can stare down the Spectre," he stood up, "I need Batman."

Somewhere else in the Tower Of Fate Huntress approached Manhunter, "Now that we have some time to breathe. I've been meaning to ask, what happened to Itachi? He isn't here with us."

"He is... more than likely in the Phantom Zone right now, Superman stopped him from capturing Wonderwoman and took him there. Although that's not all, his vitals were dropping rapidly, as if something was eating away at him."

Her brow scrunched, "Eating away at him?"

"I'm not sure what it was, either way. When we have the time we'll have to retrieve him from there."

"Of course."

At the Hall Of Justice Sinestro was torturing the cop with a smile on his face, "I'm impressed. Officer Sprague. Few creatures have taken this amount of punishment and maintained their silence."

Superman walked in, "Sinestro. That's enough."

"Not yet."

Superman walked in front of Sinestro's energy projection, "I said, that's enough!" He offered a hand to the cop, "On your feet. Officer."

Sinestro put a hand on his shoulder, "No! No kindness! Superman. A word outside. 

When they were in the hallways Sinestro started pacing around with his hands behind his back, "I understand if you're not comfortable with this sort of enhanced interrogation. But our allies are being held. And who knows what the enemy is doing to them? We must find them, and this man is our only link to Batman and his resistance."

"He has given us nothing, he knows nothing."

"Perhaps, but you said yourself that Batman inspires loyalty. Give me more time."

Superman looked down at the ground with a tensed face, "I..."-"Don't worry, Superman. Part of leadership is knowing when to delegate to the strengths of others. This is unpleasant business, but it's something I'm very effective at. If this man has information I will uncover it. You have more significant issues to attend to. You have an entire world to nurture and protect. You are far too important to concern yourself with this one insignificant traitor. Please, let me take this small burden from you."

Superman looked at the cop for a minute, before turning away and looking down, "Very well."

Superman sat on his throne next to the remaining Regime members. "Lex. Any word on our allies?"

"None, I'm afraid. Every avenue we've investigated has led to nowhere. It's like Batman took our friends and simply vanished."

"Yes. He's always been good at that."

Shazam spoke up, "Superman? Could we speak alone? I"-"SUPERMAN." Everyone's attention went to the loud booming voice coming from outside. 

Sinestro flew into the room, "What is it?!"

Superman told him, "Put it away, Sinestro. Your ring is useless against this."

The Regime members flew outside and The Spectre stated, "Superman. I am here to warn you."

"You are not usually a being of words."

"No. However, you need to know powerful forces are working against you."

Hal asked, "Are you one of these powerful forces, Spectre?"

"No. I am not against you. I will do all in my power to protect you."

Shazam asked, "You believe in Superman's cause?"

"I do. It is righteous. But you...." he grabbed him, "I sense doubt in you, Billy Batson."

Superman got in-between them, "Release him!"

"He does not believe in you. I should destroy him."

"He is my ally and my friend. If he has doubts, we will talk. Release him," he complied and Superman stated, "Good. Now. Tell me of these new powers that stand against us."

Itachi opened his eyes after finishing his long meditation/healing session. His broken arm was now at least healed enough to move around. He stood up and looked around. There were rips everywhere. He looked through a lot of them, in some the League was made of vampires, there were some worlds where Batman killed the Joker, and others where Superman went crazy and killed everyone in the world. "This place isn't just parallel to this universe. It's like the gateway between this universe, and many others. Maybe I could find my own universe here somewhere."

In the distance he saw something strange. Something that looks like a building. He flew towards it and saw the word "Athyropolis" on it. As he approached it a man wrapped in bandages walked out and looked at him, "Who are you? And how did you get here?"

Itachi questioned himself on whether to tell him or not for a second, "Itachi Uchiha. I'm here because Superman threw me in here. And you are?"

Xa-Du. I'm here for the same reason. An enemy of Superman is a friend of mine, come in."

Itachi peered his eyes, 'His outfit has villian written all over it. For now I'll act like a villain, and try to learn as much as possible from him before disposing of him.'

Itachi went inside with him and walked around. "Xa-Du, I'm guessing that you've been here for a long time. Do you know a way out?"

Xa-Du stood in front of a door and gestured for Itachi to come in, "I do, it's right in here."

Itachi walked in and saw a suit of armor. "What Is this?"

"It's my Ecto armor. It allows me to roam freely in this dimension, and once it has enough power it will allow me to escape."

Itachi eyed the armor up and down, "And how do you power it?"

"With the bodies of the people in this dimension."

Itachi remained stone faced, "Makes sense. How close is it to full power right now?"

Xa-Du shook his head, "Not very close at all. I"- Itachi started walking out, "Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna go bring some bodies here. I had to kill quite a few just to get here."

Xa-Du snickered, "Haha, yes of course. Go do that."

As Itachi stepped outside he looked out of another ripple, 'I should be able to observe what's going on right now if I focus on what I want to see.' 

He focused on Superman first, and he saw Superman wrapped in rags on the ground surrounded by a blonde man and a.... ragman for lack of a better word to describe him. "Have those two managed to capture Superman?" 

Although Shazam quickly arrived and Constantine yelled, "Ragman. Take him!"

"I can't. He's innocent."

"No one's innocent!"

Shazam grabbed Ragman, "Let him go!!"

Ragman tried to reason with him, "You're defending the wrong man. You don't understand how corrupted his soul is. He's evil!"

"He's Superman!"

"Not anymore!"

"SHAZAM!" He shocked Ragman and Sinestro, Hal, and Spectre quickly arrived. 

Spectre reached out a hand, "Give me Ragman."

"He's done, it's over. Hey!" Spectre snatched him from Shazam.

"You almost took Superman from this world. You almost took peace and order. You will be punished. All of you who reside in there. All of the corrupted souls who escaped damnation. Your time has come." He ripped his rag cloak, releasing the many souls inside him. "And you Soul stealer." He grabbed the rags covering his face."

"What are you doing?!"

"Rory Regan."

"No. JOHN!!"

John looked at him then back down at the ground, "I'm sorry, Mate."

Shazam yelled, "There's no reason to kill him! There's"- The Spectre crushed his head and Shazam looked on with a dropped jaw and contorted face."

Superman started standing up, "You.... Constantine. Now you die you little shit!"

Itachi shut off the rip in reality and got back to hunting. 'It seems like Hal has abandoned will in favor of fear.... and The Spectre?? Wasn't he supposed to be looking for the missing Justice Society members across all of reality? If that's him then where are the others?'