Chapter XIX: A New Hope

"This is getting too risky. I understand the need for prisoners of war, but as long as we have them Superman will hunt us. It puts us on our heels when we should be on the offensive. It's no longer worth it for us to keep them."

Huntress leaned on a wall, "So what are you saying, Kate? That we should cut them loose?"

"I'm not sure, but this isn't working."

Manhunter stepped up, "It took the sacrifice of the Green Lantern Corps just to get those four, with them gone Superman is weaker and he knows it. We need to maintain this advantage no matter what."

Outside Mitzelplik teleported the Regime and Ares to safety. "Let's put everything out on the table."

Shazam asked, "Where are we?"

"With your frenemies who are hiding like chumps in the House Of Mystery."

Batman and Constantine saw them from the tree line, "He brought them all here?"

"And Trigon, too."

"The super blokes don't look so hot now, but unless we finish them off now, things are going to get"-"Problematic? I know. But we're not alone in this."

Huntress, Catwoman, Batwoman, Dr. Fate, Manhunter, and Deadwing rushed out of the House of Mystery. Batman took Hal, Huntress took Sinestro, Batwoman took Superman, and Catwoman took Wonder Woman.

They made quick work of them and Batman stated, "Clark... enough is enough."

"No..."

Batman punched him in the face, "Damn it! You need to end this madness."

Constantine got his attention, "Um, Batman.... speaking of problematic, mate... look who decided to show up."

Swamp Thing appeared out of nowhere and binded everyone.

In the Phantom Zone Itachi just finished healing Superboy. 'As I thought, I still have enough to fly on my own back to the lab.' He turned towards the rest of the Titans, "So, have you all made up your minds?"

They all looked back and forth at each other. Wonder Girl was the first to raise her hand, "I'll.... I'll follow you." Starfire also raised her hand. Superboy looked at the ground for a moment before making eye contact with Itachi, "Will you promise that Superman will be good again?"

"I promise."

And with that he also raised his hand. Tim raised his hand about halfway before stopping and pulling it back down. He looked off to the side, "Sorry.... I can't turn my back on Batman."

"That's alright. You may warm up more to the idea later, but for now we should go back to the lab," Itachi manifested his red Susanoo wings and carried Zodd's body as they all started flying to the lab.

Billy Batson put a hand on Batman's shoulder, "Bruce, it's Dick."

"You're... in possession of"-"It's me... I want you to know something... I never truly appreciated all that you did for me. At least not how I should have. We butter heads so many times over the years, I can't count the number of times I said I hated you. But that was never the truth."

"I know, Dick. You were a kid"-"Let me finish. You didn't just rescue me from my grief... you protected me and made me into a man. More than that..."-"Stop. It's my fault that you... that Damian..."

"No. It's not. You gave me the chance to have a real purpose in life. It's not about how I died. It's how I lived. And I owe that all to you. I saved lives because of you.... the greatest man I have ever known. The greatest father I ever had. Don't turn your back on Damian. It was an accident. He needs you the way I did."

They hugged, "Thank you, son."

"Now how about you knock Billy out and get back to fighting? Love you, dad."

The stray hellfire from Trigon's fight with Mitzelplik weakened Manhunterand both Huntress and Batwoman were fighting Wonder Woman. "Fighting for a lost cause doesn't make you Martyrs, it makes you foolish."

Wonder Woman punched Batwoman and lifted her shield to block Huntress's attack, but the shield was destroyed. "We'd rather die Martyrs than be slaves to tyrants!"

She threw her broken shield at Batwoman, "You are calling us Tyrants?!" She wrapped the lasso around Huntress's neck, "You have no idea what oppression is. We are on the right side of history," and pulled. Breaking Huntress's neck. "By Athena... no..."

Batwoman lashed out, "MURDERER!"

Inside the House of Mystery Dr.Fate and Constantine broke into the prison room and saw Hal trying to release Flash. "Step away from the red man!"

"Or what? You'll be forced to ask a second time?" He held them against the wall with energy hands, "Seriously, do you think a few harsh words are going to stop me from saving my friends?"

"You misunderstand. If that magic outside goes unchecked--it will consume--us all." Reality bended for a moment.

"What was that? The magic out there?"

Constantine answered, "All consuming magic. So listen, mate... I can see how you'd like to save these blokes with that brilliant ring you got there, but going outside right now is the last thing you want to do." A blinding light went off outside. "I appreciate a standoff as much as the next bloke... but we have to do something.

"I do feel weird... what's happening?"

"The sheer magnitude of their magic is causing temporal displacement. It's tearing us from reality. So I suspect the "weirdness" you feel is your losing connection to your ring's power source." His energy hand constructs collapsed.

"This is really bad. If I'm totally cut off in here... what's happening out there?"

"Everyone has been cut from their power source. Sinestro's is almost as drained as yours. Superman's cells are not recharging without access to the Sun, Swamp Thing has been cut off from the Green, and the rest are starting to lose their physical forms as they're being pulled into another plane of existence."

"What plane?"

Constantine answered, "My guess... Hell."

"So are we safe here?"

"Safer than out there. The Houses of Mystery and Secrete have temporal resistance--for now."

"Then we need to get them inside."

"We're out of time."

"I'll do it. Let me go. There's enough speed force energy in me to get everyone Inside. I promise."

Constantine took a puff, "Of all the blokes on the wrong side, at least I know I can count on you to do the right thing. Good luck."

Flash ran outside and grabbed everyone to bring them inside, but he couldn't touch Swamp Thing. "What-- no!"

"Go."

Flash ran into the House of Secrets where he put the rest of the Regime to separate them from the Resistance. "I... I..*pant* got everyone*pant*... everyone except... Swamp--I--Tried...."

Superman put a hand on his shoulder, "It's okay. You did your best."

"No, it wasn't good enough."

In the Phantom Zone the Titans and Itachi arrived at the lab. Itachi dropped Zodd's body into the energy gathering room and pressed the button. He glanced at the Ecto Armor and saw that it was 100% charged. Hell, it seemed like it even went higher than that. Tim found the lab, "I remember everything it took to make the chemicals in the first place, so I'll have your antidote ready in about an hour."

'An hour.... hopefully I won't be too late by then.' He glanced around the room at each of the Titans, 'Cyborg was close to the Titans. I wonder if he would care to find out about what really happened to them.... but then again, he has been the most loyal to Superman out of all the heroes, so maybe it wouldn't change anything--hm?'

He noticed another rip in reality, near the ecto armor, but this rip wasn't anything like any of the others. The other ones were like rips or tears in mid air. This one was like broken glass, and orange in color. He walked up to it and looked through it. He saw a village. In the village he saw a man and a woman walking down a road, one with a red outfit and pink hair, and the other in a poncho with Black hair. The woman was pregnant.

'.... This is!....'

"I came up with a name for the baby."

"What is it?"

"Sarada."

"Sarada? Like the dish?"

"Well.... yeah."

"..... it's not bad."

Itachi watched them for the next hour. Through their dialog he learned all about how the war ended, the current leader of the village, and his little brother's new goal. Seeing the path that his brother chose, it brought a tear to his eye, for the first time since the Uchiha Massacre. Although it wasn't because of sadness this time. He couldn't feel more happy for his brother. 'With the Ecto armor..... I could go there. Leave all of this behind.....'

He genuinely pondered it for a minute, but ultimately decided against it. 'My time living there is over, at least for now.... maybe I might go there again at some point, but I'm on a mission now.'

With a lot of reluctance, he closed off the rift. Although he was sad to close off the portal, he was still filled with joy that his home is at peace. He never voiced it out loud, but he was always worried about the state of his home world, and wether or not Superman was too far gone, but he was filled with a new hope. 'Sasuke is proof that someone like Superman can change. He'll just need a good beating and some reasoning to realize it.'

He felt a tap on his shoulder. He quickly wiped away the tear and turned around and saw Starfire, "Itachi, you've been standing staring off in the distance for over an hour now, Tim has your antidote ready."

"Right, my apologies."

Back on Earth before Itachi saw that tear, the fight against the Regime ended in a way that can't be considered a victory, although it wasn't a complete loss either. Trigon and Mr Mitzelplik are trapped in the void and can't come back, which was good, although unfortunately Dr. Fate was trapped with them. Huntress died after Wonder Woman snapped her neck with her lasso, and they lost all of their prisoners. Manhunter was also temporarily out of commission after intense exposure to stray Hellfire.

Bruce woke up in a lead mine in Alaska, "What... happened?"

Batwoman answered, "Dr. Fate's plan worked... although I'm not quite sure what happened to him. He disappeared along with Trigon and Mitzelplik."

"Into the void?"

"Yes. And according to John, that's as close to dead as you can make them. They're not coming back. The light show knocked everyone flat. Luckily, Zatanna showed up and transported us 200 meters below the World's biggest lead mine.... to this Superman proof bunker that I can only assume you had built."

"Always have to try and stay one step ahead of him.... Where's Constantine?"

He puts on his mask and rushes out into the halls, eventually finding Constantine with his daughter. "John! Where are you going?!"

"It's about that time, Bats. I wish I could say it's been a pleasure."

He gritted his teeth, "Don't. You've been playing us all from the start, haven't you? Getting rid of Trigon, that was your Endgame, wasn't it?"

"Took you longer than Chimp to sort that one out, mate. He wanted to have a little chat about it weeks ago. He didn't get to say so... but he also knew that was a means to an end. Ever since Superman's bloody war dropped an Alien on Rose's mum, she's been my only agenda. I'd lie, cheat, and make deals with all the devils in hell to keep her safe."

"And to get revenge. You blamed Superman for what happened. You wanted to kick him in the"-"You both deserve shots in the bollocks. Him for being a tyrannical wanker, and you for being so damn simple minded. There's more out there than what's in front of your face. Open up to other possibilities if you want to win this bloody war, or even other people's plans. Now, as much as I'd love to spell it out for you, Rose and I have to go."

"Go where?"

"Ain't a word for it. It's not exactly a where.... consider it a sort of magical relocation program. No one will ever put my daughter in jeopardy again."

He tensed his mouth, "I trusted you."

"Your mistake, mate. I'm no hero... I'm just a father with a kid to raise. Next time you see Superman, do me a favor."

"Damn it, John... don't"-"Kick him in the bollocks."

At the Hall Of Justice Superman was giving a speech with his hands behind his back, "I owe you all an apology. Because of the personal nature of this feud with Batman, I've made some questionable choices. Bruce has made this feel personal, and he's been using that to cloud my judgement. Had I not been so focused on him, I might have seen Trigon and Mitzelplik coming."

Wonder Woman stated, "There's no way you could've known"-"I don't buy that. If there's one lesson we should've all learned from Bruce, it's that there's always a way. He's been undermanned and underpowered at every turn, yet three years into this, he keeps on coming."

Damian said, "He's freaking Batman. That's what he does."

"That may be true, but this can't be about some vendetta against Bruce and his insurgency. It has to be about making the world safe for all people so that there are no more Jokers or ground zeroes. EVER again."

Flash stated, "We have created a world without war."

Wonder Woman said, "That's why we fight. Why we bleed, why we die."

"You're right. And to get there we've all had to make some hard decisions. Thank you all for standing by me."

In the Phantom Zone Itachi has taken the antidote and has prepared the suit. Superboy walked up to him, "Itachi, remind me again how long you said we've been here?"

"I'm guessing it's been nearly three years now."

"That's.... strange. It's almost impossible to keep track of time here, but it felt more like months for us where we were."

Itachi narrowed his eyes for a moment, "Well we've been here probably a couple days, so it's not worth worrying about now."

He turned the suit on. 'Aquaman, Black Adam, Huntress, Manhunter, and now three of the remaining Titans. I have enough people to make up our own team now if I wanted to. A rag tag group of strong individuals from all over.... similar to my Akatsuki days.' "Titans, are you all ready?"

They all nodded and Itachi opened a portal back to Earth with the suit.

End: Year Three