Chapter XXIV: Loyalty

Superman was walking around the Hall Of Justice sporting his new swept back hair look when Cyborg ran to him with a cold sweat, "Superman! It's the Trench. The Warden has hit the Alarm!"

Superman flew out of the Hall Of Justice in an instant, "Hal, Diana, Sinestro, to me."

They all flew down into the ocean and quickly arrived at the prison. Metamorpho opened the AirLock and they walked inside to see Metamorpho at the entrance. Superman crossed his arms, "Why did you pull the alarm?"

Metamorpho briefly looked down, "It's best if you see for yourself," he pointed at a door on the right of the hall, "Right through that door."

They walked to the door and Diana winced and grabbed her nose, "Ugh.... what is that smell?"

The door was opened and they all saw that the whole Cafeteria was painted red by blood. Hal recoiled, "Christ!"

Superman's eyes went wide for a brief moment before he regained composure. He walked forward and looked at the many bodies everywhere. Sinestro walked to his side, "Well I suppose that you won't have to worry dealing with these villains anymore."

".... Yes, that is true, but whoever has done this will pay regardless. Being able to sneak into my prison and kill my inmates under my own nose is nothing short of an embarrassment."

"Could Batman have done this?"

Superman scoffed, "Never. He wouldn't kill to save his own life."

"But"-"Shut up, Sinestro. I know what I'm talking about. This is someone unrelated to the Resistance."

He started to leave, "Metamorpho, deal with this. I want a report by tomorrow on who could have done this."

Metamorpho gestured, "By tomorrow? Superman, it'll take a whole day just do"-- Superman backhanded him and he went flying into a wall, "Your job was to make sure that something like this couldn't happen! You're lucky that I won't have someone just replace you. Now as I said, have a report by tomorrow, or else."

Inside of the whale where the Titans were. There was tension in the air. Aquaman and Mera stayed near the front of the whale's mouth while the Titans stayed further in the back. Superboy looked down at the ground for most of the time. But he eventually looked up, "So are we just okay with this?"

Tim looked up, "Okay with what?"

Superboy gritted his teeth and closed his eyes briefly, "Itachi is basically executing people right now."

Their heads hung low and Starfire cut in barely maintaining eye contact, "It's just part of the plan to take down the Regime."

Tim followed up, "There's nothing else we can do except for follow the plan... even if there are sacrifices."

Superboy shot up from the tongue he sat on and his fist clenched, "It's just part of the plan?! There's nothing else we can do?! Do you guys hear yourselves? Since when did we start talking like paid killers? We used to be"- Tim cut him off, "Stop it, Conner. We've had this talk before already."

"So you're already okay with doing this then?! You helped plan it after all."

"I didn't say that.... but..."

Wonder Girl cut in, "Conner. That's not fair, you and I both separated those that were "redeemable" from those that weren't. She grabbed her own arm, "We basically choose who died and who was spared.... if anything we're the most responsible. And we can never take that back. Whether we like it or not, we choose to do this. We should accept responsibility for that at least."

Superboy's fist stopped being clenched and his expression eased up, "Yeah....." he slid against the wall of the mouth into a sitting position and he put his arms on his legs, "I blamed Superman for killing Joker before..... and look at what I did....." his eyes started to well up, "I.... just wish that.... we could all go back before any of this happened."

The rest of the Titans comforted him and even the rest of them became emotional in their own ways. 

Aquaman and Mera looked on with curious eyes. Mera looked up to her husband, "Quite the team that Itachi has," she stated in a half mocking tone. 

He nodded, "These are kids whose role models preached to not kill. The fact that he could convince them to help him do what he did is impressive. It may not seem like it now, but he has their loyalty."

She tilted her head, "And does he have yours?"

Aquaman remained silent for a moment. "He respects my priority for the protection of Atlantis and doesn't ask me to expose myself to Superman's wraith. For that, I'll say yes."

After a while the whales stopped moving and their mouths opened. Itachi saw the Titans exit from the mouth they were in. They looked like they were handling it better than he expected since most of them kept their heads high. But he still waited for them to go inside regardless. After they were no longer in sight he left the whale. He walked up to Aquaman who was waiting for him. "When you go down this corridor and down the staircase on the left, there are cells in the first door on the right you can put them all in.

Itachi nodded and went where he was told. He separated the sacrifices from the villians and undid the jutsu he had them all in. He observed the villains, 'They'll be unconscious until tomorrow. In the meantime I need a way to contact Lex since he's the only one that could help me with Croc, Two Face, and Freeze. The only way I know how to do that right now is through Batman's computer in his cave. I'll need to pay him a visit then.'

Before leaving the room he cut all of the Venom tubes on Bane and took them away. He deflated slightly before his eyes, but was still buff. 'Hm, I should put up a warning just in case any of them decide to start mauling each other.'

He took out a paper bomb and placed it on a glass window that was connected to the ocean. It read "Don't try anything stupid, or the glass breaks." 'That should work. Now I need a shower and a change of clothes.'

He left the room and was about to go up the stairs but he was greeted by Aquaman who put a hand up, "Itachi, you can't walk around leaving bloody footprints everywhere," he pointed down the corridor, "You can clean up right there through the door on the left at the end of the corridor."

Itachi glanced back at where he pointed and turned back and did a slight bow, "Thank you."

Itachi went into the shower and after stripping off his clothing he went under the hot water. He looked down and saw the blood go down the drain. 'How long has it been since that nuke went off? Not far off from five years now. I'm 25 now, technically, although I was in the Phantom Zone for a long time,' He glanced down at the blood and calluses on his hands, 'I haven't had the opportunity to train since before the Green Lantern War, although I'm already many times stronger than I was when I fought Kabuto.... but is it enough to fight someone like Superman?' He glanced out of the shower at his new clothes that were brought in, 'The only reason that Batman has lasted five years against Superman is mainly because of Superman's mercy for his old friend. Even when he fights him he neglects using his powers in favor of a hand to hand fight he should fully know that he'll lose. Honestly it's almost like he wants to lose.... actually, that may be the truth. When going all out he killed Kalibak easily and destroyed part of the Green Lantern Corps using all of his powers, yet against Batman he'll use nothing but his fist as if he has no powers. Although that part of him is likely slipping away. Soon enough Batman will be overwhelmed and will ultimately lose at this rate. The only chance he would have at this point is if he somehow brought back everyone that died, which won't happen,' he ran his hands through his hair to get the blood out of it and started washing himself, 'Although I've never had the luxury of being Superman's ex best friend. I might get the Green Arrow treatment if I'm not careful.'

He got out of the shower and dressed himself in his normal Akatsuki cloak. He exited the room and started moving towards the exit of the building, 'Once Superman is taken down, what will the world be like? Batman will more than likely never trust me again, the Titans will be forever changed after having helped me kill, Hal might never be accepted back into the Green Lanterns, Wonder Woman will have to be dealt with in some way for being partially responsible for Superman's evil, Superman more than likely will never be able to be the Symbol of Hope again, and there's absolutely no way he would be able to be exactly like his old self even if he became good again... that brief one year of being with Justice League will more than likely never return. Although the world will be much safer regardless with all the villains dead or reformed.'

His thoughts were interrupted by Starfire who walked in front of him, "Itachi, I speak for all the Titans when I say this.... I don't think that we ever said thank you for what you've done for us.'

Itachi shook his head, "There's no need to thank me, I'm just"-"But there is a need," She subtly nodded and leaned in slightly, "You saved Tim's and Conner's life, and then you broke us out of the Phantom Zone." She closed her eyes briefly, "And all that we've done is complain, act borderline hostile, and second guess everything that you've done when you were just helping us. So for that.... we're sorry," she extended a hand, "We trust that you'll bring an end to this war. So what's next?"

Itachi looked down at the extended hand speechless, and then he smiled and accepted it. "For now, we're going to wait until Zatanna contacts us again. I'm about to go get in contact with Lex to help me with the criminals down there."

She nodded and went back to where Itachi assumed the rest of the Titans were and he continued walking. Once he was outside he met Mera who was sitting on a Bench. He walked up to her and she noticed him, "Itachi."

"Mera, I have a favor to ask."

"I'm listening."

"Can you open a small tunnel through the water back to the surface?"

She stood up, "Simple enough. How are you supposed to get up though?"

"You'll see."

She raised both her hand and opened a circular tunnel back to the surface. Itachi raised one hand sign, 'Shunshin.'

He became a blur and went from the bottom of the ocean to the top in an instant. Once above the surface he thought, 'I have to get from the East Coast to the West Coast since Batman's computer is the only I know how to contact Lex,' He raised another hand sign. 'Shunshin.'

As he was traveling at high speeds he thought, 'Being able to Teleport like I used to with the Watchtower teleporter was a lot more convenient than this. My speed is more suited for combat than travel.'

After a couple hours he arrived at the Salt Mine and made his way through the mines into the hideout as a crow. When he found the computer he was looking for he started going through it until he heard footsteps behind him. Without looking he said, "Hello, Catwoman."

She narrowed her eyes, "Itachi... What are you doing here? I heard that you quit the Resistance."

"I have, but that doesn't mean I quit fighting against Superman," he found Lex's contact and was ready to call it.

She crossed her arms, "If you're still fighting Superman then why have you left our Resistance?"

Itachi turned away slightly from the computer and looked at her analytically. "You already know the answer to that," She looked away and Itachi turned full towards her, "I'll tell you this. When I ended up in the Phantom Zone, I wasn't mad that Batman came up with a weakness for me. I was just upset that he let that information get into enemy hands. I'm just tired of his failures. Now, you aren't going to report me to Batman for being here, are you?"

She turned her back to him and started walking away, "No."

Itachi turned back towards the computer and called up Lex, "Bru-- Itachi? How'd you get this number?"

"I'm using Batman's computer. But that isn't important, I need you to do a couple small things for me. They won't expose your secret, I assure you."

Lex leaned back in his chair and his brows raised, "I'm listening."

Itachi put his hands on the table, "I need you to come up with a cure for Killer Croc's condition, perform surgery on the burned side of Two-Face's face, and cure Freeze's wife."

Lex nodded, "That should be simple."

"Also I may need your help again in the future. So be on the lookout. I'll drop off Two Face and Killer Croc at Warehouse A17 in Gotham tonight at 9."

The call ended and Itachi heard Starfire's voice through his earpiece, "Itachi. Zatanna is ready to give you her answer."