Chapter XXVII: Thank You, Hal

Itachi's group arrived at Atlantis with Hal's and Billy's unconscious body. Billy had a piece of duct tape on his mouth that was sealed and Hal's ring was removed. Tim was walking with his head down and his shoulders were shrugged. Itachi noticed this and peered at him briefly before he started looking forward again. Starfire handed Itachi Hal's yellow ring. "What should we do with this?"

Itachi crushed the ring in his hand and dropped it into a trash can. "He won't need this anymore."

Tim stated, "We lost most of the Reanimations since Superman threw them in the Sun. We only have non powered villains left."

Wonder Girl said, "We got three of the ten main Regime members though, and we have a tracker on that bizzare looking Superman now, so I think we got off good."

Aquaman entered the room and approached Itachi, "Itachi what you're doing is good. But I can't keep hiding all of these people here. You have a lot of history on you now, and if Superman comes here and sees them....."

Itachi nodded, "I understand. We'll have to find another place to put everyone then."

Superboy raised a brow, "Where else could they go?"

Suddenly Zatanna appeared in the room and smiled, "We can put them in the Tower Of Fate. Although you'll need to help me clean it up since it hasn't been used for a long time."

Itachi smiled, "Thank you, Zatanna," he turned to the rest of his team, "Are you all fine with going now?"

Wonder Girl rolled her shoulders, "We didn't really exert ourselves too much, so sure we can do a little clean up."

Itachi turned back to Aquaman and bowed, "Arthur, I will be in your debt if you allow us to hold our enemies here just a little longer."

Aquaman put a hand on his shoulder and smirked, "You don't need to bow to me. You're a friend. I can hold them a little longer."

"Thank you," he and the rest of the Akatsuki got close to Zatanna.

Zatanna raised her hands, "Tropelet."

The gold and Grey beautiful architecture of Atlantis that was complimented by the luminescent blue glow of the ocean was replaced with the dilapidated plain brick walls of the Tower Of Fate. And one of those walls was destroyed and everyone could clearly see into the void. 'Too bad Earth isn't one of my Chakra nature's.'

Back on Earth a few hours later Superman was furious and stood next to Cyborg with his arms crossed. He had a Yellow Lantern ring on his finger that flew to him after Sinestro died, "Itachi, his allies, Batman and the Resistance, villains, anyone. Just find them, now!"

"This takes time, Clark. And they might be using something to hide their locations, Itachi might have a magic user on his side, or he might be able to do something similar with his Chakra. I might not be able to find them."

"You've been getting on my nerves with all of these excuses lately... you're useful Cyborg, but you're still expendable."

Cyborg looked over his shoulder at him, "Are you threatening to replace me, or kill me, Clark?"

Superman started flying away, "Just get the job done. I need to take care of a few alliances. My first stop is Kahndaq." He landed in front of Black Adam. "It's been a long time. I see you've healed up nicely."

Inside of the Salt Mine Batman sat in his chair looking at a computer screen. Batgirl came into the room and leaned on the door frame, "Bruce, ever since everything that's happened with the Gods you haven't come up with anything..... real talk, do you have a plan?"

Batman kept on looking at the screen and didn't respond. Batgirl's expression softened and she looked down. Right then..."

After more than a day most of the cleaning in the Tower Of Fate was taken care of and Itachi and Zatanna were finishing the last of the cleaning in the Library. "What do you plan on doing next?"

The next targets are going to be Damian and Hawkgirl. Damian has a lot of angst in him right now and it'll be easy to lure him into fighting the non powered villains. Although I'm still trying to figure out the best way to take out Hawkgirl."

He picked up a stack of books and was about to put them on a shelf when Zatanna looked over, "Put those in alphabetical order."

Itachi looked down at the names of the books, and they were all in strange lettering he didn't understand. His brow scrunched and Zatanna noticed this expression, "Oh, sorry. Here. This will make it easier. Just look at me"

He complied and she put a hand on his cheek while making eye contact and she said, "thgiseye srotalsnart."

She turned away and went back to what she was doing silently. "Do you need physical contact for all of your spells?"

She put a finger on her mouth, "For the ones that involve giving things to others yeah.... why?"

".... No reason," Itachi stared back at the books and noticed that he could understand what they said now, and he quickly started organizing them in alphabetical order.

"It looks like we've finished cleaning, I'm going to bring the rest of the villains here now," though before he could go she grabbed his shoulder.

He turned around waiting for her to say something, "Itachi. I've been wondering lately..... Superman doesn't even seem like he cares about his friends anymore. What makes you so confident that he can change?"

She made strong eye contact with him while he thought of how to respond. "I'll tell you another time. For now we should put these prisoners away. And then I need to train for a few days. Would you mind helping me train?"

She shook her head, "oh, alright. Not at all."

Itachi went back to Atlantis with Zatanna and Aquaman had his arms crossed and was tapping his arm. "Is something wrong, Arthur?"

Aquaman looked up at him, "Superman came just a few minutes ago asking me to swear allegiance to the Regime. And to promise that Atlantis will fight for him if he so calls for it."

Itachi's head lowered slightly, "I hope that you said yes."

Arthur scoffed, "He doesn't even accept compromises anymore. There was no other choice. Although I shouldn't have to worry about that much longer. Bring them in."

On que guards walked into the room holding the eleven villains. Zatanna said, "Just place them near me, I'll take care of the rest."

They did as they were told, and before they left Itachi said, "Arthur, thank you for giving us Sanctuary here and helping us. We wouldn't have made it this far without you."

Aquaman smiled, "You may not be a resident of Atlantis anymore, but if you need help again I will be there."

Itachi waved and they were back in the Tower Of Fate in a room where they would be held captive. "I'm glad that you've all been so compliant. Now tell me, will you all promise to stop being villains?"

They all briefly looked back and forth at each other and gave collective nods to Itachi. "Good. Although we have a lot of heat on us right now because of Superman. You should all lay low," he undid their bindings and some of them had tensed brows. Mirror Master asked, "You're letting us go just like that?"

Itachi tilted his head, "Well you all gave your promises, didn't you? Just don't break them. Oh, and one last thing. I put seals on all of your left wrist, if you get into trouble then scratch at it and I'll know."

They all looked down at their wrist and the seal became visible briefly. Before they could say anything else Itachi nodded to Zatanna. "Raeppassid."

Itachi started walking out and Zatanna tilted her head, "You're giving them a way to call you?"

He looked back, "They deserve a chance at redemption. I'm just going to ensure that they get that chance, and don't end up back where they started," he started walking out and she smiled.

"Itachi.... I'm sorry."

He turned back slightly towards her, "What are you apologizing for?"

She started playing with her hair in her hand and her eyes darted to the ground a couple times, "Well I... I misjudged you. I thought that you were some pragmatic heartless guy that would do anything to achieve his goals, but..... it's all an act, right? You seem like you really do have a kind heart behind the whole emotionless persona."

He turned fully towards her and his mouth opened slightly, "I have a brother that was just like Superman."

She tilted her head, "What?"

"Earlier, you asked me why I'm so confident that Superman can change. It's because I have a brother that used to be like him."

She subtly nodded, "Can you tell me more about him?"

He started to turn around, "Soon. But for now let's train."

After a few days of special training, making a bunch of Chakra storage seals, and helping Tim with his fighting skills, another opportunity had presented itself. Hawkman came to Earth to retrieve his wife, but he was instead beaten by her and a few Regime members.

At the same time, Itachi sat down and talked to Hal while Billy sat in the corner with tape on his mouth while being handcuffed. "Hal, tell me, just what was it that drove your fear powered ring?"

Hal didn't make eye contact and had his hands on his knees, "This isn't going to end well for you, Itachi. Hell, he'll probably just try to kill you now. You should have just followed orders."

Itachi looked up at the ceiling, "Followed.... orders?" He looked back down at Hal, "Hal, do you remember when I showed you all my past?"

"I do, why?"

"If you remember, I was in the same situation as you. There was an authoritative figure who everyone knew was evil, but no one acted out against him. And because of that, I was forced to kill everyone I loved, besides my brother." He knelt down to eye level with Hal, "Let me tell you something. Did you know that Barry's old girlfriend is a member of the Resistance?"

Hal's eyes went wide and he looked at him. "You can't be serious."

"I am. And with how Superman has been getting more and more ruthless, it's only a matter of time before he stops taking prisoners all together. What if he asks Barry to kill her?"

Hal shook his head, "He would never do that to his friends!"

"Friends? When is the last time he's even called you friends? You're more like his servants now."

Hal gritted his teeth and was about to say something, but was cut off, "Tell me this, when's the last time you've talked to Carol?"

Hal looked to the side, "She hasn't talked to me since what happened with the Green Lanterns."

"Yes.... now what if I told you that she was also helping the Resistance? Would you be able to deal with her then?"

Hal didn't respond and went back to looking at the ground with a blank expression. Itachi sighed and stood up, "Think about it, Hal."

He started to leave the room, but before he did Hal called out to him, "Itachi, wait," Itachi turned back around and waited for him to respond, "I admit it... I'm afraid... a part of me always knew it was Sinestro that killed John, but by the time I really started thinking about it," he looked at the hand his ring used to be on and shook his head, "I was already wearing one of Sinestro's. And I killed a good friend. You want to know what fear my ring was powered by?"

Itachi knelt down again, "The fear of accepting the truth that what we've done is partially our own fault. And the cruel reality that it's too late to do anything about it."

"Yeah... once this is all over, I want you to turn me over to the Corps. I should answer for my crimes."

"I will," Itachi stood up and walked to the doorway, "Thank you, Hal."

He left the room and was approached by Zatanna, "Itachi. Hawkman has returned to Earth with the intention of bringing his wife back with him."

Itachi sat up out of bed, "This will be our next opportunity. Could you take me to him?"

"Of course. Tropelet." They both appeared in Hawkman's ship, "Hello, Hawkman."

He looked back at the both of them expressionless, "I was just thinking of finding one of you people."

Itachi stepped forward, "We would like to help you get your wife back."

Hawkman turned towards them, "And how would you help me do that?"

"We'll offer a distraction that keeps the rest of them busy enough to let you take her."

He put a hand under his chin, "And what's stopping them from following right after my ship to take her back?"

"We'll make it look like you were never involved, we've taken out three of them already so they'll more than likely assume it was us."

Hawkman crossed his arms, "You aren't really telling me much here."

"We're going to get Damian and Flash, this will help us create a distraction that will give you an opportunity to take back Hawkgirl."

He smiled and stood up, "Alright, I'm in."