Maelstroms Mask

(KY appears jumps out of a spaceship and lands onto the ground) Hello to you all, well another chapter is out. (Bows head in apology) I must say though I am sorry for this long wait but a few things happened in my life that… Really shook me, in which I couldn't really function correctly. What with one of my oldest friends suicide, the funeral, emotional shit that comes with that, a HUGE workload thrust upon me by my superiors and my Higher leaving me with all of it while also having a boost in stress causing a rather unhealthy dose of anger and anxiety to mix into it.

(Huffs) I… Just couldn't deal with it all at once, so, I stepped back and dealt with it. Now that I have gotten through the bulk of it and worked it out I believe that I can return to this with a clear head and give you guys what you deserve. A story worth reading. Ah, sorry with my little rant but I just wanted to explain why the whole delay came to be.

Anyways... It's great to see so many new faces to the story. Jebest4781 and I really appreciate all the support you have given us.

(An engine grows louder and louder as it's coming closer. Soon we see Jebest come up in a motorcycle) I agree and I have gotten some messages from people that I usually chat with and they really enjoy the story. One thing that I'm not really happy with is the lack of reviews. Sure we have like 58 at the moment but we had expected more. Sorry on that but reviews and criticisms help out a lot.

Also sorry for your loss and problems Kami so hope things can get better on your end. For the delays on my end was working practically everyday for the past several weeks to month and finishing up my college degree. So damn tired with getting little sleep and feeling ill by the results. Going to be such a pain to get a full time job and find an internship since couldn't get into one sooner.

KY: Thanks man, that means a lot. Don't worry though, as I said I solved most of them so now it's just getting back to the normal grind of everyday life. But yes, such things are the bread and butter of authors on the site. In fact without them then some rather good stories can die due to lack of Reviews and Criticism. So please, when you read take a moment of your time to write a review. It helps us and tells us what we did right and wrong. Thus making it easy for us to improve on what we have and give you guys a better story.

KY: Now I will be addressing some questions that have come up. Did Deathstroke underestimate Naruto? In a way yes, he didn't know what Naruto was capable of as he was only keeping an eye out on Batman so he was surprised to see Naruto thus being unprepared for him and thus being his downfall as he underestimated Naruto's fighting prowess.

KY: Is Lady Shiva connected to Kushina? That is not even remotely true so sorry to disappoint on that. We have a different backstory for Kushina, which is still badass, but it doesn't have anything to do with Lady Shiva.

KY: To me being a fan of Supernatural. No, I am actually not a fan of it just like the car really.

J: For that are wondering who brought up Baby from Supernatural is me. I love the show and honestly I enjoy it well and with Season 11 on right now is interesting but that's besides the point now. We just thought the Chevy Impala is a really nice car.

KY: Why this is put in the crossover category when it supposedly is not. Now this is a valid point. Now Naruto is not how he is in Canon. He is changed in his structure but at his core he is the same. He just grew up differently and actually went through combat, not the whole punch someone and they talk about their technique for twenty minutes( I know Anime does this but we are trying to make this more realistic so we won't be having people stop and talk about how their moves work in this fic). No, he killed, he survived and he thrived. As opposed to normal Naruto that never experienced such things at an early age.

KY: Will Naruto fight Batman? Now I won't say he won't as that may happen. What can I say we don't throw out possibilities. Anyway that's enough Notes, let's start the story! (Jumps and flies away.)

J: I agree on the Naruto vs Batman bit. It could happen soon or it could happen later. Things happen that could cause them to duke it out. Anyways like KY said, let's move on with the show. The long awaited 4th chapter of Maelstrom's Mask.

J: Also one last thing before reading, sorry on lateness on not getting this up on Christmas so yeah late Happy Holidays everyone and a Happy New Year.

Disclaimer: We don't own Naruto or Batman

Chapter 4: Lacey Towers Investigation

XXXXXX

2:00 P.M., Thursday, October 30, 1989

"Is this really alright Onee-san? I mean we just got here ourselves so introducing us as their neighbors may be a tad weird." The preteen said getting a shake of the head from Paula Nguyen.

"No Otou, this is fine. After all you may just get a good friend from this. Maybe even a little girlfriend." The woman smirked seeing the slight blush on her little brother's cheeks. Even after so long she could still make her baby brother blush like he was a little kid.

"O-Onee-saaaaaan…" He groaned, looking away from his giggling sister. Honestly she had waaaaay too much fun teasing him.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

They waited patiently at the door. After a few minutes they didn't hear any stirring from the inside.

"Maybe they're taking a nap or something. That or they don't want to talk to any new neighbors when they just got here a week ago." Naruto said stuffing his hands into his burnt orange jacket pockets. Underneath he wore a pair of blue jeans and white nikes. Just some casual stuff after a hard day of school for him.

"I'm sure they just didn't hear the knocks." Paula waved off, knocking on the door again this time twice as hard as her last attempt. This time however a shuffling was heard behind the door as a man opened the door just enough so that they could see him.

The man was in his early thirties with thinning blond hair, brown hazy eyes and a slight pale complexion with a bit of a gut on him. Wearing a wife beater and a pair of grease stained pants the man seemed to be a little out of it from the way he looked around them and not at them.

"W-what? What'da yah want?!" He asked, giving them a bit of a smell of his breathe. No, smell was not the right word. More like choke, choke on the gaseous cloud of booze that he exhaled into their general area of smelling range. Alcohol was clearly part of his earlier activities that kept him from opening the door on their first attempt to greet their new neighbors.

"I'm getting the feeling I should've stayed home then come over here with Onee-san." The preteen thought as his response to the man was to take a step back in caution.

"Um, hello. My name is-" He glared at Paula smacking the door with his hand.

"I don't give a rat's ass *hick* on what yah name's is. *hick* Like I said before, what'da yah want?" The drunken man demanded as he glared at the two people at his front door.

Naruto glared at the man, "We just came over to greet the new neighbors. There's no need to be an asshole you drunk, fu-"

"Naruto!" Paula cut him off, "There's no need to curse. Be polite, ok?" He gave her a look then the drunk but bit his tongue. He would let his sister talk, he wasn't good with being nice if the man would be an ass first. Then again, Paula has more experience in talking to people like this drunk apparently.

"Anyways, my name is Paula and this here is my little brother Naruto. We are wondering if you and the rest of your family would like to attend this little get together the neighborhood is hosting. Everyone will be there and-"

"Le' me *hick* s'op you right there…. Me and my family, don't care about any 'get together'. So why don't you and your brother hightail it before you meet the business end of my shotgun." This time Paula was the one to glare; her hands clenched into fists as she seemed to shift into a more hostile stance. Yet kept the calm and cool poise that she usually had.

"Sir, we just wanted to invite you. We didn't say anything about you needing to come to the event." She smiled with an all too sweet tone. Acting on his years of interactions with his sister Naruto took a few steps back as he knew that Paula was beginning to become angry.

"W-Well you should've said that in the first place. Now fuck off." He said before he slammed the door in her face with them hearing the door locking up.

"Oh for the love of- The nerve of that man. Who does he think he is doing that? He could've at least be a tad more polite." Paula said as she started to storm off to get over to the next house in the list of invites.

"Onee-san I'm sure he was to drunk for that." Deadpanned Naruto as he walked with her. Only to stop as he heard a feminine cry come from the house. Turning his head he waited a few seconds and the sound repeated itself, this time in more of a whimper.

"What the heck is going on in there.." He muttered to himself. Curious he looked to the house, then back at his still fuming sister as she stomped away clutching the list of invites in a rather tight grip with waves of anger seeming to emanate from her. Then back to the house that had the sound of a girl's crying and whimpers.

Angry sister….

Crying girl….

Angry sister…

Crying girl?...

"Yeah, no contest. Going with the non-suicidal choice." He mused with his curiosity getting the better of him. He looked through the front window but couldn't see a thing, if you didn't count the floor littered with beer cans and some other junk. Naruto soon pulled out his lock picking kit he had gotten for his birthday a few weeks back and decided to put it to good use instead of just testing the stuff out at home. After carefully picking the lock for about a minute he was able to open the front door and entered the residence.

He glanced around and frowned even more of what he is seeing. The home was in bad shape from the interiors appearance but that didn't matter now that he started hearing the whimpering a bit more. He soon tracked the noise through the closest hallway and hugged the wall when he got closer to the source of the noise. Once peering inside, his blood started to boil on the sight.

"P-Please daddy, no more! No more!" Cried the blond preteen girl, her eyes red and tear swept as more kept falling from her baby blue eyes. Ropes held her arms over her head as she layed down on the broken bed with her legs tied to the end of the bed. She was worse for wear however as her only clothes were a bra for her budding bosom and a skirt. Over her alabaster skin were bruises and cuts with weeping wounds as well from the recent beating she has been taking. Standing over her was the man that Paula was mad at and who Naruto would like to strangle at this moment. For in his hand was a bat and in the other was a bottle of whiskey and the bat would make its way to the girl's stomach in a hard arc making her cry out again and again pleading for him to stop.

"Shut it! I'll be done when I feel like it!" The father said in a drunken rage as he took a swig of the remainder of his drink before he threw the empty bottle to the wall making the girl flinch more.

"Please stop! What would mommy say about this?!" The girl pleaded her father to stop but this only made things worse.

"Well m-mommy ain't here. She is dead after spending all my hard earned money on making herself feel better. Shooting herself and whatnot *hick* while I have to suffer for it. Well she's gone now and nothing you can do about it." The man said in a slur. Naruto couldn't catch most of what the man was saying because of him being drunk but he got the general message.

The blonde boy soon peered onto the side and saw a lamp in the hallway and an idea came to mind. He soon took ahold of it and went back into the one room to sneak up on the abusive father. As he crept he also noticed the man starting to wobble a little that this was possibly a good time as any to take action. Once in the room without any of them noticing, Naruto got into position and raised the lamp before bringing it down on the man's head as hard as he could resulting in the lamp shattering and the man falling onto the ground out cold.

"Huh, so that actually works. And people say that it doesn't work outside of TV and movies." Naruto mused before he turned his attention towards the other occupant in the room as he made his way over to her to untie the rope.

"Hey don't worry I got you." He said as he finished untying the last of the knots. After this, the girl latched onto him and started crying getting him to briefly stiffen before he wrapped his arms around her to calm her down.

"Hey it's ok. I'm getting you out of here right now." Naruto said as he stood up and brought his hand towards her.

"Are you able to stand?" He asked as the girl grabbed onto his arm and tried to stand up but fell down a bit before the male blonde caught her. "Easy does it. I guess your legs are pretty numb right now. Well can't wait since your old man could wake up any moment now."

The girl was confused on that until she saw him bring one of his arms under her legs and the other behind her back and carried her like a princess. She couldn't help but blush from this as her savior quickly made his way out of her home. He felt so warm that she couldn't help but snuggle in closer to his frame especially to help protect her modesty.

"Naruto, where the hell were you wandering off like….Who's she?" Paula asked in concern as she saw the injured girl in her little brother's arms.

"You know the last house we stopped at with the drunk inside? Well I stayed behind for a moment and heard some cries and whimpers that made me want to help out. Well long story short, her abusive dad is out cold back at his home and I found her like this with rope tying her down." Naruto said getting Paula to quickly pull out her phone and called the police. The two walked a safe distance away from that residence as they had to exit the block just to be sure. They were soon greeted with the sound of police sirens heading their way with one car continuing its way to the home of the drunk while the other stopped near the retreating threesome.

"Is everything alright here? What happened?" One of the police officers asked as he stepped out of the car to inspect the three people. Paula soon told the officer of what happened earlier at the one residence before Naruto told his side of the story. The police officers nodded before radioing into the other pair that are currently over at the home. They were soon greeted with some sounds of gunfire before one of the officers on the other end called it in of shots fired before they had to shoot the assaulting man down.

The girl's tears seemed to come back as she leaned into Naruto. Hiding her face as she could hear curses from her father in the radio till the sound of gunfire ended it. Naruto held her tight as her tears began to soak through his jacket, whispering soft words of comfort to her as he stroked her back in a calming manner. Her crying soon began to falter as only small sniffles came out.

Walking over to them one of the officers coughed getting their attention, "If you would please come with us we would like to conduct a more in-depth questioning. It will only take a few minutes."

Paula shook her head, "I don't believe this is the best of times. This girl has just went through a lot today so I think it would be best to hold such a thing off for a later date. Right now she needs medical attention, a hot meal and bed rest."

"Now be reasonable miss. We just need-"

"I don't think you heard my Nee-san correctly, so we'll say it again. We will do this later sir." Naruto cut off the man with an edge to his tone. The man turned to the blond with a rather irritated look.

"Son, while that may be true but protocol states that we need to do a more-"

"Please…" They all stopped as the soft voice pulled them out of their talk, "Please…. Not today… I… I don't want to today… I wanna go…" Naruto's eyes softened at the girls broken voice, his heart going out to the girl as he held her close in comfort. A sigh escaped her as she snuggled into his embrace letting his warmth envelope her senses lulling her into a peaceful slumber without her knowledge. She was rather tired after everything happened.

Smiling Naruto couldn't stop himself from softly kissing her hair, getting a sleepy smile from the girl. Sensing that it was a good time as any to leave Paula brought the two kids away from the officer.

While this was going on, Paula glanced at Naruto on how mature he is acting right now in the situation and can't help but smile despite the situation. She couldn't help but find the site adorable of her brother bridal carrying the injured girl with said girl snuggling more in her sleep. This could be good with how closed off Naruto has been lately and this could be a good opportunity for him to open up more.

But for now they need to get back home and take care of the girl who has gone through such an ordeal. They soon made their way to their one story home Paula, Naruto and the slumbering girl went through the front door.

"Put her in my room Otou. I'll clean her up and take a look at her injuries after I get the First Aid kit." She said as he nodded and made his way to his sister's room.

He gently brought the injured girl to the bed and laid her down as best as he could to not wake her up. Pulling away from her after setting her down Naruto stopped as he was pulled back towards the bed. Caught off guard he couldn't stop himself from being dragged into the bed and being forced into the position of a human sized pillow by the girl.

"Please...don't go." The girl said weakly with half lidded eyes. Seeing her look Naruto held her comfortingly.

"Ok." Naruto said as he moved a bit to get comfortable.

"Thank you for saving me." The girl said with a small smile.

"Well what was I supposed to do and leave you alone and kept on getting hurt for who knows how long." He said while he started petting her head to help her relax.

"Still... thanks."

"Oh yeah I never got your name. My name is Naruto, Naruto Nyugen. So then what's yours?." Naruto said to properly introduce himself.

"Harleen, Harleen Quinzell." The blonde girl said.

"Well ain't that a pretty name for a pretty girl." Naruto said in his fox like smile getting Harleen to blush on that compliment.

"Thank you." Harleen said before she drifted off to sleep. With no way out of his position he laid still before he too drifted off to sleep.

Of what the two of them didn't know was that Paula peaked through the door and didn't interrupt since this was a very adorable sight. So with that she closed the door to let the two enjoy their nap.

This is how the relationship between the two blondes had started and throughout the years, it will grow and blossom.

XXXXXX

9:00 p.m., Tuesday, December 24, 2000

Near Lacey Towers

So far with our male blonde, he was in a rush getting over to Lacey Towers all the way from the Penguin's base of operations. He had to be careful due to him swerving a few times due to ice on the road. It wasn't great exactly especially that during the ride over to his next location, the pain was starting to get to him more and more from his fight with Slade. Sure he took some painkillers on the way but wished the ones he took could speed up the process. Naruto was definitely going to get his injuries treated once he gets to the precinct but he just has to wait a bit longer after the investigation at the Towers.

Once he pulled up to the parking lot in front of the towers with several police vehicles already there, he glanced to his passenger and back seats of his car to see what he had pilfered from Slade. Naruto had an odd thought pass through his head to actually strap those items onto his person when he walked right in. Yeah…. that would bring in a ruckus and get officers to aim their weapons towards him thinking that he is one of the assassins. Naruto even thought to just leave them where they were and head inside, but he realized that someone could glance through his windows and see the items and report them in and this would bring in some trouble on his end. So with that, Naruto decided that the best course of action was to put them into his car's trunk and deal with them later.

After putting the items into his trunk, he made his way inside at a careful pace since even though he wore shock and slip resistant boots, his legs were sore from the fight and didn't want to put too much pressure on them. He soon saw several officers inside, no doubt to help guard the perimeter for the investigation and to be sure he was able to pass on through he had taken off his disguise and made his way towards the elevator. One of the officers soon came up to him and stopped him.

"Sir, this is a restricted area. Who are you and why are you here?" The officer said.

"My name is Naruto Nguyen and I'm here on Captain Gordon's behalf for this investigation. If you need proof you can call him and let him know I'm here." Naruto said in an even tone.

"Ok, if you do check out then you're good to proceed. If not then you need to leave sir." Naruto nodded at this as the officer radioed Gordon. Within a minute, the officer came back and had let the blonde proceed and told him which floor to get off of to reach where the investigation was taking place.

As he walked into the apartment where the crime scene took place, he had heard a conversation taking place.

"This is an open and shut case. Penguin murdered Black Mask and his lady friend. I mean we found the bastard's stubby little fingerprints right by the bodies. I honestly will say that I would love to see him squirm outta this one. Fingerprints and two dead bodies. He's 'bout to do some time." Naruto remembered the man being Bullock, a heavyweighted officer with his tone being cocky and arrogant but took pride in his work.

"Yeah 'cept Forecnsics'll take all the credit and I'm the one who found the prints." A male officer said. Nothing special about him.

"And that's why they call it first response. First pickin's on the loot, but none of the glory." A female officer said. Naruto took a good look at her of and got a decent description of her being of hispanic origin with her skin tone and raven black hair.

"Well I wouldn't say that…." Naruto said breaking their conversation and getting their attention. "It's more about paying closer attention to the finer details. Hello there, name's Naruto Nguyen. I radioed Captain Gordon about the murder here and I asked him for me to come on over to help out with this investigation."

"Well it's already too late for you Nguyen, but we already got this all taken care of on the investigation." Bullock said as he crossed his arms.

"Really….So mind filling me in on the details on how this crime was solved?" The blonde asked as he tilted his head a little to the side.

"Eh sure why not." The heavy officer said as he moved over to the bottom of the stairs with the corpse underneath a blanket.

"Well this here is Black Mask, shot dead on the floor and right up there tied up on the chandelier is one of his lady friends dead while hung." Bullock said pointing to the two corpses in their position.

"As you can see with the place torn up suggests that there was a fight with what went on and in the end Black Mask got axed off and Penguin had shot the lady to finish things off." The officer continued getting Naruto to look at the details.

"In the end with what you see with the large mark on the floor indicates that our perp wanted to destroy the evidence before fleeing the scene by using a Molotov cocktail." Bullock said finishing things off.

"Ok good to know but I have several questions if you don't mind me asking. First off why do you assume that Penguin was the perp in the first place?" Naruto questioned.

"Well first off there is this." The one officer said as he pulled out an evidence bag with a cigar in it. "This is a cigar brand that Penguin is known to enjoy having."

"Ok but what else is there to prove that he is the perp? I mean just the cigar can't be the only thing of evidence to pin this on him." Naruto said since this wasn't making any sense at all since when he was interrogating Penguin earlier he said he was there after the murder. If he was indeed the killer, why would he point out the crime scene anyways?

"Well here are his fingerprints right here." The officer pointed out a spot near the male victim. "They are a perfect match for Penguin's."

"Ok first off I think your not doing your job all that well on figuring things out since you probably want to get this done and over with and arrest him on false charges in this case." The blonde said with a slight narrowing of the eyes. He didn't like when people became lazy in such an important line of work, especially on a case of murder.

"That's what I said but no, Bullock here feels a bit too lazy while this guy here is pretty much new to this." The one female officer said.

"Well that's good. By the way, I never got your name miss." Naruto said getting the female officer to remember she didn't meet the blonde before.

"Oh yes, where are my manners. Officer Renee Montoya." Montoya said holding out her hand for Naruto to shake to which he did.

"Well Montoya what do you think was done here?" Naruto questioned since he wanted to see how she would respond on this case.

"Well with the fingerprints they are able to be seen because of Penguin putting his hand on the sooted surface here. This wouldn't be possible at all if he did this during the fire here." She said getting Naruto to nod in approval before he turned his attention to the male victim.

"Well this crime took place days ago. The fire and the exposure to the elements made identifying the victims difficult. The male victim is indeed wearing a black mask, but we won't be able to prove that this man is indeed Black Mask without more analysis. I mean this man here could be one of his goons for all we know." Naruto said as he looked around to find a closet and retrieved a ladder to place it near the female victim.

Once he made his way up he inspected her better before noticing the bullet wound. He turned around and leveled his head to the bullet wound to see that the line of sight was towards the stairs.

"Well the female victim didn't die of the fire, that's for sure." Naruto said getting the others curious.

"What do you mean?" Montoya asked, curious to his insight. They hadn't been able to look further into the female's death as they were more focused on Black Mask's 'murder' and identifying the killer. Higher echelons demanded that Black Mask's murder be solved immediately. Why? Montoya didn't know but if she had a sinking suspicion that it was leading to something big.

"What I mean is that she has a bullet lodged in her heart," Naruto narrowed his eyes at the wound. "The way this hole has formed from the collision of the bullet indicates a low angle of trajectory. Besides if the female victim did die from the fire then she should've had her skin burnt or something in that nature. No the way she was being held with her being shot was tense and firm but not because of rigamortis. The muscles would begin to tighten, stopping the blood flow but the damage was fatal and she died possibly half a minute after being shot."

"You said that the bullet was fired in a low angle right? Then possibly Penguin could've shot her." The one male officer said getting Naruto to shake his head.

"I did say that but please don't think of having Penguin being the perp since this could be someone else. Now let me fill in a bit of detail with Penguin if you had forgotten. He is known of not being the type to handle things himself unless his victims are completely restrained and cannot retaliate." The blonde said before coming down the ladder and going towards the stairs. He soon sat down and pulled out his gun from its holster and aimed it towards the hanged female.

"I think that the person responsible for all of this, for some reason, had wanted to frame Penguin to throw us off of the trail. So he/she could've sat or laid down and shot the female so that the trajectory would be low enough to be roughly Cobblepot's height." Naruto said before he put away his gun before he noticed some faint black streaks on the floor. He whipped off a little bit of it from the side and inspected it.

"Hmm. Seems that whoever was involved in this incident was dragging someone along the floor." Naruto said getting the others to hear this.

"What do you mean?" Montoya asked.

"Well this right here is shoe polish and there is some slight scuffs on the floor. I assume that there was another person in the room asides from the two victims and the perp." Naruto soon laid back down towards the stairs and put his boot near the streak and aimed his gun again towards the female. "Think whoever was being dragged could've shot the female since that would've been the real way on how the height could've worked, but I don't know for now."

Naruto got back up and started looking again before looking towards the opened door towards the balcony.

"I'm just wondering, but was that opened when you guys showed up here." He asked as he pointed towards the balcony door. One of the officers gave a quick 'yes' before the blonde walked over to inspect the door. Once there he saw a bit of white fabric was attached to it and near the door was some broken Christmas ornaments.

"Seems that this was the entry way for the extra person to enter the premises and get his/her clothing ripped off." Naruto then looked towards the floor to see the ruined desk and chair to see a dent on the floor. Upon further inspection he saw that there were traces of blood.

"You were right though Bullock. There was a fight here and could've started when the person came through the balcony would have startled the person sitting by the desk and fought said person. It's not clear who won the fight since it could've been either one of them." Naruto said getting Bullock to feel praised on this while getting the other officers to roll their eyes thinking Bullock's ego was starting to grow.

Naruto soon got an idea and saw several chairs near the windows, so he grabbed one and brought it over to where the broken table was at before sitting down.

"Seems the person who was sitting by the desk could've been the one who shot the Black Mask henchman so I think that could clear that bit up." He said before putting the chair back in its place.

"Was there anything else here that I should know? I don't know how the female victim would have been able to been tied up to the chandelier all that easily." The blonde said getting Montoya to walk near the counter and spotted the impact on the wood.

"Over here, I think I found it." She said getting Naruto to walk on over to see the spot.

"Thanks for that. Now wonder why this wasn't seen earlier." Naruto said getting her to shrug.

Naruto then walked down to see what else he could find before they wrap things up and head over to GCPD. At the corner of his eye he saw a slight glint coming from under a chair that was on the ground. Moving it out of the way he found a cell phone and got in to find that the female victim was sending text messages to her boyfriend.

T: Hurry I'm scared.

RS: On my way.

T: Who's the Joker?

RS: No one that matters.

Once seeing the message thread, he looked up on who the woman was sending the messages towards and it was sent to Roman Sionis….wait.

"Well it seems that we now know who was supposed to be Black Mask. The guy's name is Roman Sionis." Naruto said getting the others their attention on this bit of news.

"Really, Sionis? Are you sure he's Black Mask?" Montoya asked.

"Could be but how else do you think this woman got inside of this safe house in the first place. This girl was important to Black Mask and in the girl's phone had the contact information to Roman Sionis." Naruto pointed out towards the other officers.

"Ok I think this is what happened. Someone killed one of Black Mask's goons several days ago since Black Mask was at Blackgate Prison earlier tonight and I even saw him there. Hmm, the only answers I have raise more questions now: Who is the 'Joker'? Was he the killer here or is he one of the assassins hired by Black Mask? We have a body, an unknown shooter, and an unknown assailant who attacked the shooter." Naruto said getting the others to be curious on those questions as well.

"But still, what did happen here Nguyen? You didn't actually say on what happened." Bullock said getting Naruto to snap out of his train of thought.

"Sorry on that. Anyways we're all thinking that Roman Sionis or Black Mask is dead by being a casualty of a turf war by the Penguin's hands. But I know better than that." Naruto said before he envisioned the scene being played out.

"Someone spooked Sionis' girlfriend. So he sent her to his safe house here...Which was anything but safe." The blonde said seeing the woman's head being smashed against the counter by the unknown assailant with her phone falling over and onto the ground.

"Sionis showed up later, ready for trouble...and he found it ready for him." The goon walked into the safe house and ends up getting shot by the shooter sitting by the desk. "Or so it seemed."

"Let it be known that Black Mask has always been paranoid. Probably why he lasted so damn long. He sent in one of his goons as a decoy giving himself an element of surprise but I think that wasn't enough in his favor." Naruto looked towards the balcony door and Black Mask sneaking through it but then remembered the decorations on the ground. Black Mask would've stepped on it to get the shooter to be startled by Black Mask.

"There was a fight but Sionis lost." Black Mask dived towards the shooter and brawled a bit but the shooter could've gotten the upper hand in some way.

"The shooter didn't hesitate to shoot the decoy, but I think he wanted Sionis alive for some reason. Maybe the shooter was the one that was at Blackgate earlier this evening posing as Black Mask. With Sionis under control, all that remained was to tie up loose ends." Black Mask was soon dragged along the floor and the shooter could've walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out an alcohol bottle and made a Molotov cocktail before throwing it underneath the female victim.

"It wasn't the fire that killed Sionis' girlfriend at all. I'm guessing the shooter could've gotten Sionis to be positioned correctly and aimed the gun towards the victim here and shot her making the incident a worse blow to Black Mask." Black Mask was soon propped up and the shooter moved his arms in position and grabbed ahold of Sionis' weapon with him still holding on and fired killing the woman right there for a slow, agonising death.

"I think that's what happened and it's all theory but it's the best I got." Naruto said getting the others to actually believe the layout of the discussion.

"Well I don't know about you guys but I think we should get forensics to come back here and acquire the rest of the evidence. From there we should head back to GCPD to report all of this." Naruto said as he left the safe house and made his way to the lobby with the others followed after him to do what he had suggested.

If they stayed a little longer, they could've seen two figures entering the safe house from the balcony doorway and each had their own thoughts on what their impressions on the blonde was. They were impressed with how Naruto figured things out in this little mystery and now their assessments were complete. They will now just need to finish up this night and see how things go on from there with Naruto and the infamous Batman. With the latter, one of them needs their own assessment with the Dark Knight since the other was more interested in the blonde.

XXXXXX

10:00 p.m., Tuesday, December 24, 2000

GCPD

It took a bit of time to get back to the GCPD due to getting forensics to come back to the crime scene and get the remaining evidence recorded since some of them were being absent minded on not recording all of the evidence. From there the roads were still not that great so took some time on the ride over to GCPD but they eventually made it back. Naruto was no longer feeling sore due to not going through any strenuous action back at Lacey Towers and the cold somewhat helped but not that much even though the pain killers really kicked in when he drove back. Of course once he properly gives his reports to Gordon, he'll need to get a proper check up since he didn't know if he actually broke something during his fight with Slade. Wouldn't be the first time he broke a bone in a fight without realising it.

Once making his way inside of the precinct, he moved to Gordon's office to report to him but was able to see him close by on the upper level talking to a lot of other officers. On what he could guess is to plan for the upcoming events for the night.

"I know everyone's still in shock over what happened to Commissioner Loeb, but we need to stay focused on our primary targets for tonight. So far Waylon Jones, or Killer Croc as he is commonly known, has been fully processed along with Slade Wilson, otherwise known as Deathstroke. We got a ways to go before sunrise to finish this all up. There's eight assassins in town tonight with one of them already in custody. From the info we've been gathering, they are among the most dangerous criminals on record - period. After interrogating Waylon Jones, we've learned that they're all competing for a huge bounty which Black Mask has offered for the head of the Batman." Gordon had said getting murmurs to break out amongst the crowd of cops, detectives and SWAT members.

"Alright cut the chatter people. Our goal is to ensure order in this city. So our number one priority becomes bringing in the Batman BEFORE these assassins get to him. Now. The closer it gets to morning, the more desperate the assassins will grow - and if he's still out there - the more damage they'll cause to the city, as they try to find or attract him. Alright dismissed."

With the other officers making their way doing their own thing, Naruto headed over to Gordon to report in.

"Hold it!" A hand grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back rather forcefully. Turning around on instinct his fist flew in retaliation only for it to stop a few inches from his acquaintances face. Her glare seemed to intensify due to the quick act of violence to her person.

"Ah, sorry Dr. Thompkins. Reflexive action took over." Taking a step back he crossed his arms.

The doctor only continued to glare.

"What?" He questioned still getting cold brown eyes glaring at his person. The doctor wasn't all that frosty most of the time but it seemed he has gained a bit of her ire this night. Why he doesn't know but she would not seem to relent in her look.

"You're coming with me." Her hand lashed out, grabbing his jacket and pulling him with her despite his protest.

"Can't this wait after I-"

"No it cannot. You're due for a check up and I am not taking no for an answer." His jaw clenched as he looked back to Gordon still talking to his superiors and sighed.

"Well, I was going to get checked anyway. Might as well get it over with and convene with the Captain later." Naruto thought as Dr. Thompkins dragged him to her office.

"Hmm, a few bruises, stressed bone breaks in the forearms but that will heal in due time. You always were a fast healer. Still I would advise you to be more careful as it seems you have been picking fights with rather dangerous people lately." The woman said with a rather dry bedside manner.

"I'll be fine Doctor, besides when have I picked fights? The fights just happen whether I want it or not." Naruto shrugged putting his shirt and jacket back on.

She nodded, "True, but you can't help but add a bit of fuel to that fire can you?"

"I will not agree nor disagree with that Doctor."

"Well, just make sure to come back in a presentable manner. You have Harleen in stitches with how much she worries about you. Though if you worry her anymore she'll probably break your arms." He chuckled at that seeing as his friend, when angry or frustrated enough, would break the instigators limbs for their actions. Harley was a gentlewoman, don't get him wrong, but she was an entirely different person when she became violent. She had a slight streak of brutality once she became violent. The last time someone encouraged her wrath she broke both their legs and arms and left them to wallow in pain.

All because they just wouldn't stop their incessant jabs at her blood family's situation.

"Don't need to tell me twice Doctor. Now if you excuse me I have to get back to work." Waving over his shoulder he walked out of the office and made his way to his boss's office. Knocking on the door first he could hear his boss as well as a young girl's voice arguing.

"He's out there catching the criminals that you let walk free!" A young redhead girl said to Gordon.

"He's the worst kind of criminal. The kind who thinks their actions are justified - who acts completely outside of the system." Gordon said but this got the girl to get fed up with his attitude on the vigilante.

"Well the system is broken dad." She said before storming out of his office.

"Barbara! Wait." Gordon said as he tried to reach out to her before feeling a hand on his shoulder.

"You should probably give her some space Gordon. I know how it's like dealing with a child getting into their rebellious stage in life. Right now she just needs to cool off." Naruto said as Gordon brought his hand to his forehead to massage it a little.

"From what I know from Barbara she is just worried about me ever since her mother passed away and had to go through a lot and mature too soon for her age. I know she means well but she needs to know from my point of view that I have to follow the law so that things can at least go right for now. With that I have to see the Batman as someone that is against it and working outside of it." Gordon said as he walked over to his desk and pulled out some aspirins to help relieve himself of his coming headaches.

"So how do you deal with it really since you said that you know how to deal with a rebellious child?" Gordon said in slight curiosity.

"Well sir I have a niece who is just getting into that stage in her young life and whenever I visit I can tell it's just itching to rebel and whatnot. Then again it doesn't help whenever her father shows up and when that happens it only makes it worse. So I do what I can to keep her from getting too rambunctious but it's no use really." Naruto said as he chuckled at the several times he had to keep Jade from causing too much mayhem at home.

"So there's no way to curb it.." Gordon sighed with his subordinate shrugging his shoulders.

"Kids will do as they please from what I have seen. It's up to their role models, us, to guide them and help curb their more self destructive behavior. For Barbara she isn't a bad kid, she just has a strong opinion on how things work and isn't afraid to voice her opinion." The blonde said getting a laugh from his boss.

"That's an understatement. Once she gets an idea in her head she won't be swayed to change her outlook on it no matter how much anyone tries. She's stubborn like that. I swear she's so much like her mother it's scary." Gordon smiled softly at the thought of Barbara being like her mother was when she was still alive. In a way it gave him a bit of pride to see her talk back to him to prove her point. On the other hand it gave him a pang of sadness as he could practically see his late wife coaxing her to talk back to him to prove that her little girl was right.

"Was she really that stubborn?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh trust me she was. Once when we were talking to our landlord, around the time when Barbara was born, he started getting rather upset with the contract we agreed on. She was still on the hormones and started lashing out on him on the rent and well long story short it got cut down quite a lot. I swear I never met any other woman that can haggle like her and Barbara practically inherited that from her mother." Gordon said as he rubbed his temples.

"She sounds like an interesting woman. Makes me wish I could of met her." Naruto chuckled getting a small smile from his captain.

"Yeah… She was... " Gordon shook his head. "But she's not the reason you're here, you're here for business." Taking a seat the man gestured for his subordinate to take a seat.

The blonde sat down, "Yes, of course. Well I will start my debrief. After leaving you and the chopper I proceeded to find LeBlanc at Jezebel Plaza. Currently he was dealing in advanced arms and gear, just like the drone said."

Gordon nodded and motioned for him to continue.

"After taking care of his help I took LeBlanc and questioned him on where I could find Oswald Cobblepot, A.K.A. the Penguin."

"Seemed more like a rather intense questioning when we found LeBlanc, Nguyen." Gordon noted, remembering the state the perp was in when they finally got to him. Broken jaw, a few ribs broken and a face that seemed to be run over by a truck with how mangled he was.

"Apologies, Sir. But I don't really have the luxury of being polite to criminals to get information tonight."

"I know that Nguyen, I was just making an observation. Whatever helps us tonight get to Black Mask is welcome. Just remember to be careful on how you do it, not everyone is as understanding as me when it comes to this."

Naruto nodded, "Of course. Now, after my questioning of LeBlanc I was unable to get the information directly from him. But I was able to discern the Penguins location from LeBlanc's phone, seems he left his boss's address without any type of code lock or security. Anyways, afterwards I left him and his men to the department to find and went to the docks to find the Penguin in his boat, The Final Offer."

"Which from your words on the radio sounded heavily guarded." Gordon said.

"Yes, yes it was. But with careful planning and a few well placed bullets quite a few of them were taken care of giving me the clear path to the Penguin. Unfortunately, a man known as the Electrocutioner escaped after I easily fought him and soundly rendered him unconscious. No doubt he escaped to give Black Mask a word of my involvement at The Final Offer." He said getting a hum from his superior.

"I'm surprised you didn't question him on the location of his employer." Naruto's brow gave a slight twitch in aggravation at that to which Gordon saw.

"Oh? You did try to question him then." Gordon sighed, "I'm assuming from your silence he didn't really give anything away."

"Well to be honest Sir, he was being rather arrogant. So seeing that I wouldn't find anything out from him I proceeded to kick him in the jaw so hard that he was soundly rendered unconscious to the world….so...yeah." Naruto said as he rubbed the back of his head, his eye still twitching slightly at the reflection of his loss of professionalism. Though to be fair the man had it coming.

He was lucky he didn't place a bullet between his eyes for his idiocy.

"Ok then. I can understand that bit of notion. 'Sigh' Most interrogations of sorts tend to be a bit rough, given the case who you fought, but what happened from there?" Gordon said as he pulled out a water bottle and took a swig out of it from being parched.

"From there, many of Penguin's men started coming at me and I had to fend them off until they stopped coming. In some cases I had to render some of them permanently ineffective as their numbers were rather worrisome."

"So you killed a few of them, right, go on.."

"Following the brawl with the Penguins cronies I proceeded to lock one of Penguin's female lackies in a cell, I believe her name was Tracey if I heard her right."

"Yes, she was a rather mouthy one when we locked her up in her cell at the women's section of Blackgate. Not only that but was she very rowdy and tried to get out of custody a few times but one of our female officers got her quiet." The captain said with a slight grin before it went back down.

"Good to know, she was rather… Unhelpful when I encountered her sicking her men on me." Stopping Naruto took a bottle of water off the desk. After taking a few gulps he continued.

"Once that was done I allowed our boys access, via the security console, onto the boat and made my way to the casino on the Final Offer to which the Penguin was located. There I encountered a few more men and finally found the Penguin, as well as another of his female helpers by the name of Candy, torturing the heir to the Falcone crime family Alberto Falcone. From what I heard he was trying to get Alberto to urge his father to stop dealing weapons in the Black Market and thus eliminate a potential rival in the criminal underworld when it comes to arms dealings."

"Not that surprising Cobblepot would do such a thing to gain more business." Gordon muttered briefly before motioning the blonde to continue.

"I soon intervened seeing Alberto's torture had run its course. Quickly making mincemeat out of the guards I took Penguin and began to question him on the location of Black Mask. A few bruises and cracked teeth later he gave me a rather odd piece of information regarding Lacey Towers, Black Mask's safe. Apparently someone broke in and attempted to kill Black Mask."

"Well that's interesting to hear but I'll want to hear or read about that bit later." The captain said urging Naruto to continue with his report.

"Well I couldn't get anything else out from him since one of the assassin's came and intervened with the effect of Penguin being knocked out before I had to fight said assassin."

"Deathstroke, A. K. A., Slade Wilson." Gordon frowned. It wasn't every day you meet one of the deadliest assassins in the world and even more so for you to fight one and live.

"Correct, though I wasn't his target as he was laying in wait for Batman." He shook his head, "It didn't matter though as after a few brief words we engaged in a fight that almost had me visiting Hell early. Still it was a close fight and I was only able to win because he underestimated me."

"How do you figure? You won, I know anyone in the department would be bragging about this to anyone in the city." Gordon questioned as Naruto steepled his fingers together.

"Remember he was expecting to fight Batman but ended up fighting me so he didn't consider me much of a challenge." Naruto said as he partially told the truth. He didn't want to tell Gordon his real connection to Slade since that would cause a bit more problems than needed.

"The last thing I need is for the Board to know that my dad was somehow linked to a criminal like Deathstroke. They already have a bone to pick with me as it is, Kami knows why." The blonde thought.

From the time he has become a part of the GCPD the Board of Gotham Law Enforcement seemed to always have one of their representatives check on him. Either by a report one of his superiors wrote or by a blatant representative asking him questions on how he found working for the department as one of the cogs in the machine. It was rather odd for them to meddle with him as he was, to everyone else, just another one of the cops if only for his rather impressive marks in the Academy.

Though to the BGLE it seems he may be something more...

Gordon hummed in thought to his words, "You have a point….." Motioning for him to continue Naruto obliged.

"After narrowly defeating Deathstroke I tied him up and made my way to Lacey Towers. There I would be able to gain a larger perspective on the case at hand."

"Good to know on that but when my men arrived to apprehend Slade, a lot of his equipment was missing. Mind telling me where they now?"

"It-"

BAM

The door slammed open showing a rather angry looking women in business wear.

"Captain Gordon, was it not made apparent that I was to debrief Officer Nguyen? He is to be observed and handled with the utmost care as per order of the GBLE." Turning to his superior Naruto gave him a questioning look.

Gordon sighed, "Nguyen, let me introduce GBLE representative Martha Hirudo. She came here. unannounced," He gave a pointed look to Hirudo getting a huff from her. "And demanded to meet and 'debrief' you." He said the word debrief as if it meant interrogate from how Naruto heard it.

Staving a mental groan of annoyance the blonde turned his eyes to the woman. She was a rather bookish middle aged, skinny woman with greyed hair and thick glasses wrapped up in a black business suit and skirt with heels.

"So, what can I do for you this evening ma'am?" Naruto asked while holding back a groan since this might complicate matters for the night.

Fortunately before she could say a word, it seemed the universe was on his side.

Because that's when the alarms began to sound….all over the building.

"What now?!" Gordon said as he reached to his radio.

"This is Captain Gordon. What the hell is going on?!"

"Saved by the bell." Naruto muttered though Hirudo seemed to briefly hear him giving him a rather venomous glare.

"Excuse me?!" She hissed.

"Batman! Batman's breaking into the building!" Gordon narrowed his eyes as he grit his teeth in anger.

"I want all personnel looking for that costumed vigilante! No room is to be left unsearched, no vent unchecked. I want him brought in for questioning!" He ordered cutting the connection on the radio.

Seeing that as his cue to leave Naruto made his way out of the room without seeing Ms Hirudo still glaring at him. Not that it mattered now...

Since it was time to catch a Bat.

XXXXXX

KY: Alright another chapter for you guys done. Now I know this chapter was less action packed but this was meant to be more of a lull in the action and a bit of a recovery and set up for future events.

J: If you guys know what is about to happen next then you would understand since this is a breather of sorts. Not only that but we couldn't do much due to not working on this chapter very much for so long.

KY: Indeed, things are about to get crazy. Also would like to say the next to be updated is FoW. I know it has been a while so don't worry people it will be updated so don't worry. Til next time guys, later! (Both disappear in a swarm of bats.)