Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or anything else within. It is all a byproduct of my overactive imagination and too many ideas in my head. This tale is written to, hopefully, amuse the many people who have wanted me to write such a story again. With that in mind, would all lawyers please leave me the f—k alone already!

NU: Red-X Redux…

Chapter 11: Laughing Mad PT. 3…

00

(Happy Hands Sanitarium…)

Naruto wandered a solitary path towards an atrium or greenhouse or whatever it was. The blond didn't particularly care for semantics as he approached his next clue… or Duela herself. He still had the purple coat from before, but he'd thankfully washed the paint off his mask upon finding a water tap. Why the water was still running he didn't know, but he'd been so happy to be rid of the garish paints that he hadn't really cared.

'I still can't believe that little ball of crazy thought that would be funny,' he thought with a mental scowl. Sure he'd done some pretty nasty pranks to people in his heyday, but burying someone alive was a bit extreme… well… okay there was that one time. 'But I didn't burry him,' he internally reminded himself, 'I dug a six foot pit and then dumped wild skunks in there with him,' he added with a nod…

He paused at his own internal admission and hummed.

"Jeez I was kind of a dick now that I think about it," he murmured softly and then shrugged his shoulders and continued on his way, "Meh, it was his fault for pissing me off," he decided with a firm nod. The number of people who'd managed to piss him off over the years was pretty high, but this was back before he became a Shinobi. Back then it took significantly more to well and truly piss him off.

'And blaming me for one of your pranks was the fastest way to do it,' he thought with an angry growl. Of course this was only after the 'ring leader' had befriended him when they were still in the academy. They had, apparently, only befriended him so that they could 'admit' to their teacher that they heard him 'plan' the prank that they had pulled on the man instead and used him as a scapegoat for… needless to say, he'd been pissed.

Naruto was a prankster at heart even to this day, no one could refute that and he'd certainly never deny it. He had pulled off more pranks on Konoha than most could imagine and few could hope to top! He'd pulled pranks that had, amazingly enough, never been linked to him despite wanting some credit for some of them. He'd pulled off pranks so amazing and daring that people still spoke of them years after he'd done them!

But… despite all that, he always owned up to any prank he committed.

Naruto never put the blame for his pranks on anyone but himself. He would never stoop so low as to accuse someone else of his own wrongdoings. Even as Red-X, a ruthless thief, he would never say someone else had been in his suit or even want someone else in his suit. So when that punk and his friends decided to blame him for their ill-thought out prank he had felt more than justified in a little vengeance.

Of course he hadn't left him totally stranded out there. He'd left an anonymous tip for the AnBu on where they could find the punk. He was alive when they got to him, but the skunks had sprayed him like no tomorrow, they'd also bitten and clawed him up a bit. After that incident he was, apparently, terrified of him and skunks, but he'd been too traumatized to ever pull a prank again or speak within twenty feet of his presence…

'And then he quit the academy and became a perfume salesman,' Naruto remarked with an amused smirk. While it was true he wasn't much of an 'avenger' like Sasuke-Teme, he was fully capable of holding a grudge when he felt he'd been wronged. Still that list in this world was boiled down to one person, Sasuke-Teme, with this Duela girl possibly being second given the shit she was putting him through tonight.

He paused his thoughts as he finally approached the Greenhouse. Or at least he assumed it was a greenhouse, it appeared to have holes in the roof and a number of overgrown vines crawling all over it. He also paused when he spotted some Atropa Belladonna growing near it. 'The hell is deadly nightshade doing growing around here?' the blond wondered to himself with a deep frown.

Shinobi in Konoha had absolutely loved using Deadly Nightshade. Naruto knew for a fact that Ino also used it in a number of her jutsu. The plant wasn't rare but it was very deadly in large doses and easy to hide. The fact that a large portion of the plant, from berries, to stems, and even petals, were poisonous made it even more useful. He'd seen a few Shinobi who laced their weapons in the stuff, and that had always been a nasty way to go.

'The poison isn't particularly fast acting by Shinobi standards but the antidote isn't common enough to find on the field. Unless you're close to home or insanely fast it's not a good thing to be poisoned by,' Naruto thought with an internal grimace. He personally didn't like Atropa Belladonna that much, mostly because he hated poisons in general. There was also the fact that he'd been poisoned by the stuff when he'd startled Ino once.

Thankfully enough, aside from one monster of a stomachache and throwing up for over an hour or so, he'd been fine, but most people weren't him and didn't have his tolerance for poisons and other toxins. He'd also been thankful that he was more or less immune to the hallucinogenic properties of the plant.

But that was beside the point; he was at a hospital why would that even be growing there in the first place?

He made note of it, on the off chance that Duela decided to use poison darts or arrows or something else, and kept on his way. He meandered into the old Greenhouse with a frown as he looked around the place. It had clearly seen better days and yet many of the plants were surprisingly healthy. Naruto could see green leaves and bright blooms all around him, but hummed as he looked for the familiar redheaded maniac.

'Now where is that little ball of crazy hiding,' he wondered to himself. He glanced here and there, noticing all the strange vines with a frown. 'Never seen that kind before,' he noted then shrugged, 'probably only native to this world,' he assumed. He continued on his way through the greenhouse, looking for any sign of the girl, he frowned as he exited out the back of the greenhouse.

He was now in a garden, small but surprisingly well kept with an old fountain resting in the center. In front of the fountain was something that gave him pause, a bush of blue roses, as well as a little plush doll. 'The hell,' the blond thought as he walked over to the bush and knelt down in front of it. The blue-roses were in bloom and looked surprisingly healthy despite being in a pot, but the doll on the other hand was a bit strange.

Mostly in the fact that it was a tiny duplicate of him in his X-suit…

'It even has my usual coat on instead of this purple one,' he thought as he picked up the doll and turned it around in his hands curiously. It was remarkably well made and had a lot of detail. So much so that the suit of the little plush was oddly… well… it looked like it was actually wearing a tiny version of his X-suit. Like she'd taken material from his suit just to use it to make the little plush as detailed as possible.

Granted, his current suit wasn't that well made according to Angel, but it was still impressive the lengths she went to detail the thing. Going so far as to make the coat identical to his own, pockets and all, and even make the red glass that was underneath the skull portion of his mask. Naruto stared at the little plush doll, unsure if he should feel flattered or creeped out by all the little details…

'Either way, someone clearly has way too much free time on her hands,' Naruto thought as he put the plush to the side and looked at the sign on the blue-rose bush. [No hard feelings] it read with a tape and small note folded beneath where the little Red-X-Plush had been a moment before. He picked up the tape after a moment and then paused when a thought suddenly occurred to him.

'Wait a second… she wrote no hard feelings, and left a soft plush version of me?' he realized and then palmed his face with a groan. 'Kami-sama that girl is about as subtle as a sledgehammer through cardboard. Also, what is with all the word games she's playing?' he wondered to himself. He then shook his head of such thoughts and looked back to the tape with a frown.

'She clearly wants me to play this,' he noted to himself. He considered ignoring it for only a moment before he sighed. 'It might have something important on it,' he admitted to himself as he pulled out the recorder from before. He picked up the note beneath the tape and slipped it into his pocket. He pat the pocket to make sure none of the many knives in his coat would cut it up before he looked to the tape with a hum.

He idly looked back to the recorder and popped the tape out of it and then slipped the new tape inside. He paused briefly to glance down at the little plush of himself as it stared at him and then shook his head. 'Great now I think a doll is watching me,' he thought with a sigh. With nothing else to do he then hit play on the recorder. For a moment he heard only static, before it finally picked up…

[PLAY]00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

[TAPE BEGIN]

-STATIC-

"This is Doctor Hugo Strange, research log number fifty nine. I have continued my study of the strange case of my most recent patient. A girl who prefers to use the name 'Duela' for reasons even I find simply baffling."

[Sound of a chair creaking.]

"I have recently decided to forgo my original experiments. It is clear to me that whatever causes Duela to 'change' is not brought about through physical stimuli. I admit to having believed the change was due to some form of abuse or even trauma, yet it appears that that is not the case."

"Instead I have decided to go a new route with various chemical agents. My first experiment proved to be most enlightening despite its failure. I allowed Duela to locate a toxic flower known as Atropa Belladonna, or the layman term of 'Deadly Nightshade'."

[Amused chuckle.]

"I must admit that I find it somewhat ironic that despite the vast number of 'personas' she's created for herself, none of them have any knowledge of botany. My patient found the plant, and the berries it produces, and ate some without even a second thought."

[Chair creaks once more.]

"I must admit I was curious how she'd react to the plant, especially if she ate any of the berries, given how she declares so vehemently that she's the Joker's daughter, she should have at least some level of tolerance for poisons and other toxins…"

"Instead, it turns out that the girl is, in fact, very susceptible to hallucinogens so much so that she was babbling incoherently about 'monitors watching her'. I also admit a minor bit of disappointment, given how she acts and her apparent skill in chemistry, one would assume she'd have a level of immunity to toxins, but unfortunately that is not the case."

[Sound of someone knocking on the door.]

"Yes, who is it?"

"It's Nurse Greer, Doctor Strange. You asked me to come see you when -STATIC- was stabilized?"

"Ah yes, do come in."

[Door opens, foot steps sound, door closes.]

"So I take it our little one is alright then?"

"Yes we're lucky we were able to get the antidote to her in time."

[Feminine sigh.]

"But even so, she's still very weak."

[Strange hums lightly.]

"That is to be expected, she did eat quite a few of the berries after all."

"I still can't believe that Thomas planted something so dangerous at a hospital!"

"Indeed, I've spoken with the director and he's agreed that he should be let go. We cannot have such dangerous plants just lying around for anyone to find."

"Good, at least we won't have to worry about anymore patients being poisoned due to his carelessness."

[Strange stands up from his seat. Heavy footfalls sound.]

"Quite."

[Door opens.]

"Now my dear I have a great deal of work left to do, so if you wouldn't mind…"

"Oh! Forgive me sir, of course."

[Rapid steps. Pause, then turn.]

"But before I forget, -STATIC- might not be well enough to see you tomorrow, is that okay?"

"Of course dear, I wouldn't want to rush the poor things recovery after all."

[Footsteps resume. Door closes. Heavy footfalls sound. Chair creaks.]

"Hmmm… what experiment to try next?"

-STATIC-

[TAPE END]

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000[STOP]

The tape ended with a click and Naruto frowned to himself. 'Okay… so that's where the Nightshade came from,' Naruto thought with a frown and narrowed eyes. 'And that doctor clearly didn't want to help her get better,' the blond noted to himself and then scowled darkly. 'If I ever meet this Strange guy that's more 'en enough reason for me to punch 'im in the face!' he thought to himself and then looked to the blue roses.

He was silent for a moment as he considered what he'd do with the roses, but found his eyes trail to all the other plants around the garden. 'It'd be wrong to just leave 'em here like this,' he considered. He also admitted he wanted to get back to gardening for himself, so slowly nodded his head and then formed a couple of Shadow-Clones. The clones appeared in plumes of smoke and the blond looked up at them.

"Get those and any other healthy plants out of here, and report in to Giz and the others so they know I'm alright," he ordered as he got back to his feet. The clones nodded their heads without question and swiftly went to work. As they did Naruto pulled the note from earlier from his pocket and looked it over silently. [It's in firm array, where are you? In a jam of course!] the note read and caused the blond to look at it strangely.

'The hell is this supposed to… wait a second she mentioned jam…' he paused and then narrowed his eyes. 'Like my jammed com system, and in firm ar… aha she means, the Infirmary!' he internally declared and grinned. "Ha! I think I'm actually starting to get a handle on all these little word puzzles of hers," the blond haired thief noted to himself as he stuffed the tape and note back into one of his many pockets.

He paused after a moment however when he realized that the tape had made mention of the Infirmary as well. 'I don't need pointy ears and a cape to see she's set up a pattern,' he noted to himself. It was almost like she was intentionally leaving these bits of her past, in relevant places no less, just for him to find them. 'But why?' he wondered and then shook his head. He'd worry about that after he finally caught the girl.

He then picked the plushie of himself and stuffed it into another pocket and considered what he'd do with it. 'Meh, maybe Jinx or someone else 'll want it,' he decided with a shrug. That done he swiftly hurried out of the greenhouse and narrowed his eyes on Happy Hands main building. 'Now to find the infirmary,' the blond thought as he ran to the building.

Behind him a collared rat scurried out of the greenhouse and made it's way towards the back…

00

The basement of the Happy Hands Sanitarium was, needless to say, unkempt. It was covered in the usual dust and decay of being abandoned for years. Additionally there was the number of cobwebs that seemed to spread all over the place. As the Titans made their way through the basement, Wally walked into one such cobweb with a yelp and rapidly wiped it off while Donna snickered to herself.

The redhead shot his longtime friend a look and she patted his shoulder. Behind them were Kaldur and Artemis; the atlantean was silent as he followed behind the two original titans, while Artemis looked on with a frown. 'Ugh, why do so many girls like this guy anyways?' the blond haired teen had to wonder, mostly because of the sheer number of girls who literally clamored for his attention.

He didn't seem especially attractive to her, but then again, maybe she just didn't see him in the right light. She also wasn't as easily impressed as most average girls, due in no small part to her father's influence on her upbringing. When you've been trained to be able to pull off the stunts she was, you were a lot less likely to see 'super-heroes' as impressive as the average citizen did.

Still, that wasn't why they were down there…

"So what exactly are we looking for?" the blond archer questioned. Kid Flash shrugged his shoulders.

"With Duela, it could be anything," he admitted. Artemis gaped at him incredulously.

"Didn't you guys say you were friends with her!" she reminded. Donna nodded her head.

"Yes, but truth be told Robin was always the one who vouched for her and hung around her," the amazon admitted. It wasn't entirely her fault either, Duela was just very… weird… she seemed bright and sunny and open on the surface, but she rarely talked about herself and deflected more often than not. What little they knew of the girl was from Robin telling them or just guessing based on her personality.

"Great," Artemis moaned as she palmed her face, "it's no wonder she's leading us on a wild goose chase," she grumbled to herself. Kaldur idly glanced at her and then walked a few paces forward to stand with the other 'new' Teen Titans.

"Perhaps you have at least some idea of what she hopes to accomplish with this?" he questioned. However Kid Flash shrugged yet again.

"Truth be told Duela just does things without any rhyme or reason," the redhead remarked and then looked to Donna with a grin. "Remember that time she stole Speedy's bow just to mess with him," he recalled. Donna frowned in thought for a moment and then covered her mouth as she snickered to herself.

"I remember how pissed he was when he found out she took it," the dark haired amazon stated with a shake of her head. "Gods what did I see in that boy?" she wondered to herself and Wally shrugged.

"He was cute and you were easily influenced by cute boys back then," the redheaded speedster replied and then swiftly evaded a playful punch from the amazon. "So violent," he stated with a tisk and the girl rolled her eyes.

"Anyways," Artemis called out and crossed her arms. "How're we going to know when we've found whatever Duela wanted us to find?" she questioned bluntly. Kid Flash frowned for only a moment then clicked his tongue thoughtfully.

"Well given that weird paint from earlier," he murmured as he pulled his goggles down over his eyes and looked around. He almost immediately spotted several arrows on the ceiling and walls with 'HA HA HA' written under them alongside a 'This way'. "We're definitely on the right track," he declared and raised his goggles back up.

"Where did Duela get that paint anyways?" Donna questioned curiously. Mostly because she'd never heard of paint that was invisible to the naked eye… then again she was from an island that lacked a lot of the more modern inventions of man's world. Wally hummed in response, arms crossed and head tilted as he considered how she got the paint. To be honest the most likely place she got it was that she made it herself…

"Not sure exactly," he admitted, "but she probably made it herself," he stated with a nod of his head. The girl's incredible skill as a chemist was her best-known trait among the original Titans. She had used said skills to surprising effect in her tenure as a hero, or more often she used them to play pranks on the rest of them. Unfortunately she seemed to like doing the latter more often than the former.

"How does a crazy girl make stuff like this?" Artemis wondered aloud. She was serious about that question too, how did a crazy girl from Jump City California somehow get the knowledge to build a home-made Riddler-Trap, produce Fear Toxin, paint that was only visible in a certain light spectrum, and the collars on those rats!

"She was studying college level chemistry for one thing," Wally admitted. Most wouldn't know that about the girl but she was surprisingly serious about school. Or at least in so much that she had passed high school and then with liberal use of the Internet managed to get a dubious degree in chemistry on top of it. He said dubious because he was certain it was one of those old scams people liked to pull…

"What?!" Artemis demanded with wide eyes, "B-but she's our age! How's she already out of college?" the blond girl demanded. She was pretty smart for her age, but she was in no way ready for any kind of college courses. Wally mutely glanced back at her; arms crossed behind his neck and then rolled his eyes.

"I said she was studying college level chemistry, not that she had a legitimate degree," the speedster replied blandly. Honestly he had to wonder why people had to jump to conclusions like that. Sure Robin was out of college with multiple degrees under his belt and Wally himself was enrolled at Central Tech, but not every hero / villain was a certifiable genius.

Duela was smart, that much couldn't be contested, but she wasn't quite that smart.

"Oh… right, that makes more sense," Artemis breathed and let out a relieved sigh. She then paused when a noise suddenly sounded in the depths of the basement. Kaldur, Wally, and Donna looked around in confusion while Artemis shuddered and glanced around warily. She knew that sound… "Okay why is the Arkham com jingle playing?" she questioned with a frown. Wally blinked and made an oh with his mouth.

"Oh, so that's what that is," he murmured mostly to himself.

[Greetin's all!] Duela's voice suddenly echoed from an overhead speaker in a distinct accent. [Jus' wanted ter let ye' all know that X is gaining in our ikle treasure hunt! He's gettin' so close ter d'e Promethium, 'e can smell it! So you'd all better hurry if'n ye want ter catch up wit' 'im! Hahahaha!] the girl declared with a manic giggle. The speaker crackled for a second and then went silent, while Artemis blinked.

"Huh… so I guess that's the 'Penguins daughter' persona or something," the blond girl mumbled to herself. She then paused when she realized what the crazy girl had said. "Wait, this is all supposed to be a treasure hunt?" the blond questioned with a look to Donna and Wally. Both of whom mutely shrugged their shoulders in response. It honestly made about as much sense to them as anything else Duela did.

"Regardless, if the 'X' she mentioned is the fellow from Dayton Industries, perhaps we should hurry," Kaldur suggested. Artemis idly nodded her head in agreement.

"It is, Cheshire called him 'X' more than a few times," the blond replied. Donna grunted at that and narrowed her eyes.

"Good, I was hoping for a chance to bring him in," she admitted and stomped off. Artemis and Kaldur looked to Wally for an explanation but the redheaded speedster shrugged his shoulder.

"I've never actually seen her behave like that," he remarked only to pause, "… well not unless the Boogeyman is involved," he admitted with a frown.

"Boogeyman, there's actually someone who goes by Boogeyman?" Artemis asked with an amused smirk. Wally slowly nodded his head with a frown.

"Yeah he's a psychopath who like to prey on little Kids by leeching off their misery with his psychic powers," he admitted. Artemis' smirk vanished at that, replaced by a look of horror as Wally crossed his arms with a scowl. "Last time we saw the freak he'd caused two kids to commit suicide before we managed to stop him, and unfortunately he has a serious fixation on Donna and is part of why she originally left," the speedster explained.

Artemis simply gaped at him as he looked away with a decidedly uncomfortable expression.

"Anyways," he added and stretched his arms into the air, "lets go and catch up with Donna now, shall we?" he suggested. Both Kaldur and Artemis nodded their heads in agreement, happy to drop that topic in its entirety, and the trio hurried after their Amazonian companion. They eventually found the girl at a wall, where she was looking around with a frown. "Find something Donna?" Wally asked as he sauntered up to her.

"Perhaps," the Amazon replied and glanced at him with a smirk, "but I always appreciate a second opinion," she remarked. Wally smirked and brought his goggles down over his eyes and examined the wall. He saw more paint with arrows pointing down to a rectangle that'd been painted on the wall. Alongside her usual graffiti were the words 'in here' emblazoned at the sides and top of what was likely the doorframe. After a moment the speedster raised his goggles and clicked his tongue.

"Well this is definitely the place," he murmured as he knocked on a spot of the wall.

"Sounds hollow," Artemis noted. Kaldur nodded and Wally hummed. After a beat he looked to his Amazonian companion with a grin.

"Care to do the honors Donna?" he questioned. The amazon smiled in response and then unsheathed her sword and stuck it into the wall. After a moment she carved out an opening into a large room. It, much like the previous secret room, had been sealed a long time ago given all the dust and other signs of aging. Unlike the previous room however they noticed an old oil-lamp hanging at the side casting a soft glow over everything.

"So Duela's definitely been in here," Artemis noted to herself. Donna and Wally nodded distractedly as they looked around the strange room. It appeared to be a laboratory, the usual chemicals and beakers and such dotting a long abandoned table. Artemis walked to the side where she found a file-cabinet and pried it open while Wally sped over to check the vials with a frown.

The boy knew his chemicals, he had to since he'd recreate the experiment that gave the Flash his powers, and he didn't like what he'd found. As they did that Donna and Kaldur meandered around unsure of what exactly they should be looking for.

"Well now, what's all this then?" Artemis murmured as she pulled out a file with Duela's name written on it. Within she found a plethora of notes as well as what looked like ideas. Said notes were more horrifying than anything as they detailed, in disturbingly excruciating detail, every little reaction Duela had had to whatever chemical or stimuli she was put under by Doctor Hugo Strange.

One of said experiments included injecting the Joker's blood in her…

"Ugh… that's so gross," she groaned and Donna glanced to her curiously.

"Find something?" she questioned. Artemis grunted in response.

"Nothing new, Strange is as sick as ever," she remarked with a frown. Wally looked up at the blond curiously but she didn't elaborate as she read through the file.

"Well I've found quite the little laboratories worth of chemicals," Wally noted as he then reached out for a few lists and frowned. "As well as what appear to be chemical formulas for different toxins and chemicals," he remarked.

"Is one called 'Chemical four fifty three?" Artemis questioned. Wally blinked and then nodded his head. "Well that's apparently called 'Fear Gas' and Hugo Strange developed it," Artemis noted and scowled, "Unlike Crane's fear toxin however, it causes hyper paranoia and irrational behavior," she stated and then looked up. "Does that sound familiar to anyone else?" she questioned with a frown.

"The gas used by the inmate who escaped," Wally wagered, at Artemis nod he scowled. "So then the not so good doctor let her get her hands on it and bust out, but why? I mean what did he gain from letting her escape?" the junior speedster questioned as he ran his hands through his crimson hair. Artemis shrugged her shoulders in response, and then looked to the side as Donna knelt down at a shadowed corner of the room.

"You find something over there?" the blond questioned. The amazon gave a silent nod as she stood up, holding a cardboard box. Across the front of the box the words 'Titans Together' had been painted in bright purple with green 'HA HA HA's all around them.

"Could be a trap," Kaldur noted. However Donna shook her head as she opened the box, only to raise a brow. Within were a number of little plushie toys, one for each of them, and each had an almost disturbing amount of detail added to them. From their costumes to the 'weapons' that some of them carried on their person, all of it was present and miniaturized down enough to be on the plushies.

"It would seem that your Duela has quite a bit of time on her hands," Kaldur noted as he plucked his plushie from the box with a critical eye. "Not to mention an absurd attention to detail," he murmured as he found a few spots on the plushie's 'costume' that would otherwise be easy for someone to miss at a cursory glance. Donna hummed in response while Artemis picked the plushie of herself up and scowled.

The 'plushie' was in her costume… a costume she'd literally only just got that day…

"How good a tailor is Duela?" she questioned curiously. Wally and Donna glanced at one another and the speedster clicked his tongue.

"She personally makes all the costumes and clothes that she wears so really good in all honesty," he admitted. Artemis took that tidbit of info with a mental frown.

"Right… you also mentioned that Duela once stole Speedy's bow," she remarked as she idly started to chip at her bow's paint. Wally scratched at his hair as he stared at the blond girl as she fiddled with her bow.

"Yeah, but that was years ago," he responded. Artemis paused as she managed to chip the paint off of her bow and found some red under the grey paint and internally hummed, 'So then she stole Speedy's gear and gave it to me,' she noted, which also explained where all her gear actually came from. 'Which would also mean that those other arrows would be trick arrows she stole from him as well,' she mused.

'Well on a positive note, now I know who made my costume,' the blond girl noted with a relieved sigh. Considering some of her earlier theories on that, she'd actually been pretty worried for a while. 'And I cannot help but feel so fucking glad that it was made by a girl and not by some creepy old pervert,' she admitted to herself. Although as she thought about it that still left a couple of questions up in the air.

'Like how in the living fuck did she get my measurements so exact?' she wondered to herself with a frown. Granted from what she'd seen of Duela thus far, she also had a trim and atheletic physique, but having a similar build didn't mean they had the same measurements. 'It also doesn't explain how she knew that Sportsmaster or Cheshire would go after the promethium,' she admitted to herself with a deep frown.

"Isn't it kind of strange that this was all she left here," Wally noted as he looked at the box of plushes with a frown. Artemis idly nodded her head in agreement, only half listening as she was instead lost in thought. Donna however noticed something under where Kaldur and Artemis' plushies had been a moment before. Donna hummed and moved the other plushes to see a simple message scawled at the bottom of the box.

[In the darkness she is waiting, always watching, ever dreaming, a terrible loss without purpose or meaning,] she read. She frowned; wondering what that meant. She pondered that question for only a moment and then looked to Wally with a frown.

"Could you use your goggles and take another look around? I think Duela might've left us another clue around here," she asked her friend and he gave a quick thumbs up. He lowered his goggles over his eyes and then hummed when he spotted something to the far side of the room.

"Got something," he stated as he zipped to the side. He then returned with another plushie, this one holding a tape in its arms. However, oddly enough the doll was very different to the others it that it looked almost haphazardly stitched together with none of the care the others had seen. It also happened to be a doll based on Duela's 'Scarecrone' persona, thus the haphazardness of it was almost appropriate.

"Is that supposed to be Duela?" Kaldur questioned with a frown. Wally and Donna glanced at one another and then back down at the doll.

"Sort of, it's actually Scarecrone, Duela's more dangerous persona," the speedster remarked with a frown. Donna idly nodded her head as she plucked the tape from the tiny plushies arms and handed it over to Wally. The speedster started to slip it into the tape player while Donna stared at the doll.

With a click and a press of a button, the tape began to play…

[PLAY]00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

[TAPE BEGIN]

Silence, the sound of a man breathing harshly, and then suddenly the sound of a door opening echoes out. The door closes a moment later and the sound of footsteps sound loudly through the room before the sound of a chair being moved and someone sitting down. Silence returns for a moment before a man sighs.

"So, care to tell me what happened out there?"

"It… it happened so fast…"

"Yeah, we've got that from the others. But I have several injured men, civilian casualties, and the mayor breathing down my neck for answers, so try and keep it simple."

"I… we were dispatched to deal with a patient at the sanitarium. I remember thinking having so many people there was a bad idea. She was probably going to be jittery with so many people watching her."

"But you didn't say anything."

"… no… I guess it doesn't matter. But then I saw her; she was in an odd getup. She came out, we were all watching her, then the civilians walked to her, then there was the gas, everything just kind of spiraled out of control after that…"

"So I've heard, but can you tell me where the gas came from? I've got conflicting reports from those on the scene who aren't sure if the girl used it or not."

"Just… I can only remember the girls parents… or… I guess they were her parents… well in any case they walked over to her, and I remember them hugging her, or protecting her… or… something… but when the gas came, I couldn't really see straight anymore."

"That's not good enough, I have people telling me they saw her toss the gas, or make aggressive moves, and others saying she didn't do anything, not to mention the camera didn't pick up jack."

"I'm sorry… I can't really help you, I just… the way she was acting in the end…"

"What about it? I've heard she was laughing like a maniac."

"She was… but… but before that, she wasn't laughing at all."

"Really?"

"Yeah… she was… she was crying, and god help me I couldn't imagine a more pathetic sight if I tried. She was just sitting there, crying over their bodies for the longest time. I think she might've called them her parents then, but it was so soft I might've just been hearing things… and then… she started to laugh."

"I see."

"No… you really don't. It was quiet at first, just a chuckle really, and then it got louder and louder… and she just laughed and laughed, and didn't stop laughing."

"…"

"I think… something broke in her, or snapped, or however you want to put it."

"…"

"But, I don't think she wanted to hurt anyone, no one in the sanitarium was hurt, they were all just scared."

"Scared, sure, but they were also injured while they were in a panic, a few people were trampled as a result of that panic."

"Yeah… I don't know… I can't really tell you anything else."

"Maybe you can, as I said we have conflicting reports, what I'm curious about is that no one saw where that gas came from."

"Yeah… but well, I thought I saw that one doctor cover his mouth before it all went to hell."

"Wait, a Doctor? Which one? From what I've gathered there were several members of the staff present."

"I… he had a weird name, but… he was also really built for a man who's supposed to be a psychiatrist, I thought it was kind of weird."

"I don't care what he looked like, just if you remember his name. The fucking press want answers we don't have and I need some kind of lead to go on."

"Yeah… yeah sure, his name was Strange… Hugo Strange…"

[TAPE END]

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000[STOP]

As the tape came to a close, Wally looked down at the tape recorder with a grim frown. "Well… that explains a few things," he murmured softly and ran a hand through his hair. Duela's insanity at the very least made a lot more sense now. It… might also explain why she dated Robin. After learning his identity she'd been extremely affectionate with the boy wonder despite his distance. Maybe it was because they both lost their parents…

"That's all you have to say?" Artemis demanded. The blond girl wasn't sure how she felt about what she'd just heard. Duela was strange, she was crazy… but given what happened to her she couldn't blame her. Anyone would likely snap after everything Strange put her through. The fact that, in the end, he had somehow managed to successfully recreate 'The Joker' was horrifying.

Although at least Duela wasn't as kill-crazy as the clown-prince of crime…

"S'not like I don't have anything to say," Wally replied as he clenched his fists at his sides. Duela was his friend, not a close friend, not a personal friend, but still his friend. "I just don't know how to say it," he admitted as he palmed his face. Donna was oddly silent, her eyes fixated on the tiny doll in her hands. Her eyes hardened as she also realized how bad putting Duela in the asylum had been for her.

"We should've found someone to talk to Duela," Donna whispered softly. Wally inclined his head.

"With how she liked to deflect?" he remarked and Donna scowled.

"It would've been better than leaving her alone in an asylum," she replied firmly. Wally nodded his head and crossed his arms.

"Sure, we know that now, but back then we didn't know anything about her or her past," the junior speedster reminded his friend. Donna sighed and looked to the side while Kaldur hummed softly.

"Forgive me if this is… inappropriate, but I cannot help but note that every tape we've found has had at least something to do with where Duela was at the time," the atlantian remarked. "However, this one referred to the GCPD and not the basement," he noted. The others nodded their heads while the dark skinned atlantean looked around silently. "Perhaps there is something else that we have overlooked," he suggested.

"You mean something like this?" Artemis quipped. The others turned to look at the blond, only to pause when they saw her holding a light to a wall. Written on the wall in green paint was their latest clue. [We meet where endings begin] Artemis frowned as she looked at the phrase for a moment then shrugged. "Well, I got nothing," she admitted. Wally rolled his eyes in response.

"It's kind of obvious that she means where we started all this," he noted. Artemis groaned in response and palmed her face.

"Please tell me she didn't go to where you first met her," she pleaded. Wally and Donna both glanced at her and then shook their heads.

"No, Duela's crazy but she doesn't do anything for no reason," the dark haired amazon responded. Artemis breathed a sigh of relief at that while Donna hummed and crossed her arms as she considered where the 'beginning' was supposed to be. "Perhaps its back at Dayton industries?" she questioned. Wally frowned in response.

"I don't think so, with all the cops in town she wouldn't just set up shop right where they'd look for her," he noted with a nod of his head. He then scratched his chin and snapped his fingers as a thought came to mind. "Maybe back to the main hall," he suggested. However Kaldur cleared his throat in order to get their attention instead.

"Perhaps," he began and then stepped forward, "she meant the main gates, where we first started looking for her, and the only place we did not investigate when we arrived," he suggested. Donna and Wally stared at him for a moment and then turned to one another.

"That does sound like something Duela would do," Donna admitted. Just casually putting the Promethium out in the open like that? That was definitely a trick Duela would pull to keep something hidden.

"Right, then I guess we know where we're going next," Wally remarked and the team headed out…

00

Happy Hands Sanitarium was a very strange place in Naruto's opinion. Mostly because it was obvious that Duela had made some renovations recently. The renovations included a huge mechanical set up in the main hall. How she'd managed to build all of it on her own he didn't know, but it was certainly quite an impressive looking piece of work. Although he didn't personally understand what any of it was for…

Let it never be said that Uzumaki Naruto was tech savvy…

'Granted, back home we didn't have much use for tech,' the blond admitted to himself as he traveled the halls of the sanitarium. His search for the infirmary was going about as well as anything else had sense he'd first arrived. IE, he was hopelessly lost and didn't have the slightest clue where he was going. As such he was moving down random halls and hoping he'd eventually spot the infirmary by sheer random chance.

He paused as a thought suddenly occurred to him. "I have Kage-Bunshin, I could have them do all the legwork for me," he remarked and then palmed his face. "Kami-sama why do I always forget they can find stuff for me?" he wondered to himself. It was a rather simple solution to all the walking for sure, but he'd noticed he had these moments a lot more often than he liked.

With a shake of his head he formed a familiar T-shaped hand seal and several clones formed around him. "Fan out and find the infirmary," he ordered and they shot off through the building. Naruto himself grunted and continued on his way as well with a slightly fouler mood, though in this case it was because he'd forgotten a valuable skill for information retrieval instead of Duela causing him undue grief.

'Kami-Sama I thought I got over doing stupid shit like that,' he thought to himself as he rubbed his head. He'd been practicing with critical thinking with a bit of help from the H.A.E.Y.P. after all. Brother Blood had made it a point that Naruto complete puzzles and the like to increase his critical thinking ability and a number of other exercises to help the blond get over some of his worse faults while he was in the academy.

While Naruto was fairly arrogant, he could readily admit he wasn't the smartest ninja to ever live and it'd been the first thing he really worked on in the academy. His new skills and jutsu had been developed as a result of that training, giving him new ideas for how he could use his chakra. It'd made learning how to make the 'Rasenringu' slightly easier, though he was still working on that Jutsu at the moment.

'Damn thing explodes in my hands,' the blond remarked with a frown. Thankfully that first one hadn't been ready to be used and so simply 'popped' when he made it. After that he'd taken to using clones in his training to try and make a Rasenringu. His primary reason for doing so was because he wanted a long-range jutsu, since the majority of his techniques were short to mid range in nature and he didn't want to be too predictable.

His father's Rasengan was awesome, but the Rasenshuriken was kind of a bitch to use…

'At least if I want to use it long range,' the blond admitted to himself… 'Which is basically anytime I use the Rasenshuriken since it has a tendency to shred my arm when I don't throw it,' he admitted to himself with a grimace. He unconsciously reached for his right arm and then shook his head. A clone had just located the infirmary on the other side of the building and dispelled itself.

'Huh, so that's where it is,' the blond thought as he turned and hurried in that direction. He also dispelled his other clones, thus learned a few other tidbits about the place though most were just odd occurrences in his opinion. He quickly put those at the back of his mind as he approached and then entered the infirmary. 'Now then, lets find where she put that jammer,' the blond thought as he walked into the room.

Within he found the typical medical facility, though this one was of course a bit dated compared to the one at the H.A.E.Y.P. He noticed overturned beds and wrecked cabinets and shelves, but was more interested in a laptop sitting on a counter. He also noticed a cord from it attached to a strange device on a nearby desk, but was more interested in the TV and VHS player, mostly because of the plushie sitting on them.

He approached the TV and picked up the plushie, this one looked like a girl, dressed in a stark white medical gown and shorts, with deep-red hair and bright purple eyes. The plush had what looked like tears at the sides of said eyes however, as well as a little sign held between it's hands that had the words [I'm sorry] written in bold. The blond raised his brow at that and then looked at the TV and VHS player curiously.

He idly pressed the eject button on the VHS player and frowned when he saw there was already a tape inside. He pulled it out and looked it over, found a date on the top of it as well as the words 'watch me' clearly written by Duela herself. 'Hmmm… she left a video-tape instead of an audio tape this time,' he mused, 'alright I'll bite,' he internally added as he slipped the tape back into the player.

'Lets see what's so important about this,' he decided as he pressed the play button…

[PLAY]00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

[TAPE BEGIN]

STATIC…

INFIRMARY CAMERA: 22:27:57

(A grainy black and white picture of the infirmary appears. There is no sound however and the picture is a bit dubious in quality. On it he sees a nurse walking towards the far bed, on which he notices a little girl. The nurse checks on the girl for a moment, before she turns and makes her way out of the room. As the nurse leaves the room the girl on the bed sits up abruptly and ducks down to fish around under the bed. She pulls out an old messenger bag and quickly opens it. She hastily removes and slips on a gasmask and checks on several glass-vials in the bag as she pulls it on over her shoulder. She then hops out of bed and makes her way to the door; she peers out quietly before she hurries outside.)

STATIC-BREAK…

FLOOR-2: HALL B-3 CAMERA: 22:36:12

(The picture of the camera turns slowly up and down the hall. The girl from before pokes her head out of the infirmary for a moment, and then hurries out. She presses her back to the wall and shimmies her way down the hall. She pauses at a vent cover and pries the grate loose, before abruptly pulling one of the vials from her waist and tosses it into the vent. She then hurries away as what looks like gas starts to seep out of the vent behind her as she made her way to another. She quickly pulled the grate from that vent and tossed another vial into it. More gas started to seep out while the girl made her way out of view of the camera.)

STATIC-BREAK…

FLOOR-2: STAIRWELL B CAMERA: 22:45:56

(The picture cuts to a stationary shot of the top of a stairwell. The girl from before approaches and slides to a halt at the stairs before she removes a second and third vial from her waist and tosses them both down the stairwell at different levels. The girl then quickly hurries away while someone comes from the stairwell, clearly coughing and seemingly covered in gas fumes, before looking around with a panicked expression and screaming bloody murder and curling into a fetal position as someone abruptly bumps into him from behind.)

STATIC-BREAK…

FLOOR-2: STAIRWELL A CAMERA: 22:51:27

(The picture cuts in to show another stationary shot of a stairwell. However, several people are already running up the stairs of this stairwell as the gasmask wearing girl skids to a halt across from them. She ducks as one man tries to grab her and shatters a vial on the ground, causing a sudden spray of gas out into the crowd around her. As it spreads she tossed two more down into the stairwell while the people around her started to scream and panic. She hurried away as they did, leaving them to their fates as she escaped.)

STATIC-BREAK…

FLOOR-2: ROOM-23 CAMERA: 22:58:59

(A rotating camera watches a patient's empty room as the familiar girl bursts inside. She quickly shuts the door behind her and then carefully sets up a trap that'll cause one of her vials of gas to break if someone tries to get inside. As she does she hurries over to the window in the room and pulls one of the bars loose. The girl briefly turns as the door starts to open, causing a burst of gas to fill the room as she leaps out of the window and grabs hold of a fire escape.)

STATIC-BREAK…

(The video briefly switches between several different cameras, each of which is stationed in different rooms on both floors, showing the window breaking and glass vials being tossed into the room. The glass vials hit the floor and a spread of gas nigh-immediately fills each room before they slowly spread out…)

STATIC-BREAK…

EXTERIOR: GARDEN CAMERA: 23:08:01

(The camera is changed to one that watches the garden from an angle and rotates slowly. The girl appears abruptly, looking into the camera and gives a playful wave before she drops out of sight.)

STATIC-BREAK…

FLOOR-1: BACK DOOR CAMERA: 23:11:35

(A stationary view of the door appears, showing the door from the inside as it opens and a familiar girl hurries inside. She looks up and raises a finger to her lips in a shushing motion as she hurries into the building and pulls a vial from her messenger bag. She then hurls it forward and hurries on her way out of view of the camera…)

STATIC-BREAK…

[FAST-FORWARD]

STATIC-BREAK…

EXTERIOR: MAIN GATE: 24:23:41

(A view of just outside the sanitarium appears, rotating slowly to show a number of Police vehicles outside. Visibility is partially hampered by falling rain as it cascades down over everything in streams. In the back a pair of people can just be made out speaking with a tall bald man with a beard and thick glasses dressed in a white lab coat. The two people speak to the man while the police suddenly turn, one man in particular seems to be shouting into a megaphone.

There is a brief pause as the camera pans to the side, showing the gates of the sanitarium slowly opening. There were a few moments where nothing happened; the view panned back around the police a fair few times. There was an undeniably tense atmosphere as the police waited for something to happen. Lightning flashed in the distance and the people seemed tense, all save for the bald man. Finally the gasmask wearing girl walked out of the gate, she seemed to be shivering as she saw the police.

There were a few moments where little happened, before the couple from before approached the girl. As they got closer to her, the video began to distort, static and a few tears that caused what happened to be difficult to make out. A sudden start seemed to occur, gas spread out amongst the cops while Doctor Strange ducked to the side as the police began to fire at random before one of the bullets hit the camera itself…)

STATIC…

[TAPE END]

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000[STOP]

As the tape finished, Naruto frowned deeply and narrowed his eyes. If he hadn't already felt he needed to beat this 'Hugo Strange' guy to within an inch of his life, this cemented it. The blond clicked his tongue and then looked down at the teary eyed plush. He then shook his head and put the plush in his pocket alongside the little 'Red-X' plush he'd found with the roses.

The blond then glanced around and started to open this or that, move around a few things, until he finally located a laptop. Next to the laptop was some kind of dish, the blond idly unplugged both and then pressed a finger to his ear plate. "Hey Giz, can you hear me?" he questioned. It took a moment, but then he heard his friend respond.

[Yo Temp, nice to see you disabled that jamming device,] the tiny terror responded. Naruto grunted softly and then pulled the VHS from the VCR with a frown.

"Yeah… so I'mma assume my clones arrived without incident," he murmured softly.

[Heh, if they hadn't Jinx was ready to storm the place looking for you,] Gizmo remarked with an amused chuckle. Naruto blinked at that and scratched at his head. He had to wonder why Jinx was always so worried about him; he could take care of himself after all, she didn't need to act like a worried mother hen.

"Right… anyways do you have anything on a 'Hugo Strange'?" the blond questioned.

[The fuck does that nut have to do with anything?] he demanded. Naruto grunted in response and gave a quick run down of everything he'd found thus far. The tiny terror was silent as he listened to the blond, and then groaned. [Well that fucking explains a few things,] he grumbled and Naruto raised a brow.

"How so?" he questioned and his friend sighed.

[Hugo Strange is crazy; he's a scientist with no scruples, willing to experiment on just about anyone to further his goals,] Gizmo replied. He then started to drum his fingers. [Further, the guy likes to do some pretty sick experiments. What you've described thus far fits his usual MO,] the tiny terror noted aloud. He then hummed softly as he considered the rest of what he'd learned.

[While I can't really guess what he wanted to happen, I'm going to be honest and say he's already got whatever it was that he wanted from her,] he admitted. Naruto blinked at the admission and frowned deeply.

"Any reason you say that?" he questioned.

[Cause if he hadn't he'd still be harassing her,] Gizmo replied bluntly. [It might be a bit of a stretch, but Strange is the type who won't stop until he gets what he wants. If he saw some reason to experiment on her, then the only reason he's not around right now is because he already got what he wanted from her,] he explained and Naruto scowled. He didn't know what Hugo had wanted, but he was certain if he ever met the man he'd…

[Anyways Temp, have you found the Promethium yet?] his friend questioned. Naruto blinked for a moment and then sighed and palmed his face.

"No, I'm currently on a crazy 'treasure hunt' by Dizzy," he replied. Dizzy seemed like an oddly apt nickname for the girl in his opinion. She was crazy, but more often she seemed to be really turned around and confused. Besides that, the only other name he could think of for her would be 'doll' because she liked to dress up or 'red' for her hair, neither of which fit that well. He paused his thoughts when he heard a grunt from his friend.

[Great, so she's the playful type then,] the tiny terror muttered and Naruto made a noise of acknowledgement.

"Yeah," he murmured and then narrowed his eyes. There was a bit of text at the end of the VHS, scribbled onto a card. "Also Giz, riddle me this, what takes no time, no money, and no work to get?" the blond questioned.

[Well unless its 'nothing', then I'd say a gift,] his tiny friend suggested. Naruto hummed and pulled out the plushies left to him by Duela and looked over them for a moment. He eventually found a note had been stuffed into the 'clothes' of the Duela plushie, which was also absurdly detailed, and within it was a simple, albeit crude, map of the building with a bright red X on the front gate and 'Catch me if you can' written in bold.

"Hmm, I think someone is running out of ideas," the blond murmured as he put the dolls back into his coat. He then popped out the VHS from the VCR and slipped it into his coat as well. "Giz I'mma head out," the blond stated. His friend acknowledged him and the blond narrowed his eyes. "Time to end this," he stated firmly. That said he walked over to the nearest window and then promptly hopped outside…

00

(Outside…)

Wally ran out of Happy Hands and then slid to a halt. He noticed what looked like Duela seated beneath the main gate with a frown. 'So she really did set up shop out here,' he noted to himself. He then turned to his allies, only to pause when he realized that they hadn't kept up with him. 'That's not too terribly surprising,' he admitted to himself, only to then look up at a voice from above.

"Look out below!" the voice crowed. He looked up and then leaped out of the way as a familiar thief in a less familiar jacket slammed into the ground with all the force of someone dropping from the second floor of a building.

"Jeez, totally not a good way to break your legs," Wally commented idly then blinked as he saw the dust clear. The thief was still on his feet, standing up with his arms crossed and the enlarged red eyes of his mask pointed at him.

"Yo Kid Drip," the masked thief commented with a hand raised. Wally blinked yet again and then rubbed at his eyes, only to frown as he considered ways for the thief to have survived that fall unscathed. He could think up about half a dozen, with still more popping up at the back of his mind, but he ignored the lot of them. He had more pressing matters to attend to after all.

"So you're him then," Wally noted as he began to circle the thief. "The great and powerful Red-X," he noted and then hummed softly. He idly raised his hand to cup his chin and really get a good look at the thief. Truth be told he looked pretty rough at the moment, not to mention his colors currently clashed something awful. Black and Purple looked okay, but add even that little bit of red and yuck…

"Jeez Rob," he began with a lamenting sigh, "you are seriously losing your touch if this is really all it takes to beat you and your new team," he noted with a tsk. He and Donna were beat by him earlier, sure, but that was just him and Donna. A team of five should've mopped the floor with this guy…

"Oi, who are you insulting ya' ginger bastard!?" Naruto demanded with a growl. Wally gave him a sidelong glance and smirked.

"Oh no one, just the dirty old thief," he replied. Naruto growled and launched himself at the speedster, then blinked as he blurred out of existence. "Missed me!" Wally mocked and Naruto swung a backhand at him, only for him to vanish once more. "Missed again," he noted and Naruto clenched his fist with a deep scowl. He then twisted and grabbed at the yellow / red clad hero only for him to duck.

"Aw c'mon are you even trying?" he quipped before he vanished once more. 'Oh Kami-Sama he's an annoying one,' the blond thought to himself. "Hey, do you know a three word phrase for not fast enough?" the redhead questioned as he held up a piece of paper, Naruto growled and leaped at him, only for him to zip out of the way. "Oh wait, I know! Just too slow!" he crowed as he kicked the thief down and Naruto started to twitch.

'Calm down, he's using your own tricks, he's trying to keep you angry and stupid,' the blond thought to himself. 'Focus, don't let him get to you, concentrate,' he thought as he exhaled a breath. He then closed his eyes and took a quick breath as he listened for the speedster. After a moment he heard a sound quickly reached to the side to grasp a first from a surprised Wally as he tried to punch him.

"Sorry Ginger, but I'm not that easy to hit," he remarked then tossed the speedster over his shoulder and into a nearby bush. Wally gave a cry as he landed in the bush, upside down, but relatively unscathed and blinked in surprise.

"Huh… pretty good reflexes," he admitted and then seemed to blur out of existence.

'Where in the…?' Naruto wondered and then grunted as he was sent flying back by what felt like a fist coming at his face at mock three. 'Probably was too,' he admitted as he slammed into the front of Happy Hands. 'Ouch,' he thought as he palmed his helmet. He then shook his head and climbed out of the rubble to glare at a now smirking speedster.

"What?" Wally questioned and smiled deviously. "With how Robin talked about you I figured you could react to that," he playfully teased and Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"You seriously don't know who you're messing with punk," the skull masked thief grumbled darkly. However Wally shrugged his shoulders without concern.

"Maybe, but I do know one thing," he declared with a raised finger, then grinned widely, "you're still too slow!" he declared as he seemed to vanish once more. 'Fuck,' Naruto thought as a super-sonic punch connected with his sternum and lifted him into the air, followed by a another that sent him flying. 'Fuck fuck fuck fuck,' the blond thought as he rolled onto his feet and then inhaled deeply.

'Right, then,' he thought as he closed his eyes. 'Kaimon, KAI!' he thought as a sudden pressure seemed to surge into the ground around him. 'Kyumon, KAI!' he internally snarled as his muscles tensed and he lunged forward at unreal speed. He kept his eyes closed as he reached out with his senses and then slammed into the speedster from the side and sent him flying away.

Wally yelped as he slammed back first into Happy Hands and then groaned.

"Ow… okay, that was a bit better," Wally admitted with a shake of his head. He then leaped back to his feet and lunged at the thief at a break neck pace. Naruto mutely lunged at the young speedster as well, and then threw punch after punch at him. The speedster managed to react with unparalleled quickness, catching each and every punch thrown his way and then head butted the blond in the face.

Naruto slid back, protected by his helmet while Wally groaned in pain.

"Stupid… he's wearing a helmet," Wally muttered and Naruto frowned deeply. 'Okay that hurt him, so why are none of my punches doing anything…' Naruto thought with a scowl as he raised his hand to his helmet.

"Giz, keep it quiet until I finish," Naruto began as he ducked under a punch from Wally and then landed a solid uppercut that knocked the speedster back. Despite the hit however, he still managed to get back up with a shake of his head. "I'm fighting Kid Flash and I need to know why it doesn't seem like I'm hurting him?" the blond questioned as he sidestepped the speedster who he tried to rush him.

[Kid Flash? Oh fuck a duck you're taking on an actual speedster… well in that case he's probably distributing the kinetic energy from all your punches across his body to lessen the individual impacts,] his friend replied and Naruto felt his brow twitch.

"Okay… that's actually kind of cool and insanely useful if it's true," the blond admitted to himself. It also explained how the hell Kid Flash and The Flash himself were able to take up people infinitely stronger than either of them…

"Hey, you might want to pay attention," Wally noted with a finger pointing up. Naruto blinked in response then grunted as someone grabbed him from behind and slammed him into the ground. He idly saw Donna out of the corner of his eye as the Amazonian beauty then kicked him into the air before landing a solid punch on him, only for him to vanish in a plume of smoke and a log to be sent flying.

"Was… was that a log? Wait… where the hell did that come from?!" Wally asked incredulously while Donna looked confused. She hadn't seen any kind of logs, cut or otherwise, anywhere around the building either after all…

'Fuck Kami… praise the log! Kami may be a bitch but the log always provides!' Naruto thought as he reappeared on the roof of Happy Hands and looked down on the two titans. A frown worked its way across his lips as he crossed his arms and appraised the situation. 'They're actually managing to hurt me now, and it feels like they're hitting me harder,' he noted and then wondered what was so different from…

'We're in a wide open space, Kid Flash has room to maneuver here that he didn't before,' he realized and then frowned deeply, 'and as for the Amazon, she doesn't have to hold back so she doesn't break the building out from under us,' he reasoned to himself. 'Out here they can cut loose, I'm fighting them like I would the other kids, but most of them don't have as much experience as these two,' he concluded.

"Heads up!" he heard and then rolled backwards to avoid a fist. He landed in a low crouch and narrowed his eyes as he saw Kid Flash land across from him with a smirk on his face. "Man you're not nearly as tough as Robin made you out to be," the redhead commented with a shrug of his shoulders. Naruto mutely scoffed and then noticed Wonder Girl fly up and lunge at him.

'Time for the gloves to come off,' he decided as he raised his hands.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" he declared and a clone of him appeared in a plume of smoke. The both of them then ducked back and lunged forward, Naruto leaping up to grab Donna while his clone ducked under a punch from Kid Flash and then rammed his shoulder into the ginger's sternum. Naruto then unsheathed his kodachi from the back of his waist and slashed at Donna only for her to block with her own sword.

Naruto chucked as she did, then kicked her in the side to disorientate her before he flipped them in the air and tossed her into the ground. As he did, his clone looked up and then kicked Wally into Donna's path causing the both of them to slam through the roof and into the upper floor of the asylum. Naruto landed on the ground a moment later, arms crossed while his clone stretched his arms into the air.

"That was kind of easy," his clone noted and Naruto internally groaned. A moment later the roof burst open and Donna lunged at the two of them, sword and shield at the ready and a furious expression on her face. Naruto and his clone both leaped to either side to avoid a slash from the girl while Naruto glared at his clone.

"You just had to say something," he growled and the clone chuckled nervously. The both of them then went on the defensive as the dark haired amazon lashed out with her blade in rapid swipes. Naruto grunted as he blocked each swing of her sword and then locked them together with narrowed eyes. 'Way stronger than she looks,' he noticed as the girl managed to slowly push him back, despite the two gates he'd opened.

Though thankfully she seemed to have forgotten about his clone.

Said clone pulled a chain, a weight, and a kunai from his pouch and then leaped into the air. He swiftly attached the chain to his kunai and the small weight and then twirled it in the air and flung it at Donna from behind. However Wally suddenly appeared and grabbed it from out of the air before pulling down on it and dragged down the clone to slam him into the ground where he vanished in a sudden plume of smoke.

'Ugh… clones… what can you do with 'em?' Naruto thought with a frown as he then ducked under Donna and then lifted her with his shoulder, only to turn and kick her out of his way. The blond then landed on his feet and evaded a punch from Kid Flash, then grabbed him by his arm and twisted it, and him, into the ground. The ginger gave a cry of pain while Donna lunged at him from the air with a cry.

However as she did, Naruto felt himself grin…

'It's been a long while since I've had a decent fight with anyone other than Sasuke-teme,' he noted to himself. He then ducked under the swing from Donna and then twisted around to slam Wally into the girl's side. Donna gave a cry as she and Wally were slammed into the ground, only to yelp as Naruto raised Wally a second time to slam him down bodily into the girl yet again.

'I haven't had this much fun in a while!' Naruto thought with a grin as he kicked the two to the side and then felt something wrap around his left arm. He turned slightly to see Kaldur leap into the fray with a pair of water whips and grinned widely. 'Oh that's a really bad idea against me fish boy,' the blond thought as he turned and threw his arm forward. He inwardly smirked as he suddenly focused on his chakra.

"Futton! (Boil-Release!)" he declared firmly as his chakra superheated the water and caused it to explode in a shower of scalding water and steam. Kaldur gave a startled cry as he was sent flying back by the sudden shower of superheated water. Donna, who had recovered enough to stand, saw her friend fly back and hurried after him.

"Kaldur!" she cried as she shot passed Naruto to help her atlantian comrade. As she did Naruto turned and ran at Kid Flash, the ginger getting up with a groan and a shake of his head. However before he could recover from his daze, Naruto was on him, grabbing the side of his head and slamming it into the ground. He then threw Wally to the side and then hurried after him, leaping up and into a roundhouse kick.

The kick connected with the ginger speedster's stomach, causing him to gasp while Naruto then slammed both fists down into him, sending him careening into Donna and Kaldur at the same time. The three were sent directly towards the ground, while Naruto grinned nastily. 'Lets make their drop a whole lot less fun!' he thought as he focused on his Futton ninjutsu, specifically one in particular he'd been working on for a while.

"Futton: Joki Bakushin! (Boil-Release: Steam Dash!)" Naruto exclaimed as with a sudden burst of steam he was sent flying down at the three. The blond then reared his arm back and then slammed it down on Wally, who then connected with Donna, and then finally Kaldur, and slammed the three of them into the ground. The earth cracked and cratered from the sheer force of their impact.

Naruto then stepped away from them and nearly fell over as the gates finally closed, his body ached and he let out a sigh. 'God I need a better way of using the gates… they seriously wipe me out as is,' he thought and then shook his head. He could, in theory, get the same kind of boost from Sage-Mode, but unfortunately it took a fair bit longer to actually use than the gates.

On the fly, the gates were better to end a fight quickly…

With a shake of his head the blond instead looked to where Duela had been and saw Artemis standing there. 'Oh great… please tell me I don't have to punch her? I actually like her,' the blond thought as he walked over to the blond girl and Duela. However as he approached he quickly realized that it wasn't Duela herself, and instead what looked like a manikin dressed up like her with a briefcase to its side.

"The hell?!" the masked thief demanded furiously. 'Ohhh Dizzy you and I are going to have words when I get my hands on you! Very violent and painful words!' the blond thought furiously while Artemis sighed. The blond girl had a note clutched in her hands and an expression that screamed annoyance.

"Yeah… turns left a while ago," Artemis offered candidly and handed a letter the blond with a sigh. "Not really sure why but she says the briefcase is for me, and to 'call her for a girls night out sometime'," the blond casually commented then turned to look at the other titans. Specifically she looked at Donna, who was slowly getting back to her feet, unlike the collapsed Wally and Kaldur.

'Nice to know the girl is the toughest one out of them,' the blond admitted with a smirk. As she did Naruto read the note and then frowned at a phraze Duela wrote to him. Something about it felt… off… to the blond but he couldn't really put why that was to words. Instead he closed his eyes as he thought about the phrase for a moment.

'Lets burry the hatchet,' he thought and then blinked. 'Okay I might just be a little paranoid from everything she put me through today, but I'll just bet that that's a word puzzle. Only problem is I don't know what she could possibly…' the blond blinked as a thought suddenly occurred to him. 'Wait, how did she have a pit dug out for me, before I even got here,' he wondered with a start.

'Unless the pit wasn't actually meant for me!' he realized and then hurried off to the side. He leaped into the pit and ripped up the box he'd been buried in to see a pair of metal bars at the bottom of the pit. 'Oh you clever crazy beautiful bitch! I take back some of the shit I said about you!' the blond thought as he grabbed both of the metal bars up and then leaped out of the pit. He saw Donna lunge at him and turned to give her a mock salute.

"Better luck next time doll!" he declared as he vanished in a plume of smoke, which Donna fell through and then fell to the ground with a grunt. The dark haired amazon then looked up and around with a frown as she heard the blonds voice echo out around her, "If there even is a next time…" Donna just grunted in annoyance as she climbed to her feet, favoring her left side with a visible grimace.

"I really don't like him," she muttered to herself as she allowed herself to clam down. She then walked over to Artemis with a groan, then looked at the fake Duela and frowned deeply as she looked to the blond girl. "Please tell me she didn't take the Promethium with her?" she pleaded. The archer mutely lifted the briefcase that Duela had left her and the amazon let out a relieved sigh. "Thank Athena that much went right," she muttered.

"Yeah," Artemis murmured softly.

"Something wrong?" Donna asked the blond and she nodded.

"I know you said Duela was crazy and random," she remarked as she looked from the dummy of Duela to the briefcase and a frown crossed her lips. "But I've got this really bad feeling I just cant shake… like… like something stinks about this whole set up and I don't even know what," the blond girl declared firmly…

None of them noticing the rats still watching all of them…

00

(?)

A familiar redhead sits in a dark room humming a haunting tune to herself. She has her legs crossed beneath her and her backpack slung over the shoulder of her chair. Idly she looks up and notices several turning gears with a giggle. "Why is it always gears?" she briefly wondered to herself. It was a legitimate question after all, did it have to do with time or something… or did Slade just have a closet clock fetish?

Meh, she'd worry about that later…

Duela paused her thoughts when a platter of food was presented to her. She grinned brightly at the familiar butler dressed in the pressed white suit. "Thanks Alfred!" the girl declared laughingly. However the dark haired gentleman frowned in response.

"My name is Wintergreen miss Duela," he replied crisply. The redhead blinked at that and then looked at him with a confused frown. That did not stop her from grabbing up a few of the treats he'd brought for her however.

"You sure?" he questioned and he nodded causing her to scratch her head as she munched on her snack. "Huh… I could've sworn you were supposed to have white hair and a mustache," she murmured to herself. However she and Wintergreen both paused to look to the side. A series of monitors dominate the wall. Each one shows different feeds from Happy Hands, each one detailing the 'New Teen Titans' and their abilities.

In front of the monitors, seated silently, is a white haired girl with a single eye; she silently watches the videos without comment. Her cold grey eye examines each titan and the data that Duela had collected for her. Among said Data were the files on Red-X as well as the H.A.Y.E.P. kids that made up the group he seemed to lead. The white haired girl was silent for only a moment longer before a smile crossed her lips.

"Excellent work Duela," the girl stated as she turned around in her seat, dressed in comfortable civvies, a cigarette perched between her lips, "this was honestly more Intell than I could've hoped to get," she admitted with an exhale of smoke. Duela giggled and waved off her praise.

"Aw shucks, I was just doing my job," she responded and then hopped to her feet with her hands clasped together. "So we can go out for girls night with Artemis now? Right?" she questioned eagerly. Rose Wilson, Deathstroke's Daughter, The Ravager mutely patted the redhead's crimson hair with an amused smirk.

"I'd be delighted," she replied and leaned back in her seat, "I'll admit I'm interested in a few friends who can legitimately complain about our shared… problem," she remarked with a subtle frown. Duela snorted in response and crossed her arms.

"Father's suck," she noted and Rose smirked.

"Amen sister," the white haired teen replied. She then got out of her seat and idly tapped at her chin, "so, what did you want to do on a 'girls night'?" she questioned curiously. Duela opened her mouth to reply, only to frown and cross her arms thoughtfully. She tapped her foot a few times and then her eyes suddenly brightened as an idea suddenly came to mind.

"Lets go see a movie!" she declared brightly and Rose hummed.

"Anything you had in mind?" she questioned, then frowned, "and please tell me it isn't a romantic comedy or a chick flick," the white haired girl all but begged. Duela snorted in response and then shook her head.

"Nah, there's no good ones out right now," she replied with a shake of her head, "But I really wanna go out with my new gal pal and see Logan!" she declared. Rose blinked in response and then hummed.

"I will admit that did look like interesting," she admitted. Granted she didn't often watch action movies, or super-hero movies for that matter. One she could pull off a fair few of the moves from most action movies, and two, she basically lived in a comic book so seeing comic-book movies was kind of… boring. Her real life was a lot more interesting in her honest opinion.

Then again 'Logan' had looked different from most comic-book movies she'd seen…

"Alright," she allowed and then fixed a look on Duela, "But you have to go out in civvies if we're going to the movies," she stated bluntly. Duela pouted and looked at her white haired 'gal-pal' in response.

"Awww… but I," she tried only for Rose to quickly silence her.

"Given that the Titans have likely alerted the authorities that you're in town I think it prudent that you go incognito for a while," she replied. Duela frowned in response and then let out a suffering sigh.

"Oh fine… I'll dress like a boring normie," she grumbled then fixed a look on Rose, "But you have to get Artemis to join us on our next girls night!" she insisted and Rose rolled her eyes in response. Truth be told she was actually quite interested in getting to know the blond girl. With their similar backgrounds they would either be fast friends or mortal enemies… she honestly hoped for the former in this case.

"Fine," Rose allowed and then crossed her arms, "Now go get dressed," the white haired teen ordered with a shooing motion. Duela petulantly stuck out her tongue at the teen and then ran off with a laugh. She grabbed her backpack on her way while Wintergreen walked up beside of his charge.

"Are you certain its wise to entertain her presence here?" the man questioned. The white haired teen smirked in response.

"Yes Wintergreen," she replied and then clicked her tongue, "I am not my father," she stated and then narrowed her eye. "I'm not targeting them out of a desire for revenge for my father," she stated and turned to face him, "He dug his own grave with that Terra girl, quite literally mind you," she noted and then turned back to the monitors. "I will defeat the Titans, not for revenge," she stated and Wintergreen frowned.

"Then why?" he questioned and she smirked in response.

"Oh Wintergreen," she remarked with a shake of her head, "its simple, if I beat them, then I prove I'm their better, and by proxy better than my father," she explained with an amused smirk. Wintergreen quietly hummed as the girl turned back to the monitors and clicked her tongue. "However it seems this one will be even more trouble than they are," she noted as she brought up all current data on 'Red-X'.

"The sheer number of abilities he possesses is honestly mind-boggling," Rose remarked as she bit her thumbnail with a frown. After a moment she turned with a sigh and brushed her long white hair from her face. "I'll need more data to account for him and his own little team. Until then, I'll just watch and wait," she decided firmly, then nodded to Wintergreen as she passed. As she did the white suited man nodded in agreement…

00

TBC…

AN:

ERROR… ERROR…

HA HA HA… HA HA HA…

ERROR… ERROR…

HA HA HA… HA HA HA…

A room appears on screen, it's rather lavish with a four-poster bed and other nice furniture around the area. A desk with an expensive looking computer rests against the far wall, and a large closet with a host of different costumes. Also within the room is a familiar redhead sans clothing, save her purple bra and panties as she hops about looking for an outfit to wear.

"I wonder if this is too mu…" she pauses and then turns to the camera, only for her eyes to widen. "Oh fuck I totally forgot!" she exclaimed and leaped into her closet. There is the sounds of a brief struggle before the girl stumbles out of her closet dressed in an open purple hoody over a green tank top that left her midrift exposed, a blue jean skirt with black bicycle shorts under it, and purple sneakers. She then quickly rushed across the room and grabbed hold of her camera.

"OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY WE HAVEN'T UPDATED IN SO LONG!" she exclaimed and then took a long slow breath to calm herself down. "Now I know it's been a while for you guys, and I know you don't want to hear this but honestly the author has had some…" she paused and then grimaced, "problems lately," she remarked as she let go of the camera and sat down at a vanity mirror.

"I don't mean the usual ones like writers block or anything," she added as she grabbed a brush and started to brush her hair, "I mean like he's literally the only one making any money in his home right now and his parents need a little help," she explained and then frowned at the camera, "you know that kind of thing," she remarked with a sigh. She then started to look around before she found a hi-tech hypodermic needle.

"Anyways point being he hasn't had much time for himself as a result, and this chapter thus took forever to write," she noted and then clicked her tongue. "Although to be fair he did rewrite this particular chapter literally five or six times with each one different from the last," she admitted. She then frowned as she pressed the needle to her neck and grimaced in a brief stab of pain.

She then dropped the needle and gripped the vanity tightly as her entire body began to shudder, and then suddenly her skin started to change. It went from the usual stark white to a more nature pink-peach tone, albeit very pale, while her hair turned to a more nature dark red than the bright fire-truck red it had been. Oddly though her purple eyes remained, but were now her most distinctive feature.

"Anyways," she began with a breath, "I'm about to go have a girls night out with Ravager, so I can't really answer any questions for you," she remarked with a shake of her head. She then frowned and glared at the camera, "and no its not because the authors too lazy to look up your previous questions, it's actually cause this chapter is long as is and he wants to move on already," she stated with a nod.

"In any case if you didn't really like this chapter well… honestly the author doesn't care, he just wanted to finally move on. He admits it's really hard to write for me, especially my back-story, as he isn't very fond of 'drama' for some reason and tries to avoid it when at all possible. That said next chapter will be the beginning of the 'ending arc' for the 'Future Tense' storyline, which I'm sure a lot of people will be happy for," she explained.

"Duela are you ready yet?" Rose's voice echoes from the door. The redhead suddenly hops to her feet and then grins.

"Almost!" she exclaimed and then turned back to the camera. "Anyways readers and reviewers I'm off to see Logan! And I'm totes hoping Deadpool shows up!" she declared with a bright smile, only to frown a moment later. "And no, the author isn't getting to see the movie himself, money problems remember, he'll just have to be sad while I go out with my friend. As always leave a review if you want, but until then all I have to say is later!" the girl declared as she ran out of the room…

STATIC… STATIC…

STATIC… STATIC…

00