Ch 26

"So let me get this straight." Robin said, looking at his assembled captors. "You guys are ninjas from another world. Not another country, not even another planet, but another world. You're on a mission for a woman called the dimension witch, and your job is to make sure that the things that go wrong in various worlds get fixed. You're here, in this world, in Gotham City, because the newly-elected mayor works for—and I quote—"A short fat guy in a suit who we were told is a criminal." And I end quote. Now, I'm assuming that you're referring to the Penguin. Which means he's a known criminal. Which means that Batman and I could help you take him down, if you had just contacted us. Why didn't you?"

"We couldn't." Shikamaru replied. "Yuuko-san told us that your… 'Batman'—Yuuko-san called him Koumori-san—could not be involved in solving this problem. I don't know why. She made no mention of you, which leads me to believe that it won't matter one way or the other if you help out."

"Well, wonderful." Robin rolled his eyes. "This is definitely one of the weirdest things I've ever heard, and that's including the Joker's laugh." The blank looks the 'ninjas' gave him annoyed Robin for some reason, and yet also amused him… "So what are you planning on doing about the Penguin?"

"We don't know yet." Shikamaru answered. "We don't know enough about your world to make plans. That's where you come in. You're our… civilian expert, for lack of a better term. Though I'm not sure that you count as a civilian."

Robin sighed and studied the so-called ninjas again. There were eight of them all together—nine if you included the small dog, which his master insisted upon—and none of them looked older than fifteen. Koui, the lone adult, was not a ninja, but a dance teacher. Why a dance teacher was traveling between dimensions with adolescent ninjas was completely beyond Robin, but hey, what did he know?

Shikamaru was the nominal leader of the group, and according to the others, held a rank equal to mid-level for ninja, which was higher than the rest, who were all 'junior' ninja-level. Koui, as a civilian, was the lowest-ranking of all, but held some authority because of her age and the close relations she had with the ninja. After Shikamaru came Neji, who was the leader in combat situations. Shikamaru was the overall strategic leader. The remaining ninja were all of equal rank, but each had a certain function in the group.

Hinata—the lavender-eyed girl who Robin had followed—was apparently Neji's cousin and was part of the group dedicated to tracking and information gathering. She was partnered with Shino—the faceless boy—and Kiba and Akamaru, the human-and-dog pair. Kiba had scruffy brown hair, crimson marks on his cheeks shaped like fangs, and a brash, aggressive attitude completely at odds with his quieter teammates. Akamaru was a small white dog of indeterminate breed that was apparently bred and trained to be a complete partner to his human companion, with intelligence nearing that of a human child.

Then there was Chouji, a rotund—Robin had been warned against saying 'fat'—boy with spiral markings on his chubby cheeks who constantly seemed to be munching on some kind of snack. According to Shikamaru, Chouji was in charge of supplies and was the effective 'muscle' for the group. With him was Tenten—a girl who seemed more Chinese than Japanese to Robin—their weapons expert. Lastly was Sakura, a girl with light pink hair—that had to be a dye, though she claimed it wasn't—who was the group's medic.

That's it. Robin thought resignedly. My life has officially gone off the 'weird' scale and entered the realm of the decidedly ridiculous.

"Now it's your turn." Neji said coolly. "Tell us what you think we need to know to fit in here."

"Fine." Robin shrugged. "But there's a lot to it."

"We have time." Shikamaru replied, and stretched out on the floor. "Start with the basics of the government and judicial system."

Robin sighed. "Okay, first things first. America is a democracy…"

Notes: Koumori means bat in Japanese, so Yuuko jokingly calls Batman Koumori-san. Most of the ninja are going to call him the same thing, because it's easier for them to say than 'Batman'. Because Batman is a name/title, it isn't translated, but left in its original language, so they hear it funny, and it's hard for them to say.

"Mr. Wayne!" the young secretary hurried down the hallway, heels clicking against the tiles. "Mr. Wayne, the head of the electrical engineering department says he needs to speak to you."

Bruce waited for her to catch up to him, smiling charmingly. "Is it urgent, Janet?"

"He said it could wait until you had time free, sir, but he would like to see you as soon as possible."

"Of course. I have an hour for lunch between noon and one; tell Russell I'll see him then."

"Yes, sir." Janet nodded. "I'll send him to your office."

"No, tell him I'll come to him in the labs." Bruce said. "If he needs to show me something, he can do it there."

"Yes, sir."

Twelve o'clock found Bruce at the door to the electrical engineering department's main laboratory. He opened the door to see a room full of clutter. State-of-the-art clutter, but clutter nonetheless. "Russell?" he called out cautiously.

He was answered by a furious mutter from the other side of the room. "Stupid ignorant piece of junk…" The head of the department stood up stiffly from behind a counter. "Sorry, Mr. Wayne. I was re-wiring the connection to the computer department; their supercomputers are always causing shorts in the system…"

"I understand." Bruce smiled at Russell's irascible temper. He was quick to annoyance, but equally quick to let it drop once resolved. "Janet said you needed to see me? I hope it's not about the wiring."

"Heh, no." Russell chuckled. "Although whoever did that wiring was an idiot. I mean, look at it! It's so tangled, and parts of it were exposed before I started working on it. I tripped over it on my first day, do you remember?"

"Russell…" Bruce sighed patiently. "The reason for this visit?" he prompted.

"Oh, yeah." he sniffed and rubbed under his nose, embarrassed. "I finished a blueprint of that miniature EMP device you asked for." he said, walking over to a drawing board and pulled open the drawer below it. "I'll have a prototype by the end of the week if I can find all of the necessary parts."

Bruce grinned. "Good work! Can I see the blueprint?"

"That's what I've got here." Russell rolled out the blueprint on the table, weighing the corners down with various small parts. "Take a look." he stepped back and let his boss peruse the careful sketch.

"This looks practical." Bruce said after a few moments of study, approval coloring his voice. "The end of the week?"

"If I can find all of the parts. Sometimes I think the interns are actually my children in disguise, the way they make a mess."

Bruce grinned at the joke. "Maybe you should bring your wife in here. She could help you organize all of this."

Russell shook his head, smiling. "I don't want to ask that of Cindy. She's too busy with her department as things are."

"The computer department?"

"Who do you think asked me to check the wiring?" Russell scowled over at the tangled mess he'd been working on earlier. "She has a bunch of tours scheduled for tomorrow, and she wants to make sure that everything will work perfectly."

"Doc!" an intern poked his head through the door. "Ethan wanted to know…" he paused, seeing Bruce standing there too. "Ah… Mr. Wayne. Good afternoon. Um…"

"Don't worry, Kyle." Bruce smiled. "I'm done here. If you'll excuse me, Russell?" He nodded a polite farewell to the electrical engineer, who nodded back. "Tell Cindy to take care for me, would you?"

"Of course, Mr. Wayne."

As Bruce walked away down the corridor, he could hear Kyle's voice floating after him. "Um, about tomorrow… Ethan said he needs to take the day off for his girlfriend's birthday…"

"What? What kind of ridiculous excuse is that? I don't even get my kids' bir—" Russell's frustrated demand was cut off by the elevator doors closing.

Bruce shook his head, making a note to find out the birthdays of Russell's children, and then scheduling him for days off on those dates.

Notes: Sorry this chapter is kinda short and lame. Just so you know, 'Russel' is my dad, and 'Cindy' is my mom. This chapter is dedicated to my mom as her birthday present. Happy Birthday, Mom! Also, Kyle is my cousin. Ethan is a random name. After this chapter, I'll be going back to the Xanth arc for a while. Sadly, my update schedule will no longer be pretty and almost-once-a-month-ish.

PS: Part of my excuse for the lameness of this chapter is that I was preoccupied with something wonderful and happy! I now have a website! Squee! The website is located at .com/sandrilenefatoren2/ and is very pretty! Right now it has only the chapters of CG I have posted on and a few other pretty documents, but soon it will have all of my posted fanfictions and several lovely pages of background information on my ideas, characters, etc.! It will also have a Q&A corner where I will answer all questions I get in reviews, or in the guestbook on my site. Please visit and leave a comment!