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It is entirely possible. It's been a while since I've seen it too...

Well, the first bit was in reference to DT leaving. Seriously, what are we going to do without our anchor? We need that. The second bit was in reference to your (Roxanne's) unfortunate kidnapping by me (Megamind), whilst I threaten Tale (Metro Man). Because why not?

Without that anchor, we are set adrift. *raises glass*

And you can go home. If Metroman can withstand the full concentrated power of the sun!

FIRE!!!

Alright! A new chapter! Yay! Ok, so one thing, I'm going to school for July, so all the chapters I post from now on will be a little late. Alright! That's all. Enjoy this wonderful upcoming horribleness.

Spoiler: Chapter 18 - Destiny Beckons

Before any of the onlookers’ faces could do anything but convey shock, Bruce continued quickly. “There are two enormous power signatures, both on opposite sides of Gotham. They resemble the energy the Heartless and cloaked figures resonated “

Jason spoke up suddenly. “This is my fault! I'm attracting the bastards here!”

Bruce shook his head. “From what I have seen, Heartless do not organize like this unless ordered to do so by some being of higher intelligence. Is this right Riku?”

“What? Oh, yeah!”

Bruce nodded gravely. “Jason, you need to get out of Gotham, out of this world, now.”

“Only after I beat the living crap out of those Heartless.” The younger replied intensely. “You're going to need all the force you have to take out these guys as quick as possible. We need to save as many innocent lives as we can.”

Bruce couldn't help but swell with pride at his son's words. Sure, they had their disagreements, but deep down the kid had a good heart. At least, that was what he thought he was starting to understand. “You, Sora, Riku, and Dick go take out the group in the south quadrant then.” He indicated the point on the screen. “But get out of there immediately if the situation becomes exceedingly dangerous.”

“Don't worry big guy, we'll be off this world before you know it.”

Bruce nodded, stepping towards the changing rooms, but suddenly he looked back at Jason as if he wanted to say something else.

The moment lasted only a second before Bruce had disappeared into the depths of the cave as the rest of the Batfamily followed closely behind as best they could.

Everyone knew it was just going to be one of those days.

Batman radioed Gordon and told him of the situation. The Heartless could be destroyed with regular weapons. They tended to stay away from bright lights, so the police floodlights would be useful. They would try to send as many civilians towards the police stations as possible.

With the ground shaking, it wasn’t a particularly good idea to take the Batmobile. Batman, Red Robin and Robin piled into the Batwing, while Nightwing, Red Hood, Sora and Riku went for the Batboat. The ocean around Gotham would still be difficult to navigate, but much easier than trying to drive a car in a straight line.

Landing on the southern point of the island, they took a moment to survey the damage. Jason gaped at the broken buildings, the screams of the civilians, the rush of darkness flowing at street level. This was his fault. Shaking himself out of his self-pity, he jumped out of the boat, running towards the nearest monster. He could wallow later. Right now, he had to do as much good as he could.

Nightwing followed his brother, flipping up onto the back of the nearest Heartless the moment he got close enough. Jabbing his electrified escrima stick into the back of its neck, he leapt away before it could fully vapourize. He continued to flip his way further into the horde swarming his city, his progress only slightly hampered by the duffel bag strapped across his chest. He had grabbed it instinctively on his way out of the Cave and had noted with a small grin that Jason had done the same with his own duffel and Sora’s backpack. Bats were nothing if not prepared after all.

Jolted out of his thoughts by the swipe of a sword from an Invisible (if he had read the files right), Nightwing fell backwards, catching himself with his hands and going into a back hand spring. He landed on his feet, then sprung forward, over the Invisible’s still-extended sword and jabbing his stick into its face and diving through the subsequent cloud into another Heartless. Tossing a few razor Batarangs into six Heartless’ heads, he flipped over the wall of creatures surrounding him, sticks sparking.

A scream caught his attention and, using Heartless heads as launch pads, made his way over to the source of the noise. A group of people were being chased into an alleyway. He dropped a few flash grenades into the mass of Heartless pursuing them. “Are you alright?”

One of them, a woman, grabbed onto the front of his suit. “My – my husband! He vanished! What are these things?” She burst into tears, dropping her head onto his chest. The people behind her were slightly more composed, but still frightened.

One arm wrapped around the woman’s shoulders, he grabbed a few flash grenades and handed them off to a more composed looking young man. “Take these, try to get to the police station. Try and use them on big groups of the things.” Carefully, he passed the woman off to another, similar looking enough to be her daughter. “I wish I could stay, but I need to help.”

The daughter nodded. “Get as many of them as you can Nightwing. For Dad.” Nodding grimly, Nightwing shot off his grapple and swung back into the fray.

A few blocks away, Riku and Sora were fighting back to back, moving through Heartless like Ariel through the ocean. That is, quickly and with little resistance. Fighting had been their lives for over a year now, and they were very good at what they did. Riku noticed a of group people, trying to run. With a shout of “Sora, cover me!” he raced towards them, destroying all the Heartless pursuing them with a few quick strokes. Grabbing the pouch of flash grenades Batman had given him, he pressed it into the hand of the guy who seemed like the leader. “Take this, get to the police station. And stay out of dark spots!”

The moment the man nodded, Riku High Jumped backwards, into the middle of a group of Heartless and, with a quick spin, obliterated the entire group. He fought his way to Sora, who had found his own group of people to save. One of the men was freaking out because his daughter was still in her room.

Riku grabbed the man’s arm. “Which room?”

“It was only going to be for five minutes, I was just going for milk-” The man clearly wasn’t thinking clearly, so Riku shook him and repeated the question, more forcefully. He swallowed and scanned the building. The moment the man pointed at a window on the fourth floor, Riku took off, jumping to the window and landing inside the room. He ran his Keyblade through the chest of the Heartless, its claw poised over the little girl’s heart. It dissipated and Riku dropped to his knees in front of the girl crying in fear. “It’s alright. It’s gone now. But I need you to come with me. I’ll take you to your dad.” Still crying, the girl let herself be picked up, grabbing a stuffed animal when they passed it. She gave a small squeal as he jumped out the window, and cried in relief when Riku passed her off to her much calmer father. Sora gave a pouch of grenades to another lady, rattling off the same instructions Riku had given to the other group.

They continued this way for what seemed like hours, obliterating every Heartless between them and the next group, directing them to the nearest police station, repeating. It had been early evening when they arrived, but once full dark hit, it was both more stressful and more reassuring. More stressful because the Heartless were able to appear anywhere, at any time. But reassuring because the lights at the police station shone bright, a beacon to everyone who needed to get to safety. The street lamps provided some cover, and the flash grenades sparked up in random places, cutting through dozens of Heartless in moments.

Red Hood was working in a similar fashion to Sora and Riku, gunning down every Heartless he saw. In the early battle, he was incredibly grateful for the light filters he had installed in his helmet, but as the battle wore down the daylight, he was able to shut them off. He noted that his vision was just as good as it used to be under full sunlight. It wasn’t surprising, considering the trouble he had had with light, but it was thoroughly depressing. Still, it was useful to be able to see without the night vision in his lenses.

After exhausting his small store of magazines, he holstered his guns and summoned the All Blades. He had more in his duffel, but no time to pull them out right now. Saving any and all flash grenades for civilians slowed things down a bit, but he worked through it. Strangely, he wasn’t tired. He knew he had been fighting for hours – the small clock in the upper right of his helmet lenses told him so – and while he had great stamina, he should have been feeling at least a little winded. But he felt just as fresh as if he had just gotten a full eight hours and a shower.

I wonder why that is. A voice sounded in his head, familiar. And not buzzing.

“Darkness,” he said out loud. He didn’t feel like having a mental conversation right now, and the only ones around to hear him were the Heartless. The civilians had long since evacuated. Evacuated or… Nope, that was a dangerous line of thought. “What brings you to this side of my personal wakefulness? And how are you talking to me right now? I thought you were fighting Xehanort’s darkness.”

Your brother’s embrace weakened the interloper enough to give me a rest. And I have always been able to speak with you. I simply have not. But I have been here. You have not been paying attention.

“Sure I have.” And he had. For the entire battle, there had been a prick on the edge of his subconscious, a small spot that seemed darker than usual. “I was just hoping it was my wonderful sense of danger, or perhaps someone thinking about my stunning good looks. Glad to hear Baldie’s darkness isn’t feeling well though.”

As am I. Be careful. It knows you wish to be rid of it.

Jason snorted and sliced another Heartless in half. “It can try. Even if Yen Sid can’t do anything, I can stand a little pain.” Dick wouldn’t be happy to be part of anything that caused Jason pain, but he would do it with a little convincing. “Besides, after everything it’s taken away from me, it deserves to be driven to non-existence.”

He felt a shift in his head, as if the darkness was… confused? What has it taken? Besides control and all that is rightfully mine?

“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. You can live here, but it’s still my house.” Pausing with his sword embedded in another creature, Jason considered the darkness’s question. “I enjoy sitting on the beach with Roy and Kori. Now, sunlight burns my skin. And eyes. Not to mention the worried and hurt looks Dick and the rest have been sending me. Especially Dick. The guy lives for hugs and it physically hurts me when he does that now.”

I was under the impression that you hated hugs. Did it sound smug? Yes. Yes it did.

“I do. But I suffer through them when I have to. He hugs when we need comfort, but he needs the contact just as much as he thinks we do.”

The darkness seemed to be about to reply, but cut itself off. You might want to find the others. Something is about to happen.

Ignoring the incredible vagueness of that statement, he acted immediately. Jason got the impression that it liked finishing conversations. If it was changing the subject, something big was about to happen.

Grabbing a fire escape’s hand railing, he swung himself up so that he could see over the crowd of Heartless. It was hard to spot his friends in the chaos, but after about thirty seconds, he saw something metal glinting off the dull light of a street lamp. Kicking off from the building in that direction, Hood soared over dozens of Heartless before landing expertly on one, taking it out with a well-aimed thrust from one of his blades, then dropped to the ground and started running. What with all of the Heartless and the earth shaking as it was, he couldn't help but make slow progress. And yet that tiny voice was screaming at him to hurry, to move faster, because there wasn't much time. Much time for what?

Rain began to fall slowly, hitting the ground in a gentle rhythm. But in moments, it began to increase, faster and thicker until water cascaded from Jason and the Heartless in small streams. Jason started at the weather. It had come so quickly. In any case, it was reducing visibility, making his task of finding everyone even more difficult. The building pressure in his head wasn’t helping either.

“Red Hood! Is that you?”

Sighing inwardly with relief and slashing another Heartless in two, Jason turned to where he thought he heard Sora's voice. It had sounded close by, but it was impossible to tell over the bombardment of rain crashing against the streets and being dashed on the sides of buildings. An ominous rumble hinted that the worst of the storm wasn't far off.

Slashing a Darkball in front of him and literally kicking an Invisible out of his way, Jason spotted Sora in a flurry of movement. The kid was leaping from left to right, his feet never really touching the ground as he took out the seemingly endless stream of Heartless rushing towards him. Riku was there too. He also had a Keyblade, though it was little more than a streak of black as it tore into attacking shadows. Red Hood couldn't help noticing that Riku’s style of fighting was much more brutal then Sora’s. Something about the kid’s stance and ruthless aggressive attack patterns appealed to Jason. It was the kind of fighting that he himself lived for.

Sora gave Jason a quick glance before refocusing on an approaching Neoshadow. “Knew it was you!” He said triumphantly while smacking a Heartless who then stumbled around confusedly slashing at empty air before being finished off with a quick stroke.

Riku was more straightforward. “What's the matter Hood? Why were you looking for us?”

Jason jumped in to help the two, taking out Heartless around the perimeter of the boys’ defences. He didn't want to mess up their attack pattern. “There’s something coming.” He breathed, dodging an unnoticed Shadow’s claws by inches. “Something big. Don't ask me how I know, but we need to find Nightwing.” He ducked another Invisible's sword before running it through with a brilliant uppercut. “As in now.”

“Yeah.”Riku panted slightly. “I know exactly what's coming. And it's not good. You should know too Sora.”

The youngest turned from several vaporizing black forms. “What! How come?”

Riku merely shook his head as he slashed an approaching Darkball. “You're such an idiot sometimes. You know that?”

Jason’s head gave a rather painful twang and before Sora could defend himself, he shouted urgently, “There's no time, we need to find him now!”

Alarmed by the seriousness in his voice, the other two abruptly stopped their deadly attacks and bounded towards Jason, freeing any hearts that got in their way as they did so. A curtain of water was now falling fast and free from the murky sky above. And as the three began to battle through both the weather and the Heartless, Jason's heart began to sink. His killer headache said that this mystery thing was coming any second! Then he remembered with a mixture of relief and annoyance that they all still had their comm. units. Placing a finger to the tiny device Jason had to yell over the downpour and the splashes his, Sora's, and Riku's steps were making as they ran through the quickly accumulating water.

“Nightwing!”

No response. Just static.

“Nightwing! You there!?”

The static crackled suddenly into life. The voice issuing from it sounding exhausted.

“I'm here Hood. You sound distraught. What's wrong?!”

“Where are you?”

Sliding in the nearly inch deep pool of water under his feet, Jason had to place a hand on the ground to steady himself, while kicking out at the Heartless who took the advantage. Sora and Riku were there in a second, Heartless already disintegrating into the rain.

Jason heard Nightwing try to speak, but a flash of lightning cut through the sky, followed by the accompanied bang that left all of their ears ringing.

Jason growled, annoyed. “What?”

“I'm by that coffee shop on 85th street. You know, the one with the funny sign that looks like a coconut.”

Rolling his eyes, Red Hood sighed. Wasn’t that just like Dick to be so lighthearted in moments of mortal danger? “Yeah, I know it. We're close, stay right their okay?”

“Can do! But why?”

Not bothering to answer as to put all of his attention towards killing the annoying creatures blocking their path, Jason began forcing his way through the waves of darkness, with both Sora and Riku working just as hard on either side of him. The rain was making their grips slippery on their blades and the constant flashes of lightning and roars of thunder directly overhead were distracting. In time, Jason could see the shop Nightwing had mentioned. A figure could just be seen leaping around and above the dark shapes crawling around the small stores, though the entire scene was distorted by a film of water.

Another minute and Red Hood’s group was close enough to talk to Nightwing if they shouted over the storm. It was obvious that though there was a fair amount of Heartless attacking Nightwing, a much larger majority were surrounding Jason and the two Keyblade wielders.

“Nightwing!” Hood shouted at his brother who was far too preoccupied with his enemies and overcome with exhaustion to notice his companions’ approach.

A fierce wind suddenly started to tear at their hair and clothes as they moved closer, through the hoards of countless Heartless. Nightwing finally caught sight of them just as an enormous, truly deafening crack of thunder seemed to split the sky. They all looked up, and saw to their horror that the sky did seem to be tearing itself apart.

Sora froze, now understanding exactly what was going on. “We have to get out of here!” He yelled, voice laced with raw panic, even as what had to be thousands of Heartless closed in, forcing the into a small tight group.

The atmosphere had changed in an instant. Now the crime fighters and Keyblade wielders were back to back, pressed in so tight by their enemies that they could scarcely move, fighting for their lives. Nightwing electrocuted a Heartless with a quick jab, just as four more took its place. Unseen by all of them except maybe a small part of Jason's consciousness, darkness started to crawl up around their feet, rising ominously to create a dark smoke screen that surrounded the struggling group. The wind was now so wild that it was almost impossible for any of the heroes to defend themselves. It was all they could do to hold on to their weapons. Even if any of them wanted to talk to each other, the roar of the wind, the crashes of thunder, and the downpour of rain made hearing one another virtually impossible.

Jason felt the tiniest prick of fear that he had been suppressing throughout the battle now rearing its head into life inside of him. He couldn’t see through the thick blackness, even with his enhanced vision, and the deafening noise was completely blocking out any distinguishable sound. All he knew was that he had to keep defending himself, had to keep destroying those yellow, pinprick-like eyes that poked out at him from the blackness. But his lack of senses was nearly complete, and the adrenalin coursing through his veins did nothing to subdue his fear.

Xehanort’s darkness, not quite as incapacitated as Jason’s darkness had made it seem, jumped at this new found weakness, creeping into Jason’s mind. It pushed Jason into accepting the darkness around him. It pushed him to succumb to the fear pounding in his veins. And he fought it. It was him and his darkness, suddenly in a battle for control against the intruder, and there was no way in hell they were letting it win.

Without warning, Jason was thrust off his feet and lifted into the air, as if he were being pulled viciously upwards by an invisible force. He couldn't help yelling in surprise, though through the wail of wind and cracks of thunder no one heard him anyway. He was flying higher and higher, and somehow the world was becoming darker. And darker. And darker...