Adam held himself up in a handstand watching the television at home.
When his mother and sister where out he liked to do a bit of training. At the moment he was moving his left arm slowly so it wouldnt send him off balance and to the floor.
'Careful...' he thought to himself slowly tucking his arm behind his back. 'So far so good. Now for the hard part...' he sighed mentally pushing up with the fingures on his right hand he slowly got into a fingurtip one hand handstand...and held it for all of five seconds before he tumbled to the ground landing in a practiced breakfall. "Ouch..." He mumbled rubbing his head looking back at the television.

"-and recapping our top story, Seven year old Janet Gleeson was kidnapped from her apartment early this morning. If any one has information on the whereabouts of the girl in this picture-" The screen showed a little girl in a red sweater with curly brown hair smiling at the camera, the front two teeth on the the top of her mouth were missing. "-Please call this number immediatly." As that was said a number flashed across the screen.

"Wow. Some sad stuff happens in this world." Adam said glancing at the clock. 'Good. Friday. Looks like i'll be looking for Janet tonight.' he thought as he heard his mother and sister return to the house. They'd gone out to get her a some new clothes for school.

"Adam can you go out and get the rest of the groceries?" His mother asked setting down a large brown bag on the table.

"Sure mom." He smiled walking out to the car, and leaped back onto the curb as a black car sped past with a police car speeding behind it sirens blazing. Shaking his head he returned to his chore.

****Nightfall****

Adam...now Shinobi stood crouched on the roof of his house and with a graceful leap flipped onto the top of a lightpost looking around. If he remembered where the girl went missing at he didnt have far to go and quick and silent as a shadow he went down there.
"Damn." He muttered. "Police've already cleared out all the evidence...oh well...not like im really a detective...all i got to work on is television shows and Sherlock holmes." he shook his head and slipped in through a window.

'Hmmm...whats this?' he asked himself as he walked over toward a couch and pulled out a small slip of paper. Most could have missed it easily but of course training as a ninja left shinobi unwilling to ignore anything that caught his eye. "Weird..." He said to himself looking at it. It seemed torn from an old time bible because it showed an old illustration of the devil and under it was the caption 'And it was given to him to make war with the saints'. "Curious..." He said slipping into one of the pockets hidden within his gi. He silently made his way up the stairs and opened the door to the bedroom. This one was obviously the little girls. No sign of a struggle...he closed the door and opened another one. The parents room. He flipped through a bible laying next to the bed. Revelations had been torn from it, but other parts had scriptures highlighted and a nearby paper tablet had writings. "a preacher." He whispered. "'and it was given to him to make war with the saints'..." he quickly set it back down on the table and hearing the sound of someone coming up the steps he quickly opened the window and leaped out catching himself easily on the ground and hid easily in a shadow not illuminated by the streetlamps.

Shinobi made his way through the streets on his usual rounds across the rooftops. It was a quite night. Or it would have been if the matter of Janet wasnt still on his mind. "hmmm...a picture of the devil captioned 'and it was given to him to make war with the saints' left in a preachers home along with his daughter being kidnapped and revelations being torn out of his bible." He sighed coming to a stop ontop of a warehouse in one of the mroe rundown districts. "Maybe i should call someone to help me..." He muttered. "no." He answered his own question.
"Im not going to rely on anyone else. I had to rely on Grandfather to when lady shiva was after me, i had to rely on robin multiple times. I will not call in others for help." He said steadfastly as he looked at the paper again holding it in his hand. "If i was sherlock holmes i could probably get clues from this just at a glance." He sighed. The paper was yellowed with age the illustration on it was pressed into it not drawn in like it would be in modern books and the edges were worn showing it had been like that for a while. "All i can tell is that its old." He sighed sitting down cross legged. "I focused so much on my physical training because finding a gang is never really that hard...but as with my own weakness its becoming glaringly obvious i cant just rely on that." He shook his head tucking the paper back into his gi and pulling out a kusari fundo (i think thats what they're called in japanese...translation: weighted chain) and spinning it a bit before using it like a grappling hook and swinging off the roof and using momentum from the leap to get onto another one without much trouble, a quick tug untangled it from the streetlight it was attached to and shinobi quickly replaced that in his gi as well. "Man its times like these i wish i was smarter..."

Falcon exited from the window of a airy victorian house and went to the back where she had left her motorcycle, a tinge of sour disappointment in her almost completely stoical face. It was definitely the address that Oracle had given her. Falc' had been tracking down a group of dealers who had been supplying Gotham with a new designer drug for weeks, ansd she had finnaly pin pointed the origin to a Jeoffry Winston, Ph.D ; actualy a well respected doctor in the area and quite the families man according to his associates...ALMOST perfect:Oracle had taken over from there and honed in on a quiet suberb of NewYork...But... from the looks of the empty closets, all the drug paraphenelia gone or burned in the basement, and the missing car in the driveway......he had skipped town. Early morning....less than twenty hours before she had arrived....cerial bowls were in the sink and there was small amount of milk left in a glass in the sink as well that had gone sour, but not exactly rancid, so it had to have been less than twentyfour hours and definitely in the morning.

Since there was no way of him being able to expect HER to arrive, then he must have been expecting someone else.

She shook her head and hopped on her bike, hidden underneath a large shaddy tree on the edge of the small yard, that hung over to the neighbors chain link fence with little effort.

He had took alot of clothes, so he would be away for a while....she would have to track him down again....so she wasted a trip to the big Apple for nothing.
She turned her head as she heard a rustling of leaves from the house next door and stoped her hand mid air from revvinhg up the bike, instead she quickly pulled out a batarang, could be a cat, but you could never really be sure.....

Shinobi heard a slightly noise as he walked through some bushes. 'damn. im so focused on this problem i wasnt even paying attention. Some ninja i am...' he though then staying hidden in shadows slowly moved out to get a good look at who it was, hand tucked into his gi ready to hurl a kunai at any moment. Then he recognized the other person. "Falcon?" He asked pulling his hand out slightly more relaxed but still berating himself for being heard.

Falcons tense form relaxed at the sight of the old, former, teammate. "Shinobi." She flipped her batarang back into her belt. "Long time no see."

Shinobi nodded. "A bit to long. But thats one of the things training does for ya. Although at the moment i could use the help of a freind..." He said reaching into his gi and pulling out the faded peice of parchment. "If i remember correctly detective work was part of your and robin's forte...What can you get from this?" He said handing her the paper. "im at a loss. Im a martial artist not a detective. And even martial artist...i dont do well...im constantly being shown how weak a really am, ah but thats another matter."

Falcon delicately took the parchment from shinob and scanned it over, studying not only the words, but the type of paper it was made from, the way the words were written(style.) and so forth.
She looked up at Shinobi with an arched Brow. "Where did you get this?"

"From a kidnapping scene." Shinobi said trying to sound impassive. "They left it tucked away there, after kidnapping a preacher's daughter, and ripping revelation out of a bible. Any idea what it could mean?"

She handed him back the piece of paper. "Likelyhood is, its a cult. Even so, this might be a regular kidnapping for ransom, but likelyhood is, with as many cult cases Ive heard of, this could be a sacrificial murder project." She thought for a long second in deep thought, looking up at the waxing moon in the sky with almost a meditative glance...she hadn't been in much contact with anyone in the super community for nearly half a year since her trip to asia...she was now leader of young justice, but she never really worked on a case independently from the group with anyone else for a long time...this might be good for her to offer her help in this crime.

after a long minute , she looked back over to Shinobi and mounted her bike. "Hop on.:

Shinobi nodded before getting on behind her. "So where would be the most obvious place to find a cult?" Shinobi asked more to himself the Falcon. "It would need to be secluded, but have space, and depending on the number of people..." The ninja shook his head. "The obvious...and rather cliche...place would be the docks or a warehouse...or maybe that condemned church..." He sighed. "I really should take some classes on detective work..."

"Condemned church?" Falcon shook her head and revved , speeding down the neighborhood road and into the big city. "We can think of possible locations in a bit. But first things first....We need to find an interpreter for that paper from the 'bible' you found..."

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
>>If this isn't what you had in mind, I can change it.....or delete. Up to you. Your in charge here. ;)<<
Downtown New york.
Hells Kitchen.
11:30 pm

The motorcycle came to a stop in a dingy alleyway. Falcon hopped off the bike and quickly scanned the area, spotting what she was looking for.

On the side of one of the alley buildings was a cramped, iron door. Faded gold words on the front read 'Reliogeous, occult, and pagan consultant offices. How Oracle was able to find this place, Rachael was sure she didn't want to know. Apparently it was recomended to her from Etrigan, Zantanna, or any numerous other people from the magical superhero community.

Falcon knocked on the door and stepped back as it opened with a creak....

Before the two teenagers stood what appeared to be a cheerfuly elderly man. His clothes were tattered and far outdated. His gray eyes sparkled in their sollow sockets and his face drooped. He wore a ragged long black coat and breeches, a faded red scarf was wrapped loosely around his neck. His head had ratty grayish white hair and his cheeks, despite being on a sickly white face, were rosey. His eyes fell upon the two youths and he smiled slightly, causing the creases in his face to deepen. He turned to the ninja. "You have something to show me, yes?"

(this actually works quite well)

Shinobi nodded reaching into his gi again as he pulled out the paper handing it to the old man looking around the place they had found.

"Well?" Falcon asked quisitively.

"Shhhh. "He merely waved his hand for her to wait a second. His eyes scanned the parchement with calm, facination.

>>YOu might be more fitting to tell what i8t means. :D Fell free to put words in the old guys mouth<<

(right...good idea lol)

"hmmm...it is written in latin...hand written actually...'a time of darkness will arrive...with virgin blood and black cat bone...one who walks with night will be used to open the gates of hades and unleash evil itself into the world...'...Where did you get this?" He asks looking at the two heros.

"A place." Shinobi says simply not totally sure how much he should trust the guy after all he didnt even know his name.

"Well then, if you have nothing more to tell us...." Falcon said, handing the paper back to Shinobi. "We should be on our way."

"Achem" The elderly man held out his hand expectantly. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Falcon rolled her eyes and rummaged through her belt. "Of course." She said, handing him five ten dollar bills. "I believe that should pay it. From what I've heard, you don't work cheap."

He just grunted.

Shinobi fllowed her out thinking a few things over. "one who walks with night?" He asked out loud. "well looks like your right. Gotta be a cult. So where would be the most obvious place for a cult to hang out?" His money was still on the condemned church now

"Dunno....." they remounted the bike and wheeled out og the alleyway into the city streets. "Care to tell me how to get to that condemned church?" Sometimes it was best to follow first instinct.

"Its a few blocks north of here actually, you'll know it when you see it. One of the sides of the cross has fallen off, the jesus statue attached to it is decapitated, and all the windows are boarded up and covered in grafettie." Shinobi said trying to piece together all possible meanings of the writting. "any idea's what that whole thing could mean?"

"a time of darkness will arrive...with virgin blood and black cat bone...one who walks with night will be used to open the gates of hades and unleash evil itself into the world...'" Falcon repeated, thinking aloud. "It could be interpetted a few ways actualy, but when you get to the bare bone of it, I guess..." She made a turn as they came to the neary church and the stopped in the parking lot of the church, a nice big tree shadowing then from sight. "It means that they're going to kill the girl, have someone perform a ceremony, and make all hell break loose. So it looks like we're going to have to hurry." 'time of darkness'. Falcon looked up to the sky. Tonight there was a lunar(or total, or none or blackout...Your choice. Just trying to interpret) eclipse...making the moon blood red, and the rest of the sky dark.

Shinobi shivered at the thought of the girl being killed. "Well then, I trust you have no objection to going in now?" He asked looking up at the moon following her gaze. "Greeeeaaaaat." 'Crap' He thought hearing footsteps and quickly jumped up grabbing a tree branch swinging himself up with all the graze of a trained gymnest.

Falcon merely stepped back into the shadows, almost looking as if she merely melted into them, and listened intently as the foot steps got closer.

"I thought you said you heard something?" One man asked, he was dressed like a preist but the coller was red rather then white with an inverted cross over the neck, he had the same inverted cross tattooed onto his hand. He was also a fairly large man and although probably in his forties mantained an air of authority.

"I did..." his companion said. He was dressed similerly aside from the tattoo but was also fairly scrawny with blonde hair. "I mean i could have sworn..."

"look lets just get back inside, its nearly time for the ceremony." The older man said.

"Ceremony? Tell me more..." Shinobi said dropping from the tree slamming his foot into the younger one's head watching as he crumpled to the ground, although still breathing, before the other man could react shinobi had drawn his kodachi and held the tip at the other 'preists' throat. "I insist."

"A-ah...I-inside..." He said clearly afraid for his life. "Malachai...he is going to fullfill the prophecy."

"What prophecy?" Shinobi growled.

"Armaggedon." He said simply before starting to laugh.

"And your going to kill an innocent girl for it!" The ninja all but yelled punching him in the face holding nothing back as he felt teeth come apart from his mouth and his nose breaking. "Still laughing? Indeed i thought i not. Well c'mon falcon." He said turning his back to the scene like nothing happened and quickly running towards the church

"well....that was well handeled." Falcon muttered before following Shinobi towards the church, opening one of the side doors discreetly to reveal ...

>>Sorry if my posts are short....not sure of what to write!<<

(no prob, normally im the one making short posts so when others do it i have no problem at all.)

A rather elderly looking man sat dressed in the robes one would normally give a cardinal of the catholic religion, at the head of the church. He was looking over a rather thick book. Some of the others around seemed a bit green just by looking at it. The book itself had an odd binding it actually looked almost like...skin.

"Hmmm...tsk tsk." He sighed looking up at the two vigilantes. "I see someone has decided to interfear in my devine retribution." Slowly he rose to his feet and gave a sort of feral smile. "Well, still i suppose i should welcome you. You must be excited, your about to watch armeggeddon."

While he had been talking a few more of his 'attendents' had shown up. One of them was a rather large man, nearly twelve feet tall, and all of him muscle.

"Goliath, make sure they dont do anything while i finish the ceremony." The old man said walking towards a drawing on the floor, a pentagram, drawn in what could only have been blood. The body of Janet Gleeson laying in the center of it. On top of her body was another, a cat. One can only assume it was black by what had been read on the picture, it was horribly mutilated so that bones were sticking out all over.

"You MONSTER!" Shinobi yelled seeing the child as he took off, Goliath however held out a single hand catching the young ninja by his chest and throwing him into a pew, incidentily breaking the pew.

"I cannot allow you to interfere with father Malachai's plan." He said simply.

"Goliath has many uses." Malachai stated returning to his book. "You see, when lucifer rebelled against god a third of the angels sided with him. Along with those angels there was another group, who consorted with human women sometime later on. From that union came giants. The original Goliath wasnt a singular phenomenon. He alone had four brothers. Our Goliath it seems though...is the last giant."

Shinobi groaned getting to his feet. He wouldnt make that mistake again, as he sized up his opponent and tried to think of a way around him, while Malachai continued with whatever ceremony he was doing.

(....however THIS might be too long...)

But before Shinobi could round up his next attack, Falcon grabbed by the shoulder, and whispered in his ear quietly.
"Not yet. Go in now, and you could wind up in a body cast. Lets think of a plan FIRST." Falcon said a bit harshly, but not meaninf for it to come off that way. This was serious. Dead Serious......they were going to have to play their cards right.

Shinobi nodded his agreement groaning slightly as he stood up, a bit wobbly, next to Falcon. "Goliath is unimportant, but we need to get past him to get to Malachai." He said stating the obvious. "So the question is: how do we do that? Do you have any elephant tranqulizers with you? Or should I try to distract him while you go for the book?" 'Or better yet,' He thought to himself. 'Do you have a decent suggestion.'

"Its your case Shinobi." Falcon whispered to him, keeping her voice low and sending a penetrating glare to the goliath. "But if you want my suggestion: We wait and try to find a decent opening."

Shinobi nodded to falcon's suggestion still trying to clear his head as he searched for any opening that could be used. 'of course!' He thought to himself, 'he's to big to move properly in this environment, if i go through the pews instead of the aisle he'll be slowed down...and hopefully by enough to let me get the book from Malachai.'

He knew he was risking more injury if this was wrong but he did it anyway darting quickly to a set of unbroken pews as he scrambled over each one while tossing caltrops (y'know those spikey balls, that REALLY hurt when ya step on 'em...just in case ya didnt know...) behind him, slowing up the giant of a man even more as he let out a yell of rage.

Taking his shot he pulled a kunai from his gi and threw it at the book, ripping out the page Malachai was looking at, he finally turned to the ninja as though he was only now worth noticing.

"My boy why do you bother?" He asked. "This is fate, it is prophecy, besides, look at the state of the world around you? Where is God's hand in all of this? Where is his benevolence? His justice?" He shook his head standing up once more. "Do you truely believe god cares about us when you see how the world is?"

"Wake up call!" A batarang whipped past Malachai, knocking the rest of the book from him and landing near shinobis feet.

"theres also something called the devil. Dpn't tell me your to naivee not to belive for every good theres an evil." She flipped back another one of malachais men tried to grab her, ending in her kicking him in jaw as she backfliped back again, grabbed a long candle stick holder(about five feet high and holding it ready in a posed stance.

"Ohh, i'm not that naive, i just dont care, I've already sold my soul." He says evenly as Shinobi picks up the book jumping away, but not quite fast enough, as Goliath grabs him in a bear hug.

"You will NOT interfere with the master!" He says angrily and with bleeding feet.

The ninja's only reply is to slam his head backward breaking Goliath's nose and forcing the giant the drop him. "Sorry man." He says kicking out again, this time landing a blow into his left kneecap, naturally even Goliath crumpled after that blow.

"Its already too late." Malachai laughs as the drawing on the ground starts glowing red, the girls body starts burning, an image appears in the flame, a large man, looking much like an 18th century noble stands there, drinking a glass of wine. "I gave up my soul more then six hundred years ago, in return for power, power to destroy those who exiled me. Power even greater then that of the church." (Given that it WAS the 1200's at that time the church was the greatest power)

"Yes, you gave your soul for vengence, and now that it has been set in motion..." The demon says stepping through the flames as they continue flickering in the background. "Your allowed to die..." That said he starts changing shape, becoming more and more reptilian, until finally he unhinges his jaw like a snake, and devours Malachai...

Falcon winced as she watched the man get eated alive." Theres something you don't see everyday."

Seeeing one of Malachais thugs try to sneek up behind her in the corner of her eye, Falcon twirled the long candle stick, with candle still lit on it, back like a bo-staff with ease, hitinh him itn the stomach and setting his shirt on fire.
The thug freaked out, quickly throwing his ignitted shirt off and stomping it to get the fire out before he was hit in the head with the candle stick once again, knocking him out.

Falcon looked over to Shinobi. "Any Ideas? You've faced more demons than I ever have."

"Unless you count 'fight and win' as a plan I got nothin', too bad I dont still have those wards from the Frey incident with me..." he said dodging out of the way of the demon as it attempted to grab him quickly slamming full force into it, attempting to shove him back through the fiery portal. "This might work though..." He said straining against the demons superior strength.