Connecting the Dots--A Naruto/DCAU crossover

Interrogation

After lying still for nearly half-an-hour in a fruitless attempt to commune with nature, Naruto concluded that something was wrong.

Gathering natural energy was surprisingly difficult. First of all, there seemed to be nothing around them for miles except metal and plastic (which did him no good at all) and then dirt (which was better but still difficult) and then finally wind (which was the easiest one for him to access.) Of course, there was the air in the hallways, but even that had a slightly... unnatural feel to it.

Ordinarily, he should have been able to pull even on these resources, but the natural energy here seemed so weak. Practice had brought Naruto to the point where he could activate Sage Mode relatively easily and manage to maintain it for some time. But the natural energy here felt so faint and elusive, it was difficult enough to sense, let alone manipulate. It was as if chakra had suddenly dried up everywhere.

Not that seemed too unusual, in wherever-this-was. He could sense thousands of things moving in the base, but none of them had any kind of chakra signature. In the entire area, he could only feel three people with any significant chakra.

It bothered him that there were only three. It bothered him even more that he really didn't know who the last one was. Shikamaru's dark chakra was easy to identify, and Tenten's slightly undeveloped coils stood out fairly well also, but the last... seemed so unfamiliar. It had plenty of chakra, but it behaved in a strange manner and seemed almost diseased.

Naruto tallied up what he knew, and he didn't like it. One, they were in a land with little chakra. That meant that Sage Mode would be that much more difficult to attain. Two, several of his friends were being captive. That meant that he had completely lost the others. Third, a strange nin was also being kept here, and apparently had had something happen to their chakra. THAT might mean that these people did chakra experiments.

In fact, the only bright spot that he could find came from the guards' apparent lack of chakra. If they only had mercenaries to contend with, escape should be significantly easier.

At least, if he could manage to get free in the first place. Gritting his teeth, Naruto closed his eyes and reached deeper, deeper into the flow of energy, trying to expand his range.

#

There was no point in getting angry, Cyborg reminded himself. No point whatsoever. With his power cells nearly dead, the last thing he needed now was to waste whatever remained of them by some stupid attack on the door in front of him. The best thing he could do now was sit still and wait for an opportunity.

Except that was boring as shit. And even if there wasn't any point to getting angry, there wasn't much point to just sitting there either.

So he was doing the only thing he could do. Thinking and cataloguing.

They locked us in these rooms. Not the cells downstairs, just some spare rooms that they found. And they didn't lock it, they barricaded it up. That means these guys have no idea of how to work things. Fits with the swords they're carrying.

So a bunch of Japanese teenagers, who know nothing about technology, just locked us in a bunch of spare rooms. Something else occurred to Cyborg. They can't be planning to visit us very often, if they went to the trouble of barricading everything up. But then why let us live in the first place? Do they need us for something? Is that why they attacked? And where did they come from? They don't know how to use the technology... maybe they're time travelers? But what time on earth would people be able to do stuff like what they do?