The Next Generation

Neal looked around the atrium as he, Talia, and Shiva all arrived in order to get ready for the fight that was about to take place. The Titans were coming and now they apparently had the former leader of Ra's on their side as well. After having been removed from power he apparently decided that working with the Titans was the best option. Despite the fact he'd be facing his former friends, Neal could only think about how much he was going to show them. He was going to show them all how much stronger he had become, and they would be powerless to beat him.

Neal listened as Cyborg and Ra's spoke their words. Nothing but empty threats as far as Neal was concerned. Neal was probably the only one here that Ra's couldn't call a traitor. He had joined after Ra's had been kicked out after all, meaning that Neal only had loyalty to his new Leader. "The weak are always left behind," Neal spoke up although he once again disguised his voice so that no one would recognize him. "The strong move forward because that is what the world needs, you lead this League into enough failures Ra's. Your time is over," Neal said as he kept his eyes on all the enemies in front of him.

Ra's slowly looked up at the one who dared speak up to him. "I don't recognize you," he said, glaring intently. "You must be new... after my time here. And yet you speak my mantra as though you know it best, when it is I that instilled it in all of you. I am here to take back what is rightfully mine. I give an opportunity for any of you to rejoin me and remain loyal... those that do not will remain traitors to me and my cause. And traitors will be dealt with most severely."

"No, father," Talia said, speaking up. She walked forward and placed her hands against the railing that lined the balcony they were on. "The only traitor here is you. For so long we tried to do it your way, but you constantly led us astray. Now, under the guidance of our new leader, we are closer to achieving our goals than we ever were with you."

"Ah, yes..." Ra's said, calmly. "Your new leader. The one who I personally recruited to help elevate this League with me, but who so unceremoniously decided to stab me in the back and throw away everything I offered him. I do not take betrayal lightly... where is he hiding? I must teach him a lesson that he won't soon forget."

"Not hiding," a voice replied. It was said leader, who appeared now in the shadows on a separate balcony, most of his image obscured in darkness. "Preparing."

Nightwing stepped forward this time, pushing past Ra's and looking up at the man. "You..."

"Ah, Nightwing," he said, taking a small step forward. "Have you figured it out yet?"

"I almost didn't... your appearance is what threw me off," Nightwing explained. "But your voice is unmistakable. And your eyes... I know them from anywhere. I only didn't realize it before because I wasn't used to seeing both of them. I don't know how you did it... but it's still you., isn't it..."

The man took a final few steps forward into the light, now fully dressed in his usual uniform as Nightwing finished his statement.

Spoiler:

Neal just smiled slightly as his words seemed to irritate Ra's. The man was in a foul mood, it was personal for him. Excellent, hopefully that would cause him to not fight his best. Of course Neal didn't know the man, for all he knew it might just strengthen him in order to fight with a stronger will. Either way, they would deal with it when they came. Neal was confident that all of his training was going to be useful for the upcoming battle. The Titans needed to flee, they had no idea that they didn't stand a chance against the League now.

As Nightwing and the Leader had their conversation, Neal couldn't help but glance from one to the other. The two knew each other? But how? Had they met before he had gained control of the League? Neal couldn't think of anything else after all, nothing else made sense in his mind. Neal ultimately just kept watching and waiting though, waiting for some kind of order to begin the fight or take the offensive.

Ra's glared at the man who had usurped him so long ago. "Deathstroke... I offered you everything, even the use of a Lazarus Pit, my most sacred possession. And yet you decided to spit in my face. Today, you suffer for that betrayal."

Deathstroke leaped down to ground level, landing nimbly about ten paces away from Ra's. "We'll see in due time, old man," he said, pacing several steps to the side. "But before we settle things between us, I want to experiment with something. A demonstration, let's say."

"You try my patience," Ra's said. "But I'm listening."

"I want to test out my newest pupil's abilities," Deathstroke explained. "Against... well, any of them, really." He was referring to the Titans. "I want to see just how strong he's grown. Neal, come down here. And remove your facial shroud.. no need in hiding from your friends any longer."

A lazarus pit? What the hell was that? Neal couldn't help but wonder as Ra's said that it was his most sacred possession. For a guy who used to lead the entire League of Assassins it must have been quite the statement. However, he quickly pulled his mind back to more important things as Deathstroke said that he wanted to try something. So that was his name.....Deathstroke. Definitely had that intimidating factor to it.

Of course, Neal's eyes only widened up in surprised as Deathstroke actually called him by name, his REAL name. He hadn't expected it, he was willing to fight the Titans but he didn't think that he was going to have to show himself. Still, the time was now and Neal couldn't hesitate for Deathstroke. He was the reason that Neal was strong after all. Without waiting a second longer Neal quickly moved forward and leapt up and off the balcony, landing easily on his feet as he did.

He took a moment to stand up, allowing the shocked silence fill the room before he spoke. "Not quite the way I was hoping to make my entrance, but I'm afraid it will have to suffice," Neal said before reaching up and unwrapping his facial shroud. He allowed it to fall to the floor effortlessly, revealing his face in his entirety. He just stared at them all for a minute before smiling. "I see your knee has healed up nicely Nightwing, guess I didn't hit it hard enough"

When Neal revealed himself, the Titans reactions were a mix of shock, disbelief, and anger. Nightwing showed the least amount of outward expression, his hand tightening into a fist and eyes narrowing. "Neal... what the hell are you doing with them?"

"Dude... not cool," Beast Boy said, blinking dumbly in shock.

Cyborg's expression was more one of disappointment than anything. He didn't say anything, but he shook his head slowly, disapprovingly. And his stare was intense, though it didn't last long. Eventually, he couldn't even stomach looking at their former ally, instead glancing at the ground.

As for Raven... she had never felt so hurt in her life. The moment that Neal's face was revealed, she felt her insides knot up and twist so fiercely that she thought she would vomit right there. "Neal..." she uttered, holding a hand to her chest and gripping at an invisible pain. "This whole time, you were..." She couldn't even finish her sentence, she was choking up too badly. her eyes never left him, though, despite how numb her throat felt.

"Touching," Deathstroke said. "But we're wasting time. Neal, since we're on our home turf... you choose who you'd like to challenge."

Despite seeing all of the reaction at once, Neal's eyes remained steady and firm. He didn't even blink as his stare penetrated the looks of all his former allies. Beast Boy appeared to be in shock, Cyborg showed signs of disappointment, Raven was......emotionally weak at this time, and Nightwing was the one that seemed to be the most collected. He heard his question and decided that he might as well give a brief answer.

"I was too weak, these people changed that in ways you couldn't even begin to imagine Nightwing. Oh wait.....I suppose you did get a bit of a sample the other night," Neal said with the tiniest of laughs. "You did want me to take some time and clear my head after all right? Well, I found the people that decided to help me through my weakness rather than crucify me for it"

Neal's gaze turned to Deathstroke as Neal was instructed who he was to pick in a fight. There was only one person that Neal wanted to fight though, one person that he wanted to defeat and crush more than any other. "Come show me the errors of my ways if you wish Nightwing, although I doubt that you'll be able to touch me as you did last time. You don't have the element of surprise anymore" Neal said as he took his usual fighting stance.

He didn't forget Deathstroke's words though. Nightwing would surely come armed with something new, especially if he was planning on fighting everyone in the League of Assassins. Still, Neal had to admit that seeing Nightwing brought up a ton of negative emotion, and the only way to get rid of it was to defeat his former ally. Neal wasn't going to go easy or lower his guard this time.

"You bastard," Nightwing said, taking a step forward. he still had a slight limp in his walk. "So instead of trying to work things out with people who care about you, you run off and join up with a group of murderers. Is that you deal with your problems? Run away from them and create even more for yourself? You know, all this time we thought we feared the worst for you when you left. We thought that maybe you'd died, somehow. You didn't leave a note, didn't say a word, you were just gone... but now I see that wasn't this worst we could have feared. This is."\ You only get to turn your back on your friends once, Neal. I won't forgive you for this."

Nightwing's words caused Neal's eyes to narrow for a moment. Everyone had a weakness, that was the thing that Deathstroke was trying to point out to Neal in his training. Everyone had something that could be exploited or manipulated if you looked hard enough. Deathstroke must have been far smarter than Neal imagined, because he didn't even realize that Deathstroke was manipulating Neal through his own weakness. Neal had a great mind that remembered everything, but it was far more impressionable at times. Deathstroke had shown up at the right time to convince Neal's mind that everyone was against him, to make him go against everything that he believed in. Had Neal not had this power, he never would've joined Deathstroke......but that was a fact that not even Neal realized yet.

The more words that came at Neal, his eye began to twitch slightly as several mental images began to fill his head. He imagined the memorial room where Sarah had been, remembering the weakness that he had and how he couldn't lift a finger to protect her. He remembered the man's face that he had killed, seeing the smile on his face as he was about to shoot Neal. Ultimately though, he saw Nightwing holding Neal up against a wall and shouting at him. Anger, hate, rage, foolishness. All the negative emotions were adding up, and they strengthened Neal's defense.

"I'm sure your problems would have disappeared with my death, your voice implied that much. I don't forget things like that," Neal said as he tapped his forehead to indicate his brain. "The city turned against me, and so did you. It was an accident, I didn't mean to kill that man...........but now I'm more glad than ever that he's dead. The corruption in this city would have allowed him to go free eventually, something he didn't deserve. He can't hurt anyone anymore," Neal said as his eyebrow began to twitch slightly.

"Now enough talk! Fight me and prove that you are my better! Prove that I was wrong for coming here! Prove that they haven't made me far stronger than you!" Neal shouted as his eyes stared right at Nightwing. The rage and the anger was clear in his face, Neal was not the same person that they used to know. He had begun to change.

Raven was probably the only person who might notice something, but Neal's nose began to bleed. It was always his sign that his mind was working too hard or was strained. Even just battling against all the old memories he had with the Titans was starting to take a toll on his mind.

"You... damn fool," Nightwing muttered, starting forward. "Friends fight, friends get angry at each other. It's a part of human nature. But friends also forgive each other. You never gave that part a chance, and instead you ran away from your problems, and now what have they turned you into?" He moved quickly now and began the delivery of his initial attack. Neal might notice that he was turning five degrees to the left as he came in. "Where's your common sense!"

Neal's eye twitched once again as he heard Nightwing's words. Why was he still talking, why didn't he just shut his mouth and fight like he was supposed to do! This was not a battle of words, and Neal's mind was starting to hurt as several more images from his past was rushing into his mind. Friends forgave, and yet Nightwing just said a second ago that he'd never forgive Neal for doing this. So he was a liar! It was all just talk, he was trying to confuse Neal so that he could win, that bastard!

As Nightwing came in at first Neal didn't do anything, but his eyes suddenly looked at Nightwing's leg the moment that he began to turn five degrees. Neal moved just an inch backward as the attack came up before his hand reached out and caught Nightwing's foot in midair. "SHUT UP!" Neal shouted before he lifted up his free arm and brought his elbow down in a crushing blow against the side of Nightwing's leg. It was at an angle that wasn't going to bend into the blow either, Neal had timed it perfectly.

"Just SHUT up!" Neal shouted as a bit more blood began to flow from his nose.

Of course, Nightwing had been referring about forgiving him for the accidental killing, not what was currently going on... but in Neal's current state, he obviously wasn't about to figure that out. Either way it didn't matter. There wasn't any going back now, was there? Neal had crossed over too far. He'd turned his back on his friends, joined with a group of killers, fought against them. How had it come to this?

As the blow came down on Nightwing's leg, he could feel something break and tear. That was going to mess his leg up for a long time, but he couldn't think about that right now. As he fell backwards to the ground, his leg still trapped by Neal's grip, he pulled out his netgun, whirling it into position and firing in one motion.

Neal felt the breaking and cracking beneath his elbow. He felt victory, in one attack he had probably paralyzed Nightwing for the next several weeks. A smile came to his face as he was reminded about his own strength and power. It felt good, working with the League had made him stronger than he had ever imagined. Deathstroke had done as promised! He was making Neal stronger than all of his allies!

As Nightwing fell though Neal continued to keep his gaze upon him, not letting his guard down. This proved wise as Nightwing pulled out one of his net guns and tried to fire it at point black range. That would have been a good idea, if Neal had been unprepared. Neal quickly pushed Nightwing's leg away from him with a great deal of force, so much that Nightwing's back on the ground would naturally turn along with the movement of his leg, causing the net fired to bounce away towards a wall harmlessly.

With the net avoided Neal saw that the fight was not yet over. He quickly moved forward, and kicked the gun from right out of Nightwing's hand before pressing his foot down against Nightwing to prevent him from going for a different gadget.

And so Nightwing's last ditch effort hadn't quite worked the way he planned. Instead, he was lying there with a leg he couldn't move and Neal's own foot planted down on top of him. He had been defeated, and rather handily for that matter. Had he the real heart, he could have made another attempt at a come back, but the feeling inside his gut left him without the will to try. He simply stared back up at Neal, disappointment in his eyes. "What happened to you, Neal? This isn't you..."

"Excellent work, Neal," Deathstroke said, with a slow clap. "Now, let's finish this little demonstration so we can proceed. Kill him." He tossed over League of Assassins blade, which Neal would no doubt catch.

An audible gasp of surprise emanated from the Titans. Cyborg and Beast Boy were both ready to jump forward to stop him, but Raven beat them to it. "Neal, no! Don't!" she pleaded, running up to him. "If you're going to kill someone, kill me. I'm the reason you're here. I'm the one who pushed you away... I deserves that fate, if anyone."

"Raven... what are you doing?" Nightwing grunted, looking up at her.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you Neal... I'm sorry I pushed you into this," Raven stated, lifting the blade up and holding it against her chest. "But don't punish someone else for it."

Neal stared back down, Nightwing's disappointment was met with Neal's gloating victory. Where was Nightwing's strength now? Where was his will, his passion, his self-righteousness? It was all gone, he was now just a broken man on the floor. Nightwing had held Neal back, but the League of Assassins had made Neal free, they had made him discover his TRUE power! "You don't know anything about me Nightwing. You held me back, you have no idea what I'm capable of," he said in a whisper as he stared down at the man.

Neal turned his gaze over to Deathstroke who was now speaking, actually showing appreciation and pride in Neal's ability. This was what Neal wanted, someone that admired him, finally someone that appreciated Neal for what he was capable of! The League had made Neal strong, and it was the only thought that was running through Neal's mind right now. He caught the handle of the blade effortlessly, spinning it once to get the feel of the weapon down. He had never been given a real sword, only a wooden one to train with. It was all he needed though.

Neal began to raise up the blade, intent on stabbing it down to pierce Nightwing in the face and end the man's pathetic life. However, a familiar voice suddenly caused Neal to stop just before he was about to strike. His gaze slowly turned to look at Raven who had now fully run up to him. She was pleading with him to take her life instead of Nightwing's, saying that she deserved it for leaving Neal alone and not being there for him. It struck a chord with Neal, causing him to lower his blade to the side for a moment.

"Raven....I...," Neal began to say as his gaze was on the floor. For a moment there was a dead silence in the entire room. Without even saying another word Neal suddenly lifted up his sword and slashed outwards right at Raven. Her words made it true in his mind, she deserved to die more than anyone else.

Raven felt her emotions break as Neal went through with it, and rose the blade to strike her down. Rather than fight back, she bowed her head and fully intended to take the killing blow. She could sense Beast Boy Cyborg, and Red Robin all running forward to try and stop him, but they wouldn't make it in time. The blade would be upon her in seconds.

But Neal's sword did not strike flesh. Instead, it clanged into another blade that had come forward to intercept it, a blade that belonged to one Ra's al Ghul. "This demonstration has gone on long enough," Ra's said, whirling his blade around, taking control of Neal's and forcing it to spin out of his grasp. In spite of all Talia's training with Neal in weapon combat, Ra's had over seven hundred year's experience with a sword, plenty enough to at least take the initial surprise. "I've seen just about enough of your 'pupil', Deathstroke. It's time I did what I cam here to do: take back what is rightfully mine."

Deathstroke stepped forward, drawing his own broadsword and giving it a few expert spins before taking his stance in front of Ra's. "If you think you can, then go ahead. But you're vastly outnumbered." At that moment, Talia and Shiva came down and landed right behind him. "I hope you're prepared."

The two then clashed in a lightning flurry of blades.

In light of the sudden distraction, Red Robin reacted first, throwing one of his spinning disks directly at Neal to knock him off of Nightwing. Cyborg and Beast Boy sprang into action as well, being immediately confronted with a group of assassins.

The next few moments almost seemed to go in slow motion. Neal had swung, but he never expected Raven to just stand there and just take it. Why didn't she run? Why didn't she use her power to block the blade? Why was she just standing there!? Why did he even care? He wanted her to die anyway didn't he? For the first time since Neal had joined the League, Neal had no idea about what he wanted. Of course, his mind was ripped away from this as he realized that someone had stepped in and saved Raven from death.

Ra's al Ghul had intervened and easily disarmed Neal, something that he had not been expecting. But Talia was supposed to be the best, how could he be disarmed so easily!? Of course, he had no idea what exactly Ra's was capable of or what he had done in the past. Neal quickly took a step back, not wanting his head to be the next thing that Ra's took away from him. Of course it was at this time that Ra's made his point clear, he didn't want or care about Neal. He just wanted to fight and take on Deathstroke.

Neal's attention was so focused on Ra's that he didn't even realize that a disc had come right at him, exploding in his face and sending him flying backwards and into the wall that Neal had previously been on top of. That didn't go according to plan. Neal quickly pushed himself up, grabbing at his head as it began to ache. He looked forward to see that the assassins and the Titans were now in full war. It was time to fight.....time to win.

Neal for a moment debated about using his power to mess up Cyborg and Beast Boy's vision. "No, never again will I hide in the back" Neal said to himself as he pushed himself up to his feet. Neal began to move forward, intent on fighting whoever it was that he encountered first.

It was Red Robin that Neal would encounter, already spinning out an extendable staff and swinging it at him. Unlike Nightwing, he wasn't already injured going into the fight, and he didn't have any hesitations about taking this person down. The only thing that Rd Robin saw when looking at Neal was an enemy, an assassin that needed to be stopped. Though Neal would most likely easily be able to move out of the way of the staff, a click of a switch would cause a hidden blade to swing out in mid strike, a surprise attack that even Neal would have difficult realizing in time.

Meanwhile, Nightwing was struggling to get up and fight back, though his leg was so badly injured that he couldn't get up past his knees. Raven was attempting to help him, but several assassins jumped her from behind. She was able to defend against most of them, but two grabbed her and pulled her down. She opened up a portal beneath them, causing them to fall through the floor... and then reappear high above in the air, where the assassins fell and landed hard on the ground, while Raven continued to float up there safely. That is, until a whip extended upwards and wrapped around her leg, yanking her down hard to the ground, where she was slow to get up. Another assassin was on her quickly, standing with one foot on her and holding her down, a blade against her throat.

Beast Boy and Cyborg were having their own time trying to take down everyone that came at them. For the most part, they were doing quite well, brutalizing the assassins with a combination of sonic blasts and rhino charges. That was... until Lady Shiva and Talia stepped in and turned the tables on them, taking them down shortly while distracted.

Ra's and Deathstroke, meanwhile, appeared evenly matched... for a time. While Ra's had hundreds of years of experience, Deathstroke had enhanced attributes and a mind that could keep track of a bullet in mid flight. It didn't take long before Ra's began to lose ground. Deathtroke spun and deflected his blade, whirled it out of the man's grasp, and then kicked him backwards, bringing up a pistol in the same motion with his other hand and pointing it straight at Ra's.

"A gun..." Ra's muttered. "Cute."

"You've lost, old man," Deathstroke said calmly. "Enjoy your afterlife."

And just like that, it appeared as though the League had won.

Ah, the new guy. Just Neal's luck. He would have been ready to dispatch any of the others with extreme ease, but this new guy he wasn't quite sure how to deal with. That was of course until Neal saw that he was using a staff. He smiled, as it was the first weapon that Neal had been taught how to use. It wasn't his favorite, but he already knew how to fight against it. As the first swing came Neal merely moved in order to dodge it, however there was a trick up this new guy's sleeve. A blade? That was unexpected, seemed a bit lethal for a hero to have. All the same, Neal would deal with it though.

Neal quickly moved forward and positioned himself so that only the staff would hit him rather than the blade. He used one of the bracers on his arms in order to block most of the damage that the staff would have done. A staff was a great weapon, but only if your opponent didn't know what he was doing and had some distance on you. Within a moment Neal quickly shot himself forward and delivered a powerful kick to send Red Robin backwards, making sure to still dodge the blade as it moved back with Red Robin.

Afterwards everything seemed to fall in place. Each Titan was taken out by the assassins, and even Ra's was defeated as Deathstroke pulled out a gun in the middle of a sword fight. Clever. Neal turned his attention to look at all of the other Titans who were down and defeated. He didn't say anything, but he couldn't help but just gaze at them in their defeat.

Ra's let out a long breath and lowered his arms down by his side. He slowly glanced around at everyone. The defeated Titans, the assassins, Deathstroke, the new guy, his traitorous daughter... it was all coming together. Soon, he'd know exactly what he wanted to know. he already had most of the information, but there was still a small piece left. Who would remain loyal to him? And who would continue to side with Talia, Shiva, and the rest of the traitors?

"Excellent work, Deathstroke... I see you were the right man for the job," Ra's said, ominously. "Now... continue."

With that, he gave a simple nod. Deathstroke's pistol suddenly moved, aiming away from Ra's to the closest target: Shiva. With a quick pull of the trigger, the bullet ripped through the woman's left shoulder and dropped her to the floor, clutching at her wound in pain.

Neal kept looking towards the Titans, not even wondering why Ra's seemed to be acting so calm in the face of such adversity. He had lost everything and his only allies, so why on earth did he appear to be so calm. The answer came just a few seconds later, as the words from the mouth of Ra's suddenly reached Neal's ears. His head quickly turned around just in time to see Deathstroke turn and shoot Shiva right in the shoulder.

Neal couldn't help but react this time. "Sir! What are you doing?" Neal asked as he took a step towards the wounded Shiva. What the hell was going on here!?

Even Talia looked shocked, glancing frantically with wide eyes between Shiva and Deathstroke. had she really just seen that? Had that just happened? Deathstroke was supposed to be leading them, but... he had just shot Lady Shiva. But why? "What... are you doing?" she asked, echoing Neal's question. It was the only thing she could think to ask.

"My job," Deathstroke responded, then turning towards Talia and firing another shot through her ribcage. She went down immediately, crying out and coughing blood as she hit the ground.

Ra's stepped forward, retrieving his sword and pacing around them. "You ignorant fools," he said. "You thought you could plot my demise behind my back, try to uproot my leadership, remove me from the very group that I built?! Did you not think that I wasn't aware that there were rumors going about the League, whispers and talks of mutiny? I knew that there were those who wished to see me gone... but I didn't know exactly who. So I devised a plot to discover those traitors. Imagine my surprise when the two leading that mutinous talk was none other than my own daughter and my best assassin? Do you have any idea how much that hurt?!"

Talia crawled across the ground, holding a hand to the bullet wound at her ribs. Blood pouring from her lips, she struggled out several words. "But... Deathstroke... what was..."

"A ruse designed to flush out those who were disloyal to me," Ra's further explained. "By bringing in someone who appeared to challenge me for control, I knew the traitors would expose themselves and join his cause, and you most certainly did. Deathstroke is a mercenary, you fools! Do you think he cares about our goals? His only concern is payment!"

"Ten million, to be exact," Deathstroke said coolly. "And one use of a Lazarus Pit. Well worth the undertaking."

Ra's then began pacing wider circles, turning his attention to all those dozens of assassins surrounding them, watching. "So you see, my fellow assassins. It was not Deathstroke leading this take over of the city. It was me, the one you thought a failure. But as you can see, I am more capable than ever. So I ask you the question, who do you stand behind? The fallen traitors-" he gestured towards the wounded Talia and Shiva -"or your rightful ruler, Ra's al Ghul? Know that those who join me once again will be forgiven and rewarded... those who continue to stand against me will be crushed."

Neal was still in shock from the first attack, and now a second shot rang out and Talia fell to the ground. His two teachers were both just struck down by Deathstroke. It was amazing how fast Neal's world was unraveling around him. This....this couldn't be right or real! The League were supposed to be the good guys, and now Deathstroke was revealing himself to be none other than just a mercenary for pay! That bastard! It was all a game from the beginning, they had targeted Neal to make the other Titans weaker and to have him fight them. And he had fallen for it perfectly......

While Ra's was giving his speech Neal quickly moved over and got onto his knees next to his teachers, Talia and Shiva. A part of him still couldn't believe that this was real, WHY WAS THIS HAPPENING!? Neal had given up everything to try to find a better cause, and it turned out that he had made a deal with the devil. "Are you two alright?" he asked in a whisper. He ignored the stares that were being thrown at him, as it was obvious that he was not happy with the new leadership of the League.

He turned his attention towards Ra's, looking past him to see the other defeated Titans. Tears started to come to Neal's face as everything was adding up on his mind at once. His head hurt, and his nose was bleeding again. "I stand with Talia and Shiva", he said as looked straight at Ra's in defiance. Neal was probably going to die now, but he didn't care.

In truth, out of everyone in the room Neal was the one that deserved to die the most.

"Not dead yet," Talia uttered, coughing more blood.

"I will live... for now," Shiva replied, struggling to get up.

A long moment of silence passed over the room, but before long most of the assassins came down to join Ra's al Ghul, supporting him as their rightful leader. A handful remained behind Talia and Shiva, however. Including one that was more vocal about it than the rest. When Neal spoke, Ra's turned towards and narrowed his eyes coldly.

"I see we have a small group who has chosen death," Ra's said, taking a small step forward. He glanced between the traitorous assassins, Neal, Talia, and Shiva, then folded his arms. In all, there were about seven who still stood against him. "My loyal comrades, my first task to redeem yourself in my eyes begins now. Destroy the traitors! ...and then the Titans, as well."

"Neal," a voice said. It was Nightwing, who was still on the ground and unable to stand. "Listen to me. I don't know if any of the old you is still in there, but if there were ever a time to redeem yourself, now would be it. You've already dug yourself a deep hole... but you can still climb out."

At that moment, Beast Boy and Cyborg appeared to have recovered from the beating the received from Talia and Shiva, and stood together by Neal and the other assassins that were about to be attacked.

"Well, this doesn't look promising," Beast Boy remarked, suddenly realizing the odds that were against them.

"Either way, we're not going down without a fight," Cyborg said, charging his sonic blaster.

Red Robin joined them, spinning his staff a few times. "This wasn't quite what I expected when I signed up for this, but I've been itching for a good fight lately."

The only Titan who hadn't yet had the will to recover and continue fighting, aside from Nightwing, who wouldn't be doing any fighting for a while, was Raven. She was on the ground, still hurting from the rather nasty fall she'd taken. She did, however, manage to look up at Neal, with a mic of sorrow and regret.

"Neal," her voice said, in his mind. "I'm... sorry. None of this every should have happened. I meant what I said earlier... it's my fault. I pushed you away and it led you here. I know you've made mistakes, but I believe you're still a good person. I just want you to know... that I forgive you."

Neal remained by Talia and Shiva for a few moments. They were alive, but getting shot usually took a good deal out of you after all. They weren't going to be getting up and defending themselves anytime soon. "Stay down," Neal insisted as he looked right at Lady Shiva. "It's my turn to lead the fight this time. This time it's really personal for me," Neal said as he stood up and grabbed his own sword. Thankfully Ra's hadn't sent it too far away when he had disarmed Neal. To fight the other assassins, he was going to need it.

Neal's face turned towards Nightwing as he spoke. His words stung now more than ever, now that Neal's mind was clearing of the lies that the League had spoken to him. Neal had hurt everyone deeply, those that he considered family all because of one mistake that he had made. He let it drive him to madness, and now everyone was suffering for it. He had to make things right, but Neal knew that even if he did nothing was ever going to be the same.

It was than that the last fight entered into Neal's mind, Raven's. He hadn't expected her to say anything. She was in his mind, she could say anything and no one would hear it. Every word that she spoke brought more tears to his face, all of them beginning to fall to the ground. Neal couldn't communicate with his mind, but his emotions would be easy enough to read.

Regret and sorrow.

"Let's take these guys down," Neal said before running forward. Immediately he activated his illusion powers, trying to blind the members of the League that were in front of him with darkness. Neal was a good fighter, but he wasn't going to risk getting injured from any of these assassins. Neal had to fight Ra's and Deathstroke as well, they needed every advantage they could afford!