The Next Generation

Neal just walked along with Rose, following her as she moved to each item and grabbed at anything that she was interested in. Neal was just glancing around the story only slightly, as he was still supposed to keep his eyes on Rose. He couldn't help but notice a few other girls seemed to be staring at him, whispering to one another as they looked over to him. Neal looked curiously for a moment before remembering in what good condition he was, and apparently in a store like this girls were on the hunt. Neal just ended up giving a wave before following after Rose who had gotten slightly ahead of him.

As Rose moved over towards the dressing rooms, Neal glanced up when she began to talk to him. He heard her offer, and he was quiet for about a full minute. Part of him knew that he shouldn't, he had only just broken up with Raven after all. However, the other part of him pointed out how important it was to move on. No matter what things weren't going to work out with Raven, so why deny himself something like this?

"You know what........I'd love to come along," Neal finally said after the long silence. "Once again, after you" he said before following her into the changing room.

Rose slowly lifted her eyebrows as Neal went dead silent for a long time following her question. At first, she thought he might have ruptured a blood vessel trying to think of how to respond to the question or something, but she did at least realize he was probably debating with himself. Still, it was kind of amusing. Thankfully, he gave her an answer before her patience ran out completely, though. When he said that he'd love to come in, Rose couldn't help but grin. Now that was what she liked to hear.

"Good choice," she said, laughing quietly under her breath as she opened one of the changing room doors and stepped inside, She held it open for him to follow her inside. A couple other women around the store noticed them both go inside and stared in a mix of confusion and shock. After all, how often did you see a couple go into a dressing room at your local lingerie store without something devious about to happen? But Rose just gave them all a wink, then shut the door behind her.

"Alright, you just sit down there on the bench, and I'll get to changing," Rose said, pointing out the small seat against one wall.

The dressing room was pretty sizable, at least as far as dressing rooms went, so there was still plenty of room for her to take her clothes off and try out all her selections. Quickly stripping down out of her clothes, she stood there for a minute, naked, and stretched her arms out, then leaned back and forth a couple times, popping the knots that had built up over night. Since she hadn't yet worked out, she was still a little sore. Once she was ready, she then began to try out all the different undergarments she had selected, starting first with the simple, practical panties and bras, then moving on the the much sexier and more revealing ones.

When she had finished going through all of them, Rose started taking off the final selection she had been trying off, pulling the thong down to the floor. "So, what do you think?" she asked. "Any that didn't seem worth buying?"

"Thanks, just hope that it's the right one," Neal said as he glanced at Rose and walked past her into the changing room. He didn't see the women that had noticed him entering the changing room, but it wasn't like he cared much anyway. Even if a mall cop suddenly opened the door on them, Neal could make it appear like he wasn't even there. Neal had received bad news last night and he wanted something to cheer him up, it was ultimately why he was doing this in the first place.

Neal took the seat as Rose instructed, getting comfortable and leaning back for what he was about to see. She took off of her clothes and stretched. Neal couldn't help but wonder if the stretching was necessary, or if she was just purposefully making him look at her while moving like that. Either way, Neal wasn't going to complain. She began to change into the outfits that she received. He kept his eyes fixed upon her the entire time, eyes never leaving her.

As she finished and was stepping out of her last outfit, Neal just smiled at her. "Oh no, I think that you pulled off every single one of them perfectly," Neal admitted as he stood up and looked at Rose. "But you know, that's just my opinion"

"That so, ae?" Rose remarked, lifting an eyebrow and smirking at him. She had noticed that his eyes never once even shifted away from her during the whole process. Then again, what straight guy wold look away when presented with that? He definitely liked what he saw, and she liked that he liked it. There were probably other ways for someone to take Neal's mind off of what had happened with Raven, but this was just how she worked.

"In that case, I guess I'll take them all." Rose finished dressing back into her previous clothes, then gathered up all her selected undergarments and stepped out of the dressing room with him. Some of the previous women were still there, and watched them intently as they headed for the register to checkout. Once everything was bagged and paid for, it was off to the next store.

Leading him into the next store, Rose looked around. "Alright, so let's see... I'm going to need shirts, jeans, maybe a swimsuit, and... well that's it, really. I don't do skirts, and I definitely don't do dresses. Just have to mix it up a little with the shirts and pants, go for some different styles. I'm sure you'll help me out with that."

"Honest and truthfully, yes," Neal insisted as he smiled up at Rose. She was pretty, there was no denying that. She was in great shape, probably one of the most nicely shaped females that Neal had ever seen. He wasn't sure that he should be proud of what he did, but it helped to get his mind off of Raven. He was grateful for that, if he focused on it too much it was going to just drive him mad.

As they left the dressing room in favor of other shops, Neal couldn't help but notice some of the women that seemed to have noticed what was going on. Neal just flashed them a nervous smile before moving on. They could probably imagine what had happened after all, no need to stay around and draw a crowd or start asking questions.

As they arrived at the next store, Neal glanced over at Rose as she said what she needed to buy. She had simple tastes, and Neal was just fine with that. She was going to get a swimsuit, that was a good start. At least they might be able to swim together this time instead of her just being naked around him. Of course, after what Neal had just agreed to do back in the other store, it wasn't like there was much difference.

"I'll do what I can to help you pick stuff out, but so far your judgment seems to be working just fine," Neal pointed out as he looked around the store. "I'm sure you'll look nice in anything you try"

"Hmm, I'm sure you're right," Rose responded with a small chuckle.

And with that, she started leading him all throughout the store, going through the various selections of shirts, blouses, jeans, formal pants, etc. Considering she needed a whole wardrobe, she had to pick out a lot. She had about twenty different outfits by the time she was ready to go try everything on. Wheeling the cart on over to the changing rooms, she opened the door to one and stepped inside again. Seeing as how Neal had gone in with her in the lingerie store of all places, she had a good estimation that he'd be coming in here with her as well.

It took much longer to go through all the selections this time around, since she had entire outfits to try on instead of just underwear, but the fact that Neal would be watching someone as hot as her constantly undressing herself, she had an inkling the time would go by very quickly. About thirty minutes later, she finally started removing the last outfit. Standing there in her underwear, she began putting everything back on the hangers and folding the shirts neatly.

"So, what did you think of everything?" she asked. "I'm not sure about a couple of the styles, but I need everything I can get right now."

"Oh believe me, I know I'm right this time," Neal said before following Rose around the store.

It took quite a bit longer this time around to gather the outfits, seeing as how Rose basically needed as much as she could get. She couldn't just stay in gym clothes for the next several weeks after all. As Rose guessed, Neal moved into the changing room with her and watched as she tried on all of the various outfits that she had picked out for herself. As Neal had suspected, she was able to pull them all off with ease; in more than one way of course.

"Well I've personally never been a huge fan of the ripped jean look, but you were able to make it look good," Neal said as she removed her last outfit that she had tried on. "Other than that, I'd say get it all"

"Well alright then," Rose said, putting back on her regular clothes. It felt good to know she'd have a wardrobe again, instead of having to constantly borrow random hand-me-downs from around the tower. There was no telling where those had been in the past four years. It was also good to know that there was at least one person around the tower who would enjoy looking at her in those outfits... especially since he knew what was underneath it now.

Once everything was in order, they left the dressing room again and headed for the counter to pay for everything. While by normal standards, all this would have cost a small fortune, the Titans' bank account had more than enough to cover it. She didn't know what they'd done to get these kinds of funds, but she certainly wasn't complaining about it. Once they were done there, it was time to leave, each of them carrying about ten bags worth of clothing.

"Well, as fun as this has been, I think I'm all shopped out for one day," Rose said. "Time to get back to the tower and work up a sweat."

The moment she said that, both their communicators started to beep. Rose tried to get at hers, but her arms were so full that she was having a little difficulty. Eventually, she figured out to just put the bags down and dig into her pocket to take it out. Cyborg was on the other line. "Hey, Tin Man, what is it?"

"You guys need to get back here, pronto," Cyborg said. "Nightwing just woke up."

Neal moved along with Rose and offered her the card that would let them pay for the ridiculous amount of clothing that they had picked up. Neal would have to shoot Beast Boy a message and remind him about how much of a genius he was. One photo-shoot and that calender was selling better than almost anything else on the market right now. It was giving the Titans a large amount of money, which in turn meant that they took less from the city, something that all the citizens were happy about.

Once they had gathered up all the bags Neal glanced over at Rose. "Oh yeah, cause we're not going to work up a sweat just by carrying all of this stuff," he pointed out before his communicator began to ring. Neal tried to reach for it but ultimately it was Rose that beat him to it. What they heard caused Neal to stare at Rose for a moment.

"We're on our way now, we'll be there as soon as possible," Neal said before looking over to Rose and nodding. "Let's get down there quickly," he said before turning and running out the store and down the streets. Despite the amount of bags Neal was still moving quickly, it helped to be an amazing physical shape. He moved alongside of Rose, making sure she still stayed in his view.

It was only once they got to the tower that Neal motioned for Rose to head inside. "We'll leave the begs out here for now, we need to get to Nightwing ASAP," Neal said before hopping out of the boat and running to the tower. It'd only be a minute or two later that the two of them would arrive at the medical ward.

When they made it into Nightwing's room, the other Titans were all gathered around. None of them looked to be in a great mood, and the reason why would soon be made apparent to the two late arrivals. Rose couldn't help but frown and fold her arms at everyone's expressions. You'd think their pet puppy just died or something.

"So? What's going on?" she asked, glancing at Nightwing. He was sitting up straight, his arms also folded across his chest. And he didn't look happy.

"Might as well tell them what you told us," Cyborg stated.

Nightwing looked up at them and let out a small breath. "It's about the person who attacked me the other night.

Rose felt her heart jump a little. "Oh, right... it wasn't me, was it?"

"Uh... what? No, it wasn't you," he answered, seemingly confused by the question. It was a strange thing to ask, after all, considering he didn't know the full story about her taking down the security systems yet. "It was the Red Hood, Jason Todd."

"Todd?" Rose repeated, lifting an eyebrow. "That psychopath? You know, as much as I like watching him run around in tight pants, that bozo really needs a new hobby. So what was the point? He just drag you out of bed, beat you up, and then go on his merry way? That how he gets his rocks off now?"

Nightwing slowly shook his head. "No, it was warning, apparently. For some reason, he wants the Titans to leave the city. He said if we don't, then he'd come back, with 'friends', and do the same thing to the whole team. He gave us three days."

"Which leaves... a day and a half left, then," rose pointed out. "But we're not going to listen to him, are we? No way I'm just going to roll over for that asshole."

"Of course not," Cyborg replied. "We know he's coming. We know when he'll be here. We'll have time to prepare. No way we're going to be bullied out of our tower, our home. That bastard doesn't have any idea over the can of hurt he just opened up. When he gets here, you can guarantee that we're going to show them why you don't mess with the Titans."

Neal listened as Nightwing explained everything that had taken place. Jason Todd, The Red Hood. Neal had heard about the man, Nightwing had spoken of him before. Neal didn't know the full story, but he knew enough that Todd would probably be willing to keep that promise up should the Titans refuse to leave. He couldn't recall Jason having many friends to call upon, but if he meant to attack the Titans he wouldn't do it without at least believing in victory.

It meant that whatever was coming, was intent on destroying the Titans.

So they had roughly a day and a half till Jason would be coming to deliver his message. They would be ready and waiting for him, although something told Neal that Todd wasn't going to just walk through the front door and challenged them to a fight. If he was going to hit them, he was going to do it hard.

"How exactly should we prepare for his coming than?" Neal asked curiously. "We don't even know what kind of back up he's bringing. I know he's strong physically, but if he could get in here than he must be smart enough to know that he doesn't stand a chance against us," Neal added as he looked over to Nightwing. "What do you think boss?"

"We'll start by upgrading security," Cyborg explained. "I can handle that no problem... so long as no one messes with them again."

Rose frowned at him. "Hey, you got me in lock down remember? No need to worry. And when the time comes, you can bet I'll be fighting on your side."

"Other than that," Nightwing said, starting to get up and out of bed. "We just make sure that we're prepared. All Titans are to be on high alert. Be in your gear and have your equipment with you at all times, ready to go at a moment's notice. I don't want Jason catching us with our pants down."

"Mmm, speak for yourself," Rose said, smiling absently. When Nightwing shot her a glare, she just sighed. "Geez, take a joke, will you?"

"We don't know who or what Jason is going to be bringing with him," Nightwing added, "so we have to be ready for anything. Point is, we have to do anything and everything possible to defend our home."

Neal gave a nod as he heard Nightwing's instructions. It was basic and simple, but it was good enough for Neal. Be in gear and uniform at all times, be ready to fight and defend the Tower at any second. Jason wasn't going to send a letter to state that he was coming, if he was willing to beat Nightwing to death than he wasn't the kind of guy that was going to play by the rules.

"Understood, we'll make sure that bastard leaves us alone after this," Neal said as he folded his arms over his chest. "He caught you off guard, but he won't have that luxury again"

And so the next day and a half was left preparing. Cyborg started working on beefing up their security, while the others constantly trained to better themselves, for as much good as a day's worth of training would do. Of course, they also had to make sure they didn't push too hard, or else they'd be exhausted when Jason finally did show up, with whatever help he was bringing. That was the biggest variable in this situation, trying to deal with the surprises.

Rose, of course, was still under close watch. If she had been controlled before to shut down their security, there was no telling what might happen in the middle of a fight. They were still waiting on the results of her blood test, whatever was keeping it. They had sent it off to Batman, who was an expert in this kind of thing, but with how busy he always was, there was no telling just how long it would take him.

And then the third day ended, leading into the night and then finally the fourth morning since Jason Todd's sinister warning. The Titans were already up and ready, waiting for their 'guests' to arrive. There was no sign of them so far, but they had a whole day to go still. They soon found out, however, that they wouldn't have to wait very long. By around ten o'clock, the security alarms began going haywire.

"That's them!" Nightwing said, running up to the command console. Before he had a chance to check on the system status, though, a massive tremor ripped into the tower.

In what could only be described as an odd scene, a massive fist came ripping through the front lounge area, tearing apart the metal beams, glass, and all manner of equipment inside. When the fist disappeared again, there was a massive, gaping hole in front of the tower. Well, at least they weren't trying to sneak up on them.

Neal was busy working himself, trying to strengthen his muscles but also trying to come up with new and clever illusions that might be able to disorient whoever Jason brought with him. The Titans had no idea who they were going to be fighting against, and that almost made it harder. Jason wouldn't make this threat unless he had some muscle. Plus, according to what Neal heard this guy was definitely not above killing.

They'd be fighting for their lives soon.

As the day of the warning came, it became clear that Jason was going to make good on his promise. Within a moment of the alarms going off, a giant fist shot through part of the tower and ended up leaving a giant hole, clearly the entrance that the enemy was going to be using. Well that wasn't quite what Neal had expected, and just who had a fist that big anyway?

Neal stood on guard and waited, wondering just who was going to walk through the hole. Red Hood would certainly be there, but who all was he going to bring with him? Whoever they were, Neal knew that they would have to take them out quickly. Jason wasn't going to mess around, he had delivered a warning and was going to make good on his promise. He would aim to kill all of the present Titans.

"Not inside the tower!" Nightwing said, moving towards the edge of the gaping hole. "Sarah, take it outside!"

Not waiting for another invitation, Sarah gathered them all up in a green bubble and floated them down onto the surrounding island below.

Their enemy was indeed already waiting for them outside, though the most noticeable one would be the ten story tall woman that had punched the hole into their tower, also known as the villainous Giganta, who could alter her body size to massive proportions. Jason had definitely gotten a lot of muscle in that department. Speaking of Red Hood, he was there as well, standing in front of his team, which also included the Atomic Skull, Cheetah, Sun Girl, and Deadshot.

"I see you decided not to listen to my warning," Red Hood said, tightening his gloves. "Big mistake. I'd like you to say hello to my team, the Outlaws. This is going to be a whole lot of fun."

Neal gathered up with all the others, moving outside in order to fight their enemy on equal turf. As they moved down, Neal made out Jason himself, and the giant of a woman that had just punched through their wall. The others he was unfamiliar with. He had never seen them before, maybe their names would spark some interest though.

As they landed down, Red Hood introduced everyone before remarking that the battle was going to be a lot of fun. Apparently he felt like victory was assured, Neal was going to have to make sure that he regretted that kind of attitude. The Titans were the defenders of this city, there was no way that they had aided in defeating Darkseid only to be pushed around by someone like Red Hood!

"How do you guys wanna do this?" Neal asked as he glanced at every member of the outlaws. Neal didn't know their abilities, so he didn't know which one would be best for him to fight.

"I will take the big one!" Starfire declared, already starting to fly at Giganta. It had to be either her or Sarah, as they were the only two really equipped to out muscle someone of that size.

"Alright, Sarah, you go after Sun Girl," Nightwing said. "Your powers are the only ones that can really contain her heat blasts. Cyborg, think you can take Atomic Skull?"

Cyborg already started charging his sonic blaster. "No problem."

"I got Deadshot!" Rose said, sprinting forward with her swords drawn. "I'm the only one who can dodge his shots!" Considering he was probably the most accurate person on the face of the planet with a gun, they really needed someone who could move out of the way before he fired, and with her enhanced reflexes as well as her small precognitive ability, she was the perfect candidate.

"Raven, Cheetah should be a piece of cake for you," Nightwing said.

Raven was already forming her soul-self for an attack. "I am on it!"

Nightwing pulled out a birdarang, moving into attack position. "Fade, you and I got Jason. Titans, together!" And with the battle cry said, the two sides clashed.

And so it was decided, everyone had their opponents picked out. Neal was left with Nightwing to take on the leader, The Red Hood. Good, perhaps if Neal and Nightwing were able to take him down quickly they would make the others lose a bit of their spark to fight. Neal knew that Todd wouldn't be that easy to take down, but thinking positively always helped right? Either way, it was two against one which meant that they had the advantage.

Neal began to move forward, keeping an eye on Jason. "Move in quickly, I'll try to make him lose part of his senses," Neal said before focusing his illusions right on Todd. He tried to make the world appear upside down to Todd, hoping that it would mess up his senses enough to give Neal and Nightwing an edge on him. Once the illusion was cast, Neal quickly moved in to try to engage Jason hand to hand.

"What's the matter, Dick?" Jason said, lunging back and drawing a pair of pistols. "Too afraid to face me yourself? I always was better."

In mid air, he fired several shots at the two charging Titans. However, just as he did, everything went upside down to him, throwing off his aim. It took a few moments to readjust his senses to it, and by that time the two of them were on him in close range. Well, he was certainly no stranger to fighting up close and personal. Granted, he was a little slowed down because of the whole flip flop thing, but that didn't mean he didn't have a few tricks up his sleeve. As Neal landed a kick and pushed him back, Jason pulled out a grenade and pulled the pin, dropping it down by their feet as he rolled away.

"Look out!" Nightwing shouted, jumping back and covering his head, the only part of him that was exposed and not protected by Kevlar reinforced material.

Meanwhile, the other Titans were holding their own. Deadshot couldn't get a clean, well, shot on Rose, and his frustrations over missing so much were clearly evident, as he shouted curses and kept getting sloppier and sloppier. Eventually, Rose managed to slice both his wrist mounted guns right off, eliminating his main attack source. Starfire was landing some solid shots on Giganta, though being that massive, they were little more than staggering her. The one swat that Giganta managed to land, on the other hand, sent Starfire hurtling backwards through the tower.

Cyborg and Atomic Skull seemed evenly matched, as most of their sonic and radiation blasts were cancelling each other out and causing explosions that knocked each other backwards. Sarah was doing well against Sun Girl, blocking any fire attacks with her power ring, and managing to get in some good hits that were knocking her around in the sky. Raven and Cheetah was a complete mismatch, though, as Raven's levitation and soul-self allowed her to handle the ground based melee fighter with ease.

"And this coming from a guy who attacks people in the middle of the night?" Neal asked with a laugh. After all, what kind of warrior who was positive he was better use such an underhanded tactic? Of course, Neal wasn't really one to talk considering he used illusions to aid himself and his teammates in battle.

Although Todd withdrew some pistols, thankfully Neal's illusions caused him to hesitate long enough to where he didn't launch out any of his shots on time. Neal landed a powerful kick on him, but as he did so Jason pulled out a grenade and dropped it at Neal's feet. "Oh crap," Neal said to himself before turning and jumping away like Nightwing had done. He was hoping to not get caught in the explosion, though the blast did end up ringing his ears.

"Damn it," Neal muttered as he quickly tried to push himself back up and turn back to Jason. They couldn't give him much time to recover. There was no telling when he might just pull out a gun and start unloading an AK-47.

Which is exactly what he did. Reaching inside his jacket, he pulled out an AK-47 and took aim, not at Neal, but at Nightwing. A split second later, he unloaded. Nightwing, who was still recovering from the concussion of the grenade barely had a chance to cover his head as the barrage pelted his costume. Granted, it was bullet proof, but the blunt impact would still sting like a bitch.

In the battle around them, some of the Titans were starting to lose ground. While Rose had all but kicked Deadshot's ass at this point, Atomic Skull hit Cyborg with a radiation blast square in the chest that started to mess with his mechanical systems, slowing him down. Giganta had snatched up Starfire with both hands and was starting to squeeze the Tamaranian, trying to crush her. This distracted Sarah, who looked over to try and help, long enough for Sun Girl to hit her with a heat blast so powerful that it seared away part of her power ring generated Lantern suit. At least Raven was still pretty much owning Cheetah.

Well that was scarily accurate. Neal looked in surprise to see that Red Hood truly had an AK-47 on him. He quickly began to fire at Nightwing, pelting him with several bullets. Neal knew that Nightwing's suit was bullet proof, but it would only take so much. He had to get Red Hood to relent somehow. Neal quickly reached into his belt and pulled out an old favorite. A promethium binder. It might not be fast enough to catch Todd, but it would hopefully at least get him to relent his attack.

Neal took a quick aim and fired right at Todd. Afterward, he tried to cause Nightwing to blend in with his surroundings, that way at least Dick wouldn't have all the pressure on him.

Jason was forced to drop his aim and lunge out of the way. He really didn't feel like being caught by one of those things right now, that was for sure. After planting his feet and catching his balance from the dodge, he whirled around again to try and find Nightwing... but to his surprise, the guy had vanished. Well, if Dick was going to hide, he'd just have to be thorough. Reaching back inside his jacket, he pulled out three grenades and tossed them all in a different direction, one of them going towards Neal again.

Meanwhile, Starfire had broken free from Giganta's clutches and delivered a powerful uppercut to the giantess, only to then be blindsided by Sun Girl, knocking her from the sky. Sarah was starting to recover from her recent attack, only to then be hit by a radiation blast from Atomic Skull that threw off her concentration and began to burn her skin. Raven fortunately stopped the attack by pulling Atomic Skull away with her soul-self. Rose, finished with Deadshot, jumped in to join the fight against Red Hood, lunging at him with both swords and forcing him on the defensive.

Neal smiled as Red Hood tried to turn and find Nightwing, he couldn't see through the illusions that Neal had placed though. That was good, Neal would have to pull out the harder stuff if Red Hood continued to be a problem. As Red Hood threw the various grenades, Neal quickly launched out one of his soul-self, morphing it into a hand before launching it up into the air where the grenade would explode harmlessly in mid-air.

Good, now he could focus on the good fight. Neal turned back to Red Hood only to see that Rose had withdrawn her swords and started to lash out at him. She had defeated Deadshot, good, it meant that overall they were winning! As Rose was attacking Red Hood up close, Neal tried to focus an illusion on him, attempting to create a bright flash of light in front of him. He only needed to give rose a moment of opportunity, if he could distract Todd for only a moment Rose could probably take him out easily.