The Next Generation

"Yeah, I'm sorry that we weren't able to get him this time. I didn't think that he would just shoot you like that. I should have just hit him with my most powerful illusion before he knew that we were there," Neal admitted as he sat down on the edge of the bed. "Now he knows that it's the two of us going after him. If we had anyone else with us they would've been right on top of him as well. Which means he now knows how to prepare against us. I'm sorry Rose," Neal said as he looked over at her. He wanted her to know that catching Deathstroke meant a lot to him as well.

"Yeah I can't say that I ever picked up the language myself," Neal admitted. He was good at picking up things, but he couldn't just hear a language and understand what was being said, he had to hear what it meant before it would sink in. "Suppose that we could just talk. I kinda told you a bit about my story, but I didn't hear much about your life. How were things when you were with the Titans the first time?"

Rose let out an amused laugh. "Oh, just swell. They were okay at first, I mean. Good ol' Tim Drake recruited me, after a lot of the original Teen Titans left. At that time, Cyborg was in the middle of a year long repair cycle, he'd been so badly damaged. Should have seen his face when he finally woke up and walked into the kitchen to see me sitting there, carving up a melon with my sword. Guy went totally nuts, though I guess it was kind of to be expected, considering the last time we saw each other, I was trying to kill him. Back when I was under my father's control, of course."

She let out a reminiscent sigh and shook her head. "We tore apart the kitchen that morning, him trying to take me out and me trying to explain to him what was going on. Heck, even Eddie, who you might know as Kid Devil in the Memorial Room, couldn't get him to settle down, but then that was the first time they'd met, of course. Fortunately, Tim showed up a few minutes later and broke it up. But yeah, that was the start of a lot of tension between me and the rest of the group, especially once Cassie, the old Wonder Girl, rejoined the team. Ugh, god she hated my guts. Didn't help that I was framed for being a traitor to the team when we went looking for Raven all across the globe."

Rose folded her arms, frowning a bit. "Funny thing, though, Cassie actually started to like me after a while. Must be my natural charm. Never really thought I'd see it happen, though, because I'm really sure she wanted me dead at times. Kind of like Starfire now, actually... It's weird, you know? They're all gone, now... Eddie, Bart, Cassie... most of the team I was a part of back then. Then, I come back to the current team, and like what, less than a week later the entire thing implodes. Maybe I'm just a magnet for catastrophe, I don't know."

Neal listened carefully as Rose explained a large part of her past with the Titans. He found it fascinating, as he was hearing stories that he had never heard before. Cyborg took a year to repair himself? They had to search across the globe for Raven? Why had he never heard these stories? He supposed that the Titans just had too much history going on, there wasn't enough time to share all of their adventures, they needed to focus on the present.

"What happened with the Titans wasn't your fault. They just......sorta happened," Neal said as he looked over at Rose. "Believe me I wish that it didn't happen, but maybe it really is for the best," Neal pointed out as he smiled. "I mean hey, I got to go to Paris, we're hunting down a crazed assassin, and you can I get to become even better friends as we both makes names for ourselves. You'll get to redeem your name like you wanted to, and I'll finally prove that I really have become a hero," Neal added.

Neal glanced over at Rose once again before moving back and laying his head against a different pillow. "Look, you're a good person Rose. I know that you feel like you have to reclaim your name and everything.........but you don't have to in my opinion. You're a good person, and that's all that I care about personally"

Rose crossed her arms over her chest again and looked up at the ceiling, letting out a long sigh. "Yeah, I guess... I mean, maybe. It's just... my whole life, especially since my father controlled me, I've never been anything but the daughter of a killer. Sure, some of them might have warmed up to me in time, but I always felt like there was a small part of them that was keeping a close eye on me, just waiting for me to betray my allies again. I get that you think I'm a good person and that I've proven myself to you and all, and that's great, I appreciate it... but I want to make sure everyone knows it. I want to make sure that all those who ever doubted me realize they were wrong, that I'm not destined to be a traitor, and that I am a hero, just the same as any of them."

Lowering her gaze again, she winced and readjusted her position, holding her side. "I mean, you think Batman would have helped develop that cure for me if Dick himself hadn't made the request? Not a chance. He never liked me. He's one of the ones that always thought, and still does think, that I'm likely to turn on you guys again. And you can forget about any of the other big shots, like the Justice League or the Justice Society ever giving me the benefit of the doubt. No... the Titans were the only ones that ever gave me a chance, and while I'm grateful for that, I want to make them all know that I deserve that chance."

Neal listened to Rose speak, and he couldn't help but feel sympathetic to her problem. No wonder she so badly wanted to catch Deathstroke. The man had physically and emotionally controlled her for years, and even now that she was free he continued to weigh upon her. It was why she wanted to take him down so badly, it would prove to everyone that she really was a hero and belonged with the other heroes of the Justice League. It was similar to Neal, but hers had far more on the line. She really did just want a good name again, she wanted the trust and care of others.

"Well, I can't force anyone to change their minds about you. The only thing I can do is what I've been trying to do these past few weeks. I'll help you catch and defeat Deathstroke, by doing that the others will be forced to acknowledge that you hold no love for that man anymore," Neal said as he looked over at her. "We'll get him next time, I'll pull out every stop I have to make sure that he doesn't get away next time"

Rose smiled. If there was only one thing that she could choose about Neal that she admired, it was his determination. Just like her, he didn't let the little things slow him down. They had failed here, sure, and it was frustrating as hell, yeah, but they weren't going to relent. They'd track down her father, and they'd stop him, together. "Yeah, I know you will. And I'm glad you're here with me, you know. Couldn't imagine being out here, trying to do this on my own... I mean, I'd still go just as hard, if not harder, but it would still suck, never having anyone to talk to, being bored all the time, being alone..."

Slowly rolling out of bed, Rose got up and started walking across the hotel room, towards the sink. She really needed a glass of water. Clutching her side as she went, she leaned against the edge of the sink for a moment and straightened out her bra, which had gone all crooked and uncomfortable during the whole removing the bullet thing. Once satisfied with it, she started pouring herself a cup of water.

"You know, after all this time, and after everything that's happened recently," she started, glancing at him in the mirror. "You're probably the best friend I have right now."

Neal just smiled as Rose said that overall she was glad that Neal had followed her and agreed to help take down Deathstroke. He knew how much this meant to Rose, and it honored Neal that she was happy he was here. It meant she didn't think that he was slowing her down, he wasn't making her weak. Her words brought comfort to Neal. "Well, I really am glad that you had me come along. Even without capturing Deathstroke today, I have to admit I would probably never have come to Paris if not for you"

As Rose got up and went to get herself some water, Neal just watched her as she got the water. He heard her mention that she believed that he was her best friend at the moment. Neal smiled and sat up straighter in the bed. "Well, I'm glad that you can see me that way. Of course, if memory serves you were interested in a lot more than friendship the first day that we met," Neal pointed out with a chuckle.

Rose couldn't help but smirk back at him in the mirror, as he reminded her of when they first met. "So I was," she said, finishing the last of her water. "I mean, hell, you were new meat, and you look great in those tight pants." Turning back to him, she leaned her hands against the counter behind her. "You know how I am by now, couldn't help but try and see if I could entice you... You do look like you'd be good on the sack, after all. Plus, I knew Dick wouldn't be interested, I've already tried and failed with him. Tim, too... Something about those bird boys, they're immune to my charms. But, in any case, it just wasn't to be, since you had a girlfriend and all."

She was quiet a moment, then folded her arms. "Of course, you are a free man now... and, to be honest, I normally would have had you in bed two weeks ago. But... I don't know, perhaps I've grown to like you too much just to use you for sex, like I have a lot of others. I guess you mean more to me than that. Maybe. Verdict is still out." She chuckled, then walked back to the bed and lay for again, flinching at the pain in her side. "Then again, a lot of guys I know wouldn't mind being used for sex."

Neal just continued to sit up on the bed, watching Rose as she continued to talk. "Hah, believe me when I saw that you're not the first person to say that," Neal said as he glanced down at his own pants. Perhaps it was just something about Neal in uniform, even Shiva was all over him despite having not seen one another for five years. It wasn't like Neal was complaining though.

As Rose continued to speak, Neal just smiled as she talked about how important he actually was to her, and that was why she hadn't tried to pull him into bed so quickly. She actually cared about him and didn't want to ruin the bond that they had. It was a nice thing to here from her, and Neal had a feeling that she didn't say that kind of thing often. As Rose laid back on the bed, Neal kept his gaze on her. "For me, I'd want it to mean something. I have to have that connection with someone before taking that big step. Even if I wasn't a couple with them, I'd still need to feel important to them...........guess I'm old fashioned like that," Neal said with a weak chuckle.

Rose smirked, glancing up at him from her position. "Well, guess we'll just have to see where things go, huh?" Reaching over, she gave his leg a couple pats, then joined it with her other hand behind her head. "Certainly not going to happen right now, though, I can tell you that. I never like to give anything less than a hundred and ten percent when it comes to that, and I'm certainly not going to be able to with a bullet wound. But, who knows? It'll likely be months before we pick up Deathstroke's trail again... plenty of time to be spontaneous."

Letting out a yawn, she scooted back a little farther onto the bed, then rolled over to sift through her belongings on over the side. She eventually returned with a simple white T-shirt and a tight, stretchy pair of pajama shorts. After slipping into them and feeling a whole lot more comfortable, she brought her head down to the pillow and hugged it against herself. "Mmm... sure hope this wound feels better in the morning."

Neal gained a small smile as Rose said that they would have to wait and see where things went. They had been together for several weeks now, and he'd be lying if he said that he didn't like her and wasn't interested. It was like he told himself so many weeks ago, he had to move on from Raven sometime. Perhaps he and Rose weren't soul mates, but maybe they could at least be together and see where things went? Neal would like that, Rose was a good person to be around after all. And she was beautiful.

"I'm sure that it will. It just needs some time to close, that's all. And with your body's healing process I'm sure you'll be better in no time," Neal said with a smile as Rose got ready for bed. "Well, I'll catch you in the morning Rose. Rest well," he said before moving over to his own side and closing his eyes.

Two months later...

"G-god, it's f-fucking f-f-freezing," Rose muttered, looking through her binoculars. The two were currently perched atop a snowy mountain ledge, overlooking a military facility down below in the valley. A driving snowfall came down around them, coupled with biting winds. The snow had built up to over a foot already, and despite all her bodily enhancements, she didn't come with internal temperature regulation. "Why did h-he have t-to take a j-job in the m-middle of fucking R-Russia?"

The target was a Russian general, situated in this military base. It was heavily guarded, of course, though that hardly would pose a problem for Deathstroke, or the two of them. Knowing that the general was likely well within the interior of the base, it meant that Deathstroke would have to go with a stealth infiltration kill. The only information they had to work with so far was that, last they had heard a couple days ago, the general was still alive, meaning Deathstroke hadn't arrived yet. If they got there first, they could stop him, she was sure.

She glanced over at Neal for a moment. In the two months that had followed their departure from Paris, they'd spent almost every waking hour tracking down all manner of underworld slum lords who might be handing out assassination contracts, concentrating on those with the most money, the only ones likely to be able to afford Deathstroke's price. While Deathstroke had certainly been covering his trail much better this time, they had still been able to learn where he was heading. Now, they had another opportunity.

Of course, because they'd been so busy and exhausted with traveling, investigating, and interrogating international crime lords, there had been little room for their relationship to develop into anything more than the close friendship and partnership that they had already built. That's not to say there wasn't a lot of tension between them... sexual tension, because their was. So much so. Rose felt it all the time, whenever they stopped for a breather and had a moment to themselves, but considering their schedule, nothing ever seemed to happen. She was almost certain that something would, eventually... just not yet.

"Do you s-see anything?" Rose asked, looking back through her binoculars. They were waiting for either a clear moment to make their own infiltration, or spot Deathstroke as he was making his. Chances were, he'd be disguising himself as a Russian soldier, coming in on a convoy. Their eyes had to be extra sharp.

"You said it," Neal said through his own heavy breaths. He had heard that Russia was cold, but he never thought that it would be anything like this. It was like the moment they arrived they had just been trapped in one icy hell hole. Neal couldn't wait for them to be done so that they could just go to some sort of a beach or something next. As Neal kept his gaze forward he wrapped his coat around himself tighter, not wanting to be weakened by the cold before the fight even began.

It had been two months since Paris, and Neal and Rose had spent the time busily pursing any lead that might know of Deathstroke's presence. The good thing about Deathstroke being so secretive though, not even his own clients could really get back into contact with him. Anyone that Neal and Rose interrogated had no way of informing Deathstroke that they coming. They hadn't exactly been willing to talk, but Rose wasn't taking no for an answer. Neal used his power when necessary, only enough to make them realize what would happen if they refused.

Some took longer than others, but all of them talked eventually.

"Not yet, everything seems quiet so far," Neal said as he kept scanning the area with his vision. "So far everything appears to be normal. I'm just worried that Deathstroke will take better steps to disguise himself this time. He covered up his trail better, but I bet he'll still be looking for us"

"He can disguise himself all he wants," Rose muttered zooming in with the binoculars. It looked like a group of military jeeps were approaching from the south road. "We now he's going to be here, and I know how he thinks. We'll find him. See there? Incoming convoy. They'll open the gates for it when it arrives, that's our ticket in. And Deathstroke's, if he's nearby. Hell, he's probably on the convoy itself. Ready? Make us invisible and let's get going."

Tucking away the binoculars into her heavy overcoat, she stood up and jumped onto the snow slope in front of them, sliding down quickly to the bottom. Then, it was a hurried trek through the snow to get to the gates before the convoy got there, so that they could enter the base and look for the general. If they could find him, then they would be sure to be in the right spot for when Deathstroke decided to show up.

"Fair enough, let's just make sure we grab him this time. I'd rather not go through another five months of tracking him down....though the sooner I get out of Russia the better," Neal admitted as he watched the convoy showing up. "Alright I'll make us invisible, just don't make any noise and we should get in unnoticed, let's go," Neal said before activating his illusions in order to make them invisible. Along with that he also affected the snow beneath them, making sure that no one would see footprints forming out of nowhere.

Right as Rose left, Neal quickly followed and ran down after her. She was still faster than him, but Neal was at a good enough pace to the point where he wasn't going to miss the gate, not by a long shot. Neal quickly moved alongside the convoy, knowing the sound of the vehicle would mask the sounds of their running through the snow. It was only going to be a matter of time before they confronted the assassin again.

When the gates finally opened, Rose waved for Neal to hurry and then slipped inside. The guards didn't give them so much as a passing glance, because to as far as they were concerned, there was only a convoy. The two intruders slipping past their defenses were completely invisible. Once inside the military base, Rose reached into her jacket and pulled out an electronic device. She hit a few buttons and then examined the screen, which showed a layout of the compound, as given to them by an imaging satellite.

"Alright... we need to find the main bunker," she said, looking around. All she saw right now were a bunch of guard posts, some storage buildings, and garages for housing their vehicles. "Probably somewhere near the back of the facility, let's keep moving." Trudging straight past a large group of Russians soldiers, she led Neal across the central courtyard area and through a long row of barracks. The bunker should be around there somewhere...

"There," she said, pointing out a much larger building beyond the barracks. "Must be it, come on." Hurrying up to the entrance of the bunker, Rose examined the door only to frown and let out a sigh of disappointment. "Shit, electronically locked. Only way in or out is with an electronic key card, it looks like... unless you know how to hack security systems. You... don't happen to know how to hack security systems, do you?" It was a shot in the dark, but worth asking. If not, they'd have to go searching around all the Russian soldiers and try to pick pocket a key card off one of them.

Neal and Rose slipped in easily, just as they planned. None of the soldiers even looked their direction in suspicion, Neal only took pride in that as he believed that the level of detail in his illusions were getting better. When he first tried to go invisible he only managed to blur himself. Now only those with extremely keen vision might notice that something was off. The snow thankfully helped add to their cover as well.

As they moved trough the compound, Neal kept an eye out to see if anyone was strange so far. Rose mentioned that Deathstroke might even by on the convoy already, which meant that they would have to work quickly if they were to succeed this time around. As Rose asked her question Neal shook his head. "Sorry, it wasn't the kind of skill the Titans thought I should learn," he said with a slight joking tone in his voice. "Although in retrospect perhaps it's something I should invest in............how do you want to go about getting a key card?"

"Well, chances are a lot of the higher ups have one, officers and the like," Rose said, thinking. "No sense in checking the small fry for one, they likely don't have access to the general's bunker. So, I guess we have to go find an officer, and try to pickpocket a key card off him." ust as she said that, however, the door in front of them opened, as a group of three or so officers walked out, engrossed in conversation. Rose juts blinked stupidly.

"Or... we wait for someone to come out, like that," she uttered, shrugging her shoulders and quickly slipping inside before the door closed behind them. Now that she and Neal were inside, where it was much warmer for one, they had to seek out the general. He would probably be far inside the bunker, beyond a lot of protection from his fellow soldiers. After all, it wasn't like a military base to be lax on the security.

Waving her arm silently for Neal to follow, Rose began wandering forward through the main corridor, keeping an eye out for the Russian guards that patrolled by them very now and then. Though they couldn't be seen, they were still solid, and bumping into someone would be a great way to give themselves away.

"Alright, maybe I can create something that will allow us to pickpocket one of the guards. If I just trick his eyes into thinking that he saw something, maybe we can just-" but Neal was cut off as the door behind him opened and some guards walked out. "Well, that was fairly convenient" Neal admitted before moving in after Rose in order to enter the door before it shut and locked itself again. There was no way they were going to miss their chance.

Neal quickly began to follow Rose, knowing that they needed to enter that bunker before it was too late. They had to keep moving and still avoid being seen. It was the only way to get to the target and stop Slade from killing him. Of course, even if they beat him there was no guarantee that the russians would let Neal and Rose go for sneaking into their base. They would cross that bridge when they came to it though.

As they continued to move through the bunker, however, someone was watching them. Shadowing from the dark corners of the building, a figure watched their every move, somehow not fooled by the illusion that was supposed to be keeping them hidden. He waited until they were approaching a widened hallway, passing by a group of four guards. At the right moment, he pulled out a small electronic device and clicked the big red button on it. Instantly, their disguise burned away in the eyes of the Russian soldiers.

The guards stared in confusion for a few moments as Neal and Rose seemingly appeared out of thin air, then pointed their automatic weapons at them and started shouting in Russian. Rose just froze, slowly glancing over at Neal in confuse. "Uh... hey, Neal?" she muttered, "How come they can see us?"

The guards continued shouting, ordering them to surrender and get down on the ground. As good as she was, even she couldn't close the distance between her and the four men before they unloaded on her. If she were closer, sure, she could take them out before they knew what was going on, but they had a distinct advantage in range. So, she did the only thing she could do, started to get down on her knees, with her hands behind her head.

Neal kept moving with Rose not even noticing that anything was wrong until she spoke up. "What?" he asked before looking down at himself. Well, that was definitely problematic. But that was impossible! Unless it was direct pain, or a higher power like Darkseid, no one had ever been able to forcefully cancel out Neal's illusions! "Something's wrong Rose, I didn't cause that," he said quickly.

It was only a second later that the Russians began barking orders at Neal. "Ya know, I should really take a few months and try to learn some languages," Neal muttered to himself before getting on his knees as Rose did. His mind was thinking like hers, if they were closer Neal and Rose might be able to take them, but at this distance they were just going to get killed.

Fortunately, Rose spoke fluent Russian, having learned a long time ago when she was younger. Mostly, they were just shouting insults and orders for them to get down and surrender, stuff like that. Nothing that was really important to understand at the moment. At least they seemed to be willing to keep the two intruders alive for the time being, if only to interrogate later on. It took only a few minutes before they were cuffed and restrained. Had there not been three other automatic weapons pointed at her, the man trying to handcuff her would have been out cold before he could even blink, but given the circumstances, she didn't try anything.

Before long, they were being marched farther into the bunker, then led into a small room with blank walls, a table, and a few chairs. The officers forced them into the chairs, and then tied them down with rope, as if the handcuffs weren't enough... which, yeah, okay, the handcuffs really wouldn't be enough. They then said something about waiting here while they go a superior... or an interrogator. Rose's Russian was a little rusty, but she was prety sure it was interrogator.

"Well, this is just swell," she muttered, as they were left alone in the room, being watched from the security camera in the corner.

Russian sounded like a very angry language to Neal, but perhaps it was just because the soldiers just saw two kids pop up out of nowhere. That kind of act tended to get people flustered when it happened out of nowhere. Neal supposed that he couldn't blame them. Still, the fact that they had been caught, handcuffed, and now lead down away from the target that they needed to help wasn't good at all. It wasn't long before they were taken to chairs and tied down, these Russians really knew how to take precautions.

"I'm telling you that something's wrong, I wouldn't just drop an illusion like that. I haven't done that since a month into working with the Titans," Neal said in annoyance. Something was very wrong, but what? Did the Russians have technology against this kind of thing? Or was it something else altogether? "I'm sorry Rose"

"Well, you never failed before now," Rose commented, slowly looking around the room. She was already plotting on how best to escape. "No reason to think you'd just suddenly fail now for no reason, so of course something is messing with your power. If I had to make a bet, I'd say Deathstroke... he must have known we'd find him here, and figured out a way to counter your illusions. Only thing I could possibly think of. I doubt the Russians are hoarding super power illusion detectors for no reason."

Several more minutes ticked by. Rose was already starting to work on the cuffs binding her hands behind her back. She kept a lock pick up her sleeve for these sorts of situations, so if she could just angle it right and find the the keyhole... She was getting close, working the pick around to try and break the cuffs open. If she could do that, then with her enhanced strength, she could tear away these ropes no problem.

About midway into her lock picking session, however, in walked a man dressed in a Russian military uniform. But it wasn't a Russian soldier, far from it... It was Deathstroke in disguise.

"Thanks," Neal said as he kept his attention on the door. He didn't want Rose to start thinking that Neal was trying to sabotage her or let her down. He really wanted to help her and succeed, but for the moment they were going to have to work out how to get out of this room. Neal glanced over as Rose began to fumble with something. He quickly averted his gaze though, not wanting anyone else to think that anything was going on.

It was only a few minutes later that someone walked into the room, causing Neal to freeze up instantly. It seemed like a Russian soldier, but it clearly wasn't. Deathstroke had come to gloat apparently. Neal just narrowed his eyes. "How did you block out my power? No one's ever been able to do that to me before"