The Next Generation

Jordan waited as Rose pocketed her phone, wondering just what on Earth she had been texted about. Jordan knew about Ravager, and just what kind of work she did exactly. Jordan couldn't help but be worried that something really bad had happened. As Rose turned to explain to her that they needed her at the Tower, Jordan could only give a nod. "Yeah, my hotel isn't that far from here, I can get there easily from here," Jordan insisted. She had already checked out the College yesterday, but perhaps now it was worth a second look? "Just be safe Rose, keep Neal safe as well," Jordan said as they held the hug for several moments. "I'll see you again soon I hope. You and Neal promised to take me out to dinner sometime!" she called after Rose before leaving the shop herself.

"Please let them be safe," Jordan muttered to herself as she walked down the street. Jordan didn't realize it, but just as she left the shop a man standing on the sidewalk glanced at her. He took a few moments to look around and make sure no one was watching him, and without hesitating he began to follow the girl.

---

Cyborg glanced up as Rose suddenly entered back into the tower. He hated to cut off her plans with Jordan, but this couldn't be kept waiting. He glanced past her, as if expecting to see someone else. "Is Neal with you?" he finally asked in a curious tone. "I've been trying to call him, but he went out and apparently forgot his phone. It was still sitting on the couch where he was earlier today"

Rose blinked back at Cyborg, narrowing her eyes. "Uh, no, Neal isn't with me... I was out with his sister buying this." She held up the plastic wrapped wedding gown. She was sure that he was just out getting some fresh air somewhere, or maybe he was back in their room doing something, and he'd just forgotten his phone. That was all it could be, right? "Why, what's going on, what's this about? You mentioned it was urgent."

"Well, I'm sure he's fine but right now we have bigger problems," Cyborg said as he turned on a screen that showed a clip of the news playing. "Someone apparently broke into police headquarters today and is holding the commissioner and several other high ranking police officers hostage. This guy hasn't made any demands yet, but according to eyewitnesses they weren't even able to touch him," Cyborg said before looking over at Rose.

"Right now the entire place is surrounded by a large number of the San Francisco Police, but they want us to go in and take on this guy before anyone seriously gets hurt. They have snipers placed all around the building but they haven't been able to see any signs of movement"

Rose watched the news intently, rubbing her chin in though. Whoever the suspect was, chances were, it was not a normal person. Expertly trained most likely, and very possibly a metahuman. A single normal man couldn't exactly storm the police headquarters like that and expect to come out standing. You'd need an entire group to do something like that, a well coordinated group at that, with lots of firepower. But for one man to do it... interesting.

"I see," she remarked, letting out a small breath. "And where are the others? They ready to handle this?"

"The others are getting prepared, I told them that you were on the way and we decided to wait for you. I'd rather have Neal here for something like this, but we're just going to have to fill him in later, or hope that he hears the news and meets us there," Cyborg said as he stood up. "Come on, we can have Raven teleport us there instead of traveling. This might be a matter of time, for all we know this guy's getting ready to blow up the entire place or something like that," Cyborg added as they moved along to join with the others.

"Well, I wasn't too keen on running back across the city anyway, so teleportation sounds pretty good, if you ask me," Rose agreed, with a nod.

Just as she said this, the other Titans began to show up at least the ones that were active. Joey was still more or less retired same as Starfire, only jmping back into action when the situation really called for it. A simple hostage situation, though, was hardly something that required calling in the reserves. So that left the group with Rose, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, and Hot Spot, with Neal missing at the moment.

"Everyone ready?" Cyborg asked, "Then let's get going."

With that, Raven opened her arms and engulfed them all in her soul-self. When they reappeared, they were standing outside the police headquarters. The place was surrounded by legions of officers, SWAT teams, and the like. Whatever was going down here was big, that was for sure. The biggest questions of course were, who was the suspect, and what did he want?

As the Titans arrived on the scene, the first thing that they would hear was the racket that was being caused due to how many people were around. There were crowds, news anchors, and several hundreds of police surrounding the building. It was clear that the situation was being taken extremely seriously. It wasn't every day that something like this happened after all. There were several people in there, and no one knew who this guy was or what he wanted.

As they arrived a police officer glanced in their direction and ran over. "Titans, thank God you're here," he said before extending his hand forward and shaking Cyborg's hand. "Nothing we've tried has worked. "We tried to send in a SWAT team earlier. We heard them for about five minutes before everything went blank. This guy either defeated them, or they're dead," the officer said as he turned his direction towards the building.

"We don't have much data to offer you, the only thing that we can tell you is that he's either on the second or third floor last we checked. He's staying away from the windows, but our snipers report that they see shadows moving. This guy knows what to stay away from, and he's already proven that a frontal assault won't work," the officer said as he glanced towards them. "Can you get in there and save our people?"

"Sounds like a real pro," Rose commented, folding her arms and shifting her weight. Whoever this guy was, he was good.

"We'll do everything we can to get your men out alive, sir," Cyborg said, with an affirmative nod. "But first, we need to figure out what we're dealing with. We're not going in there blind. Raven, think you can provide some assistance with that?"

Raven raised her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes. "Affirmative," she replied, sending out her soul-self into the building, using as an astral projection to get inside the building unnoticed. Hopefully, she would be able to identify their target.

"I'll go in, too," Beast Boy said, turning into a bird and flying up towards the building. He went up to the roof, then turned into a spider and started crawling through a vent to get inside. Whoever this person was, they'd find out, and then they'd be able to come up with a plan to get the hostages out alive.

"I wish you guys good luck, if you need any assistance from us don't hesitate to ask. We will do anything it takes to get our men out of there," the officer said before giving a salute of respect and walking back towards the other officers. A few of the press began to pressure him as well, apparently asking him about the conversation that he had with the Titans went. Who could blame them for their curiosity?

Both Raven and Beast Boy would be able to enter into the building easily. There was no defense set up, and they would soon understand why. One of them or both were bound to hear voices on the second floor of the building. Once they checked into it, they'd find a scene that would greatly confused them.

"You bastard, whoever you are I'll make sure that you go to jail for the rest of your life. You have my word on that," the police commissioner said as he struggled against invisible bonds. It looked like he was just sitting in a chair, and yet he couldn't move himself out of it.

"I told you to be quiet," the voice of Neal suddenly said as he stood by the doorway. "I already told you, none of you are going to get hurt over this. I'll die myself before anything else happens," he said as he checked the hallways to see if anyone else was coming up. "With luck I'll be out of here before anyone else has to be hurt, don't worry," Neal said in a weak voice. Despite being in his Titan outfit, it seemed like the police didn't recognize Fade as he stood in front of them. He must have been using an illusion to fool them.

Raven immediately pulled her consciousness back out of the building. Her eyes opened wide in surprise at the revelation of what was going on, of who the suspect really was. But there was more to this situation, there had to be. It just... it didn't make any sense. "It's Fade," she said, blinking straight forward in surprise. She was calling him by his codename in case anyone nearby was listening to them. They always used their codenames when in the field. "The suspect... it's Fade. He's the one that broke in and took hostages."

"What?" Rose said, staring at her. "You're not serious, he... he can't be." Raven was mistaken, she had to be. There was no way that Neal, the man she was about to marry soon, was responsible for this. She knew him, he wasn't a criminal.

"No, I am certain," she insisted. "Beast Boy is keeping tabs on him right now."

"But that doesn't make any sense," Hot Spot said, folding his arms. "Fade is one of us, he's not a criminal. Why would he do something like this?"

Cyborg looked over at the building intently. "There must be more going on here than we realize... this is a guy who's about to get married, a guy who's dedicated everything to being a hero. He wouldn't just throw that all away."

"I'll go find out right now," Rose said, sprinting off towards the police headquarters entrance. If it was Neal in there, then there was no way he was going to really hurt anyone. There was no way he'd hurt her, either... if she could just get inside to talk to him, maybe she could figure out what was going on.

"Ravager, hold on!" Cyborg called.

But she didn't listen, instead bursting straight through the front door and running to the stairs to head up to the floor that Neal was on. "Neal! Neal, where are you!"

Neal's eyes suddenly shot up as he heard someone on the stairs. Another frontal attack? Were they really going to try that again? The last SWAT team that had come up was now locked in a broom cupboard. It was amazing how hard it was to fight a target when you couldn't even find your way around a building. They were safe and unharmed, but Neal had to make sure that they didn't interfere in what was going on. He focused his mind preparing to make sure that whoever came up those stairs received the same treatment.

However, it was as he heard the voice and the name that was called that Neal's eyes widened. "What? Rose?" he asked himself as he knew that voice anywhere. How did she know that it was him? There was no way that anyone would have been able to tell that it was him, he made himself look different! Had he been careless and been spotted somehow? Now wasn't the time to worry about it. He had to come up with something.

He cast an illusion upon Rose as she walked up the stairs. The rooms in front of her would begin to peel away as if she was in a vision, everything would soon be replaced by white. "Turn around, you're not supposed to be here," a random voice said. Neal wasn't even sure why he bothered covering up his voice, but he felt like he should.

Rose froze as soon as the environment began to change in front of her. One moment she was standing on the second floor of the police headquarters, and the next moment she was in a place of pure, blank white. Not exactly what you'd call user friendly. "Neal, stop this," she said, looking around carefully, though it didn't matter how hard she looked. If this was one of Neal's illusions, she wasn't going to be seeing around it any time soon. "What's going on, why are you doing this? There has to be a reason, you're not a criminal, I know you. Just... just tell me, please. Tell me you're not trying to throw everything away."

Neal just stood at the end of the hallway, watching as his illusion took place and Rose could no longer see what was truly around her. She spoke, and Neal felt his insides cringe as she did. Her voice, he could feel the accusation of betrayal already coming. He just stared at her, listening as she asked about her questions. He didn't know what to do, he had to come down here for obvious reasons and they said if he told anyone that the consequences would be severe. Neal knew criminals, what were the odds they were going to keep that promise though?

The illusion suddenly faded, leaving Neal/Fade standing at the end of the hallway. "I'm not a criminal Rose, but I have to do this," he said as he glanced at the police officers that were in the other room. He was quiet for a long time before looking right up at Rose. He removed his helmet slowly and tears were running down his eyes. "Rose...........they have Jordan"

Rose flinched at the apparent explanation for why Neal was doing this. Whoever 'they' were, apparently they were holding Jordan and forcing him into doing this. That would explain things, certainly. It would be a perfectly logical reason for him doing something like this. It would all make sense... if it were true. As much as Rose wanted to believe it, something obviously wasn't adding up about the whole thing, and it was pretty obvious what that was. "Neal... I just saw Jordan not twenty minutes ago. We were together all day, shopping for my wedding dress. I got the call about this situation before we parted. They couldn't have had Jordan before you did this... Neal, what's really going on?"

"I told you they have Jordan," Neal said although he could understand Rose's confusion. "I was at the tower earlier today when I got a call on my cell phone. I answered it, assuming that my family got a new phone or something like that. It wasn't them though, it was a man saying that he knew who I was and who I REALLY was," Neal said as he looked right at Rose. "At first I didn't believe him, but the more he kept talking the more I realized I knew the voice. It was Deadshot," Neal said as he crossed his arms. "He told me that he was paid in order to make sure that I complied with his bosses demands, and that he was standing at most ten feet away from you," Neal continued to explain.

"At first I didn't believe him, until I heard you and Jordan talking in the background about how you didn't really want to be there," Neal continued on. "You were walking to the store, you weren't there yet. Once I was convinced, he told me that I needed to come here and fake an attack in order to distract the police. He said that if he didn't he would pull out a gun and blow your head off, and than he'd kill Jordan..........slowly," Neal finally added as he looked weakly at the ground.

"So here I am..........I didn't know what else to do. I was going to tell the others, but he told me that I was being watched. He even told me exactly where I was in the tower, it's like he had eyes on me the entire time. I've never felt so.........exposed," Neal admitted as tears came to his eyes. "I know that he must have been lying, but he said that if I didn't comply he'd kill you before you even had a chance to react...........and I couldn't let that happen," Neal said as he looked up at Rose. "He said they were going to hold on to Jordan to make sure that I complied. He's either lying......or they picked her up after you left," Neal said weakly.

"I'm sorry Rose, I just didn't know what else to do. I know they might kill her once they're done, but I had to at least buy you guys some time. If I said no, you would be dead right now"

Rose narrowed her eyes and lowered her gaze as Neal went on with the full explanation. Well, that definitely made a whole lot more sense now. Of course, it did very little to actually ease her mind. So Deadshot, of all people, had been shadowing her and Jordan while they were at the store... that whole time. And he knew who Neal was, and who she was, to get him to do what he wanted. That second-rate psychopath... she swore, if she got her hands on him again, she'd break his damn neck.

"That son of a bitch," she muttered, curling her hands into fists. "Neal, I'm sorry, I should have been more aware, should have stayed with Jordan... or done something. Damn it." She started pacing back and forth, running her fingers through her hair and thinking. How were they going to get Jordan back now? There was no doubt in her mind that, whoever these people were, they weren't just going to play all nice and let her go once this was over. No, they'd either kill her, or keep holding her to force Neal to do more.

"Okay, okay, we just need to figure this out..." she said letting out a deep breath. "Did he say why he wanted you to do this? Distract the police, I mean. Probably to keep us busy while his boss planned something else... and that's another thing. Just who the hell hired him?"

"Don't apologize to me. You did nothing wrong, this is Deadshot's fault and whoever hired him," Neal said seriously as he walked forward and was only two feet away from Rose now. She wasn't to blame, she couldn't have her guard up all the time. It would drive them mad. "And no, he didn't really say why, he was paranoid enough that I'd tell anyone. He made me leave my phone and communicator behind so that I couldn't tell any of you what was going on," Neal explained.

"Whatever he's up to, he wants the police to be too busy saving their own to notice the rest of the city. My guess is that it's probably an attack or a robbery of some kind, being done when the police are too busy to aid them," Neal said as he thought about it. "I can't think of where it would be though, we're in San Francisco after all. Plenty of places worth robbing," Neal remarked.

"Whatever you need to do, you need to be secretive about it. I'm worried, what if they think that I told you and they kill Jordan? What are we supposed to do about that? We don't even know where to start looking"

Rose lowered her gaze and held a hand up to her face, shaking her head. She'd never felt so helpless, unable to do anything to help Neal, or Jordan. She was going to be a part of their family soon, she should be able to do something, anything. Yet, apparently, they'd kill Jordan if she even tried. Or if they even knew that Neal had told her, for that matter. Leaning back up against the wall of the hallway, she slowly sank down to the floor, sitting with her knees bent and holding her arms around them.

"So what would you have me do?" she asked, glancing up at him. "If I even try to help, they'll know that you told me. Thy said they'd release her when you were done here, though, right? Maybe... maybe they'll actually stay true to their word." Of course, even if they didn't, there was no way that the Titans could find them and free Jordan before they were done needing Neal's distraction. Not that the Titans could even try to look anyway.

"Rose do you really think that someone willing to hire Deadshot would actually stay true to their word? The man's a gun-for-fire, he kills for a living and for kicks," Neal said as he remembered the last time that they had faced Deadshot. He was going to kill whoever helped Deadshot escape from prison, that much was certain. "As much as I want to do something I just don't know what I can do," he said as he took a few steps towards Rose. "I just feel like-" but he never got the chance to finish his sentence as the sound of gunfire was heart.

Neal dropped to the floor instantly, the glass from the window falling with him as well. "AHHH!" he shouted as the pain was starting to kick in. He had been hit from the side, it pierced his arm, went through his chest, and out and through the other arm. Even with Neal's protective armor, he was feeling the pain from this one. His blood started to spill onto the ground, while everyone outside was erupting into a fit of noise.

The officer that had spoken to the Titans earlier suddenly rushed over. "We didn't order that shot, I told everyone to hold off until you said otherwise," he said to Cyborg before pulling out some binoculars and looking at the window that had been destroyed. The officer quickly pulled out a radio. "Reynolds you're the only one with a clear view on that window why the hell did you shoot? Reynolds? Reynolds!" the officer shouted before looking over at Cyborg again. "Something's wrong"

Meanwhile, up on the roof opposite of the police building stood a single gunmen after having made his shot. "Damn it kid, I'm tired of missing your heart," Deadshot said to himself as he threw the police sniper rifle to the ground. Reynolds was a few feet away from him, blood pouring from his mouth after the beating that Deadshot gave to him. "Ah well, that's my sign to leave," Deadshot said as he heard the other officer on the radio. They knew his position, and he figured it was only a matter of time before they sent someone to go and look. He quickly ran from the roof, climbing down the fire escape before heading over to a nearby motorcycle.

No way in Hell was he going to fight all the Titans. He was not paid to deal with that kind of shit.

"Neal!" Rose screamed, as the gunshot rang out and the bullet ripped through his body. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, from Neal falling forward, to the glass shattering around him, to the blood that began to spread everywhere beneath him. In seconds, she sprang from her spot on the floor over to his side, kneeling over him and trying to see what, if anything, she cold do for him. But damn it, she wasn't a medic! "No, no, no, Neal stay with me. Hang in there, we'll get help, we'll get- damn it, somebody help in here!"

Beast Boy was already flying out the broken window to the other Titans. He'd been watching the whole thing. "Raven, get in there! Fade's been hit!"

Raven teleported a second later to the second floor hallway. She was at Neal's side a moment later, holding her arms over him and trying to heal most of the damage that had been done to him. She had to close the wounds before he lost too much blood, or else even she wouldn't be able to help him.

"Beast Boy, the shot came from that direction!" Cyborg said, pointing towards the building top where the only sniper could have shot from.

"On it," he replied, forming back into a bird and flying off in that direction. When he found the actual police sniper out cold and blooded, he began soaring over and scanning the current area, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Like Deadshot.

Neal just continued to lay on the ground, he wasn't going to be moving for a while after that shot ripped through his body. He could feel the pain in all of his movements, it might not have been a kill shot but it was definitely one that was debilitating Fade. Plus if he didn't get medical attention soon he was likely going to bleed out soon enough. Neal's vision was growing dark, but he looked up to see Rose in time as she was practically begging for him to stay alive.

He kept his eyes open, scared that if he ever closed them again he might not be able to open them back up. He slowly reached his hand forward, and wrapping it very weakly around Rose's hand. "I won't leave, I'll never leave you Rose," he said weakly before having a coughing fit. His eyes glanced up just once to see that Raven had shown up, already beginning to heal him to stop him from dying.

"Am I going to be okay?"

Beast Boy wouldn't have to look that hard in order to find where Deadshot was. The sound of the motorcycle taking off at a fast speed was enough to cause most people in the area to turn and look at the guy. Clearly he was in a hurry. He began to swerve and change lanes, trying to get as far away from the area as he could. He glanced back once, but he didn't notice the green bird that was in the sky. Deadshot thought that he was in the clear.

"Of course you're going to be okay, you're always okay," Rose assured him, gripping his hand tightly in return. Her gaze slowly shifted over to Raven. "He is going to be okay, isn't he? Tell me he'll be alright."

Raven let out a long breath. "He will live... but I can't heal it all. I might have stopped the bleeding and closed up some of the wound, but the rest is going to have to heal naturally. He'll need to get proper medical care quickly and further treat it, and I don't know if he's going to need surgery or not. Either way, I wouldn't expect him to be doing much for a while."

Rose swallowed, nodding slowly. At least Neal would live, that's what was important. She continued holding his hand tightly, giving him a warm smile. "You hear that? You'll be fine. Just don't try to move."

Meanwhile, Beast Boy was busy chasing after the speeding motorcycle. It was easy enough to spot, racing away like a bat out of hell. That had to be Deadshot. Who else would be fleeing the crime scene so quickly? Only the guy who didn't want to be caught. Beast Boy put on the after burners, flying as fast as his green wings could take him. When he was in proper position, he fell into a dive.

It's a beautiful thing, the peregrine falcon. When in a dive, it's the fastest animal on the planet, capable of reaching speeds of over 200 miles per hour. Even a speeding motorcycle didn't stand a chance against it. And what it stood even less of a chance against was a falcon traveling at 200 miles per hour that suddenly changed into a silverback gorilla in midair, aiming to take him out with a thunderous collision.

Neal listened to Rose's insistence and Raven's analysis of the situation. He wasn't going to die, but apparently the injury was going to stop him from helping for a while. "Damn you Deadshot, bastard probably tried to kill me to stop me from sharing any information," Neal muttered to himself before he let out another series of coughs. He leaned his head and looked right up at Rose. "No matter what happens, do your best to save Jordan okay?" he asked with a very weak smile. "She needs us both, but I guess I won't be able to do anything for a while," he muttered as he looked back at his wounds. "Stop whoever this is, whatever it takes"

Deadshot was smiling to himself. He heard no police sirens, no screaming people that recognized him. He was off the hook! Of course, it was only when it got considerably darker that Deadshot turned around. "Oh shi-" but Deadshot wasn't able to finish the sentence as his ride was suddenly tackled by a giant monkey, a green one of all things. He was sent flying through the air, crashing against the cement and rolling several times.

"Alright you green freak, I'm going to enjoy this," Deadshot said as he stood up and pulled out two pistols. "And for the record, I hunt all the time you nature freak!" he shouted before starting to fire his pistols, aiming right for the center of the Gorilla's chest.

"I promise," Rose said, giving him an affirmative nod. "No matter what it takes, I'll get her back." Somehow, some way, she would keep that promise. Even if they had no leads, nowhere to look, she would get Jordan back. And if she didn't... well, she didn't know if she'd ever be able to face him again.

Raven glanced up at her, curiously. "Jordan? That's... his sister's name, isn't it? What's going on?"

"Long story," she replied. "Right now, we have to get him to the hospital. Can you take us there?"

Raven gave a simple nod before teleporting them to the hospital, where they could get Neal proper medical treatment for his injuries.

---

Beast Boy instantly went from gorilla form to that of a tiny fruit fly. Deadshot's bullets ended up missing by about six feet, as he floated and zipped around through the air quickly and at sharp angles, basically making it impossible for even the world's greatest marksman to hit him. Once he ended up behind Deadshot, Beast Boy transformed into a grizzly bear, reaching around the man's body with his furry arms to hold him in place.

Neal just gained a small smile. "Good.....good, I know that you'll get her back. You're strong like that," Neal said before closing continuing to take deep breaths. He knew that he needed to conserve his energy, he was still very weak after all and he couldn't afford to add any more stress on Rose's plate. "Just do your best, I know that your best will be more than enough," he said before they went to the hospital in order to make sure that Neal got all the treatment that he needed.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Deadshot shouted as he could barely keep track of the fly. "You little shapeshifter you, I'll crush you beneath my boot!" he shouted. Of course Deadshot couldn't react in time before Beast Boy turned into a Bear and wrapped his clawed arms around Deadshot. A bear was too strong for Deadshot to fight, and his body just went limp.

"Damn it, I need to up my prices for jobs like these," he muttered to himself in annoyance.