The Next Generation

Deathstroke flipped up both of his pistols and took aim. Behind his mask, he was smirking. "I'm going to enjoy this," he said, mostly to himself, then opened fire. He hit nothing but headshots.

Huntress joined the fray, running through the crowd of enemies and firing off her crossbow at close range, while smacking around others with her staff simultaneously. She wasn't just aiming to beat them around, though, she was hitting vital pressure points that caused them to drop instantly.

Dick began throwing explosive batarangs at any target he spotted, and then began punching their faces in with electrically charged brass knuckles.

Ra's, Lady Shiva, and Talia were probably the most... graceful about their killing. While Ra's slipped through the crowd in a sword dance unlike any other, Talia ran from enemy to enemy with a pair of sais, stabbing at the back of their necks. Shiva, of course, used her hands as her weapon. Just like Huntress, she hit lethal pressure points. The only difference, she was using her fingers to do it, and very few of them could actually follow her motions, they were so quick and fluid.

Sarah held her ring forward and fired concentrated beams of green willpower at them. Each blast hit an enemy square in the chest and dropped them. Eventually, she got bored with that and formed a giant wrecking ball-like object attached to a long chain. She then began to swing it around, blasting apart whole groups. Anything that got near her got ripped apart like paper.

Then, there was the Joker. He walked up casually to a nearby alien and handed him a rubber chicken. "Be a dear and hold this, would you?" he said, then hurrying away. The alien looked down in confusion at the rubber chicken, only to have it explode in his hand. The Joker continued along, tossing a grenade into the back crowd that began to release a sickly green gas. All those who breathed it in began laughing uncontrollably, their mouths twisting into frightening smiles. Further still, he walked up to another enemy and stuck his hand out. "I have to say, I really like what you guys do around here! Put 'er there, pal."

When the alien just blinked at him in confusion, the Joker lifted and eyebrow. "No? Oh well alright, I'll do it myself." He then reached forward and took hold of the man's hand. Instantly, the invader began twitching and spasming as thousands of volts of electricity began coursing through his body. Within about twenty seconds, the alien had been fried extra crispy, left as nothing but a smoking, blackened corpse. "Oopsy, I seem to have replaced my friendly toy buzzer with my killer death buzzer. Silly me." Cackling manically, he then tossed another gas grenade into the crowd.

Harley, meanwhile, lifted a very large weapon onto her shoulders, taking aim at a group of the alien invaders while looking through an eye piece that came down from the side. "Hey everyone, smile for mommy's bazooka!" She then pulled the trigger and fired off an explosive shell that hit in the center of about five enemy's that blasted apart in mess of blood and shredded limbs. Harley smiled, almost tearing up as she sniffled. "Isn't it beautiful?"

As everyone continued their attacks, Neal continued to use his soul-self to attack and defeat his enemies. Sometimes he would use his illusions to trick the enemy into running towards them rather than away. As much as Neal disliked this killing, which with their powers was practically just slaughtering this enemy, he knew that it was a necessary thing to stop them before they were able to get equipment or weapons that actually worked. As terrible as it was, Neal knew that he needed to keep going.

As the battle raged on it was clear who the winners were in this fight. Without their technology the aliens had no advantage to use against the heroes. They were winning easily, and destroying anyone that they were able to get their hands on.

"Glad to see that prison hasn't slowed down your reflexes Shiva," Neal said before punching a nearby alien right in the face. "And here I was worried that you were going to be reckless," he said with a small smile towards his former master and former lover.

"There was not much use for a prison once the invasion began," Shiva responded, knocking away an enemy's arms and then striking with both palms on either side of his neck. At this point, it just wasn't even fair. Without their technology, most of these invaders were barely stronger than your average human. There was the occasion tough one, but even they weren't immune to lethal attacks... or bullets for that matter. "I was only in jail for five months before it happened. An explosion took out most of my ward, including the bars to my cell. I escaped after that." Another alien came in at her, and she easily moved behind him and snapped his neck. "So I have yet to ask since you returned, how are you?"

"Suppose you have a point, you kinda take who you can get when your world is about to be destroyed," Neal said as he continued to attack any alien that was near to him. Right after punching one particularly hard, he glanced at Shiva once again to respond to her question. "I'm alright, still trying to get used to being here. Because in all honesty I have no idea how I'm here. I don't even remember dying," he admitted as he shot out another soul attack. "I just woke up here one day, and Batman saved me from getting killed. I still have no idea how it happened, but I'm still going to fight to get these bastards off of our planet," Neal said loudly before smacking away five enemies at one time.

"For what it's worth, I'm really glad you're doing well. When you agreed to go to jail I was worried I'd never see you again"

"And yet here we are, together again," Shiva stated, with a small smirk. She took down several more nearby enemies. They never had a chance. "Though, the circumstances could be better. Still... it is good to see you. Perhaps later, after we are done here, you and I could get... reacquainted? I haven't forgotten those nights together. It seems like a lifetime ago."

"Hold!" Lex shouted, lowering his arm. His battlesuit had already slaughtered its fair share of alien invaders. As it stood right now, very few were left standing, and they were dealt with in a short few seconds. The surrounding square was now littered with hundreds of bodies, all of them dressed in the same uniform. "I do believe that's everyone."

"Indeed, here we are," Neal said with a small smile as he continued to attack whatever enemies were still around. They had definitely defeated the larger share of them, but there was still a bit of fighting to do. As Shiva spoke that last comment, Neal couldn't help but gain a small smile. "Reacquainted, that does sound quite nice actually," Neal admitted as he shot out one more soul blast. "I too haven't forgotten those nights"

Neal looked around as Lex told them to hold. Upon observing the area, it was clear that they had defeated everyone as hundreds of bodies lined the square. It seemed like their work here was done. "I bet they didn't see that kind of an attack coming," Neal admitted as he crossed his arms. "If any of them got away, they'll be sure to tell their comrades what happened here though"

Shiva dropped her guard finally and took a few steps back towards Neal. It seemed that the fighting was done for now, a good sign. After a few moments, she turned to him and gave a brief kiss to his cheek. "I am glad to hear you say that... you know, it's been five years for me. Since those nights."

"I'll fly above the city and scan the surrounding area for any potential stragglers attempting to escape," Lex said, activating the rocket boosters on the bottom of his suit's boots. And eye piece flicked up into place over his left eye, blinking with lights as the suit began its scan. He was up above the city a few moments later.

Green Arrow held his bow over his shoulder, observing the area. "The only thing that makes what we did here today acceptable is the fact that they're the alien conquerors of our planet... I pray I never have to do anything like this again once this is over."

"You and I both, Ollie," Black Canary said, taking his arm with hers, sighing deeply. "You and I both..."

Sarah lowered her arm, her ring losing its glow. It was a good thing they had finished now, considering the charge in her ring was almost completely drained. She'd forgotten to give it its daily recharge with the battery that morning. She'd have to do it when they got back to base, hopefully to move out of the old abandoned subway and set up a more appropriate headquarters now the city was free.

"I'm sorry, Kori..." she whispered to herself, breathing outwardly. "I only do this because I have to. When it's all over... never again."

Neal just smiled as Shiva finally lowered her guard. It seemed like they had won the battle for today, with Lex heading off in order to take out anyone that was trying to escape. If the enemy didn't know about the weapon, the heroes would be able to keep using the bombs in order to win the war. It was better to kill them all so that no one would learn what happened here.

As Shiva kissed Neal's cheek, he couldn't help but smile as he looked over at her. He couldn't help but remember the wonderful times that he had with Shiva back when he was in the League of Assassins. She had been hard on him, but always kind and complimentary when he began to pick up the techniques. "Five years huh? I'll have to help you fix that," he said with a smile. "I could use a bit of cheering up after all this"

Neal glanced over to the other heroes, as all of them seemed to be dreary about what they had just done. Neal could relate. Somehow, killing all of these aliens quickly didn't feel as bad as torturing that one man for almost an hour. It was strange how things like that seemed different. It was like Sarah said though, they killed because they had to and not because they took any personal enjoyment out of it.

"So what's next for us?" Neal asked curiously. "Head back to base until tomorrow, or begin picking out a new headquarters?"

"We find a new base of operations," Dick said, putting away one of his remaining batarangs. He might have to take a trip up to Gotham soon, see if he could find anymore in the old Bat Cave, considering he was starting to run out. "It's easier to make plans above ground, where you can see what's going on. Once we find a suitable place, we'll start moving our equipment."

"Easy enough with my ring," Sarah said, nodding. She could transport quite a large quantity of materials at a time no problem, so long as her ring was charged. "I'll just need to make a quick trip back to find use my power battery. Forgot to charge up this morning." With that, she hurried back to the subway, leaving the others in the city to find a new base to set up at.

"We'll split up for now," Deathstroke said, holstering his pistols. He was going to need to raid a guns store soon and find some more ammunition. "Everyone report back here in one hour and report what you find."

Shiva started walking off down the street. "I think I'll go.... this way," she said, giving Neal a playful look back.

Neal listened to Dick as she mentioned that they would need to find a new base of operations. With most, if not all, of the enemy destroyed in this city it would be easy to pick a place where they could defend and see if anyone was coming. Along with that, their eyes would be above ground and they'd be able to make their plans more accordingly with what was going on. It was a perfect plan.

As the group decided that they should split up and try to find a new base, Neal couldn't help but look after Shiva as she started to walk off and looked back for Neal. He just smiled. Hey, it wouldn't be good if they split up right? What if their enemy was still around and ambushed one of them? It only made sense that Neal stick around in order to help Shiva out.

Without saying anything to the others, Neal quickly began to make his way after Shiva. He quickly caught up to her and started walking next to her. "By the way, even though it's been five years you look like you're in better shape than ever"

Shiva chuckled as Neal caught up with her and commented on how good she looked. It was true, these past five years, while horrible in many regards, had certainly done wonders to keep her in tip top shape. "Yes, I have been maintaining myself well," she replied, glancing over at a broken store window. She caught sight of her reflection and stared for a moment. "Hard to believe I'm in my forties, right? Most twenty year-olds don't look this good." She smiled, then continued walking with him, while scanning the area with her eyes for a place that might work well for a new base. "I do believe I'm in the best shape of my life, actually." Glancing back at him, she looked him up and down and added, "And you are too apparently... that suit looks very nice on you. Very... very nice."

"That much is obvious, you don't look a day over twenty," Neal said as they continued to walk around. He was casually glancing around for a new base, but he had to admit that he wasn't looking as hard as he normally would. His mind was focused on Shiva right now, someone that he still considered an extremely good friend. As Shiva complimented the suit, Neal took a glance down at himself. "I must admit that it's not quite my old one, but I've grown quite attached to it. Saved my life from that blast I took the other day," he added with a small laugh as they kept walking down the deserted streets.

Neal was quiet for a moment before taking a small glance at Shiva. "So I have to ask, when I died did you shed a tear?" Neal asked with a small playful smile on his face. He really just wanted to know if she was sad that he had gotten killed, but he also knew that very few things ever made Shiva truly cry.

Shiva glanced back at him with an amused expression. "Perhaps a few," she replied, in an almost teasing tone. "Though, in truth, I did not hear about it until a couple of years ago, when we joined together with the others here. But when they told me, yes... I was sad. No matter the circumstances, you were my pupil. Well... a little more than just my pupil, hm? Knowing that you were gone was... I don't know. I felt a sort of emptiness. You were always strong, I didn't think that it could be true."

As they turned a corner on the street, Shiva looked up again to see several office buildings and a few more stores, but nothing that could really be used as a base. They'd have to keep looking for now. Her attention turned quickly back to Neal, though. Well, Neal's backside at first, then to him. He really did look good in that form fitting costume, and he was in much better shape than when she knew him last. That was saying something, considering he'd been in amazing shape then, too.

Neal smiled as Shiva mentioned that she was sad when she had heard that he had died. "Yeah, to be honest it's hard to believe myself considering that I don't remembering dying, talk about strange huh?" he asked with a big of a laugh. As she mentioned his strength Neal couldn't help but laugh even harder. "Are you kidding me? My first week with you was nothing but you throwing my ass around the sparring area" he reminder her. "You helped to make me strong, I was very weak before I joined the League"

As they continued moving through the streets, it didn't seem like there was anything around that would make any sort of a truly good base. New York was filled with many buildings, they could spend the next several days searching. It was going to have to be up to someone like Dick, Lex, or Sarah to find an appropriate building. He glanced back at Shiva, who seemed to have her eyes on Neal the entire time, and smiled.

"You know, I'm sure one of the others could bother themselves with finding the building. I'd rather just have time to catch up........don't you agree?"

Shiva's eyebrows lifted as Neal made his suggestion. She tried not to show her eagerness, though the half smile she just couldn't hold back more than gave it away. "Well, I suppose there are plenty of others out looking, aren't there? Come on then, let's go find a nice spot." Taking him by the hand, she quickened her pace a bit and started leading him off through the city. They could pick pretty much anywhere they wanted. Outside, inside, whatever building, it made no difference. The chances that they were going to run into someone else were extremely small, all things considered.

Eventually, she found a small furniture store, one of the front window broken in as with every other store round. In that display window, though, were quite a few beds that hadn't been touched in years. Some of them were beaten and decayed from being exposed to the weather, but one of them was actually quite clean, at least cleaner than most hotel beds anyway.

"This will work," she said, pushing him onto the bed in a hurry. She then straddled atop him and held his arms down, staring at him and smirking. "Now, I know you look good in that suit of yours... but let's see how good you look with it off."

---

About an hour later, the two were sprawled atop the sheets of that bed in the display window, just lying there and watching the empty street outside. Shiva's breathing was deep and steady, the past moments with Neal having taken a lot out of her. He had learned some new moves since they were last together... and it definitely showed.

"That was.... wonderful," she uttered, trying to catch her breath. She was still tingling down below in the afterglow, and her entire body was warm with sweat. Sitting up, she stretched her arms out and yawned, her naked body glistening. "You certainly know hwo to make a woman feel good."

"Definitely plenty of others, and I'm sure that one of them will find a building that will work. I've never been too good at picking out bases after all, I've never been asked to do that before," Neal said jokingly before Shiva took his hand and started to lead him to a spot that they could use for the time being. Considering that every single building was half destroyed and completely empty, they'd be able to pick out basically anything they wanted to use.

As the finally picked a spot, Neal was just happy to get in there and find a bed that was actually in very good condition. It wasn't dirty, it still had a lot of support that would help them in their "activity" and was overall large enough for them to have some fun.

Neal moved onto the bed as Shiva pushed him, hearing about how she wanted him out of that suit. "You first," he said with a smile as they got right to it.

---

About an hour later, Neal had decided that it had definitely been some of the most well used time that he had in recent memory. Shiva was more skilled than ever, she was clearly a woman that would never let herself grow old and that was just fine with Neal. He had his arms crossed behind his head as he looked out at the empty street.

"I know how to make a woman feel good? Don't forget to give yourself some credit there Shiva, I haven't felt like that in quite some time," Neal said as he pushed himself up. As much as he enjoyed this moment, he knew that they should start heading back. "We should probably get changed and head back, they might start wondering where we are if we delay our return"

Shiva chuckled and glanced back at him, smirking. "Yes, well, I do have the experience," she remarked. She was in her mid forties after all, even if she looked far from it. She'd been around the block quite a few times... "But yes, you're right, we should probably get back soon. It has been a while now... I think we're already ten minutes over the time we were supposed to meet back with the others. Come on."

Standing up, he stretched her back out a little, then reached for her clothes. Considering that it was mostly a single red leather catsuit that zipped up the front, it didn't take her long to get changed. It actually took longer to get her boots, gloves, and belt on. "Though I am going to be needing a shower soon, after that... let's hope that whatever place they find still has running water. That's the one good thing about our old base, it had a shower, even if it was a small one. Not room enough for two people." She smiled again at him, then waited for him to get dressed as well, just taking the moment to stare at his body.

"And believe me when I say that I'm glad you share your experience with me," Neal said with a smile as he pushed himself up from the bed and watched as Shiva changed back into her outfit. At the shower comment Neal just let out a small chuckle. "Sorry about that, suppose I got a little bit carried away. I'm sure they'd pick a place with a shower though, we all do still need our basic necessities after all," Neal reminded her.

Once she was dressed he got up and quickly changed back into the kevlar outfit as well. It took a bit longer than Shiva's attire, and allowed her about another minute of gazing at him before he was fully dressed again. Once he changed he looked over to her and smiled. "Let's head back," he said before quickly exiting the store and starting to run back to where they were supposed to meet back up with everyone else.

By the time they got back to Times Square, the others had all gathered and were waiting for them. Sarah raised an eyebrow at the two. Where had they been for so long? They were quite a bit late, after all. Had they been... no, couldn't be. In any case, now that they were back, they could continue with their plans.

"Well, nice of you two to show up," Lex said, staring at them. "Next time, try to be on time. We have a lot of work to do."

"Sorry," Shiva said, with a small shrug. "We got a little sidetracked."

Lex's expression didn't even shift. "I'm sure. Anyway, what did you find?"

"Nothing of interest," Shiva explained. "Mostly just old deserted buildings. No different than anything else around here."

Lex let out a small sigh. "Well, then I guess that means we're going with your find, Deathstroke. We'll start moving our equipment there immediately."

Shiva glanced at Deathstroke. "What would that be?"

"A Wayne Enterprises building, New York branch," Deathstroke said. "Specifically, WayneTech. It'll provide us with plenty of new equipment and resources, and has a high vantage point. It also seems to be one of the better conditioned buildings still around."

"With the resources in the building," Lex explained, "I'll be able to build our Thorium bombs faster, and easier. But we'll be needing power. I'll head over to the nearest power plant, see if I can't get things up and running for us."

"I'll go with you," Dick said, stepping forward. "You'll need help resetting the grid."

Sarah nodded and then waved the others to follow her. "In that case, let's get going and start transporting everything."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Got caught up in searching," Neal said before the others began to talk. While he wasn't ashamed about what he had done with Shiva, it wasn't the kind of thing that he'd want to broadcast to everyone. It was kind of a private moment after all.

As they heard about where they would be moving, Neal had to admit that he gained a small smile. A Wayne Enterprises building? That was great, Wayne was such a successful company that there would probably be plenty of room and technology to hold the team. There would surely be working water at least. Neal of course never learned that Batman really was Bruce Wayne, he just assumed that Wayne was rich and had died with everyone else.

"Moving day, how exciting," Neal said with a weak laugh. After having gone through that giant battle, moving stuff around wasn't Neal's idea of taking it easy. Still, it was going to be necessary if they were going to win this war. So Neal didn't complain, and quickly followed the others to help in whatever way he could.

"And that's... the last of it," Sarah said, carefully setting down the large piece of equipment with her power ring. "I guess now we just have to wait and see if Dick and Lex can-" Before she even finished her sentence, the lights flickered on. "-get the power working. Well, that helps."

Shiva looked around for a moment and couldn't help but smile. All things considered, this building was actually in quite decent shape. Sure, desks were overturned, papers were scattered, and the place otherwise a complete disaster, but they could clean up. At least the building wasn't decaying and mots of the windows were still intact. "Well, I'm going to see if I can find a place around here to shower. I'm sure there's got to something."

"And I'm going to see if I can find anything around here to make some more arrows with," Green Arrow stated, noting that his quiver was almost empty. "Should be plenty of nice tech around here to work with."

"I'll be back," Deathstroke said, heading for the stairs. "Have to restock my ammo. There's a gun shop around the block."

Neal glanced around at the building as everything was put into place. Only a minute later and the power began to flicker on, clearly Lex and Batman were successful in their attempts to turn the power back on. "Glad to see that they didn't waste any time," he said with a smile as he looked around at the place. It wasn't quite Titan Tower, but it was going to have to do for the time being.

As everyone went their separate ways, Neal glanced over at Sarah and walked over to her. He wasn't sure if she had noticed or wondered anything about his absence with Shiva, but he wasn't going to bring it up. "Think they might have any equipment around here that I'd find useful?" he asked curiously to make conversation.

"Well, uh, that depends," Sarah said, shrugging slightly. "What kind of equipment would you exactly find useful? I mean... I'm sure this place has a lot, in any case. WayneTech did have some of the most advanced technological advancements in the world, as I recall, though I'm certainly no expert on it. I guess just look around? I'm sure you'll find something." She was quiet for a moment, then folded her arms. "I can't say I really need anything, though... I'd use one of the computers if there was anything to use it for anymore. No internet kinda ruins the whole fun. But anyway... I guess I'll start cleaning this place up for now. You'll probably want to be taking a shower soon, though, huh?"

"I don't know, probably something to help fight at close range. I'm pretty good hand to hand, but having some form of a weapon might be nice," Neal remarked as he thought about it. "Even having my old sword would be nice," he added as he remembered how he had always liked using the swords when he was in the League. At Sarah's last comment, Neal glanced over to her and raised an eyebrow. Did she know? "And why would you assume that?" he asked, curious to what she was going to say.

"Well, you haven't showered since you came back to us," Sarah said, with a raised eyebrow. "And that was like a day and a half ago. You have to be pretty rank by now, man." She smirked at him, teasingly. It wasn't really any of her business of hers what he may or may not have done, but that didn't mean she couldn't mess with him.

Black Canary interrupted them, looking out the window in wonder. "Hey guys... come look at this."

When they made it over to the window, the sight they beheld was enough to lift their spirits to places they hadn't been in a long while. It made their struggles, their efforts, everything worth it. No matter what happened, they had to keep fighting. For this.

"People," Green Arrow said in surprise, witnessing crowds of confused and curious people emerging from the surrounding, derelict buildings. Men, women, children, families, all walking out into a city that had been more of a prison for the past five years. With no more of the invaders occupying the city, it was now safe for them to be out in the open, safe for them to try and rebuild. At least for now.

Sarah couldn't help but smile. "This is what we're fighting for, guys... This is why we can't give up."