The Next Generation

Neal didn't enjoy killing, but he wasn't going to hold back if it meant saving the world. Besides, it wasn't the first time that he had taken a life. Against Darkseid so many had justified killing that it was just a part of the time, it wasn't that difficult for Neal to adjust going back to killing. He wiped the blood off on Frost before tossing it back over to Blade when she looked in his direction.

"Guess we should get going than," Neal said as he picked up his own sword. There was still some ice on it, which he began to chip away at as they moved towards the elevator. "Hey Blade, thanks for the sword," Neal said as he looked over at her. "Besides, we would have been killed against that Shade guy if not for you," he insisted to her.

Neal didn't really get the chance to hear the reply though when suddenly a huge explosion seemed to shake the entire building. "The hell was that!?" he shouted before a second one activated. "It sounds like the entire building is blowing up!"

Blade looked up as the explosions began to go off. They were getting louder. "Fuck, Plastique must have rigged the entire building," she said, sprinting towards the elevator. "Wylde, get those doors open and get rid of the lift! We're going to have to take the fast way down!"

Wylde held his hands forward as he flew at the elevator doors. His soul-self blasted the doors apart and ripped the elevator right out of the shaft. When everything was clear, he jumped into the empty space and levitated there, waiting for the others. Blade immediately ran forward and jumped into the elevator shaft, beginning to plummet in free fall. She expected her father to follow her lead. Once they were both falling, Wylde took off after them and surrounded them with his soul-self, bringing them down in a controlled fall. He couldn't just teleport them down to the bunker, because he had no idea about its layout, or how far down it was. He could end up making them re-materialize inside other solid matter, like a wall, or the earth. That would kill them.

Blade glanced back above them to see a massive fireball beginning to follow them from high above, as more and more floors erupted with explosions. "Shit! Wylde, faster!" she shouted. She then looked over at Neal. "And don't expect me to apologize for my language or anything!"

"Damn it, I thought that fall killed her. How could she have activated all of these?" Neal asked without really expecting an answer. They had bigger problems right now after all, they had to avoid the explosion rather than figure out how it started. They needed to get moving was what they needed to do.

As Blade leaped into the elevator shaft Neal followed suit. He knew Wylde's abilities, and already had an idea for how Wylde was going to help them travel down. He didn't like the plan, but it was much better than actually staying around for the explosion. As they descended Neal couldn't help but look up at the fireball that was chasing them. They just had to get down into that bunker, and hopefully that would be enough to protect them.

"Blade, believe me when I say that your language is the last thing that I'm concerned about right now," Neal said as he motioned up towards where the explosions were coming from. "Besides, your nothing compared to how your mother used to swear"

By the time they flew past ground level, the explosions had almost caught up with them. Fortunately, no explosives had been rigged beyond the first floor, and so when they began descending into basement and sub basement levels, they were in the clear. This allowed Wylde to slow up a little so he could stop before they crashed into the ground. When he did finally stop, he estimated that they were now at least ten stories underground.

Blade took a quick look around the main chamber they were in. It was a very large, empty area, the walls and floor pure white, and lit brightly by florescent lights on the ceiling above them. At the back wall were heavy metal blast doors, built to keep unwanted visitors out. Blade walked over to the entrance and gave it a long look.

"Alright... now how do we get through this?" she wondered to herself, scratching her chin.

"Allow me," Wylde said, moving forward. He took in a deep breath and then surrounded the blast doors with his soul-self. In a brief moment, he tore them away from the wall and cast them aside, revealing a long corridor on the other side. "There we go."

Blade lifted her eyebrows. "Right, that works. Come on."

Neal had to admit that before they passed the ground floor he was starting to get worried. The rate at which the explosions were occurring were getting a little too quick for his own taste. Thankfully once they started going underground the explosions stopped. Neal kept looking up though. He couldn't help but wonder if the building was going to collapse or something. Hopefully Wylde would be able to get them out of here by teleporting once they were done here.

"They look pretty thick," Neal admitted as he looked at the doors that Blade stopped at. "I might have some explosions in here somewhere," Neal said as he began to look through his little pack. Perhaps if they placed it in key areas they would find a way to blow it up. Of course, right as Neal went to do Wylde stepped in and merely ripped the doors off with his powers.

"Not exactly subtle, but nice work there," Neal said with a small laugh as they proceeded to walk through where the doors used to be. "We should keep our guard up. If the Suicide Squad didn't know about this, there must be something down here worth protecting. And I doubt she would have come down here unprepared"

"Right, be on your guard," Blade said, she she quickly moved down the corridor, leading the way. There weren't any twists or turns in the path, just a straight shot to... wherever it led. At least they wouldn't get lost.

They eventually came to another set of blast doors, though these ones were smaller. Whatever room was on the other side was apparently more conventionally sized than the massive antechamber. Wylde stepped forward again and unhinged the doors, tearing them off and clearing the way forward, to... a laboratory? That's what it looked like, some sort of high tech, very advanced laboratory. In the center of the lab, a woman stood in front of a darkened tank filled with liquid and was typing away at a control panel.

"Waller," Blade said, drawing one of her swords.

Amanda Waller glanced over briefly, before turning her attention back to her work. "I see you made it past my Suicide Squad. Not surprising, really. I never really expected them to provide anything more than a distraction to keep you busy while I came down here."

"It's over, Waller," Blade said, beginning to walk towards her. "There's nowhere left to run."

"My dear child, things are just getting started," Waller said, chuckling. She clicked a button on the panel, causing the tank in front of her to suddenly begin draining, revealing the figure inside. The tank then opened, allowing the figure to walk, or rather fall, out, though he caught himself before hitting the floor, now awake. "They thought he was dead, for almost twenty five years. Really, he might as well have been when we found him. But we rebuilt him, improved him, and we've been saving him for a situation just like this."

The figure slowly looked up at the three intruders. His eyes were glowing red.

"Superboy," Waller commanded, folding her arms. "Eliminate them."

Neal followed along with Wylde and Blade, constantly looking around to make sure that they weren't ambushed by some new villain. If Waller had a secret down here that she hadn't shared with anyone then there was no way that it wasn't guarded. Anything worth keeping a secret was worth protecting as far as Neal was concerned. He couldn't shake the feeling despite how much they advanced. It was only when they walked into a laboratory with Waller in it that he seemed to calm down. Nothing had attacked them after all, so what could possibly be down here?

And more importantly, what was Waller working on down here?

Neal stepped forward and focused his mind on Waller, preparing to cast an illusion should she not cooperate. At first it was going to be easy, but then Neal got the answer to the question that he had for the past several minutes. Neal just stared forward as the liquid emptied to reveal a young man. Neal had no idea who he was, someone that had been dead for roughly twenty five years. That was a little bit before Neal had joined the Titans actually.

It was only when the name was revealed that Neal got truly worried. "Oh fuck," Neal said as he took a step back. "Superboy, as in like Superman's kid? Guys we got a tough fight ahead of us," Neal said as he kept his eyes on Superboy. Neal had never fought Superman before, so he wasn't sure how his powers would do against him. His physical strength and speed would be like a crawl in comparison.........so Neal was going to have to use his illusions to help win this fight.

"His clone, but close enough," Waller answered, with a smirk. She was clearly very amused at their current predicament.

Superboy began his attack without hesitation, moving forward at blinding speeds. Blade didn't even have a chance to react as the fist pummeled into her gut. It was a good thing this armor was made our of a metal alloy that was meant to take blows as strong as Superman could deliver, because if it hadn't, then chances were she'd have a giant hole through her body right now. But that didn't stop it from hurting, or sending her flying into the far wall.

When she hit the ground, Superboy moved on to Wylde, who fared slightly better, teleporting around the enemy and trying to use his soul-self to bring the powerhouse down. Unfortunately, this only did so much, as Superboy suddenly snatched a hold of his ankle and slammed him into the floor, then throwing him through the air and hitting him with a blast of heat vision. Wylde grunted in pain as he hit the floor and slid to a stop when he reached the wall.

And then, Superboy turned his attention on Neal.

Neal barely had time to even notice what was going on until it had already taken place. Blade was taken out with one strong blow to the stomach that sent her flying away. "Blade!" Neal shouted in serious concern. If that thing could hit as hard as Superman, she could be dead for all he knew......no, not dead. The armor had held up, she was in pain.....yes, just pain. There was no way that she could be dead.

By the time that Neal turned back to the fight Wylde had already been defeated. "Shit," Neal muttered as Superboy turned his attention fully towards Neal. It was up to Fade apparently, Neal only hoped that the powers would work. Neal quickly tried to cast an illusion upon Superboy, of several sharp blades piercing through his thighs, knees, and legs. Neal just wanted to make him hold still until he could come up with a better plan. If his illusions didn't work on Superboy, they were going to have a serious problem.

Neal threw on an illusion to make his vision pitch black as well. Just because he couldn't move didn't mean that he wouldn't still be able to hit Neal with heat vision.

Of course, with how highly resilient Superboy was to pain, the mental blades jabbing into his thighs did little to slow him down. The fact that he was flying and didn't even need his legs right now also helped with that. It was a good thing, then, that Neal chose to blind him, otherwise his incoming punch might have taken his head off. Instead, it struck the floor next to him, cratering the floor. Now realizing that he couldn't see, Superboy began flailing around wildly, throwing random punches and tearing apart anything that got in his way, mostly lab equipment.

But then he actually started using the other abilities at his disposal, like his super hearing. Every little move that Neal made, he heard, before long he had a lock on his target, flying forward again with fury. Before he could reach Neal, however, a blur came in from the other side of the room, near the entrance, and pummeled into him, sending him flying into the back wall, through the tank he'd been in a few minutes before.

The new arrival dropped down to her feet, taking a defensive stance in front of Neal. "We finished up with the Suicide Squad," Wonder Woman said. Well, the new Wonder Woman, and the old Wonder Girl, Cassie. Twenty years in the future, it was to be expected. She looked twenty years older, too, easily in her forties now, but still looking like she could rip your face off if she wanted to. "I heard that you were alive... or back, or whatever. Good to see you again."

She then focused on whatever she'd just attacked, not having received a good look at it before. When she finally had a clear view, she faltered, stunned at who she saw. "C-Conner?" she uttered, completely baffled. She didn't just know Superboy; he was her first love.

Neal was glad that he chose to blind Superboy, he had forgotten how invulnerable Kryptonians were to basically......everything. Even through the pain Superboy could have torn a hole straight through Neal's heart if he had control of his vision. Neal would have sworn on his life that his heart had stopped for about five seconds after seeing Superboy's fist barely miss him. Neal quickly backed away as the boy continued to flee around.

Neal also forgot that Kryptonians had super hearing, and he didn't even think about how the smallest of movements or even his breathing might be enough for Superboy to gain his position. Thankfully, Neal wasn't going to be alone in this fight. Right before Neal was to be defeated someone else flew in and struck Superboy away from him, effectively saving Neal's life. He turned to his savior only to have his eyes widen. "What......Cassie?" he asked in surprise. It hadn't occurred to him that some of the others might still be around.

"Yeah well, it's really good to see you despite the circumstances. I'll have to tell you the whole story sometime when someone isn't trying to murder me," Neal said as he glanced over to where Superboy was getting back up. A blow like that wouldn't defeat him, it would have to take several.

As Cassie recognized Superboy, or Conner as she referred to him, Neal felt like he had to mention something. "Waller has had him here for twenty-five years. They did things to him and I'm pretty certain they're controlling him somehow," Neal said seriously. "I blinded him for the time being, but I think he's still able to hear us perfectly. HE would have taken off my head had you not shown up"

Cassie stared in disbelief for a few moments. It had been ages since she'd last seen Conner. Twenty five years, to be exact, and he hadn't aged a day. Ever since he disappeared after a particular mission... they had all assumed him dead. Of course, she herself had died along with half the other Teen Titans on another mission shortly after, so she had never had opportunity to really investigate the matter. She always wondered why he didn't come back with the others when they'd been resurrected by the reanimus... It was because he hadn't been dead at all, but rather kept by Amanda Waller and her Cadmus lackies to be further experimented on and controlled.

"Neal, let him see me," she said, taking a few cautious steps forward. Superboy was moving forward, looking frantically around in blindness as he tried to hone in on them with sound. But she needed him to see her. When Neal let up the illusion, she continued moving towards him. "Conner... Conner, it's me. It's Cassie. Are you in there? Can you hear me, Conner?"

Superboy looked straight at her, glaring for a few moments. He then let out a wild shout and flew straight at her in attack. She held up her arms to defend against the punch, the force of which sent her careening backwards. It did not do much damage, however, as she was just as durable as he was.

"Conner, stop!" she shouted, trying to get through to him. If he was being controlled somehow, then maybe if she could just find a way to get him to really hear her... maybe he could break away. As she was engaged with Superboy, however, she happened to notice Amanda Waller fleeing the lab. "Neal, get Waller!"

Neal was still extremely tense because of Conner, that tended to happen when you were fighting a guy that could crush your skull with his pinkie after all. Cassie was astounded that he was alive, something that Neal wasn't really concerning himself with right now. He just kept his gaze focused on Superboy, trying to make sure that his illusion held still. Neal was also trying to move as little as possible, as he still didn't want Superboy to learn where he was. He was hoping that Cassie's presence might turn the tide in their favor though.

Neal suddenly turned his gaze as he heard what Cassie was asking for. She wanted him to remove the illusion? Neal wasn't sure why......but he knew that Cassie was someone that he could trust. "Alright, just get ready he could make a move at any moment," Neal said before withdrawing his presence from Conner's mind.

Neal watched as Cassie tried to speak to Conner, but to no avail. Superboy unleashed a quick attack, but he wasn't as free thinking as Cassie. Neal was certain that she could win. Neal turned his head to see Waller fleeing as well. He was torn for only a moment. He didn't want to leave Cassie there, but what choice did he have? Waller was the objective after all. "I'll be back Cassie, just hold out!" Neal shouted before turning and sprinting after Amanda Waller.

Neal wasn't told if Waller had any superpowers or not, but he was going to play it safe. "Stop Waller!" Neal shouted as he continued to chase after her.

Of course, Waller didn't have any sort of super powers whatsoever. In fact, about the best she could manage as she was fleeing (especially considering she wasn't built for running, not like Neal was), was look back over her shoulder and point a revolver at him, firing off a few shots while continuing down the long corridor. Of course, she didn't know about the whole building above her being blown to smithereens, and that she really didn't have anywhere to go since the elevator was out of order, but she didn't let that stop her.

Neal continued his pursuit after Waller, gaining ground upon her quickly as she wasn't anywhere near as fit as Neal was. He quickly dodged to the side as she tried to shoot in his direction, only barely avoiding the bullets though. It wasn't long though before he caught up to her, quickly grabbing her shoulder with his arm. He soon knocked the gun out of her hand before sending two hard punches straight into her face. He just wanted to knock her unconscious, but Neal had to admit that he probably hit a little harder than he should have.

"That was for Blade," he said in a low voice.

As Neal was finishing up taking Waller into custody, Cassie was back in the lab trying to restrain Superboy. It was a pretty good thing that Kryptonians were susceptible to magic, because her magic lasso was about the only thing that was going to keep him from going on a rampage. Though, even with several jolts of divine lightning from the lasso, he was still struggling, though at least he could not break free. Around this time, Blade was beginning to recover from her abrupt meeting with the wall.

"Blade, I need you for a moment," Cassie said, holding the lasso tighter. "See if you can get in his head and... fix whatever it is that they dd to him. Free his mind or.. whatever it is you telepaths do."

"Uh... yeah, hold on a second," Blade replied, holding a hand to her head and groaning. She was going to have one nasty headache. When she felt wel enough, she walked over to the bound Superboy and held her hands to his head, closing her eyes. Instantly, Superboy relaxed and stopped struggling.

"Conner?" Cassie said, relaxing her hold on the lasso.

Several moments passed, and all Superboy did was stare blankly forward. Blade was working to eliminate the extensive brainwashing effects administered to him over the years. It was no easy task, of course, but she was good. Finally, Superboy blinked.

"Wha... where am I?" he said, looking around. His eyes fell on Cassie. "Cassie, you... you look different. You're old."

Cassie flinched. "Uh... yeah... we'll talk about that later."

Neal dragged Waller back to the laboratory where Cassie, Conner, and the rest of the team had been. He had to make sure that Cassie was alright after all, she was good but it was still Superboy that she was fighting. That was what made Neal impressed when he saw that Cassie had actually lassoed Superboy and held him still. He was certain that it had not been easy for her to do completely.

Neal placed Waller up against a wall. There was no way that she was going anywhere after all. After the damage that he did to her face she was going to be in dream world for some time. She would find herself waking up in quite less than friendly company. She was going to talk. Neal probably wouldn't even have to use his power if he were lucky, but he might just volunteer to do it anyway. It would be a good way to make sure that Waller was telling the entire truth.

Neal just stood by and watched as Blade eventually dug her way into Conner's mind and began to work to free him from the control that Waller had on him. He was glad to see that she was successful in removing the restraints from his mind. As Conner and Cassie began to speak, Neal walked up behind Blade. He moved his hand up as if to rest it on her shoulder, but thought better of it and slowly pulled it back. "Hey, good job today Blade. You did amazing"

Blade glanced up briefly at Neal, then turned her attention back to the recovering Superboy. "I'm a leader," she said, with a shrug. "I have to do a good job or else my team fails." She paused a moment before adding, "But... thanks." After taking a few moments more for recovery, she got up and went to check on Wylde, who was still out cold. She determined that he was still alive and would be fine once he finally woke up. Right now, though, their mission was complete and they had to get going.

"Alright, no sense in staying around here any longer," Blade announced, standing up straight. "Let's rendezvous back at camp with the others and work on getting a tech team down here to salvage whatever information we can off these databases."

As they began to head out again, Superboy was having a little trouble adjusting to his confusion. "So... where are we, exactly? And how did I get here?" He then glanced back at Blade. "And who's that? She looks a lot like Rose."

"I'll explain everything on the way," Cassie assured, giving him a pat on the shoulder. "There's a lot you need to get caught up on."

Neal didn't say anything back as Blade spoke to Neal. He heard her words and he was impressed by them. He was glad that she took her responsibilities so seriously, but at the same time he was so sorry to hear that such a burden was placed on her so young. Neal was older than his daughter, and yet it seemed like she had so much more responsibility and hardship than he ever had to bare. It only made him sorry that he couldn't be there for her, she didn't deserve all of this.

"Hopefully we can get something useful off of them" Neal said in regards to the databases. "If there's a secret way to get in I'm sure that Ms. Waller over there would be glad to share it once she wakes up," Neal said as he looked at the unconscious woman once more. She would talk, there was no question of that.

As they began to leave Neal listened to Superboy's confusion. "Don't worry, you adjust faster than you'd expect," Neal said before walking away. Superboy had basically done the exact same thing that Neal had done. He came back from the dead and into a new world full of confusion.

He felt bad for the guy.

When they returned to base camp, the other team were already gathered in the briefing room, going over their success and how to continue from that point on. Colonel Walters was at the front and congratulating them all. "A job well done, people," he stated. "We went out there today and we accomplished our mission. It wasn't easy, and there were casualties, but we did it. Now, we're one step closer in being able to return this country to the way it should be. Now, I want to put a tech team together as soon as possible and get them down to the laboratory that Bravo Team secured. In the meantime, we'll be interrogating Waller here at camp to get whatever other information possible we can out of her. With that, you are dismissed."

The men and women began filing out of the tent, laughing and joking with each other, congratulating each other, and generally all being in a good mood after their victory there today. While Cassie went over to introduce Superboy, their newest recruit, to Colonel Walters, Blade looked around for the person she wanted to see most of all right now.

"Anyone see Lori?" she asked.

"I believe I noticed her heading towards her tent when we arrived," Wylde stated. "I attempted to greet her, but... she seemed to ignore me. She appeared very troubled."

"I'll go talk to her," Blade said, heading for the exit of the tent. "Poor girl never did like fighting, she's probably just a little flustered after the battle."

Neal stood by as everyone returned to the camp. He listened to Walters as he went on to congratulate everyone, saying that they had fully succeeded on their mission. Neal just hung his head, thinking about the men that had died because of Plastique's explosives. He just wished that he would have been able to save those men. They deserved better deaths than something like that, a blindside from a villain.

As the men and women began to leave the tent, he listened to Cassie introducing Superboy to Walters, and he also glanced over at Blade as she said that she was going to go over and see Lori. "Tell her that she did good work for me," Neal called after her as she left.

Neal glanced over to Walters again and began to walk over. He wanted to offer to help with the interrogation of Waller, but he also didn't want to interrupt the conversation that was going on with Wonder Woman and Conner. He would wait his turn, then speak to the Colonel.

It didn't take much longer for Colonel Walters to finish up with Cassie and Superboy, who was still having difficult adjusting to waking up twenty five years in the future. At the very least, he was willing to help them, providing them with a very powerful ally. When their conversation was over, Cassie led Superboy out of the tent to go get situated in the camp, leaving Neal alone with Walters.

The colonel glanced over at him. "I heard about your success today, some solid work. Glad you decided to step up and join the cause." He extended his hand forward to shake, then took on a more somber tone. "Terribly sorry for you loss, by the way. You two were close, right?" Of course, Neal would have no idea what he was talking about. Having come straight to the briefing tent upon arrival, he hadn't heard the news yet.

Neal watched as Cassie ended up taking Superboy away. He was confused, and he had every right to be. Neal felt just like that yesterday, but he'd come around. It was something that was hard to grasp, but after awhile he'd realize that the work he was doing was good work. Neal hoped that Conner would be able to adjust soon enough.

As the Colonel began to speak Neal turned to him and smiled. "Well it was mostly Blade that saved our lives, but overall it was a team effort and I was glad to help," Neal said before extending his own hand and gripping the colonel's tightly before shaking it. At what was said next Neal couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "I beg your pardon sir.............but what loss are you referring to?"

Walters lifted an eyebrow in surprise. "You... haven't heard?" he asked, then letting out a long breath. "Damn... didn't think I'd have to be the one to tell you." Uncomfortably, he scratched the back of his neck and shifted his weight. "The princess, Koriand'r, or Starfire as you called her... she just passed away about an hour ago. We think it was some kind of poison from one of Poison Ivy's plants. Was just a scratch... but I guess that's all it needed for a lethal dose... just a scratch."

As Walters took on the concerned look, Neal couldn't help but feel his heart begin to beat. Just what exactly was he talking about? Who had been lost? As the Colonel spoke, Neal felt the sickening feeling in his stomach. No.....not someone else. "My God....Lori," Neal said as he looked in the direction that Blade had gone. No wonder she hadn't wanted to speak to anyone. "X'hal watch over you Starfire," Neal muttered under his breath. "May you be with Sarah and at peace," he muttered before reaching up to rub his eyes.

"She will be greatly missed, she was a great hero, mother, and friend," Neal said in a low voice before taking a deep breath. "What happened to Poison Ivy? Was she defeated?"