The Next Generation

Shiva was a trained killer, but even someone of her skill couldn't fight a combination attack from Rose and Blade at the same time. It was too much to ask of anyone. She deflected Rose's initial attack before evading and trying to take on Blade. Her strikes weren't effective as Blade blocked them with more skill than even Rose had. She leaped back once more before quickly putting her swords away. She'd have to switch to hand-to-hand if she was going to win this fight.

She never got the chance though. A sudden amount of pain went right to her head, causing her to drop to her knees as she clutched at her own skull. It was than that the blades lashed at her legs, causing her to unleash a scream of pain before falling forward. Her blood was beginning to spread across the ground as she lay there. She was panting heavily before she looked up at the two she had engaged.

"You two are good.........I'm afraid that you've still lost this battle though"

Rose walked casually forward, one sword resting on her shoulder, and the other coming down to gently lift the woman's head up to look at her. "Really, now? Because, from my perspective, you look like the loser to me." After all, she was only the one kneeling on the floor with crippling leg injuries. It wasn't like she was in no condition to fight at all or anything. What could she possibly be boasting about now?

"So, who wants to get the information we need out of her?" Blade asked, glancing up at the others. "I'm not really one for interrogations myself..."

Shiva only smiled as Rose asked her question, but she didn't offer up any sort of answer. She didn't need to after all, they would see what she was speaking of soon enough.

As Rose asked about who would begin interrogating her, The Question stepped forward. "Leave her with me for a few minutes. I can guarantee you that I'll get something out of her. She's been trained to handle pain, but she'll still talk when she knows that it will save her life," Question said as he began to move forward.

"You will do no such thing," a sudden voice said as if from nowhere. The others began looking around for the source. No one else was in the room, and yet the voice echoed as if it was coming from everywhere. Suddenly, from the entrance way a figure seemed to appear out of nowhere. He had a strange see-through like quality to him, and at first he was covered in darkness As he stepped in to the light though, several of them would be greeted with a very familiar sight.

It was Neal.

"You will leave my wife alone, harm her and the next one hundred people I kill at random will be blood on your hands," he said in the same distorted voice from before. It was Neal's face, but everything else about him looked completely different. His face no longer held the happy quality that Rose and Blade would be familiar with, his uniform seemed to be replaced with the armor that Ra's al Ghul used to wear. There were also swords on either hip and a gun strapped to his back.

"I will not repeat myself heroes, harm another hair on her head and so many will suffer my wrath"

Rose looked around curiously as the voice began to come from nowhere. She had a feeling she knew that voice, it sounded familiar yet different. It wasn't until the source revealed itself that she finally came to the revelation. "Ah crap... why am I not surprised?" she said to herself, with a small sigh. With how similar this world was in terms of events as their own, it actually made sense. All the same events still happened, just with different outcomes. In this world, the Titans failed to stop the League of Assassins, which Neal was apart of at the time, while sleeping with Shiva. When the League won, Neal stayed with them, and must have eventually married her. "Well, guess it does no good to try and reason with you, you probably don't even know who I am in this world... either that or you killed me in this one. Wouldn't surprise me either."

Blade, meanwhile, was face palming and letting out a long groan. "I'm going to have serious psychological damage by the time this is over, aren't I?" she muttered. She came from a time where she'd been orphaned, met her dad twenty years later the same age as she was, found out her mom was a crazed, murderous psycho bitch, went back in time to when both her parents were normal and happy, lived with them now again at the same age as they were, and now she was in an alternate universe where her dad was crazed murderous psycho. Holy fuck.

Neal glanced over towards Rose as she began to speak. Her words confused him, and he didn't enjoy hearing them. She spoke as if she knew the entire time that he was the League's leader, but such a thing would be impossible. They had no moles and there was no way that he had been spied on since becoming the leader. "Daughter of Deathstroke, I could have sworn on my own life that you had already been killed before this," Neal said before looking over at Blade. "I was also told that Deatstroke had one only one daughter. And here I thought I had eliminated any trace of that murderous bastard for hire. I see I'll have to kill you myself one of these days,"

While Neal's attention was on the girls, Huntress quickly raised an arm and fired off one of her bolts straight in to Neal's head. The bolt seemed to follow the target perfectly until the bolt passed right through Neal's head and embedding in to the wall behind him. "You didn't actually think I'd come down here did you? I want to save my wife, but not as much as I want to save this world from its own destruction" Neal said as he looked towards the surprise Huntress.

"I will not tolerate any more stalling," he said bluntly. "Release my wife or I give the command and a hundred men and women will die at random. I leave the decision to you 'heroes' " he said as he put a particular emphasis on the last word. It was as if the whole thing disgusted him.

Rose kept the blade pressed against Shiva's neck, having no actual intention of cutting the woman's throat, but it still provided her with leverage, and that was important in this situation. She stared back at him, trying to discern the gravity of what was going on. Though this wasn't her Neal, and might as well be someone completely different with the same face, it was still weird to hear him say such things. The Neal she knew had probably never said a mean thing to anyone who didn't deserve it, and certainly didn't threaten to kill hundreds of people at random.

That led to the question of how he could do such a thing. She knew his powers, and that they couldn't do anything of that magnitude... at least not where she came from. What would have happened if Neal ended up embracing that dark side of his powers? It was... a creepy thought. "You know, I think if you had the power to kill a hundred people at random like that, you could just use it to kill us and save her yourself, instead of requiring us to let her go. Nice bluff, but I'm calling it."

Blade, meanwhile, was busily reading Shiva's mind, trying to gain access to whatever information she could in the time they had. If they stalled Neal long enough, she could download the woman's entire memories into her mind. But she had to keep the standoff going. "You know, I never really knew my gra... our father," she said, holding her swords across her shoulders. "But he was still our blood, and you killed him. Tell me, did you wait until the return trip to propose to your wife here, or did you pull the ring out right after you decapitated him?"

Neal glanced over at Rose as she challenged his power. His eyes narrowed angrily. "You clearly have no idea who you're talking to," he said squarely before gaining a small smile. "Haven't you thought about why the people are acting so strangely here?" he asked curiously as he crossed his arms. "The reason that they act like nothing has changed is because in their minds nothing has," Neal explained as he kept his eyes on Rose. "Their worlds are mine to control, and mine to destroy. Still wish to call my bluff?" he asked before glancing to his side.

A young woman walked in, eyes completely blank as she stared right at the group. She didn't show happiness or sadness, just a mark of indifference as she kept her gaze fixed on the group in front of her. Neal cast a simple glance at her, prompting her nose to suddenly bleed. Neal's gaze turned back to Rose, as if asking if she still thought he was bluffing.

Neal's eyes suddenly looked towards Blade in confusion, did she just say what he thought she said? But how was that possible? "Oh great, another mind reader of some kind," Neal said as if the thought truly annoyed him. "After killing that damned martian I didn't think I'd have to worry about your kind. Shall I kill two hundred then?"

"Stay out of my mind!" Shiva shouted as she started to push herself upwards.

"I grow tired of this conversation. I am tired of you heroes meddling in the perfecting of this world! Ra's chose me as his successor for I am the only one that can make the world what it needs to be! You are offered to enter in to their world if you wish, but fight against us and I will make sure that you all suffer for an eternity", Neal said slowly.

So, apparently Neal's powers had elevated to mind control. Or constant hallucinations of a perfect world, to everyone on the planet. Alright, so maybe that was a bit powerful. But still, keeping that up constantly had to inflict some sort of strain on him, it was a lot of mental taxation to be going through, she was sure. If she really had to fight him face to face one of these days, she could probably come up with a strategy against him that might end up working, but she really didn't want to have to put that to the test.

"I think you're only fooling yourself," Rose said, pressing the sword closer to Shiva's neck. It didn't matter if Neal knew that Blade was reading her mind or not, they still just needed a little more time to get what they needed. "You say you're trying to create the perfect world, but what have you really done? Taken away everyone's free will and enslaved the earth to your own, selfish will. Your perfection is no better than your powers; just an illusion."

Then, Rose started to slowly drag the sword across Shiva's throat, drawing blood. "You know, I'm not from this world. What makes you think I give two shits about what happens to these people? I could honesty care less. And you know what else I think? That you don't want to see your wife die in front of your eyes. So, you flutter on away and let us ask our questions, and we'll let her go. Or, stick around, and I'll cut her throat after my sister is done reading her mind."

"You clearly don't see the truth, much like all of you heroes you are far too idealistic. I've learned a long time ago that peace will never come while mankind has free will," Neal said as he crossed his arms. "Free will allows mankind to wage war, enslave people. While mankind has desire he will always want more. I have given everyone what they want, perfection in their own vision," Neal said slowly. "Perhaps my peace is an illusion, but the reality of what the world is far worse and much less comforting or forgiving. We are the League of Assassins, and unlike you we have realized for some time what needs to be done"

Neal's eyes glanced down at Shiva as the sword began to draw blood. She didn't cry out in pain, but her entire body tensed up. She knew that Rose only needed to put in a little bit more force in order to slay her. Rose was right about one thing, Neal did not want to see Shiva die. She was the only one that he ever knew that had stayed faithfully true to him. Well, her and one other person......

"You're right, I don't want my wife to die," Neal said in a low voice as his eyes met hers. There was a look of sadness in them before he blinked and fixed his gaze back on to Rose and the others. "But not as much as I want to save the rest of the world," he said as he closed his eyes. "I offer you one last chance daughters of Deathstroke, let Shiva go or suffer whatever consequences I choose to deliver"

"So, let me get this straight," Rose said, cocking her hips to the side as she stared at the image of Neal. "You were upset at there always being things like war and slavery, and stuff like that in the world... so your solution was to mentally enslave all of mankind and take over the world? Of course. Pot, meet kettle! Ugh." She scratched her head for a moment and then shrugged. "I suppose all the villains in this universe are just about as hypocritical as the ones in ours." Turning her attention back down to Shiva, she let out a little sigh. "You see that? He says he doesn't want to see you die, yet he's still here just yammering at us to let you go. I already told him that if he disappears for the time being, we'd let you go. But instead of doing that, he's just going to uselessly plead at us while we kill you. Shame really?" Meanwhile, her thoughts were doing some pleading of her own, for Blade to hurry up with the mind reading so they didn't actually have to kill Shiva.

"I don't expect someone as brutish and stupid as you to understand, of course considering who your father is I can't say that I'm surprised that you're as dumb as a snake," Neal said coolly as he only glanced at Rose once again. It was what Rose said at the end that caused Neal to look at her strangely. Her universe? What was she speaking of? She spoke as if this universe was not the same one that she called her own.......was it possible? Rose Wilson had been reported dead, and might explain how this one was still alive.

Shiva didn't look up or respond as Rose spoke to her. She just stared at the ground, not showing any emotion at all. If she was upset by Neal's decision, she didn't seem to show it.

"I have given you more than fair warning Rose Wilson!" Neal shouted angrily as he heard her speak about him. "One hundred people will be dead within a minute if you do not release her immediately. Starting with this one," Neal said before reaching over and pulling someone into the illusion with him. He quickly forced the woman to her knees. It would take a minute but the face of the woman became clear.

It was Doctor Conners.

"I'll kill her slowly too, the old fashioned way," Neal said as he drew his own sword. "Let her go now or ninety-nine lives shall follow! Three......two....." he began to shout before lifting his blade above his own head.

Eddie quickly shot a look towards Rose. They had Conners, which meant that the League of Assassins had found their hiding spot apparently. Along with that, that also meant that the League would have the machine even if they had no idea what it did.

"Ah crap..." Rose muttered, as Dr. Connors appeared. Well, that certainly put a damper on their leverage, if they ever wanted to get home. Fortunately, it was time for this whole thing to just get over and done with, as Blade was done reading the woman's mind, giving a nod of confirmation. Eventually, Rose removed her sword from Shiva's throat and pushed the woman forward. "Alright, there you go. Now, we let your woman go, so you let our woman go, and then we can all get on with our lives." Letting out a small sigh, she sheathed her swords again and took a seat on a nearby chair, which just happened to be there for convenience. She then turned to Shiva, taking a shot in the dark in hopes to put some doubt in the woman's mind. "So, did we put on a good act or what? I mean, I know he's crazy and all, but he's damn good in bed, am I right? And that crazy triangular birthmark on his upper thigh... surprising hot. You know all about that."

Neal watched as Rose finally removed her sword from Shiva's throat. He dropped his blade down, moving it away from Conner's head as he did so. He sheathed the sword slowly. "So you finally see reason, good, maybe there's some level of hope for you," Neal said softly as he took a step forward. Conners disappeared from the illusion. "I will not hurt anyone unless my hand is forced daughters of Deathstroke," Neal said slowly. "Challenge me again, and there will be casualties," he said before disappearing.

Two members of the League of Assassins walked in, arms in the air. They were unarmed, and were sent in order to retrieve Shiva. They moved over towards her, getting on each of her side before supporting her up. They began making their way to the door.

Shiva glanced back at Rose once as she spoke. "I don't know who you are or why you're here, but your lies will not affect my loyalty to him. We promised on our wedding day that we would kill each other if it would end up saving the world one day. We are close to achieving that perfection and you continue to challenge it. Next time we meet I will not underestimate you Rose Wilson," she said as her eyes narrowed. "And I don't care what you think you know about my husband, even my mind cannot visualize him in all of his perfection. One day there will be a reckoning, and he will make you suffer should you challenge him" he said before the assassins moved off with Shiva.

"Don't you two think you pushed that a little too close to the edge?" Eddie asked as he looked towards Blade and Rose. "If he's really controlling all of those people do you realize how many he could kill at once? It's not just hundreds, it's thousands!" Eddie said seriously. "If he has the power he claims, he could wipe out so many with just a thought.......how did you know he wouldn't kill them the first few times you challenged him?" Eddie asked in surprise. It was almost like Rose knew how this Neal guy would act. She had mentioned that they were married once, did she still know things about his personality?

Rose let out a small breath as Shiva fled, unfazed by her attempts at psychological warfare. Well, it was worth a shot. Anyway, there were more important things to do now. They had all the information they needed, courtesy of Blade, so now they could start working on... whatever the next phase of the plan was. At Eddie's understandable outburst, she glanced up and folded her arms.

"Well, we needed to stall, for one thing," she explained. "Otherwise we wouldn't have received the information we needed. But aside from that, I know Neal. Different universe or not, he wasn't born evil, he wasn't always bent on taking over the world. This version just happened to be changed by a single life event, one that altered his fate forever... but it didn't alter all of him. He genuinely believes he's helping people, and doesn't actually want to kill any of them. That's the only reason he gave us so many chances without following through. It was something to use effectively as a threat, but not an action he wanted to take, not if he didn't have to. That's why I knew we could get away with going as far as we did."

Eddie listened curiously as Rose mentioned that she knew that Neal wouldn't kill people because he truly wanted to help them. "That's........a pretty big risk you took Rose. What if it was more than just the one event that changed him? What if he's still not the same man that you know?" Eddie asked in a concerned tone. He had always trusted Rose and believed her to be skilled, but her actions had put a lot of people at risk. Still she had ended up calling Neal's bluff, so he should just accept that right?

"Interesting," Question said as he glanced over at Rose. "So tell me, what all can you tell me about this Neal? Does he have any sort of weakness that we would be able to exploit against him?" Question asked curiously. "He didn't know about us coming and I doubt that he'll let Shiva be put in to such danger again which means that we've lost our biggest leverage against him," Question admitted before putting his hands in his jacket pocket. Question allowed for a moment of silence to pass before looking directly at Rose and Blade.

"Do you two know how to kill him?"

"Yeah, well the risk paid off, so quit complaining about it," Rose said, glaring at him. Seriously, she could get that he had been worried and all, but they accomplished their mission without any casualties, and they were still in position to move on with their plans, in spite of not capturing Shiva, yet he was still complaining. She was starting to think that this universe's Eddie kinda sucked. Or maybe she just wasn't used to the whole situation yet.

"Regardless, we got the information we came for," Blade explained, tapping her head. "I've essentially downloaded all of Shiva's memories into my own head. It will take a while to go through them all, but I'll be able to find what we need soon enough. Though, you really must have assumed that, when he discovered about said leverage eventually anyway, he would still attempt to pull the same threat of killing innocents to get her back, thus making said leverage a non factor. That being the case, I don't understand why you were all so worried about those people dying, if you wanted the leverage that badly. This is a war, after all, right? People die in wars. It's a sad fact, but it can't be avoided."

Rose glanced over at her daughter; it was the first time she'd heard her speak in such a cold manner. Evidently, the time period she came from had shaped her in a way that Rose hadn't realized, not being there to see it. When thrust back into a world of similar conflict, Blade shifted and seemed right at home. It was a little scary.

At the question of how to kill Neal came up, however, Rose just slowly turned her gaze over the Question. She couldn't say she had been expecting such a query... after all, she hadn't killed in a long time, and never intended to again if it could be avoided. She wasn't ready to think about having to start again.

"Well... he's powerful," Rose said, with a shrug of her shoulders. "But he's not Superman. He bleeds like everyone else..."

Eddie's eyes widened for a moment before looking away. She was right, everything had worked out even if it seemed like a huge risk. She had taken control of the situation, won the fight against Shiva, and even downloaded most of her memories in order to benefit the cause. Questioning her like that was just an asshole move. He knew that had Neal said it to him he would have given up Shiva immediately to save those people.

Question just listened to Blade and Rose for a moment. "How fitting, he bleeds like everyone else. He can create the ideal world for others, and yet he remains trapped here where he's vulnerable," Question remarked to himself. It was an interesting new plot, Question always assumed that the Leader of the League would do anything to stay in control. This wasn't true though, he showed that he'd rather take a small defeat than kill people. He might still have those people in his world, but if he wasn't going to kill them he had lost a lot of power.

"With any luck Shiva will have some sort of knowledge of where he might be and we can track him down before he moves," Question said as he looked over towards Blade. He knew that she would do it as fast as she could, after all she spoke like she knew what it was like to fight. She knew what they were fighting for.

"In the meantime we should start moving and seeing what sort of stuff is stored down below," Huntress said as she moved past the others and towards a door that lead to some stairs. "Come on, we got a lot of stuff to move hopefully," she said with a smile before opening the door and heading down. Eddie and Question moved after her shortly.

"I'll let you know when I come across any useful information," Blade said, a stern look on her face. Her mind was mostly concentrating on sifting through all the memories she had just gathered from Shiva. She mostly ignored all the early life stuff, and everything up she met Neal. That's the only part that she needed to focus on, especially since everything that she just read would disappear from her head by the end of the day. Though she could read minds and pull out their memories, that information did not stay in her head forever.

"Right," Rose said, as Huntress started moving towards the door at the back. Shiva wasn't the only reason they'd come here, after all. There was still more to search for in this place, hopefully a cache of useful materials. Walking up right behind the woman, she joined her a the front, ahead of Blade and Question. Leaning in, she whispered to her. "So, I gotta ask you. If he doesn't have a face, how does he... you know? I mean, sex is only so good without foreplay."

Huntress glanced over as Rose walked up next to her and began to speak to her. Huntress heard the question and just let out a bit of a smile. "Well, I'm not sure that you'd believe it if I told you," she said seriously as they kept walking forward. "Sex might only be so good without foreplay, but let me tell you something," she whispered before leaning in towards Rose's ear. "The sex.........oh my god amazing," she said with a smile and a wink as she pushed through another door and began to move down several stairs.

"So.............what's Neal like? The other one I mean, is he a real hero back in that world?"

"But... but still, you must have some way to... hey, wait!" Rose called after Huntress, as she moved down the stairs. "I mean, come on, he doesn't have tongue!" How on earth could she even live with a man who couldn't give her a little tongue action? Of course, it wasn't like she knew that it was just a mask the guy was wearing, after all it didn't look like one. It simply looked like he had no goddamn face! It was all very confusing. When she caught up to Huntress again, and was asked what her Neal was like, she went quiet for a moment before responding. "Oh, yeah, he really is a hero... a better one that I could be, honestly. That's part of why I married him. He's just... a genuinely good person, the kind you only dream about finding. On top of that, he's a good father, too. And great in bed....because, you know, he has a tongue. And he knows how to use it."

Huntress could only smile as they kept walking. There were several people that knew that Question just wore a special mask in order to hide his real face, but it wasn't her place to share it if Rose didn't know. Perhaps one day Question would tell her himself, but that was his own decision to make and Huntress would not make it for him. Huntress listened to what Rose said about Neal, giving several small nods as she spoke. "And you really think that one event changed him from the way that you know him to what he's become?" she asked curiously. "It seems like a pretty drastic change for one event.......maybe you should give yourself some more credit Ravager," she added as she turned and looked right at Rose. "Maybe you help him to be the hero that he is in your world"

"That's nice and all, but he was a hero long before I ever met him," Rose said, with a small shrug. "Not to mention the whole League of Assassins fiasco was also before I met him, so that even going a different way here had nothing to do with me. I mean sure, I am awesome and all that, but he's just a better person, and I love him for that. Sometimes I wonder what I'd do with myself if I ever lost him... that's why I want to get back to him so bad. No matter what happens, I'll do whatever it takes to fix that machine and return to my own universe." She took in a small breath and slowly let it out. Then, she decided to go and have a little fun with Huntress. "You know, I've met your alternate universe self a couple of times in my world. You're pretty cool there, too. Not involved with Question, though. Actually, you're a lesbian where I come from, mhm. Dating Black Canary, if I recall correctly. Was after she broke up with Green Arrow, I think he turned her off of men for good."

"Well, I'm sure that he's missing you like crazy. If he's half the man you make him out to be I'm sure he won't even be sleeping until he finds a way to get you back," Huntress insisted. She couldn't understand what it was like to be in Rose's position, so she figured that it would just be nice to try to make her feel better about her situation. She clearly thought the world of Neal in her other universe, even if the one here was a complete asshole. At least she wasn't going to let that get in the way, she would fight in order to stop this Neal, and Huntress had a feeling that she would kill Neal in order to save the world.

As Rose went on to talk about her being a lesbian she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Finally, she let out a laugh. "Well, Green Arrow never could shoot straight I hear," she added with a tiny laugh. "And hey, if I were to be a lesbian I could do far worse than Black Canary am I right?" she asked with a small elbow jab in to Rose's side.

Man, where had this girl been her entire life? She was way too much fun to have around.

---

The rest of the day was spent moving several of the supplies that they had found in the building and transporting it back to their hideout. It had taken several hours and most of them were completely drained by the time that they had completed the job. The League didn't send any assassins over to try and stop them. They had found mainly a cache of automatic weapons along with several pieces of key technology. It had taken time to move, but it was clearly a huge hit against the League of Assassins. There was much more work to do, but they had a good start.

Eddie stood outside of Rose's room, standing still for several moments before reaching his hand forward and gently knocking on her door. He just hoped that she hadn't fallen asleep yet.

"True, true, Canary is definitely a stunner," Rose admitted, with a small chuckle. "Of course, she's not Power Girl... but still nice." This Huntress was definitely cooler than the one she'd met before. The one from her world was rather... broody, that's a good word for it. Broody and dark. This one was bubbly and humorous, and she liked it. She almost wished she could take this Huntress back with her to be best friends, but oh well. It was a nice dream. The rest of the day wasn't really that entertaining, mostly involving moving a bunch of equipment back to their base. At least Blade's telekinesis helped make it a ton easier than carrying everything by hand. She might not like using it for combat, but lifting a few objects to move them was simple enough.

Rose let out a long yawn as she lay in bed that night, trying to get some shut eye. Hopefully she'd be able to get a bit better sleep than she had the night before, because she was really out of it by the time the day wore down... But then a knock came at her door, waking her up again. Groaning, she sat up in bed and rubbed her eye. "Lilly, is that you?"

Eddie heard Rose say something and very slightly opened the door. He glanced over to see that Rose was in her bad. God he hoped that she hadn't been asleep, he'd feel like a complete asshole if he had really woken her up from her rest. They all had a really long day after all. "Hey Rose, it's Eddie," he said as he placed a single foot in to the room. "Would you mind if I came in for a few minutes? I was hoping that we could talk"