No sooner does he begin to get a handle on the recent developments in the city, the next obstacles appears to make him stumble.

This time was a serious blow, one that Bane had not anticipated.

Bird's corpse laid on the floor in front of the larger, masked man. Unseeing eyes stared up at the ceiling above, the face frozen with an expression of both shock and terror. The blood splattered revealed that he had fallen from quite a height, most likely from the rafters up above.

When word had reached him of this massacre, Bane had been quick to act, ordering what forces he had nearby to secure the area. After taking in the sight of the other bodies, many of which still held their guns in hand, the Santa Priscan native initially believed that this was another strike by Ra's al Ghul and his minions.

But then details weren't adding up. The wounds on the bodies didn't fit in with what the weaponry that the Demon's Fang wielded were capable of. Second, a small, tiny section of the warehouse was riddled with bullets, as if all the men here had discharged at one location.

Lastly, al Ghul left no messages behind. The dead bodies were message enough.

The words YOU'RE NEXT written in blood and in all capital letters painted a large section of the floor that was not covered with either crates, or bodies. It was difficult not to see this message. Flickering eyes from the words to the blood that puddled under Bird and it was simple to conclude what the killer had done here.

He wasn't going to spell it out; there was no need. His anger, pent up for so long, demanded to lash out, and so Bane did. A fist slammed into crate, breaking through the wood like it was paper. He barely felt any resistance against his fist.

Taking everything together, it was obvious that there was yet another player in this city.

How? How was this possible? As soon as he felt he was gaining control, the city threw yet another complication! As a result, his rage was beginning to become harder to control.

But rage would not dictate his next course of action. He needed to remain calm and level-headed so as not to make a new mistake.

One of his loyal trusted lieutenants was down, the second to go after all contact with Trogg cut off. Zombie was the last one and all that would be left were the dwindling numbers of his cannon fodder. Restructuring was in order, but more importantly, speeding up the time table with Tetch was needed.

One last thing: this insult could not be left unanswered. This new challenger had made their intentions known and Bane needed to respond in kind. This interloper, nay, the city itself, needed a powerful lesson with who it was dealing with.

The heavy artillery would be necessary. That, and a lightning fast attack on a target of his choosing. It would need to be quick and hard and reaffirm who was the true power here.

First, he would crush their confidence; then he would take away their wills.


He was locked and loaded. Sights were adjusted and were dead-on center. Gotham had no shortage of vantage points either, so his spot was high, taking away the influence of gravity on his shot.

Crouching behind the ledge, Deadshot rested the rifle's kickstand on top of the cement barrier, peering through the scope on top of his weapon. He had been hard at work trying to establish this exact scenario and—trust him—it hadn't been easy.

This wasn't the first time he had taken on ninjas. Obviously none of them had been serious threats considering he was still here and they weren't. The only difference between them and ordinary targets was that they were better at hiding. Deadshot knew all of the hiding places though—and more importantly knew how to get around them. There didn't exist a target he couldn't hit.

And he never missed.

Right now, he could see on a lower rooftop a group of ninjas. These guys knew what they were doing after all the time he had spent observing them. Don't assume he had been following them because that's not how he did things. Trained assassins could tell when they were being tailed, so he took up the post as a fortunate observer. He predicted where these guys were going and made sure to beat them to the point. Figuring they were going after his employer and his men, Deadshot positioned himself at the most advantageous spot and was rewarded in turn.

These guys were pros, of that he was certain. They did well taking cover behind walls, chimney stacks, and gargoyles. They were never out in the open for longer than a blink of an eye. It made a guy think they were just seeing things.

For all their skills, though, they wouldn't last too long. Right now, the ninjas he was following had taken up refuge on a rooftop several stories below his own. They were perhaps five, six hundred feet away.

Deadshot frowned. That was a hundred feet difference in his estimate. That wouldn't do at all. Reaching a hand up to his scope, he adjusted the sight, watching as the lens within the scope changed, zooming closer to the rooftop. Make that distance between five seventy and five eighty. That was a more acceptable estimation.

From what he could tell of the rooftop, it was some garden for a wealthy type, what with the various garden beds all over the roof and the hanging plant pots. The plants weren't anything exotic, but they were well cared for. Mingled between the beds were the ninjas, some kneeling, others standing.

These guys would be easy-pickings.

The corner of Deadshot's mouth rose up, a smirk appearing on his face.

"Bang."


Shiva stood with her arms across her chest, resting her weight on one leg as the other was lazily bent at the knee. Ra's assassins were taking a rest in this private garden. Beds of plants grew from atop brick stands reaching perhaps three and a half, four feet in height. There was an arch above the woman's head, a brick wall off to her left that also formed an arch further behind her. It was a nice design, though the materials they were made of made it look more mundane than they should have been.

They had received word from their scouts that one of Bane's patrols would be coming by soon. Small fries that they were, eventually Shiva would kill enough of them that their leader would be forced to come out of hiding to stop her. One of his lieutenants was dead, the obsessive-compulsive Zsasz. Considering the serial killer was recruited rather than brought in with the rest of Bane's men, it was safe to say the man's death would not faze the masked man in the slightest. The lack of reprisal thus far indicated as much.

So if one pawn wasn't enough, then several more would need to be eliminated.

If Bane wasn't careful, she would eliminate his entire army and leave him a solitary king.

"Lady Shiva," one of the assassins spoke to her then, the man crossing a fist over his chest as he bowed his head in deference. "We have lost communication with our scouts."

This did not faze the dark-haired woman. "Were they wiped out by Bane's men?"

Before she received an answer, the side of the assassin's head exploded, sending blood splattering against the wall to his left. An instant later, his body collapsed to the ground.

Immediately, Shiva darted to the wall to her left, taking refuge in the corner formed by the intersecting arches. The other assassins had also taken up cover behind the brick plant beds and the ledge of the roof. They had all reacted simultaneously, appearing as if they were one rather than many.

Calmly, Shiva eyed Ra's men, seeing the men holding their ground, staying crouched behind their covers. Then one began to raise up, peeking over the plant bed he hid behind.

Instantly, his head jerked back as blood blew out the back of his skull. Shiva narrowed her eyes as the man dropped to the ground as a corpse. There was a sniper out there and he had them in his sights.

How annoying.

Considering the initial blood splatters, it was clear the sniper was off to the south. Undoubtedly, he was on a higher building rather than one at the same height. Shiva would have taken up position there herself if she were to assassinate a target from long range.

However, they needed to only stay out of sight until the sniper left his post. Most likely that would be for several hours, not that time was an issue. This was the Demon's Fang and they were very patient people. They could out-wait this sniper.

Suddenly, there was a sound, several occurring in rapid succession. Shiva only saw a flash of light, but then she saw one of the assassins suddenly slump against his cover, blood beginning to pool around him.

Then she saw a puff of smoke suddenly shoot out from a wall, quickly followed by another assassin going limp. And then another one and then another.

It took a moment before Shiva's eyes widened. This sniper, whomever he was, was good. Extremely good. He was ricocheting his bullets off different surfaces, including the walls around them, to kill them. The small puffs of smoke and dust she was seeing was the bullets bouncing off the brick surface.

They could not wait this foe out.

Retreat was necessary. Though Ra's men would be reluctant, there was never any shame in withdrawing, especially when at the mercy of a deadly foe.

"Smoke!" Shiva shouted even as she pulled out a handful of smoke pellets. Her remaining men immediately pulled out their own pellets and broke them on the ground. Immediately, several dark clouds of smoke began to cover the rooftop, joining together and forming a larger cloud.

Shiva then took off running, rounding a nearby corner as she raced for the north side of the roof. The assassins were right behind her too if the sound of their pounding footsteps were any indication.

That's when she heard the unmistakable sound of machine gun fire. Though it was odd that she hadn't heard the gunshots from the sniper rifle, a silencer on the end of the rifle would've muffled the sound enough to make it go unnoticed. There was no such silencer on the machine gun, however.

Whomever the sniper was, he had done away with trying to take them down one at a time. With the smoke cover, it only made sense that he would fire as many bullets as he could in the hope that he hit anyone hiding within it.

And hit he did. Shiva could hear the cries and screams as the assassins behind her were struck by hot lead. She could hear bodies hitting the ground even as more bullets seemed to strike the roof around her. Ignoring them all, Shiva reached the edge of the roof and didn't break stride. Pressing a foot down on top of the raised ledge, she dove off of the roof, arms extended out in front of her as she fell. Smoke clung to her body, billowing off of her as she exited the cloud, seeing the city street far below her, one that was drawing closer to her with every passing second.

With a building between her and the sniper, Shiva felt safe out in the open. Eyeing a flagpole a couple stories below her, the dark-haired spread her arms out to either side of herself as she began to go into a flip, swinging her legs downward as her head raise upwards. Over and over she flipped until her feet perfectly timed landing on top of the flag poll. The poll bent downward from the force she had landed on top of it with, the woman crouching down on top of it.

Then the flag pole sprung upward, Shiva pushing off of it as she was launched through the air, flying over the street as she flew towards the building on the opposite side. Closing in on the building, she found she was going to collide with the wall just below a window ledge. Reaching her hands up as high as she could, her palms collided with the ledge, her fingers immediately clamping down on the edge. Her legs curled beneath her, her feet took the brunt of her collision with the wall, leaving her to hang from the window ledge.

There was another ledge below her. Letting go of the one she held onto, Shiva began to fall, only to grab onto the next ledge. She did this again and again until she finally landed on the sidewalk.

Now, she needed to take cover lest the sniper had found another vantage point to strike from. An alleyway or car would not be sufficient. A building with too many windows was also inadequate.

However…

There was a manhole covering not too far away. If there was anywhere a sniper could not get a clear shot, it was underground. Moving to the cover, Shiva forced it open and slid into the opening. Not bothering to cover it back up, she climbed the ladder down until she was safely in the sewers. The pungent stench was an insult to her sensibilities, but she could deal with it. Seeing as Ra's men were all dead, this was a better alternative.

She just wouldn't be looking forward to the long trek back to base.


This wasn't the first time that he had to hunt for his target with no knowledge of his whereabouts. That detail only meant he would charge more for his services.

He had a plan, though. It was one that would require a different sort of hunting for a different sort of prey. That would mean that a heavy-handed approach would have to be restricted for the time being.

For business reasons, his name was kept a secret, and only his tradename, the KGBeast was what he was known as. His reputation for quick assassinations and common massacres tended to precede him. He would do whatever it took to complete his job, even if it included poisoning a room of one hundred people to eliminate his single target.

Poisons would not be of any use here. Frontal assaults could not be engaged in until a location was discovered. So scurrying rats would need to be found to locate his target.

It didn't take him long to find a group of them, each a shadow in the darkness that was involved in their own task. Thanks to his intelligence, the KGBeast knew where they would be going. It was only a matter of predicting the correct place and lying in wait for them to arrive.

As one hand removed the safety from his primary weapon, that of a cybernetic gun mounted where his left hand used to be, he studied the rats through the white eye lens that concealed his eyes. The mask they were attached to kept his facial features a secret, much like this did for his current employer.

That employer would get nothing less than the head of the legendary Demon's Head himself.

Tensing bulging muscles, he observed the Demon's Head's servants, watching as they took positions around one of the small safe houses that held a team belonging to Bane. Waiting, he allowed the rats to enter, counting down to ten in his head before leaping from his perch and towards the building in question.

Now it was time to end stealth and do what he did best.

Through a window he crashed, going into a roll before ending up on his feet while ending up behind one of the dark-garbed rats. The rat spun around to face him, not even hesitating to attack with his drawn sword. In an instant, KGBeast blocked the sword slash that attempted to remove his head. The sword quivered against the reinforced metal of his gunhand, and with his right hand, he pinned the bladed weapon between him and the rat, holding it long enough to pull back to his left, weaponized arm and punch it forwards. The rat's head snapped back, his grip on the sword weakening enough for the masked Russian and tear it away.

With the rat disarmed, he fired a controlled blast of bullets, tearing the costumed corpses to shreds in an instant. The response was immediate; he could hear the sounds of footsteps running towards his location.

He didn't wait; he took off running, crashing through a wall and sending plaster and sheetrock everywhere. Arm extended, he fired another controlled burst of gunfire into the back of another rat, ending that one's night like his comrade before.

Barely an instant later, he dropped to the floor, allowing several throwing stars to fly overhead and miss him. Without looking, he swung his left hand behind himself and fired another burst. The sound of something heavy falling to the floor was all he needed to hear.

It didn't take much longer after that to deal with the rest. The fourth rat to die was gunned down, much like the three before. The fifth rat got in close, hoping for a close-quarters fight that would prove more successful than the first rat's.

KGBeast didn't need to rely on a weapon to be dangerous; his hand-to-hand had been exceptional even before he lost his left hand. Besides, the sword strikes were obvious and easy to block. As the sword struck his gunhand, KGBeast beat the blade to one side, putting his weight behind the block. The sword and his gunhand collided against the wall, a second barely passing before the sword snapped in two from the collision and the pressure his gun placed upon it. To this rat's credit, he didn't freeze from the breaking of his weapon, instead dropping the remains of the sword and pulled out two daggers.

Backpedaling, he jerked and twsited as he dodged each and every slash and stab that came his way, keeping a sharp eye on the rat's movements until he could discern a pattern. Shooting his hand, he caught one of the rat's wrist, pulling him close while leaning his head back as far as he could. He then threw it forward, delivering a brutal headbutt.

Slipping his left hand under the rat, he lifted him up and threw the bastard threw a wall with little effort. Before pressing after him, he tilted his head to a side and allowed a shuriken to whistle by his ear. Holding his left arm out parallel with the floor, he fired another burst without taking a second to aim. He was moving when he did not hear the sound of anything thumping.

Reaching the end of the hallway, he thrusting his left arm into the wall, jumping simultaneously and using his arm as a fulcrum while he swung a leg out and around the corner. Most people tended to be right-handed and would move to their right when dodging. That mean he needed to attack to his left, and just as he had guessed, there was the last rat. His kick caught the rat in his left arm and the force of the blow was enough to send the nobody skidding down the intersecting hallway.

The Beast's feet were barely touching down on the floor when he tore his gun out of the wall, sending more plaster and sheetrock flying about. The rat had recovered and was shouting something meaningless, going on the attack with wild sword thrusts that were easily evaded. Thanks to the hallway, it was easy to predict where each thrust came from; there was limited space here which meant there were limited choices to make when attacking.

Skirting to a side, he clamped his arm down on the long, Japanese-style blade like a vice, pinning the flat side of the blade against his side. Picking up a leg, his kicked his foot out and into the rat's gut, throwing him back and causing the gloved hands to release the sword handle.

Letting the weapon fall to the floor, he raised his gun up once more and fired another controlled burst, ending this rat's struggle.

Pausing, he listened for any sounds that would indicate another attacker. Doing a mental check, he concluded that he had killed all but one of the rack of rats. At least, he should have if that one he had thrown through a wall hadn't croaked. It would be best to check.

Retracing his steps, he arrived at one of the two large holes he had made throughout the struggle and after peering into both, he saw that there was no body in either of them. It would appear that there was indeed a survivor.

Good.

Taking out a tracking device and turning it on, he observed the moving red dot that was making a quick getaway. Now to follow this rat back to the nest.


Pulling an arrow out of the corpse, the bow-wielding assassin known simply at Merlyn wiped down the projectile and replaced it into one of the multiple quivers he carried. While tedious work, it was easier to retrieve an arrow than a bullet, and skills were such that he didn't need to use many. Like all wise men, he carried more than needed because one never knew when they would need a large amount of ammunition.

This was another group of the Demon's Head's minions. All were dead as per Bane's instructions. Hopefully, this would gain the attention of his true target and lead to a face-to-face confrontation. He knew better, though; a man such as Ra's al Ghul could care less how many men he lost so long as he accomplished his goal.

He had heard the stories, listened to the whispers, and knew better than to expect this to be an easy assignment. You did not become as dreaded a man as the Demon's Head without reason. That was why he wanted to lure the man out and see what he was capable of without getting too close. It was fortunate, then, that he specialized in long-ranged combat.

That was the advantage of a bow over a gun; with the latter you needed to use additional accessories to ensure your continued stealth. A simply arrow did not require that kind of preparation, only the skill needed to pull off the maneuver. He had that more in abundance, to the point he didn't need to look at his target when shooting.

Which was why he could sense that there was someone nearby. Had he perhaps missed one? That caused a frown to flicker over his facial features for an instant. It wasn't often he was careless enough to do such a thing; nevertheless, it meant another head for him to present. He could collect his arrows later. Now, it was time for the hunt.

Merlyn took to the shadows, an arrow notched and ready to be fired. He didn't stop moving until he found himself a good vantage over the area, one that came in the form of a fire escape. His movements were stealthy enough that the metal did not creak under him. From there he would wait, watching for his prey.

His flight was perfectly timed; no sooner had he taken roost did this straggler appear. From here, all he was able to make out was a hat of sorts, and was that a bow strapped to a back? Instead of retreating immediately, much to Merlyn's surprise, the newcomer crouched down...and studied the bodies? Why would he do that? Had it not occurred to him that the perpetrator may be close by?

Tensing his muscles, he pulled the taut bowstring tighter, waiting seconds as the newcomer began examining one of his abandoned arrows, and only then releasing sweet death.

What happened next, Merlyn was unable to fully grasp, but this newcomer was on his feet and firing an arrow of his own,, one that collided with the assassin's in midair and ricocheting it off its trajectory.

Now that had never happened.

His surprise had made him hesitate an instant too long because the newcomer had fired a second arrow, one that he only had seconds to spy out and jerk his head to a side to avoid. As the projectile shot by him, he realized that his action had been wasted; the arrow was not going to impale his head even if he had stayed perfectly still. So, that must have been a fluke earl—

A small detonation occurred behind him, and belatedly he realized that there was more to that arrow than its appearance. There had been an explosive device embedded in it, one powerful enough that it knocked him over the fire escape's railing and down to the pavement below. He flipped over himself and landed on his feet, the shock of the landing sending tremors up his the limbs.

"Sorry, Charlie, but it's not human season just yet. I'm going to have to turn you in for poaching," the man taunted, his deep voice giving away a portion of his identity.

The tone of that voice, though, irked him.

"Do you see this as a game?" he demanded as he stood up to his full height. Narrowing his eyes, Merlyn pressed, "Are you one of his?"

"Depends on who he is," the archer replied, a beard making itself known to the murderous archer. Hmm, that was a feature he needed to store away for later, provided there was a later. Other traits, such as the green that colored the interloper's attire were also filed away.

"The Demon's Head. You are one of his?" Merlyn clarified. He didn't think this was necessary, but there were always infuriating men like this who could crawl under your skin with little effort.

"Nope. A guy like Ra's al Ghul is the kind of guy I poach," the green archer retorted.

That caused a frown to mar Merlyn's face. "Then who do you work for?"

"I'm my own man, but if you're going to ask twenty questions, then I'll save you some time. You can call me Green Arrow and know that I'm one of the good guys," the bearded man declared.

Merlyn's curiosity was gone and replaced with content. He had heard about this type. Feh, what a waste.

"Not for long," the assassin declared, pulling out five individual arrows and notching each one on his string.