Nanda Parbat

"Are you sure this guy is that good?" Leonard asked. Sara couldn't blame him for doubting. Stretched out in front of them was the army of Talia al Ghul. Over 4,000 strong of League warriors. To their backs was Nyssa's army. A paltry force by comparison, they numbered barely 500 of the League's elite. It was the classic case of quality vs quantity.

"Stick around and you'll find out," Karl commented, coming up behind them. He walked up ahead to where Nyssa was standing, and knelt.

"Qat Asud," she greeted him.

"Warith al Ghul," he returned.

"You may proceed," she informed him. He nodded, moving out into the space between the two armies. He threw back his hood, revealing his face and his scars to the opposing army. Unsheathing his katanas, he threw his arms open wide.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAS" he bellowed, the ravine making him easily heard to the opposing army.

"COME AND FACE ME RAS!" he demanded, "I AM QAT ASUD AND I DEMAND VENGEANCE!"

At that the opposing army stirred a little. It was barely more than a slight movement in the ranks, but Sara knew it was akin to mass panic.

"YOU COWARD!" Karl screamed, two years worth of rage and betrayal coming out, "YOU SEND YOUR UNDERLINGS TO ELIMINATE ME, AND NOW WHEN I SURVIVE, YOU HIDE BEHIND YOUR ARMY, QUAKING IN YOUR BOOTS! YOU ARE NO TRUE WARRIOR! YOU ARE NO TRUE MAN!"

A figure strode from the fortress, clad in ornate League armour. They wore a heavy scimitar across their back. The ranks of the army parted before them. They were clearly of great importance and rank. They were also clearly not Ra's al Ghul. When they got close enough to Karl for him to recognize, he spat and pointed one of his katanas at them.

"You are not fit to wear that armour," he accused.

"My father has named me Warith al Ghul," Talia al Ghul replied, "that makes me more fit than anyone else."

"Where is your father?" Karl asked, "Hiding in his hot tub?"

"My father does not concern himself with the slaughter of traitors," Talia retorted, "It is me you have to face today, Qat Asud."

"I have no interest in dueling little girls," Karl spat, "It is vengeance I seek. Vengeance, and to prove I was right. If your father will not come to face me, then I WILL FIND HIM!" he finished with a shout, directing it towards the silent fortress. He then strode back to Nyssa's side, leaving a very irate Talia al Ghul.

"Well," Leonard murmured to Sara, "that was anticlimactic."

"What happens next won't be," Sara replied.

"No," Leonard admitted, "No it will not."

Nyssa did not waste words. She drew her scimitar, a twin to Talia's, pointed it at her sister, and took off at a run. Her entire force raised their swords behind her, and charged the enemy.

Battle was a blur. Sara had been in fights before, but never on this scale. She and Leonard fought back to back, him freezing assassin after assassin while she went to work on those that would take him from behind.

They were making progress, but there were just so many enemies. For every one they killed there were four more to take his place. She glimpsed Talia and Nyssa locked in frenetic combat, scimitars flashing, two sides of the same murderous coin.

She and Leonard were fighting one particularly stubborn knot of Ra's loyalists when in seemingly a blink of an eye there were just bodies. Having gained this brief respite, Sara looked around to see who had assisted them. It was Karl. He was spinning as he fought, twin katanas flashing so that he looked like a tornado of death. Everywhere he went, he carved a path, so much so that Sara could actually pinpoint his path. It bobbed and weaved, but clearly traced a line to the entrance of Nanda Parbat.

"He's going for Ra's" Leonard observed. Sara nodded, but their brief respite was over as a group of loyalists rushed them.

Inside Nanda Parbat

Karl Lawton pounded through the halls of Nanda Parbat in a red rage.

After all this he had stayed inside! Left his incompetent (comparatively) daughter while he fucking meditated?

He rounded the corner entering the chamber of the Lazarus Pit. After dispatching the two guards with relative ease, he stood in the center of the room. Ra's had still not strayed from the pit.

"Ra's al Ghul"

"Qat Asud," the Demon's Head returned, turning around, he continued, "I see Nyssa was less than honest where your fate was concerned."

"I will kill you for what you did to me," Karl replied, icy calm in his rage.

"Do you know how many men have said the exact same thing, standing in the exact same spot as you?" Ra's wondered.

"I am the only one capable of carrying it out," Karl countered as Ra's dressed himself as if today were any other day.

"No doubt that is what you believe," Ra's mused, grabbing his two handed broadsword. Without further discussion or formality, he launched himself at Qat Asud.

They were two blurs of steel. Black Cat and Demon's Head. Katanas and broadsword. A contrast of styles, in more ways than one. Karl lost track of time. It could have been minutes, it could have been days, Karl would not have known. Eventually though, he felt himself gain the upper hand. His blows were just that much closer to landing then Ra's', his parries that much more sure. He pressed his advantage, and when he saw his opening, he struck with a riposte and slid his katana between the ribs of Ra's al Ghul.

Ra's slunk to the floor, eyes wide and staring. Karl spoke the traditional last words, but when Ra's tried to speak, Karl held his mouth shut.

"Do not even think about giving your last words you filth," He growled in a voice that dripped venom. Ra's spit up blood, gave a gasp, then toppled to the floor, dead.

Karl withdrew his katana, raised it above his head, and bellowed his triumph to the world.

Outside Nanda Parbat

They were going to lose. Sara could feel it. No one had seen Karl, and without him the numbers were starting to overwhelm their force. She was hard pressed, having been separated sometime from Leonard, and she was about to be cut off and surrounded when-

"RA'S AL GHUL IS DEAD!" Karl announced from the top of Nanda Parbat. Instantly all fighting stopped and all eyes turned to the parapet where Qat Asud was perched. Karl hoisted the body of an easily recognizable Ra's al Ghul, and slung him over the side of the fortress, to land with a thud on the field of battle. A shrill scream rose, as Talia al Ghul slunk to her knees in grief. Seeing her chance, Nyssa slit Talia's throat, and her scream turned to a gurgle. All around, loyalists began throwing down their weapons, and kneeling to Nyssa. Sara heard her name called, and saw Leonard frantically running toward her. She ran to him, and he swept her up in a kiss that left her breathless and giddy.

"We won," he breathed.

"Never doubted it for a second," She returned, kissing him again.

Across the battlefield, Nyssa made eye contact with Karl.

"Ra's al Ghul," he called down, kneeling, "Nanda Parbat is yours."