The plot

Ra's Al Guhl walked up to the two fallen heroes. He harshly grabbed Zatanna and threw her away as if she was just a dirty rug that had landed on Nightwing. He stooped down and yanked Nightwing into a sitting position against the wall. The dagger, that was sticking out of his back, just below his left shoulder blade, hit the wall hard and Nightwing groaned with pain. The piercing pain had woken him in a cruel way and it took him some time to remember what had happened and where he was, but Ra's Al Guhl's face in front of him, brought it all back quickly.

"She wanted to know what my plan is, but she will not wake up to hear it I'm afraid and I will make sure that, after I tell you my intentions, both your lives end here." Ra's Al Guhl said in a cruel whisper.

Nightwing heard his voice from far away, his mind was with the stabbing pain in his upper back, that went through his body to his chest. 'Make it stop, make it stop!' he thought desperately. 'I can't pass out or die. Where is Zatanna?' he tried to look around, but his body seemed to be paralysed by the pain and most of his vision was taken by Ra's Al Guhl's face. The latter noticed that his words didn't reach the young hero and so he struck him in the face.

"Do pay attention, before it is too late. " He said and he grinned malevolently. "You see, this was all a diversion to caught you off guard. The young Miss Zatanna was just the bait. Why on earth would I want magical objects or knowledge? I have science. I can revive myself, I am almost immortal thanks to science! No, all I want is to achieve what others had tried and failed to do, bring an end to The Batman!"

Nightwing's eyes widened in great surprise, before the pain made him wince. 'Batman?' He thought. 'All of this was to get to Batman? How would that work?' Maybe in normal circumstances he would have figured this out, but now all his energy seemed to drain away.

"Batman has been a great sore in our eyes, " Ra's Al Guhl continued, he kept his face close to Nightwing's. It was almost like he wanted to comfort him. "It would be foolish to attack him directly. Many fools had tried that and they all failed almost immediately. They underestimated his brilliance. I studied all Batman's victories and all of them were well thought out, but his greatest strength is not only his brains. I could not quite figure it out, but I kept guessing. For you see, a hero's greatest strength is also his weakness. In Superman's case, he thinks that his strength is that he is loyal, but you only have to get that loudmouth of a reporter away from him and he will be in the palm of your hand. The same goes for The Flash and two of the Green Lanterns, but Batman can't handle women. I've seen that with Talia. There was a time when I thought that I could use her to get to him, but I figured in time that he would just leave her and my plans would be exposed. I would never be able to come close to him. I had to destroy Batman from the inside, make him unstable. I guess it all came clear to me when the second Robin died."

Another kind of pain struck Nightwing. Just the mention of Jason's death, his 'brother' brought him intense misery. The guilt he felt to know that he had not come to help. To safe Jason Todd and to help Bruce. It had been Tim who made the decision to become the third Robin to pull Bruce out of his wretched state, before he could do anything incredible stupid. Then it became clear to him, Nightwing knew that Ra's Al Guhl had realised Batman's weakness.

"The fault I had made all those years is that I thought that he and I were similar," Ra's Al Guhl continued. "but I was wrong. As I do not care for close family, he does. Those brats he picked up from the streets are his family, not just his back up. It is just silly to think that no one has ever considered this and I plan to keep it that way. You can trust no one, that's one of the main reasons I hired Lady Vic. She is trained to keep secrets as well as to kill the ones who need to be killed. You are a smart boy, the first Robin, surely you have figured it all out." Ra's Al Guhl gave Nightwing a slow nod, as if he was talking to a little child and he smiled unfriendly. "I am going to destroy Batman by killing you. He has such a strong will to protect people, possibly because of his past. " Ra's Al Guhl's eyes were now sparkling with delight. "Just imagine how devastated he will be to find you dead, the very first boy he allowed to be by his side, the closest thing he had to a son. He will realise he has failed twice to protect someone and it will consume him." Ra's Al Guhl stood up and stepped back. Nightwing could see Lady Vic taking off her helmet and she smiled gracefully down at him. It was a cold smile, without emotion. She walked up to him and drew her very last dagger, the one she had saved to kill him. That was the job she was hired to do.

Zatanna walked through the Zeta-tube and it announced her arrival. When she passed through it she saw six teens in front of her. Zatanna felt a bit nervous, she had asked her father to invite her to the Cave for some time. Now that she was here, just after school, it seemed awkward to suddenly appear in front of complete strangers. She only knew three of them by name, but she had never spoken to them. She looked around and avoided eye contact with any of them.

"Zatanna this is the team." Zatara said. "Team, this is my daughter, Zatanna."

A green skinned girl assumed to be Martian Manhunter's niece, flew over the other's heads to greet her. "Hi, I'm.." She began, but a flash of red and black interrupted her.

"Robin!" Cried the boy, who was now in front of her enthusiastically before he explained himself better and he cleared his throat to begin anew. "I mean, I'm Robin." He said with a shy laugh. "She's Megan and that is Wally, Artemis, Kaldur and Connor."

"Welcome to the Cave." Said Kaldur officially, though not unfriendly.

"Eh, thanks." Zatanna said. They seemed nice, though that boy from before made her feel a bit uncomfortable and he was not done yet.

"So eh y-y-you joining the team?" He asked a bit too eagerly and it made him stutter.

Of course, Zatanna couldn't answer for herself, her father had his mind clear on that matter and he made that directly known to Black Canary, who was one of the adults among the group of heroes. Zatanna didn't listen to her father, she already knew what he would say. No, she was more interested in the young heroes. She knew who the boy in red and black was, Robin, protégé of Batman and it amazed her that someone who trained under Batman's supervision could be so impulsive and true. Now that the ice had broken, she thought his eagerness to be very cute.

The memory faded a bit and Zatanna became aware that this was not the present, but the past. Instead of her father's voice, she could hear somebody else talking. The voice was cold and what it said was cruel and horrible.

'As I do not care for close family, he does. Those brats he picked up from the streets are his family, not just his back up. It is just silly to think that no one has ever considered this and I plan to keep it that way. You can trust no one, that's one of the main reasons I hired Lady Vic. She is trained to keep secrets as well as to kill the ones who need to be killed. You are a smart boy, the first Robin, surely you have figured it all out. I am going to destroy Batman by killing you.'

It all came back to Zatanna and suddenly she felt the cold floor on which she lay. Her body felt bruised and her throat hurt badly, but she couldn't move one muscle in her body. While she tried not to panic, Ra's Al Guhl continued talking:

'He has such a strong will to protect people, possibly because of his past. Just imagine how devastated he will be to find you dead, the very first boy he allowed to be by his side, the closest thing he had to a son. He will realise he has failed twice to protect someone and it will consume him.'

"No, Dick!" Zatanna couldn't help it. She began to panic as she heard a blade being drawn while her body refused responds to her mental comments. She felt tears pile up in her eyes and her sore throat became dry. Why didn't her limbs move? She had to do something. 'Come on, move it!' she yelled to herself inside her head. A little shock shot through her right hand and it twisted a bit. That was a start and it helped, she could use her arms again and quickly she clapped her hands together. Her eyes began to glow and her soul transferred itself to Lady Vic's body. She had now a dagger in her hand, ready to use against a helpless Nightwing who was barely conscious. Zatanna turned and threw it in another direction. "Tih ym ymene!" she said with Lady Vic's lips and the dagger she had thrown pierced Ra's Al Guhl through the chest. Zatanna knew that he could safe himself with his Lazarus Pit, so she did not go easy on him. Zatanna returned to her own body and came to her feet. Lady Vic, now back in control, was wary and confused. She barely noticed Zatanna coming up to her and reaching out her right hand to her forehead.

"Tegrof siht ecalp, tegrof ruoy snalp. Uoy lliw ton rebmer siht." She chanted. Lady Vic gave a faint groan and then collapsed on the floor. Zatanna walked to Ra's Al Guhl, who also lay unconscious on the floor and did the same to him. At last she could rush to Nightwing and help him. He had finally passed out, but he was still breathing, even though it was very shallow.

"Odnu eht egamad, ekam eht hself elohw niaga." She said and she closed her eyes in concentration while she placed both her hands at either side of the blade. She repeated the spell over and over and the weapon began to rise slowly from Nightwing's flesh. The wound began to glow and became warm with energy, but it was far from healed.

Nightwing's back shook when he began to cough. "Zatanna?" he said softly, but she couldn't answer him. After a while chanting, Zatanna began to feel more and more drained as she poured her energy into the wound. Sweat ran over her brow and temples.

At last the dagger fell harmlessly on the floor next to Nightwing and the wound was no more. Exhausted Zatanna stopped chanting and she let herself fall on the red carpet and closed her eyes. Everything was alright and now she could rest.

AN: No, It is not the last chapter, still it is an important one, that's why I called it The plot. Haha. I hope you like it and I hope Ra's Al Guhl's actual plan was not too much of an anti-climax. :)

Please review!