"So, this is the Demon's head?" Tony snickered as he examined it in the lab. Steve and Natasha shared looks of exasperation.

"Barton already beat you to the punch, Tony." Bruce sighed.

"Just because he got to it first…" Tony muttered. "Comedy is all about timing."

"Can we please take this seriously?" Digg said angrily.

Laurel, who'd been sitting off to the side with Thea, spoke up. "With…Ra's gone…does it mean we can bring the others back?" She was still shaken and couldn't look directly at the head.

"No." Nyssa walked forward. Staring down at her father's head, she paused, then turned to face the rest of the group. "Whoever kills the Demon's head, becomes the next Demon."

"Cut off one head and another grows in its place." Steve murmured. "Like Hydra."

Nyssa nodded. "Whoever did this sent us the head as a declaration of their superiority…and as a challenge. I am the rightful heir to the Demon and Oliver…" She grimaced as if the words were difficult to say. "Oliver is the heir he chose. The new Demon's Head will still want to eliminate any competition." She looked back down at her father's head. "I wished him dead a thousand times, but all those times it was me who drove the sword through his heart." Anger flashed in her eyes. "Perhaps I'll get that chance with the new Ra's."

"Any ideas as to who that might be, V for Vendetta?" Tony asked.

"Trickshot." Clint said, just as Oliver said. "Merlyn."

"Merlyn?" Clint looked at Oliver incredulously. "He doesn't have the ability or the means."

"What reason would Trickshot have to turn against Ra's?" Oliver retorted.

"Maybe he finally grew a pair and decided to be his own master for a change." Clint said.

"Merlyn has reasons to want Ra's dead. The price the league put on his head coupled with the fact that Ra's wanting me puts Thea in danger are very good reasons for Merlyn to want Ra's out of the way. In his own twisted way he cares about Thea and wants her safe."

Thea glared at Ra's head. "I wish he'd care about me a little less. He turned me into a monster, like him."

"No one blames you for Sara's death." Nyssa said quietly. "As to whose work this is." She turned the head over (Bruce paled while Tony let out a strangled exclamation of "gloves") "This blade has very distinctive markings. It belongs to Merlyn."

Oliver shot Clint a smug look.

"However," Nyssa rolled her eyes as she continued. "He did not make the kill."

"How do you know that?" Tony asked. "Does the league offer complementary training in forensics?"

"This mark right here." Nysssa pointed to the base of Ra's neck where the front of his throat was split. "If we had the rest of the body, this cut would extend from his stomach to what you see here. There is only one member of the league who kills in this way."

"Trickshot." Clint said triumphantly. "Whoop there it is."

"But Merlyn is involved." Oliver insisted. "He cut off the head."

"Doesn't count." Clint retorted. "Trickshot did the actual kill."

Thea shook her head. "Am I the only one who finds it disturbing that they're bonding over this?"

Steve gave her a look of relief. "I thought I was the only one."

"Well I for one," Tony glared at Nyssa, "Am extremely disturbed by the lack of adherence to proper lab safety protocols."

Bruce took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes in irritation. "Tony, you've literally made coffee in the middle of volatile experiments."

"Yeah, but never with dead things." Tony shot a look of disgust at Ra's head.

"Working with you does bad things for my nerves." Bruce sat heavily in the chair next to Natasha. Tony ignored him and walked up to Ra's head, scrutinizing it.

"Tony?" Roy asked.

"There's something in here." Tony muttered as he grabbed a pair of gloves and attempted to open the mouth. "Rigor mortis has set in, so it's stuck. Which means we do this the old fashion way." He held out his hand to Bruce. "Drill, please."

Steve grabbed a pair of gloves and pushed Tony out of the way. "It's a good thing I have a strong stomach." He muttered as he pried the mouth open. "This what you were looking for?" He pulled out a small flashdrive. Tony took and shot Nyssa a look.

"You'll notice that he used gloves."

"Don't provoke the assassin Tony." Bruce closed his eyes.

"I'm going to need your laptop, Cap." Tony continued. "This drive might have a virus and it's not like you actually use it anyways."

Steve gave him a stony expression. Tony turned and walked over to one of the main computers. "Fine." He said. "But don't blame me if it goes boom."

There was only a video file on the drive. It was taken from a security camera. A man, who looked like Trickshot was standing in front of –

"Is that Stark Tower?" Oliver asked.

Trickshot turned and grinned at the camera. Clint glared at the screen.

"We need to go, NOW."