Part 4?

Xander waited in utter silence, as the light footsteps could be heard reverberating throughout the marble floor of the hallway. He closed his eyes while trying to minimize anything that could give away his position. As the footsteps in the hall neared the darkened room in which he was hiding, Xander sprang into action. His eyes had been closed. Using his own instincts of when to move, and praying that they were right, Xander emerged from his hidden position in the darkened shadows.

With all the strength he could muster, his foot made solid contact with the man's groin. Xander had been extremely surprised. With the light footsteps that he had heard echoing through the hallway, he had not expected such a tall and large individual. That, however, didn't stop the man from folding over in intense pain.

The man basically doubled over. A strong sense of nausea began to move the bile from his stomach into his throat. He had been trained by the best, yet he had grossly underestimated his opponent. He had been trained to be a ninja; a warrior that could, and would, ignore an obstacle, such as pain.

He quickly suppressed the urge to vomit all over the marble floor of the elegant hallway. The intense and throbbing pain that raked his entire body was all but ignored. He knew that once he had the chance he would teach the boy a thing or two about true pain. It was a chance, however, that he would not be able to take advantage of.

Xander had made his first aggressive move towards the unknown man. Once his foot had made solid contact, he moved out of the large man's reach. Once the man had doubled over, his hands going to protect his badly bruised genitals, Xander wasted no time in acting once again.

Looking upon the man's hunched over position; Xander raised the candlestick holder and brought it down in a viscous arc the connected with the back of the man's head. The man lost all conscious thought before he hit the ground.

Xander cautiously approached the unmoving black man. He warily reached down to check for a pulse. After a few moments he was able to find one. It was weak, but it was there. Xander gave a cursory glance at the man's head. There was a small gash where the candlestick holder made contact, but the wound in itself didn't appear to be life threatening. Not that Xander was about to stay and make sure. There were a ton of thugs in the other room. All of them seemed intent on harming or killing Bruce.

Hearing muffled voices from a hallway not too far away, Xander moved as quietly as he was able. Trying to stay as hidden as possible he made his way through a room that connected both hallways.

He slowly crept toward a pain of windows that overlooked the hallway occupied by Bruce, Ra's Al Guhl, and his thugs. Taking a quick glance down the hallway in the direction he could see, one of Ra's thugs was standing guard at the end of the hallway. Xander could only assume the same was true at the other end of the hallway.

'Great, now what in the hell am I going to do.' He glanced back out towards the hallway. Ra's and Bruce were still in there small debate. 'If they aren't fighting, there's no reason for me to jump the gun. What in the hell am I going to do anyways?' Xander simply sighed and listened intently.

Bruce's voice was almost a whisper, yet somehow seemed to carry enough that Xander had little trouble hearing him.

"But really, you are going to release Crane's poison on the entire city."

Xander thought back to a short while ago. Bruce had been talking to an older black man about some sort of a toxin, an inhalant, and Bruce had asked the man to produce as much antidote as he was capable of.

Xander shook his head. 'So, Ra's has some sort of poison, and he's going to gas an entire city. That's it. Henri Ducard is off my Christmas list.' Xander was cut off from his idle musings by Ra's response.

"Then watch Gotham tear itself apart through fear."

Bruce's voice now had a harder edge to it. "You would destroy millions of lives."

Ra's bit back, "Only a cynical man would call what these people have 'Lives.' Crime and despair, that's not how man was supposed to live. The League of Shadows has been a check against corruption for thousands of Years. We sacked Rome…"

At this point Xander had tuned the man out. 'Oh shit. He's going to 'gas' Gotham? Cordy and her family are staying in some freaking hotel in Gotham.' Xander let out a quiet, but deadly, growl. 'If she gets hurt, I'll kill Ra's with my own bare hands.' With new found determination, Xander paid close attention to what was being said.

Ra's looked upon Bruce. "When I found you in that jail you were lost, but I believed in you. I took away your fear and I showed you a path. You were my greatest student." He paused for a moment and stared intently into Bruce's eyes. "It should be you standing by my side, saving the world."

Silence descended throughout the manor as student and mentor stared at one another. After what felt like an eternity, but was no more than a matter of second, Bruce responded in a soft, yet determined, voice.

"I'll be standing where I belong. Between you and the people of Gotham."

Xander wasn't quite sure exactly what was going on. But, in that moment, listening to the conversation happening but a few feet away, his admiration for Mr. Wayne shot through the roof. At the time, staying behind felt like something that he needed to do. He was glad to know that is was also the right decision to make.

At the sound of furniture breaking, Xander's head turned sharply to the two men outside. Every muscle in his body was tense and ready to spring to action. Though, to be honest, he still had no idea what he was going to do. But then again, he rarely ever did when it came time to act, he simply acted.

At the moment Bruce was just standing there as Ra's men began to trash his place and set fire to some of his possessions. As they doused his furniture, and tapestries, the fire began to consume more of the house, and soon enough the entire hallway and beyond were ablaze. Yet still, Bruce made no move to attack.

Xander shook his head. If Bruce wasn't going to attack, then he'd lay low as well. He just hoped he didn't get caught in this inferno. The sound of Ra's voice as it became harder and louder, so he could be heard over the roar of the flames could be heard.

"We are back to finish the job. And this time, no misguided idealist will get in the way. Like your father, you lack the courage to do all that is necessary." Ra's eyes hardened as he stared at his former pupil. "If someone stands in the way of true justice, you simply walk up behind them, and stab them in the heart."

Xander was somewhat surprised to hear the man talk about stabbing someone in the heart, but that surprise was shadowed by another shocker as a man seemingly materialized from behind, and above, Bruce.

The man made to attack Bruce, but before the man could even get a shot off, Bruce had let fly a punch of his own, that caught the man in the face, sending him to the ground. Behind Bruce, Ra's pulled a silver blade from within his cane and took a swipe at the young billionaire.

Bruce barely managed to evade the swiped taken at him. As Bruce made a grab at Ra's arms, soft words were spoken to each other. The end result was Ra's tripping Bruce. The young man fell flat on his back as a flaming piece of the ceiling fell on top of him, knocking Bruce out cold.

The entire fight took but a few seconds, and Xander hadn't even had time to truly move from his position. He had just made it to the entrance of the hallway as Bruce became trapped under the flaming piece of ceiling. He quickly took a few paces back into the darkness of the room. He figured that no good would come of this if no one was around to pull Bruce from the fire. He just prayed something could be done before whatever toxin Ra's planned to use on Gotham was actually put into affect.

Ra's looked down upon the unconscious man, and spoke with a smirk.

"Justice is balance. You burnt my house and left me for dead. Consider us even."

With that he began to walk to one of his thugs.

"Michael, Paul has yet to return. Find him, if he is alive, retrieve him and place him in the van."

His thug nodded. "And what about the kid?"

Ra's Al Guhl actually smiled. "If you see him, which I doubt, leave him be." Michael hesitated a moment, but nodded his head. He went to leave but was stopped by Ra's harsh voice. "Michael, if I learn that the boy has been harmed in any way you will be answering directly to me. Am I understood?" A quick flash of fear entered Michael's eyes as he quickly nodded and went to do his master's bidding.

Ra's smiled at the retreating form of one of his pupils. The man had always been loyal, but nothing would get in the way of his utopia. And Ra's knew, deep within himself, that the young man would have an integral role to play; one way or another.

His smile became a smirk. He'd have time to think about all of this later. He had a plan to enact and a corrupt city to destroy. Tonight, the first step to bringing back the balance into the world was in sight. Researching the young man, that would come another time. Yes, tonight was a glorious night.