A/N: Sorry this post took so long! Been a lot busier in the real world lately, but hopefulyl I'll have a little more free time in the coming days and weeks. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and without further ado…here we go.

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Batcave

New Gotham

7:00 am

"And for all of our viewers who are just joining us, today's top story has been unfolding since early this morning when NGPD made one of the largest weapon's raid in history. We are going to first take you live to the shipping yards of New Gotham where it all began."

"Thank you Tom. What you see behind me is what can only be described as a battle field ladies and gentlemen. The police and federal authorities have been extremely tight-lipped about the details of what happened here only hours ago, but it is apparent to anyone that the aftermath of the war that was waged here in the early morning hours, was devastating. Police Chief Larry Kincaid spoke with the press about half an hour ago and hear is what he had to say."

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to brief you on what few details we know and can release for the general public's information. Two weeks ago, local police authorities from NYPD received a tip that a large shipment of weapons were going to be sent to Manhattan from contacts here in New Gotham. The weapons to be manufactured and then distributed were the guns that have been named the HQ-1, and have caused the deaths of nearly a hundred people in Manhattan over the past several months. Police representatives from NYPD contacted our own local authorities and began an intense undercover operation to uncover the specifics of the plan. Through well coordinated efforts of several local agencies and resources, the guns never reached their destination, and disaster was averted both here and in Manhattan."

The Chief finished his little speech, and the gathered reporters immediately began shouting questions.

"Chief what about all the bodies being brought out? Eyewitness reports say it's a battle zone in there."

The chief's eyes darkened. "The people who were manufacturing the weapons here were being led by a highly trained mercenary soldier. This individual had created an army in a matter of months and they were well armed. It was a war zone in there and I can't deny that too many lives were lost trying to stop this."

"What about the reports that the police held back while private parties fought for the police?"

"There was a police force present within the shipping yards. One of our own detectives was a part of the entire undercover operation from start to finish."

"What about the vigilantes? Rumor has it that Batman was even spotted."

"I cannot make any comment on that at this time since nothing can either be confirmed or denied at this point."

"What about the attack on the Clocktower? We understand that Harley Quinn somehow broke out of Arkham and launched an assault on the Clocktower."

"We have detectives over there right now gathering more details, so I cannot speculate at this time on what happened there for sure."

"What about Manhattan, Chief? We've been hearing reports that there were two major fights being waged over there."

"I have only been briefly in touch with the Chief of Police in Manhattan, but as you can imagine we are both busy enough with what is going on in our own city's right now. I will be meeting with him later this week after we have both had time to compile all the facts. Now if you will excuse me, I have to get back to the scene inside. I'll hold another conference later today once we have more facts."

A hand reached out and stabbed a button on the screen sending the large room into dark silence once more. After several moments that same hand reached over to pick up a phone and dial a familiar phone number. After a few rings a tired voice answered the phone.

"Gordon."

"I need a favor old friend."

There was a startled pause. "Batman you know I would be happy to do anything for you but I need to check on my daughter first-"

"Barbara's ok, she's resting back at Wayne Manor right now with the others. But I need for you to have a word with the Commissioner about what information is given to the press. I've…been away too long to have any influence."

"I'm already here with him. He still doesn't have all the facts yet, and I'm not going to volunteer everything right now either because this place is a circus. Don't worry Batman, I'll handle things on my end like you did yours. I have to go now, I'm sure I'll be seeing you later."

The cave once more lapsed into silence as the aging hero rested the phone back in its charger, and sat back in the plush leather chair with a tired sigh. Piercing blue eyes glittered in the darkness, as the man that had once been a legend fought to come to grips with the reality he had immersed himself back into.

"It must be difficult," a familiar voice said quietly from off to one side.

Bruce Wayne turned his head to see the elderly doctor collapsing in a nearby chair, exhaustion weighing her normally straight shoulders down. "I thought you were going to get some rest," Bruce said sternly.

Leslie chuckled. "I've patched you up too many times for The Tone to work on me Bruce. And I tossed in bed for an hour before I decided to come down here. I figured Alfred still had the spare cots laying around here somewhere, and I'll probably sleep better knowing I'm next to Dinah in case something happens."

"It would seem The Tone doesn't work on anyone these days," Bruce muttered, looking away into the darkness.

Leslie raised an eyebrow. "Well you have been away for awhile Bruce. Besides, these people know you as well as I do. As for Helena…well she's your daughter," the old doctor chuckled. "It irked her to no end that The Glare and The Tone didn't work on me the few times I've had to treat her. Now the growling I have to admit got to me a little, but you ruined the rest for her."

The dark clad man was quiet for awhile as he lost himself in his thoughts. "What is she like Leslie?" he asked finally.

Leslie sat back into the comfortable chair and chuckled as she closed her eyes. "She's an amazing young woman Bruce. I've never met someone so alive in my life. She inherited the best of you both, and Barbara did an amazing job teaching her how to harness the gifts she has. Helena is light and dark, power and tenderness, daring and shy, all rolled into one incredible human being. You missed a lot by leaving, but I think I more than any one else can understand why," she told him gently- sympathetically.

Bruce allowed himself a small sigh in front of this single trusted companion. "Even Alfred resents my departure. I don't blame him one bit either. He was there for me after my parents were killed- he has been like a father to me. But when things started happening all over again…..I…I couldn't face her…either of them, knowing I had failed them so badly," he admitted quietly.

"I almost didn't return tonight, but I couldn't let myself fail them again. They all hate me, and I can't blame them."

Leslie smiled sadly. "They don't hate you dear, they're just angry and confused and right now they're afraid. Too much has happened this night to let their reactions be the judge of anything Bruce. Give them a few days to settle in and you'll see that things will work out."

Bruce frowned. "Why do I feel like it will happen in a very physical way?"

Leslie chuckled. "Because it's the only way you and your daughter know how to communicate?" she teased gently. "I seem to recall you and Selina used to settle your arguments in a similar fashion."

A tiny sad smile turned the Dark Knight's lips upwards a fraction. "And she knew every button to push."

"Helena's a very good button finder according to Barbara."

Another sigh. "I think I might have to retain your services full time then."

Leslie laughed and then stood. "If you plan on sticking around this time Bruce then I think that might be a very wise decision. Now help an old woman find a cot to sleep on in this place."

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The Isle of Avalon

Lady Titania stared at her mirror sadly, even long after the violent scenes finished unfolding. "Something vexes you My Queen?" her husband asked as he came up to stand behind her, glancing at the blank mirror.

"There was trouble in man's world."

"There is always trouble in their realm," Oberon, king of the Third Race said dismissively.

"Our grandson and his guardians were involved this time My Lord," she informed him.

There was a pause as that caught his attention. "I assume the rebellious trickster lived up to his task of protecting the boy?"

"No harm came to Alexander….at least not physically," she added quietly as she turned away from the mirror.

"I do not understand my wife. If the boy suffered no harm, then why the sad expression? Why the concern for the child's well-being?"

"Mighty Goliath, Leader of Clan Wyvern has fallen in battle tonight. The mirror was unclear, but his death will effect many…including our grandson. The boy had grown rather fond of the brave warrior."

"Goliath was just a guard to the child's home. Surely a beast's death cannot have that much impact on man's world to make the future unclear," Lord Oberon scoffed.

Titania's eyes grew hard, and she bristled visibly enough for her husband to back off a step. "They are not beasts My Lord," she told him coldly. "Do not forget that Goliath himself bested you in battle husband. Goliath and his Clan treated Alexander as if he were one of their own hatchlings, despite his association with a family they did not trust. But my concern is for more than that, the child foresaw what was going to happen."

That caught Oberon off-guard. "The Puck has obviously made remarkable progress with the boy. Alexander knew he was about to lose a close friend and yet he is advanced enough in his training to know that he could say nothing of what was to happen."

"Indeed," Oberon murmured. "I had no idea he was that far along in his powers to be seeing the future clearly enough to know specific details."

"The child grows stronger every day, the Puck has started to rely on Alexander for strength in certain exercises. Perhaps it is time to reconsider his punishment. If he is to continue to effectively train our grandson, he will not be able to do so with the limited powers you left him after his banishment."

Oberon frowned at his wife. This was not the first time she had broached the subject with him, and he knew it was mainly because she had a special affinity for the trickster. Which was all the more reason he had been so harsh in his dealings with Puck. Still, she had made a very valid point this time, and he could no longer deny the fact that the boy's powers were growing stronger than even he had anticipated.

"I will consider it," he answered finally. "But for now, I believe one of our servants is beckoning."

Titania nodded. "Anubis."

With that word the powerful Fae appeared in the room, and bowed low to the two rulers. "My Lady, you asked to be notified when it came time to escort the soul of the gargoyle known as Goliath to the Otherworld."

"I wish to speak with him one last time Anubis," Titania told him.

The jackel-headed creature nodded and then stretched out the hand that carried a staff. A familiar figure wavered into view, and the startled gargoyle blinked as he took in his surroundings and his current company. "Wha- how have I come to be here? Is this another of your tricks?" he asked them growing angry.

Titania looked sadly at the near transparent soul before her. "I'm afraid it is not this time brave warrior. Do you recall your last moments before you came here?" she asked gently.

There was a pause as the Goliath-soul tried to think. "The battle….Elisa was injured and she was going to have Dracon shoot her and the Hunter with the weapon. I stopped him…the crane collapsed…and then pain and finally darkness." Goliath paused and he looked up suddenly.

"Am I dead?"

"You told Elisa it wasn't her time, and you were right. She still has many sands left in her glass. But yours ran out this night."

"Elisa," the gargoyle whispered remembering the condition he left his love in. "What will become of her…of my Clan?" he asked desperately.

"Lady Titania has the ability to forsee the future with her mirror, but it would seem that there is much uncertainty surrounding their future right now," Oberon answered.

"I do not understand."

"Goliath, we are all controlled by Fate and Destiny to an extent. But we still make different choices that lead up to that eventuality. What will become of Elisa, of the Clan, of all whose lives you have touched, are uncertain right now. There are too many possible outcomes for the future to be clear, but most of it stems from the choices Elisa will make at this point. The aftermath of your noble fight however has done much damage to her spirit. She has a long hard journey before her, and she may have lost the will to travel it."

"Can-can I see her?"

"Only one can grant such a request, and neither of us have the power or authority to do so."

"Then….who?" he asked puzzled.

"The Maker of all. The Creator of all three races and everything that we call home," Titania answered with an amused smile as Goliath looked at her in disbelief. "Yes we think of ourselves as gods, and humans called a number of us as such. But really, we are just keepers of this world as much as you and the humans are. We just watch it from a different realm," she explained matter-of-factly.

"It is time for you to make your journey brave warrior. Anubis shall escort you from the edges of our realm to the final plane of existence. You have your faults Goliath, but you were one of the most noble beings I ever met. I have little doubt the Creator will grant your request, but it shall only be once. Choose the right moment wisely warrior."

Goliath realized he had no choice but to leave and bowed respectfully to the two rulers one last time. "I make only one request of you Lord and Lady. I know you cannot directly interfere with their lives, but perhaps you could watch over and guide my Clan from time to time- both at home and here on Avalon as well."

"We will do what we can Goliath. Now go and rest your soul."

Goliath nodded and with one final sad glance towards Titania's mirror, he turned to Anubis who waved his staff once more and caused them both to disappear.

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Castle Wyvern

Manhattan

11:30 am

An exhausted looking surgeon exited the doors to the infirmary and blinked at the large group that had gathered over the course of the morning. Everyone stood anxiously, and four of the group moved forward, distraught looks on their faces. "Are you Elisa's family?" he asked quietly.

The three humans and one mutate nodded, and he gestured for them follow him back to the infirmary. "If you'll please follow me."

They hesitated, alarmed looks passing between them. "Elisa survived the surgery, but she is far from being out of danger. I'll take you to see her now and explain more in private," he added quickly, seeing Elisa's mother beginning to turn an unhealthy pale.

There was a collective sigh of relief from all those gathered, and everyone sat back down as the Maza's followed him back into the infirmary where Elisa now lay, recovering from her extensive surgery. There was a startled gasp from Elisa's sister, but it appeared that her parents and brother had been prepared for what would most likely greet their eyes. It wasn't pretty by any standards.

"I'm Doctor Majors, and I headed the team that worked on Elisa this morning. Elisa received extensive damage to her body, and we were faced with a lot of critical injuries to deal with at once. It's no small miracle that she survived the damage done to her body. If she makes it through the next twenty four hours, then we all agree that she'll pull through this whole ordeal."

"What…what happened to her?" Diane Maza asked, looking at the bandage-clad figure of her daughter, laying deathly still on the gurney.

"She was shot in the leg, and the bullet nicked the femur, fracturing a chunk off of it. A millimeter to the right and it would have shattered the whole bone. She was shot several other time throughout the course of the night, and although she was wearing some kind of body armor, the bruising and internal injuries suggest she took most of them at point blank range. We had to stop bleeding in several organs, and there was a tear in her liver from one impact. The least of her injuries was a small knife wound that appears to have been sealed earlier by surgical glue but re-opened. We sewed that back shut.

"The worst of her injuries were cranial however and those are the ones that have left us most in the dark," he sighed. They looked at him in despair, and he looked back at the still form sadly. "Elisa received a brutal blow to the left side of her face that shattered her facial bones. It took the country's top plastic surgeon five hours just to piece her facial structure back together. He's the most skilled surgeon I've ever worked with though and the good news is she should have minimal scarring."

"The bad news?" Talon growled.

"The bone fragments severed the corneal nerve and caused irreperable damage to the eye itself. She'll will be blind out of her right eye, and there is some cause for concern about possible hearing impairment in that ear as well."

There was shocked silence as that sunk in, and Peter Maza finally cleared her throat. "When will she wake up?"

"She's in a light coma right now, but that's to be expected given her condition. The trauma to her head has caused her brain to swell, so we are taking measures to keep the pressure from compressing the brain tissue and causing further damage. Once the swelling begins to go down, she should come out of the coma. Hopefully that will be within the next twenty four to forty eight hours."

"Can we stay with her?" Diane asked.

The doctor nodded. "For a little while. But she needs her rest right now and too much stimulation this early can interrupt her body from it's own healing cycle. I've seen to it that immediate family only is allowed access for a couple of hours each day over the next two days. After that she should hopefully be awake, and strong enough to have visitors throughout the day if she wishes it."

"Only a couple of hours?" Peter asked in a pained voice.

"Just for the next couple of days. She's still in critical condition, and not only is her body exhausted, but she's very susceptible to illness right now. The less people we have in here for shorter periods of time, the better. Now I'll leave you to some privacy with her. There is going to be a nurse in the office over there if you should need anything."

"Thank you doctor….thank you for everything that you've done for her."

The kind man smiled at the odd family sympathetically. He knew that he was in for some interesting situations when he had signed on with Xanatos. He hadn't even been close to his wildest imaginations after he had been introduced to the Clan and the Mutates. It wasn't until tonight that he had even known that the Mutate leader Talon was Elisa Maza's younger brother. They had been through so much as a family. He sincerely hoped that they would all be able to pull through this trial as well.

"I'm going to go clean up and check on the results of some tests and scans we ran. I'll be back in about an hour."

"Doctor?"

"Yes Mr. Maza?"

"There…there are a lot of people out there who are waiting to hear how she's doing," he said, emotion causing his voice to crack. The older Maza had known that his daughter had touched a lot of people's lives. It wasn't until a little while ago, when he finally took a good look around the increasingly crowded hallway, that he realized just how many people cared about her.

"Would you like me to explain to them what I just told you?"

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble."

"It's the least I could do for someone such as your daughter Mr. Maza." With a slight nod of his head and a reassuring smile, he ducked out of the room, leaving the family an hour's peace with Elisa.

Heads snapped up as soon as Majors stepped back out into the hallway, and the air stilled with sudden tension. The doctor looked around, taking in the diversity of the crowd and smiled slightly. Elisa Maza had indeed made a large number of friends and allies. He cleared his throat and spoke loud enough for all to hear.

"Elisa made it through surgery, but she's still in critical condition. The family asked me to relay the situation to all of you, and since I believe some of you are Elisa's superiors, it is probably best that you understand just how severe her injuries were. Her body armor protected her from numerous close-range and point-blank gunshots, but the impact bruising was extensive and frankly some of the worst I've ever seen. She nearly bled out before we could stop the hemorraging.

Her worst injury was sustained from a single blow to the left side of her face. The facial bones were shattered all along this region," he explained as he gestured his hand along the right side of his own face from temple to cheek and down his jaw line.

"Do you know how she sustained the injury?" Captain Chavez asked quietly.

"No one really knows when or how at this point," he answered with a sigh. "But it's the result of a single brutal blow with a solid object. I was informed that she was actually awake for awhile after having sustained the injury, which is astonishing given the severity of the injury," he told the group, still amazed by that fact. He left out that she had to have been in horrible pain for however brief time she had been awake.

"How bad is it doc?" a man he identified as Elisa's partner asked dismally. He could sense the group bracing themselves, for bad news and he unfortunately wasn't going to let them down.

With a sigh, Majors shrugged a bit. "The country's best plastic surgeon did a remarkable job fixing the structural damage, but time will only tell us just how much damage was really done."

"What are you looking at right now? Worst case," Chavez asked, clearly reading through what he wasn't saying.

"We know for sure that she's lost sight in her right eye," he admitted, pausing as those gathered either gasped, or inhaled sharply. "We aren't sure if her hearing will be impaired in that ear as of yet and won't really know more until we do some tests after she has regained consciousness. The scarring will be minimal considering the damage, but how she deals with the trauma she faced this morning and the constant reminder of what transpired," again he shrugged. "Only time will tell."

"Can we see her?" Fox Xanatos asked.

Majors shook his head. "For the next couple of days we are limiting any visitors to immediate family only, and even they will be allowed only a couple of hours each day. Elisa needs rest right now, and we don't want to risk exposing her to infection for the next few days. Once she's out of the critical stage, we'll allow visitors, but her visits will be monitored closely and limited to brief periods of time for the first week or so."

"How long will it be before she recovers Doctor?" Chavez asked into the silence.

"Weeks…maybe even months," he admitted regretfully. "And that is only for the physical injuries," he added quietly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go review the results of some tests we ran earlier. The Maza's wanted me to express their thanks for all of your concern, but I know it's been a long night for most of you and there is nothing more that can be done now but wait. I suggest you head home and get some rest because it's what I'm going to recommend to Elisa's family as soon as I come back."

The small crowd seemed to get the hint and groups of people began to slowly break up. Xanatos gestured to Majors, and despite his overwhelming desire to pretend he didn't see the gesture, the doctor headed towards his employer with a sigh, knowing the billionaire was going to grill him on every detail of Elisa's surgery and alternative solutions to her permanent injuries.

It was going to be a long day.