Chapter 83: Ghosts

As word of Iris' attack reached throughout their network, an emergency meeting had been called at the Hall of Justice the following day. As the Justice League and their various associates arrived, Oliver, Barry, Kara, Slade, and Amanda had sequestered themselves into a private meeting room to discuss the implications of the assassination attempt on Barry's friend.

"It was a misdirection," Barry postulated immediately, "Someone wanted us to blame the League of Assassins for the attempt. And if so, then they did a poor job of it. The assassin was half-baked and he used a form of suicide the League doesn't employ."

"How convenient," Amanda drawled, "Because the latest reports to cross my desk indicate that Malcolm Merlyn has been sighted in Tibet, near Nanda Parbat."

This immediately got incredulous stares from the former assassins in the room. "That's impossible," Kara stuttered out, "Ra's would've known and contacted us immediately if that's the case. Nanda Parbat is his domain."

"Then maybe he is responsible for the attempt and helping Merlyn," Slade grumbled. He hadn't forgotten who, exactly, had turned his children into assassins after all, and if nothing else, Slade knew how to hold a grudge. "Maybe he thinks you three have gotten soft since you've become vigilantes."

"No way," Barry and Kara said in unison.

Oliver nodded in agreement. "Regardless of his current opinion of us, Malcolm broke not just the tenets of the League, but also an oath he made to Ra's. The Demon's Head would never suffer him to live after that. Not only would it hurt his pride, it would debase his authority."

"But if that's the case, then how is Merlyn hiding out in his land with him being none the wiser?" Slade argued back.

Oliver frowned. "Talia," he said, and now everyone's rapt attention was on him. "Talia is Ra's' daughter, and we know she and the League of Shadows have been making moves against the League of Assassins. She grew up in Nanda Parbat, knows almost all its secrets. If anyone could hide Merlyn from him, in the middle of his territory, it would be her."

"Talia does have everything to gain from this situation," Barry said slowly, "She wants the League, and if she pitted us against the Demon, it would weaken both sides enough for her to sweep in and take the spoils."

"But if that's the case, why did she stage such a terrible attempt on Iris' life?" Kara said, not necessarily disagreeing with the suggestion, but pointing out the glaring flaw. "Talia grew up in the League; she knows how they operate. You would think she would be able to fake a better attempt from Ra's than the one Barry just repelled."

Amanda narrowed her eyes. "It doesn't matter. If Talia truly is responsible, then we need to stop her before she can begin her plans. A.R.G.U.S. has been trying to pin her down for years and has yet to succeed. But if we had Ra's al Ghul's help—"

"What makes you think he'll help?" Barry asked, cutting her off. "He's had his own chances to take her down but has never tried for whatever reason. What would change his mind?"

"Why, the three of you of course."

Everyone froze at the words. "What?" Kara asked, deathly quiet.

"You three will go to Tibet with the rest of the Justice League. While the other members of the League track down Merlyn, you three will go to Nanda Parbat and convince Ra's to help you take down the League of Shadows. I'm sure you'll be very convincing."

Quickly realizing this was an order and not a suggestion, Oliver played one last card of desperation. "What about the rest of the Justice League? We can't just up and disappear on them and not tell them where we're going."

Amanda simply raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "Then I guess you'll just have to tell them the truth, right?"

"You bitch," Barry snarled, as his siblings moved to hold him back. Slade was also glaring, using all of his self-control to restrain himself from bisecting the woman in front of him in half.

A.R.G.U.S.' Director simply tutted and shook her head. "I'm The Bitch, Allen. You do best to remember that. And besides, don't you think it's time you told them all the truth? Or do you really have so little faith in them?"

Everyone stopped at that, and exchanged meaningful looks.

"J'onn!"

"Jefferson," J'onn greeted his friend, currently disguised in his John Jones form. The two clasped hands and shook, happy to see each other again.

"What a week, huh? First the thing with Zoom and Barry, then Merlyn and Prometheus, and now this!" Jefferson shook his head, "You don't know how reluctant I was to leave Lynn and the girls alone back in Freeland. Anissa should be enough, hopefully, but still…"

"I understand, my friend," J'onn said with no little amount of sympathy. "I thought things would calm down more now that the Dominators have been gone for the past few months, but I guess that was a foolish hope."

"Never foolish about wishing for peace, J'onn," Jefferson told him, and J'onn nodded, conceding to his point. "So what's this all about? I know the attack on Iris has everyone in a tizzy, but I don't think it warrants such a strong response on our part. Besides, you know, guarding our loved ones more."

J'onn pursed his lips. "I suspect what it is, but I think it would be better if we wait for the others to explain."

Realizing he wasn't going to get more out of the Martian, Jefferson followed his teammate into the Hall of Justice. To their surprise, not only was the rest of the Justice League already present, but so were others.

They had yet to meet Iris formally, but had recognized her from some pictures Barry had shown them. Aside from her, there was also Astra, Cisco, Caitlin, Ronnie, and Stein as well. Most surprising of all was the presence of Kara's baby cousin Kal-El. Despite being in the know like the rest of them, Kal was rarely ever involved in the actual business, with Kara seeking to keep him away from superheroics as much as possible.

Oliver spotted them immediately. "Jefferson, J'onn — I'm glad you could make it. With everyone here now, we can begin the meeting." Saying no more, he strode into the main meeting room, with everyone following.

The main chamber had been stuffed with extra chairs so everyone could be seated for the briefing. Short introductions had been made so everyone knew who everyone was, and all except Oliver, Barry, and Kara were seated, waiting anxiously for the actual meeting to start.

"Alright then. As you all know, an assassination attempt was made on Iris yesterday," everyone glanced at Iris, who shrunk away from the attention, "Now most of you are wondering who is responsible, and what this has to do with you. Well, we believe we know who, and that they're responsible for Malcolm Merlyn's recent escape. As such, the Justice League will be flying to Tibet tomorrow to capture Merlyn and to… ask for some help in capturing his cohort."

Tibet? Looks of confusion were exchanged between everyone, wondering why, exactly, Merlyn was in Tibet. The only person who wasn't shocked was Kal — instead, he had donned a look of dread.

"You're no going back to them are you?" Kal blurted out, sounding very, very terrified. Everyone immediately looked at him, with Astra looking particularly intrigued and perturbed.

Kara rushed towards him, hugging him to calm him down. "We're not, Kal-El, we're not. We're never going back, we…" she breathed in deeply, "We just need their help."

Upon seeing everyone's confusion, Oliver and Barry both sighed. "All of you have been wondering about our time on the island, and it's time we told you the truth," Oliver explained, "It's… necessary for the mission we're about to go on, and it's better for you, whether you'll be on the mission or not, to learn now rather than later."

Many looks were exchanged at this statement, some uncomfortable, some eager, and some filled with dread. J'onn, of course, having peered already into the minds of the assassins, was the only person besides Kal that was in the know. Others, however, would be hearing this for the first time. All were attentive, chief among them Laurel, Iris, and Astra.

"To begin with," Barry started, "We only stayed on the island for a total of two years."

And with that, the story began.

Those first eighteen months were easy to cover. Arriving on the island, meeting Yao Fei, Slade, and Shado. Fyers and his mercenaries, Yao Fei's death, those six months of being a makeshift family. Even Ivo's arrival and Shado's death and Slade's separation all easily passed through their lips. As difficult as those years had been, as much tragedy they had suffered, there was good in there as well. Happiness.

The League of Assassins, however, was a different matter.

There had been little happiness to find there.

"We drifted on the debris of the Amazo for God knows how long. With no food or water, I don't know how we survived. And then, someone saved us. Her name was Nyssa."

"Nyssa?" Laurel startled at the mention of her mentor and friend, looking directly at her boyfriend.

Oliver nodded. "Nyssa. She had been sent to investigate the Mirakuru, and discovered us instead. She and her men rescued us, saved us, but… it didn't come without a cost."

As everyone unconsciously leaned forward, Astra narrowed her eyes. "What kind of cost?"

Here, the archer paused, so Barry continued on with the explanation. "Nyssa is a member of a certain organization. An ancient and secret order dedicated to ridding evil from the world permanently. You could call them the first vigilantes. But their actual name is the League of Assassins."

One could hear a pin drop in the room. Almost everyone looked completely horrified — while they didn't know what the organization was, any group that had that kind of name couldn't be anything but supremely dangerous and low on morals. And for three teenagers and a baby to fall into their clutches…

"The League of Assassins, as you have all probably guessed, is, well, a league of assassins. A cult of murderers, really. They take hit jobs that eliminate the most corrupt elements in a society. Human traffickers, warlords, corrupt politicians — you name it, they probably kill it. And if they deem a society to be too rotten, then they 'cleanse' it. The fall of the Roman Empire, the London Fire, the Black Plague, any sort of major extinction event over the last couple of thousands of years not connected to a war, you could probably trace back to them."

"Another name for the League is the Demon," Kara added, her voice carrying over the entire room. "And their leader is called Ra's al Ghul — the Demon's Head. Nyssa is his daughter and heir, and so she used her authority to save us by taking us to Nanda Parbat, their headquarters in Tibet. There, we were nursed to health. But as we said before, it didn't come without a cost."

"They made you join," Jefferson concluded, with an understanding look on his face.

Oliver shrugged helplessly. "We had no choice. We were children separated from our last protector, who we thought was dead. We had no way home. Kara's powers were growing, and none of us knew how to help her control them, especially since it was only a matter of time until Kal developed them as well. Like it or not, we needed stability, and the League provided it."

"Most of all, however, the League was supposed to be hidden. Now that we knew they existed, there was no way we could leave without being killed. I don't know how they would have succeeded with Kara, but Barry and I's lives, at the very least, would have been forfeit. The League had culled towns, cities, even countries to fulfill their holy mission. A couple of teenagers were hardly anything to them. So we accepted, and for the next eight or so years, we were completely under their thrall."

"They trained us, raised us to be the perfect assassins. Brainwashed us, one might even say. And when they deemed us ready, they unleashed us upon the world. We didn't just kill for them — we tortured for them, spied for them, even experimented for them. We did things that haunt us in our nightmares even now." Barry rubbed his arm, looking away in shame. "And every time we were about to falter, we tried to justify it somehow. And then we kept going. Eventually, however, it became too much. The blood on our hands, the guilt… we needed to leave. But the League would never let us go so easily, so we decided to wait until Nyssa succeeded her father before asking to be released from our vows. I don't know if we would've lasted that long, but it was all we had."

"But Kara—" Astra was about to insist that her niece could've escaped, but was immediately cut off by the aforementioned niece.

"The League trained me, Aunt Astra," Kara said tiredly. "They trained me to control my powers, to bring out their full potential, meaning they know everything about me. Including my weakness to Kryptonite and red sunlight. Technically, there's a League mandate that all Kryptonite is destroyed upon discovery, but that's because the League has its own repository and reserve and want to keep a monopoly over it in case something ever does turn me or Kal-El against them. They tried to keep it a secret from us, but we knew from the beginning their true motives. That's why we have never even considered attacking Nanda Parbat — no doubt Ra's built-in traps there to negate our powers. And without them, we're just three assassins. Three very skilled assassins, yes, but even we would fall to the hundreds stationed there."

Ronnie crossed his arms. "Then what changed? Judging by the way you're talking, this Ra's guy or whatever isn't dead yet."

"The Particle Accelerator Explosion," Barry answered. "That night, I was stargazing, and somehow, a lightning bolt infused with dark matter from the explosion hit me, halfway across the world. I was in a coma for three weeks until a… remedy the League had managed to rouse me, and I awoke with my super speed. I had never truly given up trying to prove my father's innocence, and my speed was the most promising lead I had in years. And that's the moment that I realized I couldn't stay with the League any longer."

"As for me," Oliver followed up on the explanation, "rumors of something big happening in Starling were starting to pop up. This would turn out to be the Undertaking Malcolm Merlyn was devising, but at the time I didn't know that. Fearing for the lives of my friends and family there, I couldn't wait any longer, so I decided to leave with Barry."

"And as for us," Kara shared a look with Kal, "We didn't want to be separated from them. And because I didn't want Kal-El to stay with the League any longer either. The League was no place for a child, shut in away from the rest of the world, unable to interact with anyone their own age. Our parents saved us so we could live — but we weren't living, just surviving. So we needed to go too."

"We were reluctant to approach Ra's with our request but we had no choice, and we were prepared to fight our way out if we had to. We were prepared to die for our freedom, but surprisingly, he did not deny our wish, claiming that he knew this day would come. However, he didn't release us immediately. As we were valuable assets, he required an exchange for the loss, and so ordered us to eradicate an organization called H.I.V.E., led by a former member of the League named Damien Darhk. If we were successful, then he would agree to release us from our vows and even help arrange our return home, provided we kept to the League's tenets and continued ridding the world of evil."

"Then your entire superhero careers…" Cisco trailed off.

"We genuinely do believe in helping others, Cisco," Barry reassured him, "But I'm not going to lie and say it wasn't also to keep Ra's off our backs. If we displeased him enough, he would've sent assassins after all of you, or maybe even destroy our cities under the pretext that they were too corrupt. We couldn't afford to let that happen, so we became public vigilantes to stave off any retaliation. Our methods were softer than the ones he preferred but they worked so he left us alone. But now, the situation has changed."

"Malcolm Merlyn is also a former member of the League," Oliver explained, "We actually had to petition Ra's and provide evidence of his wrongdoing before we could officially act against him. Merlyn, unlike us, broke the tenets of the League by aiding Starling City's criminal element and devising the Undertaking for his own selfish aims. Ra's allowed us to deal with him under the assumption that he would be sufficiently punished, but now that he's escaped with outside help, he's not going to be happy. However, since we've located Merlyn on Ra's' territory and haven't been contacted about it yet, we're suspecting foul play. That's why we're all going to Tibet."

He inhaled deeply. "I know some, if not all of you, feel misled by us, but know that was not our intention. We truly do believe in helping people as heroes or whatever people like to call us now, but our pasts… we don't like to dwell on them too much. We can't say there weren't some good bits, but for the most part, we're not proud of what we've done over the years. So, if you want to walk away now, then we won't stop you."

And now, the truth is finally out there.

Amanda doesn't really care about the team's personal issues, but she does recognize they can get in the way of their cohesiveness, which is why she's pushing the issue now. That, plus the fact that they can't really hide it anymore.

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