"Who the fuck are you?" he asked, his voice hoarse, slamming the small framed woman up against a jagged and rough wall. She screamed as she felt the wall's sharp edges draw blood from her back.

"I...I—"

"Tell me you aren't who you I think you are…tell me!"

"I am not—"

"Tell me, or this gun is going to blow your brains out!"

"I'm Raven!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. He loosened his grip, and stepped away from the woman as her muscles slightly relaxed.

"Let me look into your eyes," he muttered, stepping back towards her, peeling the substance off her face. Her eyes were glistening with fear for her life, for her power was once again dormant within her soul. But it wasn't the expression he was looking for; it was the color of her eyes. And yes, they were similar, but they weren't her eyes.

"How do you look like her—are you her sister?"

"Who's sister? I don't have--"

"Rhiannon—"

"Wi…Harris, is it?" Raven said, her voice trembling.

"Yes…yes…. You know of her?" he asked, very interested in what Raven had to say. Raven raised a hand to her mouth.

"She, Rhiannon…is my daughter."

"What? But…that's not possible. I met her mother, and her father. They weren't…you and whoever. You better not be fucking with me, Raven," Justin said moving the gun around in his hand, getting a tighter grip on it.

"I wouldn't lie about my own daughter! She is an unforgettable piece in my life story. A mother wouldn't lie about her child."

"Than how did she die? How was she really taken from me? Because the bullshit story I was told, I believed it when I was seventeen and eighteen, but not today."

"She—"

"Slade killed her didn't he?"

"What? No!" Raven cried, "it's a long story that I would rather leave you out of!"

"We were going to spend the rest of our lives together," he said stepping towards her, placing his face inches away from hers, "I think I should know!"

"No!"

Justin shoved the barrel of the gun in Raven's mouth, the metallic taste swirled in her mouth. She felt as if she was being raped by the unpleasant feeling that spread throughout her body.

"You don't seem to understand the circumstances, my fair bird. It's either you tell me everything, or you die. Everything and everyone in my life has died, and it's all possibly done by Slade's hand. And if that statement is true, then there will be hell and her beautiful wrath to pay. And I don't think that the death of Slade will end your life, now would it? I mean, he was just one night's fun, eh?" Raven whimpered and whined, pining for Justin not to hurt him.

"So he's not just a one night stand. Perfect. Now he has a motive to come and get me. Not unless, you tell me all. Spill your heart out woman," he said cocking the gun, "or the sound of this gun will be the last thing you hear."

-xXx

"Not unless he improves his style of fighting tenfold in a few days, he is doomed if we both attack. He will definitely lean back on guns and such to lead him to having an upper hand," Slade pointed out.

"So how do we escape a bullet?" Nightwing asked.

"Stealth and confusion. There is two of us, and only one of him. Perfect for toying with the mind."

"From first hand experience, you have mastered that quite well."

"I have already told him that I have killed his father, which is not true. I despise the man, which is true, but killing him is above my hatred for him."

"How gratuitous of you," Nightwing said sarcastically.

"Do not overstay your welcome; you are still at arms length of a master vigilante and villain," Slade threatened.

"I never planned on overstaying. I'm here for Raven, not you."

"I'm not that naïve." A long pause came between the two, Slade diligently thinking, and Nightwing watching, in a slight awe. He was deeply interested to see at least a little bit how someone who has stumped him, for more than half his life, worked.

"I say we just find him and bring Raven back. Who cares about the in-between, as long as there is a good ending, right?" Slade said standing from the small square table.

"Wait! That's it? That simple?" Nightwing said, in disappointment that there was not methodical steps to see.

"Are you not happy? Ah, who cares? You deserve a little unhappiness."

"It's Raven out there, and you aren't conjuring an evil and devious plan!" Nightwing gasped thoroughly shocked.

"I know what I'm doing."

"Aren't I going to help? Don't I need to know the plan? Especially after you just said something about stealth and confusion!"

"Listen, you pathetic excuse for human…if—"

"Look who's talking!" Nightwing yelled defensively.

"I'm talking," Slade roared, "and if you don't shut the fuck up, then—"

"What, you going to do? Kill me?"

"Don't think I won't," Slade said, in his deep, threatening, and masculine, his gaze very much in a threatening manner.

"If you wanted to have killed me, you would have done it long ago, Slade," Nightwing said. Slade stopped walking away, and stood still as if time had stopped. He jerked his head around, so Nightwing was only a sliver in his left eye's sight. He then turned around slowly, coming towards Nightwing as if he was prey.

"You aren't worth my time anymore," he said bluntly and matter-of-factly.

"Yah know what? You are the biggest asshole I know. Yah know that?"

"I'm the biggest asshole! I am! I think that stealing a child, and ruining a big chunk of mine and Raven's life, qualifies for being an asshole! Don't you ever fuck with me saying shit like that! I am a saint compared to your fucking tactics of 'I was doing the right thing'. You should have done the right thing, and shoved your egotistical ass in the fucking jail cell! Excuse me if I seem a little rough around the edges, bastard. You brought all of this upon yourself! Not me, not Raven. You. And you have to live with yourself for the rest of your life!" Slade bellowed throwing a couple of punches at Nightwing.

"What the hell are you doing!" Nightwing yelled.

"Doing what I should have done a hell of a long time ago," Slade angrily grunted, throwing more punches and kicks. Nightwing was on the ground before he could rebuttal. There was a blitz of pain that was laid upon Nightwing within the next few minutes. All the anger, the pain, and the sorrow that Slade ever felt in his entire existence was being taken out. There was no force that could stop this wall of fury.

"Come on, Nightwing. Stand up and fight. I want you to go down fairly. I want my name in the fucking god damned papers saying that I finished you off once and for all. Stand up!" Nightwing struggled to breathe as he tried to rise from the cool cement.

"Can't stand? Here, I'll help you up," Slade said, grabbing Nightwing's upper arm, pulling him up. Nightwing wobbled as he tried to regain some sort of composure to get himself out of this mess. "What? You are standing? Did I tell you to stand the fuck up?" Nightwing was knocked to the ground by a jaw breaking blow to the face. He fell to the ground and writhed in pain. "That was only half of what you deserve," he said crouching down, faintly and menacingly saying it into his ear.

Slade grabbed his weapons and headed for the door, leaving Nightwing to himself, wounded on the floor.

-xXx

"You're making it up. I don't believe a lick of what you just said," Justin said openly.

"Believe it, 'cause it's the truth," Raven said, her tone of voice a little agitated.

"You are telling me what the Jump City Daily said. That rumor or whatever that was burning like wildfire. Therefore I believe that you are lying."

"But Justin, isn't the truth the perfect cover up? Especially with a story as radical as this! Rhiannon was mine and Slade's daughter! We loved her very much!"

"It's all a bunch of crap. A whole shitload of crap to make me leave you alone/"

"That's the farthest thing from the truth!"

"You want to hear what a truth sounds like Raven? A truth is, is that Slade really isn't dying. He's going to say that way forever."

"…no…--"

"And what I told him was a lie, to make him feel a little weaker."

"You don't have to attack Slade! Just let me go and this will all fade away!"

"Just like with Rhiannon's death, eh? Just let go of our memories, and she will fade away. What happens if I don't want her to fade away? Did anyone think of that?"

"That's what happened to Rhiannon! Now it's upon yourself whether you want to believe it or not!"

"I don't believe it!"

"Than that is your decision! I told you the truth now let me go!"

"No!"

"Why!"

"'Cause I'm not done with you yet!"

-xXx

Nightwing lay on the cool cement floor, groaning in pain. His jaw had definitely broken, and the pain was very near unbearable. He struggle to a position where he was on his knees, barely being supported by his shaking arms. Starting to support his weight on his feet, he lifted his arms from the ground, starting to stand up. Weak and shaken, he fell into the nearby wall, and spat blood on the ground. Frightened to stand on his own, he kept his left arm close to the wall, so he could cushion himself if he happened to fall. To his pleasure, he stood, and began to move forward. Realizing that he was out of sorts, he retrieved a gun, and struggled back into the night.

-xXx

"What the heck is taking him so god damned long!" a man complained, huffing warm air on his gloved hands, trying to keep them from cramping. He turned the car on, and blasted the heat. With the car off, the engine would freeze and the driver and the person he was waiting for would be in a mess if the car broke down. "He only said he was going to be a minute, not fifty!" As soon as the complaint escaped his lips, he heard a crash from the back of his limo.

"What in the hell--?" he said, throwing the door open, and walking to the back end of the limo. "Jesus…just the night for it too! Where are you, you damn little pipsqueak! Come out of those shadows!" An ere silence answered the man, and he continued to look at the broken side window. "Damned teens of Jump City…stupid law breakers," he mumbled as he got back into the car. He settled back down, his anger subsiding when a loud bang erupted from the roof of the car.

"Ah ha! The crook came back!" he said getting out of the car, to once again find nobody in site. "No one is going to believe this. And I, sure as heaven and hell, did not do this." A glimmer caught his eye, and he walked over and picked up the cell phone. "A cell? Oh gosh, it's Mr. Grayson's…."

-xXx

"Hello, Sanaa? It's Richard's friend from the restaurant. I need a favor from you," Slade whispered into the phone.

"Mr. Wilson? What are you doing with Richard's phone?" she asked .

"There is not much time for questions, Miss Sanaa. Now about this favor. I need to look up Vince and Laura McLaughlin. I must know their residency."

"What is--"

"There's no time for questions, Sanaa! Just do it!" Slade emphasized.

"Which one? I have here that they have two residencies within the city."

"Name both."

"Sixty-seven Pine Manor and twenty-four Pond Ave."

"Thanks," he said hanging up the phone. He threw it up onto the roof of the limo and dashed out of the area, very careful that he was not seen by the driver inside.

-xXx

Everything seemed to flow in slow motion, her vision slightly blurry from the film of tears that formed over her eyes. Raven was frustrated that the power within her was dormant, and depressed that she was going to end like this. The cocking of the gun seemed to echo forever in her mind. She closed her eyes, and warm tears dripped down her face. Then her facial features became obscure, and her hands fashioned into two fists. The barrel of the gun was inches away from her forehead, and he mumbled some jumbled words, that Raven could not understand in her fury. His finger slid around the trigger and tightened. The bullet shot out of the barrel, and rushed towards its target.