Disclaimer: WB/DC own these characters. I'm only borrowing them for a while. I own the original ideas found in this.

AN: This, sadly, is the final chapter of this little adventure involving both Ra's and Darhk. While I was writing this, I decided I don't really like the character of Darhk. It only took, what, six to eight months to decide that? Ha. So, I do believe this will be the final, if not second-to-the final story featuring him. (I got another story which I am still trying to finish as well, sigh). So, after I'm done with that one…I'm done with Darhk. (At least I'm pretty sure….unless another story comes knocking.)

Anyhoo…thanks for sticking with this story anyway, and hope you enjoy this last chapter tying up the loose ends. Some Olicity at the end, because I miss those two together. But…if that's not your cup of tea, sure hope you will begin reading my Lauriver stories I have going (at the moment, two). I believe they both have had rather good starts. (Nothing like some shameless self-promoting).

Anyway, on with the show….

Previously:

Batman looked over at Nightwing and Flash, taking in the restrained soldiers behind them. "Well done. I assume everything else has been taken care of?"

Nightwing nodded at the fallen Ra's at their feet. "Except for one remaining item, Batman. You said, you would take care of Ra's finally if given the chance, so that he can't be resurrected any more by the Lazarus Pit. Here's your chance."

Batman reached out as if to take the sword from Nightwing's hand.

As Batman was about to take the sword, several bullets rang out. The three men looked toward the source of the gunfire and watched in amazement as a tall, beautiful brunette walked out holding a gun in either hand.

"Hello, Beloved."

"Talia," Batman said gruffly, hiding his true emotions behind a stone mask.

"I cannot let you finish my father off permanently."

Flash looked at the woman with a confused look on his face. "What do you mean, lady? I offer my condolences, because he looks quite dead to me."

Nightwing leaned closer to Flash. "We'll explain later." Looking at Talia he said, "Do you think several guns will keep us from doing what someone should have done years ago? Not to mention knowing how you feel about Batman, you wouldn't hurt us."

Looking at Nightwing, Talia fired a shot, hitting his right knee. Nightwing collapsed, yelling, "What the hell, Talia!"

"You may be correct about my shooting my Beloved, but I have no qualms about killing you, or this brash young man in red, if he harms my father further." Calling out in Arabic, two other soldiers walked out of the shadows near Talia. Keeping their eyes on Batman, they approached the fallen Ra's, lifted him up, and carried him towards the stairs. Talia kept Batman and the two younger men in her gunsights until her soldiers began to go down the stairs with their invaluable burden.

"If only I could convince you to come with us, Beloved. But…."

"But my answer has not and will not change, Talia. We disagree on too many subjects."

Talia sighed heavily. "Least of all, my father." Backing towards the stairs, she made as if she was going to leave. Before stepping into the stairwell, she made one last comment. "Until we meet again, Beloved. Do not doubt you take my love with you."

As soon as she disappeared, Batman bent over Nightwing, checking out his injury. Nightwing instead pulled away from him. "Go after her, Batman! With the Arrow's crew, we can easily take her! I'm fine."

"No, with the firepower she has with her, she would injure too many people. At least Ra's will be out of commission again for three or four months. Each time he 'dies', it takes him longer to rejuvenate. And remember."

"Yeah, 'remember'. Why doesn't he ever forget about you? Even though this time he did go after someone else." A sudden idea occurred to him. "Batman, why did he go after someone else?"

"I don't know, Nightwing. I do have to ask Oliver about that."

At that point, the rest of Team Arrow arrived. Diggle and Lyla had waited for the rest to join them before they all made their way to the parking garage roof, after receiving the all-clear signal from Batman.

Felicity burst out of the elevator, eyes only for Oliver. Seeing Oliver unconscious, she rushed over to him. Searching for injuries, she yelled at Batman. "I thought you said all went well?"

"It did, Felicity. Oliver is only knocked unconscious. Ra's shot him with a traq dart, once Oliver had completed his task."

"What task?"

"Oliver firing the arrow, killing Darhk."

"I'm sure it was so they could transport him back to Nanda Parbat more easily," Diggle said with a wry smile.

Batman grunted at him. "Of course. I'm sure that's how Ra's transported him here from Nanda Parbat in the first place. He isn't known to take chances, especially with someone as…tricky, as Oliver can be."

Felicity finished verifying to her own satisfaction that Oliver indeed was uninjured. Oliver himself remained unconscious despite all the activity happening around him. Having decided it was time to leave, Diggle instructed Roy to make a fireman's lift and picked Oliver up in order to transport him to the van downstairs. Felicity called for the elevator, and the group got in, while the rest of the Team took the stairs. The group was quiet as they got into the van and additional car, also holding all conversation until they returned to the Lair.

After Diggle and Roy carried Oliver into the Lair, they placed him on the cot and made him comfortable. Everyone came to sit around the table for an after-mission review.

"That went off surprisingly well," Nightwing said. "I for one am not afraid to admit I had my worries."

"Of course, we all did," Diggle said solemnly. "There were too many holes and possibilities for it all to go wrong."

"It's a good thing that because of his 'power shortage', Darhk wasn't thinking as sharply as he usually could," Malcolm said. "Were you all aware he's actually the same age as Ra's, from the same time period?"

"What?" rose collectively from the group.

"He had originally run from the group when the current Ra's was picked as leader and he wasn't. He stole water from the Lazarus Pit, encouraged quite a large number of the League to accompany him, and left to form his own group known in the Tibetan area as HIVE."

"I would ask why we've never heard of them before this, but we hadn't heard of Ra's or the League either before you brought them into our lives," Felicity said. She shook her head. "You don't have any other people you haven't introduced us to, have you, Merlyn?"

"No, Ms. Smoak, for which I'm glad." Rising from his chair, he reached his hand out to Batman. "Br…Batman, it was a pleasure working with you this time, instead of against you."

Batman first looked at the offered hand with barely concealed disfavor, then changed his mind and took it, giving it a firm shake. "Thank you for your assistance, Dark Archer. I appreciate your helping instead of hurting us this time as well."

Merlyn smirked. Turning to the rest of the team, he said, "If there isn't anything else I can do for you folks, I'll take my leave." A look passed over his face quickly that if it were anyone else, Felicity would've called it guilt. "I again apologize for all of this inconvenience. I'm happy to say that I wouldn't be causing you any such trouble again."

As they watched him leave, Felicity muttered, "I can certainly hope not, but the century is young."

Everyone else laughed, and Felicity turned a slight shade of red, muttering, "Sorry."

Oliver chose this moment to stir, and Felicity flew to him in a flash. "Oliver, you all right? Are you awake?"

Oliver's eyes began to open. For some reason, this time he didn't thrash around like he usually did upon awakening. Felicity continued to hold his hand until his eyes opened completely. He took in the sight of her sitting safely next to him, and he smiled as he took in the familiar sights of the Lair.

"I guess I made it back home safe and sound."

"You sure did. Talia took Ra's back home with her, leaving you with us. You killed Darhk. Barry was able to catch the toxin and bring it to STAR labs, where it was destroyed without difficulty. And luckily, you aren't injured and only were shot with a traq dart."

"So that's why I was taking a nap. For some reason being unconscious is Ra's' favorite way to transport his enemies, I guess."

"I gave you an antidote for the sedative so you'd wake up quicker," Digg said. "We didn't need to have you out as long as it would take for a trip to Nanda Parbat."

Oliver rearranged himself on the couch so he could see who was all sitting around the meeting table. His eyes widened as he noticed Batman and Nightwing sitting with the rest of Team Arrow. Looking at Diggle and Felicity, he stuttered, "What? Where…how…?"

"Um, we decided to pull out the big guns when we figured both Darhk and al Ghul were involved with all of this. We called Waller, who decided Batman was the one to help us since he'd had experience with al Ghul before…." Felicity explained.

Oliver's eyes lit up, indicating he'd had some insight. "So Batman, you're the one Ra's mentioned with the inflexible morals."

"I suppose he mentioned that when he told you of his offering me the position as his Heir?"

"Yes, he did, but he didn't tell me your name. Instead, he was going to tell me, he said, at a later time."

Batman's lips curled and he shook his cowled head in disgust. "Quite a man to deal with." His lips then curled up into a small smile. "I hope, Queen, you don't mind our using your headquarters to help you out. I must say, you have a decent enough workplace here." Turning to catch Felicity's eyes, he winked at her and said, "But a very impressive IT girl."

Felicity turned a brighter pink, and Oliver shot her a look, his eyebrows raised at the familiarity of one who'd they hadn't met before this week.

"Yes, Felicity is quite…remarkable. She's one of the best teammates I could ever hope for." When Diggle and Roy cleared their throats, Oliver rolled his eyes. "Yes, guys, I am grateful for you as well."

"We were just teasing you, Oliver," Diggle said, choosing not to hide a large grin.

"Yeah, we already knew you consider us unreplaceable as well," Roy said with a chuckle.

Batman stood up, catching Nightwing's eye, who reluctantly also stood up. "We need to go, and get back to Gotham. My source had kept me informed, letting me know everything had been quiet there the past few days. However..."

"However, Papa Bear is never comfortable too far from home," interrupted Nightwing, and received a scowl from Batman. He gave his partner a cheeky grin, made his way to Felicity, and reached for her hand. "My dear, it has been a pleasure meeting you. Perhaps someday soon, you can show me the sights of this city." Raising her hand, Nightwing placed a gentle kiss on the back of it. Felicity blushed again but before she could start to babble, Batman grabbed him by the neck. "Come on, Junior, let's get you out of here before you do something Batgirl could beat you up for." He pushed Nightwing towards the stairs and turned to Oliver. "If you ever need our help again…"

"Don't?" suggested Oliver in his Arrow voice.

Batman gave him a rare smile. "No, I was going to say, don't be afraid to reach out again." He joined Nightwing and they left the Lair.

The Arrow team sat in silence until the door shut. Roy breathed a sigh of relief. "Batman does seem like a fairly good guy to know, but I prefer Nightwing. Definitely less scary."

Oliver shrugged. "Yeah, he can be gruff, but Batman does get the job done. Like any good leader."

Felicity nudged him. "You just say that because you can relate to his gruff exterior." Oliver scowled at her, and she smiled brightly at him in return. "Seriously, Oliver, how are you feeling? And please don't say…."

"I'm fine."

"That…urgg." Looking at Diggle, who was smiling at her, she said, "Yeah, I know. We only have to worry about him when he doesn't say he's fine."

Oliver looked at his team. He was happy to be with them once again. "Anyone else hungry? Let's go get something to eat."

"Big Belly Burger is closed, but Kay's Kitchen is open all night," Roy said.

"Sounds good to me," Diggle said.

AN: Well, that's it, another satisfying ending to yet another story. Since you got this far, I trust you were mostly entertained. I sure hope so, I certainly tried. I thought this story, on the whole, had some of the most interesting twists I've ever included in a story. As well as even more experience with writing adventure stories, which I love but get so self-conscious about writing.

So I want to thank all my readers again for giving this story a try, and hopefully see you when I post a new story. (Or check out one of my other ones as well, complete or incomplete). And, if you're feeling especially charitable, leave me a review and let me know what you thought of this story. Thanks ever so much, and see you again soon!