Sorry for the delay. Life got a tad busy, and this chapter was a bit hard to write. Thank you to Musicgal100189 for pointing something out. So, i'm taking slight author authority over this, but let's say Aquaman did have his son and the reason why he was a bit awkward with Athena was because he only has a boy child and no interaction with girl children... and let's throw in there that he probably has another kid on the way. Yeah sorry for the continuity fail . *sigh* anyways... on with the story!

L.L.A.P

~Laces

Chpt.14

"I found where Ra's is hiding." Batman's voice came through, and Conner went straight towards the computer where the voice originated.

"If he's on his way to get her, I'm coming along." He stated firmly. Dick's gaze went from Conner to the computer.

"Did you hear that, Batman?" he questioned.

"Affirmative. Tell Superboy to wait outside on the beach for the Bat-jet. I need his hearing." Batman stated gruffly, and Dick was surprised by the elder's decision. Batman was often very firm about doing things solo.

However, Conner could care less if Batman wasn't acting completely like himself, and headed outside.

The Bat-jet was quickly in front of him, and he jumped into the cockpit of the jet. He was greeted by Batman's intense stare, and the jet jerked into action again, flying as fast as it could.

"I thought I told you to look after her." Batman stated in a cold voice, and Conner glared at the man.

"You were the one who called everyone to help with the random attacks." Conner retorted, and Batman was silent for a few moments.

"Can you hear her?" he questioned, and Conner sighed.

"I did, but she fell asleep." He informed. His mind went to her small voice, and how she kept repeating the chant until she slowly drifted away, her voice getting more softer and slurred until it was completely gone.

"We should be getting there soon. I don't like what Ra's might be doing to her."

"Last I heard was that he was trying to get her to think that she was mentally unstable so she would be more driven to get help from Ra's and he would then use her as a weapon. But I don't understand why, because Athena's a failed project… unless Ra's doesn't know about it." Conner rambled.

The main reason for his talking was so he could get his mind off of all the terrible things that could be happening to Athena. If he tried to focus on what he knew he heard he could distract his imagination from running wild. Nowhere in his imagination said that Athena was alright.

~*~*~*~*~Elsewhere~*~*~*~*~

Athena slowly rose from her bed to see someone in the doorway.

"Conner?" He stepped fully into the room, and Athena smiled brightly, running into his arms, holding him tight.

"Conner! I missed you! And I was so scared. I thought I was never going to see you again!" she held onto Conner as tight as she could.

"It's great to see you too, safe." He stated, holding her close in a hug.

Athena's head rested on his chest, and she listened for his heartbeat, but… she couldn't find it.

"Conner… your heartbeat…" she looked up but noticed that she was holding and hugging Ra's Al Ghul.

"Conner?"

"Having another hallucination again?" he questioned, and she quickly struggled out of his grip, backing away.

"No… no I didn't hallucinate anyone." Athena stated, however it sounded uncertain. Ra's skin quickly turned green and he morphed into La'gaan.

"Are you sure about that little minnow?" he questioned, then morphed into Cassie. Athena was used to Cassie smiling at her friendly, but this Cassie looked at her with mockery. "You heard the conversations Cadmus had about you." Cassie shrunk and morphed into Gar.

"They kept saying that the main reason you probably failed was because of your terrible mental health." Gar Morphed into M'gann.

"They heard you talking to your bear. They knew you had problems." M'gann then turned into Blue Beetle, who said in a taunting voice,

"And you do have many problems. Don't you?" Blue Beetle turned into Black Canary. The woman looked at Athena with a taunting manner.

"You feel scared." Black Canary laughed, then turned into Dick, who shared the same spiteful smile as Black Canary.

"You feel lost." Dick turned into Aquaman.

"You feel confused." Aquaman turned into Wonder Woman.

"You feel alone." And then Wonder Woman turned into Batman.

"And you will always be alone."

"NO!" Athena screamed. Her eyes flew open, and she looked around the room, sweat dripping from her forehead and small tears prickling her eyes.

She observed the room quickly and realized that she was still in the room Ra's assigned to her, surrounded by many pillows.

"No." she whispered, shaking slightly. She wanted to be back in Mt. Justice. She wanted all of this to be some sort of nightmare, like the one she had just had. But no. it was still real. The door swung opened to reveal Ra's Al Ghul.

"Did you just scream, Young Goddess?" he inquired, but Athena didn't say anything to respond. However, her entire body went ridged at his presence.

"I expect you to answer me when I ask you a question." Ra's stated, moving closer to the girl. Athena tried to look away from him, but the man griped the bottom of her chin, forcing her to look up at him. "Understood?" his cold green eyes were staring at her harshly.

"Y-yes." She whispered, and Ra's released her chin.

"Good, girl." He smiled. "Now, did you scream several moments ago?" Athena nodded, hugging her knees, trying to comfort herself and simultaneously close herself off from Ra's.

"Why did you scream?" he questioned with concern. A long pause went between the two, and Ra's' eyes went from gentle to harsh again.

"I just had a bad dream." Athena whispered. "It's nothing."

"You screamed fairly loud for it to be simply nothing." Ra's stated and Athena shrugged, averting her eyes from the man to an empty space on the wall.

"Ubu told me about how you hallucinated him walking into your room." Ra's said in a soft voice.

"I didn't hallucinate him!" Athena exclaimed, glaring at Ra's. Athena wasn't used to feeling so much hatred and anger towards one man.

Ra's Al Ghul continued to keep his calm composure, as the girl seemed to be breaking down. She was shaking again, running her hands through her hair.

"Athena, you are mentally not well. Let me help you." He said gently.

"I don't want your help! I don't need help!" she exclaimed as she started to float again. "I just want to go home! I want to see Superboy! And Nightwing! And Batman! And everyone! I didn't hallucinate them! I couldn't have! I know that when Ralph is talking to me… it's me! There, I said it! Ralph is me! I speak for Ralph, no matter how much I want to pretend he is another person, he isn't! Cadmus is wrong! There is nothing wrong with me mentally!"

Ra's listened as the girl shouted, and then simply shook his head.

"I can see you are still confused, but when you are ready to accept the truth, I will be here for you. Unlike the league, I will be there to help you, and to comfort you." Ra's informed as he gently pulled Athena down from the air, and then left the room, the door softly closing behind him.

"I'm not crazy." Athena whispered. "I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy." She felt so empty. She needed something to comfort her. Someone. But she didn't want to go to Ra's. He was the one who took her away from her home, whether she was imagining things or not.

"Elvis." She whispered. "If you were around, you'd be there to comfort me, right?" she questioned to no one.

"When you're weary

Feeling small

When tears are in your eyes

I will dry them all" Athena whispered, trying to sing despite the lump in her throat from her wanting to cry.

"I-I'm on your side

When timessss g-et rough

And friends just… can't be found

Like a bridge o-over troubled water

I will lay me down

Like a bridge over… troubled water

I w-will lay me… down." Athena couldn't hold in her tears any longer and she started to sob.

~*~*~*~*~In the Bat-jet~*~*~*~*~

"We're here." Batman stated, stopping the jet over a building. Conner and Batman leaped from the jet and landed on the top of the building. Batman turned to look at the younger man.

"Can you hear Ra's?" he questioned. Conner focused on trying to find the immortal's voice. Searching for the older sounding voice, that was very distinctive.

"I can hear him talking to a servant." Conner informed. "I think he just asked for wine."

"Can you give me a direction?" Batman questioned, and Conner pointed to the right, where he could hear the voice coming from.

"He's somewhere on that side of the building." Conner stated, and Batman nodded.

"I'm going after Ra's. You look for Athena." He instructed, then stealthily ran down the side of the building Conner pointed to, and snuck in through a window.

Conner listened for Athena, and he could hear a small voice crying. Conner immediately went to the window where Batman went through, and ran through the hallways as quiet as possible, searching for where he was hearing the voice.

He hated hearing the sobbing, and it was breaking his heart with every small hiccup he heard from her.

Conner then came across a door and he knew that was where the crying was coming from.

"Athena!" Conner exclaimed as he opened the door, and the little girl was sitting on a bed, hugging a pillow. Her long black hair was over her face, and she looked terrified when she saw him, her green and blue eyes wide.

"Please… t-tell me you're real." Athena whispered, and Conner ran up to her and picked her up, holding her tightly.

"I'm real, Athena. I'm real. It's me, Conner." He whispered, hugging her tightly. "Shhh, it's alright. You're going to be fine." Athena rested her head on his chest and heard Conner's strong heartbeat.

She smiled, knowing that she wasn't hallucinating. That heartbeat was all she needed to hear to know it was him.

However, she felt herself get torn away from him, and she heard a loud grunt of pain. Ubu had torn her away from Conner while punching him in the gut.

"Superboy!" Athena exclaimed as Ubu continued to use his quick strikes and movements to attack the clone. Ubu was one of Ra's best trained assassins, and his skill showed. To her horror, Athena saw Ubu drawl a dagger from his belt.

"NO!"

~*~*~*~*~In Ra's Al Ghul's Main Quarters~*~*~*~*~

"Ah, Detective." Ra's said with a small smile when Batman entered the room. "I expected to see you sooner."

"Why Ra's? What do you gain from taking her?" Batman questioned in a gruff voice.

"Project Power, you mean?" he questioned with a wry smile. "Why, I needed her for money at first. Cadmus has a large bounty on her, and I was planning to gain lost profits." He informed.

"So why didn't you Ra's? I know she is still here." Batman stated, and Ra's raised an eyebrow.

"You know that she is here, and yet you come to talk to me first? I must say, I'm flattered." Ra's informed, and Batman glared at him.

"Stop dodging the question, Ra's. What do you want from Athena, and why didn't you hand her over to Cadmus?" he growled.

"Well, I was going to give her to Cadmus for them to kill her. However, I realized she wasn't such a failure that Cadmus thought she was." Batman's eyes widened.

"What did you do to her, Ra's?"

"Do to her? Why, Detective, absolutely nothing. However, I planned for her to be a very powerful assassin once I started training her, and I still intend for that to happen." Ra's grinned. "I saw your jet coming on my computer monitors, and Ubu is currently taking care of whatever partner you brought along to take Project Power back as we speak. After he has disposed of your partner, he will take the girl to another location. You will not find her, Detective. I will make sure of that."

"You underestimate her. She will not go to you."

"She is a child, Detective. She can be easily manipulated." Batman slowly backed away from Ra's, back to the doorway.

"I think you're wrong. However, I doubt it will be much of a problem for you to worry about." He stated, then disappeared into the shadows.

Ra's wasn't going to battle him or follow. He was confident that he had Athena. There was no need to fight Batman, when he was going to soon have the most powerful weapon in the world.

~*~*~*~*~In Athena's Given Room~*~*~*~*~

It was all in slow motion for Athena. Conner looked disoriented, Ubu pulled the knife out of his belt, and she let out a loud 'No' as the knife plummeted towards Conner's chest.

She wanted Ubu to be gone, to just get away from Conner.

Suddenly she was floating, and Ubu was pushed back by some invisible force, and Conner got to his feet, and quickly knocked Ubu out.

"Athena…" he whispered, looking at the girl in shock. She was floating in the air, but looked terrified.

She didn't know how Conner was going to react to what she has just done. To be completely honest, she was completely clueless how she had even done it.

"He… he was going to hurt you. I-I didn't mean… please don't be mad at me, I didn't know…" Conner ran over to Athena and pulled her to his chest, hugging her tightly.

"It's alright, Athena. We'll take about it when we get back. We're going home." He stated, and then ran with her in his arms back to the Bat-jet.

Once they reached the jet, Batman was already waiting for them.

"Get in, hurry." Conner jumped into the jet, Batman not having to tell him twice, and they sped off away from the island.

Athena looked to the front seat where Batman was sitting, then up at Conner.

"Please tell me this is all real." Athena whispered, and Conner nodded.

"It is real, Athena, and you're okay."