"Ra's! Get out of my city and leave my family alone!" growled Batman ducking under the sword blow and kicking the ultracentenarian in the chest causing him to back away a few steps.
Ra's Al Ghul grunted from the blow suffered but continued to maintain a frown on his face. "I will leave only if you hand over my grandson! He is my heir and I want him back!"
"My son wants nothing to do with you!"
Ra's dodged the Caped Crusader's fist and smiled in satisfaction as his blade pierced the vigilante's left shoulder. "That's only because that circus orphan corrupted him!" spat the older man venomously, spinning his sword deeper.
Batman gritted his teeth painfully as he felt the blade rip into his flesh but he could not give up.
Not now, not ever.
Failure could not be an option.
He could never give up.
Not when Ra's Al Ghul had brought the League of Assassins to Gotham City out of the blue to force Damian Wayne to return to Nanda Parbat. There were literally hundreds of assassins and Batman had to call his entire family to his side in order to stop this real warfare.
Agent A and Oracle were scrupulously monitoring the various members of the Bat Family providing them with valuable advice, Nightwing came from Bludhaven to aid and assist his family and was currently facing Talia Al Ghul directly while instead Red Hood, Red Robin, Spoiler and Black Bat were fending off the huge wave of ninja assassins while protecting Robin who, instead of staying safe at Wayne Manor under the orders of Batman himself, decided to go outside fighting his grandfather's men under the careful watch and protection of his siblings.
So Batman ignored the searing pain in his shoulder, he grabbed the blade and pulled it backward, drawing it away. The handle of the sword struck the ultracentenarian violently in the face and it fell to the ground with a flare. Ra's staggered stunned backward holding his injured left eye and Batman used this opportunity to throw a series of punches and kicks at him, most of which hit the mark.
Ra's Al Ghul fell to the ground with a thud, full of bruises, cuts and blood all over his body. The Dark Knight towered dangerously over the Demon's Head and cracked his fists menacingly. "Tell your men to stand down, Ra's. You lost."
The older man emitted a low, dark laugh as he wiped the trickle of blood running from his broken nose. "I'm still not defeated, detective. Your family will not be able to stand forever in the face of the League of Assassins. Bring me my heir and I will tell my men to stand down, leaving you and your loved ones alone."
"Never, ever!" hissed the Caped Crusader.
The supervillain sighed in disappointment. "Well then." with a slightly superhuman speed and energy conferred by his many dives into the Lazarus Pit Ra's found himself a few feet away from the vigilante, a defiant smirk on his face as he assumed a fighting stance. "Let our battle continue then."
Red Hood drew two pistols and discharged his (thankfully real) bullets at several assassins in nonlethal areas while at his side Black Bat was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a dozen or so assassins. "How many of these motherfuckers are there?" he roared amidst all the chaos.
Spolier dodged a blade directed at her and delivered a roundhouse kick to her assailant's jaw. "Man, I need a shower as soon as possible!" she groaned dramatically.
Red Robin chuckled as he simultaneously struck several assassins with his bo staff. "I totally agree. You smell like Killer Croc."
"Hey!" yelled Spoiler offendedly with a pout as she knocked out an assassin.
"-tt. Concentrate on the fight, you filthy commoners!" sneered Robin as he sank his katana into an assassin's right leg and then pulled it out and delivered a vicious roundhouse kick to the ninja's temple.
"Ungrateful! We're protecting your dirty ass and this is how you treat us?" shouted Red Hood mock offended as he elbowed a ninja in the face behind him.
"What would good Nightwing think of your behavior?" asked Black Bat rhetorically as she threw the last remaining assassin standing across the fighting area.
The Bats chuckled when Robin did not immediately respond and they all noticed a small blush on the cheeks of the current Boy Wonder. "Shut up and keep fighting, you fools!" he growled, once again making his siblings laugh.
"It's all your fault!" snarled Talia Al Ghul launching a lunging sword at the hero of Bludhaven.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Nightwing said with a smirk, blocking the blade with his escrima sticks.
"You have corrupted my son with stupid emotions! You've softened him up!"
Nightwing spun around the woman's kick and threw a punch that hit her stomach hard, making her flinch and bend over. "Emotions make you stronger! Feelings make you fight with a renewed energy and ferocity that you would not otherwise possess! Without them you wouldn't live long in a fight and couldn't save your loved ones!" he protested vividly, his smile slipping away.
"Emotions make you weaker! Loving and caring for others will lead you to death!" growled Talia, pretending to strike right and then striking left.
Nightwing foresaw this and executed several backflips dodging the blade that hit the air. He sighed at the stubbornness of the daughter of the Demon's Head. "Jealous that he fought by my side while I was Batman?" he teased her with a cheeky grin hoping to elicit a reaction from her.
His plan succeeded successfully.
Talia's green eyes lit up with rage and with a fierce snarl she aimed her sword at the acrobat's chest. The first Robin dropped to the ground at the last moment causing a very short derangement from the woman. It was only a few milliseconds but that was enough for the vigilante.
As soon as Nightwing's hands were on the ground he lifted a leg and with a solid kick struck Talia's arm disarming her, the sword falling away with a loud flail. Immediately afterwards Nightwing used the momentum in his favor and launched himself into the air performing a double somersault in midair and landing behind Talia.
Talia turned sharply and was greeted by a kick that jerked her head to the side. She recoiled stunned, blood pouring from her split lip, and narrowly dodged the hero's next punch.
She charged Nightwing dodging another punch and threw herself at him with all her weight. The former Robin fell to the ground grunting with Talia on top of him. The assassin managed to hit him in the face with two solid punches before the vigilante blocked both her arms.
The next second Nightwing completely reversed positions and pinned her arms to the ground, his knee driven menacingly into her stomach. "Give up and tell your father to go fuck himself and his damn ninja assassins!" he hissed menacingly, his voice growing lower and darker.
"No one talks like that about the Demon's Head! Especially not a foolish idiot like you!" Talia gritted her teeth angrily as she fought the first Boy Wonder's grip.
Every attempt she made, however, proved futile, and Nightwing slightly increased the pressure of his knee on her stomach, causing her to grimace almost imperceptibly.
"'The Demon's Head'! What a silly title!" he taunted her. "And you're even sillier for following Ra's stupid, baseless ideologies!"
"We must do what must be done! And my son will raise the League of Assassins to unprecedented heights! You have corrupted him, though! You brainwashed him!"
Before Nightwing could respond a new deep male voice suddenly added.
"You know, you sound like an old married couple. Don't you think it's not suitable during a bloody and violent fight like these?"
They both turned their heads toward the direction from which the voice came and froze, momentarily forgetting their battle. "Deathstroke?" they shouted simultaneously.
"What the hell are you doing here Slade?" questioned Nightwing, squinting diffidently. "Don't tell me you've been hired by the League of Assassins to fight alongside them."
Deathstroke The Terminator snorted. "I know better than to mess with the Bats. You guys are a pain in the ass worse than the Justice League."
"Then why are you here, Wilson?" growled Talia not really in the mood for the world's deadliest mercenary's games.
"I'm just enjoying the show as a neutral spectator." said the super soldier, shrugging his shoulders boredly. He waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry, carry on as if I'm not there."
It seemed Nightwing wanted to say something but he was interrupted when Talia, taking advantage of his distraction to Wilson, slammed her head against the hero's. With a cry of pain, the Bludhaven vigilante backed away loosening his grip and Talia turned 360 degrees, hitting him with a hard kick to the chest.
Nightwing turned his fall into a backward roll and jumped positioning himself on his feet. He brought his hands to his face and sighed contentedly. "You were lucky you didn't break my nose! You could have ruined my beautiful face!" he whimpered dramatically.
Talia curled her lips upward in disgust at the hero's childish antics. "I can't believe my son would get attached to a fool like him." she muttered in disgust.
Instead at the acrobat's words Deathstroke snorted in amusement. "Don't let his endless chatter distract you. He is far more dangerous and deadly than he lets people think." he said, warning the daughter of the Demon's Head.
"Hey! Whose side are you on?" cried Nightwing indignantly, deflecting Talia's fist that ended up hitting nothing.
"On none. However, my money is on you, my former apprentice." stated Slade with a smirk, although it was covered by the half-black half-orange mask.
"Thank you for the vote of confidence!" said Nightwing, attempting to strike his opponent's leg with a kick.
Talia dodged it by jumping and tried to hit him with a kick in mid-air. Nightwing blocked it and violently flipped her sideways to the ground. Talia groaned in pain as her back collided painfully against the ground, her vision becoming momentarily disoriented and blurred.
Deathstroke applauded his former student's move and smiled when he saw him strut silently and almost imperceptibly to his praise.
"Now." began Nightwing in a low, dangerous voice, an escrima stick attached menacingly to Talia's throat. "Are you ready to take the League of Assassins out of the city and especially away from my son?" he growled angrily, his white eyes staring directly into Talia Al Ghul's soul.
"He is not your son!" protested Talia as if the mere idea sickened her to death.
The deadly stare she received sent shivers of fear down her spine.
Slade Wilson could not blame Talia for shuddering at Nightwing's threat and anger. The boy could be absolutely frightening and dangerous when he wanted to be, certainly more than the Bat himself.
The mercenary casually took a couple of steps closer to better witness the fun.
His one eye gleamed with satisfaction and pride as Richard continued to threaten Ra's Al Ghul's daughter and he allowed himself the luxury of relaxing.
He did not know how dearly this would cost him (for his mental health).
Batman and Ra's were continuing to fight when the hero caught out of the corner of his eye a movement on his periphery. Ra's must have noticed it too since he stopped fighting the Caped Crusader, frowning deeply.
"I am here to prevent more unnecessary bloodshed." spoke the unknown figure floating in midair in a firm, solemn voice.
Without ever looking away from the stranger Batman spoke directly to Ra's. "I guess you don't know him." surmised the world's best detective easily from the annoyed and secretly confused look of the over-centenarian.
"As usual you are right, detective. I have no idea who could be this madman who interrupted our battle." stated Ra's with anger and venom soaked into his tone of voice.
"The world does not need you two." the stranger continued, blatantly ignoring the words of the two. Immediately his hands began to glow a blinding yellow, and Batman stiffened, brooding inwardly.
He hated magic.
Without warning, the magician threw a bright yellow magic orb. Both Ra's and Batman carefully avoided the magic bullet but the Dark Knight noted with horror that the magic orb was now aimed at his eldest son, Talia, and... Deathstroke?
When in the hell had Slade Wilson shown up?
He decided, however, that it was totally unimportant at that moment.
"NIGHTWING!"
"TALIA!"
"DEATHSTROKE!"
Batman and Ra's stared with raised eyebrows at Red Hood, who impassively shrugged his shoulders at their stares. "What? I pitied that no one was going to warn him."
Nightwing was about to light his escrima sticks with electricity to shock Talia but Slade's sudden and unusually surprised and shocked scream diverted both his and Talia's attention and they both stared secretly worriedly in the mercenary's direction.
To their shock and terror they saw a yellow magic orb coming faster and faster in their direction.
Nightwing, Talia and Deathstroke did not have time to realize what the hell it was when it crashed violently to the ground in their vicinity.
And then darkness.
Batman watched helplessly as the magic orb engulfed his son along with Slade and Talia. Immediately afterwards there was an explosion of dazzling light that blinded every single person in the fight. When the light disappeared Batman opened his eyes again and his heart was torn into a thousand pieces.
Of Dick, Talia or Slade there was nothing left but the destroyed and burned ground.
Batman inhaled shakily, his mind already flying toward the worst scenario.
No.
He could not have thought that his eldest son, his light and the most important person in his life, was dead.
It was unthinkable and unacceptable.
"Truce?" murmured the vigilante to Ra's who was frowning in his own direction.
"Truce." reluctantly agreed the Demon Head.
Meanwhile, the entire fight had stopped, both the ninja assassins and the vigilantes looking on in shock at what had just happened.
Batman turned the most frightening bat-glare to the sorcerer who swallowed nervously under his gaze. "Speak. NOW!" he roared angrily.
The sorcerer squeaked in fear and the next second suddenly disappeared.
A tense, awkward silence resounded throughout the combat zone from both the League of Assassins and Gotham's heroes and protectors.
"Fucking coward." muttered Red Hood angrily, worried about his older brother.
His concern was mirrored by his siblings, who looked at each other worried and nervous.
They were lost without their older brother, the glue that held their family together.
Batman closed his eyes briefly.
I will find you son. Even if I have to go through the whole fucking hell. I will never, ever give up on you, Chum.
That's a promise.