Martha's heart clenched in horror as she knew that Waylon would give the League of Assassins lots of trouble if they harmed Poppy and to steal away their possible child, breaking Poppy's heart, even from the first day of its birth...She remembered those first few days where Poppy was changing to her green skin tone...If that would snap her into that stage, or becoming another She-Hulk, she would kill people next to Waylon to get their child back, and the League of Assassins wouldn't accept that, and would kill them...
Martha would lose her daughter, and Alfred to lose his son, while the child would be raised in hate and darkness, never knowing love and all, no memories of their parents, perhaps used unknowingly to kill Bruce, Martha and Kel, and even Alfred, unknowing that they would have a uncle, grandmothers, and a grandfather who would do anything to get the child of Poppy and Waylon to be safe and free.
Martha looked at him, "Please, sir, there has to be something, anything for a deal! Kel...Kel is willing to offer herself...as I...I realize I am a complication...Please don't make Ranbir force my daughter and Waylon harder...".
Ra looked at her in surprise yet thoughtful silence, and replied, "There's something you aren't telling me...Ah...I see...Anything in this room, never leaves, not without my word. You would be even more upset right now if you found out that your daughter wasn't a virgin when she wasn't ready. Has your daughter and her Croc man lied to Ranbir?".
Martha exhaled sharply, and Ra raised an eyebrow, "I know your daughter is brilliant, but for her Croc man, I suppose you can't judge somebody by its appearance...I will not punish them as they haven't lied to me directly, but I admire their ingenuity...Ranbir has been extremely loyal to me...he doesn't want to fail me...yet I must ask...How did they lie to him?".
Martha whispered, "They only pleased each other, never going all the way. They acted like they did...They...they remain as virgins.", and Ra nodded, "You only found out this morning, yes? They told you first thing?".
Martha replied, "Yes, sir...", and Ra exhaled deeply, "How do I know if you want to offer your She-Hulk to stop this, when they disobeyed Ranbir through me? I heard that they are naked, only protected by blankets, with no clothes as punishment for the Croc man putting some of my people into injury.".
"I...I know Halloween is after tomorrow...I...we all still are anticipating and praying that we could see Thomas and Caroline on your word about the Pit and all...If that is a reward...if whatever you have to take Kel out is ready already, we could do it tomorrow...Please, sir, my daughter, Waylon, they don't really want to do it in this place...Ranbir...if he finds out, he...he would possibly r-rape my daughter as punishment in front of us, if it wasn't on your orders...If...if you could just somehow convince him to leave them alone without checking my daughter over, just until Halloween or afterwards, I...I and Kel could make it for us to be...to be apart of each other to happen.", Martha spoke with tears, choking them back from falling.
Ra was silent for a few moments as he was thinking. He almost was surprised in a way of how easily he was able to get to Martha and practically bend her to his will; but clearly was expected. He practically had all the cards in his hand and was easily able to get her in so many pressure points.
It was a fatal weakness in his mind. One couldn't allow to be weakened with attachments. He never would tell Talia to her face, but if his plans required her sacrifice, then it would pain him to do it, but the plan would always come before her. It would be a necessary loss.
"You are bargaining in exchange for their freedom? Is that it?", Ra raised an eyebrow as Martha sighed and nodded.
"If you're willing to even allow that, I would want them to be able to go home. I'd stay behind in exchange. What good would it be for me to continue to truly resist?", she asked. "You know who we all are, you easily could take them prisoner again...".
"And I would still have Thomas here as leverage...", Ra reminded as there was silence again. "Very well. I'll think about your pleas, but I will make Ranbir bend the knee and end his game for the time being. Your daughter and her lover will be untouched as long as they obey.".
Martha bowed her head in relief and respect, "Thank you, sir...", and Ra then asked, "If that's everything?", looking at her, and Martha replied, "That's everything...".
"Good. Stand up, and let those fine escorts take you back to your cell.", Ra ordered, and Martha did as he asked, and was then led out of the office, across the temple floors and down back to the cell section, as Ra then took his seat again, to begin his mediation to see his thoughts, and before he did, he partially thought of Talia, wondering what his daughter is doing now.
"Don't you dare lie to me or try to hide anything, Dorji. I need to know...", Talia growled as she had thrown the monk to the floor from his cell/chambers. He groaned from the impact as Talia stood over him. "What does the future hold for me and Ranbir? Is he plotting to undermine me when I take over the League? To betray me? To not even wait until my father's truly dead before he makes his move?".
"I... I can't be certain...", Dorji whimpered. "You know my powers aren't as accurate with the future.". Talia narrowed her eyes, "Oh, I know. The same story over and over again. But I ask you again, what are you certain about?", as Dorji winced in pain, feeling Talia's foot pressing on his knee, threatening to break it.
Dorji groaned as he closed his eyes, to try and see things as Talia backed off a few feet to allow him to get into a better meditative view. She waited almost on bated breath for anything. She never truly trusted Ranbir; she knew that he harbored jealousy towards her that her father was sharing both their services rather than him being a true second and the League answering to him, and from his lips to Ra's ears. After a few moments, his eyes opened.
"Well?", Talia asked with a harsh tone, not waiting for him to waste any time. "You would be right.", Dorji whispered as Talia raised an eyebrow.
"Are you sure? You're not lying?", Talia pressed her foot back onto his knee again to make sure that pain would be sure to keep his tongue honest.
Dorji replied clearly, "I'm sure, ma'am. And I'm not lying.", with a firm, submissive look, and Talia looked at him for a moment before letting go, "Very well. Get back to your chamber, now.".
Dorji got up, nodding, walking into the door of his chambers/cell, and Talia locked the door, and left, thinking furiously on how to get rid of Ranbir. She has to admit that she's slightly sick of his plans to force Martha Wayne's daughter and the Jones boy against their will to have that powerful child her father has been raving about...
She herself was frustrated by Bruce Wayne's damn stubborn refusals to even sway to her sexual whims when she got him alone over the past week...Honestly, a child of Poppy Wayne and the Jones boy might be powerful, but it's not her father's legacy...Talia is her father's legacy, and her own child would be so much more perfect...Wait, if she gets rid of Ranbir, and not rush Poppy Wayne and the Jones boy, but threaten them with visible proof to give her father the powerful child, while she finds a less stubborn yet still genetically perfect man, to give her a child, and her child can then be betrothed to the child of Poppy Wayne and the Jones boy, still keeping the Wayne bloodline going next to the Ghul bloodline, and of course, their offspring would even be more powerful then.
Talia grinned, knowing that Ranbir would be even more extremely jealous and angry if he hears all that as it would be her idea, not his...Hell, perhaps he would attack Ra, hence betraying him and Ra would kill him, by Talia's plans, and she doesn't even need to make an excuse otherwise, and then Ranbir wouldn't then overthrow her, and all because he would be dead.
She then heads straight across the temple, to her father's office, composing herself before knocking firmly on the grand door, and heard her father's voice, "You may come in, but I'm mediating. Do be careful if you wish to save your life.".
Talia cleared her throat, "Father, sir, it's Talia, your daughter. I do have an important idea proposal to seek a word with you.", and Ra's voice replied, "Ah, you're the exception then. See to the tea while I finish my mediation then as you come in, daughter.".
"Of course.", Talia said as she walked over after opening and closing the door. "And don't poison it this time. I must admit, I should've expected that...", Ra said with a slight chuckle.
"If you hadn't kept using the Lazarus Pit, it would've worked but you've built quite the immunity...", Talia sighed as she started to pour the tea.
"It was a reminder that I had let myself get complacent after so many decades. It will not happen again.", Ra reminded as she came to him with the tea before she drank from both cups to prove that they weren't poisoned.
"All clear here.", Talia replied, as she learned how to detect poison in case if Ranbir does her over or such, and Ra nodded as Talia refilled their cups again, and he sipped at his cup, looking at Talia, "So, what has gotten you to go while I talked with Mrs. Wayne earlier?".
Talia replied, "She said something about Ranbir possibly not going along with things in the case I take the reins from you. So, I've gone to seek Dorji...", and Ra's eyebrow quirked, "Oh?".
"Dorji hasn't lied...Ranbir really plans to betray us by plotting to undermine me and you.", Talia said, and Ra blinked before humming, "Mrs. Wayne has indicated as much. It seems that Ranbir has been impatient in making his plans progress for me on the situation of the Wayne daughter and the Jones boy...Turns out the young ones has indeed fooled Ranbir while being obsessed in his plans to seek power from taking your position as Second...".
Talia looked a bit curious before widening her eyes, "Wait, they acted?! In front of Ranbir?! Damn, he must be slipping...", with a smirk before blinking, "Are you going to punish them themselves since they lied to you technically through Ranbir?".
"No... because it appears the actions alone and the threat that Ranbir has been placing was enough to break Martha Wayne. That's what she came here about...", Ra said as Talia's eyes widened.
"That easily? She's not as strong as we thought then...", Talia said. "As herself, no... but it's not her that I desire but rather the other half of her...", Ra then paused for a second. "Daughter, when you said Ranbir was undermining... did you truly mean by both of us... or did it mean just you?", he raised an eyebrow as Talia took a deep breath.
"Both, in a way, but I asked, and it was more when you would deem me worthy to lead the League; that he would attempt to betray me. But in a way it's a betrayal to you as well because I'm the only one who can truly continue your visions. You've admitted as so... and if not, then you had plenty of opportunities to have me killed if that wasn't the case.", Talia replied.
Ra hummed thoughtfully with a little smile, "I certainly raised you well to be observant and sharp-minded. Yet there's a plan there in your mind to get rid of Ranbir.".
Talia nodded sharply, "Yes, Father...As you well know, Bruce Wayne has been refusing me very stubbornly of my attempts to woo him to our side and get him to see how it'd be like to be the father, if not the sire of my child. He has been frustrating me, and then it hit me...As you have told me the visions of this powerful child from the Wayne daughter and the Jones boy, the child isn't exactly your legacy, but if I find a suitable, less stubborn man, let alone intelligent, perhaps with artificial insemination or my way, the Wayne-Jones child would then be betrothed to my child, and then married, to keep the Ghul bloodline running next to the Wayne bloodline, making their own children then even more powerful... Bruce Wayne is out because the children would have been half cousins, and that would make the bloodline very poor. Yet with me, I can see the risks and the tempers of men unlike Ranbir, and I would perhaps disillusion the couple into having their freedom like one of those fancy virtual reality tech into one of our rooms, and bam, they won't feel the force or the fear, but rather passion and the illusion of hope to finally be one while thinking that they're home, and once the Wayne daughter becomes pregnant, I can then do my turn, and we wouldn't need even Ranbir.", finishing her outlining plan with a grin.
"A well thought out plan... a bit disappointing in regard to the young Wayne heir; he had quite promise that even I admired. But as you said with your plan; the daughter and the Jones boy would perhaps be the grander prize...", Ra said.
Talia nodded, "Yes, sir. And if Martha Wayne is indeed giving up the She-Hulk, and if your machine works, the daughter and the Jones boy would be leverage for She-Hulk if she gets too much dangerous down the line, not wanting to lose her optional grandchild...that is, if Martha doesn't survive the machine, then...".
"Indeed, and after the birth of the child, I can let go of the daughter and the Jones boy, so they can go home to their diminished family in Thomas and the others. She-Hulk would stay for the child, under our control and all.", Ra commented.
Talia replied, "I can see it now...Yet Dorji's visions aren't always accurate since they change like ripples...Are we still keeping the Wayne daughter and the Jones as a last option in case if the machine doesn't exactly separate Martha and She-Hulk? I mean, it has been over 10 years, almost 14 years...what if they are too much...fused into each other, like symbiotic attachments?".
"I trust that no matter the time, it'll work... centuries upon centuries of knowledge have gone into the work... no matter what the modern ages have accomplished.", Ra said with a confidence in his words. Talia gave a slight bow. "As you say, father...", she whispered.
Ra nodded, "Good. And I can see the potential in your plan as well...A Ghul child and grandchild in my legacy...You have provided me with excellent aims to progress my vision far better than before, and the world shall know the power of the Demon. You are far more patient, daughter, than Ranbir...Let's see how his reaction shall be once I get him to bend his knee, and that his plan is at an end, while you put your plan to fruition after Halloween, and after his reaction, I shall have Mrs. Wayne know of the conclusion of my thoughts about her offer and all.".
Talia smiled, "Yes, sir. Shall we have Ranbir here, or in the sanctum? If he challenges me after he hears of your word about my plan, I'd love to kill him in front of our people, to show our power.".
"Hmm, very tempting..But I am afraid you might have to get behind in line for that.", Ra replied, and Talia replied, "What do you mean, Father?".
Ra replied as he sipped his tea again, "Before today, yesterday, I heard from some of our people who was there in tranquilizing the Jones boy into being stuck in his Croc form, that Ranbir has threatened to break the Wayne daughter, and now it has been a nightmare thought for the Jones boy since then, even if Ranbir hasn't gone near the Wayne daughter since then, but I hear that the Jones boy came to an inch of strangling Ranbir when he had made the threat...But it's up to you, daughter. Do you want to put down Ranbir as a show of power or subtly make the Jones boy to think that he's a literal monster by killing Ranbir, making him afraid to face the world, needing us, instead of rebelling against us during the Wayne daughter's eventual pregnancy and to the first day of their child's birth?".
Talia was silent, thinking for a few minutes as she sipped her tea once more, and then spoke, "Both...If I challenge Ranbir for a show of power for the position of being your Second, and almost fatally injure him, but still able to hear and bow to you, and after you reveal the plan, accrediting me while mentioning about the Jones boy and the Wayne girl, he would have the reaction to choose...Would he go for me, accusing me of taking his plan away and I behead him/gut him in the heart, or would he go for the Wayne daughter, blaming her brilliance to fool him together with the Jones boy, and send the Jones boy into a protective fury, slashing or strangling him by the neck?".