Chapter XIV: This Means War

Author's Note: I know you fans of this have been waiting for years, but I just didn't feel like writing for this, I had so many other stories I'm interested in writing, but since this IS almost done, I decided to come back to it. I apologize for letting this fic become a deadfic. I never intended for that to happen. I redid some of this chapter because I didn't like it.

Everything hinged on this battle, if they failed to defeat Ra's Al Ghul's assassins, everything would be lost, and his parents' lives would be taken from them again. And he'd have to live through the same nightmare of not being able to save them once more. Dick refused to let that happen and he fought with more ferocity than he'd ever done in his life.

There were so many assassins, but Robin was sure that the Titans would be able to handle it. They'd taken down plenty of bad guys before, and with all the honorary Titans there, it was an even match.

Aqualad unleashed a flood of water, sweeping away a large group of surprised assassins. Thunder and Lightening brought down a storm on them.

So many small fights going on around them, they had no time to be distracted.

Robin charged a group of them, Cyborg at his side as they unleashed a Sonic Boom, sending assassins flying.

Raven and Starfire combined their powers; a group of the League of Assassins' nameless goons went flying through one end of a tent and out the other side.

Beast Boy roared, transforming into a tyrannosaurus-rex, he charged forward, one of the assassins tried to stab him, only to be picked up in giant jaws and thrown aside.

Bushido cut down as many of them as he could, just when he was about to be overwhelmed Pantha tackled some of them and got them away from him. Gnaark was wielding Kole like a club, beating them back.

Suddenly, Merlyn came out of nowhere and fired a volley of arrows at John and Mary who were standing back to back. John cut them down.

"This will be fun!" Merlyn shouted, he continued firing only to see his arrows shot down by another's.

"How 'bout you deal with me Merlyn!" Speedy shouted.

"Ah, Arrow's stooge, even better!"

The two of them began fighting, punching and kicking each other, all the while exchanging fire with their arrows. Suddenly, Merlyn was knocked unconscious by a bird-a-rang.

The last assassin hit the ground, unconscious.

"Now that all the amateurs are out of the way, it's my turn!" a voice boomed out.

Robin looked up, it was Slade, he was wielding a Promethium sword. This wasn't going to be easier; in fact this was going to be the most difficult fight of his life.

"Looks like you got my invitation. It's just you and me now. Come on!"

Robin was hit by something and he looked down to see a remote claw attached to his chest, he recognized it, Bruce had one back in Gotham. He was pulled forward and up, but not before his mother and father managed to grab his hands.

They would stop Slade and Ra's Al Ghul, and they would do it together.

The Flying Graysons braced themselves for impact as they crashed through a stained glass window of the local church.

The rolled to their feet, each assuming a defensive stance, standing back to back.

"This will be good, but don't think I came alone!" Slade's voice rang out.

Suddenly, John and Mary saw him, Ra's Al Ghul, standing there with a sword drawn.

"Welcome, Prodigy, it is nice to see you again!" he greeted. "Such a pity my plan didn't progress as I had hoped, but I'll stop the Detective, and I'll break him by killing you, he sees you as his son, just as much as your birth father does, it will be an honor to kill you!"

"I'm not dying today Ra's!" Robin retorted.

He unsheathed a sword, Ra's charged him. The blades clashed as they began to fight. Robin kicked Ra's in the chest and the terrorist retaliated by punching him in the face.

Robin somersaulted back, putting distance between them.

Ra's smirked at Robin, "You disappoint me, Prodigy; you can do better than that!"

John and Mary stepped between them, blocking his path.

"Slade's all yours son!" John told him. "We'll deal with him!"

Ra's turned to them, "Very well!"

They attacked him with a flurry of punches and kicks, John head-butted him and Ra's staggered back. He managed to block Ra's blade with his gauntlets as Mary somersaulted behind him, swinging her sword.

The immortal managed to block her blow with another sword as he knocked her blade away.

Mary rejoined her husband as they simultaneously attacked him.

Mary kicked him across the face as John kneed him in the chest. Suddenly, John tossed the sword to his wife as she slashed at his face. She effortlessly tossed the weapon back to John.

Slade attacked Robin with his power staff, hitting the Boy Wonder in the head. Robin managed to avoid the next blow and used his grapple gun to grab the staff and pull his archenemy towards him, kicking him in the head.

Robin grpped Slade's staff and vaulted him backward. Slade scrambled to his feet, throwing down a smoke pellet.

He used his remote claw to send a pew flying straight at Robin's head. Robin managed to cut it down with his sword.

Enraged, Slade grabbed Robin's foot as the Titan tried to kick him, he threw Robin across the room, Robin used the momentum to vault off the wall and flew straight back at Slade, slamming both his feet into his face.

Robin used his cape to stun Slade, an old trick of Batman's he began pummeling him in the face, never letting up.

Slade staggered but managed to regain his balance and sliced at Robin's arms with his sword. Robin blocked the blows with his own blade and elbowed Slade in the face.

Slade's eye widened as he realized Robin had attached something to his back; he was thrown into the air by a small rocket. He crashed into the wall.

Ra's Al Ghul continued to fight, truly impressed by the Flying Graysons. They could communicate without words and they were actually keeping up with him, despite the fact that he had disarmed one of them of their weapon.

They were a fascinating pair, but this was going on for far too long. It was about time he ended this.

He kicked up dust in Mary's face and moved to grab her when suddenly; he felt searing pain in his chest.

She'd managed to throw a dozen knives into his chest. How had she managed to do that when she couldn't see?!

He looked up and saw John also wielding a pair of throwing knives; he beat the man off with his sword. The Graysons were full of surprises. He should have done more research about them.

John remembered as a child, being taught by his grandfather William Cobb, how to throw knives; his grandpa had been really nice to him when he was a child, saying that their family would do great and amazing things. He had always wanted to do great and amazing things, so he'd become the best acrobat in the world. He had also taught his wife his knife throwing skills as well. But as a teenager, his grandfather had become colder towards him though he did not know why.

He slashed Ra's across the chest, burying one of the knives into his side.

"Better get yourself to one of your precious Lazarus Pits, you don't look good Ra's."

"Shut up, fool, you have no idea who you're trifling with!" Ra's snarled.

Suddenly, the door shattered behind him and he saw the other Titans rush in.

They went straight for Slade; Beast Boy slashed him across the chest as a lion. Starfire blasted him straight in the face with a flurry of Starbolts. Cyborg, knocked Slade off his feet. Raven slammed him into the wall with her power.

Slade tried to get up, But Starfire kept him pinned to the ground.

"Do not move!" she ordered.

Slade looked up, more interested in what was going on over on the other side of the room. He knew this was about to get very interesting.

Ra's stabbed John through the shoulder and sliced his hand, forcing him to drop the sword.

Ra's smiled, he knew the one thing that would hurt Robin more than anything.

He grabbed Mary, twisting her arm around; he pulled her against him, he put the sword to her neck.

"Back down, boy, or I'll kill her, do you want to watch her die again?"

"You so much as move man, we'll take you out, all of us!" Cyborg shouted. Everyone had a weapon trained on Ra's, who stood there completely undisturbed; Starfire was still keeping one eye on Slade while having one of her Starbolts trained on both of them.

"Take me, Ra's, take me and kill me if you want, but not her!" John pleaded. "Not her, please!"

John was desperate; he wasn't going to let his wife die if he could take her place instead.

Mary silently slipped her hand into her tunic. It was still there, something special. It was something that John had found, he said it was a gift from his late grandfather; it would save you if you were ever badly hurt.

John had snuck back to Haly's Circus, he'd found their old trailer, and pried up a hidden floor board. He took something out and handed it to her.

Mary opened the vial and sniffed. It didn't smell like anything, and she'd never seen anything like it.

"John what's this?" Mary asked.

"It's electrum, it's what gives the Talons of the Court of Owls their immortality."

"The Court of Owls, John, no, you didn't!" Mary shook him. "You didn't make a deal with them!"

"Yes, I did. To keep Dick with us, to keep them safe, I became what they wanted him to be."

"John you're not like them, you can't be one of them!" Mary was shaking with grief. They both remembered that horrible night, the night a man in an owl mask came to them, congratulating them, because their son had been chosen to become a Talon, an assassin for a mysterious cabal known as the Court of Owls. John had disappeared for hours, Mary didn't know why, but now she knew, he'd taken Dick's place as a Talon.

"But when you fought Slade, your skills, they weren't that good," Mary observed.

"The Court rarely sent me out on missions, they had others, but they always told me they would use me, and they did train me a little, I would have received more, had I not died."

"But why are you giving me this?" Mary held up the vial.

"You'll need it more than I will, because they'll target you first."

"See, what good are you to your parents when you can't even protect your own mother? You can still save her, take up my legacy, become my heir, I will give you the League of Assassins, and save your mother, if you will join me, Prodigy."

"Never, you just made a big mistake," Robin snarled. "This means war!"

Ra's suddenly looked down at Mary, she was still moving! She had something in her hands and she was preparing to drink it!

"What is that?!" he bellowed in shock. "What are you doing?!"

"Saving my own life!" Mary drank the electrum, she felt her body reacting to it and she felt her wound closing.

"That's impossible!" Ra's screamed in horror. "Impossible!"

John stepped toward Ra's Al Ghul.

"My Grandfather used to tell me stories about the true protectors of Gotham City, long before Batman, there were others, and I knew that he wanted me to be one of them, but then I discovered the the truth about what they were, and even the origins of my family."

Robin heard the sound of cloth ripping. His father tore apart the League of Assassins tunic he'd been wearing, revealing another costume underneath. Brown and black and dozens of pouches, throwing knives in sheaths.

It was unlike any costume he'd ever seen before. John removed a mask, and slipped it over his face. Robin noted how it made him look like an owl.

"There's a nursery rhyme in Gotham City, "Beware the Court of Owls, that watches all the time, ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime. They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed, speak not a whispered word of them, or they'll send the Talon for your head."

John Grayson unsheathed a dozen throwing knives, "My Grandfather was a Talon, their best Talon, and unfortunately, so am I."

Ra's raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised, "I always knew you were a killer."

"My motivations aren't like yours, or Slade's, mine are different, and why I became what I am, isn't any of your business."

"Is that supposed to make you better than us Grayson?" Ra's smirked.

"No, it just means I can give God a better excuse, when he sends me to Hell."

"You're already in Hell Grayson, we'll show you that," Ra's taunted. "Come, assassin, show me what you really are!"