chapter 48: Rescuing the Raven

After walking through the portal, me and John found ourselves under the hot sun of the Middle East, facing the fortress we had seen back at ine. Again, it seemed similar to Petra, except it was a true free-standing building on the top of a mountain, not some carving in the form of temples. That, plus the several batteries of anti-air artillery that whoever owned the place had cleverly placed on and near the walls, made clear the place was inhabited.

"Okay." John said as he shielded his eyes from the sudden sunrays and looked at the structure in front of us. "Now what? I don't think they know we're here. Also, do we"

"I took the liberty to jam all their communications to mask your arrival and sow chaos to ease your assault, plus their automated defenses." VEGA said from my speakers. "That said, I believe they might already know of you."

"'They'?" I asked. However, given the place and the setting, plus the heavy defenses, I already had an idea of who they were; indeed, VEGA's next words just confirme my suspicions.

"The League of Assassins of Ra's al Ghul" VEGA replied before a shout in arabic came from the walls, followed by the ground around us exploding as bullets began to fly around us. "This is their HQ, and where the organization itself was born in the late 14th century."

"And had to tell us that now?" John groaned as he took cover behind me. Months of being with me, plus a lifetime of being, well, him, had toughened him up when it came to mundane threats that could be seen and didn't sneak up on him. If they didn't involve torture, even better.

"You didn't ask." VEGA replied.

"Of course he's gotta be an arse about it."

The fortress' other lookouts didn't waste time in shooting at us with what little they had... at least as far as I concerned, of course.

"I believe is time you began our assault. They're not going to run out of ammunition."

"'Assault', eh?" John replied as bullets pinged around us and on me. "Now what? Poke the wasps' nest again? I know, they're already bloody pissed, but I mean doing the aerosol flamethrower thing, if you get what I mean."

Not even bothering to nod, I exchanged the shotgun for the rocket launcher and fired several times at the fortress. The sturdy rock facade might as well have been made of cardboard againt the rockets as these impacted on them, their warheads destroying anything in a range of five meters, both rock and flesh. The screams that came from the walls eventually died out as the dust began to rise, but I could hear more coming from the inside.

After making sure John wouldn't be in danger, I went back to the shotgun. "Let's go and finish the mission. Find Rachel, get every last piece of information we can get, then destroy the fortress."

"Oi, one thing before we go in." John said as he dropped his cigarrete and prepared himself for the incoming fight. "What happens if we encounter ol' Nimrod? It is his house and he can't be plotting to ruin someone's life all the time. And I know that Bruce has history with the guy."

His comment made me think... for about two or three seconds, during which I made a brief recap of everything I knew of Ra's. As in, every single thing he had done that VEGA knew of, plus what I already knew, plus thinking of what Bruce might do if I disposed of him.

The Demon's Head had to die, alongside those who served him. And to hell with Bruce's reaction to it.

"He's a misanthropic self-appointed eco-terrorist with a god complex who has been a blight upon humanity well before the Fall of Constatinople in a way that could make many dictators balk, tortured an innocent man to the point of turning him into a monster more than capable of annihilating an entire city by himself, and who has to have done something with Rachel for whoever knows how long. What the fuck do you think I'll do to him, John?"

John nodded. "Fine by me, but before we raze the entire place to the ground, can I have a look at his pit? If only to piss in it if I can't do anything interesting with it?"

I shrugged as I gave him the pistol. He knew more of Lazarus pits than I did. "You can even keep it as long as you don't gamble it away."

I swore I could heard him curse outloud as I stepped into the cloud of dust that had been the League's castle's exterior and then the building proper, the magician right behind me.

We tore our way through the fortress, killing everyone trying to fight us. As expected, most hallways were rather narrow, but that didn't really pose a problem to me, nor John for that matter, agin thanks to years of going inside similar places and being right behind me and making sure we wouldn't be blindsided, alternating betwen his spellcasting and shooting. There wasn't a proper network for VEGA to hack, but we didn't need it, because VEGA used echolocation to draw a map. Yes, I could had also pushed my way through the walls, but there was the risk of accidentally killing Raven.

Plus, later it turned out she wasn't the only one needing 'rescue'.

Eventually, though, we did find more serious resistance. Ninjas of the League, men and women willing to die for their master, attacked us as we entered a large square-shaped room with a large pond in the middle that led to the rest of the building, even jumping out of it. This time, despite their martial skills, with emphasis on 'die'. Those who managed to stay out of reach simply got a faceful of shotgun blasts, their weapons all but useless.

On the other hand, despite the ninjas focusing on me, John didn't have such luck.

"God fucking dammnit!" John shouted as he fired at the nimble assassins, not trusting himself with casting given their speed and because he quickly realized that a near miss from my gun still caused to stop in pain,. "I've killed imps slower than these cunts!"

"Shut up and keep killing, there can't be that many left." Indeed, we ended up killing all of them, a good thirty or so, but then...

"You!" We heard a deep voice call to us. "You will ruin my master's home no longer!"

Turned around, we watched as someone ran into the room. It was a large, well-built man, wearing a shirt that left his chest open for all to see, eyes glaring at us from behind a horned helmet that hid his identity. This was Ubu, or rather the current Ubu, the latest of a line of individuals that served Ra's since old times. To most people without overwhelming powers, from Bruce to even the likes of Deathstroke, he would have been a mighty foe.

To me and John? He was just a strongman, one without guns, against John Constantine and Doom Slayer.

And no, I wasn't the one who killed him.

Ubu didn't have time to say anything more before John burned first through his mask, then his face, and finally shot at him in the gut, just to be sure. The brute screamed in agony as he tried to extinguish himself and keep his what was left of his carbonized intestines in at the same time, but in the end the magic fire reached his brain, frying it and killing him, all in less than five seconds. His motionless body, standing up for a couple seconds, then fell into the pond, adding to the red dye it had acquired after several of our victims fell in.

"Who was this bloke exactly?" John asked.

"A servant of al Ghul, that's all you need to know." I replied to him before resuming our march.

"Figures."

We continued moving through the castle, this time facing much less resistance and with a more clear objective, a mission control room of sorts from where Ra's or his lieutenants sent orders to the cells across the world. I could find out where they were, what were their objectives, and take them out in a single swoop, getting rid of a massive threat to the world.

However, we soon found ourselves in front of a richely ordained, yet thick set of gates in the middle of the complex. Judging by what I already told you and the pair of heavy automatic turrets posted at each side, it had to contain something important... but what?

"Maybe it's a treasure chamber." John noted before possibility hit him. "Or a fucking donjon. If it is, I'm not going."

Slowly, I pried the gates open and then entered the room, shotgun raised at the possibility of an ambush awaiting for us inside.

Except it was not a 'treasure chambe' or anything like that, as John thought it may had been, but a lavishly furnished nursery with a closed window, and it was occupied. A sleeping baby, couldn't be even a year old. undisturbed by the chaos outside the room thanks to the thick doors and wall, or me opening said doors for that matter. A baby that, given where it was, I had an idea who he was.

Which was pretty damn weird, given that this universe was a mix of the DCAU the Arkham series, neither of which he had appeared in in any form, not even a silent cameo.

"VEGA?"

"According to my scans, the baby is the son of Talia al Ghul and-"

A woman's gasp and a thud to the back of my helmet interrupted VEGA. In an instant, I turned around and punched whoever had been stupid enough to attack me and ignore the more vulnerable wizard at my side.

Talia al Ghul herself, holding the handle of a shattered sword. Her inhuman reflexes might had (or might had not) saved her had she been a foot further away, but she wasn't, and so my fist collided with her face.

The remain of Talia's head flew off her shoulders, pieces of brain and skull splattering against the wall behind her.

"That was fast." John replied, eyes wide either at the sight of carnage, or the fact Talia could have gone after him and he'd been unable to do anything to stop her in time. However, I was too busy thinking of what I had just done to say anything back.

I had just killed Talia al Ghul... and rendered Damian, Bruce's son and future Robin if everything happened as it did in the source, motherless. True, he was asleep when it happened, but still, it didn't change the fact I just killed his mother. I cared nothing for Talia, least of all because she wasn't the seccond in command of the entire League just out of nepotism, of her loyalty to her father and the simple fact Damian existed here, but the boy? And Bruce...

At the very least, he wouldn't end up being forced to fight for his life to become a fighter. And I sure as hell wasn't going to leave him there for obvious reasons.

Shaking my head, I sent Damian to the Fortress (I forgot about all the other safe places I could had sent him to at that moment) and resumed the trek. John didn't even bother to say anything given the situation, although I think I heard him mumble about 'adopt every ankle-biter'. Again, I didn't ponder on that until much later.

Eventually, after walking through darkened corridors, we reached an enormous room with a large pond, one filled with green, glowing water that emanated pure magic: Ra's personal Lazarus pit, and the first he had discovered.

And on the other side of the pit, shackled to something eerily similar to a sacrificial standing altar, there she was, the goal of our months-long search across the world: Rachel Roth.

A Rachel Roth that, going by her appearance, had to had been under the tender care of Ra's and his people for a good while: demaciated, bloodied pieces of skin hanging from her body, blood drippling from her mouth, skin so pale it made her look like a porcelain sculpture... even at that distance, she looked more dead than alive, the only sign that she wasn't dead being the slow rising of her chest indicating she was still breathing.

And who was standing right next to her, scimitar in hand and a glare that wished me untold agony for eternity? The Demon's Head himself.

"So, you must the demon who has invaded my home, killed my servants, murdered my daughter, and ruined everything I had meticulously planned for an entire century?" He scowled at me as I made my way to our side of the pond. His tone made clear wasn't upset by the deaths of his loved ones, but because I had the gal to attack him at all.

Oh, the irony (or maybe it was a kind of appropiate irony given my origins) of HIM calling me a demon.

I didn't bother to reply to his question directly. "Release her."

"One of my sons found this witch, then brought her to me to see if I could get some use of her." Ra's explained. "You cannot even imagine the treasure trove of power she has inside of her, of the taint that runs through her veins. But of course, a mindless brute like you wouldn't understand... or would you? After all, you and your raggedy friend came here for her, haven't you?" His scowl deepened when I didn't reply. "As expected, just like the detective, only willing to kill. I wanted to make you into the next Ubu, you know, but after your actions..."

You'd expect him to threaten to kill Rachel or do it outright, but no, he instead began to rant about his role and actions, and that I had broken everything, or something like that, and that he'd kill me for daring to do what Bruce didn't.

I was a man reincarnated as a powerful space marine turned into a god that had been fighting the forces of Hell itself for untold aeons, and most of that time with nothing but my bare hands. Ra's, despite his intelligence and age, was just a man, a skilled and calculating one, but a man nonetheless. I think you all expected it to happen, though. As for what exactly was 'it'... If you expect me to describe some epic scuffle between two immortals, you'll be sorely disappointed.

I didn't waste time in raising my rifle and shooting at him. Ra's didn't even have time to react in any way (screaming, trying getting out of the way, anything), before seventy five grams of high velocity tungsten annihilated not just his head, but also everything over his waist. And then another few times more before torching the remain to be on the safe side.

That's it, that's all. There wasn't even a fight. Ra's al Ghul was dead, just like that. Six hundred years of psycopathy, gone, and in a way that not even a trip to a Lazarus pit would bring him back.

"I guess that was it." John said before jogging towards Rachel and feeling her pulse. "The bastards did a number on her, and I'm pretty sure they put her under a sleeping spell." Yes, he rhymed on acccident.

I walked up to her and broke her shackles, careful to not hurt her. Up close and looking at her face, I had to admit she was beautiful even in her current state, but it also made me notice scar tissue under each eye. "Can you wake her up?"

John waved his hands in a 'so-so' manner. "Yes, but not here. I'd rather do it in the House, just to be on the safe side. Also, I think you're forgotting everything else." He gestured at the wounds.

Not wasting time, I told VEGA to prepare the medical wing of the Fortress, after which I sent her there.

After months of no success, we had finally found Rachel, and despite everything she went through she was now finally safe, but our mission wouldn't be over until she woke up. As for what happened after that, I didn't relly have an answer, especially given that the other objective at the moment had yet to be fulfilled. After that, though... I had no idea.

Eventually, we reached the comms room of the now truly lifeless castle. In contrast to the rest of fortress, the room was entirely covered in the latest in not only communications technology, but also jamming, hacking, research, anything you can think something like the League might need, plus files: their history, possible locations of Lazarus pits, people marked for death, allies... and something else that took my attention.

It was worse than I thought. Way worse, enough that I didn't react to John when he called to me.

"Slayer? Slayer, what's the problem? Demonic deals, badass sleeping army from Persia?"

"Worse." I replied as I looked once more at the screen, specifically at the words in bold that flashed blue.

KNIGHTFALL.

The time when Bane broke Batman's back.

And it had begun just five minutes prior.

So, after more than half a year Raven has been finally found, and the League of Assassins has suffered a bigass blow, but at the same time, one of the darkest moments in DC's lore is taking place, and Damian exists. No idea what's gonna happen after, no sire.