You guys didn't honestly think I'd kill my favorite character, did you? Almost all of my DC fics involve someone getting hurt, but I haven't killed anyone yet. This chapter is for those who strongly opposed last chapter's ending. Anyway, I do not own DC Comics or any of their characters. As you know, italics is character thought and bold italics is electronic communication. Thanks to those who reviewed last chapter, please review now and tell me how this story was for you guys. Thanks for reading and enjoy!

Last Time:

Red Hood watched as Deathstroke's sword ripped through Nightwing and showed at his chest. He could see the surprise and pain on Nightwing's face as he processed. To make it worse, Deathstroke twisted his blade. Nightwing cried out again.

"NO!" Red Hood yelled as he aimed his gun.

His brother was dying right in front of him, yards away. Aiming at Deathstroke, Red Hood fired off shots as he stalking angrily forward. Deathstroke extracted his blade from Nightwing, who fell to the ground and laid weakly on the unforgiving ground. Red Hood didn't stop shooting and reloaded twice as he walked towards Nightwing. He could feel angry tears under his helmet. He ripped it off, leaving Jason in his mask. Deathstroke just laughed as he boarded the jet and began to take off as he fired up the engines.

"Someone stop him! NOW!" Red Hood yelled.

Red Hood then knelt down and checked on Nightwing. The detective had blood running down his chin and tears at his eyes. There was a hole in his chest from the blade. There's so much blood, too much blood. What do I do? What do I do? Red Hood started panicking as he tried to stanch the bleeding. His hands shaking. Batman leaned down as well. Neither of them bothered to look at the jet as it flew off with other heroes hot on its tail. Together, Batman and Red Hood tried to stop the bleeding.

"Stop." Nightwing said weakly, quietly.

Red Hood stared at him, blood ran down Nightwing's chin as he coughed.

"It's too late." He muttered.

"No, no, don't talk like that." Red Hood replied.

"Just...promise me you'll...stop the Li... Light. Okay?" Nightwing said.

Red Hood nodded, unable to speak as his throat closed.

"You know, for...knowing you...guys for...a few… weeks. I...already feel...like family...with you." Nightwing laughed weakly. "How...funny."

"You are family." Batman said from the side.

"You tell... Gordon...he's a good cop...and how I… Okay?" Nightwing requested.

"Okay." Batman nodded.

It was easy to hear the strain on his voice.

More heroes came and surrounded Nightwing as he breathed his last breath and went limp. He had a small smile on his face. Robin trailed behind them. The bullet had torn through his shoulder, a clean shot. He pushed through the crowd, wondering why he didn't hear any medical commands or other shouting. He came into the inner circle and saw Nightwing, Red Hood, and Batman. He couldn't see Nightwing's face, but he could see the gaping hole in his still chest. Red Hood's back was shaking as he cried. Batman's countenance revealed his sadness. His mouth in a tight line.

"Nightwing?" He asked.

Batman looked up at the youngest and shook his head.

"He's gone." Red Hood choked.

Talia al Ghul watched from the shadows of the trees surrounding the clearing. She was tempted to interfere with the fight between Nightwing and the four villains but decided against it. Until Nightwing turned his attention away from Deathstroke. She lunged forwards but stopped just outside the trees before forcing herself back into the darkness of the shadows. She was told to be on standby just in case her father was killed. She was to bring him to the Lazarus Pits. I have to wrestle with two corpses if the detective dies. She had taken her usual protective mother stance with Richard, just as she did the others. Richard was now lumped in with Bruce's lost boys he calls sons. Though her beloved will never admit it, the moment Richard figured out their identities, the detective became a son. He even knew how to handle the other two. She would hope he could handle her son as well. He'll be meeting him soon. I really need to tell Bruce about Damian. She watched as Red Hood and Batman informed the youngest of them of their loss. The young boy broke immediately. Tears streamed from his mask.

How she longed to hold him and tell him it's alright. She'll fix everything. She didn't do that. She watched as Robin tried CPR and banged on the still chest. The lack of response caused the young bat to grip Nightwing's uniform and cry loudly. He continued to bang on his chest, yelling about how he had to wake up. Superboy came up and knelt down. He said something to Robin, she couldn't hear what. Robin ignored him and continued crying. Looking guilty, Superboy wrapped his arms around Robin and hoisted him up and stepped away from the body. Robin fought like hell to break loose. He couldn't. Superboy took him to the now visible bioship. The martian's here. Can she sense me? Talia looked at the green girl in the crowd. She was snuggled up to her uncle. Contact comfort. Both of the martians didn't sense her. Good. She watched from the darkness as Batman guided Red Hood up and away from Nightwing's body. The heroes left as the police came onto the scene. I have to act fast. Talia sprinted out of the trees and grabbed Nightwing first. She threw him over her shoulder in a fireman's carry. Quickly, she ran into the forest and gently placed his body in her helicopter. Sprinting back, she picked up her father in a bridal carry and ran back to the helicopter. She laid him down not as gently and went to the cockpit. She started up the engines and eased herself above the trees. Below her, she saw the heroes look up and shout. Their surprise allowed her to fly off. She made her way back to the main base of the assassins. Landing, she opened the doors.

"Help me get them to the Lazarus Pit." She ordered.

Not wanting her assassins to touch Richard, she gently put him in her arms and went inside the base.

"Mother! Is Grandfather...Who is that?" Damian demanded.

"A friend." Talia replied.

"He looks familiar." Damian commented.

Talia could tell there was a demand to know exactly who Richard was, but she didn't respond as she continued to walk. Walking down many flights of stairs, she came into the Lazarus Pit. Damian wasn't allowed down near the pits when someone was being revived so he stayed above ground and away from the pits. She hated being revived and hoped Richard would forgive her. The assassins carrying Ra's al Ghul followed her.

"Him first." She nodded towards the corpse in her arms.

The assassins looked confused but said nothing. She threw him in and proceeded to perform the reviving process. She lead the assassins to another Lazarus Pit further down.

"Now my father." She said.

Talia did the same with her father and went back up to check on Richard. It'll take a few hours, maybe a day. Father will take a few hours. She decided to go back upstairs and tend to her son.

"Watch both of the pits." She commanded two assassins.

One to be station with Richard and the other with her father.

"Any action from either of them, get me." She added.

The two assassins nodded and one went to go further down to her father.

Green. Green all around him. Green in his skin, in his lungs. I need to breathe! Thrashing around, he shot up from the Lazarus Pit. Waves informed him he was in a pool of green. He coughed up water and breathed heavily as he took in his surroundings.

"Hello." A voice said from behind him.

Richard spun around causing a wave to lap up the side. A boy sat cross legged at the edge of the pool.

"Where… Who…?" Richard wasn't sure what to ask first.

"You're in a Lazarus Pit. It revives people. You died, do you remember?" The boy asked.

Richard could hear a set of rushed steps.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Damian. You know my mother, Talia al Ghul, and grandfather, Ra's al Ghul." Damian said.

"Right, you said I died…" Richard trailed.

"You have a scar on your chest if you don't believe me. You're still in your death clothes too. There's still some blood on them, despite being submerged for almost a day." Damian informed.

While he was saying this, a woman barged into the chamber and looked at Damian then Richard, who was still waist deep in the Lazarus Pit. Richard looked at himself and, yes, there was a large scar in the middle of his chest. He had on the Nightwing suit, but it was reduced to just pants and scraps of material on his body.

"Damian, you know the rules." The woman said.

"Yes, Mother, but I heard him before you came down. I didn't want him to be alone when he came to." Damian excused.

"Um...who are you?" Richard asked the woman.

She looked at him.

"What?" She said.

"W-Who are you?" Richard repeated.

"Talia al Ghul...don't you remember me, Richard?" Talia asked.

Richard's memory slammed into awareness at his name. He clutched his head as he remembered. Batman, Red Hood, Robin, Gordon, The Waynes, The Light, Nightwing, The fight...My death. He looked around wide eyed as he felt himself get stabbed again. The pain wasn't as intense as when it actually happened, but it made him clutch at his scar. He waded over to the edge of the pool and Damian and Talia helped him up. Together, they lead the revived man up the stairs and to the surface. Walking into the light of day, Richard saw quite a number of people training with swords, doing hand-to-hand combat, firearm practice, and sparring.

"Welcome to the League of Assassins." Talia smiled from his right, under his arm.

Richard stayed at the compound for a few months before something happened. He had gotten comfortable with Ra's, but Richard was still a bit cautious of the man. Richard and Talia were much closer now as well. Richard helped her with Damian and quickly became the responsible big brother figure, but Damian was very mature and it was often that Richard would tease and joke around with him. Richard and Damian were sparring when an explosion rocked the base. Helicopters surrounded them from the air and soldiers were streaming down the walls. Talia had her sword in hand as she sprinted over to the two boys. She tossed Richard the escrima stick he engineered, just like his old ones but these looked cooler and packed more of a punch. She gave Damian the katana he fancied.

"Protect each other!" She ordered as she fought.

Richard and Damian fought with her against the numerous soldiers. The three of them made quite the team. Ra's al Ghul soon joined and the four of them were killing attackers left in right, Richard was only knocking them out, leaving a trail of fallen bodies. Their small victory didn't last long. More and more soldiers were streaming in faster than the assassins were killing them.

"Damian, Richard, leave!" Ra's yelled over the fight.

"What? No!" Richard and Damian said.

"Now!" Talia agreed.

"We can't just leave you!" Richard shouted as he electrocuted a soldier going for Damian.

"This is not up for debate!" Ra's growled.

"We aren't leaving." Damian replied.

"This is an order! LEAVE!" Talia yelled.

Richard and Damian looked at each other. They both knew that when Talia made a rare order, it was not question to follow it.

"Fine. You know where I'm going." Richard said.

Talia nodded at him. Richard grabbed Damian's wrist and sprinted with him through the crowd. He knocked out as many soldiers as he could along the way. Damian could feel the tension in Richard through the iron grip on his wrist. Richard led Damian through the compound and to a helicopter in the bay. Shoving Damian into the co-pilot seat, Richard went around.

"Behind you!" Damian's muffled voice warned.

Spinning around, Richard delivered a hard punch to the soldiers face, knocking him out. He continued his path to the pilot's seat. Jumping in he started the engines and went airborne.

Richard was glad to find a motorcycle in the base. Hopping on, he started the engine.

"Get on." He told Damian.

"Where are we going?" Damian asked.

"Get on." Richard answered.

Richard handed Damian the helmet as the boy got seated. With a tug on the back of his jacket, Richard zoomed down the streets. Pulling up to his destination late at night, Richard allowed Damian off first, and then got off himself. He walked up to the door, Damian trailing behind, and knocked. An older man opened the door. He took in Richard's appearance and Damian behind him with wide eyes. Another, younger man came to the door, a question fading from his lips as he saw the visitors.

"Hey, Alfred, Bruce."