I can't believe it, I cannot believe I am this close to finishing. It's been about 430 Days since I started this story. However, after 227 reviews, over 44,000 hits, 97 Favs, 152 alerts, and some 50,000 words, I am 'this' close to finishing my story. A VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU TO EVERYONE, I could never have done it without you, the readers. I hope the story is satisfactory, I just get the feeling that my climax is not as good as it could be, it actually underwent like 3 revisions. So, finally, here it is, chapter 26! Enjoy and please review! :D

"Quit wasting my time," Batman growled, pulling back and launching a kick at the side of Slade's head only to turn at the last minute and bring his other leg up on Slade's left side. The kick collided squarely with the mans face and a loud Spalt could be heard. Brown parts of Slade's head flew off, only to inch there way back on and reform. Batman turned slowly, carefully observing the scene, planning his next move.

"Clayface," Raven observed.

"In the flesh, sort of," Clayface gurgled, his moist voice box forcing the words out in an odd tone. His arm shot out at the two in the form of a knife, Raven raised a hand and the attack bounced off her shield. Before Clayface had time to counter Batman casually launched a series of ice pellets into the air. Before Clayface could shift the pellets burrowed themselves deep inside him. Clayface froze over, a gleaming white and blue icicle.

"Still afraid to come out and fight?" Batman asked, taking a batarang from his belt and flinging it into the darkness. There was the sound of metal clashing against metal and the batarang fell to the ground.

"I find that ironic coming from your mouth Batman," Slade's calm voice said as his figure emerged from the darkness readying his gauntlets. "I'd hoped that Clayface might stall you a bit longer, I'd even gave him some extra tech but I guess you've faced him to many times to fall for his tricks again."

Batman leaped into action, he launched himself towards Slade with a punch aimed at his head. As soon as Slade deflected it, Batman set his hands on the ground while still in the air and brought both legs towards Slades head. Slade jerked backwards as the blow grazed his mask. Quickly, Batman regained his footing and sent his leg flying with maximum force towards Slade's mask. The villain allowed it to pass two inches from his head before clamping down on the leg with lighting speed. His other leg dropped and swung with enough force to knock Batman off of his feet. A quick punch to the stomach sent him down. Batman rolled backwards as soon as he hit the floor, regained his footing and launched a couple of batarangs in Slades direction.

"You've gotten soft,"Slade monotoned, ducking in between the blades and turning to one side to let them pass beside him. His arms suddenly snapped downwards catching the batarangs mid air. Batman sent a hateful glare in his direction, Slade just chuckled as he let the weapons drop to the ground. Suddenly, he looked down at his feet, his eyes widened from a brief second as he was forced to leap into the air to dodge two slabs of the floor that had just crashed into each other. Taking advantage of Raven's distraction Batman quickly launched another batarang, an explosive one.

"Stay out of this," he warned. Raven just looked at him cautiously.

"I'm not leaving you," she glared back. Her eyes glowed, sending debris flying in Slades direction. Batman's stared into the smoke before firing a tow cable into the air, there was sound of metal clashing again, accompanied by a new grunts and yells. The two were near the ceiling, going back and forth. A colorful orange and red explosion suddenly light up the shadowed air and the two rocketed back to earth, Batman's hands cupped firmly around Slades throat. They crashed into the ground and rolled a few times before Batman firmly pinned Slade under him with a fist raised in the air.

"Talk! What're you planning? Why are you back?" Batman demanded. Slade's expressionless mask showed nothing. Suddenly, his legs pulled out from below Batman's, with the agility that was far better than any Olympic trapeze artist he swung his legs out then over his head and right at Batman's cowl. The Dark Knight let out a yell of shock as Slades feet crashed into him, another punch hit his stomach, then his chest, then his face, then it started all over again.

"Hey!" Raven yelled appearing at Batman's side and catching Slade's latest punch in mid air with her free hand she clenched a fist, enveloped it in black energy and smashed it into the mans face.

"Good," Slade said as if judging her performance. A crack appeared on his mask. "Too good actually," A swift kick sent her to the side, before dodging Batman's latest renewed attack and sending him to the floor. "But back to business." Batman sent a menacing glare up at him. "You want to know what, I'm planning?" Slowly, he pulled out a device from behind his back.

"Bombs?" Batman guessed with a growl.

"Those to," Slade replied silkily. "But this is not a detonator, this is a simple communicator." The man activated it, put it on the ground and took a step back. "Report!"

"Hahahahaha!" A voice giggled. "My target can't even move right now, she'll be done in moments!"

"One down, one more to go," a venomous female voice said with a smug tone.

"Prometheus here, all targets neutralized," a third voice cackled.

"I'm going to help them!" Raven announced quickly. She paused for a brief moment, as if waiting for Batman's approval. The Caped Crusaders eyes spared her a quick glance. In a brief second she could tell that he wanted to yell at her, to tell her that she was in no condition to fight, that it would be to dangerous, that it was his job and he'd take care of it. Then a look of passivity, pinned there, maybe realizing that, he couldn't be everywhere at once. The looks soon vanished as his eyes flickered back to the villain.

"I'm trusting you to handle the situation, be careful," he said from his position. Raven smiled and flew off.

"Even if you kill all of us here," Batman began sternly, his fists clenched. "There's plenty of other heroes, the Justice League is still around, they'll be sure to hunt you down."

"You don't understand, this is more than just killing heroes, this is about killing your legacy," Slade snapped angrily.

"Revenge? After all these years you're still nothing more than a bitter crook," Batman replied with a snarl. A fist quickly crashed itself into his face.

"Heroes, you destroyed me, my dreams, my endless ambition, you took it all. My wealth, my power, but most of all, my children." Slade hissed punching Batman in the face again.

"Rose and Jericho came to us you deranged bastard…" Slade punched him again.

"And now those precious little pawns work for you," Slade yelled, before his voice settled back into its original calm tone. "I'm just returning the favor. I had a plan to take over Gotham, racketeering, bribery, extortion, intimidation I used all of them to take control of the city bit by bit, Jump City became to much of a bore, I decided to shoot for a bigger prize, with the final endgame being the head of the Batrman. Tonight was supposed to be easy. Break in and when Batman shows up lay siege to the place and kill him. But things didn't go as planned, more and more heroes showed up in the city, my circles stared getting busted by nosy do-gooders. I had to resort to hypnosis and technologically based mind control devices to recruit villains but there were still too many of you. So I threw you a line, and you ate it up. In doing so, you forced Red Arrow to leave as well as Miss Martian while your trail turned into a dead end. With that extra fire power gone, it was easy to overwhelm you. When paranoid, protective Batman wouldn't turn to anyone for help. Now it ends tonight, yes the Justice League is still around but when the news of your death gets out, it's going to be much harder for every hero to do there job. You're the third generation, the original Justice Society is long gone and now some members of the JLA have slipped into retirement while others are thinking about it. Now, I'm going to kill the legacy of The Batman. Just imagine the ramifications this night will have."

"It's going to end with you jailed in the deepest darkest hole that they've got in Blackgate Security Prison!" Batman growled, his face tightened as he griped Slade's arms with his own. Quickly, Slade tried to readjust his position so he could keep his hold on him. For a brief second Batman felt his leg go free. It was all he needed, his knee flew upward and knocked Slade in the gut. Slipping out from under his opponent, Batman took up an offensive stance. "I can understand your need for revenge, I might simply have handed you over to the authorities," he glared before looking over at Alfred. "But when you attack my butler, I will obliterate you!"

"Your butler?" Slade asked, his eyes going wide. "Then you're…!" He never finished, a kick crashed into the side of his head, throwing him onto the ground with a loud clang.

"And how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days." Mad Hatter quoted with glee as he pulled a knife out of his jacket. Greta sat wide eyed, unable to move, on her knees, desperately trying to find some way out. Suddenly, the knife flew from Mad Hatters hand. The surprised look on his face quickly turned to anger.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little bat, how I wonder what you're at," he recited, clapping his hands as Mr. Freeze and Spellbinder emerged from the shadows. There was a flash of black energy that knocked Mad Hatter and Spellbinder backwards. Mr. Freeze however, was able to hold his ground in his armored suit, he raised his arm cannon and fired. The walls began to ice over as Mr. Freeze tried to locate his opponent.

"Stop!" Mad Hatter shouted. "You'll break my…" At that moment Greta, stirred. Mr. Freeze grabbed his head and screamed. An icy supernatural sound whispered through the frozen room. Mr. Freeze grasped desperately at the air before his body went limp and he crashed onto the ground. Mad Hatter and Spellbinder looked around in fear, trying to locate the source of the attack.

Then, Greta stood up, slowly she rose menacingly. The villains took a few steps back before Greta raised a hand. Spellbinder quickly leaped forward, sending his hands to his head in an attempt to use his psychic powers. Suddenly, there was a thwack as Spellbinder fell forward, Greta turned and waved her hand as Hatter crashed into a wall unconscious.

"I don't remember soul attacks as one of your powers," a voice said observing the shocked Mr. Freeze.

"I've been practicing, Thanks by the way," Greta whispered giving a sigh of relief as Raven stepped out of the shadows.

"Don't mention it, but we've got to go, the others are in trouble," Raven said quickly in a tired voice as she headed for the door.

"Bruce Wayne and now Richard Grayson, I can't believe I didn't see it before," Slade chuckled blocking Batman's punches and jumping backwards. "The money, the drive, the tech, it's all there." He tried to jump over Batman only to be met mid air and sent back to Earth with a powerful punch to the stomach. "Well, this explains quite a bit," he said jumping backwards again as Batman bolted towards him.

"Shut up and fight," Batman growled. Slade just chuckled again as Batman flew in like a black whirlwind. After dodging and parrying the first few rounds Slade jumped backwards again. Only to hit what would've been the staircase. A batarang flew towards him, Slade twisted as the blade missed his mask by inches and jammed itself into the wall.

"You backed me into a corner," Slade observed. "You really are the Batman now aren't you?" Slade leaped up and grabbed a hold of the wall before using it as a spring board to jump to the top of the stairs. Batman leaped after him only to receive a kick to his stomach in mid air, he tumbled back down pulling his tow cable out at the last second and swinging after the villain.

"Are you afraid to stay and fight me?" Batman asked gliding through the air.

"Are you afraid to try and follow me?" Slade replied disappearing behind a corner. He scoffed. "Of course you are."

"This is bad," Greta whispered standing stock still as a blast of starbolts passed through her. "She's got both Starfire and Arrowette."

"Now kidding," Raven agreed catching an arrow with her energy only to be forced backwards when the arrow exploded. A huge vine barreled towards Raven from behind. The telepath flew up into the air to dodge it only to be forced back down to avoid a shower of starbolts. Starfire flew in and threw a wild punch in Raven's direction. Raven dodged and put up a telekinetic shield to protect herself from another arrow.

Greta held up her hands as a series of arrows flew towards her, slowly the arrows curved and hit the plant vine, reducing it to shreds. Raven dropped back to the ground and formed a back to back stance with Greta. Starfire and Arrowette rushed at them from opposite directions.

"Fade," Greta whispered at the last second as both she and Raven disappeared beneath the ground in swirls of light. Greta appeared behind Starfire, she gasped as Starfire quickly turned and struck in his direction forcing the girl to duck. Raven had encountered a similar problem and was forced to parry Arrowette's bow with her arm. Poison Ivy laughed again.

"You don't seem like you're in much condition to fight Raven," Greta spoke up.

"I'll be fine," Raven huffed.

"No you won't," Greta insisted. "I'm in top form right now and I'm in a deadlock with my opponent right now. You're not going to hold out much longer. We're not going to beat Ivy like this."

"We've got to," Raven said quickly, pushing Arrowette back. Poison Ivy moved her hands making vines spring up from the ground to ensnare the two. Another long vine containing the mind controlling spores moved in towards them. Suddenly, the sound of an arrow being shot rang out. An explosion blew the vines to pieces and Greta and Raven flew free.

"Red Arrow," Greta guessed looking up. Sure enough, Red Arrow along with Miss Martian, Red Robin and Ravager stood atop the wall of Wayne Manor, ready to fight.

"The Calvary has arrived," Red Arrow smiled.

"You know we could've phased out of that, we didn't really need one of your explosive arrows to almost roast us," Raven said, crossing her arms. Red Arrow suddenly looked sheepish before quickly notching another arrow and firing to meet Arrowette's shot head on.

"Alright, if we coordinate this attack right we should have Poison Ivy down soon enough," Robin announced casually.

"We've got two more villains here, Prometheus' is fighting Cyborg and Slade is fighting Batman," Raven called up to him. "If we don't get moving someone might die. I'll get Prometheus, you go help Batman."

"If we can finish off Poison Ivy here then…" Red Robin began before Raven cut him off.

"You're Robin now, Robin sticks by Batman's side and works for him, that's the way it goes, now move!" Raven demanded. Robin looked helplessely over at Red Arrow.

"Go!" The archer yelled. "We've got this down here!" Robin nodded and swung off alongside Raven as Ravager and Miss Martian began there attack of Poison Ivy.

Batman chased after Slade up the long winding stair cases of Wayne Manor, a kick, a parry, a flurry of punches, a counter kick, a block, a flip back up the stairs. The monotonous pattern became almost boring, but Batman didn't show any signs of dropping his guard and neither did Slade. Thinking quickly, Batman pulled a bat grenade out of his utility belt. Slade quickly shot backwards as the grenade flew to the position where he'd just been, a weapon like that would blow the staircases to pieces and only impede Batman's progress, why would he…of course. In the brief second that Slade had looked down at the explosive Batman had used the distraction to gain further ground. The bomb was a dud. Batman kicked Slade in the face, further widening the crack that Raven had made in it. Slade answered with a punch to Batman's stomach. The Dark Knight resisted the urge to flinch before throwing his fist forward back at Slade's face. The man dodged and began his ascent up the stairs once again.

Batman shot his tow cable upwards and used the height to come down on Slade from above. Slade blocked the attack and jumped onto the stair railing before jumping onto the next one and then onto the next one, continuing his ascent upwards.

"Why are you running?" Batman yelled. "Isn't this what you wanted? A one on one fight?"

"Patience Robin, patience," Slade mocked, his voice echoing through the chambers. Batman pulled out his tow cable and shot it towards the very top of the ceiling. This was crazy, the tow cable pulled him upwards at breakneck speeds until he was on Slade's heels. The man reached the top floor and ducked out into the hallway.

'The only exit on this floor leads to the roof,' Batman mused to himself rushing down the corridor. Sure enough, the door slammed shut just as Batman rounded the corner. He ran towards it and extended a leg. As soon as it connected with its target the wooden barricade came crashing down, Batman rushed up the steps to the steel door that led to the roof. The lock had already been picked, at least now he knew how crooks had been getting into the upper levels. Batman ran out the door and onto the roof of Wayne Manor.

Slade stood there waiting for him, he motioned to the ground. Batman turned his head to see an army of cops, the GCPD, the MCU, SWAT Teams, all of them were assembled outside the manor.

"So, you didn't want to face the cops, just one on one?" Batman asked. No, there was something more. "The bombs," he guessed. "You didn't plant any, I would've noticed that, you just rigged the gas lines beneath the manor to explode. You let hero reinforcements come in so you could take them out along with the cops."

"And after they're gone, with no heroes or villains to stand in my way, I'll be able to do anything I want with this city," Slade explained smugly. Batman narrowed his eyes while pulling three batarangs out from behind his back.

"Don't even try it," Slade replied confidently. He and Batman engaged in a stare down. The, Slade pressed the button, there was an enormous explosion out in the back yard, followed by another. The screams out back and the voices out front went off just as Batman pressed a button on his utility belt. It was Slade's turn to narrow his eyes. "Scrambling the radio signals won't work," he said quickly.

"I didn't scramble the radio signals, I launched an EMP pulse from my personal generator in the cave, no tech past the steam boat is going to work out here for the next two minutes." Batman explained taking off his utility belt and dropping it onto the ground.

"Bold move," Slade nodded setting the trigger on the ground. "Stopping the explosions, buying you time, saving lives, but you really think you can beat me?"

"In less that two minutes," Batman said getting into a defensive stance. Slade glared, he raised his fists, prepared himself and jumped forward.

"I don't need any help Wesker!" Prometheus finished, announcing the villains name with obvious disdain.

"Wesker ain't pulling the strings heyh ya dummy," a wooden puppet yelled as his continued to fire his Tommy gun at the hero who'd just arrived. "The boss man wanted me to come check on ya and so I'm came ta check on ya'. So just shut your trap while I finish off this clown al'ight?"

"I'm uh…very sorry about this mister Prometheus sir," Wesker began looking up at the man with fear etched into his face.

"You shut up to dummy," Scarface demanded.

"Yes sir," Wesker said obediently. Raven continued to dodge the bullet fire, continuously holding up a shield. Her eyes glowed black as she concentrated on Scarface, every part, every inner working, every piece. Slowly the dummy's head started to rumble as Raven exerted more force. It shook and bounced before every single piece slipped out of joint and flew across the room.

"YES!" Wesker shouted. "I'm free! Finally fre…" Wesker fell onto the ground unconscious.

"Sorry, that guy just really gets on my nerves," Prometheus grinned. He looked over at Raven. She was drenched in sweat, her face red, hands shaking, breathing heavily. "Well this should be fun, time to give these new powers a spin," he smiled.

"My helmet allows me to absorb the powers of genetically abnormal humanoids," he began, morphing into an elephant and charging. Raven was knocked down onto the heavily damaged marble floor, the brunt of the impact made it hard to breathe. Prometheus laughed. "The Star of Bialyia, which I just acquired a couple months ago, allows me to absorb mystical powers," he punched the ground sending a shockwave through the room. Raven was thrown up against the wall. "Wow, almost on Wonder Woman's level," Prometheus smiled. "Guess that girl really is her sister. Finally, advanced computer systems straight from STAR Labs that I was able to aquire a couple of days ago, allow me to steal any tech for any system I touch." He grinned again and he pulled out a sonic cannon.

Suddenly, it let out a large burst of electricity. Prometheus screamed as it coursed through his body. A small black cloud emerged from his body and crawled back towards Cyborg. Slowly, the Titan struggled to his feet.

"You think I wouldn't have hack proofed my systems?" Cyborg asked pulling out his own sonic cannon. Prometheus looked over at him, his body still cackling with energy. He tried to take a step forward with a grimace etched on his face. "That tech that my nano robots gave you is pretty much one big built in fail safe, that tech you've got is now obsolete. Nice try though." Cyborg readied, aimed and fired, Prometheus caught the blast full force and was slammed back up against a wall. He fell to the ground unconscious. His equipment slipped off of him resetting there 'systems' Slowly, Beast Boy and Wonder Girl rose to there feet, there powers returning.

"Thanks for the help Rae," Beast Boy said breathing a sigh of relief. Raven didn't stir.

"Rae?" Cyborg asked as the trio rushed to her side.

"We need to get her to an infirmary now!"

Slade threw another round house kick that Batman was forced to duck. As soon as he finished his rotation he wasted now time in keeping up his offense. The punches were flying in fast and furious. Batman was able to deflect a portion of them but Slade's was moving like a quicker than even Batman could keep up with. His technique was flawless, his attacks well timed, his stance perfect, Slade was beating him.

Batman retaliated, trying to break into the hurricane. He unleashed his own set of punches, a quick jab at the head, deflected, an uppercut with one hand which was dodged before quickly following with a cut at the left. A kick towards the stomach before a round house to the right, all of them blocked, deflected or dodged. Batman reared his arm back and let it fly forward, the sound of the punch could be heard as it grazed Slade's helmet. With his other hand, Batman sent a punch into Slade's face. The villain looked dazed before he began launch his own counter attack.

A punch connected, Batman didn't yield or even shown signs that he'd been hit, instead he grabbed tightly onto the arm. He yanked it towards himself brining Slade in and brought a knee upwards jamming him right in the gut. Slade looked furious. He threw a punch up at Batman. The uppercut caught Batman right under his chin. Blood flew from his mouth and there was a ringing in his ears as he stumbled, another punch flew from Slade, it caught him in the stomach this time. Batman wheezed but moved towards Slade again and slammed him into the ground. Batman rolled upwards and sent his legs flying up. Slade backed off allowing Batman to slip past him. Grabbing him by the arm he yanked his shoulder back, dislocating it. Slade screamed in pain. There once perfectly ordered fight had degenerated into a mix of sloppy and disoriented techniques.

Slade kicked upwards and back flipped before stumbling around trying to find his footing. Batman was in front of him in less that a second and delivered a punch to the torso. Slade stumbled backwards, now at the edge of the roof. Slade yelled, his eyes holding a mean look as he pulled out a gun.

"One way or another," he said gasping for breath. "This ends tonight." Batman stopped and looked hesitantly at Slade. "Not even your armor is bullet proof at this range, especially if I hit you right in the face," he hissed.

"Step away from him," a voice demanded. Both of them turned to see the figure in the doorway.

"Alfred?"

"You!" Slade yelled firing. Alfred's bloody and broken body ducked by dropping to the ground. The bullet ricocheted off of the door and Batman used the chance to try and rush Slade, the villain turned towards the Caped Crusader and aimed towards his head. Alfred raised his own gun and fired. The bullet spiraled through the air and struck Slade in between the crack in his helmet. Slade flinched, he stumbled backwards as a trickle of blood appeared on the helmet. He tripped over the edge and fell.

Slade was dead, there was no doubt about it. The cops on the ground surrounded him as they moved towards the building. Alfred sighed and almost collapsed onto the ground again. Batman rushed to his side and caught him.

"Alfred did you drag yourself all by yourself?" Batman asked.

"Elevators Master Grayson, they're a marvelous invention," Alfred said short of breath. "I was never all by myself and neither are you sir."

"I know Alfred, just hang on, we're going to get you to a medic," Batman said hoisting Alfred up carefully.

"Master Grayson, listen to me, if this proves anything, it's that I'm not going to be around forever. I want to be sure that you have someone after I'm gone."

"Alfred you've been the butler ever since I was a child, I don't think there's anyone who could take your place," Batman said walking into the corridors.

"Are you sure?"

"Batman!" The Red Robin yelled rushing onto the scene. "Thank God you're both okay. You both need to come quick, it's Raven, she's passed out."

Sirens wailed as the MCU loaded another criminal into the GCPD vans. The police were gathering and handcuffing criminals as more ambulances arrived onto the scene. SWAT teams carefully set Poison Ivy into a chemical solution designed to nullify her powers while she was unconscious.

"Remember, this is private property people," Barbara Gordon shouted. "Anyone caught snooping, looting, loitering, littering, lollygagging or murdering can expect a SERIOUS talking to later!"

"I've got another one over here!" a medic shouted. Barbara rushed over alongside Cyborg and Red Arrow, the only two who'd seemed to escape the fight without any serious scrapes or bruises. Two medics were loading Alfred onto a stretcher and carrying him off to the Wayne Manor infirmary.

"Old man," Barbara whispered.

"Miss Gordon," Alfred smiled back, his voice coming up hoarsely.

"Can we see the other patients?" Cyborg asked. The medic nodded and led them in.

"The only ones in serious condition were Kid Flash and Raven," the medic said showing them to the two separate rooms. "We were able to remove the bullet from Kid Flashes brain, his condition is heading towards stable but he'll be out of the hero game for awhile." Cyborg and Red Arrow both nodded as they walked in. The medic then turned to the other room.

"Raven was a bit more severe, her body is unbelievably stressed out, I don't know what she was doing but she just kept exposing herself to more and more stress, her organs are all working over time, it's lucky that she's a meta human, any other human would've been dead by now." The medic sighed walking off. It struck Batman, all those times she was following him, all those times she was trying to help him, she was hurting herself, yet she never showed it, never gave anyone a hint that something was wrong with her, never gave up on him.

"Hey Tim, let's go check on the others," Barbara said using Robin's real name.

"Huh?" Tim asked. Barbara jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. Tim looked up at Batman. He hadn't taken his eyes off of Raven. "Oh, OH, yeah, yeah, sure." With that the two walked off as Batman entered the room.

Raven leaned over and looked up at him with her sad tired blue eyes. "Is everyone okay?" she asked in a surprisingly refreshed voice.

"Yeah, you did it," he said, trying to work up the courage to smile at her. "The villains are in custody and Kid is going to be okay." Just smile at her, he told himself. His stoic face nodding. Just smile, darn you, smile. His lips pulled upwards just as Raven closed her eyes. 'Damn it'.

"That's good," she said giving a smile of her own. "We did do it, didn't we?"

"Yeah," Batman replied unsure of what else to say. "Now get some rest." Confused and feeling quite a bit awkward, Batman walked out of the room and out of the infirmary.

Within the day, the medics left as Mary Batson, the nearest super human medic arrived to help further heal the injured (and to help fix up the entrance to the house). The GCPD completed its investigation, Slade Wilsons body was sent to the morgue while both Kid Flash and Raven were up on there feet within a matter of days. Alfred was forced to use a wheelchair as he found it difficult to sustain himself on crutches but still insisted on carrying out his usual duties in Wayne Manor. Miss Martian and Red Arrow had decided to stay for the entire week and had settled back into there rooms.

However, Rachel found that Richard had been acting a little more, unusual, lately. He had been going out of his way to avoid her, he was quieter at meals and was at work even more than before.

"He blames himself for the Slade debacle," was Cyborg's answer to the moodiness. "He is Batman after all."

The week seemed to fly by, Alfred hosted a spectacular dinner party on the final night before everyone began packing up and preparing to leave. Everyone seemed a little reluctant to leave, even Wally who had taken a bullet to the head had to be dragged kicking and screaming from the house because he loved Alfred's cooking so much.

"We'll see y'all at the reunion in July!" Cyborg called, picking up his suitcase and loading it into his car.

"You can come to if you'd like Al," Beast Boy smiled. The butler nodded politely as Cyborg closed the trunk.

"You wanna ride with us Star?" Cyborg called out. "We'll be driven through Fawcett on our way back to Jump."

"No thank you," she giggled. "I fly there, see more of the country side, it was nice to see you all again my friends!"

"I'll take a ride if you're going to be stopping in Central," Kid Flash spoke up. "Doc says I should try and stay away from any superhuman activity for awhile or my wound will open up again." Slowly, the guests trickled out.

"I'm going to miss you," Greta smiled as she and Rachel hugged. "I know we really didn't get to know each other that well but still..." Greta let the sentence trail off and then blushed. Rachel just smiled and nodded her head. She turned towards Suzannae. The two girls glared at each other before smirks crossed both of there faces.

"He's all yours," Suzannae smiled extending her hand.

"Not your type," Rachel asked, taking it with a firm grasp.

"I suppose there is such a thing as 'to' dark and moody," Suzannae mused with a smile before glancing over at the t-car. "Besides, I've already got my eyes of someone else. Hey boys! Any room for two more?"

Donna headed back home, Miss Martian shape shifted to take a taxi from the manor and Danielle (who had slept through the entire invasion) bid a cordial farewell to the entire crew. Finally, only Richard and Rachel were left. Rachel trudged back up to her room. Should she go see him? No? It had been stressful for him, to stressful, maybe she should just give him some space.

"Excuse me, Miss Roth," Alfred said strolling past her room in his wheelchair.

"Yes?" Rachel asked turning around from where she was firmly folding clothes into her old battered and brown suitcase.

"Master Grayson would like to see you for a moment, if you can spare it." Rachel blinked, surprised.

"Um…okay," Rachel said quickly, grabbing her suitcase and heading down to Richard's room.

"Miss Roth like you requested sir," Alfred said as he opened Richard's door.

"Requested? Wait Alfred, I didn…" he paused as Raven walked in. There was silence between the two. Both of them glanced around the room, desperately trying to avoid eye contact. "So, yeah, hi," Richard began. "I uh, hope you enjoyed your stay here."

"Yeah," Rachel nodded casting a look around the room. "It was, nice. Quite a memorable experience." Richard just nodded awkwardly. Richards room was different than most of the others. It was twice as large, a picture of his parents hung above the fireplace, a classic mahogany desk rested on the far left side of the room, next to the door stood an old grandfather clock. There were several book cases along the walls, a door that led to his bathroom and an enormous king sized bed that looked practically unused. It felt very homely, comfortable, secluded.

"You know I never really got to thank you for your help and I never really did get to apologize to you, I guess I was acting kind of harsh."

"No, it's fine, I'm just really glad I got to see you again." Rachel smiled at him.

"You to," Richard smiled. "I'll be sure to stop by to see you…all of you...this July…for the reunion…it'll be fun." Rachel just nodded.

"Well, I'll see you then," she nodded again before walking out of the room. Suddenly, she stopped. "Richard there's something I need to tell you," she spoke up rapidly brushing a strand of violet hair off of her face and spinning around. Richard quickly looked up and held up a hand.

"Could I just say something first?" he said quickly. Rachel sighed and set her suitcase back down. Richard ran a hand through his combed black hair as if these next lines weren't going to be easy for him to say.

"I love you," his face was completely serious. Raven couldn't help it, her mouth split into a smile. She giggled, something she hadn't done in…ever. She couldn't help it. Here she was, all ready to confess that she loved him, ready to be turned down, rejected somewhat coldly by the dark knight who'd been snapping at her for days to stay out of his buisness and now here he was, coming out and telling her this.

"What was that?" she asked, laughing. It gradually rose until suddenly she was guawfing like an Arkham inmate.

"Rachel, please don't make this any harder than it already is," Richard said in a strained voice. He looked disheveled, nervous, still handsome and charming but it was clear that this past week had really taken its toll on him. "I love you okay? You stuck by me no matter what happened, you kept your cool for the most part but you still weren't afraid to speak up. Your kind, smart, beautiful, strong and you never give up…I, I love you," he said again. Rachel felt like exploding, she was sure that she was smiling more than she'd ever smiled in her life.

"Well?" she asked happily.

"Well?" he repeated in a lost voice.

"Well what are you going to do about it?" she asked.

"I…I don't, I can't, I think we should just give each other some space, not see each other for a bit." Rachel frowned, her smile vanishing.

"Why? I thought you just said…"

"I can't do it to Speedy! I mean Red." Rachel sent him a queer glance. "I mean you and him are dat…you're together right?" Rachel started to laugh again. It was Richards turns to shoot her a strange look.

"Red Arrow and I aren't together," she smiled walking towards him. "That was one of his hair brained schemes to make you jealous." Richard looked stunned as if he wasn't sure what to make of the news. While his brain seemed to be trying to register this new information, Rachel leaned in, close enough to smell the cologne on his body, close enough to feel the heat from his quickly reddening face, close enough to place her cool pale lips onto his. Slowly, she placed her hand on his rough face and leaned in. There lips connected as the kiss deepened. Then, as quickly as it began, they broke apart. Richard still looked stunned as his hands somewhat instinctively moved towards her face.

"Would you like to stay here a bit longer?" he asked, his hands gently running through her short hair.

"That sounds…nice," she aid with a smile. The two leaned in again as there lips connected. Richard's eyes went wide as he pulled apart quickly.

"I almost forgot!" he said leaning out the door.

"Alfred!" he called. "Would you mind not cleaning Rachel's room just yet?"

"Of course sir," came the butlers voice from down the hall. And as Richard leaned back in and pulled Rachel into his arms he swore he could hear the same voice give a "yes!" from down the hall. Alfred rolled off in his wheel chair to call Barbara, mission accomplished.

Whew! That is that! I hope it lived up to your expectations! I really did try to make it as exciting as I could for you! So with that, I want to thank you all for reading! This is indeed the last chapter so I'd like to thank each and every one of my readers again! You all ROCK! Your support was loved, your constructive criticism admired and ideas and opinions admired. Thank you and goodnight!