The Next Generation

"I have a hard time believing that, especially when you're surrounded with all your little friends," Scarecrow said as he glanced over at all the other Titans. What Rose did next hurt like hell though, and he openly began to scream out in pain as he felt his fingers being crushed beneath them. He kept his yells up before they slowly began to form into a laugh as he looked up at Rose.

"You understand don't you? You more than any other hero must understand. Fear is power isn't it Ravager?" he asked as he slowly began to laugh as he looked right at her. "Go on and kill me, you think that I'm afraid of you? You think I'm afraid of death? You heroes have too many codes, that's always been your Achilles heel"

"Rose, just back away from him," Raven said, taking a step forward. She really didn't want to have to use force, but if this went any further, she would probably have to.

"Yeah, let the police handle it," Hot Spot added. "They can get the information they need, and in a better way than this."

Rose wasn't listening, however. She only heard Scarecrow's words, heard him taunting her, heard him boasting. She so badly wanted to wipe that smug grin off his stupid face. Her anger was rising, and it didn't help that her father's voice was still whispering in her ear, urging her to push things further, urging her to give in to her true nature.

"Too many codes, huh?" she said, a grin forming on her face. Then, before anyone could do something to stop her, she reached over and snatched up one of the scattered guns nearby, then fired it twice, one shot in both his shoulders. Then, she dropped the gun and rammed both her thumbs into the bullet wounds, twisting them around. "How's this for a code?!"

Guns, they were for cowards. So what did that make her?

Scarecrow kept looking forward and staring into Rose's eyes. His hand was basically useless now, but he didn't care anymore. He had already won against Rose, she couldn't kill him even if she wanted to. As she moved over and grabbed a gun though, Scarecrow's eyes widened. "Wait don't!" he shouted but it was already too late as the bullets entered right into his shoulders. His screams filled up the entire bank, as a sickening and monstrous scream came from his throat. It almost sounded like the kind of a scream that would come from a horror movie. It just sounded so painful.

As Rose jammed her thumbs into the wounds, the scream only got worse as Scarecrow tried to scramble away. Rose was so much stronger though, he couldn't get away. "YOU ARE SO FULL OF FEAR! HAVE YOU NEVER REALIZED THAT EVERYTHING CAN BE TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU AT A SINGLE MOMENT!?" Scarecrow shouted as he looked right at her. "Who are you Ravager? You think you're exempt from the real world? You're just like everyone else. You're vulnerable!"

"Rose, enough!" Raven shouted, immediately wrapping her soul-self around the enraged woman and pulling her away from Scarecrow. "This is not how we deal with things!"

"Let me go!" Rose growled, struggling against the dark energy binding her. But even her strength couldn't shatter Raven's soul-self. Like it or not, she was completely restrained. "I'll kill him! I swear I'll kill him!"

"No, you won't," Beast Boy said, staring at her. "Because that's not who you are anymore, remember? You're not a killer."

Rose continued to struggle, squinting her eyes shut and kicking her legs wildly. "Maybe I am! Maybe that's all I'll ever be! Just let me go!"

Scarecrow took in a deep breath as Rose was pulled off and away from him. The pain in his shoulders was still immense, but at least it wasn't as sharp as when Rose was digging her fingers into the wounds. He took several breaths, even closing his eyes as if it would help to nullify the pain. He glanced up, watching the other Titans trying to talk down to Ravager, he only continued to smile through his pain.

"My fear toxin magnifies who you are Rose," Scarecrow said as he heard Raven calling Ravager by that name. "I can only imagine what you must have seen, what could possibly be driving you so far to want to kill me.........or is that the scary part for you? It's not that hard to justify killing me is it? That's what you're really afraid of, that deep down you're just like the rest of us!"

Beast Boy let out an annoyed sigh, glancing back at Scarecrow. "Dude, shut up," he said, transforming into a gorilla and delivering a knock out blow to the bastard's face. He'd had just about enough of listening to that guy's psychotic nonsense.

"I sense so much anger in her," Raven said, still restraining Rose. "She's wild, out of control."

"It must be the fear gas," Hot Spot said, glancing back at Scarecrow. "She must have breathed some of it, now it's screwing with her head. She needs to be restrained until the toxin runs its course. Might help if she was sedated, too..."

"No one is sedating me!" Rose shouted, glaring at him. "I'm fine! I'm just being who I am! Who I was always meant to be! Just release me and let me kill him! No one has to know, I'll make it look like an accident! Or self defense! Just... damn it, let me gut him! He hurt Jordan! He needs to die!"

Scarecrow just let out a sickening laugh before Beast Boy delivered the strong knock out punch. Scarecrow was unconscious instantly, the battle had been completely won. This fight was over now.

As Rose thrashed against Raven's energy bonds, a voice spoke up among all of the Titans. "This isn't who you are," a weak voice suddenly said. When everyone turned to look, they'd see Jordan leaning up against a nearby wall. Her breathing was heavy, but she was just focusing on Rose and staring right at her. "You're a hero, you always will be a hero. You're the girl my brother loves, and one of the best people that I've ever met. You went through your own worst fears to save me......you don't need to kill him," Jordan said very weakly as tears were still coming from her eyes. "You're so.....so much more than people like him will ever be," Jordan said as he started to move away from the wall.

She walked weakly, but it didn't seem like she was going to fall or anything like that. Jordan walked until she was right in front of Rose, finally extending her arms out and wrapping them around Rose, even WITH Raven still holding on to Rose.

"You're my sister"

Rose stopped thrashing when the voice reached her ears. That wasn't one of the other Titans trying to stop her, trying to hold her back. That was... someone else, someone she knew. Her mind started coming back to its senses as Jordan wearily walked forward across the hall. She blinked, surprised. What was... what was going on? Why was she doing this? Why did she want to kill that man? Everything... felt like it was in a haze. She kept hearing her father's whispers echoing in the back of her head, trying to drown her in fear and hate, but she blocked it out. She saw only Jordan.

When Jordan reached forward to embrace her, Rose felt her body relax, as if instantly put at ease. She lowered her gaze, utterly ashamed of herself all of a sudden. Raven seemed to sense that she was no longer volatile, as the energy holding her vanished, allowing Rose to return the hug, holding her arms around the girl tightly. Just having something to hold onto right now felt so good. "I..." she started, her voice catching in her throat. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean... god, what's wrong with me?"

As Rose returned the hug, Jordan only held on more tightly. She still felt like she was afraid, as if every subtle noise was something that was trying to kill her. That probably wasn't going to go away for days though, Scarecrow's fear toxin was strong after all. "Nothing's wrong with you. You're perfect and you make my brother happy. That's always been enough for me," Jordan said before having her eyes look up at Rose.

"Where.......where's Neal? Where's my brother?" she asked as she looked around as if expecting him to be there and just out of sight. "Why didn't he come for me?"

Rose lifted her gaze when Jordan asked where her brother was. Right, she still didn't know about what had happened... well, probably best to give her the abridged version. At least she didn't have to tell her that her brother was dead or anything. "Neal, he... he's in the hospital, he was shot. But he's fine, he's stable, he just needs to rest for a while and he'll make a full recovery. Just... know that he did everything he could to get you back. Trust me on that one."

Jordan gave a small gasp as she heard that Neal was in the hospital, apparently the result of a shot. Her tears seemed to stop suddenly, as if hearing that alone was starting to weaken the effect that the fear toxin had on her mind. "I know......I was just worried when I didn't see him that, that something worse had happened," she said weakly. Jordan thought the only reason Neal wouldn't be here was if he were dead. To here that he was wounded but stable, that was much more comforting.

"Rose, can we go see him?" she asked before glancing down at the unconscious scarecrow. "I don't want to be here anymore"

"Yeah... yeah we can go see him," Rose said with a smile. Right now, she'd like nothing better than to go see her fiance. And Jordan really needed the extra comfort of knowing her brother was alright. "Raven... would you mind?"

Raven gave her a long look, as if trying to make sure she wouldn't be anymore of a danger as a result of the fear toxin. Eventually, she let out a small breath and created a portal around them that dropped them off at the hospital, in Neal's room. When that was done, she and the other Titans worked on getting Scarecrow and the other thugs into police custody.

"Neal, you awake?" Rose asked, looking around the hospital room. She assumed he was there, probably resting in his bed. Putting a comforting arm around Jordan, she added, "I brought someone to see you."

Jordan looked around in shock for a moment as the portal formed around them. It just looked black and scary, and she had never traveled this way before. By the time it had started though, they were already in the hospital. "Neal," Jordan said softly as she saw the patches on his skin where they had cleaned up the wounds from the bullet. Deadshot was only a few inches away from a kill shot on him.

Neal's eyes slowly opened as he heard some voices. He squinted up, looking to see the two most beautiful faces in the galaxy. "Rose.....I knew you'd bring her back," he said with a small smile as he extended his hand towards Jordan. His sister moved forward quickly, going into a tiny half hug with her brother. He was okay, and that was all she needed. Tears started to fall down her eyes as she held onto him.

"I guess you had to tell her everything huh?" Neal asked as he glanced over at Rose. He still had no idea that Rose had revealed their secrets so long.

Rose just took a step back and folded her arms, watching the two siblings reuniting with a smile on her face. It was a happy moment, for all of them. She was just glad that she'd been able to pull through for them. If she had failed... well, she couldn't imagine to think about the repercussions. But when Neal then commented about having to tell Jordan everything, Rose just sort of shifted her weight awkwardly and let out a half chuckle.

"Uh... huh, yeah, right," Rose responded, with a small nod. "Had to... totally tell her everything. Yeah. Heheh." Of course, Jordan had known for quite some time now, but Neal was still in the dark about that... and she wasn't sure whether or not he should know the contrary. "Would have been kind of difficult to keep it a secret now, wouldn't it?"

Neal just smiled at Rose as he heard her say about how she had to tell Jordan everything. Neal understood, there wasn't much way that they could hide it at this point. "Yeah, I guess you know that I'm Fade now. Sorry Jordan, I didn't say anything because I was trying to avoid stuff like this," Neal said as he continued to hold his sister. "I'm sorry you were put in danger today, I'll make sure that it never happens again," he said softly.

Jordan pulled away and looked at him for a moment. "This coming from the guy who got shot clean through the chest?" she asked weakly. She gave a small sigh. "I just......I just wish you would have told me yourself. I wouldn't have told anyone Neal"

"Yeah, I know you wouldn't have," Neal admitted as he laid back down in his bed but kept his head propped up in order to look at Rose and Jordan. "I'm just glad you're safe Jordan, that always has and always will be my mission"

Jordan pulled away from him and smiled. "I know, and that's all that I'll ever need from you. You always do your best.........but I think someone else wants to see you now," she said as she glanced up and looked over at Rose.

Rose smiled, walking forward and taking a seat in the chair next to Neal's hospital bed. "Hey, glad to see you're doing alright... relatively speaking," she said, with a small chuckle. Reaching forward, she took his hand in hers, holding it tightly. To think that she'd almost lost him today... if that bullet had just been an inch more to the side... she didn't even want to think about it. Doing so would only give herself a headache, and she'd already had enough of a headache for one day.

"I've seen some crazy ways to get out a wedding before," she added, trying to keep the mood light, "but this definitely takes the cake. You're not going to get away from me that easily." Smirking, she leaned forward and gave him a gentle kiss while giving his hand another loving squeeze.

Even now, though, somewhere in the back of her mind, the fear gas was still running its course. Love him all you want, her father's voice echoed. Sooner or later, you'll only betray him just like you have everyone else.

"Alright? I'm doing fantastic. The two people I care most about in the world are with me after all. How could it get any better?" Neal asked with a warm smile as Rose came forward and sat next to him. As she took his hand into her own, Neal squeezed it as much as he could. He wanted Rose to know just how happy and thankful he really was. It had been an insane day, and he was just glad that everything had turned out okay.

Neal laughed at Rose's comment. "Next time I'll have to try to saw off my leg and see just how well that works," he said teasingly. He returned the kiss, reaching up his other hand to touch her cheek and hold it softly. "I'll never run away from you Rose, I'll run alongside you for the rest of my life. I swear it"

---

"So you see, that's why I'm requesting for some kind of protection to be placed over my family," Neal said as he sat in front of the computer screen. He had spent the last half hour explaining the events of the past few days to the Justice League, particularly how Black Mask had somehow deduced Neal's identity and targeted his family in order to manipulate him. "Black Mask is still out there, and he still knows who my family is. I'm certain he'll try again if nothing happens to stop him," Neal said in a low voice.

"I swear I don't know how he learned who I am, but if I don't do something for my family......I'm sure they'll end up dead sooner or later"

"I understand your concerns," Superman replied, looking into the video communicator with a contemplative hand pressed to his chin. "In the past, we've offered to take in families aboard the Watchtower for situations such as this, place them under heavy protective guard. However, doing so wold require you to come clean about your position as a hero, which is a decision only you can make. Otherwise, I can try to dispatch protection to your family's residence in secret, perhaps several people on a rotating shift, though I warn you that it wouldn't be as effective. I promise you, though, Fade, we'll do everything we can to help you and your family. The choice on how, though, remains with you."

Neal listened as his options were presented him. He was glad that someone like Superman had been the one to speak to Fade. He had been concerned that someone like Batman would chastise him for having been found out, something that Neal still had no clue how it happened. As he was told that the choice was presented to him Neal could only see one option truly working. "I think taking them aboard the watchtower might be best. From what I hear of Black Mask he isn't someone easily crossed. He'd probably want to kill them in order to show my his anger, that's something that I can't risk," Neal said as he looked up at Superman.

"My sister found out anyway while she was abducted by Scarecrow. It only makes sense that I come clean with all of them about who I've been these past few years"

"Understood," Superman said, with a nod. "Contact us again to let us know when you've set everything up with your family, and we'll arrange for immediate transport up here to the Watchtower. We'll have adequate accommodations ready and waiting for them. You've been a model hero and member of the Titans for a long time now, Fade. We're only happy to help in any way possible. Goodbye for now, and good luck."

"Alright, and thank you again Superman. I'll make sure to talk to them immediately. The more I wait the more likely that Black Mask will have something done to them," Neal said in response to Superman. "I'll get back to you very soon," Neal said before stopping and listening to Superman's kind words. "Superman, that means a great deal to me coming from you. All I can say is that I'll do my best to keep it up, and I had some pretty good role models when I was a kid," he said with a smile towards Superman. "I'll get back to you soon," Neal said before he ended the connection with Superman.

Neal sat there for a moment all alone, thinking about the repercussions that were going to come from what had taken place. Had he been careless? Nothing Neal did visibly showed that he used a power, so how would they have known who he was? Neal didn't know, but it worried him. The only thing that he could do right now was make sure his family was safe. If Black Mask chose to continue the fight, he'd deal with that as it came.

Neal pushed himself away from the computer before standing up to head back out to where all the other Titans were.

Several months later...

The wedding had been beautiful, as much as 'beautiful' and 'elegant' made Rose want to hurl. Still, it was her wedding day, so she put up with all the flowers and the bright colors and the sappy music, because she was getting married to the one man in her life that she could ever love, and that's what mattered to her. At least the wedding dress she picked out looked damn good on her, and turned more than a few heads. All eyes were on her when she walked down that aisle, and not just because she was the bride.

There had been a lot of things to decide before the wedding took place, of course. It was strange that, when it came down to her biggest choice, it ended up being Starfire that was her maid of honor. They'd never gotten along until this past year, and since that time thy'd become astoundingly close, closer than she was with any of the other female Titans she spent a lot of time with. Of course, the rest of her bridesmaids consisted of Raven, Wonder Girl, Cassandra Cain surprisingly (who was going by Black Bat now, after Stephanie, the former Robin, had taken the Batgirl moniker), and even Miss Martian, who she hadn't seen in years but had been overjoyed to hear the good news of her marriage.

Considering that her father certainly wasn't going to be walking her down the aisle to give her away, Dick had offered to take on that role. They went way back, ever since she had first come to the Teen Titans, when he trained her and taught her what it meant to be a hero. He had been the one to originally give her that chance. It only made sense for him to walk her down the aisle, then of course going to join the other groomsmen, including Beast Boy, and the best man, Cyborg.

Once they'd said their vows and their 'I dos', it was off to the reception, which Rose was certain make sure was a good, fun time. No elegant crap music there, oh no. She'd gone and hired a major mainstream rock band band to play at her wedding (having Deathstroke's funds certainly helped), because there was no way she was going to have her first dance as a married woman be to something with a piano in it. And then, when the reception was all said and done, it was off to the hotel, where they'd be staying overnight before their flight to their honeymoon the next day. Five star hotel, too, the honeymoon sweet, where they made their first night as husband and wife really, really count. Rose could gladly say that her wedding dress was no more, after Neal had quite literally torn the thing off her to get to her ravishing body beneath.

Their honeymoon had been to Cancun, Mexico, a nice, warm, tropical place. They stayed at another five star resort and casino, which had its own private clothing optional beach. Rose had made sure to make very good use of the 'clothing optional' part. She even urged Neal to give it a try. It was certainly freeing and liberating after all. They spent a total of two weeks on their honeymoon. There was a lot of drinking, gambling, relaxing, and love making during that time, and in Rose's mind, it was all time well spent.

All good things must come to an end, however, and that their honeymoon was finally over, it was time to head back to Titans Tower to resume their regular lives of saving people and beating up bad guys. All in all, it certainly wasn't the worst thing. To think, they could actually have nine to five jobs that they were going back to. Now that would most definitely suck.

Everything had turned out alright. Neal went and explained what was really going on to his parents, about how he had been a member of the Titans and using his powers in order to fight crime. It was a strange experience, a combination of pride and disappointment came. They were happy that he had been a hero, after all they had heard of Fade two years ago. They just never realized that it could have possibly been their son, and it certainly explained how he had bulked up so much these past few years.

Their only disappointment was that he didn't come and tell them first. Neal explained that as well, explaining his concern that who he was might accidentally slip. Evidently that was what had already happened with Black Mask which was why Jordan was in trouble. After explaining everything, the family agreed to go to the Watchtower until things cooled down. They would stay for as long as needed.

The next time they came to Earth was for Neal's wedding to Rose, something that they wouldn't miss for the world. The wedding itself had been amazing, and Neal couldn't think of any other point in his life where he had been most happy. The reception worked perfectly. No drunk relatives, no attack from a supervillain, not even a nosy reported trying to get an interview. The experience had been perfect, just as the reception and honeymoon were. The months spent alone with Rose was amazing, and Neal wouldn't trade it for anything in the entire world.

---

"Wow, now that's what I call a honeymoon," Neal said as he walked side by side with Rose as they came close to approaching the tower. "There's just always something about you. No matter how fun a situation is, you can always make it better," Neal said with a smile. Her clothing optional beach was certainly one way to enhance a good time.

Neal reached forward and took her hand into his own. "You think they missed us?"

"Well, I don't know, maybe," Rose said, with a small nod. She appeared to be heavily contemplating the question, though of course she was joking. There was only one way to find out, and that was to enter the tower itself and see just what was going on with everyone. They had called ahead to inform everyone of when they'd be back, but... well, they'd find out shortly.

When they entered into the lobby of the tower, they found no one. When they entered the elevator and walked down the halls, they found no one. Even the intercoms weren't being responded to. It wasn't until they made it to the main lounge on the third floor that they found everyone ready and waiting for them, a big banner that said 'welcome home' strung up near the ceiling, and a bunch of snack foods and sodas at the ready. It was a small, but very thoughtful, welcome home party.

"Surprise!" they all shouted, once they both walked in through the door. "Welcome home!"

"I'd like to think so, but hey maybe they just forgot we were here. You know how quickly those guys tend to move on," Neal said jokingly as they continued walking forward. Rose and Neal had taken a leave of absence from the hero business for a month or so, and he only hoped that their absence hadn't affected the team too badly.

As they entered into the tower, everything was dark and quiet. Neal almost felt a chill go up his spine. Last time they had walked in to the tower like this, most of the heroes in the world had been killed and they found Cyborg torn to pieces. That was a creepy day. As they kept moving forward though, it became clear what had happened.

As everyone jumped up and yelled surprise, Neal probably had the largest smile upon his face. Everyone had thrown a welcoming home party for them, that was so considerate. "Oh guys, I missed the whole lot of you," Neal said before moving forward and delivering high-fives and hugs where they were desired.

"Hope you guys didn't miss us too badly," Neal said as he wrapped his arm around Rose and looked at all the decorations that everyone else had put together.