The Next Generation

"Oh, uh... yeah, sure I suppose," Rose said, rubbing her eye a couple more times before letting out a long yawn. She had no real clue what Eddie, this world's version of him especially, wanted to talk to her about, but she supposed she could give him a few minutes before she finally went to bed. "What's on your mind?"

Eddie walked in once Rose gave him the official okay to come in. He wasn't sure how he was going to approach it, but he figured that it would just be best to jump right in to it. He moved over and stood near her bed, trying to think about how to phrase his thoughts. "Listen Rose, I just wanted to apologize to you for what happened earlier today. I let my nerve get the better of me and I questioned your judgment, even despite the fact that everything worked in our favor," Eddie admitted. "I should have known that you'd make the right call, and I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry for acting the way I did"

"I guess a small part of me just can't believe that you're here, that you're alive"

Rose just shrugged as he expressed his apologies for what happened earlier. "I wouldn't really worry about it too much. It was a difficult situation, and you've already been through a lot, so... probably would have been surprised if you acted any other way, to be honest. Best to just forget about it, it's fine." She leaned on her side slightly, then taking in a deep breath and slowly letting it out. She didn't want to have to be blunt with him, but there was something that he did need to understand. "Just... remember, Eddie, I'm not your Rose, the one from this world. That Rose is dead. I'm... someone else, from another world. Weird circumstances aside, I never will be that Rose you knew, not really."

Eddie listened and gained a tiny smile as Rose expressed her apologies. He thought that she was angry with him for questioning her like she did. Perhaps it had just been in the heat of the moment, or perhaps she had never really been upset. He might have just read her wrong or something like that. "Well thanks for understanding, I just didn't want you to feel like it was going to impair our ability to work together from now on"

As she said what was on her mind next, a very clear frown came to Eddie's face. After a moment he just hung his head down and let out a small breath. "Am I that obvious?" he asked as he glanced up at her. "I'm......I'm sorry Rose, I guess I just don't know what to feel. It's like fate is just slapping me in the face. I came back to life only to learn that you were dead, and now you're here.......and yet you belong to another," he said in a weak voice.

"It's pathetic, I guess a part of me wanted there to be some part of you that liked me as much as I liked you," Eddie said sadly. "Guess even in another dimension it'll never happen"

Rose let out a long breath, fidgeting in her seat. Well now she just felt like a bitch, seeing him like that. Damn it, these things were never easy, were they? Moving out of her bed, Rose stood up and walked over to him. She stared at him for a few moments and then put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. "You always were adorable, you know, no matter what dimension you're in." She sighed again. "You're a sweet guy... and I don't know why fate keeps giving you the short stick. I mean... if you hadn't died, I think we might have ended up together... you always were the one who understood me best back then."

Eddie glanced over towards Rose as she moved out of the bed, she came over to him and put a hand on her shoulder before offering him comforting words. He gained the tiniest of smiles. At least she thought something might have happened, it at least meant that she liked him even if those feelings never grew to anything beyond that. "No I'm sorry Rose, this isn't fair to you," he said before giving her a simple hug and holding it for a few seconds. He pulled away and gave a deep breath.

"This Neal, I mean.....YOUR Neal," Eddie corrected himself. "Just, just look me in the face and tell me that he makes you happy. I just need to hear it I guess..........ya know?"

Rose let out another breath and nodded. "Yeah, he really does," she said. "Before I met him, I hadn't been really happy in a long time. Mostly just wandering and doing my own thing, but I was always kind of empty. Neal, he... I don't know, filled a part of me that was missing, I guess you could say. He's good husband, and a good father... Everyday I'm with him, I'm just hoping that I can be half the person he is, you know? He just has one of those pure hearts." She gave Eddie a small smile, trying to be comforting. "You'll find someone eventually, you know. You're a good guy, too. Heck, I think my version of you is dating Traci 13 right now, so anything can happen really."

Eddie just gave several understanding nods as Rose went on to explain that Neal was the person that helped her to fill the void. Eddie remembered what Rose used to be like, and talking to her now it was so clear that something had allowed her to change and become something else. She was stronger, happier, and all around better than Eddie even remembered her. "I hope he realizes how good he really has it," Eddie said in a very soft voice. "Well, it's late and I should let you rest. Good work today Rose, we're starting to win the fight," he said before placing a hand on her shoulder and giving it a squeeze. His hand lingered for just a moment before pulling away and heading off to his own room. He closed the door behind him.

Rose smiled lightly at him as he said his goodnight and exited her room. "Goodnight, Eddie..." she said, taking in a deep breath and slowly letting it out. She couldn't say that this was something she had expected; letting down a different universe's Eddie had been more difficult that the one from her own world. Granted, they were much different circumstances, but it was still strange. Yawning, she turned back to her bed and got beneath the covers again, settling down for a nice long sleep.

When she finally awoke, she could say that she had indeed received a much better night's sleep than the previous one. Perhaps it was because she was more used to the situation now, or maybe it was just completely random. Either way, she didn't feel like she was going to fall asleep again any second. Getting out of bed, she exited her room and went into the main area of the hideout, looking for the others.

As Rose went out in to the main area of the hideout she'd find Question speaking to a nearby monitor. He pressed a button and the transmission ended suddenly before he turned over and looked over at Rose. "Good morning," Question said as he turned and began working on a few notes it seemed. "Hope you were able to sleep well. I just finished reporting on our situation up here, they'll be sending up someone for backup today. Someone that's more personally involved in this case now," Question said before turning to look at Rose fully. "She'll be here later today, and I'm certain she'll be helpful in the fights to come"

Rose folded her arms, as the Question finished up his little call and explained the situation to her. "Some new help, huh? Interesting," she said, letting out a small yawn and taking up a seat nearby. Leaning back with her hands behind her head, she pursed her lips and rocked back and forth on the back two legs of the chair. "Don't suppose it would be anyone I know, would it?"

At that moment, another one of the surrounding doors opened up, and Blade entered. She looked exhausted, but that was mainly because she'd spent the entire night going through the information she'd discovered from Lady Shiva, before it left her mind. She carried with her a pad of paper, on which was written a veritable book. Coming next to the Question, she placed the bad down and let out a long breath. "Every memory that Shiva had since meeting Neal, no matter how insignificant." It even listed every time they'd slept together, where they'd done it, and how long they went at it. Couldn't imagine that kind of stuff being important, but, well, you never know.

Question glanced over at Rose as she made her comments. "Yes, they believed that given what we've learned it was more appropriate that she come down here to help us. She was helping to stop some kind of civil war in Africa, but everyone seemed to agree that she needed to be here," Question stated before Rose asked her next question. "I don't know in all honesty. She goes by Guardian Angel, did you ever meet her in your world?"

As Blade came in and placed the pad of paper down, Question quickly picked it up and began to flip through it. "Excellent, there has to be something in here that will help us to determine Fade's location, or at least some more safe houses," he said to himself before looking over at Blade. "You look like a wreck, if you want I'd recommend trying to get a bit more sleep. We won't be moving out today until our new help shows up"

"Uh.. alright, thanks," Blade muttered, rubbing her eyes. They felt like they were on fire, they were watering so much. Well, considering she'd been up all night, it was probably to be expected. "I'll be in my room... crashing... wake me around dinner time." With that, she headed back to her room and collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

Rose, meanwhile, was thinking on who this new person could be. "Nope, can't say I've ever heard anyone go by that name, but then this is an alternate universe," she said, holding a contemplative hand to her chin. "For all I know, your Guardian Angel is my Wonder Woman, or something. Guess I'll find out when she gets here. When's she due to arrive anyway?"

Question watched as Blade went away, merely giving a nod as she made the request that she be woken up around dinner time. He could remember to do that easily. "Yes you make an excellent point, guess we should count ourselves lucky that the people you've met so far have looked the same," Question pointed out as he leaned back in his chair temporarily.

"And to be honest she should be here within a few minutes. The League said they would send her as fast as they could. And knowing the League and the situation we're in, I doubt that we'll have to wait long"

"Well, alright then," Rose said, continuing to rock back and forth on her seat for a few moments. She looked around a bit, wondering where Eddie and and new best friend of this dimensions, Huntress, were. Probably still sleeping, though it couldn't be that early. In the meantime, she decided to head on over to the kitchen and grab something to eat. it was a real difficult decision, deciding between which type of canned food she wanted at the moment, but in the end she settled on some chicken soup, a good old classic. "Let me know when she gets here, Q, I'll be cooking."

"I'll make sure to do that," Question said as Rose mentioned that she wanted to be told when Guardian Angel got here. As Rose left he glanced back in her direction once before going back to his computer screen. "I don't like to be called Q," he muttered to himself. Huntress was the only woman that was allowed to give him ANY form of nickname. Still, now wasn't the right time to pick a fight.

As Rose moved in to the kitchen she'd hear someone walking in behind her. "Glad to see that you're up and well," Huntress said as he picked up a can of corn for herself before looking over at Rose. "Just passed by your sister, she looks like she's been up all night. Poor thing"

Rose glanced behind her as Huntress walked into the kitchen. "Ah, there you are? 'Bout time yo got up," she said, while beginning to heat up her can of soup. "What's the matter, had a long night?" She chuckled a little, before then leaning against the counter on her elbows and letting out a long breath. "Yeah, she spent the whole night going through all those memories she pulled from Shiva before they disappeared from her noggin. I could honestly never imagine having that kind of mental power, it'd seriously screw with my head."

"A long night, that's one way of putting it. I'd just call it a very enjoyable night," Huntress said with a smile as she began to work on opening up the can she previously retrieved. "I could never imagine having a mental power, I always just figure it'd really take a toll on you. I can't even imagine how Blade or Fade are able to do as much as they can. Fade's controlling hundreds of people and Blade was able to go through years worth of memories in just a few minute's time," Huntress pointed out as she leaned on the counter next to Rose. "I'm more of a punch them in the jaw type myself"

As Huntress finished speaking they'd hear a knock on the door before hearing it open. They would hear voices, one of them belonging to Question and another to someone else. It was most likely Guardian Angel. "Well look who is here, I was wondering if I was ever going to see this girl again," Huntress said before she quickly got up and went out in to the living room.

As Rose surely followed, she'd be greeted with a very, very, strange site. Standing right next to Question was a girl in golden armor and a sword strapped to her side. She was holding a helmet in one of her hands, normally used to hold up and conceal the long golden hair that reached past her shoulders.

"So..........my brother really is behind all of this?" Jordan Anderson asked as an extremely sad expression came to her face.

"Amen to that," Rose said, in response to being a 'punch the person in the jaw' kind of person. Rose was exactly the same way, another reason why she liked this woman so much. It was going to seriously make her sad when she couldn't take this Huntress home with her to her world. Oh well. A short while, voices began to come from the other room; apparently this Guardian Angel person had finally arrived, so it was time to go greet her. Pushing herself away from the counter, she followed Huntress out into the main area, only to stop frozen when she saw who was standing there. What the hell?! This world's Jordan had super powers?! What? When? How? Holy crap!

"Holy sh-" Rose started, scurrying up to the woman with wide eyes. "Jordan, you're like... totally tricked out. How did this- And when did- Wait, wait, calm down, calm down... different universe, different people... still, un-friggin-believable." Taking a moment to gather herself, she scratched the back of her head for a moment and then took in a deep breath. "Uh... yeah, your brother is kind of... well yeah."

Jordan turned and glanved over at Rose who began talking to her in a very strange fashion. She glanced over at Question for only a moment before coming to the realization herself. "Oh yes, your report mentioned this," she said as a small smile came to her face. "I hear that you've been very helpful to this part of the world. You have my thanks for what you've done here," Jordan said as she extended her hand. This Jordan had never met Rose or even heard of her, so she was basically talking to a complete stranger.

At the mention of her brother, Jordan hung her head. "And to think all these years I thought that he was dead," she uttered weakly. "I thought that he had died a hero with the other Titans........and this entire time he was the trash that killed them," she said as she closed her eyes. A single tear ran down her face. Rose would probably remember the first time she had seen Jordan cry, when she had been worried about what Neal was really doing in his free time. Even in this world she was still worried about her brother.

She just never thought that this is what would come of him. A dictator, a tyrant, a warlord. He was supposed to be a hero.

Rose shifted her weight a little and exhaled a long sigh when Jordan began talking about her brother. Yeah, that kind of news really had to be hard to hear... finding out the brother you thought had died a hero had instead killed those heroes as a villain, it couldn't have put her in a very good mood. And damn it if this wasn't the Jordan she knew, but seeing her cry still made Rose feel like crap, no matter what had caused the tears. She took a step forward and just hugged the girl, which felt like the right thing to do for her, though Jordan would probably wonder what the hell she was doing that for. "Hey, it's alright... we'll fix what he's done. We.. We can stop him, and... and help him. Somehow."

Jordan's eyes shot open as Rose wrapped her arms around her. She had no idea why the woman was doing so, was she just a hugger or something? Jordan thought that it was strange, and yet at the same time she could listen to the emotion that was going through Rose's voice. It didn't sound fake, it sounded like she was truly concerned. Jordan wrapped her arms around and held Rose back for just a few moments. "I hope that you're right, I just don't see how we're going to help him. He's so........he's fallen so far from where he was," Jordan said slowly before letting go and looking right at Rose.

Jordan just stared at her for a moment. "Question said.......he said that in your world you're married to my brother. Is that true?"

Rose took a step back after releasing the hug with Jordan, only to suck in a small breath and released a nervous laugh when the other Neal was brought up. "Uh... well, yeah... which would make me the sister-in-law to the you from my universe. And you don't have super powers there, so you can see why I was little, uh... surprised at you here, and... yeah." Boy, this wasn't a topic she really wanted to get started on. After all, what was she supposed to say when questioned further on the subject? 'Oh yeah, my Neal is better than your Neal'? Not something to throw at a girl who just found out her brother is an evil, murderous dictator. "And we, uh, have a daughter, too... which makes the other you an aunt." Of course, the daughter she was referring to was actually Blade, the future version of which was currently posing as her sister, and the present version of which only being about a month and a half along, yet to be born.

Jordan just gave a small nod as Rose spoke about how the worlds that they were from were so different. Rose married Neal in her world, even had a daughter. "That sounds........nice," Jordan said simply. "We'll have to get you back to your world as soon as you can than," she said before turning to Question. "If you have any that are injured let me know and I'll make sure to heal them"

"Thanks but we're all good here," Question said with a simple nod. "A bit bruised up but nothing that requires your power to heal," he insisted as he leaned up against the wall. "I guess you might want to double check with Eddie while he's here. He got hurt pretty bad a few days back"

"Eddie? Ah Kid Devil, I forgot that he was here," Jordan said with a small smile. "It's been a long time since we worked together. It will be good to see him again"

Rose lifted an eyebrow as she heard about Jordan's healing powers. Well, that was definitely a useful thing to have. Even Raven's limited healing had saved their lives countless times, she could only imagine what it would be like having an actual priest on board. Now they just needed a black mage and a paladin, and they'd be good to go. "So you can heal, huh? Pretty sweet," she said, giving a small smile. "You have anything else, too?" Also, she couldn't help but catch her comments about Eddie. Apparently, they had worked together before and she was looking forward to seeing him again. She wondered...