I raised the wall and I will be the one to knock it down...

At present, Ra's Al Ghul is in something of a difficult position.

His League of Assassins is shattered, torn apart by internal conflicts, petty infighting and outright civil war between various factions. He has but a few thousand loyal troops to command.

His one surviving daughter, Talia, has turned on him, denying him access to her son, Damien - the male heir of his own bloodline Ra's had hoped for.

His chosen heir by virtue of talent, Batman, is dead. And Ra's attempt to recruit The Detective's own heir and oldest adopted son, Dick Grayson, was all for naught.

Ra's days are numbered and he knows it. Before his own apparent death, Bruce Wayne saw to it that most of the places along the Earth's lei lines capable of sustaining of creating a new Lazarus Pit were destroyed. That is assuming, of course, that Ra's is even able to survive another bath in The Pit in his current condition. The sad truth is that barring another method of cheating death, Ra's Gal Ghul is going to need another heir to continue his work.

And then, as it often does to one fueled by the chaotic energies of the Earth, an epiphany came. And Ra's cursed himself for his own shortsightedness at overlooking so simple and elegant a solution

Once before, he had suddenly had such an idea just come to him - of how he might distract The Detective to the exclusion of all else, by stealing the bodies of Bruce Wayne's parents like a common grave robber and holding them ransom as they dangled over a Lazarus Pit. Now, he had the name of a prospective heir come to mind. One he had dismissed before as a talented dilettante but one who had, in recent years, proven himself worth of The Demon's respect.

Like The Detective, he had brought together a family of warriors. Like The Detective, he was a man of rare principle and devotion. But unlike The Detective, he was a romantic in much the same vein as Ra's. He was an environmentalist who shared Ra's Al Ghul's dim view of humanity but had not yet lost the hope that things could be made better. And he had taken as his consort, a woman whom Ra's himself had loved as he had loved no woman since Talia's mother.

So it was on one night that Ra's Al Ghul was waiting in The Arrow Cave as Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance came home from patrol. He had made sure that it was at a time when the rest of the family would be absent so he could make his proposal to Green Arrow and Black Canary alone.

He was impressed with what they had done together, Ra's said. Not only had they managed a confidence game that managed to confound some of his best agents (the whole rigmarole with faking Sin's death and keeping her hidden for a few months) but they had managed to bring together a small, but effective team in the form of both The Arrow Family and the Birds of Prey that had managed to fend off several long-established groups with more resources. Ra's even went so far as to apologize for attempting to kill Dinah, saying with a faint thin-lipped smile that even 700 years is not enough to teach a man how to accept heartbreak easily.

After being told to get to the point, Ra's does; his days are numbered and he wants The League returned to what it once was. To that end, he is prepared to name Oliver Queen his heir with Dinah Lance as a trusted second. His men are theirs to train and command as they will. His resources are theirs to exploit. All he asks is a promise that they will devote themselves to rebuilding the world he dreamed of saving.

All of this comes out to the rest of the Arrow Family and The Birds shortly after Ollie and Dinah both say yes. And that is when the spit hits the fan.

Nobody is quite sure exactly what is going on. Have Ollie and Dinah somehow been hoodwinked or mind-controlled into becoming the new lieutenants of the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world? Are they hoping to play both sides against the middle and deal a blow to the League of Assassins while playing at being Ra's new heirs?

Or has the world's most dangerous eco-terrorist actually turned over a new leaf? Is Ra's honestly seeking redemption of a sort by turning his resources over to those most likely to overcome his daughter's League and usher his dream into the next millennium? Or does he have another agenda - one involving ancient lore set aside for the proper time?

Something that tells of bodies without souls and another means through which death may be cheated?

Could Ra's be plotting a way to come back as a younger man, at the side of the woman he loved, at the head of a newly empowered League of Assassins?

The entire DC Universe will be fighting as the truth is sought...