Chapter Text
“Alright, good job everybody.” Dick declared as their training session came to an end. Not long after they defeated Trigon, they had decided to keep up with the training that they had started when they were still dealing with that creepy family that had been after Kory. It was a good way to help Rachel and Gar learn about and control their powers, keep those still doing vigilante work in shape and turned out to be a good bonding thing.
As they all started to group together, Gar started turning from his usual tiger, resulting in Rachel yelling, “Gar!”
Everyone else glanced over at him, wondering what she was talking about, then immediately turned away as Gar, completely naked again, rushed for the stack of boxes that he usually kept his clothes hidden behind and shouted, “Sorry!”
Dick, Kory, Donna, Dawn, Hank, and Rachel exchanged somewhat annoyed glances and rolled eyes while they waited for Gar to get changed so they could head back to their apartment building. They had taken to doing their training in an old warehouse on the edge of the city. They didn’t want to risk damaging the building that not only did they live in, but several other innocent people. It was working out pretty good, except that Gar kept having to bring a bag of clothes or had to take the time to take his clothes off and put them back on after he shifted and it was starting to get a bit annoying, especially for Gar. They kept having to get new clothes from him.
“Um guys?” Gar called out after a minute.
“What?” Kory asked in a bored tone.
“I don’t have any clothes here.” Gar revealed, effectively getting everyone’s annoyance to go up a level.
“Why didn’t you grab any before you came here?” Donna questioned, clearly having been under the impression that he should have made that a habit by now.
“Because you guys attacked us when we weren’t expecting it. And I thought that I still had some here.” Gar answered, his head peeking out from behind the boxes.
“If we ever are attacked, they aren’t going to give us a warning Gar. We all need to be prepared for anything.” Dick defended his decision. While they hadn’t been hunted since they defeated Trigon, it was good to be prepared for anything.
“Well, since we’re done, can someone please get me some clothes?” Gar then asked.
Donna pulled off her ankle length coat as she approached the boxes and held out to him as she said, “Here, just wear this.”
A hand quickly reached out to grab it, then a very seconds later, Gar came out wearing the coat. Looking over at Donna, he said, “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome, but you’re washing it once we get home.” Donna informed him, to which he nodded in agreement. He walked over to the group and upon seeing the expressions on their faces, he stopped and asked, “What?”
“We need to find some way for you to have clothes while you shift. This is getting annoying.” Hank told him.
“Plus, it’s kinda illegal.” Dick then chimed in.
“Well, are you able to make clothes that will stay on when I change into a tiger or any other animal?” Gar wondered.
“No.” Hank answered while Donna and Dawn shook their heads. Dick however, didn’t respond in any way for a moment and had a thoughtful look on his face.
“I think I know someone who might be able to though.” The former Robin said, causing everyone to look over at him.
“Do you think he’d actually be able to do something like that?” Donn asked, knowing who Dick was talking about.
“I think it wouldn’t hurt to try. Plus, I think he’d like the challenge.” Dick replied with a grin that actually made Gar a little nervous.
2018TITANS2018
After a quick call to Lucius Fox, an email explaining everything they know about what the Chief did to save Gar, his powers, and a sample of Gar’s DNA mailed to him, it only took two weeks for a package to arrive. Gar opened it with excitement and found a purple and black body suit. H wasn’t sure what kind of fabric it was made of, but it seemed to stretch which was a good thing. He quickly rushed to change into it then came out into the living room where Dick, Kory, Donna, and Rachel were waiting.
“So, what do you think?” Dick asked as Gar walked around the room to see how the suit fit.
“I love it, but will it work?” Gar wondered, looking over at the others.
“Only one way to find out.” Donna told him. Gar nodded, but looked a bit apprehensive.
“Don’t worry. When you change back into whatever animal you decide to shift into, we’ll turn around so we won’t see anything if it doesn’t work.” Kory assured him.
“Thanks.” Gar said, before he rubbed his hands together and added, “Okay, here we go.”
The teenager’s body turned green and curled up as the sound of bones and muscles quietly filled the air. Within a few seconds, the human was gone and green, golden retriever dog was in its place. The dog stared up at them for a few seconds before he started to shift back and everyone turned around so they wouldn’t see him naked if the suit had ripped apart like his other clothes. They didn’t move until they heard Gar shout, “Yes! It works!”
Everyone turned back to see that the shapeshifter was a human again and the uniform was still on. Gar had a big and wide smile on his face, clearly happy that he now had a set of clothes that he could wear while changing whatever animal he wanted to without ripping them. Then he suddenly dropped the grin and asked, “Wait, does this mean I have to wear this outfit all the time since I can turn into an animal at any time?”
Dick looked over at the others, then turned back to Gar and said, “Yeah, I think so. You can wear clothes over top of it, but if you shift into an animal, you’ll probably still tear those.”
“Great.” Gar grumbled to himself.
“You know Gar, it kinda looks like a uniform, like a hero suit.” Rachel said, trying to cheer him up. With a hopeful expression, he looked up at her and said, “Really?”
“Really.” Rachel confirmed with a smile. Gar smiled widely, then suddenly dropped it.
“Well, since we aren’t allowed to use our powers in public or be superheroes, it doesn’t really matter.” Gar responded, shooting a small glare at Dick.
“Gar, we’ve talked about this.” Dick did his best not to groan. Ever since their defeat of Trigon, the shapeshifter had this idea that they could become superheroes like he and Donna used to be. Hank and Dawn were the only ones who went out crime fighting on a somewhat regular basis which didn’t help when Dick told Gar ‘no’.
“But it doesn’t make sense. You guys were fighting crime when you were kids. We’re teenagers, with powers.” Gar started to argue, gesturing to him and Rachel, “And you guys even made your own special team.”
“You did?” Kory questioned, looking over at Dick. Having only been on earth for several months, she didn’t know much about this planet’s heroes.
“A bunch of us sidekicks kinda made our own team, to fight criminals without our mentors. We called ourselves the Titans.” Donna explained to the alien.
“Yeah, and we almost got ourselves killed so many times that I lost count.” Dick was quick to remind her before he looked back over at Gar, “So, sorry for not wanting you two get yourselves killed. We’re responsible for you and letting you guys go out fighting people is dangerous and stupid. I don’t want to talk about this again.” With that, Dick stormed out of the room.
2018TITANS2018
Dick stared down at the traffic below from his spot on the roof, hands on the railing. While some people may feel uncomfortable being up so high, he was the exact opposite. He felt at home up in the air, looking down at the world below. He had already been up here for hours, having come straight here after getting mad at Gar about the whole hero thing but he felt no desire to leave.
“You know, you’re being a little hypocritical.” Donna said as she walked onto the roof. Dick took a deep breath but didn’t reply.
Moving towards him, she continued, “I mean, you started going out into the streets of Gotham as Robin when you were ten years old.”
“That was different.” Dick objected, not looking at her.
“Really? How?” Donna questioned, coming to a stop about ten feet away from him.
“It just is.” Dick answered, knowing that it was a terrible answer but he didn’t know how to explain what he was really thinking.
“Is it about how the Titans ended?” Donna continued forcing the subject. Again, Dick stayed silent, but this time, it gave Donna her answer, especially when she saw him clench his fists tightly on the railing.
“Dick, that was a long time ago. We’ve all grown up, all changed. It won’t be like that. Especially since that it’s only us and with Kory, Rachel, and Gar. Would it really be so bad?” Donna wondered, walking forward to stand right beside him.
“I just want to keep them safe. And I don’t want them to turn out like me.” Dick replied, looking down at a couple who was walking down the street.
“What do you mean?” Donna asked worriedly.
“Uncontrollable anger, and the mindset that as long as you wear a mask that you can do whatever you want, that you can deliver your own brand of justice.” Dick explained, still not looking the girl who was practically his older sister.
Donna put her hand on his back in an act of comfort, then said, “Dick, I know you want to protect them, but don’t you think it might be more dangerous to hold them back?”
“What do you mean?” Dick asked, finally turning his head to look at her.
“Dick, you went after your parents’ killer, before you even knew Bruce was Batman. And when you did find out, you still went after him when Bruce told you not to. You didn’t listen.” The former Wonder Girl brought up.
“I remember.” Dick told her.
“And it was only when Bruce realized that you weren’t going to stop that he agreed to let you be his partner so he could keep you save on the streets. You really want to wait until Gar and Rachel are going out by themselves before you agree to let them fight bad guys?” Donna wondered with a knowing grin.
After a few seconds of thoughtful silence, Dick looked back down at the world below and said, “But, what if,”
“You have me, and Hank and Dawn and Kory. We’ll help make sure you don’t turn out like Batman.” Donna interrupted him, knowing exactly what he was worrying about.
“If this goes wrong,” Dick started after another minute or two of silence.
“I’ll let you say ‘I told you so’. But you won’t, because as you well know, I’m always right.” Donna responded with a smile.
“Older, smarter, prettier yeah I know.” Dick elbowed her arm and grinned back at her, “But one day, I will get to say ‘I told you so’.”
“Keep dreaming bird boy.” Donna said with a slight scoff.
2018TITANS2018
After talking with Kory, Hank and Dawn, along with Donna, they all came to an agreement that Rachel and Gar were old enough to make their own decision about whether or not they wanted to fight crime like they did and were trained enough to start. They also came up with a list of rules and conditions to make sure that the kids stayed safe because that was the most important thing. They then waited until the next day, which was a Saturday so they’d all be home before they told them their decision.
“Wait, you’re serious?” Gar asked as he stood up off the couch, shaking a little in excitement.
“We aren’t doing anything extremely dangerous and you two have to listen to orders. I know you two are powerful and strong, but we’ve all been fighting crime for several years, and know a lot more about it than you two do. So as long as you guys agree to that, then yes, I’m serious.” Dick responded, nodding his head as he did. Gar stared at him, then when he saw that the detective was being completely serious, he started jumping up and down excitedly yelling ‘yes’ as loud as he possible could, making everyone laugh.
After a full minute of that, Gar settled down a little and said, “Okay, first things first. Hero names. I want to be Beast Boy.”
“Really?” Hank asked, thinking the name wasn’t really a good one.
“I can turn into any animal, any beast, and I’m a boy. It makes sense. Plus, no one else has that name.” Gar explained, the wide smile still on his face. No one could really argue with that.
“What about you Rachel?” Dawn turned the attention to the girl sitting beside her on the sofa on the other side of the living room.
“Raven. I want to be called Raven.” Rachel replied to the shock of everyone. After they defeated her father and sent him back to his dimension, she acted as though she wanted nothing to do with anything that was related to him. It had taken her at least two weeks for her to accept her powers and start training with them. No one expected her to want to use the name those that wrote the prophesy had given her.
“You sure about that?” Kory wondered as everyone stared at the youngest member of their group.
“Yeah, if I’m going to be using my powers to help people and fight crime, I need to accept who I am and control it.” Rachel answered with a firm voice, making it clear that she was sure about this.
“Okay. Raven, I like it.” Gar agreed with her choice. When everyone else nodded, Rachel knew that they also agreed with her choice. She then looked over at the only alien in the group.
“Kory, what’s your name going to be?” The purple-haired girl asked.
“Starfire.” Kory immediately answered. When she saw the curious looks the others gave her, she said, “That’s the name the Warlords of Okaara gave me. I want to keep it.”
“Sounds perfect.” Dick commented. Kory looked over at him and smirked.
“So what about you?” Gar asked Dick, turning around to face him.
“What about me?” Dick wondered, though he knew what Gar was asking about.
“What hero name are you going to use? You destroyed your Robin suit and said you didn’t want to be him anymore.” Gar explained, completely unaware of how his words were pushing on Dick’s still healing wounds. The former Robin wasn’t upset with him though. He still hadn’t told anyone about what happened that made him leave Gotham and made him want to stop being a vigilante. And Gar did raise a fair point. If they were going to restart the Titans and he was going to help lead them, he would need a new hero identity.
“I don’t know.” Dick answered honestly as he thought it over.
“Oh.” Gar sounded a little disappointed when he heard that, but then he suddenly perked up and said, “We could help you. Are you still wanting to be a bird of some kind? Of course you are, you’re the first Robin. You started the whole bird thing so let’s see. You can’t be Robin, Raven, Hawk, Dove, or Batman obviously, but there are lot of types of birds. What about Eagleman? Or Owlman? Maybe just Eagle or Owl. That sounds better.”
“Gar.” Dick cut off the teenager’s rambling when he stopped to take a breath, an amused smile on his face.
He waited until he was sure that he had the green-haired boy’s attention before he said, “Thanks for wanting to help, but I’d like to think about it first. I might have an idea actually.”
Later that night, Dick sat at the kitchen table, papers covering the surface in front of him. They were filled with old drawings and notes that he had made back when he was a kid, but they were all basically the same thing. The drawings were of a black suit with blue spread out on the chest like a bird spreading its wings. Looking at them now brought a small grin to his face. He hadn’t thought about any of these or had seen them in years. He was actually surprised that he still had them and had packed them. But he was glad he did because they were the first thing he thought of when Gar pointed out that he needed a new hero identity.
“You still up?” Donna said in surprise as she entered the kitchen, turning on all the lights as she did so.
“Yeah. I didn’t wake you, did I?” Dick questioned, looking over his shoulder at her.
“No, just had to go to bathroom, then I saw the light.” Donna assured him as she walked over to the table. As she came to stand behind him, she put a hand on the back of his chair and asked, “What are you doing?”
“Going over some stuff.” Dick replied, turning his gaze back to the papers in front of him.
“What is all this?” Donna wondered as she picked up one of the drawings.
“Clark used to tell me this story, about this Kryptonian who was cast out of his family and became a vigilante. He took the name of one of the Kryptonian gods, Nightwing. I loved that story. I was obsessed with it.” Dick told her. He had never really told anyone about that, not even his closest friends, not even Bruce. It was something that he and Clark shared, but now, given everything that happened with his adopted father and Robin and restarting the Titans, the name Nightwing kept running through his head.
“You want to call yourself Nightwing?” Slowly, Dick nodded. Donna smiled and said, “I like it. It suits you.”
2018TITANS2018
Bruce glanced down at his watch as he walked to Lucius Fox’s office. He wasn’t supposed to be in the office on Sundays, but something had come up, like it always did. So, he came in and did his part as quickly as possible so he could go back home. Jason had the upcoming week off school and he was taking him to the Wayne cabin up in the mountains so they could go skiing. They were leaving the next morning and the last thing Bruce wanted was something else to come up that would have him glued to his computer screen for the entire trip. Better to get everything done now. He just had to talk to Lucius about Wayne Enterprise’s new drone then he was good to go.
“Hey Lucius, is the,” Bruce started as he walked into the man’s office without knocking. He stopped talking the second he saw a fearful expression on Lucius’s face as he typed something quickly on his computer before calming down somewhat.
“What’s going on?” The CEO wondered with a suspicious tone. Lucius was one of the very few people who knew he was Batman, knew Dick had been Robin and that Jason was now, and who Batgirl and Batwoman were. He was the one who helped design and make their uniforms and equipment. There were no secrets between them. Or at least, he didn’t think Lucius still had any.
“Nothing, just working on a special project is all. What can I do for you?” Lucius somewhat answered before changing the subject. Bruce knew there was definitely more going on but also knew that Lucius was not the kind of person who told other people someone else’s secrets. It was why he let him in on his own secret. So for now, he let it slide, planning to do some investigating later.
“Just wondering if you finished that updates to our new drone. The board wants to book a date to unveil it already. They’re giving me a headache.” Bruce responded, his annoyed and frustrated tone making Lucius chuckle which was exactly the goal.
“They always do, but unfortunately not yet. I found some flaws in the code that I need to clear out. Then I’ll give one of the drones the update and test it. It’ll be a while yet.” Lucius told him.
“Great.” Bruce muttered sarcastically before adding, “Thanks though, have a good week.”
“You too.” Lucius replied as Bruce walked out of his office. Once the door was shut, he speed-walked out of the building and to his car, wanting to get home as fast as possible.
Alfred found him down in the Batcave at the Batcomputer only an hour later. He had been coming to inform him that dinner was ready, but when he saw what the man was doing, he stopped.
“Are you so bored Master Bruce that you have nothing better to do than hack into your own company? Because there is a young boy upstairs who would undoubtedly love some of your attention.” Alfred informed him, coming to stand about two feet behind him.
“It’s not really hacking since it’s my company.” Bruce pointed out, “And I’m taking Jason to the mountains for some skiing tomorrow. He’ll have my attention then.”
“Lucius Fox’s files? Don’t you already know everything he works on?” The British butler asked, sounding as confused as Bruce was feeling at the moment.
“Not everything apparently. He’s making suits, three of them. Suits for someone other than Jason and I.” Bruce answered, a little offended that his friend hadn’t told him about any of this.
“Then who for?” Alfred asked the question that the Dark Knight was trying to find the answer to.
“I don’t know yet. None of them are the same size, and two are for boys while one is for a girl.” Bruce said as he pulled up the images for Alfred to see.
“Have you thought of simply asking Mr. Fox who they are for?” Alfred wondered, knowing that sometimes Bruce preferred having proof before asking. He just didn’t think that he would do that with someone he trusted.
“He was working on them when I entered his office and immediately hid them. He doesn’t want me to know. And Lucius is not the kind of person to share secrets if someone doesn’t want him to.” The billionaire reported, now getting ready to go into Lucius’s emails to see if he could find the answers there.
“Well, since it’s clear that you will be down here for a while, I will save your dinner for you.” Alfred told him, then turned around and walked back upstairs to the Manor.
Bruce internally groaned at the mention of dinner. He had been so focused on what Lucius had been hiding that he lost track of time. It wasn’t the first time it had happened by far, nor would it be the last, but he missed dinner almost all week, wanting to make sure everything was done and dealt with so he could make sure that he wouldn’t be interrupted while he was gone with Jason. He would have all of his attention then. But now, now he felt beyond shocked when he recognized the email address of someone who had been emailing back and forth with Lucius for the last several days.
As he read through them all, he mumbled, “Oh Dick. What are you doing?”
Once he had finished going though all the emails, now knowing what it was about, who the suits were for, the design and make of them, and figuring out what Dick was planning, Bruce grabbed his cellphone and called Lucius.
“Hey Lucius. I’m going to get straight to the point. I know you’ve been in contact with Dick and I know you’re making him suits.” Bruce informed him, keeping his voice as monotone as possible, not wanting to betray any of the emotions running through him at the moment.
“Did you hack into my files?” Lucius asked with a slightly shocked tone.
“When a co-worker of mine, one whom I trust with everything, is acting a little suspicious of mine, then yes I do.” Bruce answered honestly.
“Okay, so you know. Did you call me to yell at me for talking to him? Because he reached out to me.” Lucius got ready to defend himself, not the Bruce was surprised. Ever since his adopted son left Gotham, he made it clear he didn’t want to talk about him at all.
“I’m not going to yell at you. But I was wondering if you could do something, as a personal favour.” Bruce replied.
“Why do I get the feeling I’m going to regret this?” Lucius groaned, making it clear that he would do what was asked of him.
“It’s nothing big I promise. I just need you make an addition to Dick’s new suit.” Bruce told him, looking at the schematics of the suit that was clearly for his son. When Lucius then asked what he wanted added, Bruce told him and though Lucius wasn’t so sure about it, he agreed.
It wasn’t until two weeks later that Bruce heard anything about the suits, or about Dick and his friends. He and Jason had a good few days at the mountains, then came back to Gotham and returned to their normal activities of work, school, and crime fighting. Then one morning as he came into the dining room for breakfast, Jason called out, “Hey Bruce!”
“What?” Bruce asked, sitting down in his chair at the table.
Jason came over to him with a newspaper and said, “Check it out. ‘The Titans have Returned’.”
Bruce took the paper his ward handed him and sure enough, that was the headline to the San Francisco newspaper, accompanied by a very blurry picture of six figures in the dark apparently fighting some gang or something like that. As he read through the article, he paused when it mentioned their names. He knew Wonder Girl, Hawk, and Dove of course. He and Dick had fought together with them numerous times, though he didn’t really approve of the latter two, but there were three new names that he didn’t recognize. Beast Boy, Raven and Nightwing. With the information that he got from the emails Dick sent to Lucius, he deduced who Beast Boy and Raven were, leaving only Dick to be the one to take the last name.
“‘Nightwing’. Where did you get a name like that from?” Bruce wondered quietly to himself before skimming the article. A proud smile grew on his face when he read about the Titans success before he closed the paper and continued to finish his breakfast.