Here's the new roster: Damian Wayne (Robin), Iris West (Impulse), Lian Harper (Arsenal; Mia's still Speedy), Maxine Baker (Fauna), Milagro Reyes (Green Lantern), Chris Kent (Superboy; Conner gave him the name and now has a new one), Sin Lance (Jade Canary) and Jai West (Jai has no superpowers, according to Flash: Rebirth).

Damian is about 17 here. In this universe, Dick went back to Nightwing but Stephanie is still Batgirl. Also Lian Harper never died (although that story is not entirely retconned and might be addressed), and Chris Kent's out of the Phantom Zone (obviously). And as I mentioned, Milagro is a Green Lantern. Other than that, there aren't any major changes to canon.

Chapter One: Silent ones

"Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones?
Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men?
No, in your heart you plot injustice.
You measure out the violence of your hands in the earth.
The wicked go astray from the womb.
They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
Their poison is like the poison of a snake;
like a deaf cobra that stops its ear,
which doesn't listen to the voice of charmers,
no matter how skillful the charmer may be.
Break their teeth, God, in their mouth.
Break out the great teeth of the young lions, LORD.
Let them vanish as water that flows away.
When they draw the bow, let their arrows be made blunt.
Let them be like a snail which melts and passes away,
like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun.
Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns,
he will sweep away the green and the burning alike.
The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance.
He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;
so that men shall say, "Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous.
Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth."
-Psalm 58

"This is dumb."

"No, you're dumb. This is very easy."

"Oh, shut up, Damian. We can't all be as smart as you."

Damian almost shrugged, his irritated expression melting into a smug smirk. "True," he said.

"I don't understand. What's the point of this, again?"

"The point," Milagro responded, leaning back in her seat, "is to win."

"Yes, thanks Milly," replied Sin, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "I understood that much."

"The point is to buy a lot of houses and hotels and stuff," answered Iris, immediately beside Sin instead of Damian. "So that you own the most stuff. So you have a monopoly. Get it?"

Sin frowned. "What's a monopoly?"

"A monopoly," Jai replied, "is the exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service."

"Thanks, Jai," she said, something like a blush entering her cheeks. "That makes sense."

Jai replied with a shy smile. "You're welcome."

Milagro made a faux-retching sound. Iris punched her in the shoulder then sat down with Damian again, leaning against him, one hand curled around his arm.

Chris blinked. "This is all too complicated for me," he said. "I'll make some more popcorn."

"Oh, I want some!" said Maxine, her eyes lighting up from behind her pile of Monopoly Money.

"I'll make enough for everyone," replied Chris, heading towards the kitchen of Titans Tower.

"Hey, banker," said Lian, turning to Jai. "I need another hotel."

"That'll be one hundred Monopoly Moneys."

"Isn't it Monopoly Dollars?" asked Iris.

"I'm pretty sure it's Moneys," Jai replied. "Otherwise that'd be alienating foreign currencies. Right?"

"No," said Damian, moving his battleship forward six spaces. "As I recall, in England they were Monopoly Pounds."

Iris looked at Damian skeptically. "You really played Monopoly when you lived in England?"

"It happens to be an extremely educational game, in terms of economic management," he replied coolly.

"So that's why you're winning," said Lian, her eyes narrowed. "I bet they taught you all the best ways to cheat."

"Yes," he replied mildly, "essentially. However I haven't actually had to cheat in this game, because all of you are so bad at it."

"I don't know," said Sin fairly. "Maxine's doing really well."

Maxine smiled. "We had family game night every Friday at my house," she said, her little face turning pink. "I've had a lot of practice."

"Not for long, Baker," said Damian, pointing at his eyes and then to hers. "Your family's assets will soon be mine."

She giggled. Iris laughed and put an arm around Damian's shoulders. "You're terrifying, Dami."

"I learned from the best."

Chris returned, multiple bowls of popcorn floating around him. "Popcorn!" he said brightly. "I hope I made enough."

"Thanks, Chris," said Milagro, taking a bowl. "This is more than enough."

"Pft, you're forgetting about the West twins over here," said Lian. "Nothing is enough for them."
Jai and Iris shrugged simultaneously, both reaching for a bowl of their own. "I can't deny that one," said Iris.

"Nope, me neither," added her brother. "Besides, you guys have nothing to complain about. You should see our house on Thanksgiving. Right, Damian?"

"I can attest to that," said Damian, nodding. "It's a nightmare, a whirlwind of food and endless consumption. I wonder how your poor mother does it."

"I am actually like eighty percent positive our mom is half Amazon," said Jai seriously. "It would explain everything. Including how Irey and I are so badass, considering how our dad is the punching bag of the JLA."

"Oh, no," said Milagro, rolling her eyes. "See, you're forgetting about my brother. But that's okay. Everyone always forgets about my brother."

"Is your brother even in the Justice League anymore?" asked Chris.

"Yep," replied Milagro. "He definitely is."

"I don't think my dad's in the Justice League," said Maxine, thinking hard.

"He's reserve," said Damian, picking up a card from Community Chest. "I've read the file. He seems very capable."

"He is," replied Maxine, sounding pleased.

"Wait," said Lian, raising an eyebrow at Damian. "You've read our files?"

"Your parent's files," answered Damian, his mouth full of popcorn. "Or other such relation, as it is," he added, nodding at Milagro. "Don't worry, there was nothing extremely groundbreaking. I think Batman insinuates he knows so much more than he does, and that's really what scares people." He paused, then added, "But that doesn't leave this room."

"Sometimes I wonder why your dad even lets you hang out with us at all," said Iris, laying her head on his shoulder. "You always spill all his secrets when you're here."

Damian turned, and their lips touched in a short kiss. "Where else do I get to gossip about my own family?" he asked her, a smirk playing on his lips. "He's got the whole damn Manor tapped."

"Really?" asked Iris, raising an eyebrow. "The whole thing?"

"Well," Damian murmured in reply, "we could probably find some place…"

"Dude," said Jai loudly, interrupting their flirting. He stared at Damian, half incredulously, half disgusted. "That's my sister."

Iris giggled and threw a handful of popcorn at her brother. "Hush. We're just kidding around."

"Yeah right," said Lian, rolling her eyes. "You guys are like the new Starfire and Nightwing of the Titans."

Damian's eyebrow arched elegantly. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're the sexiest," said Milagro, sounding amused. "It also means that Iris needs to wear fewer clothes, and Damian, you've got to be like at least ten times more fabulous."

"Iris wears enough clothes as is, thank you," said Jai defensively. "If you ask me, Starfire shows a little too much for her own good."

"Well, I don't know," said Maxine fairly. "She's really, really nice. I don't really think it matters what she wears, as long as she's still so nice."

"Yeah," said Sin, slightly protectively. "A lady superhero can wear whatever she wants, Jai. Don't judge."

"Right," said Jai, almost rolling his eyes. "What do you think, Chris?"

Chris blinked, looking around at them all. "Well, gee..." he began. "I don't actually know who this Starfire is, so I'm not quite fit to judge on that. And I wasn't aware of any necessary degree of, um, fabulousness when I was Nightwing, so..."

"Oh, yeah," said Milagro. "You were Nightwing. I always forget that."

"Me too," added Sin, sounding a little ashamed.

"I think we all do, sometimes," said Damian, with a grave finality. "We apologize, Chris. Will you forgive us?"

Chris shrugged. "What for?" he asked, smiling graciously. "Now come on – whose turn is it?"

It was dark, and the rest of the Titans were gone. Chris and Maxine headed back home. Damian knew that Maxine spent most nights at home because she was still pretty young and her parents worried if she was away from home for too long, and that Chris had accompanied her back and then headed out to spend some time with his folks. It was likely that he'd be gone for the rest of the weekend. Lian and Sin both slept at the Tower; initially, Lian's father had insisted she split her time between the Titans and home on the weekends, but she'd worn him down eventually. Milagro was also asleep at the Tower, but ready to be woken at any moment in the event of a crisis: a Green Lantern's duty never ceased. Jai was in his room, which was bigger and filled with more tech than the others' – as well as right next to Iris's room. Which slightly irritated Damian, but not too much because he had his own floor to himself. Milagro still occasionally teased him about how antisocial that was, but he'd learned to ignore her long ago.

Damian and Iris were alone on his deck, locked in an embrace, their mouths colliding. She pulled away slightly, and he moved his mouth to her neck, kissing her gently there. "Damian?" she breathed, her arms tightly around his back.

"Mmm?" he replied, his teeth gently pressed against her skin, his mouth stretching slightly into a grin.

She took a deep, shuddering breath and then asked, "Will you check me?"

Damian stopped and abruptly pulled away.

She smiled sweetly at him. "Please?"

He let out a disappointed sigh, then got up. "Of course," he said. "But I didn't feel anything."

"You never do," she said cheerfully, watching as he knelt down and pulled some equipment off of a shelf. "Not until I phase out, that is."

"That's only happened once."

"It's happened three times now," she reminded him pointedly. "I've been counting."

He wrapped a band around her upper arm, not unlike one to measure blood pressure. "Yes, well," he muttered, pressing two fingers to her inner wrist, "you've only gone through me once."

She snorted. "Yeah, and that was romantic. You could've exploded."

"I didn't."

"I'd never let anything bad happen to you, baby." She reached up and kissed his lips. He didn't even change his long-suffering expression. "I'd never hurt you."

"Whatever you say," he sighed, watching a clock. "Shouldn't your brother be doing this?"

"I felt fine when he went to bed," she said, as the gadget attached to her armband beeped and Damian let go of her wrist. "But, I mean...you know I can't help it when I'm around you."

She smiled at him, and Damian almost rolled his eyes, then took a look at the machine hooked up to her armband. "Yeah," he said. "You're moving."

"How much?"

"Almost ten yoctometers," he answered. "That's why I can't feel it. Your subatomic particles are speeding up."

She sank into the soft loveseat. "That's not too much, is it?"

"No, not much at all," he replied, sitting down beside her, an arm around her shoulders. "But you should be able to control it."

"I can control it," she said defensively. "It just takes so much concentration."

"Exactly," he said, nodding his head. "Which is what makes this so dangerous."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Makes what dangerous?"

"You know," he continued, shrugging slightly. "Us. Together like this."

She looked at him carefully for a moment, something almost like pity in her eyes. Then she pulled him close, leaning her head on his chest. "There's nothing dangerous about a boy and a girl falling in love," she said quietly.

He actually laughed. "Oh, Irey," he said, pulling away from her slightly. He pointed at himself. "Son of the Batman." He pointed at her. "Daughter of the Flash." Motioning to the room at large, he said, "Crime-fighting team of teenage superheroes." He almost smirked. "We're the definition of dangerous."

"But if you forget about all that for a second-"

"Shush." He put a finger to her lips. "Second of all," he continued, "you know your speed is triggered when you're – stimulated..."

"You mean horny," she said, batting his hand away. "You can just say it, Damian. Horny. It's not a dirty word."

"Classy as ever, my darling."

"Oh, you love me."

"I don't know why," he said, with a knowing smile. And then he picked up the handheld machine again and held out his hand. She offered her wrist, and Damian said, "Alright. Deep breaths. Focus." After a moment, he asked, "Can you feel it?"

Her eyes closed, she said, "Yeah. I feel it."

He glanced at the reading, then looked up. "You're fine," he said. "Your body's functioning at normal speed. Now it's just your brain that's going extra fast."

She wrapped her arms around his chest. "Does this mean I have to go to bed now?"

"Well..." he began, but just at that moment a familiar beeping sound came from the communicator on the table before them. They both looked at it, then at each other, then Damian leaned forward to grab it, despite Iris trying to hold him down tightly.

"Dami..." she whined, as he hit a button.

Damian's face darkened as he answered, "Robin." A pause, and then, "I thought Batgirl was covering," he said. Iris pulled away slightly. "Well, wasn't Red Robin supposed to be back by now?" He rubbed his temple, clearly upset. He lowered his voice slightly, continuing, "I asked for this, Dick. I asked for one night. It's not my responsibility to pick up their-" he stopped abruptly. Then, sounding irritated he said, "Alright, alright. I get it. I'm on my way."

He closed the communicator and stood up. He looked at her and she said, "Yeah, I know. Sorry about keeping you up today. If I'd had known you'd be on patrol tonight, I'd've at least insisted you take a nap or something."

"I appreciate the thought," he said, pulling a clean uniform out of his closet and stripping off his civilian clothes. Iris smirked slightly. "I'd stay if I could."

"Oh, I know you would," she said sounding amused, watching him tug on his uniform, the armored material clinging to his slim body. "Think you'll be back tomorrow?"

"Hopefully," he answered, putting on his boots. "It's not like you really need me, though."

"Well," said Iris fairly. "I kind of like having you around."

He didn't look at her, but she could see the smile on his face.

"I'll give the team your love," she added, as he finished lacing his boots and pulled on his gloves. "I'll call you."

"Not on patrol again," he replied. "I got in trouble for that."

"If you could encrypt your commlinks right then nobody would have known."

"You asked me what I was wearing."

With a straight face, she asked, "So?"

He shook his head at her. "Batman was right there."

She giggled. "Worth it." He clipped his utility belt around his waist and she asked, "So what's the emergency tonight, Robin?"

"Breakout at Arkham," he answered. "The usual."

"And Papa Bats can't just take care of it?"

"My father's off planet right now," he said. "Which your father knows."

"Hey, my dad doesn't tell me everything," she replied. "So Nightwing's on duty tonight?"

"Nightwing and me, apparently." He headed towards the garage. "I'll see you later, Iris."

She reached out and caught him by the arm. "Wait," she said, and she kissed him on the lips.

For a long moment, they stood there. Damian circled her arms around her waist, and she ran her fingers through his hair as she kissed him deeply.

And then they broke apart. Their eyes met for a moment, and they both heard the words they didn't have to say.

"Stay safe," she said quietly, smoothing his collar. He bowed his head slightly.

"For you, beloved," he said, and then he turned and swept away, to the Batplane in the garage. Iris lingered there without him for a moment longer, then headed upstairs to her own bedroom.

She walked slowly, concentrating on keeping herself slow. Her powers had always been weird – rapidly aging on an alternate Earth does that to you – but lately they'd been acting stranger than ever. She and her brother had only just succeeded in convincing their parents to let him spend his weekends at the Tower with her. His power were gone, his link to the Speed Force siphoned by Iris years ago. But he was the world's leading expert in xenotechnology, after their mother, and Iris wasn't about to get her teenage-superheroing license revoked by her parents just because her powers started going a little freaky. Jai spent his time monitoring his sister, running tests on her, trying to stabilize her. Her body naturally wanted to speed up, but she could hold herself back, if she just focused enough. But, like her father, she found it difficult to concentrate when her mind was speeding on ahead.

Her attention entirely on trying to keep herself still, she didn't notice someone step out of the shadows as she headed to her room. A hand brushed against her arm and she jumped, loosing concentration, flickering slightly as her movement spiked, then Her slowly calmed again. "Jeez, Lian," said Iris, looking at the other girl. "You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry," said Lian, a smile on her face. "I heard somebody coming up, I didn't know it was you. Where's Damian?"

"He had to leave," replied Iris, shaking her head slightly. "You know, Gotham emergency and all."

"Oh," said Lian insincerely. "That's too bad."

"Right," said Iris, Lian's infectious grin spreading to her own mouth. "You seem real cut up about it."

Lian shrugged unabashedly. "I don't like him, Irey," she said. "You know that."

"If you just tried to get to know him-"

"I'd find out he's even more of a jerk than I thought?"

"No," said Iris defensively. "He's complicated."

"He's arrogant."

"You just don't like people."

"I like a lot of people."

"You just don't like the people I like."

Lian considered this for a moment, then shrugged. "That's probably close enough to the truth." Then she tugged Iris down the hall gently. "Now come on. Get to sleep. Back to our day jobs tomorrow."

Iris laughed quietly. "This is the life, isn't it?" she asked. "We're Teen Titans. How cool is that?"

Lian's scrutinized her friend softly, then said, "Pretty cool."

They reached Iris's room, and she thumbed the keypad to open the door. "Well," she began, yawning. "Sweet dreams. Love you, goodnight."

The door closed. It was silent in the dark hallway. Lian took a deep breath and then reached out, touching the keypad where the other girl's fingers had been and, so quietly, she murmured, "...I love you too, Iris."

Gotham City, when Damian arrived, was quiet. Unlike he supposed it should have been, considering how Arkham had just had yet another breakout. The place was useless.

He met Dick in the Bunker. Now that he was working with his father, they generally worked out of the Cave, but Dick didn't like going all the way out there. He said it was too far away from the real city, where they needed to be. Damian understood this, but he thought it was better to stay a little removed from the rest of the population. The Manor provided more room for thought, unclouded by the grime and infection of the inner city.

But it was there Dick asked to meet him, and Damian obliged, running his bike into the Bunker. "Grayson!" he called, pulling off his helmet. "I'm here!"

Dick's voice returned the call. "Damian! Good timing." Damian headed up to the computer, where Dick was standing, in his bright red Nightwing suit, with Alfred. It had been a few years since Dick went back to Nightwing, but Damian still didn't like the red suit. Red didn't suit him, not like the blue used to.

Alfred held out a platter of biscuits. Damian took one. "So who is it? Joker? Two Face?" Damian grimaced and asked, "Professor Pyg?"

"No," replied Dick, "thank God."
"Then who?" he asked. "What have we got here?"

Dick typed a few words into the computer, and a familiar file appeared on the screen. "Mister Zsasz," he said gravely. "Huntress has been alerted, but she's only taking defensive measures. Batgirl was sent out to engage about twenty minutes ago-"

"Batgirl?" asked Damian. "Did you send her out?"

Dick seemed a little taken aback at his aggression. "Yeah, I did-"

"You idiot, no," he groaned, then he grabbed the headphones from the control panel, and brought the mouthpiece to his lips. "Batgirl, do you copy? Do not engage, do not go after him alone, what's your location, I'm coming to join you." There was silence on the other end. "Stephanie!" he said. "Steph, can you hear me?"

Nothing.

Damian looked at Dick, then headed back to his bike. "I'll get her."

"I'll go after Zsasz."

"No," said Damian, turning back to him. "You'll wait."

"I think I can handle-"

"It doesn't matter," said Damian. "Wait for me."

"I don't think-"

Damian's bike revved, and he took off.

Dick sighed, unable to keep a grin on his face. "Kids," he said fondly, glancing at Alfred. "They grow up so fast."

Stephanie's tracking signal led Damian to a richer part of the inner city, the kind of place your average psychopaths usually avoided. He stopped the bike. It was dark and silent; he turned the infrared on his mask on and glanced around. Nothing. No Batgirl.

He stood on the exact location where Stephanie's signal had led him. He turned off infrared and peered down at the ground. A small chip lay there, clearly having been torn out of a costume. His body tensed, and just as he raised his head to look around again, something hit him squarely in the torso, bowling him over. Without even needing to see his attacker, he countered with a firm kick to the chest, knocking whoever it was off of him.

He got to his feet, taking a deep breath. He felt a stinging pain on his side, and met the gaze of his attacker. "Zsasz," he said.

"What a pleasure it will be," hissed the man. "To carve up your pretty little body."

"What did you do to Batgirl?" demanded Damian.

Zsasz only grinned and lunged forward again; Damian dodged and flipped, a move Dick had taught him, and then his legs curled around Zsasz's arms, immobilizing him, and his arms were around Zsasz's neck; a slight shift, and he could break his neck. "Where – is – Batgirl?"

The scarred man slipped a knife out of his sleeve and plunged it into Damian's ankle. Damian let out a little grunt of pain, and Zsasz took advantage of his moment of weakness to throw the boy off of him, and instantly his knee was on Damian's chest, pushing down hard. Damian felt a rib crack, and he coughed, and then the weight was gone, but it wasn't. Zsasz was no longer on top of him, but there were two new wounds down his sides, and they were deep, and Damian was bleeding and his chest felt like it had caved in and –

Damian stood up. "Stupid, stupid…" he muttered under his breath, cursing himself. He glanced around him, then spotted Zsasz on the rooftops above him. Ignoring his pain, he scaled a building, keeping the other man within sight. "Nightwing, come in," he said into his commlink, pulling something out of his utility belt. "I'm tailing Zsasz but I need serious back-up, repeat, I need back-up…"

There was no answer. Damian let out a frustrated sigh, then threw the line he'd pulled out of his belt; it caught Zsasz's leg as he leapt from the ledge, but then it dug into an open wound on Damian's hand and he flinched and the line tugged, and suddenly he fumbled his grip, his eyes went wide and he dived but – but he couldn't –

Suddenly, every wound on his body exploded with pain, and his throat felt full of blood, muffling his cries, and then sweet, slow relief as the pain trickled away from him, leached away by the darkness as his eyes slowly closed, and he grew still.