Notes: A new story in the Teen Titans Age Reverse universe. I also ended up age reversing the Wilson Clan so Jericho's around Dick's age and I placed Rose between Jason and Tim - although closer to Jason than she probably is in canon. This one reveals how Dick knew who Red X was (something which Jason didn't realise until he found out about Rose). I'm not completely happy with this one but, it's still good.

TTAR - Rose Wilson and the Bat Clan

Ages:

Rose Wilson (Ravager), 19

Jason Todd (Red X), 18

Dick Grayson (Robin), 16

Dick fingered the stylised, silver 's' on his chest. It felt like a knife, stabbed right through where Robin had been. Cold, sharp, dangerous and slowly killing him. It was a snake, slowly strangling him.

This is why his older brothers had been so against him being a hero. Situations like this, where his life and the lives of others relied so strongly on his choices.

Dick didn't feel like Robin. He felt like a beaten and scared child and he hated it.

He breathed deeply. In. Out. In. Out. He could do this.

"So you're daddy's new apprentice," a voice said from the shadows. It was female and annoyed. Dick turned to face the stranger and was surprised to see a lithe, blond-almost-white haired woman walk out of the shadows.

Her walk was very similar to Slade's and Dick held back a shudder.

"Who are you?" he asked, his voice stressed but not unkind.

"Rose Wilson," she responded with a smirk. She was wearing a black eyepatch so he could only see one blue eye. "Daughter of Slade Wilson."

"Slade?" Dick gaped. Slade had a daughter? "Why aren't you his apprentice then?"

Her lips parted in a surprised manner before she smirked.

"Well, well. A mean streak. No wonder dad was soooo interested in you."

Dick's eyebrows raised as he noted the uncaring tone in his voice.

"You don't like him?" he guessed.

She snorted.

"Course not! He's so focused on his job, there's no time for anything or anyone else outside of it. I agreed to help him before I realised what it meant because I wanted my father in my life." She sounded bitter and hateful. But her words struck a chord with Dick.

The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them;

"Then, do you want to join the Teen Titans?"

Rose started and stared at him.

"Are you serious?" she laughed. "Have ya looked at yourself?" Dick felt a few inches tall. "You're asking me to join the Titans when both of us are workin' for Slade? Come on, once you're workin' for dad, there's no going back."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Dick countered with nothing but hope. He had to hope, otherwise, he would break.

It was over. The probes had been destroyed and Slade's hideout was in ruins. It was evening when a kid in a blue hoodie snuck under the Teen Titan's police tape and into the remains. It was a long shot but he was hoping she was here.

Once he was inside and out of sight, a sword pressed to the back of his neck. Dick didn't think he would be so happy to feel deadly metal press against him.

"You're here," he said, relieved.

"Robin?" Rose realised, lowering her rapier. "What are you doing here?"

Dick turned to face her and wondered if she could see the colour of his eyes in this darkness.

"I was serious. Want to join the Teen Titans?" Rose frowned at him. "You wouldn't be here if you hadn't be hoping I would come back for you."

"I'm not Titan material," Rose said. "I'm nineteen, so not going to be 'teen' much longer. Plus I'm a criminal and the daughter of Slade, your worst enemy."

"So?" Dick responded with. "That's your father. That's not you."

"Why are you so intent on this?"

"We all need second chances." Rose gave a disbelieving snort which made Dick decide to tell her the truth. He could keep names out of it and telling the truth was the only chance he had. "Fine. You remind me of my oldest brother, although I don't know for certain if he considers me to be his younger brother. Anyway, he was raised as an assassin under his mother's guidance. When his father found out about him, he took custody or something like that." Dick shrugged. "I wasn't given the whole story. What I was told was that my oldest brother tried hard to get his father's attention. Really hard. But he was convinced he couldn't change who he was, who his mother had raised him to be.

"Would you believe he grew up to be a hero? Someone I admire?" Dick asked her. "All it took was a friend. As he tells it, his friend was a tough little orphan with red hair. He's not so little now.

"I want to be your friend. Besides, I think you might hate Slade more than I do," Dick smirked.

Rose thought about it. She had heard of 'Son of the Bat' and wondered if he was the one Robin was talking about. If a guy like that, son of Al Ghul and heir to the League of Assassins could try, could she?

"What do you have to lose?" Dick asked. "And don't say your life, please. You could lose that at any time in this line of work."

A smile grew on Rose's face at that comment.

"How did your brother do it?" she asked Dick. "Because, sorry but, I'm not interested in playing nice with your friends."

Dick thought about that for a moment.

"He worked as his father's agent. Did the stealthy, undercover stuff using the skills his mother taught him."

Rose considered that for a moment. This was almost like a game of chess. He tested her and she tested him. Each considered their answers carefully for fear of losing the conversation (and each other).

"So, kid," she said, because it was obvious that Robin was a few years younger than her, "need an agent?"

Rose almost snorted at the angry little email Robin had sent her. She could practically feel his irritation coming off in waves.

At its core, what had happened was simple. Someone had stolen Robin's Red X suit. The thief had taunted Robin with the suit and it had all ended in an anticlimactic battle where the new Red X saved Robin's life and vanished into the sunset. Free and still in possession of his prize, much to Robin's annoyance.

Rose was impressed with this guy. It made her mission more interesting. Her job was to locate him since Robin was certain he hadn't left Jump City.

It was interesting to work with Robin as well. He had somehow managed to isolate an area for her to search.

Rose Wilson smirked as she pulled on her cowl and black and orange armour. She carried a sword as her main weapon, although her hand-to-hand skills were advanced. They had only let her down when she fought her father or Robin. Maybe a few other times too but she didn't dwell on those. They weren't her father or a kid younger than her.

"Okay, Red X," she thought out loud, "let's see how well you can hide."

Red X was good at hiding. She was better at searching. Even so, it took three days to track the villain and thief to his place of residence. Her mission was to arrest him or pass the information to the Teen Titans so they could.

Ravager hunted him down silently from the shadows. This Red X must have had some training as he had almost sensed her a few times. It was a rush, hunting this guy.

"Oh, wow," she commented when he pulled off the mask and dark top of his uniform. The full-face mask pulled up his hair so that spiked up in all directions. His chest was light and scarred. She couldn't see the colour of his eyes but without the black fabric, his appearance and motions reminded her of Robin.

She snapped a picture with her phone and sent it to Robin with a caption commenting, 'know this guy? He reminds me of you.'

Her phone rang a moment later.

"Stand down," Robin ordered, "leave Red X alone."

"Wow, Spikey, what brought on the change?" she questioned, more than a little surprised at the change. It was almost a complete 180 flip from earlier.

"Just leave him alone. He's mine to deal with."

Ah, backstory. She thought that had a habit of making things messier than they needed to be.

"I could just get rid of him now. Problem solved?" she suggested.

"No. Leave. Him. Alone," and with that said, Robin hung up.

Ravager stared at the call log. Barely thirty seconds of chat. She looked from the log to Red X and then back to the log.

"Nah," she decided, shoving her phone back into her pocket. If Spikey thought she was going to leave this alone now well, he was about to learn what it really meant to work with an older mercenary gal.

In all her study of Red X before that moment, she learnt that he conned his way into pubs and clubs. She joined him that evening.

His name was Jay and he was pretty cool. A year younger than her but, he liked drinking and beating up bad guys. He didn't figure out who she was or her connection to Robin.

He also had an impressive collection of weapons.

A woman with long white hair walked into the bar and up to the counter. She ordered a drink, showed her fake ID and scanned the crowds.

Sitting towards the back in an empty booth was someone with black hair and a familiar white streak in his fringe.

"Jay," she greeted slipping into his booth.

Jason Todd raised his head from his arms and glare at her. The eighteen year old was not old enough to be drinking what he was drinking. Rose considered it a public service to snatch his drink from him.

"Rose," he drawled.

"What's up?" she chirped, well aware that she bothering him and finding a kind of joy from that.

"Did he send you?" Jason's eyes narrowed.

"Which he?" Rose asked with an innocent smile. Jason knew better than to believe it. This was Rose Wilson, Ravager, who somehow became friends with his little brother. They probably united over mutual hate for her father, the 'villainous' Slade but they wouldn't admit it.

"You know, dark hair, wears a mask and asks you to spy on me."

"Actually, he only asked me to help confirm your identity and give you a message that one time."

"Really? So turning up the next day to tell me that the Teen Titans were in trouble and asking me to help them out?"

She smiled and shrugged, leaning back in the booth as she did so.

"He hadn't paid me yet. And I doubt he put it in his will."