Title: On the Darker Side of Angels (Teen Titans)
Sequel to: SINKING INTO SLADE and A HERO'S REDEMPTION
Rating: PG-13 or T
Disclaimer: I own the words on this page and the USE of Troia in Teen Titans. Otherwise, I'm just borrowing from DC Comics.
Author's Note: It's the long awaited sequel to A HERO'S REDEMPTION! WHOO HOOO! And I couldn't resist: now that I've built up all this Slade stuff, the relationship with Troia and the Titans (especially Robin) and introduced a potentially LETHAL villain known as Dark Angel, this had to be done. It absolutely HAD TO. Contrary to how I was going to make this though, Troia's thing with Dark Angel is going to be a side story in this one, one half to a brilliant plot that hopefully will be cooking in my head for a few hours, and she's going to take a back seat to the hero we all know and love in the Teen Titan world, Robin. I realized that, even though I created this kick butt entrance for Donna, I sort of left Robin high and dry in the previous fic. Troia, whether as herself or Red X, took up about ¾ of the story last time, and I don't want to do that in this one. But her deal and Robin's WILL tie into each other, and I might be coerced into doing more than just 10 chappies this go around... Anyway, hopefully, you'll like what I've done with it, and what I have in store. Enjoy!

ONE YEAR LATER...

Silent, slightly chilly and damp, the cityscape of Gotham city was unsettling for those who prowled within its shadow, a sense of menace and violence hanging in the stillness, as if something was going to happen. Like the eye of a hurricane, the city was placid, a false sense of security falling upon its citizens, and while some were none the wiser about the coming storm, there were a few who were ready to combat it.

He was one of two really; to protect the skylines and highways of the area, and surf along byways made by rope instead of concrete, the wind whipping his face like a speeding car above the ground. Lightning fast, to his opponents he was a blur, his muscles taut and hard, like a black panther upon his prey and prone to some of the violence his second master was capable of. When out-muscled, he was the next greatest detective after the legendary Batman. He had to be: the Batman was his first mentor, and never accepted second best.

Skilled, no doubt, thanks to them both, he crouched above the Local Lutheran Church, watching, waiting, anticipating the signal of a disturbance before it escalated into all out war. The quiet made him nervous, made him think too much about personal affairs when he should be doing something more with his time. This wasn't the time or the place to wonder about what was to come or what should have happened, now, a year later, a year to come...

A sudden flash caught the corner of his eye, and he dived straight down into the street, righting himself halfway down and landing lightly on his feet like a cat. He tensed, sprang forward, and ran down the alleyway so fast, anyone would've thought Superman was taking a leisurely stroll at super speed if they bothered to watch.

He hadn't seen her coming.

She was fast, too fast, and through his V mask, he had a hard time tracking her movements, but instinct told him where to block and punch. A side kick was millimeters from connecting with his jaw, but he spun away at the last minute and heel kicked, his assailant blocking it with accuracy as his foot connected with metal.

Metal?

Flashes of images appeared in his head, and he smiled wide, recognizing why this "villain" seemed so familiar to him. He hadn't seen her in over a year, but he could tell, she'd gotten better. Way better. Almost as good as he was, but there was no comparison.

Troia couldn't hack it like he could.

He faked a right cross and went in with a left, catching her off guard. The blow sent her reeling into the side of a wall. Laughing, he held out a hand, and spoke. "Need a hand?"

"I almost had you."

"Donna, you weren't even close."

She accepted his grip, and he pulled her up, noticing details he hadn't seen before. Instead of her usual, red clad garb, it was replaced with a jumpsuit of black, starry outlines dotting everywhere and giving her an unearthly glow. A tight, sterling silver choke collar rested against her throat, star earrings in her ears, and her bracelets were new, engraved with stars and longer than the originals, now coming almost all the way down to her elbows. She was taller than she had been, shorter than him now by a few inches, and she had a more bright and cheery disposition that he hadn't seen in her before.

He was sure she was surprised to see him as well, now clad in a suit almost entirely of black, the outline of a great blue bird stretching from the middle of his chest to half way down his shoulders, the fowl's wingspan reaching to mid-bicep. His hair was no longer gelled; instead, it was shorter in the back, longer pieces falling in his eyes and over his new mask. A metallic utility belt rested on his waist, and the absence of his black and yellow cape made him look taller, stronger, more imposing. Metal gauntlets encircled his wrists, a token of the past, and he watched her smile sadly when she saw them.

"Looks like we both can't shake the past, huh?" She held up her wrists. "I got a pair of those too. Shackles. Just like he shackled us, right?"

He didn't want to think about it too much. Changing the subject, he gestured towards her, admiring her new uniform. "Nice clothes, Troia. I kind of miss the red and yellow though. And I keep wondering if you'd get lost on a starry night."

"Camouflage, my dear Richard. Camouflage." And she winked back at him, doing a once over with her eyes after. "And what about you? What am I going to call you now? Obviously you're not Robin anymore. By the way, nice digs yourself. Very macho. Compliments your abs a lot better than the red and green.

"Nightwing. You can call me Nightwing."

"I'll call you an idiot first. Why haven't you kept in touch with us?"

Us. Knowing full well who exactly she meant, he just shrugged, trying not to show regret. "I've been busy. Gotham doesn't protect itself when Batman and I aren't patrolling. And the new girl we've got, Batgirl? She's still a novice on cape and cowl duty. She can't hack it like we can."

Troia nodded, understanding. "You know that's a load of bull right?"

"Completely."

"Listen, Rich, this is probably the time where I'm supposed to go into one of those 'we need you' sort of speeches, but I'm going to cut to the chase." Her eyes subtly got harder, and she clenched a fist. Slade's back in town. This time though, he's different. There's no fun and games when it comes down to it. He's changed, and it's not for the better."

Slade. The name still enraged and enflamed his anger, even after all this time. "What's he done now?"

"For one, he's not... afraid, to kill."

Time stopped. "Kill?"

"When you left, about two months later, Cyborg calls me on my Titans communicator. They wanted me back, give me another start. He said that they had made a mistake, and they just needed time to cool down. They wanted me back and, since I was in Star City, visiting Ollie at the time, he encouraged me to go. So I did, and I was surprised as anyone to see a couple new faces with Starfire, Raven, Cy and Beast Boy. One of them was a boy about our age, maybe a little less. Jericho was his name. He was mute, thanks to some accident that we couldn't even guess at, and he had the power to jump from mind to mind, taking control of other people's powers. We never knew his history until Slade came into town."

Nightwing was concerned. "What happened?"

"Slade was Jericho's father and he... killed him. Something had slowly been happening to Joe, and we never knew until it was too late. He'd been inhabited from souls that were slowly driving him insane. He finally just ran straight towards Slade's blaster just to end his life. Slade... was so different after that. It was like he didn't have anything else left to lose. After Joe, he also killed Phase and Caracol, two recruits we gained from the H.I.V.E. Academy."

"Besides the Slade angle, what does this have to do with me? Why did you really come here, Troia?"

She sighed, most likely recognizing how sharp he really was and how well he knew her. "We want you back, Rich. Raven's been the leader for awhile now, but she's no you. The Titans need someone who can be someone they could look up to, someone who knows their strengths and weaknesses and can put them to good use. We need someone who can keep a relatively level head, and grace under fire. We need you, Nightwing. Now, more than ever. So the real question is, are you going to help? Or am I going to have to drag you back there kicking and screaming? What's it going to be?"

"I'm not in the Teen Titans business anymore, Donna. You know that as well as I do. Besides," he abruptly started jumping from wall to wall, back, forth and upwards until he was out of sight, landing on the roof of a drycleaner's office, "Gotham's my hometown now."

His legs were running now, running away from his problems, running away from his past, but sooner than later, he felt a smaller, built frame keeping pace. "You can't run from your responsibilities, Rich."

"Watch me," he muttered, bounding from rooftop to rooftop in the blink of an eye. "I can run as fast as my legs can take me."

"You're not doing me any favors, besides helping me lose those 300 cals I ate for lunch."

They leapt to the church roof, and he kick-flipped off the cross, landing behind her and running in the other direction, back the way they came. "I'm not going back. Gotham needs me. Go back to the Titans, Troia, before--"

His foot caught in a weak patch on the roof, throwing him momentarily off-balance. It was just enough to halt his smooth stride. He fell.

Then, he wasn't falling, secure in a pair of arms and enhanced with training and superstrength, and levitating thirty feet off the ground. Groaning, Nightwing shook his head and laughed hoarsely. "You love playing the hero, don't you?"

Troia looked down at him with those blue-on-blue eyes of hers and smiled back, using her flight to lower him down to the ground. "It's what I do to get over the past, and what I can do to be a team player. This isn't just about you and the past, Boy Wonder. I'm not the only one who misses you, you know. "

"The Titans, huh?" said the teen, musing. "I haven't thought about the team in a year."

"We need you, Robin."

"Haven't been called that in so long either."

"Come back to the Titans. Be Robin again."

"Do you know how much that would screw everything up? If I went back to being Robin again? It's like you dawning the red and yellow again, Donna. Dammit, I've spent the last year trying to shake off what the hell happened to me, and now you want me to come back and act like it never happened."

She pursed her lips, but refused. "I never said--"

"You didn't have to. I can read between the lines."

"You know, for someone who was trained by the legendary Batman, you sure are a dumbass right now."

"I couldn't agree more," commented a harsh voice above them, the figure wrapped in shadow. "I thought I taught you better than that."

First it was Troia, and now it was Batman? The man was threatening, leering over them like God himself, the cowl hiding most of his eyes. A black emblem of a bat graced his chest, the packed, taut muscles adding to the menacing, cold image that struck fear into the criminals he brought in. He fixed cold, ice blue eyes on his adopted son, his face fixed and unyielding, judging him and his friend with a glance before he continued. "Gotham can handle itself for a few nights. Go with Troia."

"What?" Nightwing couldn't believe it. "What did you say?"

"You heard me. Go with her. Lead the Titans against Slade."

"That's the last thing I ever want to--"

"Do it. That's an order."

"From you?" Clearly, Bruce was off his rocker. "Since when do I--"

"Since I raised you to be my son, and my partner."

"But I--"

"Go."

Sighing and irritated, he argued, against it. "NO!"

"You can't run from what you fear, Robin. If you did, then you would be afraid of it for the rest of your life. Besides, I know there are a few things you need to settle with Slade. What he did to you was twisted, insane and sick. You say you've tried to get over it, but you haven't. I can tell: all you do is bury yourself in patrols, keeping yourself busy and distract yourself. You think it'll all vanish, like it never happened, if you work hard enough to forget it. The question is, is it working?"

Damn him and his logic! Damn him and his commonsensical mind! Inwardly cursing, the younger protégé gritted his teeth and growled, "FINE."

Troia glanced up at the masked detective above her. "Thanks, Bruce." She started flying off, and smiled when she glanced back, knowing exactly what he was going to ask as she did so. "Don't worry: I'm torture resilient, so no one will ever know. And by the way, you have Diana to thank for the I.D. There's not a whole lot that we keep to ourselves, being sisters and all."

"Diana told you?"

"Yes. And if you break her heart, rich boy, I'll break your legs."

Batman smiled, amused. "No doubt."

"You coming, Nightwing?"

"Yeah, I'm coming," he grumbled, and held up his hands. Within a few seconds, she gripped them and they lifted off, away from Gotham and onward towards Jump City, home of the Teen Titans.

The Batman watched them leave and shook his head, replaying the conversation in his mind before heading straight to his Batmobile a few streets away. He'd be damned if he didn't feel like a proud father at that moment. It was time for Rich to face his fears, and he had to do it without him, and without Gotham. Now, he was finally ready to do just that, even if he couldn't see it.

He smiled, and whispered, "good luck" before slipping into the night, like a shadow on a new moon night. He still had work to do.