Author's Note: This is a story I started a while back and just now finished. It's something I've meant to do for a while now. Basically my other fic "Brightest Day: New Justice" didnt quite turn out as planned. Originally when I wrote that, I did it as a chhallege to myself to see if I could write a story that adhered to DC's rigid continuity. If I actually wrote for the company. Turns out its harder than I imagined. So this is more or less a reboot of that fic. Hope you guys like it.
A couple days had passed since Tim Drake's return as Damian Wayne sat in the Batcave sulking. Since his brother's departure, Damian in short order found himself as A. the newest Robin, B. promoted to being Batman's sidekick, C. promoted again to the Teen Titans to help 'lead' them, and D. demoted back to sidekick in less than a year's time. His tenure with the Titans was even briefer due to the fact that, well...they couldnt stand him. In truth Damian was never admitted to the Titans to 'lead' them, Dick just thought it was a good idea at the time for him to be with other heroes. Something Damian resented greatly, he wasnt even the same age as them. He was ten, they were all five years older than him at least. And they were all imbicles he thought. Couldnt work together if they tried. They're leader was an incompetent idiot that was too busy either fawning over Superboy or getting them killed. He wished he was exaggerating but that Wonder Girl was hopeless. The only one worse than her, if that was possible was Beast Boy who was only there to impress Raven. What made it worse is that everyone knew. It was a fucking disaster! He was the only one capable of leading them, but none of them ever listened to him! How the hell Dick managed to lead them was beyond his comprehension. Well, whatever he was glad to be rid of those losers. Let them be Tim's headache. They're only doing themselves a favor by removing themselves from the gene pool of life. Idiots, fucking idiots made his head numb.
It was this time that Dick descended the staircase in his costume with the cowl pulled back, and stopped on the last step.
"Hey." he said to Damian's back.
"Hey." he muttered.
"You all right?" Dick asked.
"Why would I not be all right Grayson?" he answered venomously.
"Look, I've been thinking..." he started.
"Heh. That's a suprise." Damian replied caliously. Dick narrowed his eyes at the Boy Wonder and continued.
"I've been thinking about your placement on the Titans. That wasnt really the right decision." he stated.
"You think?" Damian asked.
"Will you let me finish? I was thinking about how the chemistry was all wrong. I wanted you on the Titans becuase you need friends you can trust." Dick told him.
"I got you, dont I?" he asked more as a question than a flippant comeback.
"But I wont always be around." he added. Damian raised an eyebrow as he looked back at his mentor from the table.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I'm not always going to be here. Someday hopefully when Bruce is finished with all this other business he'll be back in the cape and cowl. What I'm saying Damian is that I cant be your only friend in the world. Because if something happens to me, who else will you turn to?" he asked.
Damian looked away crestfallen. It was bad enough his own father was away, he didnt want to... he didnt want to think about losing the only other person he mildly accepted.
"Damian most kids have friends thier own age. Someone they can grow up with and be friends with for life. Not someone 15 years they're senior, and I'm worried that if you dont start interacting with others your going to be very lonely and that isnt something I'll accept. Dont you know any other kids your own age?" Dick asked.
"Well there is this one kid named Colin. But he doesnt really count." Damian muttered.
"Why is that?" he asked. Damian shook his head.
"Cuz he's not a hero and he's lame." he muttered turning back around.
"Damian your really going to have to lower your expectations of people. No wonder why nobody likes you." he said rubbing his brow in frustration. Damian scoffed and whipped back around.
"It's not like I need friends anyway. I'm Robin, that's all that matters." he defended.
"That is not all that matters. And I'm going to show it to you." he said with resolve.
"What are you talking about?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
"Change out of your costume, we're going to the park." he told him.
A half hour later the pair arrived at the local city park, Damian sat scowling at him on a swing while a Happy Meal box lay on the park bench next to his mentor.
"What am I doing here?" he demanded.
"Your playing, kick your feet back and swing forth." Dick told him. The boy scoffed and muttered something unintelligible and did as he was told. The swingset squeaked as he swung back and forth slightly just barely leaving the ground with the same disgusted look on his face.
"Alfred will you give him a push?" Dick asked.
"Very well sir, you know Master Damian most children enjoy the swing." Alfred said pulling him back and pushing him.
"Yeah well I'm not most children Alfred." he muttered.
"Dont I know it?" he said rolling his eyes.
"So what's the point of this Grayson?" Damian demanded.
"We're going to teach you how to be a kid. Why dont I show you how it's done?" he asked getting up grabbed the seat before pushing Damian forward and rushing under it.
The Boy Wonder yelled as he sailed through the air higher than ever all the while cursing at his mentor.
"Hey what gives Grayson? This isnt fun!" he yelled.
"Sure it is." Dick replied before running and jumping onto the seat throwing himself in the air. The former Boy Wonder did a flip upon leaping out of the swing and landed on his feet.
"Try it." he said. Damian leaped out of the swing at it's highest point and landed in a frog stance and looked back at the swing as it returned to them.
"Pretty cool huh?" Dick asked.
"Leaping off rooftops is better. Can I have my toy now?" he said annoyed.
"Sure." Dick said as his charge went back to the bench to retrieve his prize.
"You know sometimes I forget how he isnt like other kids." Dick noted.
"He is a bit different." Alfred stated.
"It just isnt right. He should enjoy his childhood, not be like this." Dick added.
"I believe that is the pot calling the kettle black sir." Alfred smiled.
"Touche. I just cant help but feel bad for him. He needs friends his own age. I'm just afraid what this lifestyle will turn him into." he replied.
"I'm sure he will turn out for the best Master Dick, all the other Robins have...well most of them anyway." the butler said.
"Actually Alfred our track record hasnt been all that great. That list is split down the middle, me and Tim are the only ones that turned out all right." he corrected.
"If I may defer sir, Miss Stephanie is on the positive side of that bracket as well. What with her being Batgirl now. It stands to reason that the Robin mantle may not be as cursed as you think." Alfred replied.
"Then it's time he has more positive influences in his life." Dick conceeded.
"Sir?" Alfred asked.
"Hold with me on this one Alfred." he told him while Damian played secretively with his toy on the park bench.
The next morning the pair headed off to the abandoned Titans East compound in New York City. It was a curious place instead of being the hundred foot high 'T' he was acustomed to seeing in San Francisco where he was temporarily stationed. The East Compound lay flat on the ground while still retaining the signature 'T' shape like it's precessors. Another oddity was that this 'tower' was in the woods of New York State.
"What is this place?" Damian asked.
"A few years back Cyborg tried to fix up his own team of Titans recruits on the East Coast. They were ambushed by Trigon and the place hasnt been used since." Dick told him.
"So it's abandoned." Damian concluded.
"Correct." he added.
"So what are we doing here?" he said annoyed.
"You'll see in a minute." he said as more individuals appear.
Damian peered through his mask as several figures touched down on the roof, namely the Man of Steel and backup Green Lantern who each had a charge simular in age to Damian. The Boy Wonder blinked in apparent disbelief as he looked up and saw his mentor reach across and grab Superman's hand.
"Superman, Guy it's good to see you." he said shaking his hand.
"Likewise, so this is the latest Robin huh?" replied Clark.
"Yeah this is Bruce's kid, Damian." Dick said putting his hands on his hips. The young protege scowled at the Last Son of Krypton.
"So your the Man of Steel huh? Who's this kid?" he huffed.
"This is my adopted son Chris Kent." he introduced.
Beside Clark was a young boy with semi long brown hair that was combed to one side wearing a blue Superman t-shirt with red cape and jeans and was relatively close to Damian's age, who looked like he was about 12.
"I'm Superlad." he greeted reaching out his hand to Damian. The Boy Wonder folded his arms denying the guesture.
"I'm Robin." he replied rudely leaving Chris to reluctantly and awkwardly withdraw. Grayson sighed and laid a heavy hand on the boy's head, before being brushed off onto his shoulder.
"His name is Damian, I'm hoping he'll learn to play with kids his own age. The Titans deal didnt actually work out as planned." Grayson commented.
"Yeah and I'm sure this one will work out alot better." Damian muttered before being jabbed.
"Ow!" he growled looking up at him.
"Even though Damian wont admit it, he needs this Clark. The last thing we need is another Bruce running around." Batman added, his protege throwing him an evil look and sulked burying his arms deeper in his chest.
"Where are my manners? So Guy who do we have here?" Dick asked.
"This is Jaime's little sister Milagro." he stated proudly with his hand on the young girl's shoulder.
"Blue Beetle's sister?" Dick asked.
"The very same." replied Guy.
Milagro it seemed had come across a replica of her brother's armor but with a decidedly different color scheme, metallic green.
"This is Jade Beetle, or was it Green Beetle? I dont think she's settled on a specific name yet." Guy admitted scratching his head.
"It's Jade Beetle, Guy." she said looking up at him.
"Still working on the name." he told the guys. Robin rolled his eyes at this.
Milagro as her name implied wore a medium to bright green variation of her brother's armor. Several differences were already apparent such as the size of the Scarab on her back. Where as Jaime's was large and noticable, wrapping around his torso. Milagro's was minimal appearing as a small green scarab on her upper back, with six small legs branched out at only a few inches long. Milagro's scarab also had a different horn/pincher at the top that was over/under with the top horn pincer protuding out. The symol on her chest was also different, an amalgamation of the Green Lantern and Blue Beetle 'horns'. With the former imposed across the latter. The coloration also had a different astetic giving the appearance of green thigh high leggings with the standard black torso and waste. Her mask was also slightly different, allowing her to show her long dark hair through her full face mask which appeared to be rubber, and had yellow lenses contrasting her brother's red ones.
"So I know Jaime's story but I'm not familar with her's." Superman said.
"Yeah it's kind of an intrestring story, a while back one of the Reach scarabs fell to Earth in the same way Jaime's did. Except this one was completely blank, devoid of programming. Somehow it had come across the shattered remains of a Green Lantern ring and merged with it producing the suit and it's powers. Rather than having her brother's shape shifting/weapon making powers, that we know of. It uses the Green Lantern energy left in the ring. I've known Milagro for a few years now and opted to be my protege. What can I say? I got a way with kids." the Lantern chuckled.
"I thought the two cant work together?" Dick asked.
"They dont usually but without the Reach's programming it's just an empty shell more or less. Since Jaime was able to control his. We figured it couldnt do much worse if it was with Milagro." he explained.
"So who are these two losers?" Damian asked. A girl close to his age scoffed.
"Nice to meet you too. Your that new jerky Robin I'm guessing." the little girl said wearing a beige unitard with a solid red stripe down the middle of her costume with yellow lightning bolt highlights on the sides of the stripe, amber bug eyed goggles and long red hair done up in pigtails with lightning bolt clips.
Damian narrowed his eyes at the little girl before her not sure who she was, and quite frankly could care less.
"And you must be Impulse." he muttered condecendingly.
"I cant believe they let someone like you become Robin." she replied.
"What's that supposed to mean? And who the hell is this kid over here?" he shot back.
"That's enough, these are Wally West's kids Jai and Iris." Superman told them.
"So then why is he dressed as a turtle? That doesnt even go along with your family's theme retard." Damian countered earning a swift, hard crack atop the skull by Dick.
"D'ow! What did I say?" spat Damian.
"Yeah that's a hell of a kid he has." muttered Guy.
"Subtle as a hurricane." added Milagro.
"You really ought to control his tone." Superman said.
"Believe me I've tried. This is actually the reason I've called together this meeting. Damian's time with the Titans was disasterous, I realize now that he needs to hang with kids his own age. Since the Teen Titans were too old for him and the reason for his comtempt. He's comtempious of everyone but that's beside the point. He really needs this, and I cant always be there for him." Dick noted.
"So your dumping him on us?" Iris asked.
"Great." Jai added crossing his arms.
"Your all children of superheroes and have had some experience in the field. Some more than others. With your father gone, I feel it's necessary that you and Jai continue your training. So that you may learn off each others' experiences and grow as a team. Almost every hero in the universe is part of a team, this will be yours. I was your age when I became Robin and I have faith that you will all go far in your heroic careers." Dick told them.
"So I guess your leaving me in charge then right?" Damian asked folding his arms. A tense look was exchanged between the other children.
"No your not." he replied suprising them.
"I've put alot of thought into this and have talked it over with Clark. Becuase of your overall behavior I've decided that the new leader should be Chris Kent. If you want the job that is." Dick said.
Damian was thunderstruck by the news while Jai and Iris looked back at the Boy of Steel. While Chris himself seemed unsure.
"Um...are you sure I should be leader?" he asked.
"From what Superman tells me, you did pretty well when you were Nightwing. Which means you have the most experience of the group um, relatively speaking. Dont worry you wont be out on any missions for a while so you have time to think about it." Dick told him.
"What?" Damian yelled.
"No missions?" Iris questioned.
"Dude..." added Jai. Batman crouched down before them.
"We have to get the basics out of the way first. See how well you guys work together." he said.
"How long will that take?" Iris asked.
"Well that depends on you guys. The sooner you can work together, the sooner you might be able to go out." Dick replied.
"This blows." Damian sulked. His mentor couldnt help but laugh.
"Come on let's have a tour of your new base." he told them before leaving the rooftop and the others followed.
Author's Note: Let's face it Damian is a complete and total bastard, both literally and figuratively. Not only does he think he's the next Batman and the best thing since sliced bread. But that no one else is worthy of even shinning his boots. Clearly this boy needs an attitude adjustment and to have friends his own age. Why Bruce, Dick or even Alfred have put him in his place yet is beyond me. And yet I keep writing him...irony abounds. Anyway this could been seen as a slight reboot of two of my fics. Brightest Day: New Justice and Young Outsiders, so this is sort of me killing two birds with one stone. You dont have to read either of those to understand the story, they're not related and in different categories. It's just a project I've been meaning to do for the longest time. Hopefully this one will turn out better. I've never actually rebooted any of my fics before so it's kind of intrestring. Maybe this one wont be as complicated. Anyway, the only other thing I've yet to figure out is what the ages for the characters should be. Any thoughts? Oh and Milagro really is Jaime Reyes' (Blue Beetle) little sister. Apparently there's a little fan theory floating around that she'll become Green Lantern. really dont know where that came from. Maybe you guys can clue me in. Same with Jai's alias. I hope to have the next chapter up soon. Let me know what you think.
Please review,
Green Gallant