A/N: In this series, Dick Grayson has taken up the Bat costume. Bruce Wayne is considered dead.
Chapter 1: First Day
A subtle snore could be heard in the cockpit of a foreign black, sleek aircraft as it flew over the familiar skyscrapers of Jump City. Batman, formerly Nightwing and formerly Robin took in the sights with a sigh of nostalgia, reminiscing his youth as a Teen Titan. He looked to his left through his cowl, where Damian Wayne – the new Robin – slept in an awkward position, with his chin to his chest and legs spread in front of him. The young Batman shook his head and smiled. Damian had been very vocal in his displeasure of joining the Titans, wanting to stay with his big brother. Though Damian would have never said it that way. He instead voiced his opinion by belittling the adolescent team, saying he didn't want to babysit the youth. Dick was quick to remind him that he was a Titan once and it lead him to where he was now and that Damian needed to make friends. To this Damian had scoffed and threw his hands in the air in exasperation. Damian accepted his fate but was not looking forward to joining the Titans.
The aircraft came within the Titans Tower fly zone and the plane's radio buzzed.
"Aircraft identify yourself", said a male baritone voice with a slight ghetto accent.
"This is the Batman with a special delivery for the Teen Titans", Dick said with a slight smile.
"Yo! Grayson! What's u-" the radio's microphone was shuffled and a new voice was heard.
"Yo! Robin! Long time so see man!" the Changeling chirped.
"It's Batman now Changeling, and it's good to be back. I have the new Robin with me now" Dick was now beaming as he heard his old comrades' voices.
"You're good to land Batman, Welcome Back Dick", Raven's monotonous voice came through.
"Thanks Raven"
The black aircraft began its decent on the roof of Titans Tower. Damian woke from his slumber after getting whacked by Dick on the stomach. Seething, Damian stretched his sore muscles and slumped back in his chair waiting for the aircraft to land.
"I still don't understand why I have to do this", Damian spat with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Because Damian, you need to know what it's like to be on a team, with other kids your age," Dick said patiently. Although it was wearing thin.
"I have never been a kid," Damian replied with an emphasis on "kid".
Dick remained silent for he knew, he could never get Damian to lighten up about the situation.
Once the aircraft was at a stand-still, the duo exited and presented themselves to the Titans as the formidable Batman and Robin.
What greeted them was a variation in costumes, sizes and colour. The retired Titans in the form of Cyborg, Changeling (formerly Beast Boy) and Raven were standing proudly and noticeably giddy with excitement at the return of their former leader. However to keep up appearances, they did not engage in hugs and laughter. Not just yet.
The new Teen Titans stood with their mentors; members of the Justice League, in awe of the duo, their eyes disbelieving as the foreboding Batman was in their midst.
"Batman and Robin, welcome to Titans Tower. We're just waiting for one more before we go inside", Cyborg announced.
"I'm not the only addition to the team?" Damian voiced.
Suddenly, a large vortex of water swirled above the tower. It served as a platform on which it had two occupants. The swirl of water receded until the two were able to step off and onto the Tower, upon which the vortex vanished and splashed against the shoreline below.
Aqualad stood before them with what looked to be a female. However this girl seemed to be made entirely out of water, her hair which was also water, moved like the waves on the beach and her eyes glowed as if the sun was reflected through them. Her body was covered by a dark blue body suit similar to that of Aqualad, defining her as an Atlantean. The girl timidly looked up at her mentor at which he put a hand on her shoulder for reassurance.
"Hey guys, I'm Aqualad and this is Druid," he gestured at the water form.
She lifted a glove covered hand in a shy wave, "Hi," was all she said. Her voice had an other- worldy yet soothing echo. All in all, she was an enigma and the other Titans didn't really know what to make of her. Druid feared this, which was why she was reluctant to join this team. Raven with her empathetic power could feel her insecurity and Damian's reluctance. She knew it was going to be tough to make this group of adolescents a team.
scene break
The heroes and apprentices entered the Tower's common room, a spacious area where a large screen television and gaming console was the main highlight of the room. To left were monitors with various lights and buttons. To the unknowing, it looked very complicated and somewhat intimidating. To the heroes, it was standard issue monitoring system of the Jump City. Each screen displayed a different part of the city, using their enhanced CCTV.
To the right was a small kitchen complete with a sink, stove, microwave and a menagerie of appliances that had a resemblance to Cyborg. Many of them were labelled, such as the WaffleMaker 3000. Once would wonder what happened to the 2999 WaffleMakers.
"Alright y'all welcome to Titans Tower, I'm Cyborg your tech and maintenance instructor, this is Changeling your combat and training instructor and Raven. She'll be your intelligence instructor. I would like you all to introduce yourselves, tell us what your powers or skills are and who your mentor was", Cyborg beamed.
A boy in yellow and red, sporting the lighting symbol came forward.
"I'm Kid Flash, super speed, super brains, The Flash is my mentor," the speedster said confidently. Damian scoffed, deciding that the speedster was too immature.
A blonde, muscular girl stepped forward.
"I'm Wonder Girl, ummm I have super strength, ummm I can fly and ummmm Wonder Woman is my mentor," the girl had a dopey smile.
Airhead, Damian thought.
"I'm Speedy, Green Arrow is my mentor, I'm an archer," the boy in red said with a slight hint of annoyance.
Damian studied the boy, and concluded that he was a hothead with ego problems. Damian prided himself in being able to read people easily.
The water form stepped forward. Damian was very curious about the girl, not just because of her physiology, but she had some demeanour that he couldn't quite put his finger on.
With her echoy voice she said, "I am Druid. I have studied at the Atlantean school of Magic and Sorcery. I can also change my body into various forms of water and I have some telepathic powers. My mentor is Aqualad." Said mentor nodded proudly at her.
Damian stepped forward. "I'm Robin, partner to the Batman. I'm skilled in many things, similar to the bat," he said simply as if everyone was supposed to know what that meant.
"And what does that entail exactly?," Druid, with her echoy voice asked.
Everyone stared at her incredulously. Before he could make a comment, Aqualad butt in.
"This is her first time on the surface would. She doesn't know that much about the heroes here. But she'll learn," he said with a smile. Druid on the other hand was embarrassed and her head hung low. Damian was still watching her in his peripheral vision and saw her discouraged demeanour.
"It means I'm skilled in martial arts, I'm good at being a detective and keeping to the shadows," he said. Damian didn't know why he explained himself, he obviously didn't need to and it wasn't his fault that the water form didn't know anything.
Druid nodded her understanding, the gesture gave Damian a warm feeling but only briefly.
"Well alright then, Team, say good bye to your mentors, get yourselves familiar with the Tower and an introduction to your schedules will be at six p.m. sharp. Curfew is at ten-thirty." Cyborg clapped his hands and turned to his former teammates.
Damian approached Dick and looked up at him. They held their gazes until the elder put his hand on Damian's shoulder.
"You'll be fine," Dick said.
"I know I'll be. I just can't believe you're leaving me here," Damian frowned. Truth be told, he didn't want to be separated from Dick. His father's death had taken a toll on his emotions and leaving Dick is last thing he wanted to do.
"I'm just a phone call away," Dick smiled softly so that no one but Damian could see.
Damian nodded and stepped away from the Bat and observed the other members.
The males were shaking the hands of their mentors, and Wonder Girl was crying in Wonder Woman's arms.
Druid, to Damian's surprise, was floating at Aqualad's eye level as they shared what seemed like a meaningful conversation in Atlantean.
Damian thought that the water form was very emotional but he somehow understood these emotions as they were somewhat on par with his own.
Once the good byes were said and Wonder Girl had stopped crying, the mentors quickly departed.
"I'll take you to your rooms, after that you're free to roam around," Raven said in her gravelly, monotonous voice. She turned and quickly exited the common through the metal sliding doors.
Kid Flash sped past the other youngsters and caught up with Raven, his voice could be heard asking too many questions for Raven's liking.
Damian shook his head and followed with the rest of his so-called team.
The rooms went as such: Speedy, Wonder Girl and Damian on the sixth floor, Druid, Kid Flash and Cyborg on the seventh and Raven and Changeling share a room on the ninth floor.
scene break
On the sixth floor, Damian entered his room to find most of his essential belongings were in his suitcases waiting to be unpacked. The room was spacious but not as large as his room in Wayne manor. He sat his suitcase on the bare bed and was about to pick up his Katanna when there was a knock on the door.
Damian tried to ignore the sound but it came again only louder. The boy sighed and opened the door only revealing his face.
Wonder Girl's beaming face greeted him.
"Hi! Just wanted to say 'Hi', oh wait I already said that… I'm so silly sometimes.."
Damian tried to tune her out as he fought the frown that was forming on his face.
"- so yeah, just thought we could be friends and everything, how does that sound?" the blonde stood with her hands clasped waiting for an answer.
"We are on the same team, it's not like we have a choice," Damian said matter of factly.
Wonder Girl considered this for a moment not quite sure if what he said was a good thing or not.
"Ha! Too true! Well I'll see you later!" the blonde bounced off. Damian's eye twitched. He was going to ring Dick's neck when he gets back to the Batcave.
Damian returned to his unpacking and took a deep breath to calm his heart at the pointless encounter. He started setting his clothes in the walk in wardrobe, putting everything in order according to item of clothing, colour and fabric. Damian was meticulous, growing up in the League of Assassin's, there was no room for laziness, and a clean room was essential. He started to arrange some books that he brought when there was a sudden clash of drums and electric guitar at an eardrum shattered volume. He dropped his books and covered his ears in a feeble attempt to protect his sensitive ears.
"WHAT THE FRAK IS THAT?" he shouted. He stumbled out of his room and in to the hallway where Wonder Girl was also covering her ears.
"SPEEDY,' the blonde shouted. Damian couldn't hear her over the noise but he understood the movement of her mouth.
Damian stumbled through the hallway, Birdirang in hand and banged on Speedy's door, which did nothing s the "music" drowned out all sound.
Suddenly a glowing white circle appeared next to him. Druid stepped through the circle, her eyes glowing and her hair waving erratically and visibly steaming.
Damian saw she was pissed. She looked at him and then at this Birdirang and back to him. He understood what she wanted to do and nodded, raising his projectile. Druids morphed her arms into a crystal sledgehammer and raised it above her head.
She swiftly brought her arms down, completely demolishing the metal door that separated them from the source the destructive music.
Damian barrel rolled into the room and flung his Birdirang into the power point that was connected to a giant stereo. The cord snapped, laying limp on the floor, zapping as its life force was severed.
Damian let out a sigh of relief and silence engulfed them. He felt a cold hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Druid with her back facing him with her left hand on his shoulder. She was standing in a defensive stance, years of martial arts training taught him to recognise the stance instantly. Damian stood, and saw an angry Speedy, bow and arrow notched, aimed at his head. Druid had her right harm extended in the form of a crystal blade.
"What the hell Bat boy! That is a state of the art stereo system!" the red archer raged,
"Not anymore," Druid replied, her hair was still steaming, "we all would have gone deaf, I'm surprised you haven't already, it was even loud on my floor"
Kid Flash and Wonder Girl were in the doorway, frowning at the red archer.
"Dude why do you even need that stereo?" Kid Flash shouted.
"What?" Wonder Girl leaned closer to the Speedster obviously not hearing what he said.
Damian was still aware of Druid's stance and her hand was still on his shoulder. He gently removed her hand and stepped in front of her.
Glaring at the Archer he marched straight up to him and as quick as a snake, sucker punched Speedy in the face.
The red headed Archer slumped to the ground, his bow and arrow fell from his grasp,
"Robin!" Druid yelled. She knelt next to the archer, "Why did you do that? He would have had a sufficient punishment had we turned him into our Mentors," the water form conjured a pool of water which started to glow and held her hand to the archer's now bruised head.
"That was sufficient punishment," Damian said, eyeing the unconscious Speedy.
"That's not how we should handle things," Druid said calmly, her echoy voice resonating in throughout the room.
"That's how I handle things, and if you don't like it leave." Damian spat.
Druid now turned to the red and black clad hero. She rose from the ground, visibly angry, her eyes glowed and her hair bubbled and steamed.
"You are not above us. We will be a team and we do not solve our ego problems by sucker punching each other in the face," her usual echoy voice was gone and replaced by a deep watery gurgle. Damian was taken aback by her angry and was briefly intimidated, until he remembered he was the son of the Batman. He was better than her and everyone else in this youth club.
But Damian didn't say anything, he instead stared deep into the water form's glowing eyes. They held each other's gazes until Damian turned his back and stormed back to his room.
A/N Wooh first chapter up, firstly fic Hope you guys enjoy!