Chapter Seven: The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb.

Dick liked Bludhaven, although he wasn't sure why.

Perhaps it was because it reminded him of Gotham. Perhaps it was because even the Justice Lords had failed to clean it up. Perhaps it was because it was the only port in Lords' storm.

Whatever the reason, he was fairly happy here, at least by the current standard of "happy" for people in his situation, which was one step above "not under active investigation".

He and Tim were living in a spacious loft apartment, which he kept under a pseudonym as a precaution. He'd started to rent the place some years ago, as a last resort. Now he was glad he had.

Unfortunately, while he and Tim were undisturbed in their new existence, their status meant that they had to take precautions to ensure that they remained undisturbed. Neither left the apartment unless they absolutely had to, which wasn't often. On the plus side, this meant that they had lots of free time, and they didn't have to worry too much about the Lords finding them.

Cabin Fever, however, was fast becoming a serious concern. Tim, having at last tired of the GameStation, seemed to have taken up the new hobby of seeing exactly how far up the wall he could drive Dick, and was fast becoming adept at it.

--

"Dick."

"What," Dick spat through heavy breaths.

"I'm bored," Tim whined, although he couldn't suppress a grin.

"Then do something."

"But there's nothing to do."

"Then do nothing. Now stop bothering me, I'm training."

"You've been training for hours."

"I've got to keep in shape. Now go away." Dick accentuated his comment with a flurry of kicks to a hapless dummy.

"But I've already done everything in this place. I've watched every movie at least three times, even your crappy ones-"

"They're not crappy," Dick responded before he could stop himself.

"Excuse me? Your taste in comedies is terrible. I mean, 'The Big Lebowski?' It's ass-numbingly boring."

"Just because Jim Carey is your idea of highbrow-"

The world was spared further repartee by the chiming of the doorbell. Dick was instantly alert, spinning on his heel towards the door and pulling a birdarang out of his belt. Tim unfolded a bo staff, and edged towards the doorway.

"I'm gonna go ahead and guess you didn't order pizza."

Dick shook his head, and padded through to the doorway. Peering through the peephole, his eyes rested on a young girl, probably early teens, with red-blonde hair. Cautiously, he opened the door a fraction.

What he had intended to be an acceptably paranoid one sixth instead turned out to be closer to one hundred and eighty degrees as the door was yanked open, and before Dick knew quite what was going on, he found himself barreled to the floor and embraced by the young girl. As he struggled to get up he saw several indistinct figures moving towards them and his panic sense went into overdrive. Frantically, he tried to push his assailant off him, but she seemed incongruously strong.

The Martian.

Trying desperately to think non-revolutionary thoughts, he decided to act casual, at least until he was standing again.

He cleared his throat. "Do I know you?"

"Oh!" the girl exclaimed, and fiddled with something he couldn't see. After a moment, the stranger's features flickered, to be replaced with someone far more familiar.

After a few minutes, Dick vaguely heard someone cough in Victor's voice.

"Yo, do you wanna cut it out? You're corrupting the kid."

"No, no, dude, this is interesting. I wanna see how long he lasts before he needs to breathe again. Anyone got a stopwatch?"

An exasperated sigh. "We might as well get our stuff in. See if you can squeeze past, those two will be busy for a while."

--

It was much later that evening that Dick found himself alone in the training room.

The high of reunion had faded, away from his friends, and now he was forcing himself to face up to the question that he had been dogged by for almost a year now.

What was his next move? Before, he could have justified his inaction with the reasonable point that it had been just him and Tim, and no matter how talented the boy was (and there was no doubt about that) it had been two mortals against the full force of the Justice Lords. But now, with the reunited Titans, he had a viable fighting force, especially with the ace in the hole he had snagged before leaving Wayne Manor.

Did he continue to stay here, in virtual exile? It was certainly not impossible. Sleeping arrangements were a little awkward; he and Star had a room (duh), Cyborg and Tim had a room (separate beds, thankfully), and Raven and Changeling had a room (after a fashion; Raven barely needed sleep, and when she did she slept on the sofa. Changeling, as often as not, slept under the sofa), but were not unbearable (certainly not from his point of view, at least).

Dick could read his friends well, and could guess what they would do. Raven wouldn't want to take any action unless it had been properly thought out beforehand, and Dick agreed. Gar was torn between itching for some activity and nurturing a healthy dread of the Lords. Victor seemed to be one step away from a full-blown revolutionary and as for Starfire...

Starfire was not happy with the Lords.

Ultimately, though, the decision rested with him. All of them would trust implicitly in his judgment, that whatever he decided would be the right course of action. The idea terrified him.

It had been far simpler when the world had ended. Then, the choice had been simple. Fight, even if the fight had been impossible, simply because he had nothing left to lose. Now he had everything to lose.

And what would he gain, even if they won? He was not so naive to assume that everyone would come out a revolution unscathed, or even alive. Would the Titans just become a successor to the Lords? After all, both had nothing but the best of intentions, and everyone knew which road they paved.

Shaking his head, he left the room, searching for company. The choice was impossible.

It might have comforted him- then again, it might not- to know that in a few days, the choice would be made for him.

--

Aargh. This chapter was like pulling teeth. It's later than usual because I kept trying to find ways to make it longer without increasing the content. The result was ridiculously hyperbolic, and in the end I just cut it down again. Next chapter should be up by Saturday.