Title: Flying to Redemption
Genre: Crime, Romance, Supernatural, Family, Friendship, Hurt/ Comfort, Angst
Pairing: Bruce Wayne X Dick Grayson (OC Semi Self-Insert)
Summary: It was only as he stared at his new guardian dressed as a giant bat that he realised that he had not simply been reborn. No, it was much worst.
Warning: Slash (Yaoi, Boy X Boy…), Reincarnation, Semi Self-Insert, OC as Dick Grayson (Sort of), Age Difference, OOC! Dick Grayson, Bat Family will not include Cass and Steph, Follows its own timeline (This is mostly its own dimension, different from any seen in the comics but also holds similarities). Endgame BruDick


Chapter Fourteen – Dick's Teen Years: The First Negotiations Part 4

Saturday was spent familiarising themselves with the base and each other and ended with the three teenagers congregating in their new media room where they spent a few hours watching movies and playing video games. Dick surprisingly had a good time; while he was perfectly amiable with the other two, he was not as used to hanging out with them as he was with Roy. However, since said older teenager was still ignoring him, it was nice to spend some quality time with others around his age, doing nothing serious and just having fun. Of course, it was not the same since to the other two he was still just Robin and Robin was very different from Dick Grayson. While he had fun, there was still some distance between him and the other teenage heroes and this made him miss his best friend even more.

His Sunday was spent hijacking Bruce's bed to sulk with cartoons playing on the in-wall television while his mentor worked on Wayne Enterprises paperwork beside him. It was a surprisingly pleasant Sunday as the two of them spent a quiet time together after their recent disagreement.

The team met again on Monday for training. Since Dick did not go to school, he spent the day as usual, completing his studies, studying some of Bruce's old caseworks and training before he suited up to meet the others at the base. He was the first to arrive but he was quickly joined by Aqualad and Kid Flash arriving last. Black Canary appeared at three on the dot and the three of them joined her in the training room.

"Today we'll look at your teamwork. We'll see how good you work together and later I'd like to face you individually. Let's start with the three of you against me for now. What do you say?" Black Canary asked them with an amused tilt to her face as she stared at the three of them.

Said teenagers shared a look of apprehension – they all knew just how good the woman was – but they quickly agreed, coming to face her in the middle of the training mat.

"Anytime you're ready," she told them.

Without another word, Kid Flash darted forward, Aqualad got out his hydro swords and Robin disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kid Flash ran around her, trying to find an opening to hit her. Unfortunately, that also meant Aqualad hesitated to attack as there was a chance he could hit his teammate instead. Robin appeared behind Kid Flash and flipped over with a flying kick.

What came next happened really fast. Black Canary tripped Kid Flash who went down rolling, turned on her heels with the same movement and grabbed Robin by the ankle. With a graceful twist of her wrist, she sent him flying right into Aqualad who had sent water whips flying. Aqualad lost balance and his whips slammed into the now standing Kid Flash, knocking him back to the ground.

Robin attempted to get up but ended up elbowing Aqualad in the kidney, earning a wince from the older teenager. He mumbled an automatic apology, choosing instead to roll off of him. As the two sat up, they found Black Canary standing over them, hands on her hips as she stared down at the two, Kid Flash rubbing his back beside her.

"Well," she said cheerfully, "We've got our work cut out for us." She offered her hands and hauled them back on their feet. "Anyone can tell me what went wrong?"

"Er… You're too strong?" Kid Flash offered hesitatingly as he came to stand beside his teammates.

"Not necessarily."

"We got in each other's way," Aqualad added.

Black Canary nodded. "Anything else? Robin?"

Robin frowned. "We did not strategize together. We each just did our own thing and as a result got in each other's way like Aqualad said."

Black Canary nodded. "Precisely. Each of you has a different style of fighting from each other. You are used to fighting with a partner who fights like you or is familiar enough with you that you accommodate each other." She stepped back and looked at them in turn, "Kid Flash, you rushed ahead without a plan. Not only was it reckless but you also ended up just running around me waiting for the opportune time to attack. You were basically a sitting duck and it was easy enough to trip you since the pattern of your running was consistent and without thought.

"Robin. Disappearing without consulting your teammates was not the best strategy. Not knowing your position lead to your teammates not knowing how to maneuver around you. Your smoke screen also limited Aqualad's view of the battle briefly when you first disappeared which slowed him down.

"Aqualad, because of this you had to wait before you could attack but you waited too long as you tried to work around your teammates. In the end, none of you could do any damage except to each other." As the three teenagers looked at each other as equally awkwardly as shamefully, Black Canary smiled. "So long as you understand that as a team you need to work together and not each of you working around each other individual as a facsimile of teamwork, you'll do fine. You all have your own talents and you have proven to be able fighters. As you can see it's not the same when you work as a team, least of all when you have rarely worked together." After giving the teenagers a moment to mull over her words, she asked, "How about we give it another try?"

The three young heroes shared a look before Aqualad asked, "Are we allowed to strategize before?"

"I'll give you five minutes. Go on," Black Canary acquiesced with a proud smile.


They did not manage to beat Black Canary but it was not like they had ever expected to anyway. They did, however, manage to extend the time it took to be beaten. Their teamwork was not perfect but by the end of their first session they found themselves not getting in each other's way as much as the first time.

After training, they decided to stay a little after to strategize for the next time. Kid Flash needed to slow down to work on his teammates' level; Aqualad needed to take on a less supporting role since he was the physically strongest; and Robin needed to work around his teammates for his sneak attacks.

They did not stay long after, still not as used to each other despite knowing each other for a while. They all felt the gap on their team, the gap Speedy had left when he had decided not to have anything to do with the team.

The rest of the week continued in that same vein until Friday when they met for the night. Since they were not allowed to go on missions as a team yet and were supposed to use the time for bonding, they came together for a quiet time. So, with the television running in the background, Kid Flash did his homework and Robin worked on a casework on his laptop. Saturday went the same way but with more video games.


"Hey, Robin," Kid Flash called after losing another game. The week had been just as slow as the previous one but the teenagers not only found themselves more comfortable with each other, they also improved their teamwork exponentially with Black Canary's help. The second Saturday after the official founding of the team found the three teenagers in the media room mid-morning, Aqualad and Kid Flash playing against each other on the big screen with Robin sitting curled up on the couch reviewing a casework on his laptop.

Placing down the controller, Kid Flash leaned back against the couch from where he was sitting on the floor. Robin stopped typing and tilted his head towards the older boy in question.

"Do you know when we can go on missions?" the teenager asked.

"I have to say that I am curious as well," Aqualad added, also leaning back to have a better view of their youngest member.

Said twelve years old stared at them contemplatively for moment before finally answering, "Black Canary did say our teamwork has improved."

"Yeah! So, we can go on one of those easy missions you talked about, right?" Kid Flash asked excitedly.

"I will ask," Robin finally acquiesced with a nod. "If anything, I can get us a mission next weekend."

"Awesome!" Kid Flash cheered, jumping to his feet in his excitement.

"Yes, that is good news," Aqualad agreed with a smile.


Getting the go-ahead from the League was not difficult. Robin brought the issue to the League and the adults congregated together and decided to allow Black Canary to judge their readiness during the following week of training, the third week since they had first founded the team. The week of training went like the two previous ones, nothing changing in team and individual training. On Thursday after training, Black Canary gave them the go-ahead, to the teenagers' great joy.

That was how, on Friday, Aqualad, Robin and Kid Flash found themselves in the ops room, suited up.

"So? So? Do we have something? Kid Flash asked excitedly as Aqualad and him looked over Robin's shoulder to watch what he was doing on the computer.

"Most of the missions of this rank are immediate-response rescues so I could not look up something before now," Robin explained. "We need to find something fitting the rank and close enough for us to reach."

"We could use the Zeta beams," Aqualad offered.

Robin nodded. "True. I'll widen my search then." Just then, a news video was pulled up on the monitor, showing a news reporter reporting live a fire in a lab in Metropolis.

"Looks like we found our mission," Aqualad noted, smiling at Kid Flash's loud cheer.

"Let's go." Robin nodded.


This Metropolis branch of Cadmus Labs had a small building. When the three heroes appeared, it was to find the small, two-story building on fire. The fire was thankfully not a big one but it still trapped many of the staff inside. Firefighters were already there but help from the young heroes would not be unwelcome.

With a quick look around, Robin turned to his teammates and said, "Aqualad, you take care of the fire. Kid Flash, evacuate the people out of the building. I'll hack the system to find the blueprints to make sure we don't leave anyone behind." Agreeing to the plan, the three teenagers went to do their job.

Aqualad went to the firefighters and borrowed their water, using his hydro swords to manipulate the water to extinguish the fire. After he made a path, Kid Flash ran ahead to find the people trapped inside and Robin used his grappling hook to hoist himself inside through a window on the first floor. Finding a computer on one of the desks, he connected his wrist computer in it and hacked the system to find the building's blueprints.

After a while, he leaned back with a frown. There was something wrong with the blueprints. He knew that the place had more security than a simple lab should have and yet the blueprints showed that the building was as it appeared, small and nothing special. Hacking further, he was surprised to find another blueprint, one that was not only different from the previous one but also showed that the lower level, the underground parking lot that suspiciously enough used more power than it should was not so much an underground parking lot as a series of underground levels.

Diving deeper, he found mention of a 'Project Kr', the project that was being funded above the other projects. Whatever this was, was the centre of this operation taking place underground. He had a very bad feeling about this. His gut was telling him that whatever this was, was not good news.

Pursing his lips, he decided that further investigation was needed. He had a bad feeling about this lab which was exacerbated by the knowledge that Cadmus Labs was owned by LexCorp. It would not be unlike Lex Luthor to have some illegal and nefarious experiments down there. The man was known for his human and biological illegal experiments. Well, in the Super community anyway since they could never prove anything against the man.

Plan decided, Robin went to join his teammates and proceeded to help evacuating the building, using the blueprints to make sure they got every room and every one outside. Then, when that was done, he pulled his teammates aside and shared his suspicions, proposing that they investigated the issue.

"Should we even do this?" Aqualad asked hesitatingly. "Shouldn't we inform the League instead? That is an investigation of a higher rank than we are cleared for and the League might not take this in our favour if we already disobey on our first mission."

"Well, yeah but it shouldn't be more than just getting the info for the League, right?" Kid Flash added.

Robin nodded. "If we leave now there's a chance Luthor will move the lab and the League will miss this opportunity," he explained. "It should just be simple information gathering. In and out." After a pause, he added, "I can also send a quick message to the League to inform them in case we run into trouble."

Seeing that both of his teammates were in favour of investigating the hidden lower levels, Aqualad sighed. "Alright then. Let's do this. Robin, send a message to the League to let them know."

"Do we have to?" Kid Flash groaned. "We'll be in so much trouble."

"We will be in even more trouble if we go behind their backs," Aqualad replied evenly. "It is best that we show them that their trust is not completely unfounded. It is, however, also best that we do not get ourselves into further trouble."

Robin nodded in agreement, fiddling with his wrist computer. "Recon only." A few seconds later, he informed, "message sent. Let's go."


AN: I had some trouble writing this chapter. I just wanted to get on with it honestly so some feedback on how I did would be really welcome.

I will have a short Interlude after the next chapter that shows a bit how the boys adapt to having the base to themselves.

Anyway, leave behind your thoughts and tell me what you think.

Leight