Quick turnaround on this one because it's a chapter that's been on my mind for ages. Also, I've been re-watching Young Justice, watching DC compilations (including, as it'll become obvious in this chapter, character exchanges from Injustice 2), and feverishly reading wikis, so everything is mostly fresh on my mind. Enjoy!

I expected Titans Tower to be an abandoned derelict, falling apart after years of disuse and a few too many supervillain attacks lingering in its foundations.

As Dick and I arrived, I was surprised to see that it wasn't the case; the old girl still stood, a little dusty but fully operational. I idly wondered who'd maintained the Tower all these years. Cyborg and Changeling stood before the massive - if clearly outdated - screen, watching Cat Grant on national news cover Superman and the Bat family's presence at a mysterious explosion near Gotham City. I wondered how long it'd take the news cycle to pick up on Cadmus' ownership of the facility, as well as our part in the unsanctioned attack on a federally owned property.

Moreover, the image of the two brought me back in a big way. I could almost hear them bickering about the remote, or one-upping each other in whatever video game they were playing, fingers and controllers soiled with pizza grease. Nightwing stood beside me in a similar way, wistful - empath, remember? - for simpler times.

Simpler times filled with Machiavellian super soldiers, reality shattering eldritch demons, and that one jackass who kept calling Starfire an alien slur, but you get the idea.

The former Titans turned, and rushed towards us. I almost gasped; Victor's armor plating had been modified to include the old, blue plates on the modern profile. Talk about a night for throwbacks.

Nightwing braced as Gar turned into a blood-red bear and hugged him, gently pawing at his hair. Cyborg grinned at the scene, walking up to, and standing beside me.

"A bear hug? Seriously?" -I asked, fondly sarcastic.

He morphed back to human. "What? I thought it'd be funny and heartwarming."

"Hey, I appreciate it all the same." -Dick said, patting his back.

Victor walked up and grabbed his forearm. "Had me worried there for a second, Grayson."

"I did almost die." -he said. "But hey, what else is new?"

Cy snorted. "Crazy fool...warn a guy next time, huh?" -he said, then crossed his arms. "Better yet, invite me."

Dick winked at him. "Didn't wanna bother a full-fledged Justice League member." -he said, then pursed his lips. "I...never did get around to congratulating you, did I?"

Cyborg shrugged. "Couldn't tell ya. Butting heads with the kinds of big bads the League is used to? ...I might've 'accidentally' lost a memory file or two. I'll assume you did...but it couldn't hurt to hear it again."

Nightwing shook his head, fondly. "Congratulations, Cyborg. Victor."

"Yep. Didn't hurt."

I removed my hood and crossed my arms. "Is the couch still usable? I'm exhausted."

Nightwing nodded. "I had the place cleaned and maintained on a monthly basis, in case the Team ever needed a 'last resort' sort of base. Too public for their activities, but it's very defensible." -he said. "Place is dusty because I wasn't around to pay the service, but everything should be fine to use. Left a guard behind, too. Should be coming along soon."

I lazily floated over to the enormous black sofa, and draped along its length, groaning. "Ugh. Remind me never to hold up several thousand tons' worth of evil secret base ever again."

Nightwing vaulted over and sat next to me. "If it helps, this was one of the smaller Cadmus bases. The one Kaldur, Wally, and I found back in DC was way bigger."

"Yay." -I said, then looked at his masked eyes. "Not very important, then? Why infiltrate it?"

"It wasn't about size with this one." -he said. "This base was...storage. Every other base pays tribute to facilities like this one in the form of prototypes, samples, and of course, data."

Garfield morphed into the same crimson cat he'd turned into that night, which seemed like an eternity ago. Cyborg casually sat and lounged with us. "Hard to believe they'd forego all of that just to try and kill you guys."

"I dunno, taking out Batman and most of us Bat-brats might've been worth it." -Dick shrugged. "But really, all they lost was the physical stuff. Their information is backed up in other storage bases. The Light may not be quite as bright as they claim to be, but at least they know better than to put all their eggs in one basket."

"Well, they lost the prototypes and their employees, right?" -Cyborg asked.

I sighed. "Yeah."

Dick leaned his head back over the top of the couch. "I know. It's the Kroloteans all over again." -he said, defeated. "Such a senseless waste of life. It's never been like Klarion to care much about the lives of mortals, but...this is way beyond that. It's stupid."

"It's evil. Trust me, I know his type." -I said, uncomfortable at the mere thought of Trigon. "We need to make that sacrifice be worth something. Antagonists or no, the people in that base did not deserve their fates. Nobody does."

We turned as the doors to the common room slid open, revealing a...well, a robot. A very interestingly shaped robot.

"Dick?" -Cyborg asked, blinking. "Since when do I have a twin?"

Nightwing grinned mischievously. "Since the Tower's AI got bored and lonely, and decided to put together a body out of your spare parts to inhabit." -he said. "Titans, this is Grid."

'Grid' was pretty much what you'd imagine from Dick's description; a humanoid robot built entirely out of Cyborg's old spare parts, no organic components in sight. His face was kinda creepy, completing the skull that was only hinted at by the cybernetic half of Victor's face, but otherwise it really seemed like Cyborg had a green-tinted, retro-looking sibling.

"Greetings." -it said. Grid's voice was indeed the same monotone used by the Tower's old systems. "Nightwing excluded, it has been several years since this Tower last detected any of your biometrics."

"Uh...hey." -Cyborg said, still confused. I was momentarily afraid he'd be mad, but he seemed more curious and surprised than anything else. "Nice to be around again, I guess."

Grid tilted its head. "Will Starfire be joining us?"

I winced, and so did the others. "I don't think so, big guy." -Nightwing said. "Hey, there's gonna be a lot of people here soon. Think you could help us with dinner?"

It nodded. "Of course. I shall fetch the cooking implements and search for ingredients."

He went into the pantry, a separate - Silkie-proof - room added shortly before Kori's departure. Beast Boy - er, Changeling - morphed back to human. "Well, he seems nice."

"Yeah. Reminds me of Red Tornado a little." -Dick said. "Like I said, this place was meant to be a last line of defense for the Team. Grid is part of that defense system."

"I made the Tower smart, but I never thought it'd get that smart." -Victor said. "Then again, AI are pretty unpredictable. Red Tornado ain't the only AI that went beyond their original programming."

"Yeah, Jaime's scarab, Reds Torpedo and Inferno, and Amazo turned, too. And that's just recently." -Dick said. "Powerhouses, all of them."

"I really have missed a lot." -I said. "I'm pretty sure the last thing I heard - or paid attention to, anyway - was that that Jaime kid had become the figurehead for the Reach invaders."

"Out of the loop and then some." -Dick noted. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you didn't have to worry about half the crap we've dealt with in the past few years, but you probably should watch a few more news broadcasts."

I snorted. "Not that your kiddie spec-ops team would figure in them, huh Dick?"

He rolled his eyes. "On a good day. Which, sadly, isn't very often. Kinda miss this - us - operating in the open, kicking villain butt in broad daylight and going out for pizza afterwards. It's all stealth modes, radio silence, and after-action briefings these days."

"Oh, please. Like it was ever anything else with you! I seem to remember a spiky haired punk poring over dozens of mission reports, muttering 'who is Slade?' for hours on end." -Cyborg said, crossing his arms.

Dick smirked. "Yeah, that sounds like mini-me alright."

"Whatever happened to Slade, by the way?" -I asked.

"He got captured by Miss Martian last year, right?" -Garfield said.

"Yes and no." -Dick said, thoughtful. "The man was captured and jailed after the whole 'Aqualad infiltrating the Light' debacle, but as it turns out, 'Deathstroke the Terminator' is more of a title. The Slade we knew has been out of action ever since he helped us destroy Trigon. Lost all track of him."

"What about our other rogues?" -Cyborg asked. "What's up with, like, Control Freak?"

"His brother died and left him in charge of his daughter. Gave up the remote, retired to the suburbs. I think he lives off reviewing movies online."

"Doctor Light?" -I asked, curious.

Garfield piped up. "Oh, the idiot blinded himself in his last fight with me. Think he's still in Belle Reve." -he said, amused. "What about the Hive kids?"

"Mammoth is an enforcer for Queen Bee in Bialya. Gizmo joined Lexcorp's Silicon Valley HQ as a software dev, and Jinx works as a part-time solo heroine in Paris. The rest, I've no clue." -Dick informed us. "They either retired or died behind the scenes. Wouldn't surprise me, doing what they did."

"Jinx and I are pen pals." -I said. "I can only imagine her cackles when she finds out I put on a suit again."

Victor whistled. "So much has changed. It's nuts."

Dick stood, and walked up to the bulletproof glass overlooking Jump City. "Do you guys remember when Kori went to the future?"

I blinked. "If by 'the future' you mean 'the actual worst timeline', then yes."

He shook his head. "Believe me, Impulse comes from a worse one. But yeah; Kori came back from a future where we'd all fallen apart, kept out of touch, living miserable lives because we'd lost her. It never struck me until now that, in a way, that future did come to pass."

"Hey, some of us lead decent lives." -Victor protested.

"I was perfectly content taking Seattle by storm selling tea and books." -I said, then sighed. "But...I suppose I did miss crime-fighting. And we did fall apart. It took Garfield and you nearly dying for us to even see each other again."

"And we're still missing Star." -Gar said, glum.

Dick crossed his arms. "She'd be crushed to see us like this."

"Honestly, if she was still around, we'd probably still be the Teen Titans. Minus the teen, I suppose." -I said. "Starfire was the person who brought us all together, and the one who kept us that way. And maybe I'm not going mad from solitude, and Garfield isn't a circus act…"

"And you don't have a freakin' mullet." -Gar jabbed at Dick, who gave him a passable impression of Batman's squinty-eyes.

"...but without her, we fell back to what we knew, before she arrived. Cyborg went back to the Justice League, you went back to the Team, Beast Boy went back to the solo hero act...and I went back to wandering around, lost. And maybe we made the best of our respective situations, ended up better than expected, but we haven't really...recovered from her sudden departure, have we?"

The others stayed silent, but their feelings on the matter were clear. There were a lot of 'what ifs' hanging around the room with us.

Dick turned to us. "Well...it's not too late, is it? We're here, we're alive...and the whole committee should take at least a couple hours to get here."

"...what are you suggesting?" -I asked, dubious.

He popped open a panel beside the massive screen. "I know there's been, like three new games since Melee." -he said, pulling out a couple controllers. "But, in the interest of starting the fence-mending process...are you guys in the mood for some Smash?"

I groaned, but seeing the starry-eyed look in Cyborg and Gar's faces was...worth it.

So, next chapter is gonna be a big one, at least in terms of characters. The entire Justice League and the Team is coming together for this - the first stage of the counter-attack against the Light. There's sidekicks to liberate, bases to destroy, and a certain Lord of Chaos to capture.

Thus, I need your help.

I need you guys to tell me your favorite DC comics heroes - and, possibly, some realistically redeemable villains - to round out this fic verse's version of the Justice League International, and the 'Young Justice' Team. I'm considering all heroes appearing in Young Justice (all three seasons), characters from the Teen Titans series, Timmverse characters...heck, I'm even considering crossover heroes, as long as I'm not using them in my MCU fics and they make some sort of sense with this universe. Obviously, the vast majority of these people won't get speaking roles (this is still Raven's story, after all), but I thought it'd be neat if they got a nod, like Young Justice is great at doing.

A good example of this is in this chapter! The Amazo android, originally sent to attack the League, broke its original programming and has now pledged itself to heroism sometime between YJ season 2 and now. There's no real reason for it, but I think it helps flesh out this particular version of the world - I imagine him becoming a perfect training partner for the younger heroes, with all the JL's abilities and all - so I decided to include him.

So, send me your suggestions! I'll consider them all, promise. Until next time! (and don't get used to the fast updates please)