And now it's time to see the Titans! You're gonna get a few looks into what's been going on for them in this world. I've kinda combined the originals with the TV show to make their own history but it should work out. A lot of things are alluded to here that isn't written, yet, so don't think you've missed something. Just wait for it all in the extended.

Dick-16/17 Jason-13 Cass-11/12 Tim-9 Damian-3

Sacrifice

13 – Body Count

Roy looked over open cases the League was working on, just browsing really. After Slade disappeared last November, the tower was pretty quiet. The Teen Titans took down his chronotron detonator and hadn't heard from him since. Small timers and trouble makers entertained them on occasion, but second tier villains like Dr. Light got old after a while.

Besides, it's not like he had school or anything. Wally was graduating soon and the others were taking random courses online, if at all. Him? After cutting ties with Ollie he hadn't even thought of college. Sure Dinah would approve, and so would the League (those who gave a hoot), but he wasn't out to impress people anymore. He gave up the fame of being the first 'sidekick' a long time ago. It only gave him trouble. Donna and Wally earned it more.

The only thing positive he had from that title now was access to files the League had. Whoever this mysterious 'B' was Ollie and the rest talked to and got their intel from, he was wickedly good at detective work. But some cases just hadn't been solved yet due to how many there was going on, or were ongoing investigations due to suspicions. And when he was bored, Roy liked to look through what wasn't finished and see if he could beat them to the punch.

Boy would that peeve of Ollie.

After a few minutes his eyes rested on one open case that really twisted his insides. A missing person of interest, Richard J. Grayson. The archer frowned, remembering when this case started. Christmas. That must have really sucked for his family. Thing was, he knew the kid, and his family. Dick (as his family called him) was a friend of his, one he met at those fancy rich parties Ollie dragged him to. Born in the circus, lost his parents to a mobster, adopted into a rich man's house, got a handful of siblings in the process, straight A student and a fairly well known acrobat online. He was practically the prince of Gotham, poster boy even. And for some reason he up and vanished a few days before Christmas.

The FBI agent who first headed the investigation called him a runaway. 'B' though called it a kidnaping and made it a League priority. There was some deal the core League members made that put Gotham on their radar, specifically for kidnappings and psychopaths. He remembered helping take down Joker the previous year when 'B' called in Flash and said to bring back up. KF asked him to help since he was in town and frankly he wasn't too keen on repeating the experience.

Still, thinking of Dickybird ('Jaybird's name for him, another friend of his who happened to be this guy's adopted brother), he couldn't see the guy running off like that. 'B' said kidnapping, and from the files he read and the stories he heard from other Leaguers, the guy was rarely wrong. The League was looking for him, but in the past three months they found little to nothing. There was even a note to look in Mexico for the guy, on abandoned military bases. If Roy wasn't so busy being the normal guy on the Titans, he'd be going down south looking for him too.

Instead all he could do was keep an eye out and tell his team about this guy. Which Gar already did, back in December. A video on youtube took the world by storm when a mock teenage superhero single handedly took down nearly a dozen men holding up a Halloween party. "This guy is so cool!" Beast Boy's fanboy squeal nearly killed their ears, particularly Raven's. He practically flipped when Roy told them he knew him personally. "We should ask him to become a Titan!"

"Somehow I doubt he will," Speedy had said, pouting slightly. To think one of his socialite friends had that good of skills… "He's got a good thing going back in Gotham."

"Still worth a shot," Wonder Girl, their leader, had stated. "He's definitely got the potential, and courage in spades. He'd have to in order to take on those men without any armor. And using dinner plates as weapons? Brilliant."

"Yeah," Cyborg commented, rubbing his chin. "I haven't seen a person that good ever. And I was a star athlete in school. That guy has real potential."

"Doubt his dad would let him though." The archer leaned back in his chair, reminding them he was once one of the elite, like this guy. "Wayne's known for being super protective. His security is top of the line everywhere. I hear he even has tracking devices on all his kids."

"Excuse me," Starfire started, raising her hand, "but please explain. Who is this 'Wayne' and how is he this young man's 'Dad'? I thought those of the same family had same names."

"It's adoption," Raven stated evenly before Roy or Donna could explain it. "When a child's parents die, they can be taken into another's home. Grayson was adopted by Wayne, right?"

"Pretty much," the archer agreed. "Making him legally his father, but he obviously didn't take the guy's name. Some of his other siblings did though. Well, most actually. I think the youngest adoption hyphenated it. Maybe. I'll have to check my facebook."

"What about facebook?" Kid Flash and Aqualad had come in at that point, checking out what they were. KF saw the screen and grinned. "Hey! I saw this! My uncle was laughing his head off when he showed it to me. Said this really ticked 'B' off and now he's being all mopey about it. Something about that kid ruining the rescue."

"Wonder Boy PWN's Cowboys? Is this some sort of surface gimmick?" Garth was still struggling to understand why people on the surface did ridiculous things. "That uniform does not look right for combat."

"Circus brat." Roy got off the couch then and stretched. "And that was Halloween. Well, as good as that guy is, I don't think we should bug him. He's a happy-go-lucky civilian and has no clue what we do all the time. All we would do is corrupt him."

"You say that as if it's a bad thing." Wally grinned at his friend, teasing. The other redhead rolled his eyes behind his mask and started out the room. He couldn't help but laugh though when KF said 'short pants' had some girly legs and Cy pointed out the pixie boots. Roy made a mental note to tease the guy later about the vid if he ever got the chance.

But that chance never came. Before they could meet up again and time could be spared, Dick disappeared. Which brought his mind full circle back to the case file. Seeing that guy's grinning face in the file before him and from his memories, it was hard to not feel some loss. Dick really shouldn't have disappeared. Whoever took him was just asking for trouble.

Too bad he and the other Titans were busy with their usual work to try their hand at finding him. The archer sighed and went to another file. Keeping an eye out was all he could do. Besides, what was the likelihood Dick would be dragged cross country to their city?

Dick stepped out of the semi, stoic and more interested in getting out of that metal box than in the warehouse port they were disembarking in. He stood at attention like a good soldier about five feet from his exit, just where his master wanted him to be at the moment. It pleased the man to no end when he seemed to finally get with the program.

The burning hate in his eyes that appeared often in flashes when Slade passed by though told him he hadn't quite transformed his way of thinking yet. The boy still had some independence.

Still, there was enough progress, both physical and mental, that warranted this particular amount of freedom. A temporary change of scenery. Slade said it was a 'dry run for the future', a way to 'test his progress'. Apparently some offers were being made to whoever delivered something and the opportunity was too good to pass up. Once the deals were done, they would be returning to Mexico to continue his training.

The one eyed assassin looked over his stoic apprentice, his blue eyes focused on the ground in front of him. "Still upset about that border patrol aren't you Renegade."

Dick bit back the bile from being called that name. Slade never called him 'Richard' these days. Only Wintergreen did, and he stayed behind for when they returned. It was all 'Renegade' and 'Apprentice'. Neither could lift his spirits. "They didn't have to die."

"Actually they did." The assassin moved further into the warehouse, motioning for the boy to follow. He did, obediently and at a safe distance. His jaw clenched as the man continued. "They insisted on seeing what was inside the truck. If they looked inside, they would have held me for questioning and I would have had to kill them anyway. I just saved us some time. Trying to save one of them was a waste of yours."

The acrobat ground his teeth together, clenching his fists. Now was not the time to attack him. He had to control himself, not attack, not defend the memory of those who died. To ensure they received justice, he had to bide his time. Acting out would only reveal his hand.

He had come to realize something in Mexico, something that made his training easier to do. It wasn't long after he was sick there that he realized it, and when it came to him, he was certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was on his own. In order to save his family, Slade had to die.

Dick was going to kill, but only the one time. He had a plan, and it had to work. He just didn't know how to carry it out yet. Yet.

Slade smiled coldly at his apprentice before showing him around. "This is my base here in San Francisco. I have safe houses and depositories all throughout the city, but this is home. Memorized those maps yet?"

'San Francisco?' The teenager's mind raced as he nodded. Earlier his master had given him maps of a city, no names just buildings and streets. Urban geography. He had to know all of it like the back of his hand before making it there. He had it nearly plastered into his mind before crossing the border. He didn't realize he was memorizing a city he heard about frequently.

It was the home of the Teen Titans. Jump District in particular. What was Slade thinking bringing him where heroes (albeit teenaged ones) resided? And making him learn the terrain, it'd be all too easy now to slip out one night, run into them, and tell them what's going on. If he could manage to grab the trigger, he knew he could find safety there! There was even a Wayne Tech in town! He knew the address, he could easily—

"Good. You'll need it when you confront the Titans." There was some bite in how he said 'Titans'. Dick blinked. Slade really didn't like the Teen Titans. It was evident in every word he spoke about them. "No doubt you'll be running into them. They're children playing hero, irresponsible children who don't understand what desperate men do to accomplish their goals. Honestly, they should have remained with their mentors until they knew how to save the dying along with fighting the common criminal."

'Someone died and he blames them,' the amateur detective figured out quickly. 'Someone important to him.' Quickly he went over what he knew about Deathstroke from Bruce's file in his head, but nothing linked him to the Titans. 'Crap! Bruce won't have them looking here! Wait, they don't have me connected to him yet, do they?'

His thoughts never entered the man's mind as he continued on. "With your abilities and refined training, they shouldn't be any trouble for you. I believe your family makes a game out of figuring out how to defeat different members of the Justice League." Wilson smiled coolly at him while Dick's jaw clenched again. It was one of their games at the dinner table. Bruce put them up to it. "Finding ways to stall the Titans for a few minutes, even crippling them, shouldn't be too difficult for you.

"Oh, and don't even think about joining them Renegade, or even talking to them. Particularly on your errands." They came to a part of the highly renovated warehouse containing clockworks. It was more of a factory than warehouse come to think of it. On one wall were large screens. Lower quality than the vizscreens he used in Gotham that one night. Slade pressed a remote button and displayed the probes coursing through bloodstreams, names and pictures next to them. Dick stopped mid-step, losing all color in his face. There were more than four displays.

"I took the liberty of infecting the Titans with the same probes as I did your siblings." The teen jerked his enraged and horrified glare at the man, his breath becoming labored quickly. He did what?! Slade continued as if nothing could be better. "It'll make the fights easier for you. Should you refuse to fight them or try to pass off any information, both they and your siblings will die. You'll see the effects instantly and you may have a chance to save all of them, if you obey my orders.

"Are we clear apprentice?"

Dick looked back between his master and the images. Before him were the lives of the people he cared about most and admired for the past couple years. Jason, Cass, Tim, Damian. Roy Harper, Oliver Queen's estranged ward. Donna Troy, Princess Diana of Themiscara's sister. Wally West, Barry Allen's nephew. Garth, King Arthur Curry of Atlantis' most trusted vassal. Victor Stone, former athlete and son of S.T.A.R. Labs' scientists. Garfield Logan, former Doom Patrol member and adoptive son of their leaders. Raven, a mysterious empathy with ties Jason Blood distrusted. Koriand'r, a Tamaranian refuge Superman said may be a princess. Most the world knew them by other names, but he knew who they really were, and who would be hurt the most if they died.

Instead of four small lives resting in his hands, it was twelve. His siblings and the leaders for the next generation of heroes.

He really didn't have any choice.

"Crystal."

Slade's smile grew, pleased beyond belief. "Good. Now, if you'll follow me, I'll show you to your room. Training will resume in a few hours. I certainly hope your aim has improved since you last held a gun. Your throws are able to make up for most of it, but nothing compares to a hunting rifle."

Dumbly Dick followed the man as he gave him a brief tour of the place, glaring death upon the man's back. He had to kill this man. It was the only way to save everyone. Even if it killed himself along with him.

A/N: I always thought Dick would have come to that conclusion one day if he was stuck being Slade's apprentice too long. =P SO, now he knows he's trying to save 12 people, not just his family. With that many lives on the line, he's really going to be gunning for the man's life now. He's calling Slade 'Master' in his head now, which shows how much the guy's affected him already. Ready to kill him but is scared to disobey him too. Man Dick's getting screwed up in the head.

Just a sidenote, it's about three months since his kidnapping, and about four and a half since the probes went into people. we've been covering a lot of time. In this world, instead of Dick being the undisputed leader of the Titans, Donna is! With Vic as her second in command. I also read somewhere that she and Roy went out for the longest time so they're a couple here. I bet I've got Garth's personality wrong but oh well, he's hardly in here (this version. He gets a private scene in the extended). Raven's empathic abilities are going to be used a lot in this so if I seem to make her a little OOC, sorry. Oh, and Roy's currently in a place where he and Ollie don't get along. They're in San Fran 'Jump District' because all over Teen Titans in the cartoon version, Jump City was on the west coast and the Tower in the comics, west coast, was in San Fran. This is how I blend it all together. NO idea how Starfire learned english in this version. 3X

Any questions? Liked the easter eggs hidden inside it? Mention them if you want. I enjoy it. =P