Hello boys and girls and welcome to chapter two of The New Teen Titans. Ok first off I must thank all of you guys who reviewed, I'm glad you're liking my story so far. Well summer has come early here and it's getting hot out. I even got heatstroke yesterday! So I'll apologize ahead of time if my next couple of updates are a bit infrequent because with all this sun and school ending soon I'll be outside. So anyway here's chapter two.
Chapter 2: Raving
Bludhaven, is a hell of a town. It's an industrial town that is horrible overpopulated, badly constructed and has an ever raising crime rate. The whole town is simple factories, warehouses, a few offices and apartments as far as the eye can see. It's just a few hundred miles south of Gotham and that adds in part to its disarray. Villains, thugs, even entire mobs think they can escape The Bat here. That used to be true. Now when they flee from The Bat all they find is his former apprentice, Nightwing, and his wife Starfire. Together they are slowly turning Bludhaven into a safe place to live, one thug at a time.
But a new hero is now admiring what has always been his town from atop one of the better constructed apartment buildings. His costume is black with light blue spirals going down both his left and right arm. On his chest, near his heat is an R symbol that appears to have a small explosion around it. He has two black gloves and large black steel toed boots on as well as a very simple mask on his eyes, to hide his identity. His cape is wrapped around him and is black on the outside and light blue on the inside. His fiery red hair is slicked back and goes about half way down his neck. As he sits on the roof his intense concentration is broken by a cry from behind him.
"Bruce, get off the roof," came Dick's voice from the stairway leading up to the roof. He emerged from the small structure that houses the stairs and shook his head at his son who sat there motionless. Dick was still wearing his suit from his work at Wayne Industries but he had the first couple of buttons undone and the tie loose. You could see his age around his eyes and he stopped wearing his hair with gel, but those were the only things besides height that had changed about him over the years.
"Dad why wont you let me be a hero?" Bruce asked as he never took his eyes off the large drop from the building to the ground. It would have scared most but not him, he had trained himself since birth to not be afraid of anything.
"What are you taking about?" Dick asked as he leaned against the stairway door, "I was ecstatic when Batman offered you the spot of Robin."
"I said hero! Not sidekick!" Bruce said as he stood and approached his father with his cape making a whooshing sound behind him. You could now see that Bruce was smaller then his father, about the height his dad was when he was his age.
"Is this one of my old Nightwing uniforms?" Dick asked as he looked at what his son was wearing with a slight frown. "Did you cut my Robin uniform!" Dick said as more of a fact then a question as he looked at the R symbol on his son's chest.
"Don't change the subject," Bruce said as he turned away from his father. "Why wont you let me be a hero?" he asked again.
"It's too dangerous out there," Dick said simple as he moved to the side of the building and kicked a small rock off the side so he could watch it fall.
"You're saying it wasn't dangerous when you started out?" Bruce asked as he watched his father lean over the side as much as he could without falling off.
"I had Batman or the Titans there to back me up," Dick said as he stopped looking over the side and looked at his son. He moved back over to the stairs and said "Besides you're too young," he looked over his shoulder and finished with a stern, "end of discussion."
"What are you talking about, I'm fifteen years old!" Bruce yelled as he stood up close to his father and poked him with his finger, "you were only thirteen when you started!"
"But I didn't want to be a hero at thirteen!" Dick yelled back as he lost the cool he usually had when fighting with his son. He pushed past Bruce so that he could sit on the edge of the roof and cool off. "I wanted to be a normal kid, with friends, school," there was a pause before he finished quietly, "parents."
"I'm sorry Dad," Bruce said as he realised his mistake and moved over to his dad, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"I'll tell you what, I'll tell you why I don't want you to be a hero? If you tell me why you don't want to be Robin?" Dick asked as he stood up from the edge.
"Alright," Bruce said as he shook his father's hand. There was a pause as Bruce tried to word what he was going to say but Dick just waited patiently with a slight smile playing on his lips. "I don't want to be you," Bruce said simple as he watched as his dad's smile drop from his face. "I want to have a name. I don't want to be Nightwing's son, or The Boy Wonder, or even Batman's sidekick." Dick nodded his head. He understood his son completely, he had had the same problem when he was with the Titans, trying to be more then Batman's sidekick, "I mean I got nothing against Grandpa Bruce, but I'd rather be Rave, then Robin."
"Rave?" Dick said as he laughed slightly but tried to hold it in, "how long did it take you to come up with that?"
"Dad," Bruce said very seriously causing Dick to stop laughing, "now it's your turn."
Dick looked away from his son as he already knew what he was going to say, "I'm scared. Just like I'm scared when your mom goes out or just like I am when I go out there. I still I'm scared whenever I jump from a building or pursue a robber. After all these years I'm still scared."
"Dad," Bruce said in a tone that made his father look over at him. Bruce was levitating a few feet in the air as his eyes began to glow a light blue colour and balls of blue energy surrounded his gloved hands. "I'm stronger and faster then you ever were. I can fly and I have rave-bolts at my beck and call."
"Rave-bolts?" Dick said as he once again was confused by his son's choice of codename.
"Dad," Bruce said again as he landed gently on the ground.
"You may be faster, stronger, be able to fly and have…bolts, but you're not bullet proof," Dick said as he looked at his feet. "One slip up, one wrong move…"
"I wont," Bruce said as he put his hand on his father's shoulder.
"But you could," Dick moved away from his son, never looking him in the eyes as he went back over to the stairs and said, "come on your Mom made your favourite."
"Pizza?" Bruce asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Half pepperoni, half mint frosting," Dick said as he gestured down the stairs.
"You're not going to lure me away with food," Bruce said as he crossed his arms and turned away from his father, "this conversation is not over."
"Your Mom said she'd give you some of her gourmet mustard," Dick said knowingly as he smiled slightly.
"The kind from Italy?" Bruce said just to be sure. Dick nodded and Bruce moaned slightly as he was hungry and he knew his Dad had won. "But this is not over," Bruce said as he took off the mask revealing his green eyes to the world.
"Sure it is," Dick said as he and Bruce walked down the stairs towards their apartment. They walked down to the fourteenth floor to where apartment fourteen-C was. Where they had lived since they came to Bludhaven ten years ago.
The whole thing was one big room with three doors on one side leading to two smaller rooms and a bathroom in-between those. One of the rooms was Bruce's and the other was his parent's, they shared the bathroom. In the main room is a living room with a TV and a couch and a rug was down on the floor in a effort to separate the one room into three. Where the rug ended was hardwood floor with a table on it that was already set for dinner. Right next to the table in the far right hand corner was a kitchen that was bordered off by a counter. That's where Kory was making dinner.
Kory had only grown in beauty over the years. She was still tall and beautiful and was even working in her spare time as a model, but that hadn't changed the fact that she was still blissfully unaware of her beauty. She had let her hair grow down to the small of her back though she had it up in a ponytail right now. She was wearing an apron and had some flour on her cheek which she rubbed off as she took diner out of the oven.
"Hi Mom," Bruce said as he took off his cape as he and Dick sat down at the dining table across from each other.
"Boys! You have returned from the roof and stopped the arguing," Kory said as she kissed Dick on the cheek and brought the pizza over as she took her seat at the head of the table.
"Yeah Honey we came to an agreement," Dick said as he took a piece of the pepperoni side.
"A temporary agreement," Bruce said as he stretched the word temporary. Kory could almost see the tension between her husband and son.
"Here," Kory said as she poured some mustard into a cup for her son, taking his mind off the argument. "So how was school Son?"
"Dull," Bruce said as he took a sip of the mustard making Dick cringe, Bruce's favourite part about drinking mustard. "How was defending the city from evildoers," Bruce said as he glanced at his father.
Kory didn't see this glance though and simple said, "oh, that does not begin for another hour." It was only then she saw the glances. "Well how was your day then," Kory said as she smiled at Dick.
"The legal department just made a big deal so they were hounding me with a bunch of paperwork," Dick said in a tired tone to show how tiring the work had been.
"What are you talking about, Grandpa Bruce lets you sleep in your office so you can be ready to save the world when you get home," Bruce said in a huff.
"Not all the time," Dick said as he began to get angry at his son again.
"Pleas stop this," Kory said as she stopped the fighting before it could begin, "why must you two always fight?"
"Well just give me a good reason why I cant be a hero!" Bruce yelled, "none of this 'I'm scared' stuff."
Dick got made then that his real reason was not taken seriously and yelled back "Because I said so!" Kory just looked down and shook her head.
"I hate you," Bruce said making Kory look at him with shock and stopping Dick dead in his tracks. Bruce had never said that to them before.
Just then the wall behind the table exploded as the two robots from earlier burst threw it. All three of them were thrown to the ground. As the dust cleared Bruce saw the robots for the first time as their legs hunched with a loud hydraulic hiss.
"Bruce stay back!" Dick yelled as he took out a staff and ran at one of the robots. He didn't see the slight glow to the robot but Bruce did.
"Dad! Watch out!" Bruce shouted but it was too late and as Dick connected with the robot electricity went from it and through the staff into Dick knocking him out. He fell forward and the robot caught him and slung him up and over its shoulder.
"Release my husband!" Kory shouted as she hurled a star-bolt at the robot holding Dick. It connected and made him slide back a little. Kory fired another but the other robot got in the way and it ricocheted off one of the metal plates that were dropping over all its robotic parts. He lifted his arm and fired the same red palm laser at Kory that he had at Raven as the star-bolts continued to bounce off him. That robot picked her up as Bruce watched shell-shocked.
They were almost out the hole they had made in the wall before Bruce snapped out of it and lifted up into the air and began to hurl his rave-bolts at them. They just ignored him though as the bolts just bounced off them as they jumped out the window. "I'm sorry," Bruce said in a whisper as he watched the robots hope across roof tops and soon disappear with his parents.
Bruce was about to chase after, to spite that it was already hopeless but was stopped by a female voice calling his name, "Bruce!"
He turned around to see Em standing in the doorway and Mark leaning up against the door panting heavily. "Do you know your elevators broken?" Mark panted.
"What are you guys doing here?" Bruce asked as he looked at the two teenagers that he knew since he was born but barely ever got the chance to see. They both looked a bit rattled and exhausted and their clothes were torn in places and covered in dirt.
"Oh no, they were here too?" Em asked no one in particular as she ignored Bruce's question and looked behind him at the rubble.
"You mean the robots!" Bruce said with hope as he walked up close to Em, "do you know where they're going?"
Em opened her mouth to respond but suddenly realised just who she was talking to and no words would come out. There were just some strange sounds that happen when you try to speak without moving your tongue and a part of the rubble exploded. Mark saw this and quickly jumped in before Bruce could notice, "no but they took our parents and we were hoping yours could help."
"Well they may have been able to," Bruce said as he turned back to look at the large hole in his wall, "but not now." Bruce went over and picked up a piece of the rubble and examined it as he spoke, "did you find any clues to who sent them or why they would take are parents."
"No, but were not detectives," Mark said as he leaned against the wall.
"Well I am," Bruce said as he looked back at him, "I'll start looking and you can stay over there with Em. She looks a bit rattled." Em wasn't really rattled but she was standing with her hands in her pockets and her hood up as she scoffed her feet.
When Bruce looked away Em slide down the nearby wall and banged her head against it chanting, "stupid, stupid, stupid."
"Come on Em you've had a crush on him since you were seven," Mark said as he walked up to his sister, "just tell him."
"This is not the time nor the place, Mark," Em said as she stood and crossed her arms, "our parents are gone and its obvious what's happening-"
"Someone's collecting ex-Titans," Bruce cut her off from behind Mark, he had found his cape and mask when searching and put them back on.
"How long have you been there?" Em said in a panic.
"Just for what you said about our parents. Why?" Bruce asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"No reason!" Em said quickly as she shuffled behind Mark.
"So find any clues," Mark said as he mentally rolled his eyes at his sister.
"No," Bruce said a bit depressed as he began to walk somewhere and Mark and Em followed behind quickly, "but the robots did remind me of something I saw." He then went into his parents room and flipped on the light. The room was simple with just a bed in the middle, a table with a light on it to one side and a dresser, a normal room. But then Bruce pressed in on the light switch making the walls in the room flip around to reveal trophies and clues from past cases. He walked up to one that was a mask very similar to the robot's ones only this one had an eyehole but just one eyehole.
"You know who's next on these robots list?" Mark asked only to confirm his own suspicions. Bruce looked at him in a way that Mark knew more then confirmed his answer. Though Bruce said the name anyway, "Cyborg."