Disclaimers: I own none of the characters that appear in this story, or the settings those characters appear. Strictly speaking I probably own none of this. I am a literary pauper.
"No."
"C'mon."
"No."
"Why?"
Nightwing sighed inwardly as he flew across Bludhaven's grim and gritty skyline. "Because I said so." For weeks now, Arsenal had been trying to get him to lead a new team. Ever since he was first introduced into the world of costumed vigilantism so many years back, Dick Grayson had been part of a team. First it was a duo, Batman and Robin. Then, out of a desire to get out from under their mentors wings, it was the Teen Titans. The Titans had had their ups and downs, but they were always a team.
"'Because I said so?' You might as well tell me 'Cuz I don't feel like it."
"I don't feel like it," Dick said as he vaulted effortlessly over the edge of the rooftop. Bruce. Tim. Alfred. Cassandra. They were family. Barbara was something else entirely, but 'family' was close enough for these purposes. He could work with family, could do it very well, in fact. But there was something different about the team the Titans had been. The four founders, along with himself, were his closest friends. One of them was dead. And it was his fault.
"Well I walked into that one," Roy said as he followed behind. He knew Dick was at least willing to hear him out. He'd seen how fast Dick could fly across the rooftops when he wanted to, and he knew the territory better. If the raven-haried vigilante wanted, he'd be a rapidly disappearing speck. "Dick, I understand where you're coming from. More than anyone, I understand. But I think you have to look past it."
No, he was wrong, there wasn't a difference. Nightwing flipped his body over the handles of a fire escape ladder and touched down on the roof with barely a sound. "Look past it? That's your line: 'look past it'? We buried two of our teammates. Two of our friends. Roy, we put Donna's body in the ground! I told you, no more of this. No more leading friends, leading family, into danger and death." Donna was as much a part of his family as Tim or Alfred. "I've had it."
He'd trained every Titan personally. He'd drilled them on teamwork as exhaustively as he could. He'd seen to it that the best lessons he and Batman had to teach about leading a team were imparted in Robin, leader of Young Justice. And the teamwork had failed. Failed miserably. And Donna, along with Lilith, was dead. Because of him. He'd run through things over and over in his head. A dozen strategies for dealing with the android ran through his mind, but it was too late for any of them. He ran through them, anyway. It was something to do other than listen to Roy's pitch to lead another team.
"I know," Roy said, "I know we buried Donna...I'm never going to forget that. I'm not saying we should. But Dick...why did we start the Teen Titans?" Roy asked.
"Because we were young and stupid," was Dick's reply.
"Besides that."
"I'm sticking with young and stupid." Couldn't he see? Leading a team of people he'd known since childhood had done absolutely nothing. How could he presume to try to lead some other poor suckers? Besides, if he'd wanted a team he'd have kept the Titans together. Or joined the JLA. Ok the JLA wasn't exactly a team, but the point remained.
"We started the Teen Titans to do good in our own right. not just to be sidekicks. Not just to be the other, diminutive half of the people who raised and trained us. Even then, we knew that. We were going to grow out of their shadows. Teen Titans was only the first step."
"Right," Dick said dryly.
"Now we're there."
"We are there. I don't need a team. I can do this alone," Dick stated bluntly. He didn't see how to make Roy understand without hurting him. Roy never wanted to be alone. Abandonment issues, Dick thought. As always, Dick felt a twinge of anger directed at Roy's surrogate father Oliver Queen. 'Of course', he thought dryly, 'if I get a little pissed at Ollie for the ways he's messed Roy up, I can just imagine what Roy thinks about Bruce after all the ways he messed me up.'
Roy changed tactics, "What if they're strangers?"
Dick blinked behind his mask. "Excuse me?" he asked.
Pressing the momentary advantage, Roy said, "You don't want to lead a family? Fine, screw it. This is work. No one says you have to be emotionally connected. Hell, you think the JLA has Sunday potluck dinner? Maybe that's always been our greatest fault. We never built a team, Dick. We created a family."
Dick pondered that briefly, then shook his head, "This is work, Roy, but it isn't a job. Christ, even without the Titans I live two lives worth of this work. This is a calling. This is my life! If this team is going to be people in costumes collecting a paycheck, then forget it. I have even less interest in being in charge of that then I do in reforming the Titans."
"Who said you were going to be in charge?" Roy said through gritted teeth.
"Oh, you're leading the team?" Dick said lightly. "Man, way to sweeten the deal there Harper..." Roy's face reddened. He stood there in silence for a moment, hands balling up into fists. "I was just..." Dick started to say.
"FUCK you Grayson!" Roy snapped and stalked off, hopping over the edge of the roof onto the fire escape and making his way back down to street level.
Dick took a step to follow then stopped, turning away. "Dammit..." he said to himself, shaking his head and firing off his grapnel.
In the empty alley, Roy said, "Dammit..." to himself and kicked over and empty garbage can. He hadn't allowed himself to consider the possibility that Dick really wouldn't join this time. He was doubly screwed, now. He had the pieces of the puzzle pretty much put together in his mind, a good mix of powers and skills, but now he was short his king. Or queen. 'Man, that sounds wrong,' Roy thought, chuckling to himself. 'Gotta get out of the habit of thinking in Checkmate terms'.
Blowing up at Dick hadn't helped Roy's cause any, and it was stupid to boot. Roy knew Dick was a better leader than he was. That was why he wanted him. Now not only would he have to lead this team himself, but he'd have to replace all that Dick would have brought to the team. "And something tells me Batman's not interested."
Roy shook his head and tried to think who in the world could even come close. He spent a few minutes thinking and then threw up his hands in frustration. There simply wasn't anyone. No one he'd ever known had the breadth of knowledge, training and discipline that the Bats had. He briefly considered asking Robin, then shook his head. No kids on this team. He was getting one 18 year-old, Anissa Pierce, and that was enough.
Besides, he'd gotten wind of what Vic was doing in San Francisco. He'd probably want to bring Robin on board, and frankly that was a better environment for him. Beyond Dick's leadership and his abilities, he needed someone to be a hard-ass. 'Ragtag' was an understatement for the crew he'd put together.
Pierce had good genes, but was pretty new to this work. And while it wasn't bandied about, Roy'd heard that her dad, Secretary of Education and formerly Black Lightning, was less-than-pleased with her choice of career. So, eighteen and rebellious. Roy liked that, but it didn't suggest a 'good soldier' who'd meekly follow orders.
Rex Mason was the opposite when it came to experience...sort of. Ever since he'd re-coalesced, he hadn't actually gotten a lot of his memory back. Roy thought he'd be a good addition, but even when he had all his memories, the former Outsider and JLA member hadn't exactly been Captain Discipline.
Then there was Grace. Yep, Grace. Dammit, Roy really didn't want to be the one trying to ride herd on this crew. He'd had a hard enough time keeping things together when he'd led the Titans, and there he'd at least had 'Founder' status to impress the new kids. Not that he recalled that working all that well. 'Suck it up, Harper,' he thought to himself, 'You started this. Up to you to keep it going.' Why did all his pep talks sound like he was getting them from Ollie?
As for a hard-ass with Bat-like skills, Roy had an idea. A really bad idea, but it just might work...
TBC
