Chapter Six

Since they didn't know exactly what powers Slade now had, Robin programmed the computer to create Slade with a variety of different abilities, from supernatural strength and pyrokinesis like he had when he was under Trigon to laser vision, telekinesis and mind control like Superman possessed. Robin was already working on creating a soul within his Escrima Sticks in order to create a Soulbound Weapon in them. He was sure that he could make it happen with a bit more effort.

If he channeled enough Bioenergy into them, then they could gain their own powers that would correspond to his own abilities. Already, he was an expert at hitting opponents with them from a distance as well as at melee range. Now, all he needed to do was infuse them with bioenergy and simulate a soul-based connection between him and the weapons. He was feeling more of a connection now, but he needed a little bit more. There was something missing.

He felt sure that there was something that he was overlooking. He kept going through the files that he downloaded from Terra's brainstem. He went through it one more time, looking through each file individually, slowly, finally catching on something. He gasped, and hurried off to his room, taking his Escrima Sticks, and focusing on his own soul. It was more powerful now than ever before. He took off a tiny sliver of his soul, mainly the enhanced part that he had gained from Biological Manipulation.

He then focused it into his Escrima Sticks, enhancing the pieces and regenerating the piece of his soul that he had removed, and assigning powers to the sticks. To an extent, the sticks formed their own powers based on how Nightwing used them. But to an extent, he also controlled how they grew. He made them able to be thrown great distances and automatically seek out opponents, and made sure that they did extensive damage, able to break bones if need be, but only if Nightwing commanded them to.

There were command words that would activate each individual ability. He could deliver these commands telepathically to the individual Escrima Sticks. In addition, he made it so that the sticks, when they hit an opponent, they would drain the opponent's vitality, exhausting them over time. The Vampiric ability could also drain an opponent's powers. It would never take them away, but over time, it would exhaust them so they couldn't use them.

It would be useful against villains like Brother Blood, Jinx, and Blackfire. Without their powers, they were still dangerous, but less powerful, and able to be contained. The sticks also could break past magical, energy based and psionic defenses. He was programming all that into his Escrima Sticks, and making biomass versions of his other weapons that could be attuned to his mental frequency and thus remotely controlled by him. Finally, he wiped his forehead, and moved onto creating his new costume.

After all, if he was going to be Nightwing now, he would need a new costume. He had been wanting to separate himself from Batman's legacy for a while. He respected his master, and would always be grateful for the training he received from him. But between being on a different team now, and having new powers, he needed to form his own identity.

He had always thought Nightwing was a good name, but now that his powers were so different from anything he had ever had, he would have to rethink his name. No. Nightwing was the name he had envisioned for himself. Nightwing was the name he would go with. He created a black unitard around himself, making sure that it fit him correctly. He had grown taller in the last year and a half, and was almost 5'6" now.

He had been tracking his growth, and had to modify his costume twice already, having grown out of the previous ones. This one would grow with him, though, and would offer more protection. He made sure that the costume was, like his mentor, Batman's, was a veritable fortress. He enhanced the fabric of his suit to make it nearly impenetrable, even by powerful projectiles or attacks. That wouldn't prevent him from being injured, though. Only from being impaled or having his suit damaged.

He added internal weapons that could be summoned at will from his suit, such as Kerambits, Tonfa, and added launchable wrist spikes, going back and making the fabric even more impossibly dense, but supremely breathable so that his suit wouldn't be a walking oven. He added a communicator in the suit and made copies of it for the other Titans. They were telepathic communicators that would relay their thoughts to each other. That would allow for nearly flawless coordination without conscious thought.

It was something that, as a team they came close to. However, a little added assistance never hurt. He would have them try it out in a simulation later. Until then, he created a black face mask and attached the device to it. That would allow him to effortlessly stay in contact with the rest of the team. He also added one more function to it. The mask would allow him to send a powerful psychic suggestion to Damian if it looked like he was out of control to cease and desist.

It Damian was strong willed enough, he could overpower the suggestion, but it would confuse him for a moment or two, which might be all Dick needed. Nightwing admitted that this was all potentially a little unethical, and it smacked more of what Batman would do in a given situation. Hopefully Dick wouldn't ever need to use it. He didn't want to make an enemy of a member of the team. That would be highly counterproductive. Dick sighed, and continued making the devices.

After almost two hours of building, improving and rebuilding them, Nightwing went downstairs in his new costume, and showed his new inventions to the rest of the Titans.

"Okay, Titans… Now, I have headsets for all of you. They're just a tiny little earpiece that attaches right to the inner ear. They will connect all the Titans telepathically on a unique frequency so that we don't have to worry about being hijacked.

"Don't worry…" Dick said to Beast Boy and Terra, who looked nervous about being eavesdropped on. "They can be turned off and on by a mental command. Come over here, each of you. Each of these has a unique biosignature so that we can identify each other. Raven, this one is yours. It will resist your powers, so you needn't worry about breaking it." Dick said, gently brushing her inner ear and attaching the nearly microscopic earpiece.

Raven shuddered almost imperceptibly in pleasure at Nightwing's touch. Only Terra noticed it, sensing the microvibrations that the shudder caused. She had already promised Raven that she wouldn't say anything, though… And she would be a fool to try. Raven could tear her down in an instant. Even with Terra's new abilities, Raven's powers always far outstripped her own.

"Starfire, this one is yours. It won't pull out of your ear even at the high speeds you can produce, so it will sting a little bit going in." Nightwing said gently, brushing Starfire's ear. Starfire yelped in discomfort, pulling away. Nightwing had already planted the earpiece, though.

"Terra… Hold still. This is completely biological, so it won't be negatively affected by the magnetism that you can control." Robin said. Terra nodded as Robin implanted hers.

He then turned to Cyborg and planted it on his ear, saying that it would perfectly synchronize with the systems already in play inside him, and would not be detrimental at all to them. He then turned to Beast Boy, and implanted his, saying that no matter how big or small the animal he turned into was, the communicator would still work perfectly.

Last was Damian, who didn't seem eager to have a telepathic communicator in his ear, possibly reading his thoughts.

"We won't be able to read your thoughts unless you open them up to us. We'll expect that in combat when you should be focused on the enemy, but not in your free time. You can turn it off outside of battle."

"I still don't care for it. But I suppose I don't have a choice."7

"It won't bother you when you're in your room with your dirty magazines… Jerk…" Beast Boy said sarcastically. Damian's eyes flashed, drawing his new sword, and lunging at Beast Boy for the perceived insult. Nightwing instantly activated the suggestion in his earpiece. Damian seemed to stop midstride, his head jerking around angrily at Nighwing.

"I can't allow you to attack my teammates." Nightwing said, seeing Beast Boy, already transformed into a monkey, and leaping up in the air to evade Damian.

"What did you do to me!?" Damian demanded, his willpower kicking in, breaking the suggestion, allowing him to move again, though with difficulty at first.

"I included one extra feature in your communicator. It allows me to send a telepathic suggestion into your mind. Not enough to be considered mind control, but enough to stop you in your tracks for a few seconds… At most… If I continued to use it, your mind would likely become inured to it, similar to violence on television for children.

"Still, if I'm judicious with its use, it can be helpful for keeping a leash on you."

"How dare you! I am not one of your little lackeys."

"No. You're my responsibility. And as long as you're my responsibility, I've been charged not to allow you to kill. And, yes that includes my teammates. When and if you prove to me that you're under control, I will remove the communicator and replace it with one not so restricted.

"Am I understood?" Nightwing asked. Damian seemed ready to attack Dick now. But seeming to realize that he stood no chance, he stood down and nodded.

"Good. Hopefully I won't need to use it a second time." Dick said. Damian snorted angrily, turning away. Before he left, he said one more thing, though.

"Careful, everyone. You never know when he'll decide he doesn't like your behaviour either."

With that, Damian stalked out of the room, heading up to his new room in the Titans Tower, collapsing on his bed. He definitely needed to get some training in, partially to work out his anger at the moment, but also to keep himself in top shape. Suddenly, he stopped, though, and pointed his new sword at Nightwing, who merely looked at Damian with a bemused look.

"I challenge you to a fight! I bet none of the others have ever challenged your leadership. Well, here's that challenge. If you can't beat me, then you don't deserve to be leader."

"Why should I fight you? I could kill you."

"Because if you fight me and win, I won't challenge your leadership anymore. Isn't that what you want?"

"I could care less if you challenge my leadership. I can put you in your place if I need to. But if it will satisfy you, I will fight you. I'll even heal you up afterwards. We can't have a member of the team that can't fight. Let's go down to the training room. Do you want witnesses? We can have the rest of the Titans observe." Nightwing said, heading to his room and putting on a simple gi to prove that he wasn't enhancing himself with any tricks.

When they met down in the dojo, the other Titans were seated around the outside edge, and Damian was waiting, smirking at Dick, who merely scowled, taking a basic pair of wooden Escrima sticks, not the special ones that he had been enhancing. Dick was about to speak when Damian interrupted.

"Any rules you want to go down?"

"Not really. I can heal everything except for death, and once I've beaten you that badly, I doubt you'll be getting back up." Dick said. Damian nodded, then Terra counted down, and started the match. Damian took the first move, feinting in, and slicing at Nightwing with his new sword, forcing Nightwing to block with his Escrima Sticks. He leapt back, throwing one of his birdarangs, and missing Damian. The birdarang came back almost immediately, though.

The next blow was the first direct exchange between the two of them. Nightwing punched, and Damian blocked, finding the attack to be like a train. He would have to be more careful now, Damian thought, taking out a dagger and throwing it at Dick, planting the blade right between his eyes. Nightwing's head came back up, and he removed the knife, letting it heal over.

Fine. He's going to play that game? Then I guess there's no reason that I shouldn't as well. Nightwing said, creating a sword out of biomass, making the process much faster this time, and closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, swinging and locking blades with Damian, who gasped as Robin's tactile telekinesis came into play, creating a burst of energy that nearly forced him back. Damian leapt backwards anyway, making several small cuts on Nightwing, which healed almost instantly.

Nightwing immediately pursued, creating a short side blade, and slicing upwards, opening a cut on Damian, who gasped as blood sprayed from the wound. Nightwing wasn't done yet, though, he twisted and kicked Damian in the chest, breaking several ribs and sending him flying, finally stopping his onslaught. The other Titans were shocked at the brutality of Nightwing's attack. Even Raven, who knew Dick to be a good person, was a little worried.

He reached out to each of them, though, assuring them that he had never had any intention of seriously injuring Damian. He approached the young Wayne, and while he was still down, knelt down and healed his injuries before speaking.

"Will you accept my leadership now, Damian? You can see now that I can beat you… Any time, any place. You don't stand a chance against me."

"I'll beat you one day. But for now, I accept your leadership…" Damian said firmly, bowing reverently to Nightwing, whose overwhelming power had been amazing to see, even for Damian who had been at the receiving end of it. It would have been more impressive if Nightwing had stuck with only his Escrima Sticks. But for now, he had proven that he had the overwhelming power necessary to beat any of the Titans. Nightwing sighed.

"Very well. I'll enhance you slightly, and we'll see how you do with that for now. The failsafe is still in you, so I can stop you if I need to. But you can't be a full member of the team if I haven't enhanced you as well." Nightwing said, running his hands over Damian and enhancing him physically, mentally and spiritually as well, giving him regeneration as well. In addition, he enhanced Damian's Ki, and gave him access to it so that he could surpass his limits if he needed to.

Continuing, he gave Damian Tactile Telekinesis that would run on his Ki, and given his enhanced spiritual and Ki power, he would be able to use it to enhance himself in almost any situation, especially enhancing his attacks and defenses. That would give himself an almost impenetrable defense, if he was willing to use up his Ki at such an exorbitant rate. Naturally, Ki, as life energy, would replenish itself. But he would be exhausted after using up so much life energy.

Nightwing would have to write a guide about Damian's new powers as well. He was sure that Damian would learn about them intuitively, and Robin had given Damian a certain level of Body Supremacy, and so, like Nightwing, he would have perfect control over himself, once he learned to fully control it. He didn't give Damian full control over his abilities. After all, half the benefit of having abilities was the journey towards gaining them and gaining control over them.

If one was just handed everything, then their abilities wouldn't mean anything. That was what he always learned from Batman. He may have gained Biological Manipulation by chance. But that didn't mean that he couldn't earn the abilities that it gave him. Still, he could tell that if Damian could get control of himself, he would be a valuable ally.