Disclaimer: Teen Titans and the shared universe it inhabits belong to DC Comics and DC Entertainment. We only own the characters of Bruce Kent Grayson/Redwing and Jonathan Kent II/Flamebird. We make no money from this story and only write this story for fun.
Note: As you can tell from the last few chapters, things are going to be quite different from DCU canon as of the point we began this story. For example, Bart's not going to be dead, but Wally's gonna be coming back soon, and Inertia's fate might very well be different from what befell him after Bart's death. How different? Well, just read on and find out.
~FTF~
"Titan of the Future"
Chapter 6: "To Twist"
~FTF~
Thaddeus Thawne, alias Inertia, was on the run. Sure, he finally had the Speed Force back, but the Rogues were not happy with what he'd nearly tricked them into doing to his doppelganger. In fact, they were so unhappy that they had vowed to kill him the next time they saw him, and were even hunting him down for it. Thus, he was on the run.
"Inertia . . ." a ghostly voice called.
"Who's there?" Inertia asked, not in the mood to play around.
"Think of me as your guardian angel," the voice replied, coming in clearer now. Lightning crashed in front of Inertia and he could make out the figure of a man dressed in skintight red with a golden lightning bolt on his chest and a band of golden lightning acting as a belt.
Inertia growled, recognizing the man by his costume. "The Flash . . ."
"Try your grandfather," the Flash amended. "From the other side of your family."
"The Allens aren't my family!" Inertia yelled. "They're my enemy!"
"Only because the senior Thaddeus Thawne has lied to you, used you, manipulated you," the Flash, Barry Allen, answered. "You weren't happy with the Thawnes, were you? They treated you more like a weapon than a son, didn't they?"
"What does it matter?!" Inertia asked angrily. "You're my enemy! Why act so kind to me?!"
"You don't believe you deserve someone being nice to you?" Barry asked rhetorically. "You're family, Thad . . . just like Bart."
"Don't speak his name!" Inertia snapped.
"You envy him, don't you?" Barry observed. "He had everything you ever wanted – friends, family, people that loved him and treated him like a person. And that was why you wanted to kill him, more than just him being an Allen, part of the family they taught you to hate."
Inertia glared at the apparition of Barry Allen. "Shut up! You don't know anything!"
"I know enough," Barry answered, coming closer to Inertia. "I know just enough to see that you're not a monster, not a killer – just a lonely kid who could use a friend." He extended a hand to Inertia. "How about it? Ready to let go?"
Inertia looked at the red-gloved hand suspiciously. "Why should I trust you?"
"Do you have anyone else to trust?" Barry asked sadly. "Look at where you're going. You're going to end up dead or worse if you go on like this. What do you think will happen if the Rogues catch up with you, or if Wally finds you, after what you tried to do to Bart? It's not a good way to end things, Thad."
"Don't talk to me like you know me!" Inertia snapped.
"I know you a lot better than you think," Barry answered. "And I know you enough to know that you deserve better than this. Much, much better, and if you're willing to let go of the hate, let go of the lies, you can have it. What do you say?"
~FTF~
"Morning, sleepyhead," Rose greeted Redwing as he came down for breakfast. "Did you and Wonder Girl have fun last night?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Redwing answered.
Rose laughed. "Sorry! But you just sounded so serious and honest when you said that that I had to laugh!"
"Ha, ha, ha," Redwing drawled. "Very funny. Now remind me why I like you so much again?"
"You're drawn to my unconventional sexiness," Rose replied saucily.
"Wow, I knew you were a homewrecker, but I didn't know you were that bad," Cassie commented, also coming down for breakfast.
"I see you forgot to primp before coming down," Rose remarked. "I guess sex makes you that hungry, huh?"
"Get your mind out of the gutter, Rose," Cassie grumped. "I don't want my breakfast spoiled by your idea of comedy."
"Who said I was joking?" Rose asked.
"Now, now, girls, settle down," Redwing said. "No need to ruin a good breakfast by bickering."
"Is this the trouble you've been causing here?" Flamebird asked incredulously.
"I don't cause trouble," Redwing replied. "Trouble finds me."
"Only after you jumped into it headfirst," Flamebird retorted.
Redwing chuckled softly. "You got me there. You got me there."
"Is it always like this between you two?" Blue Beetle asked.
"Yeah," Flamebird replied. "It's my job to knock him off his pedestal."
"Job? More like a hobby," Redwing jibed.
"Whatever," Flamebird said.
"Are you sure you guys are cousins?" Robin asked. "Because the two of you bicker more like brothers."
"We were raised together," Redwing answered simply.
Robin pondered. "It makes sense. Superman's always been like Nightwing's cool uncle, and since Power Girl is Superman's cousin from an alternate universe – yeah, I get how you guys would be raised together."
"Sounds like an awesome family," Blue Beetle remarked. "I mean, you've got Superman, Wonder Woman, Power Girl, Nightwing, Batman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Robin . . . wow!"
"And you mentioned me last why, exactly?" Robin asked.
"Best for last," Blue Beetle replied simply. "Right?"
"Speaking of that . . ." Supergirl looked at Flamebird. "Are you serious about Wonder Woman being your mother?"
"I'd lie about a lot of things, but who my mother is isn't one of them," Flamebird replied.
"Mama's boy," Rose commented snidely.
Flamebird took it upon himself to do a Mr. T impression. "Of course I am! I pity the fool that ain't one!"
"Nice Mr. T impression there," Blue Beetle drawled.
"Yeah," Kid Devil agreed sardonically. "I could really feel his spirit in here."
Rose chuckled. "Smooth, Flamer. Real smooth."
"It's Flamebird."
"Yeah, I know, but I like messing with you. Boys like you are so fun."
Flamebird blushed, which caused Redwing to clear his throat and aim a warning stare at Rose, which Rose answered with an unrepentant smirk. Cassie rolled her eyes in mild annoyance. "Are you just going to flirt with anything that has a pulse?" she asked.
"No," Rose replied. "Are you just going to be such a bore?"
Redwing cleared his throat again. "No need to fight, everyone."
"Besides, whatever Bruce and Cassie did up there last night – it's their business," Robin added stoically. "No need to get involved."
"Are you kidding me?" Supergirl asked incredulously. "This is the fun part!"
Robin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Can we please just eat breakfast?"
"Ok, no-fun boy!" Rose replied cheerily.
Thus, breakfast was finally allowed to commence, not that the chatter stopped so easily. Part of it was Redwing's gift of gab. Part of it was Rose being a phenomenal tease. Part of it was the others being so incredibly easy to mess with, including Robin. Actually, "especially" would have been a better word, given how hard Robin tried to act unaffected by the chatter.
~FTF~
After breakfast was over, the Titans got a call from Wally West, the third Flash. "Wally?! You're back!" Robin shouted.
"Yeah, I am," Wally confirmed. "It's a long story where I've been, but do you mind sending up your recent recruits to the Watchtower?"
"You mean Redwing and Flamebird?" Robin asked, reverting to his usual stoicism.
"Yeah, those two," Wally replied. "The League would like to get a better look at them, figure out if they're for real."
"For real? Us?" Redwing asked, popping up over Robin's shoulder.
"Yeah," Wally stated. "I got word from Nightwing and Cyborg about you claiming to be Nightwing's son from the future. Not sure I buy that entirely, and a lot of the League isn't sure what to think one way or the other, so you gotta come up."
"DNA scan from Green Lantern?" Redwing asked.
"Something like that," Wally answered. "Although I hear you saved Bart's life, so whoever you are, thanks."
"You're welcome," Redwing responded. "We'll be there. Just send us the coordinates. You guys will move in my time."
"Sure . . ." Wally drawled. "I'm sending them to you now."
"Thanks," Redwing answered.
"You two behave yourselves while you're up there," Robin instructed.
"I'll behave," Flamebird said. "It's Bruce here I'm not that sure of."
"I'm not going to flirt with Wonder Woman," Redwing said. "She's like a mother to me."
"A really hot one," Ravager commented with a sly smirk.
Wonder Girl glared at Ravager, who simply stuck her tongue out at her. "She does have a point," Redwing admitted. His next words broke up the silent argument. "But Wonder Woman doesn't turn my crank. You do, Cassie."
"How sweet . . ." Ravager purred, trying to be sarcastic.
Wonder Girl didn't even have time to blush before Redwing gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. "I'll be back."
~FTF~
In the Justice League's Watchtower, Redwing and Flamebird were carefully observed. Of course, it didn't help matters much that Flamebird had changed into the set of Conner's clothes that Ma Kent had given him. Specifically, he was wearing Conner's black S-shield T-shirt and jeans with a leather jacket over it.
"Who gave you those clothes?" Superman asked.
"Grandma Kent," Flamebird replied.
"Grandma Kent?" Superman repeated incredulously. He looked at Green Lantern.
"On it," Green Lantern said. "Ring, DNA scan now."
The ring cooperated, and came back with the results quickly enough. "DNA scan completed. 50 percent Kryptonian, 50 percent Amazon. Kryptonian percentage is a match to Kal-El, alias Superman. Amazon percentage is a match to Princess Diana, alias Wonder Woman."
"That . . . complicates things a lot," Superman admitted.
"So what happened, Supes?" Green Lantern asked sardonically. "You and Wonder Woman have a night of passion you never told us about?"
"Nothing of the sort happened, Hal," Wonder Woman replied. "Obviously, this boy is from a future time or world."
"Yeah," Flamebird confirmed. "That's about it."
"What happened to . . . ?" Superman started to ask, only to catch a sad look from Flamebird, which was all the answer he needed. He then shifted his train of thought to another question. "Why are you wearing Conner's clothes?"
"I want to honor his name while I'm here," Flamebird replied. "I want to be a symbol of inspiration the way he was. Most of all, I just don't want him to go unremembered."
Superman couldn't detect any hint of insincerity in Flamebird's voice, which had as much to do with his skills as a reporter when he was Clark Kent as it did with his super-powers. "All right, then."
"What about him?" Black Canary asked, gesturing at Redwing.
"What about me?" Redwing asked with a winning smile aimed in the fishnet-clad woman's direction.
"Who are you?" Black Canary inquired.
"Well, I would be Nightwing, except my dad is using that name here and I don't want to step on his toes," Redwing answered. "Call me Redwing."
"So who's your mother?" Black Canary asked.
"Power Girl," Redwing replied. "Except she's Power Woman when I'm from."
Green Lantern did another DNA scan, which also finished quickly. "DNA scan completed. 50 percent Kryptonian, 50 percent human. Kryptonian percentage is matched to Kara Zor-L, alias Karen Starr, alias Power Girl. Human percentage is matched to Richard John Grayson, alias Nightwing."
"All right, why are you here?" Black Canary asked.
"We were chasing down a fugitive who attempted to use experimental temporal-spatial technology to escape from us," Redwing replied. "He is now lost somewhere in time, and so are we. For all we know, he's either way in the past or way in the future, or nowhere or no time in particular."
"Maybe he ended up in the dinosaur age and got eaten," Flamebird cracked.
Superman gave Flamebird a stern glance, which made Flamebird quite embarrassed. "Sorry," he said. "You never liked those kinds of jokes back in my time, either."
"Well, this is kind of awkward," Redwing remarked.
"Why's that?" Black Canary asked.
Redwing chuckled slightly. "I see where Olivia inherited her looks."
"Olivia?" Black Canary repeated.
"Yeah," Redwing confirmed. "You'll see her soon enough."
"I'm guessing you and Ollie have a kid where those two are from," Green Lantern remarked.
"And I see this kid's spent a little too much time hanging around you," Black Canary jibed.
"Don't blame him," Redwing said. "He was merely doing his duty as an uncle to show me all the cool stuff my dad wouldn't let me touch."
Black Canary and Superman shook their heads in bemusement. "I just hope it wasn't anything someone your age had no business seeing," Superman commented.
"What do you take me for?" Green Lantern asked in mock anger. "I can be responsible, too, you know. Doesn't mean I can't have fun with it, right?"
"Don't worry," Redwing assured the two heroes. "Uncle Hal's cool, but not that cool."
Black Canary chuckled amusedly at seeing Green Lantern's reaction. "He's got you there."
"Where's Batman?" Flamebird asked.
"On duty in Gotham," Superman replied. "He'll be back soon, though, and he wants to see you two up close himself."
"Figures he would," Redwing remarked. "Good old Grandpa."
"Grandpa?" Superman repeated, somewhat nonplussed.
"Yeah," Redwing confirmed with a slight smirk.
~FTF~
That night, Redwing had completed his list of teenage heroes that could replace him as a Titan. Flamebird, now known as the new Superboy much to the tolerance of Robin and Wonder Girl, had elected to stay, wanting to hang out with the Titans longer. For his part, Redwing was fine with that, given that Flamebird was much more of a social butterfly than he was, regardless of his own luck with women.
"What's going on?" Wonder Girl asked him.
"I've got a world to see," Redwing replied. "And hopefully fix."
"What makes you say that?" Wonder Girl inquired.
"My future isn't as bright as I might have made it sound," Redwing admitted. "There are plenty of things that could have been better, ways everyone could have been happier if they'd occurred differently. I want . . . I want to make it right, for everyone. That's why I'm going."
"Are you sure about this?" Wonder Girl asked.
"I'm sure," Redwing replied.
"Then I have one question."
"What's that?"
Wonder Girl looked him in the eyes. "Will you take me with you?"
"I wish I could," Redwing answered sadly. "But the team needs you a lot more than it does me, especially Robin. I've been watching him. He needs an anchor, someone that can keep him on the straight and narrow. That's you. He won't admit it, but he needs someone to be there for him, someone who knows him in ways the others don't."
Wonder Girl hugged him. "You're a nicer guy than I thought."
"I try." Redwing sighed, and smiled at Wonder Girl. "One more for the road?"
"One more for the road," Wonder Girl echoed, and kissed him. "Good luck, Bruce."
"I'll be back," Redwing promised before turning to leave. As he was on his way out, he spotted Rose coming toward him, wearing a pair of leather pants and a leather jacket over a white tube top. "You ready?"
"Yeah," Rose replied with an affectionate smirk. "Besides, someone has to hold your hand."
Redwing chuckled. "Yeah, sure."
~FTF~
"Is this it?" a woman in Grecian armor asked. "Is this where they're holding our Princess?"
"Yes," another woman in Grecian armor, hers being more ornate, replied. "That's where they're keeping Diana."
"So this is what it's come to," a third woman, this one with red hair tied back in a very long ponytail, murmured. "This mission to bring peace to the world of men was futile from the beginning."
"Watch your tongue, Artemis," the ornately armored woman warned. "Diana's mission will not be for naught. Our mission will not be for naught."
"Then how do you explain this, Your Majesty?" Artemis asked angrily. "How do you explain Man's World turning against her like this?"
"Something has happened," Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons replied. "What it is, I do not know, but we will find out, and we will save Diana. However we have to."