A/N: This story gets dark so please mind the rating. I promise the story will get much lighter as it goes (though, this chapter is pretty bleak). Also, I am trying very hard to avoid any character bashing even though characters throughout may be ideologically opposed or simply flawed in reasoning. Last, though this story begins in Young Justice cannon, different comic story lines are incorporated from Batman, Nightwing, Teen Titans, the New Teen Titans, Red Hood and the Outlaws, and Grayson comics plus a lot more. Hope you enjoy!
This story is about getting over and recovering from grief, not just about grieving. But, with that, please pay note to the warnings with each chapter and take care of yourself. Warnings: Grief, Mourning, Character Death (though before the story begins), Survival Guilt, Recovery
ooooo
Dick Grayson opens his eyes and everything hurts like he decided to have a fist fight with Superman.
He sits up-ow-and reaches immediately for his mask. Still there. Good. He's protected.
Now, he just has to remember what happened. Where is he? Where's Batman? The team?
He blinks and all he can see are corn fields and small fires and what looks like twisted pieces of metal and-
Oh.
He remembers.
The aliens. The zeta ray. Bruce's-Batman's ship exploding. The League falling. Artemis. Kaldur. The mission-his mission, his idea, his orders his-
He remembers thinking he was going to die. And that was okay because it meant the mission was successful. The world was safe.
But then, Wally.
Wally, turning to him and…
"I've got an idea, okay?"
Speed and Wally carrying him and vibrating so fast Dick thought he'd vomit and then they were outside the mothership and they were going to survive and then…
And then, the explosion went off and Wally tripped and Dick fell, caught in force from the explosion, and rolling too fast, too quick to catch himself before he hit the ground hard.
Wally.
Dick scrambles off the ground, ignoring the pain, and runs back in the direction of the mothership and-
In front of him, the mothership is gone. Debris, still on fire, littering the ground for miles around. But, that's not what Dick's looking at.
He's looking at bright red hair and brighter blood and a torn yellow costume, caught under a piece of what used to be the ship. He's looking at…
Wally.
ooooo
It's minutes or hours later and he can't tell and that would honestly terrify him if it were in any other situation. Right now, Dick doesn't care.
His training's still there. He remembers checking for life signs, not finding any, and then it all goes dark and he doesn't know…
Anyway, it's minutes or hours later, and Dick's locked in a service station bathroom a few miles away. It's old, an outside one stall bathroom in a mom and pop style station that was too easy for Dick to sneak in without anyone noticing.
His mask is off and his wrist computer is up, pulling up the databases, checking the news, the status of the League heroes. The comms are down or maybe there's just no one on them anymore.
There's a soft ping as the computer connects and then the list of the dead comes scrolling through, too many for Dick to really processes them.
Superman. Wonder Woman. Flash. Green Arrow. Black Canary. Red Tornado. Hawkman. Green Lantern. Icon. Aquaman. Zatarra. Captain Atom.
And so many more….
There's other names, too. Just with the designation "Missing" beside them, the destruction so widespread that even the Watchtower supercomputer hasn't cataloged everyone yet. He absently notes his and Wally's codenames with the "Missing" designation.
He gets to the next names and his heart thuds loudly in his ears.
Martian Manhunter. Dead. Miss Martian. Dead.
There's a video file linked to it, something from the Watchtower surveillance satellites, and Dick clicks on it before he has a chance to think.
The explosion from the mothership. Too close and-Dick should have thought of that, should have ordered them further away, he was their leader, he should have…
The computer blinks off, leaving Dick alone under the bathroom's cold fluorescent light and Dick's finally crying, curling into himself to make himself smaller-a training move to protect against blows when you're too weak to fight back.
They're dead. His team is dead. The League is dead. Batman is...Bruce is…
Dead. Like his parents. Like everyone.
For the second time in his life, Dick's world is falling down around him.
A loud knock echoes off the bathroom door.
"Hey, whoever's in there, you alright? Door's been locked for awhile."
Dick takes a shuddering breath, looking up at the door as another knock comes.
"Hey, you okay in there?"
"...no," Dick answers in a shaking breath before he can stop himself.
"Ah, shit." The voice sounds old, male, slight Midwestern accent-probably the gas station owner. "You sound like a kid. You hurt or something, kid? In that explosion?"
Dick doesn't say anything.
"Come on, kid, give me something. Just want to know if I need to break out the med kit or call an ambulance or what."
"No." Dick's bruised. That's it. He's bruised and everyone else is dead.
"Alright, alright….good...that's good."
There was silence and Dick wonders if the man had left-he didn't wonder, not really, no sound of footsteps, shadow still under the door, Dick's stupid training still cataloging the sound of light breathing.
"Aw, kid, I don't know...I don't know if you know yet. Maybe it will help. They stopped the aliens. The heroes did. All of the aliens. They're gone now. Saw it on the news, all across the world. Their ships just started falling out of the sky like dead birds."
A hive mind. The speed the ships were able to respond, the formation, the numbers. All of it pointed to a hive mind linked to the mothership. It was what he had predicted. It's why he made the plan.
The plan that meant all of his team was dead.
"I don't know...I don't know if you lost someone in the invasion. Shit, with the numbers they're reporting, I think everyone lost someone. And the League-the League, the reporters are saying it's just gone."
Dick curls into himself a bit more.
"But, ah, take it from an old man like me, kid. No matter how bad everything seems right now. The world's always gotta way of fixing itself back up. Always. Doesn't matter how dark it gets, sun's always going to come up again."
Dick stays quiet.
"...I'll just leave you here then. Stay as long as you need. Not like we're planning on any customers with this stuff anyway. If you need someone to talk to, I'll be inside."
The sound of footsteps. The shadow disappears from under the door. The breathing goes away.
Dick looks up.
Barely ten minutes later, the window to the bathroom is open, a set of clothes and a bag are missing from the store's shelves, and there's a crumpled set of bills held down with a batarang by the register and a note with shaky letters reading, Thanks.
Dick is already gone in the direction of the nearest zeta tube.
ooooo
It's almost dawn by the time Dick makes it back to Gotham. Not surprising, considering how long it took him to find a still functioning zeta tube.
His Robin suit is still crumpled and torn in the bag he'd managed to grab from the service station. With scratches on his face and baggy not quite fitting clothes, Dick looks practically unrecognizable from any other Gotham city regular-right down to the blank expression and dark, dark eyes.
Still, Dick takes caution in remaining unseen as he scales the fence and dodges the security sensors with a familiarity that could only come with long experience.
When he was finally at his destination, Dick holds his breath and knocks on the door.
He counts the seconds.
One….Two….Three….Four.
The door swings open with a speed too sudden for the normally calm man.
"Master Dick?"
A world of expression passes in those two words-fear, surprise, relief, joy, hope.
Dick catches Alfred's eyes flicker behind him, just briefly as he looks for someone else and….
"I'm sorry," Dick says, softly. "It's just me."
Alfred's eyes meet his and Dick sees a grim acceptance settle behind them before suddenly, Dick finds himself pulled forward as deceptively strong arms wrap around him.
"Never be sorry, that it's you. That alone, I believe, is a miracle enough."
Dick hands clench, wrinkling Alfred's suit as tears rolled down. "I couldn't save him, Alfred. I couldn't save any of them."
"Hush now, Master Dick. Let's get you inside."
ooooo
The following months pass much too slowly for Dick to bare and much too quickly for him to process. Dick finds himself fading through the moments, cataloging things absently rather than interacting with them.
It's a strange dull contrast to the helpless anger he'd felt when his parents died. And Dick honestly thinks this might be worse. At least, the anger was better than this dark, oppressive blankness distancing him from the world like a shroud.
There are a few bright moments.
Roy's alive. Zatanna and Rocket, too. A few of the heroes, mainly small time local ones and a number of retired, made it through the invasion.
Other than them, all heroes associated with the League are dead.
There had been funerals. Too many were dead to hold individual ones so instead there was a mass funeral roughly a week after the invasion followed by a service at the destroyed League headquarters to dedicate a monument.
A few cities held memorials for their local heroes as well.
Robin had been to all of them.
They'd all been hard in their own ways. The soldier that Aqualad saved had spoken at the League memorial. Jay Garrick had given a eulogy in Central City. There was a small monument dedicated to the team in Happy Harbor and only Roy being there had kept Dick sitting in his seat.
The worst had been the funeral. Everyone speaking about bravery and dedication and all Dick could think was that it hadn't saved them. They were the best of the best and they'd died. They'd saved everyone and now they were dead.
And there, Dick was, still here and with no idea where to go next.
Zatanna had come up to him after the service, bright blue eyes still red from crying. She didn't even say anything. She just looked up at him, pleading for something to do, for something to fix, for something to make the world seem right again.
And Dick….couldn't answer.
He doesn't know.
ooooo
The fog around him doesn't start to clear until two months later. And when, it finally does, all that he feels his anger.
The old man at the service station was right. The world's rebuilding. Slowly and cautiously, as people keep checking the skies for heroes that are never coming back, but the world is rebuilding.
Five months after the invasion ended and the world finally decides to hold a service other than a memorial.
It's an award ceremony. For the heroes that fought and, miracle of miracles, managed not to die.
Dick doesn't want to go but Roy makes him.
"It's not even for us," Roy says. "Not really. It's for them. The people. They want to see they still have heroes left."
"Do they," Dick asks and maybe that's cruel. Maybe that's unfair because it's not like Roy was the one who led his team to death.
Still, neither of them had been on patrol since the invasion.
Roy sighs. "The team would've wanted you to go."
Dick goes.
He sits with Roy and Rocket and Zatanna. He watches as they play the video on large wide screens-the last transmission that M'gann, Conner, Wally, and him had sent right before the mission. He stands as someone from the United Nations pins a medal to his chest.
There's a speech and it drones on and Dick stops paying attention, zones out until after the ceremony when they're walking back to the zeta tube.
A hand catches in his cape and he turns to see a little girl that can't be older than five, wearing a bright Wonder Woman shirt.
"Thank you, Mr. Robin," the girl says.
An older woman comes up and grabs the girl away, whisking her up in her arms.
"Honey, don't bother him," the woman scolds.
"I just wanted to thank him for saving us."
The woman sighs, smiling apologetically at Dick before turning back to her daughter. "Of course, he did. That's what heroes do."
The woman carries the girl back into the crowd and Dick stares after them until Roy comes up, pulling Dick to the zeta tube.
"You're quiet," Roy mutters. "Quieter than usual. What are you thinking?"
Dick shakes his head. "I remembered something. Something I forgot."
Roy raises an eyebrow but Dick doesn't elaborate.
The fog's clearing and Dick's seeing the frightened faces looking for someone to help. And Dick can help. Dick has the means and the training to help and even more than that he can't not help. Not now that he finally feels awake again.
The fog's clearing and he's angry at himself for nearly forgetting who he is.
Dick is Robin and he'd forgotten what that meant.
ooooo
A week later and they finally have a funeral for Bruce Wayne.
Batman's funeral had been with the rest of the League's and practically it makes sense not to have Batman and Bruce Wayne die at the same time. But, with the mass civilian casualties of the invasion, no one would have questioned it. Even then, six months after the invasion is a long time for a pampered billionaire to still be considered "Missing". Dick suspects that Alfred had been waiting for Dick to be ready.
Truthfully, Dick still doesn't know if he's ready but he does know it's time. So, he sits with Alfred on his left and Barbara, his closest civilian friend, gripping his hand on his right.
They bury Bruce's empty coffin next to his parents and a few plots away from John and Mary Grayson.
There's other legal work to do, aided by the Wayne family fortune and the intrinsic corruption of Gotham's government officials. Dick officially becomes the ward of one Alfred Pennyworth and the sole heir of the entire Wayne estate.
Personally, Dick spends more of his time in the caves under the family estate.
Gotham is….a weird city, really. Dick's known that since the moment he stepped into it and every step from there has only cemented that fact. In the months since the invasion, crime has been unusually standard when it came to Gotham. Outsiders may think that the city was in mourning for its fallen crusader or, at the very least, that the stagnation was out of some kind of respect.
Dick knows better. At her very core, Gotham is two things: a survivor and an opportunist.
The absence of Batman means change and all but the most desperate of criminals are waiting in dark alleys to see what that change will mean for them. Better to let someone dumber try it out and fail so they could see how to adapt. But, as the months pass, the opportunist side of Gotham is on the rise. The criminals of Gotham-be they desperate or simply straight up psychotic-are gearing up to try their chances once again.
A new wave of crime is on the horizon and Robin is going to stop it before it begins.
In his research into the last few months of Arkham Asylum breakouts-because let's face it, there's always breakouts-he finds one major surprise.
An escape notice followed quickly by a death certificate.
The Joker was dead. Used the chaos of the invasion to escape his cell only to be killed minutes later by the zeta ray. An anticlimactic end for someone that always reminded Dick of cockroach. It might be unheroic but Dick can't even pretend to be upset.
Robin starts to patrol again.
The first few weeks are hard, constantly looking over his shoulder for a larger, darker shadow before reminding himself viciously that Batman is never going to watch his back again.
Honestly, the threat of Batman lurking unseen in the shadows hurts his enemies more than it ever does Robin himself. It keeps them distracted, keeps them waiting, and easy prey for Robin to take down on his own.
The threat can't last forever though. Eventually the criminals seem to accept that the Boy Wonder really is alone with no protector there to strike vengeance. The criminals start to hit harder and quicker, start to laugh mockingly that one little boy is going to take them down. But Robin has been doing this for a long time and with much bigger threats than common Gotham thugs. He makes sure that they don't keep laughing for long.
Not everything's easy. Okay, actually nothing's easy. Disconcerting even with emphasis on the dis. But somethings are harder than others. Somethings you can't just punch down.
The non-criminal element of Gotham seems divided on how to feel about a Robin without Batman. It's unsurprising. There had always been that element-the more morally conscious of the citizenship-that always questioned whether it was a good idea for a child to fight crime. This faction has only increased now that Robin was acting alone.
But the thing was it was working.
Crime was starting to drop again, escaped criminals were being put back in their jail cells, the Gotham residents were starting to feel a bit more hopeful again.
The survivalist side of Gotham had always won out against the morally conscious and now is no different.
Robin once again flew through the night.
ooooo
Another disconcerting thing, Dick gets injured. A lot. Of course, he does.
Thankfully, nothing major or even big enough for him to take a break from patrols but there's still a lot more close calls than Dick ever had when working with a partner. Not enough for him to stop-never enough for him to stop-but enough for him to push himself harder and harder into getting better, into becoming someone who can handle these things by himself.
Funny enough, Alfred doesn't have the same mindset.
"Master Dick, as happy as I am to see you….well, more yourself, are you sure a break wouldn't be for the best? Even Rome wasn't built in a day."
"But it burned in one," Dick returns, "and Gotham's a whole lot less stable than Rome."
Alfred looks unimpressed. "Up for debate. You are aware you won't be able to help Gotham at all if you wind up in a full body cast. Or worse."
"I'm being careful, Alfred," Dick reassures. "I'm working to be better. I know I'm not...I'm not Bruce but I can still do this. I have to."
Alfred lays a hand on his shoulder, waiting until Dick meets his eyes. "I know, Master Dick, I know. It's why I still support you doing this. But even a small break might give you a chance to think clearer."
"I can't," Dick says. "If I stop….Alfred, I'm not sure I could start again. And if I stop, I'll just be back where I was. I'll be falling." Dick picks at a loose thread on his shirt. "Mom told me there was only two options when things go wrong: keep falling or try to fly. I have to keep doing this or not I'm going to fall."
Alfred sighs. "Alright, but even birds stop to rest eventually."
Dick gives a small smile and waits until Alfred returns upstairs, leaving him alone in the cave.
"Not when there's nowhere to land."
ooooo
A couple months into patrolling and something interesting happens.
Well, more interesting than usual.
It's a slow night for Gotham and Robin's only had to stop three muggings, one assault, and an attempted jewelry heist. The night wears on and Dick's seriously contemplating Alfred's advice to end patrol early. It will at least make Alfred happy.
And, then, he sees it. Barely a few blocks over, someone's leaping between roofs with the kind of height and distance that only means one thing.
A metahuman. A metahuman in Gotham. Aw, man, Dick takes it back when he said it was a slow night.
Dick swings over to tail the metahuman, staying in the shadows, and trying to determine whether the meta is friend or foe. Foe, it's a simple if not exactly easy plan of action. Friend...metahuman allies in Gotham is where it gets complicated.
This close he can make out that the meta is obviously female with a dark black costume with the slightest shimmer and light reflecting off….arm bands?
The meta also doesn't seem to be heading anywhere particular. Instead, she stops every few roofs or so and glances around the surrounding area. It's almost like she's lost. Or looking for something.
Either way, she doesn't seem like a villain so Dick lands lightly on the roof behind her. Faster he talks to her, faster he can get her out of Gotham before anyone starts to notice.
He coughs lightly and she twists around, pulling out a bright silver lasso seemingly from nowhere.
Crap, maybe he was too quick in discounting her as a villain.
And then she spots him and her eyes widen, her mouth twisting into a smile.
"Robin. Finally, I've been looking for you for hours."
A metahuman had been in Gotham for hours without him noticing? Double crap, even more chance of her being spotted.
"Well, you found me," he says. "Now, mind telling me what you're doing in Gotham and why you're looking for me? Might want to throw in who you are for good measure."
She rolls her eyes and Dick notices that she doesn't look that old. Barely even older than him. Probably around Wally's age or at least the age when he-Stop. Breathe. Not on patrol. Don't think about them now.
"I'm in Gotham, looking for you, of course," she answers and then she's coming forward and extending her hand. "I'm Donna Troy."
Dick takes the hand because that seems like the thing to do. "Robin. And again why were you looking for me?"
"I'm Wonder Woman's sister," she says, hands on her hips as if that should explain everything.
And maybe it does for her but Dick's still kind of at a loss. "Oh. I'm...I'm sorry about your sister. She was, um, really, really awesome. I'm sorry I didn't see you at the funeral."
The smile wilts on her face, replaced by something much more subdued. "We had a private one on Themyscira. I am also sorry to hear about your mentor and your team. I'm sure they were brave and honorable like my sister."
Dick swallows. "They were."
Donna turns back to him with a new fire in her eyes. "But, I am not here to talk about the past. I'm here to discuss the future. I want to continue the work of my sister and protect the people of Earth."
She looks at him expectantly again
"That's great," Dicks says. "I'm sure your sister would be proud."
Donna nods. "Earth needs protectors. And that means I want to work with you, Robin of Gotham."
Dick blinks, pausing to think.
"Gotham doesn't really do metas," he tries to explain gently. "If you're anything like your sister, I'm sure you're really qualified but trust me, metas and the kind of criminals in Gotham really don't mix. Like serious unmixable here. They take it as a challenge. Which is why we need to get you out of here as quickly as possible."
Donna crosses her arms. "I don't mean I want to work with you in Gotham. No matter how crime ridden, Gotham's still just one city. I want to work with you to protect the world."
"What do you mean," Dick asks with an ominous sense of foreboding.
"I need your help reforming the League."
Dick stops, feeling cold all the way down to his bones.
"No," he says simply.
And then, he's already turning away. Meta or no, it doesn't look like she's planning on staying too much longer and Dick can't have this conversation right now. Maybe ever.
"Wait," she calls after him, catching his shoulder. "Please, I need your help. The world needs our help."
"No, it doesn't and I already failed once."
"Your team stopped the invasion."
"And everyone died," he nearly snarls, turning abruptly to face her. "I'm not doing it again."
"You have to," Donna insists. "I can't do this alone. I just left Themyscira a week ago. No matter what my training, I need someone who understands this world."
Dick sighs. "Look, if you want, I can hook you up with some other heroes I know. Maybe some of them would be interested and-"
"Why not you," Donna interrupts. "You're Batman's protegee. You have experience. With the heroes we have left, you have the most experience. You're already helping Gotham. The world needs you. You've worked on a team before."
"That's why I can't do this," Dick says, pulling away. "I'm sorry. I wish you luck."
He's off the roof and back into the shadows before she has a chance to respond.
ooooo
Dick hoped that was the end of it. Dick really hoped that was the end of it.
But just like a few months ago, now that Donna had brought it to his attention, it's all that Dick can see.
Gotham hadn't been the only one in danger of falling apart without a hero. In fact, now, ironically it looked like Gotham is the only one holding strong.
Dick had been stupid, naive, hopeful in thinking that crime could be handled on a city by city basis, that new heroes would step up to replace the ones that were lost. The League had been formed to take care of the problems too big for one city. Even Dick's team had been formed because of that.
And now that the League is gone, those problems are still happening and slowly getting bigger.
The monitor is on in the cave while Dick got ready for patrol. Somewhere in Taiwan, Red Arrow is fighting some plant based thing. All in all, he's doing fairly well with getting the civilians to safety but it's still just too big of a problem for one hero, forcing him to focus on evacuation.
The people are safe. That's the important thing, Dick reminds himself and tries to crush a gnawing sense of guilt telling him that he should be doing something.
He is doing something. He has patrol.
ooooo
Dick tries to check up on people. He likes people, he always has. And it isn't as if just because he's focusing on Gotham, he forgets his other friends existed. He knows he isn't the only one grieving.
And he knows what it's like to lose your parents.
"So, you're moving," Dick asks, sitting on the bed.
Zatanna nods, levitating the last of the boxes in her room to a neat orderly pile. "My great aunt never liked New York City anyway. She just wanted me to finish up the school year."
It was amazing how things could change people. A bit over half a year ago and Dick would have had very different feelings about being alone with Zatanna in her room. Things are different now and any chance of a romance between them had died in the combined weight of losing the team and Zatanna's father.
Dick likes to think they're still friends though.
"I'm sure I'll like West Coast, too," Zatanna continues, though she doesn't sound too enthusiastic. "I can practice magic anywhere, I guess."
Dick shifts almost imperceptibly. "So, you're going to continue the magic? Continue being a hero, I mean?"
"Yeah," Zatanna frowns, leaning on the door frame and folding her arms. "I want to help. I'm not like you though. I don't have the training to try to protect a city alone." The frown deepens. "I still keep up with Raquel, too, you know. She's been trying to hold Dakota City without Icon but…"
Zatanna shakes her head, fingers gripping tighter into her arm. "I'm scared, Robin. Lately, the magic feels...chaotic. With Dad gone and what happened to the League, I'm scared what's coming."
Dick had learned that it was better to stay quiet than to offer false reassurance. Zatanna wouldn't have believed him anyway.
ooooo
"Hey," Dick says, eyeing the cave's newest intruder. "Did Alfred let you in? Good job with that thing in Taiwan, by the way. I saw it on the monitors."
"The plant monster?" Roy rolls his eyes. "It was more annoying than dangerous. Took too long though. It took out an entire neighborhood before me and local law enforcement contained it."
"But not any people," Dick reminds.
"Yeah, not any people," Roy sighs. "Look, I need to talk to you. Got an interesting visit yesterday."
"What about?"
"About forming a new League."
Dick groans to cover how his heart beats faster. "So, Donna found you, too."
"Who's Donna?" Roy shakes his head. "No, this is worse. The visit was from Lex Luthor."
Dick straightens in his chair. "Lex Luthor wants to reform the Justice League?"
"Essentially," Roy agrees. "Well, he's not calling it the Justice League exactly. To disrespectful even for him. Luthor's League is the proto-name, I think. He called me because apparently it would be good press to have a former hero there and I'm the only one old enough to vote but young enough not to be in a retirement home."
"What did you do?"
"Stormed out before he could get me arrested for attempted murder," Roy answers, grinding his teeth.
"This is bad," Dick mutters. "If Luthor's running it, this can't mean anything good."
"Yeah, how long do you think it'll take before his new League starts demanding favors for protection," Roy leans on the work table beside him. "Anyway, that's not all."
Dick waits.
"You remember….you remember how the team thought there might be an alliance behind things? Cadmus labs, the Venom formula in Santa Prisca, the Belle Reve breakouts."
Like Dick, Roy hardly ever brings up the team. Only when he has to.
"I remember. The League thought the Injustice League was behind it."
Of course, Dick remembers. It was one of the last missions the team ever went on. A bit over two weeks before their last one.
"I'm not sure," Roy admits. "I've been looking at the Injustice League members and...I don't think they'd have the resources to pull all that off, let alone the organization. They weren't exactly team players."
No, "team player" had been one of the last phrases possible to describe the Joker.
"You think there's another group at play," Dick surmises, running back to the earlier conversation, "and you think Luthor's a member."
Roy rubs the back of his neck. "I think that I don't trust Luthor as far as I could throw him with my hands tied. And I think that if there's some kind of evil society, Luthor would at least know about it if not be a member himself."
Dick stops, head jerking up. "You don't think they were involved in the invasion?"
Roy freezes.
"No," Roy says eventually, "not even Luthor would risk sending humanity down the toilet like that. But, he would be willing enough to capitalize on it after the fact."
"And thus Luthor's League."
Roy nods, looking grim. "Rob, things are getting bad out there. You've got Gotham covered and that's great, amazing even considering what a shithole the place is. But Gotham's not going to matter much if the world's falling apart around it."
Dick looks down. "I can't be part of a team again. I can't."
"I understand, Rob. You know I do. But the world might not be giving us much of a choice."
ooooo
Things get worse.
Across the world, crime rates are rising dramatically and people are terrified.
During yet another disaster, a minor earthquake that the League would have been able to handle in an hour but now leaves over a thousand homeless, Luthor officially announces his plan to start his own superhero League.
The public is understandably less than enthusiastic given Luthor's reputation.
Still, there are a few voices slowly getting louder asking the same question: If this is our best option, how can we not take it?
Dick finds that he really hates watching news reports.
ooooo
There are a few unspoken rules of the Batcave. First, try not to get blood on sensitive equipment. Second, always label your test tubes. Third, if the phone in the Batcave rings, you answer it.
This is because there are only five that had the number: Bruce, Alfred, Dick, the Watchtower, and the Justice Society of America.
Dick supposes there are only three that had the number now.
The point is that Dick answers the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Robin."
Dick knows that voice. He knows that voice like he knew late night sleepovers, video game marathons, and nerdy science puns.
"...Jay?"
"Yeah, kiddo," Jay Garrick answers. "You got a second to visit? I could zeta to you. My legs aren't what they used to be."
"I can come to you," Dick says. "Now?"
"If you got time."
Dick does. So, in roughly thirty minutes, he finds himself in civies riding to the nearest zeta tube and then walking to the Garrick residence.
Jay smiles as he opens the door but his eyes still look tired.
"Hey, kid," Jay says, pulling him in for a quick hug before opening the door further to let Dick inside. "Sorry, should've thought about fixing something up for you. You're a growing boy. Joan would've….she would've baked cookies or something."
Jay Garrick had survived the invasion, even saving some elementary children. Joan Garrick had not survived.
Dick swallows. "It's fine. I'm sure Alfred has something back at the cave anyway."
"Yeah, I guess he would," Jays says, leading him into a sitting room and Dick can almost still see Wally sprawling on the couch. Dick's throat feels tight.
Jay must notice. "I'm sorry about other things, too. I should've checked in on you more after...well, after. Just with Joan and Wally and Barry and Iris…"
"I understand," Dick interrupts quickly. "It's fine. I'm fine."
"Oh, kiddo," Jay says and Dick can't decide if the sympathy there is comforting or suffocating. "It's okay. You don't have to be fine. How could you be? How can any of us be?"
"I do have to be fine," Dick corrects. "...At least, a little bit."
Jay frowns. "I saw you were still patrolling Gotham."
Dick nods.
"Wally always liked patrolling Central. He thought it was fun."
Dick shrugs, not really knowing what to say to that. Gotham is...well, fun isn't the right word but Dick does find he enjoys it. He'd enjoyed it more with Bruce but even now there's still a thrill of the wind running through his hair or taking down a thug.
"So, I reckon you heard Luthor was starting up his own league," Jay interrupts his thoughts.
"Yeah, Roy gave me a heads up before Luthor announced it."
Jay nods. "I also heard an interesting rumor about Roy and you lately. Something about reforming the League."
Dick shrinks down into himself. "I'm sorry, you heard wrong. I don't want to restart the League. Not with me at least. Sorry to disappoint you."
"Ah, kiddo, why would you ever think that would disappoint me?"
Dick blinks. "...You don't want the League restarted?"
Jay smiles wryly. "Honestly, I called you over here to try to talk you out of it."
"Why?"
"We put too much on you kids." Jay sighs. "We still do. Kids shouldn't be fighting these battles. Heck, after this, I'm not even sure adults should. We put all this pressure on you, all these dangers, and it's no wonder someone was killed."
"I don't…." Dick pauses. Not sure yet why he's arguing. "What about the rising crime rates? The disasters? Luthor's League?"
Jay snorts. "If Luthor wants to run himself into the ground trying to fix the world's problems, then let him. Better him than you kids."
There's an odd buzzing in Dick's ears that he's trying to ignore.
"And what happens when Luthor's actual plan comes around," Dick asks, "What happens when he starts extorting people for saving them? When he tries to use his League as leverage against nations?"
Jay looks away, clearly uncomfortable. "I'm not saying Luthor's a good option, Dick. I just think he's the only option."
Dick's hands are shaking from where they're held carefully in his laps.
"There is another option."
Jay looks up. "No. See, this is exactly what I was talking about. We put too much pressure on you. This isn't your responsibility. It's not either of ours. Not anymore. Leave it to the adults in charge."
"I can't. They're dead," Dick replies bluntly.
"...Kiddo...Dick, listen."
Dick shakes his head and his heart his beating fast enough in his chest to be painful. And why? Why? These are exactly the thoughts he'd been trying to avoid. Why was he thinking them now that someone finally said it was okay to not?
He knows why.
"When I first started this," Dick says. "I told Bruce that if I could help someone, then I had to help someone. This isn't any different. It's not any different at all, I just didn't want to see it."
Too afraid. Too selfish.
"Bruce never should have let you go out to begin with," Jay says.
"He didn't...he didn't let me," Dick corrects. "I choose this and then I made him let me come along. So, I could help him. That's all this is about. That's all any of this is about. Helping people, no matter how hard it gets."
He's standing and heading to the door before he consciously makes the decision.
Jay lets him go. "Kid, don't do this. You could die. A lot of people could die."
Dick smiles, though it's not a very happy one.
"People can always die. I just gotta try to save as many as I can."
ooooo
Dick has barely made it to the zeta tube before he's texting Roy a set of coordinates and a time.
An hour and half the country later and Dick sees him hopping the fence and walking through the door.
He's not alone.
"Thought you didn't know Donna," Dick asks.
"She caught up to me a few days later," Roy says and Donna grins widely. "She was with me when I got the text, asked if she could come. Where exactly are we by the way?"
"One of the old towers the League bought up," Dick answers. "They never got around to the renovations."
"And why are we at an abandoned League tower," Roy asks.
"I…."
The utter conviction Dick had at Jay's house threatens to leave him.
Dick breathes. "I didn't want to have this conversation at the Headquarters or the Cave. It would feel...too much like an end than a beginning."
"A beginning for what?" And Roy has to know, but it looks like he's going to make Dick say it anyway.
"So, about that idea for restarting the League, I think...I think I'm in."
Dick barely finishes before Donna's reaching out and hugging him quickly before pulling away. "Yes! This can actually work."
Beside her, Roy nods, still serious but a bit more relaxed now.
"And you were thinking this could be our new base," Roy asks.
Dick shrugs. "It's a good choice. Out of the way but not too remote, easy to connect to the zeta beams, sturdy, good structure for installing security in."
"It's perfect," Donna says and with the sun shining down and a quiet confident smile then, yeah, the resemblance to her sister becomes uncanny.
"We'll still need more members," Dick adds. "More than the three of us, definitely. Ideally, we'd want at least seven so that we can set up monitor duty without overwhelming anyone."
"I might have another recruit already," Roy mutters but doesn't expand.
"Zatanna and Rocket will probably be willing, too," Dick admits, thinking back to his last conversation with the former. "We'll all need training, though. More than just individual. We need training to learn to work as...work as a team."
And if Dick's stomach still drops at the last word then, well, hopefully he's able to cover it well.
"We'll need a leader, too," Donna says and then her and Roy share a look before turning to stare at…
Dick's blood turns to ice.
"No," Dick says, already shaking his head. "No way. I can't."
Donna smiles, somewhat apologetically. "You're our best choice. Roy and I already talked about it...for if you decided to join, I mean."
"I'm fourteen! I have to be the youngest here. No one's going to listen to me."
"I'm only fifteen," Donna says, "and from what Roy tells me this Rocket and Zatanna aren't that much older."
"You're the one with the most experience," Roy points out. "They'll listen."
Dick glares. "Only five years, you've been doing it four. That's only one year difference and you're the oldest. Why don't you do it?"
Roy gives him an unimpressed look. "You know I'm not the best with teamwork. There's more than one reason I didn't work with the team much. Not to mention," Roy cleared his throat. "Not to mention, how my partnership with Ollie ended up. I don't have good experiences with teams, you do."
Dick looked, almost desperately, at Donna
"I've worked in teams before, but not here," Donna admits. "I don't know enough about the outside world yet to lead a team here."
"I can't," Dick repeats. "Look, there's a reason that I wasn't chosen to lead Young Justice. A good reason. I didn't communicate enough, I expected people to understand too much, I acted too much like I was still working with Batman."
Roy sighs. "Robin, you don't need to be perfect to be our best choice. And, right now, I think we could probably use someone who expects too much. I know you can do this. I know you're the one who led the team during the invasion."
"And they all died," Dick yelled. "Why don't you get that? I led the team to their deaths! How could you ever want me to lead a team again when that's what happened last time?!"
"The League died, too," Donna says softly. "Everyone nearly died. The team you led is the only reason they didn't."
Dick turns to Roy. "I can't. Look, there's something….there's something I never told you. Something about the last mission. I knew, okay? I knew it was basically a suicide mission. I didn't….I didn't think Miss Martian or Superboy or Martian Manhunter or...or even Wally were going to all die. But I knew the odds meant someone would. I knew it was likely all of us would die. I knew if we were going to blow up the ship someone was going to have to stay back and die. And I made the choice anyway. I planned the mission because it was the only way I could think to stop the invasion." Dick shakes his head, scrubbing a hand under his glasses. "I can't do that again. I can't chose to sacrifice everything to complete a mission. But the thing is...I know if I had to make the choice again, to choose between the team or the world, I'd do the same thing. And that's why I can't be a leader again."
He trails off, breathing heavily and when he looks back up, Donna and Roy are both staring at him.
Roy breaks the silence first if not the most eloquently.
"Shit."
For the third time today, Dick's pulled into a hug-which honestly, might break his normal record for the entire year. Alfred and Bruce have never been the most physically affectionate.
The difference though between this one and Jay's and Donna's is that Roy keeps holding on.
"Shit, Rob, is this what you've been holding onto," Roy asks as Dick's still gripped in his bear hug. "Crap. Shit."
Finally, Roy pulls back and looks him straight in the eye. "You made the right choice. There's not a member of that team or the League that would have said anything different."
"I don't want to do it again," Dick whispers.
"We'll try to make sure you don't have to," Roy promises. "But, Dic-Rob, look, this team needs a leader. You're the one who's been holding Gotham for months. You're the one who with the experience. You're the one that's been part of a superhero team before."
"It's not like we're going to make you," Donna says quickly. "That's not how team's work. It's your choice."
Roy nods. "You're our best option, but it's still your choice. And personally, I think you'll be a good leader."
Dick sighs, closes his eyes, and tries not to feel like the weight of the world just got dropped on his shoulders.
"I'll think about it."
Donna and Roy don't press.
It's probably because they already know what a yes sounds like.
ooooo
If they're really rebuilding the League-and it looks like they are-then Dick knows there's one place that he really has to go to next.
It's a real shame that the only way there is a zeta tube that he's not entirely sure won't kill him.
Muttering under his breath, Dick punches the buttons on his wrist computer with a tad bit more force than is considered necessary for programming. A few more lines of code and…
Access Granted. B01-Robin.
It really is very lucky that the Watchtower used the same type of programs as the Cave.
Here goes nothing.
Dick steps in the tube and holds his breath as the beam energizes around him.
He remateralizes and his ears immediately pop and water rushes around him too fast for him to grab his respirator and then, he's drowning and dang it, Dick knew this was a bad idea.
Then, the water shifts around him until he's landing on damp marble stone and coughing up water.
When he finally feels like he can breathe, he looks up and one of the most beautiful women he's ever seen is looking down at him while her hand glows bright blue.
"Your Majesty."
"You must be Robin," Queen Mera of Atlantis says. "My husband and Kaldur spoke quite highly of you." She frowns. "I admit I wasn't aware that zeta tube still functioned."
Dick coughs again, pushing himself to his feet. "I, um, might have reprogrammed it a bit. Sorry, it was the only way I could think to get down here."
Queen Mera hums. "Then I assume you must have an urgent reason for being here if you are willing to risk possible drowning."
"I need to speak to you," Dick says, trying to pull up his shoulders and remember his circus training so maybe he looks a little bit less like a fourteen year old quite literally out of his depth.
He's not sure it works but Queen Mera starts down the hall, the pocket of air she created following after her as Dick trails behind. She's still wearing black mourning clothes, the black gown flowing down over her clearly pregnant stomach.
They end in the throne room, alone, with the Queen looking down at Dick from one of the two high thrones.
"This is official business then," Queen Mera asks. "I hope you won't be offended if I admit you're not the one I'd expected they send."
Dick decides not to waste words. "We're planning on restarting the League."
Queen Mera nods like she was already expecting it. Which it's entirely likely she was.
"We?"
"Red Arrow; Donna Troy, Wonder Woman's sister; and me," Dick says. "Plus a few others that haven't officially joined yet."
"And I suppose you wish to renew the League's former alliance with Atlantis."
Dick nods. "We three can only handle so much, having Atlantis' support would be invaluable."
Queen Mera tilts her head. "And what do your older heroes on the surface say."
"There's not many older heroes left to say anything at all," Dick answers truthfully. Then, because it's always a bad idea to withhold things from a potential ally-especially things easily found out-he continues, "Jay Garrick, formerly of the Justice Society, thinks we're too young to fight."
The Queen laughs. "In Atlantis, we train children to fight at a much younger age than you."
Dick releases a breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding
"Then, I can count on Atlantis' continued alliance and support?"
"However," Queen Mera continues, "just because we train them to fight does not mean we allow our children to lead our battles."
"The world's getting ready to fall apart," Dick says. "Someone needs to do something."
"Agreed. But is that someone a fourteen year old boy and a pair of heroes only a few years older?"
"With all due respect, Your Majesty. If we're the only ones standing up to do it, then yes," Dick says back, struggling to keep his temper in check. To think through the problem rather than just react. "The world will fall if no one stands."
Queen Mera regards him intently. "I agree that someone needs to stand but if you think you can handle it and you're wrong then all it will result in is more broken bodies. Even with your team. I can't support something I believe will fail."
Dick stops, holds his tongue, and then shrugs. "Then, Your Majesty, I look forward to seeing you on the surface to battle yourself."
Queen Mera raises an eyebrow.
"We both agree if nothing's done, the world will fall," Dick says. "If you wish to stop me and my team from acting then the only way we will is for you to step up yourself."
"Are you challenging me," Queen Mera asks and her voice his positively icy.
Dick's grown up fighting Mr. Freeze. A little ice doesn't stop him. Queen Mera is powerful and dangerous and Dick is rightfully wary of pissing her off. But Dick's fought the Scarecrow, fought Two Face, fought the Joker. Dick's seen everything he loved burn down in front of him.
He respects Queen Mera but she does not scare him.
"No," Dick answers "I'm not challenging you. I'm asking for your support. The world's falling. Atlantis needs to stand united with the surface. However, if I don't have your support, I'll continue anyway. I'm not begging for your aid, all I'm asking is that you don't stand in my way."
Queen Mera is staring at him and the moment is weighed down with the entire force of the ocean suspended above them.
Finally, Queen Mera's lips turn up in a smile and she leans back in her throne. "
"I've always been curious how a nine year old convinced the Batman to take him on as an assistant."
Dick smiles sharply. "Not an assistant, a partner. I told him that since he couldn't stop me, we might as well work together."
Queen Mera laughs again, a bark of laugh that seems both harsher and more real. "And now you're telling me….Alright, you have my support."
"You won't stop me," Dick asks, just to be sure.
Queen Mera shakes her head, still smiling. "Oh, even better than that. I have someone I'd like you to meet. An old friend of Kaldur's, actually, who's taken a recent interest in the surface. I think he may be interested in this team you're putting together. His name is Garth."
ooooo
Now that they have what's looking more and more like a full team roster plus the official support of the League's biggest ally, they finally let slip to the press that a new team of heroes is forming.
Dick hasn't smiled a lot in the past few months but the look of shock on Luthor's face when an interviewer tells the man has him grinning all afternoon.
Once it's announced that Robin, Red Arrow, an Troia-as Donna's decided to call herself-are going to be on the team, the public reaction is overwhelmingly positive. Far more supportive than Luthor's League had ever dreamed of achieving. One newscaster goes so far as to call the new team's formation a "New Dawn in the Age of Heroes". That phrasing still has Dick shifting uncomfortably when he thinks about it for too long.
Needless to say, there are still the detractors. Outside of Gotham, there was an even more vocal faction questioning the idea of teen heroes. An interview with Jay Garrick has the idea described as "brave but misguided".
Dick isn't sure about the morality but he knows about responsibility. He knows that, for the first time in nine months, what he's doing feels right.
He wasn't going to lie though. Having one particular person's support helped immensely.
"I'm proud of you, Master Dick," Alfred tells him one morning a day after the announcement.
Dick pushes some cereal around his bowl. "You don't think we're biting off more than we can chew."
"In my experience, you've always had a tendency to rise to the occasion." Alfred smiles.
Alright and that did make Dick feel a little bit more warm. More brave, too. Brave enough to ask the question….
"Alfred….are we too young?"
Alfred pauses and then, in a move that Dick has rarely if ever seen him do before, he pulls out a chair and sits beside Dick at the table.
"Truthfully, Master Dick, yes, I do think you all are too young." Alfred holds up a hand to forestall Dick interrupting. "Let me finish. I thought you were too young when you first put on the Robin costume, too. And since then I've seen you go through terrible, terrible things. However, through them, I have also seen you thrive." Alfred sighs. "Over the past few months, I've learned three things, Master Dick. First is that the world we live in is much too dark to focus only on what should be done rather than what has to be done. I think the world we live in needs heroes, no matter how young they may be. Second, I think that there are some people-you and your friends among them-who have adapted to grow better in that kind of world and that trying to stop you now would only be undermining all the progress you all have made since."
Dick swallows. "What's the third thing?"
"The third is that Master Bruce would be very, very proud of you."
ooooo
Ten months after the invasion, seven teenagers meet in an abandoned tower located on a small island just off of Jump City.
One of them is more of a surprise than the others.
"This is your new recruit," Dick asks Roy.
Roy shrugs. "She found me after the thing in Taiwan. She's got her reasons."
"I'm doing this for Artemis. She was my sister," says Jade Nguyen-Cheshire and apparently former assassin.
Dick knew that actually. He'd found it in Batman's files a month or so after the invasion when he was trying to track down some kind of next of kin for all the team members. Even through the numbness, it had been a surprise back then. But, it didn't explain the situation now.
"I thought you two didn't get along," Dicks says. "Why are you becoming a hero for her now?"
Jade arches a single eyebrow. "You obviously don't have siblings."
Dick decides to let it go. Roy seems to trust her and truthfully the team can use all the help they can get. One thing he can say about Cheshire is that she's experienced.
Besides Jade, the team is comprised of Dick, Roy, Donna, Zatanna, Raquel, and Garth. They all have their own motives. Garth, Donna, and Jade are standing in the place of fallen friends and family. Zatanna and Raquel want the training, want to learn to be heroes on their own. Roy's doing it because it's what he knows best.
Dick's doing it because….well, actually, Dick guesses he's doing it for the same reason they all are.
They want to help.
"We're not actually calling ourselves the Justice League, are we," Raquel asks. "It seems so….well, morbid."
"Not Young Justice either," Zatanna adds.
Jade shakes her head. "People think we're young enough already."
"I can't believe we're actually doing this," Donna admits and there's an excitement there, an energy that runs through the whole room.
"If the heroes have fallen, someone must stand," Garth says somberly.
Roy scratches the back of his neck. "What comes after heroes fall?"
And Dick smiles because he thinks he just found their new name.
"What about….The Titans?"
ooooo
A/N: Thanks for reading! Next chapter will definitely be lighter and following ones will be progressively more so as the story goes on. Reviews are always welcome and appreciated!
Next Chapter: Year 2: Robin Must Die