Redux (Batman/Teen Titans crossover) Rated T

[Daybreak25]

New authoress in the house!


You all may know me from my Fan Fiction Account (http://www.fanfiction.net/u/915884/)and some may not. I’m new to this forum, but not to fanfictioning, and I’m very eager to get started. I’ve heard great things about this place, and I figured that I could try out my luck. There’s never a thing as too much status.

I’m also a big Teen Titans/Batman fan, and it’ll show at time. It’s a crossover, so you’ll see a lot of Gothamites (especially the famous ones), but if I miss anything, or get something wrong, I ask for help and feedback. I like to know what I’m doing wrong so I can change and expand.

This fic will center on the second Robin of the Bat-Mantle: Jason Todd. It will also focus on his eventual progress to the Red Hood. I’ve just added a bit of the fan-fiction magic to it, and wah-lah! Teen Titans crossover!

With that said, I give you, Redux.

-DB25

(Disclaimer: The Teen Titans and Batman do not belong to me. I make no profit using these characters.)

Prologue

Darkness.

It was even darker when he opened his eyes. Pain, everywhere. His mind hurt, his head, his body felt frozen. He couldn’t move. It was as if something was pinning him down.

He screamed.

Sore lips parted with the sound, loud and raspy. His throat ached with thirst, but he screamed, continued for a long moment before stopping to gasp for air. His lungs strained with the effort, but breathing was better than nothing. His body still throbbed, even harder now, in fact, and he decided that forcing breaths out wasn’t the best thing to do. So he calmed.

And screamed again.

This time his body joined in the ‘song’, quick jittery bursts as he tried to get his body moving. He couldn’t feel his legs, but his hands curled everyone once in a while, and soon he was able to move them, one at a time. He beat his fists against wood, screamed louder, tears streaming from his eyes.

“HELP!” he screamed, let the fear take over him. “HELP! HELP ME! HELLLLLLLLLLP!”

His mind registered nothing, except to keep screaming. Why was he in here? What did he do? Why was it so dark? And what was scratching his body?

He paused, whimpered slightly with pain. His throat hurt again-he needed to stop screaming-and tried lying there again. He reached up slowly to clasp the material between his fingers, rubbed gently.

Silk. From a suit. He was wearing a suit.

Why was he wearing a suit?

Damnit, think, kid! Who cares why you’re wearing a suit? Get out of there before you suffocate!


Suffocate, he thought. Suffocate, yes. Don’t wanna do that. How?

Suit. A suit. He was wearing one. If you’re wearing a suit, chances are that suit came with a pretty good buckle. Buckles are sharp.

With no other thought, he scrabbled for his waist, missed, and hit something else. Didn’t want to think about what he hit, so he tried again, this time clasping the crackled metal of what he supposed was his buckle. He pulled at it, grunting and struggling, nearly cried when it wouldn’t come free.

No tears. Try again.

He tried, jerked at it, pulled, clawed, and pushed –RIP! - Yes! Free!

Pause. Wait. One two three-

CLANG!

Wasn’t working. Buckles are sharp. Remember: Buckles. Are. Sharp. Try again.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG-

It wasn’t working! Don’t panic. Don’tpanicdon’tpanicdon’tpanic-you’re panicking. Breathe, kid. Good. You’ve been in worse before…haven’t you? Can’t remember.

Try again. Come on, kid. Be strong.

CLANG. CLANG. CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG-

Keep trying. Don’t think about suffocation. Don’t think about suffocation…

Don’t think about suffocation…

---------------------------------------------------------
Titans Tower, California, Main Room, Station 1
---------------------------------------------------------

“Dick.”

From where he sat quietly, Nightwing registered the baritone voice of his mentor. And then ignored it.

“Dick.”

A laptop was splayed across his lap, the information there more important than the voice still calling out to him. Nightwing scrolled intently through articles, the deep blue eyes behind the mask a blur, but his actions lazy. Best not to let Bruce see.

“Dick. Answer me.”

“I’m going.”

A crackle of static registered as his mentor’s sigh. “You don’t trust me to handle this. This is my city, remember? It’s what I do.”

“Everything isn’t about you, Bruce.” Nightwing gave his mentor a quick glance before returning to his articles again. Each one told a different tale, each more gruesome than the last, and it was at the very bottom where Nightwing stopped, his eyes narrowed.

Mysteries of the Graves continue! Lesile Garretson’s grave empty! (Robinson Cemetery)

“Are you seeing this, Bruce?”

“Dick…”

“There’s no way I’m not coming now.”

“Let me handle it.”

“You’re human, Bruce, in case you forgot. You can make mistakes.”

“Is that it?” his mentor snapped, and Nightwing didn’t need to look up to know that he was being glared at. “You think I’ll make a mistake? I’m not careless either, Dick, and I’m sure you know that as well.”

“It’s not personal with you,” Nightwing spat at him. “They’re my responsibility. My parents. Their graves. My problem. And how I’m supposed to take it when the last grave defiling is just two rows over!”


“And you think I haven’t noticed that? It’s my city, Dick. There’s nothing left out.”

Nightwing paused, stared for a moment into the eyes of his mentor. He then leaned in close to the screen, his mask narrowed, his lips a thin line.

“I’m. Coming.”

The connection was cut before Bruce could even reply.

[Agent S7]

Very nice! Jason Todd is one of my favorite characters and you seem like a good writer so far! The beginning really caught me in (like good starts always should) and I frankly cannot wait to see how you'll tie in the Teen Titans to B:TAS to the Batman Comics. That's an incredible feat, and I hope you succeed! :)

Welcome to TZ, Daybreak! :anime:

~s7

[Daybreak25]

Thanks, Agent! I'm glad you like!
--
1
--

It wasn't until late morning that Nightwing spit out the news. He'd waited until almost all of his team was sitting opposite him, eyes wide alert and bushy-tailed as ever.

"We're going to Gotham." Just like that. Quick and tart, and the way his tone seemed
to deepen with warning, as if he was daring one of them to disagree.

They didn't, but not because of the warning. They'd all had one wind of that certain tone, and didn't ask a question in their uproar. But there was an uproar, most of it from Changeling and Cyborg, who began a detailed list of how much video-gaming time they were going to lose.

Nightwing could sense the questions in Starfire, and her the hesitant tone of her features showed that she wasn't going to ask. She instead graced him with a small smile and acceptance and then turned to calm both Changeling and Cyborg down.

Nightwing wasn't listening to Changeling and Cyborg. He wasn't sure he could hear them as he quickly scanned the sofa, which at a second glance showed that one member was missing.

"Where's Raven?" he asked, but the question was drowing in the roars of "Super Ninja Monkey Force 10!" and "I can't believe we have to go NOW!"

"Where's Raven?" He repeated, much louder now, and everything stopped as three-fifths of his team tried to gather their thoughts.

It was Starfire who remembered first, and she quickly explained that Raven had taken off earlier, way before anyone else it seemed, for she'd hadn 't answered her door when Starfire had tried to call her down for breakfast.

"Alright then," Nightwing began and turned for the door, communicator in hand and open. He'd actually gotten as the door before he stopped and poked his head back in, "Anybody know what today is?"

All three members exchanged looks. "Thursday?" Changeling offered.

Nightwing shook his head.

"It's the 25th of November," Cyborg began, "But why-?"

Nightwing was out of the door before he could even finish.

--

Soft squishy squelches reached Raven's ears as she trudged through mud and wet grass towards the back of the cemetery. Tombstones surrounded her left and right, each bearing a name and a story more depressing than the one next to her, but she didn't care to look or read. She kept moving, her eyes glancing overhead, as she pushed her cowl to glance at the bleak and gray morning.

Even though it was November, it was still raining, cold rain, but rain nevertheless. She'd expected snow by now - it was almost December, after all - but the weather refused to be anything else but rain, and lots of it.

While she thought, her legs still moved, automatically guiding her to the hidden part of the cememtery, where the oldest and more dreary look tombstones sat, each wearing away.

Her eyes sought out her "favorite" one, the first one ever planted here, and the most haggard looking of them all. She couldn't even read the name anymore, it'd been eroded away, which somehow made it easier to do what she always did.

She prayed.

She prayed for friends, her family. She prayed for herself, for Jump City, for each and every person she forgot, or needed.

She wasn't exactly sure why she did this. There was nothing particularly important about this day, or this grave. It became an odd ritual for her, something she felt she had to do. It wasn't as if she needed forgiveness for something. It made her feel safe, though their was no guardian angel overhead.

Guardian angel, she thought, and almost snorted. More like guardian demon.

When she finished, she positioned herself opposite from the grave, her eyes taking in the sight before sighing and leaning against a tree to her back.

"We could use some snow," she told the grave.

"It's snowing in Gotham." she heard Nightwing answer from behind her. She didn't jump - that was most un-Raven-like- and instead glanced behind her, her lips in a disapproving frown. "It's bad to listen in, you know."

"Didn't hear much," he told her quietly, and then glanced at the grave opposite her, "You know this person?"

Raven shrugged, "More or less."

In a way she did feel as if she knew this grave, a little bit. Who else paid witness to her prayers? And if this grave didn't know more about her than her friends did, well she be damned.

Nightwing nodded, quiet for a moment. He then took several steps forward and plopped himself next to Raven, his eyes still on the grave. "You might want to start packing, by the way."

"We're Gotham bound?" Raven asked, her voice still monotone, even with the joke. Nightwing smiled, "Yeah. I have business there."

She noticed the sharp change in his voice as he mentioned the latter, but, being herself, she did not ask on it. After a few more seconds of comfortable silence, she stood, her eyes glancing one more time at the sky.

"We really could use some snow, you know."

--

[Agent S7]

Hmm. I feel like I need more background. I like this a lot so far, but is this the future? Who was that Robin we saw in the Prologue? I know I'll find out the next one, but what happened Nov. 25th?

I like this so far. Nice and mysterious. I really hope you get some other readers soon!

~s7

[Daybreak25]

You want more? I'lll show you more! (And the Robin in the prologue was Jason Todd!)

--
2
--

It was actually a few days later that they actually were 'Gotham-bound', but then again, no Titan asked.

Gotham was beautiful city by nature, the buildings tall and majestic, the golden flair of the city enlighting and breathtaking. The morning was bleak however, not much of a difference from Jump City's weather, but the illumination of the street lights on the pavement just seemed to glow brighter.

It was obvious that Nightwing had alerted someone of their prescene, for their ride awaited them as they emerged from the plane, each in normal attire as it was suggested. The last thing the Titans needed was publicity, for that would arouse the question as to why there were in Gotham and not protecting Jump City as they were sworn to.

A prestigious-looking man stood next to the limosinue, a geniune smile on his lips as he recongized Nightwing, though it was hard to believe since even he was in normal attire. They two shared smiles and a small conversation as the rest of the Titans filed into the limo, and as the door closed, Raven was sure that Nightwing had frowned impassively to the sky.

-----

It had been years since the Titans had become a team, so secret identies weren't so much mandatory as it used to be. First names were sometimes used, and other times codenames were better, but it wasn't as if one Titan didn't know about the other. And it was kind of hard to ignore who Nightwing was...or used to be.

The Wayne Manor was another matter entirely. The pictures were nothing like the original thing, and the fact that none of the Titans had actually seen it up close just added to the matter.

Changeling's face was barely recongizable at this point, for most of it was pressed to his window, "Dude...you lived here?"

From where he was seated, Nightwing grinned slightly, "It's bigger on the inside, you know."

"You don't have to tell me that," Changeling exclaimed, the words slightly muffled as he pressed his face even more into the window. Cyborg chuckled and pulled the shape shifter away, though a slight smudge (that was suspicously shaped like Changeling's face) remained.

As for Starfire, she took the more...extravagant reaction, and now had her head stuck out of the sunroof, loudly greeting each and every passenger. This had caused nearly every Titan inside the car to laugh, and even now the alien got several grins as one dared to take another look at her.

The only one hadn't made a noise of surprise was Raven, though Nightwing knew this was just part of her nature as opposed to not being excited.

"Kinda reminds me of someone," she'd told him as they first entered territory, but didn't say anything else.

The Wayne Manor was even more intimidating upclose, and the bleak morning even added more emotion to it, but each Titan trudged out immediatley and approached it, Raven staying behind.

She watched the gentleman from before unload box after box of Nightwing's files for a moment before she actually decided to speak, "Are you sure you don 't need help?"

The man looked as if he was actually asked this before, "No, I am fine, though I appreciate the effort."

"...Really?" Raven still glanced at him warily. "It wouldn't take me long to do so."

"It would be an insult to me, Miss Raven, if I allowed you to help," he replied and smiled at her, "It would serve better if you would join your friends, do you not think?"

Raven hesitated for a moment, then smiled gently, "If you say so."

----

If Wayne Manor was intimidating, then Bruce Wayne himself was downright scary...in a sense of the words of course.

After spending several minues in his prescene, even Raven had to agree that the man could act. She knew, of course, of his alter-ego, the brooding and impassive Batman, and even more on how he figured Bruce Wayne as a gimic, a mask to hide himself under. Personally, that made no sense to her, but it gave the man a reason to practice his acting skills.

He greeted each Titan with a warm smile and a handshake, remembered their names perfectly. His gaze actually strayed to Nightwing - now Dick in this home - once in a while, whether asking if the proncouncation was right or not, Raven didn't know. Either so, Dick nodded once or twice and allowed the man to continue until he had gotten down the line.

He explained that the Manor was theirs as much as his, and that Alfred - the gentleman from before - would show them to their rooms. Right out - to Raven's immense annoyance - Changeling asked if he had that super-huge big screen TV that had just hit the markets, and with a grin, Bruce replied that yes, he did, and two of the five Titans disappeared with a howl of glee.

Starfire had decided to stay with Alfred, and as the two went for upstairs, Raven glanced at the two men still left in the walkway. Before either could ask her about her plans, she held up a hand, "I'll be around."

With that she disappeared towards the nearest exit, wishing to find a garden of somesort to think.

----

When Raven disappered, Dick found himself staring into the face of Batman.

Batman. Not Bruce.

"You didn't even say 'Welcome Back' this time," he muttered quietly to his mentor as he turned for the nearest hallway, "A new record."

"I told you I could handle it, Dick." He could hear his mentor's voice, a little apprehensive, but downright displeased, behind him. Dick snorted a little, then stopped, facing the grandfather clock. With two quick flashes, the hands were reset, the hour hand facing the "10" and the minute hand facing the "47." (1) The grandfather clock chimed, then slid back, revealing a darker hallway.

The two ambled down it silently, the conversation starting back up when Dick hit the bottom step. "I know what you said, by the way."

"Then why are you here?"

"Because it's important to me. I already told you, Bruce, this isn't about you. It's about them. My parents. Remember?" He threw his mentor a glance, "I was going to come back anyway, even if you had the grave robbers in handcuffs."

"It's nice to have your approval," Bruce snapped, and then placed himself opposite the console of the 'Bat-Computer'. With two keystrokes, the computer whirred, and article after article appeared on screen. Dick surveyed them for a moment, "This all you have?"

Bruce nodded, then allowed his protege to take his place, "They've been less frequent. The first one was near Gotham University...just two graves robbed, far back."

Dick didn't reply for a moment. "Which reminds me, how's Tim?"

Bruce hesitated, "Still in Brentwood, unfortuately."

"No kidding?"

"His father is very serious about this. And Tim won't explain, so this puts him a even worse situation."

"I feel for the guy," Dick muttered absentley as he filed through another section of articles. "God knows I'd go crazy in place like that."

Though Dick couldn't see it, Bruce allowed the smallest of smile to grace his lips, "God forbid, Dick."

----

(1) This is how (I'm assuming) how the entrance to the Bat-Cave is opened. According to the Batman comics, Bruce Wayne's parents died at 10:47 pm.

[Daybreak25]

(Is double posting wrong here? If so, I aplogize.)

--
3
--

"Raven?"

Even from she was inspecting a tulip, Raven could clearly hear to timid shouts of Starfire seeking for her, and so she stood, waving a hand over the tall brushes of flowers, hoping that Starfire could see it.

She did, and there were loud rustlings as Starfire fought her way through the vegetation, her smile wide as she caught sight of her friend in the flower region. "So this is where you went? Changeling and Cyborg didn't tell me anything."

Raven shrugged, "I doubt they knew where I was anyway."

Starfire smiled a knowing smile, "Let me guess: that makes you happier than Changeling with tofu."

The women shared a chuckle, both pairs of eyes returning to the garden with silence. After a while, Starfire leaned down and plucked a tulip, "They're beautiful, aren't they? I'm guessing Alfred works on them."

"This does look like his handiwork," Raven muttered. Starfire handed her the tulip and picked another for herself, "This is all very strange, isn't it? I didn't ask Dick about it - I doubt he'd tell me anyway - but...we just uprooted and everything."

"I don't think we'll stay here for long." Raven replied. "Richard will eventually miss the weirdness of Jump City..." Both women smiled again, "And back we go."

Starfire stared at her tulip with a thinking frown, "Why do you think he does this anyway?"

"What?" Raven asked her friend absentley, her eyes now inspecting again.

"The whole 'I-can't-tell-you-it's-complicated' thing."

"You dated him, Kori (1), you should know better than I should," Raven teased, then grinned as her friend blushed. "It's apart of his nature. He'll tell us when's he's ready."

Starfire paused, "Ah, the joys of the ever wonderful bond of the Raven and Robin (1)."

She postively laughed when Raven glared at her.

---

"This article is irrevelant." Dick said after sometime of glaring at it. Bruce, who was sitting at a desk some far away, didn't say anything for a moment. "You'll need to take that up with it's owner."

"And that would be-?"

"That would be me. What don't you like about my article, Boy Wonder?"

Dick outright grinned at the voice that filtered over the speakers, and clicked for the video link. The screen opened up immediately, revealing the face of Oracle, smirk and all. Dick shook his head at her, "How long have you been there?"

"Not long," she told him, "I just woke up. You're avoiding my question."

Dick glanced at the article for a moment, "It just mention the obituaries. Not much."

Oracle snorted as if it was obvious, "Hello? Obituaries? Deaths? Grave robbings? Come on, Dick, you're not that dense."

"That hurts, Babs."

She grinned at him. "Should I make it better?"

Bruce's hand on his shoulder cut off Dick's reply, "I hope you two don't plan on doing this all day."

Babs remained unfazed, "Of course not, Boss. All about the work, that's us."

Bruce smiled at her, "Somehow, that doesn't make me feel better. What did you find, Barbara?"

"Other than that main article, nothing. Cemeteries aren't exactly manned by security, so there was nothing to hack into, no footage to rewind."

"Any clues?"

"Well, besides from the evidence in the GCPD mainframe, no. No footprints, which means whoever did it was pretty expierenced in the arts of grave robbing. What I don't get is why anyone wants to rob graves in the first place."

"Don't think that will get us anywhere. It's not about the motive." Bruce replied, "Continue."

"The bodies, and just the bodies, were taken. The caskets were fine, no prints on those either."

"Is there any pattern to the robbings?" Dick asked.

"No. They're completely random, though there's never more than a few in each sector."

Dick sighed and ran fingers through his hair, "Which means their graves could be hit at anytime."

"Not really, Dick. I have operatives on the case. Dinah and Helena promise to take a look everytime they're in the sector."

Dick paused and glanced up at his friend, who smiled, "I'm on it, Dick. Promise."

Even though he looked away, there was no missing the appreciative grin on Dick's face.

---

He sneezed.

It had been days since he first opened his eyes, though he wasn't sure what day it was or the exact hour of his awakening. He hadn't gotten past his casket, only succeeding in making a small hole in the wood to peek through. Dirt pressed itself to the small hole, black from the darkness and rough to touch.

He was literally six feet under.

A tremor of shivers ran through his spine, and once again he was grateful he was still alive. He remember - for a slight second - that earth contains a small amount of oxygen, so at times he focused on pressing his nose to the small clump of dirt, inhaling as if his life depended on it.

And in a way, it did.

When he wasn't inhaling dirt, he was trying to figure out why his head ached. He didn't know much, just knew that he was underneath the ground. He didn't know who he was, why someone hated him so much to bury him alive.

Was he alive when he was buried?

Most of all he couldn't understand why he seemed to flinch whenver his skin came in contact with metal (2). It wasn't from the lack of heat...but somehow he hated to touch his buckle. He wanted it as far away as possible, no matter how much he needed it. Now he only relied on his feet to push and kick at the rest of the casket.

And at this pace, he wasn't sure if he'd ever see sunlight again.

-----

Weird, huh? I think so, too.

(1) This refers to the combination of universes that is "Redux." I combined both the animated universe of the "Teen Titans" and the comic universe of "The Titans." This explains why Starfire talks the way she does, since she gained her speech from Dick Grayson (in that telltale kiss, you know the one I'm talking about) and can speak like any regular earthling, as opposed to her animated version, who speaks like she's from another planet (no pun intended).

This also refers to Starfire dating Nightwing, since...you know, that happened during the comics.

This also refers to 'the bond' that Robin and Raven shared in the animated series, the one that was gained during the episode 'Haunted'. That bond will be played up a couple of times during this.

(2) And this is a reference to "A Death In The Family," that 'famous' comic where Jason Todd was beaten to death by a crowbar. I'm assuming that a crowbar is made from metal, thus the whole 'being apprehensive about buckles' thing.

-DB25

[Jave]

Just so you know, it's OK to double-post if your story is being updated.

So yeah, in this case it's fine.