Titans Go!

Scene 8: Making New Friends

Nightwing stayed in the meeting room, waiting for Oracle to return. When she did, she seemed a little troubled. It didn't take the world's greatest detective to know what was going through her mind.

"You worried about how they'll work as a team?" Nightwing asked her without preamble.

"It's going to take them time to work like a team," said Oracle. "The worst of it is they might not have that time."

"Hey, experience can be a good motivator."

"Maybe," said Oracle. "I just wish it wasn't this dangerous for starters. I think Cyborg is right that we should expect the H.I.V.E. to be involved, but that doesn't mean we'll be ready for them. Then we know we've got Jason Todd, another ex-Robin to worry about and Sportsmaster. You've fought them both before, Dick. You know the enemy isn't playing around."

"Neither are we," said Nightwing. "In the past, it was just me and you dealing with criminals, me in the field and you providing intel. We're not alone anymore. We got a group of very talented people to watch our backs on this one."

"There's still one more problem, Dick," said Oracle seriously. "You've come to see everyone in action, but you've only fought alongside one of them. You haven't had the time to know how to lead them. It might take them time to accept you as their leader."

Nightwing was almost expecting to hear this, and he knew Oracle had a point. Out of all the recruits for Project Titan, only Starfire had experience in taking directions from him. However, a major contributor to this was because of her romantic involvement with him.

Oracle seemed to take his silence for agreement, because she went on to say, "So you see, we're a lot further back than we even knew. We're only just getting to know each other. Meanwhile, our enemy is scheming under closed doors, and we're not even close to finding out what they're up to. Everyone is going to have to learn quickly here, you included."

Nightwing really wished what Oracle said wasn't true. The problem was she was voicing every problem he had been avoiding since starting Project Titan. He had told himself a while back that he would cross that bridge when he came to it. Now he had come to it, and now he wasn't sure he had even crossed it at all.

"I know what you mean, Barbara," he said at last. "But I think when push eventually comes to shove, they'll know what to do. When the time comes, I know they won't let us down."

Oracle stared into his eyes for a fraction of a second, then she turned and started to move toward the door. As Nightwing followed her, she turned over her shoulder and said, "I hope you're right, Dick."

***

Nightwing wasn't sure if he could stand going to bed. So rather than returning to his room, he went outside, staring at the stars. As he stared up at the dark sky, he felt his mind travel to the day he decided to leave Gotham. It was not something he liked thinking about, but it kept coming back to him when he least expected it.

It had been about two years after Bruce had recruited Tim Drake as Robin. Around that time, Barbara had become paralyzed from the waist down and was only starting to recover emotionally. With all that being said, Dick could remember feeling like he was drifting away from everyone.

At the time, all Dick had thought about was fighting this drift, to find a reason to stay in Gotham. Unfortunately, nothing had come to mind. Every battle felt like part of a cycle that never ended. Criminals continued to escape from Arkham, Dick would help Bruce and Tim throw them back in, only to learn they had escaped again.

After a while, a thought had finally come to Nightwing. He needed to branch off on his own. He didn't want to think he was abandoning Bruce to deal with these endeavors alone, but Dick had felt like he had to in order to find his own calling. He just had to.