An old Player reenters the Plot, but not in Gotham

Damien sat in front of the Bat computer and looked at the documents he had compiled there. Gotham had changed since he was a kid. The war had had an enormous impact on the city. Lex Luthor, of all people, had invested heavily in rebuilding the city, nearly replacing Wayne Tech. The fact that Wayne Tech had changed so much, destroying vast sums of money in the process, didn't help his situation. Wayne Tech was still in the top 10 of the most influential companies in the world, but now it was only on place 8. 5 years ago, it was on place 3. Even though Lex Corp. could not be trusted, they had done a good job in the city. The police under Gordon had been equipped with the most modern weapons in the world and the best equipment money could buy. However, the company had otherwise stayed out of the police force's business. The fact that the Wolf King was the former Batman had ensured that there was a stable power. When a werewolf committed a crime, it was usually done before the police were even there. Bruce made sure the people of the town could trust the werewolves. Unfortunately, this was not necessarily true for the other packs. The snakes were ironically the most trusted of them, while the crypto wolves were the least trusted.

"Master Damien. You have a message from Sutek." Said Alfred when he appeared next to him and left him a cup of cocoa.

"What does he want?" asked Damien, trying hard to imitate the Bruce style, which made Alfred smile.

"He wanted me to let you know lady Talia is on her way. She's probably even here already."

Damien leaned his chin on his fingers and thought about what his mother had told him the last time they met. That she would visit him one day and test him. And fuck. He had taken the former seriously. The latter, not really. He never stopped collecting information about her, though. It hadn't been easy, but here and there he had been able to get information. She had been a great success in her role as Dracula's bride and probably her abilities had grown again in the last 5 years.

"Well then, here it is!" he finally said and activated the commlink to Watchtower.

"Wonder Woman here. Damien!" smiled the Amazon princess to Batman who pulled the corners of his mouth down.

"I thought they didn't use names here," he asked, making his voice seem lower than it was. But when Diana started to smile and grin he just clenched his fist.

"I'm sorry, Robin!"

"BATMAN!" he hissed angrily and Diana just grinned.

"You don't really expect that I will ever call you that, do you?" she smiled and then added. "By the way, it was never his voice that made him so impressive. It was the way he used it. You really need to work on that!"

Swallowing the insult, he nodded and after a few seconds he went on.

"I've received intel that Talia is en route to New Gotham. The fact that my sources were able to find out is a clear indication that she really is. "

"Talia? The executioner of Dracula?" Diana asked, nodding more seriously. "If you need help, I will immediately send a message to Bruce or Superman."

But Damien resented this kindly suggestion. "I do not need you here in New Gotham! I can handle her myself! So, stay out of town or you'll have me to deal with! And I will notice if some of you break in into my town!"

Diana raised an eyebrow, then started to laugh out loud and pointed behind Damien, who turned around. Behind him the Bat-mobile had been repainted in Robin's colors and there was a sign

Flash was here.

"What the hell!" he yelled angrily, and Diana laughed.

"He's been dreaming about this since he first saw Batman!" she turned to her side. "Barry! Stop teasing him!"

Angry, Damien stopped the uplink and looked angrily back at his car. "They're gonna pay for this!" he growled and pulled the mask over his face. "Alfred! I'm taking the jet!"

For hours, he circled the city, looking for crimes or situations that would require Batman intervention. But he found nothing.

Meanwhile, in the Teen Titan Tower.

Dick and Kori stood on the training area of the Teen Titan Tower and looked at the newest contenders. While Cassandra Sandmark and Conner Kent were testing each other's strength, Kid Flash and Beast Boy were on the side. Raven was also standing nearby and watching the training. While Raven had decided to leave the team, Beast Boy was still a teen titan. Besides, it had advantages to have an experienced member on the team.

"They have great potential, don't you think?" Kori smiled to Dick who just nodded.

"Does that surprise you? He is a clone of Superman and she is the heiress of Wonder Woman!" Nightwing nodded and folded his arms unhappily.

"Still you don't seem satisfied?" Kori asked smiling and he nodded.

" Their fighting style is lousy!"

Both fighters paused, and Conner growled. "What do you want? If you have strength, you don't have to dance around like a girl!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Cassandra hissed at him and Dick went into the ring, sighing.

"So, you think your superhuman strength makes you better? That a simple man cannot defeat you?"

"Hey. Don't hold it against me, Dick! But even if you were Batsy's student... You're not talking about Joker Jr. or Harley Girl! Dude! With you, we have to be careful not to accidentally break you!" Conner laughed, and Garfield laughed out loud. That even Raven under her hood started grinning should have been a warning to them.

"Yeah, you're right." Dick just nodded and shrugged his shoulders before rushing forward. He might have been able to surprise Cassandra with that, but the perception of Conner was in a completely different league. He caught the punch with an eye roll and held Nightwing's wrist.

"Is that all?" Conner asked, raising an eyebrow.

Just at that moment, a flash bomb exploded in Nightwing Hand, blinding the Kryptonian. Before he could regroup, he was on the ground trying to free himself. Strangely enough, he was unable to break his bonds and as he looked around, Cassandra was lying on the floor, out of her mind and Dick was sitting on her back with a blade of grass in his mouth.

"So, Connor. Here we go. Free yourself! I'll wait for you, then. See if you can free yourself from the Lasso of Zeus. No one's ever done it before. Not even Superman, but hey. What do I know!" he grinned and watched Conner struggle but didn't make it.

"When you're finished, we can talk. You and Cassandra are the most powerful members the Teen Titans have ever had." A faint roar from Raven made him smile." Well... almost the most powerful. But individual strength means nothing. Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern...and... even Batman...they were not the most powerful because they were the strongest or the most impressive, but because they were able to work with others! They knew that even their powers were not limitless. And only when you get that into your skull will you be allowed to leave this tower. Clear!?" he smiled and stood up from Cassandra, who then freed Conner. Sparks flashed across the lasso as she swallowed her anger.

"And what good is that going to do Dick?" asked Conner as he turned to him and looked at him with such cold, determined eyes that even the Kryptonian was confronted with fear, he corrected himself. "Nightwing."

"Better!" Nightwing said calmly, looking around. "Raven, Garfield. Zero Alpha!" he just shouted and almost at the same moment Garfield disappeared into a portal and appeared right above them. but in the shape of a killer whale. Conner pulled up his arms to catch the huge beast, only to see Garfield turn into a bird and stick out his tongue. At the same moment a spell smashed into his chest and sent him crashing into a wall.

"That was an example of a well-oiled machine."

But before Conner could reply, he stared blankly at the woman who appeared out of nowhere right next to him. The face clearly showed that Conner hadn't seen the movement. The black-haired woman, whose incredible body was in a skin-tight black suit, had put one arm over his shoulder and was grinning at him.

"Listen to him. It might save your life one day if you got it with someone like me!"

"FRIEND TALIA!" Kori called and flew to her. Kori hugged Talia and the two women kissed each other longingly, hot and familiar.

While Dick's head turned bright red the male Titans' jaws dropped at the sight.

"Good to see you, Dick. Am I interrupting?" Talia grinned after the battle of tongues.

"Hello, Talia. May I introduce the new recruits?"

"Thank you. I've seen them all before. Remember who I once was and who I am now."

"We should talk in private!" he said quietly, and Raven smiled.

"Ah. So that's what they call it today!"

"What do you mean Raven?" Garfield asked naive and Raven grinned. "That Dick forgave her for what she once did!"

"That's good, isn't it?" Garfield asked even more confused and Raven grinned. "That's right. But it led to something... that the three of them didn't want to admit to each other for a long time."

"I wanted them in bed with him from the beginning!" Kori protested and the bang that Dick's hand made in his face was probably still audible on the other side of the planet.

"Class dismissed!"

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)