A Joint Business Venture

Arrow and Roy were taking out some thugs who at attempted an armed robbery… of the Markov Research and Development center.

They had three men cornered, but didn't notice two coming behind them, when the men they had cornered suddenly screamed and then were engulfed by smoke. When it had cleared, the men were laying on the ground, unconscious. The men behind them had gone completely unnoticed by Arrow and his young protégé, that is until they heard the sound of grunting behind them, and saw them being taken down by two men in capes.

Arrow started towards them, trying to talk to them.

"Look, thanks for helping us, but I really don't think it's safe for-"

The taller man looked up. He had two long protrusions coming from his head; they looked like horns in the darkness.

He spoke up, "You're welcome."

The two men became engulfed by smoke and when it had cleared, had vanished.

Arrow's phone started ringing, and he picked up.

"Yes Felicity?"

"You do realize that while you do have heroic responsibilities, you have civil ones as well, right? You do remember the charity ball for Lexcorp tonight? The one that you're to be an honored guest at?"

"Yes Felicity, I do remember, and we were just on our way, the police are here."

"Alright, just don't be too bloody when you show up."

"Alright."

The line went dead.

As the police cars parked, Arrow ran into an alley where he and Roy left for Verdant to change.

-A little while later, at the ball-

Roy walked into the too stuffy ballroom, feeling quite annoyed at the sheer amount of people that were there to give their money to a faceless company that was probably bent on world domination or something anyway, when he accidentally ran into someone.

"Sorry, must not have been looking where I was going," the young man said.

"It's fine, just look up when you walk, and you'll be set."

As Roy walked away, the young man caught up to him.

"Hey, I just wanted to apologize again for running into you like that, it was careless of me. My name's Dick, Dick Grayson, if there's anything I can do for you, just let me know."

"Yeah, yeah, got it, Dick."

Roy walked away, but Dick nonchalantly and inconspicuously followed him around the room.

After about an hour, he had lost him.

Then, walking by a door to the back parking lot, a hand grabbed him and pulled him outside.

Preparing himself, he got into a defensive stance, and saw… Roy?

"Wait, what? Roy? You managed to lose me?"

"Yeah, and how do you know my name?"

"Dude, your Roy Harper. I know we're in Bludhaven, not Star, but still, it's not hard to know who you are. You're one of Oliver Queen's friends."

"…Yeah. Why were you following me in the first place?"

"I was trying to gather information."

"About what?"

"I can't tell you, it's top secret."

This statement was punctuated by several gestures, both childish and obscene, on Dick's part.

This happened to anger Roy.

As Dick laughed at his own gestures, Roy charged at him, swinging a fist that would have thrown him through the wall behind him.

But Dick deflected the fist, throwing Roy's momentum off just enough to land an open-handed blow that sent Roy flying back several yards.

Roy staggered through a landing, utterly shocked.

"Dude, I don't want to tear my new jacket, Bruce'll have a cow."

Roy charged again.

As the fight continued, and as Roy continued to gain no ground, Oliver walked out of the back door, followed by a man who looked to be only a couple of years older, but had a decidedly more serious look about him.

Hearing the noise, they looked over to a chain-link fence that was currently having a young man thrown into it, and noticed something that angered both of them.

"Roy!" Oliver called.

"Richard!" The taller man yelled.

Immediately, the two young men stopped beating each other and stood at what could only be called attention.

The two older men looked at each other, then the taller one looked at Dick, with a warning look in his eyes that hinted at a question. Dick gave a small nod back. The taller man turned to Oliver, "Well, Ollie, I must say I'm impressed with everything I've seen, and would be very interesting in further discussing this… business venture, as it were. I must say, though, it looks like our young friends here might be interested in something similar?"

Oliver turns and looks at Roy, and nods thoughtfully.

"Oliver, here's a list of other people I thought you might have an interest in bringing into our little… group. Most of them have… protégé's of their own, who might be looking for something like this."

Taking the slip of paper from the man, Oliver seems surprised at a couple of them, and then smiles.

"Thanks Bruce. Roy, let's go. We've got some packing."

-One week later-

As Oliver drove down the back roads, Roy squirmed in his seat.

"Why won't you tell me where we're going?"

"Because that wouldn't be any fun. Calm down, I don't need you ripping the seatbelts out."

Roy glowers at him for a moment, and then settles back in his seat.

"Besides, we're here."

Roy looked out and saw a clearing in the trees they had been driving through for what seemed like hours, with a tall building, although not taller that the treeline, that had a wider top floor than it's other levels, leaving it to resemble a giant T.

Looking at Oliver questioningly, he gets out of the car and starts following Ollie to the entrance of the building, dragging a suitcase and holding duffel bag, Oliver carrying some more of his things.

Ollie was acting like he was going to be moving in here or something.

As they walked into the main hall, Ollie spoke up.

"This is as far as I go. The common room is through that door. Go."

Roy did so and was greeted by Dick, standing alone on the other side of the room with a pool in it.

Roy looked around and said, "Is this it? A building shaped like a T? What kind of business opportunity is this?"

"The fun kind," Dick replies.

Then he adds, "So you know Ollie's friend Barry? The one with super-speed?"

"How do you know about that?"

"Bruce has his ways."

"Alright, so yeah, I know him."

"Well, he has a nephew who's our age… and just so happened to experience something similar to the accident that gave Barry his powers. As a result, we have Kid Flash."

A red and yellow blur rushed past Roy to stand beside Dick, and revealed a young man with red hair, wearing red sneakers and a red hoodie with a yellow t-shirt underneath.

"My name's Wally," he said.

"Wonder Woman, the amazon who's real big in Chicago? She has a younger sister named Donna."

A young girl walked in from behind Dick and stopped beside him, resting her elbow on his shoulder.

"Wondergirl, thanks much," She said with a sharp glance at Wally, who was laughing at her given name.

"And finally we have Aquaman's protégé, Aqualad. He was top of his class in the Atlantean school of sorcery, but he also… equivalently skipped a few grades. He's only fourteen, but he's ready."

"Ready for what?" Roy asked.

Then, a young teenager flew out of the swimming pool, flipping in the air a few times before landing in a crouching position in front of Dick.

"Anything," the boy replied.

Roy looked thoughtful for a moment.

"So, what do they call you, Dick? The Busybody?" He said sarcastically.

"No. They call me Robin."

Roy looked shocked.

"Like… Batman and Robin?"

"Yep."

"Oh…"

"So, what do you say?"

"I say, what's up with the building being shaped like a T?"

"Oh, that… Well, Bruce and Ollie came up with a name for our little team."

"And that would be?"

"The Teen Titans."

Roy blinked a couple of times.

"Got it. Well, what do I have to do to join?"

Dick stuck out his hand.

"You have to say yes."