Disclaimer – I own nothing.

AN – And I'm back with my new story! This is a sequel to Reconcile, though it's not necessary to read that one before you read this one. To anyone wondering, for the moment, I'm not planning on doing anymore chapters for that story. I might later, after this story is done, but for now, it's completed. And just so you are all aware of this is AU, obviously. It might have some elements that are the same as the show, but it's not canon. So the Titans team consists of Dick, Kory, Rachel, Gar, Donna, Dawn, and Hank. Jason is in Gotham, and there's no Rose or Superboy or Aqualad. Hope you all like it!

Enjoy!

"Goon coming up on your left Raven!" Dick warned Rachel about the man about to jump her from the shadows as he blocked an attack from the criminal that he was fighting with one of his escrima sticks. With the other, he jammed the end into his opponent's leg, letting the electricity flood the other man's body. He immediately started shaking uncontrollably and fell to the ground.

"Thanks Nightwing." Rachel shouted back as she kicked the man who had tried to sneak up on her in the face. The former Robin smirked proudly when he saw the attack. It was a move he himself had taught her and she was a quick learner.

Though he had his worries about restarting the Titans with Rachel, Gar, Donna, Dawn, and Hank, and he still did, he had to admit that they were doing a decent job. Gar and Rachel were like sponges, absorbing everything that the older and experienced vigilantes taught them as fast as possible. Which turned out to be a good thing considering how fast they wanted to go out on patrol. And if they did mess up at all, they had five older experienced teammates to help them out. That was one of the conditions that was made when they decided to bring the Titans back, Rachel and Gar were not allowed to go out on their own. At least, not until they were older and stronger.

Since the criminals that they were fighting were just the basic run-off-the-mill drug dealers, they took them down within minutes. As Dick finished tying up one of the dealers with the zip-ties he kept in his utility belt, he heard Gar's excited voice exclaim, "That was awesome! We kicked their butts!"

"Save it for later Beast Boy. We can gloat at home." Donna told him as she finished securing another dealer.

"And don't get too cocky. Getting cocky can get you killed." Dick warned him with a slight grin. A pout came upon Gar's face as he mumbled the word 'buzzkill' under his breath. He didn't respond to that though. Gar would learn soon enough, and hopefully not the hard way.

"Police are on their way." Hank told them, having heard it on their police scanner.

"Then let's get out of here." Dick responded as he pulled his grapple gun out of his belt and shot it in the air. Hank and Donna were quick to do the same while Kory, Rachel, and Gar flew, the latter turning into a bird first, and Donna just leaped into the air with enough force to land on the top of the building Nightwing, Dove, and Hawk ended up on.

"You guys go home. I'm just going to make sure that none of the drug dealers escape." Dick told them once they had all gotten to the roof. He had noticed that some of the criminals that they would catch and leave for the police to arrest wouldn't actually arrive to the police station when he went to work the next morning. While it was possible that they managed to escape before the authorities arrived, he was pretty sure that they were getting inside help. Having grown up in Gotham, he knew the signs of dirty cops when he saw them.

"Hey Beast Boy, race you!" Rachel shouted out excitedly as she took of into the air, the green bird right behind her. The adults either smiled, laughed, or both at the kids' behaviour before Hank and Dawn went after them, at a much slower speed though of course.

Donna stared at their retreating figure for a few seconds, then turned back to Dick and said, "Don't stay out too late."

"I won't." Dick promised. Only somewhat assured by that, as she knew his bad habits, Donna took off after the others, leaving Dick alone on the rooftop with Kory.

"You're not going to go with them?" Dick asked as the girl in the bright purple suit walked over to him.

"I thought I'd keep you company." Kory responded, a playful smile on her face.

"As long as neither of us gets distracted, some company would be nice." Dick replied with a smile of his own before turning back to the criminals below them.

It was silent for a few seconds before Kory put her arms on the roof railing, laying all of her weight on it and said, "You've been staying out late a lot over the last few weeks."

"Is there a problem with that?" Dick wondered, still smirking slightly.

"Only that you never told us why?" Kory answered, her voice now serious and concerned instead of being light-hearted like it was moments earlier.

Dick didn't respond to that. He hadn't told them what was going on out of fear of what their reaction would be. When he first started going out as Robin, he had started noticing that the criminals he and Batman would catch and leave for the police would be out on the streets the next night even though there was evidence of their crimes. He had mentioned it to Bruce, and that was when he learned how corrupt Gotham's police force was and it infuriated him. He couldn't believe that the people who had sworn to uphold the law and bring justice to the city would betray that. The fact that Tony Zucco hadn't been caught yet didn't help either. As a result, he ended up staying late to catch the dirty cops and though he succeeded in catching a few, he was almost killed and would've been if Bruce hadn't been there.

Rachel and Gar were still new to the hero/vigilante business and were very eager. He didn't want to risk them going out to catch any corrupt cops and getting themselves into trouble like he did. Donna would be angry and annoyed but she was smart and had dealt with dirty cops before so he didn't have to worry about her. Hank and Dawn had also dealt with that but Hank had a temper and sometimes rushed in without thinking. Usually Dawn could keep him from doing something stupid, but not always. Kory though, he had no idea how she'd react. As far as he knew, she had never dealt with corrupt police officers.

"Some of the people we've caught haven't made it to the precinct to be charged, even though they were caught red-handed and there was evidence of their crimes." Dick finally told her.

"You think they managed to escape before the cops get to them?" Kory wondered.

"If it was just one or two, I'd say yes, but eight? I doubt it." He answered, still keeping an eye on the drug dealers on the side of the street. He could now dimly hear the sound of police sirens.

"You think someone's letting them go? Like a police officer?" Kory asked, though she didn't sound that surprised like he would've expected if she had never heard of corrupt cops before.

"I think so, but we'll soon find out." Dick replied.

"And didn't tell us this because…" Kory then wondered.

Dick sighed, lowered his head, then said, "When I first started as Robin and learned how corrupt the police department was, I made it my mission to bring them down. I got a few, but I almost got myself killed because I would go out on my own instead of with Batman."

"So you didn't tell us because thought we would do the same thing." Kory concluded.

"I wasn't sure how you'd all react, especially Gar and Rachel."

Turning to face him, keeping one elbow on the railing, Kory said, "You know Gar and Rachel are smarter than that."

"You remember the asylum?" Dick asked with raised eyebrows.

"Fair point." Kory agreed before she added, "but they've grown a lot since then."

"I know, but it's best to make sure of the facts first before doing anything. Trusting your gut and past experiences is important but they can be wrong. If I told them what I suspect, they could just assume I was right when I might be wrong and do something stupid and dangerous." Dick explained.

"Well, I guess we're about to find out." The alien remarked as the cop cars now became visible.

It was only seconds later that they learned Dick was indeed wrong. Right before the cops pulled up to the sight, two of the drug dealers they caught, the ones that seemed to be in charge, suddenly fell over with blood pooling under their heads, their bodies completely limp.

"What the h*ll?" Kory gasped in shock while Dick flinched at the sight.

"Someone just shot and killed them." Dick told her even though she had probably already figured it out, "They're using a silencer so no one will hear."

"Where did it come from?" Kory asked as she looked at the surrounding buildings, searching for whoever just shot and killed the two drug dealers.

Dick's attention though was on the police cars that had finally arrived on the scene. He grabbed Kory's hand and said, "I don't know, but we gotta go."

2018TITANS2018

What the two superheroes were unaware of, was the figure hidden in the shadows on the top floor of the building across from the one they were standing on. He watched as they rushed off while the police arrived on the streets below, smiling at the sight, knowing it was almost time to put his plan in action.

AN – Updates will be whenever I get the next chapter done, no schedule for this story. Hope you all liked this chapter! See you next time!