The Bats hanging from the ceiling of the cave are nowhere near as loud as Dick, complaining non-stop over the images in front of him. Tim had put them up on the screen in the presence of Jason, Damian, Steph and of course their oldest brother.

"What is this kid?" Jason asks, leaning against the medical table with his arms folded. Damian copies the gesture, glaring back.

"It's nothing."

"Nothing? That's what you're-"

"Who cares!?" Steph interrupts Dick's rant. She looks up at the four images of Rapid and Robin standing on different rooftops, together. "They're not hurting anybody."

The look Dick gives her from behind his mask is a nasty one, clearly irritated by the remark. It's highly out of character for him and enough to shut Stephanie up.

"Why bring this up?" Damian snaps at Tim. The older boy sighs, placing his tablet down before walking towards his youngest brother. All eyes are on him.

"Your safety. Do you understand that she-"

"She hasn't killed anyone since she's been here!" Damian interrupts, ducking Tim's hand as it reaches out to rest on his shoulder.

"But she has killed!" Dick swoops back in. "Rapid, Vermillion, Fantasy and Glow. They were all part of the Twisted 12!"

"I don't know," Jason says thoughtfully, "Rowan's pretty cool, Lazer too when he wants to be. Besides, you know Glow. You tried to help her."

"Yeah, and it didn't work! We're not talking about your anti-hero buddies here Jay."

The second Robin eyes his predecessor suspiciously. As much as the older embodies his first name, he has never been so against redemption or acceptance. Sure, when Damian is involved he can be a bit protective.

But never cruel.

Something else is up.

"What-"

"This girl and her accomplices have killed hundreds over the years!"

"And so have I!" Damian suddenly shouts, storming to the centre of the room. "So has Todd! So have millions of different people! That's not what this is about though, is it? This is about her being a villain in general!"

A silence follows his words, Dick doing nothing but glaring back at him. The bats have even stopped squeaking in reaction to all the noice.

The teen himself is shocked at his own stance on the situation. Why is he defending those images? Why is he defending their time together? Why is he defending her?

"Over the years we've watched Bruce and his relationships. Catwoman. Yes, a member of the Justice League of America, but also a thief. Your mother, an assassin. Huntress. Not the most noble hero. Escapades with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. If there's one thing we all know now, it's that it ends badly. We've seen it," Tim says quietly. Damian wishes a reply would come to mind, but the truth in Tim's statement is depressingly accurate.

"The point is, this needs to be dealt with," Dick says in his best impersonation of Batman. Damian has to hold back a snort. It isn't hard with his inner-dilemma. The eldest of them stands up like a man on his own mission and heads for the cave's exit.

Tim shares a frown with Jason.

"I have no idea," he murmurs to him.

"Should we go with him? Make sure he doesn't do something stupid?"

Jason snorts, "Like attack a dangerously volatile meta with nothing but his two little sticks? Yes."

They hurry after him, silently agreeing that they'll act as if they are on his side in order to keep an eye on him. Damian grinds his teeth and advances to shout at them, but a hand on his shoulder draws him back.

Stephanie smiles at him, "What's she like?" She asks softly.

The teen folds his arms again and directs his stare at the floor. He contemplates bothering to answer her, tempted not to, but he knows the blonde will only press. If she berates him too much he may panic and give an embarrassing answer such as she smells like marshmallows.

"She's annoying and she smiles too much," he says, thanking whatever existing God there is that he had said that instead of blurting out her scent's resemblance to sugar or her wonderful accent.

"You like her," Steph grins, nudging her baby brother. Damian looks uncomfortable as he shakes his head, moving away from her. "Aren't you going to try and stop them?"

"Why would I?" He bites back. "Perhaps, afterwards, she'll leave me alone."

He hears her laugh from behind him, prompting him to turn around.

"Yes," she sings, walking away with a little bounce in her step, "She's likely to leave you alone afterwards. You won't hear her voice, see her face and every time you hear a song by your precious Ariana Grande you'll think of her and know you'll never talk to her again."

Each word feels like a punch to Damian's gut. The truth never is an easy thing to hear and that is the truth; he doesn't want her to stay away from him. Just as he realises that, he picks up on something else.

"How do you know about the Ariana Grande songs!?"

Steph stand rigid at the question. Before an answer can be put forward, an alert goes off on the Batcomputer about a fire.

"Let's go," Damian says, deciding to interrogate his frenemy later.

◊

◊

Bridges connect the three islands of Gotham; Miagani, Founders and Bleak.

Klavdiya especially likes the bridge between Miagani and Bleak for it's easily-accessed high point; one that she can watch the city from.

If she knows where to look, which this night, she does, she can see Damian Wayne leaping across rooftops and grappling between buildings.

They had come close to meeting again. A building was set alight by a few arsonists across town and many would be dead if Rapid hadn't been there to create a wind vortex and suffocate the flames.

Spoiler and Robin were at the scene just as she slowed her run enough to breeze passed Damian. She saw him turn- look at her and call out. She doubted he was particularly angry anymore but she couldn't chance it.

Not with the girl there, anyway.

They'd talk again soon. The excitement for it bubbles in her chest. Even though she knows they are fated to be together, the teen hadn't expected the feelings to be so invading on her.

She can see him now with her speedster eyes, grappling the radio tower on Founders island. Itching to see him she stands and readies herself to dash over there.

Just as she stands, there is a click behind her. The sound of someone landing on the wires.

Slowly, Rapid swivels around, expecting Batman or her sister-in-law Rowan. But standing on the centre cord of the bridge is someone she has yet to meet.

Nightwing.

Klavdiya heard he was in town.

Blank for a moment, she ends up smiling.

"Hello."

"I'm not here to chat," he responds, voice cold stone but missing the Batman-growl. His stance reads preparedness. It takes her by surprise but she doesn't show it.

"No?" She smirks instead, bouncing along the wire like it's fun, fingers twitching to grab the handle of her whip. "Are you here to tell me to stay away from him?"

Nightwing does not reply at first. Whether it's surprise or weariness, Klavdiya doesn't know. The bridge cord suddenly takes a violent swing, but Klavdiya keeps her balance. Out of the corner of her goggles someone else lands with them.

"Can you blame us? You've committed crimes in Central City, Jump City, Keystone and Opal City," the figure says. Klavdiya squints as the clouds slowly drift away from the moon. The light reveals Red Robin.

And she supposes all that's left is-

Before the thought can even process, the Bridge is shaking again. To her right, the Red Hood has taken stance with his guns still in their holsters.

"Hi Jason."

"Zdravstvuyte, Klavdiya."

"Rowan took out contract to kill you."

"So I hear."

"Red," Nightwing snaps. Jason shrugs at him. "Like I said, we're not here to chat."

"No, you're here to what, threaten me? Fight me? Three men vs. one girl? Perhaps it is true what they say about Gotham men," she murmurs.

And suddenly, things make sense. As she passed Damian that night, he had shouted something. In the blur of escaping it simply sounded muffled.

But she knew the sounds and can guess the words. He was warning her.

'Don't come out tonight!'

Well, great.

"We're not here to fight. We're simply warning you," Nightwing says, taking a step towards her.

"Nightwing," Red Robin mutters, concerned.

Rapid moves back, never changing her smirk. Neither Red Robin or Jason seem like they are going to advance. But Nightwing does.

"Again," she says, "you want me to stay away from him?"

"Yes," he replies, "You're a danger to him and the city. You should return to Russia."

Both Red Hood and Red Robin react negatively to the last part as if it offends them as well. Tim relaxes his stance and holsters his staff.

"That's enough!" He snaps.

"You seriously look like such an asshole right now," Jason adds, but it lacks any humour.

Dick hardly reacts to them and simply says, "Not until she swears to keep her distance."

Klavadiya scoffs, "Wow," her hand brushes the whip holstered around her, "No wonder my sister thinks so lowly of you."

Suddenly, there's a hand loosely holding her wrist before she can take up her weapon. Somehow in all the tension and conflict, the four had failed to notice Damian's approach.

Klavdiya turns her head slowly to look at him. Damian however keeps his glare focused on Nightwing.

"Milashka," she says quietly in greeting. I want to kiss him.

"Let's go," he says to her simply.

She blinks at the statement, blank. It's not what she was expecting. Her smile up at him grows quickly. In the next second she and Robin have disappeared in a purple flash.