in three sentences: two thousand and twenty-four edition (part three)

The first thing Dick learns from this ill-fated team bonding exercise is that Joey is both scarily efficient when he gets ahold of a paintball marker and incredibly good at charming people into working with him— both things that Dick really ought to know, in hindsight, but it’s a little hard to think when Kole is throwing up crystal shields and Raven’s gotten roped into this somehow and— “Gar, you traitor!”

The second thing he learns is that it was a mistake to let Kory and Jason meet, because Kory had folded the kid into the team she’d built with Roy, Vic and Donna—already a powerhouse on its own—and now they had a frighteningly nimble little asshole with a quick taunt and a sunny smile on their side, and Dick’s not sure why, but he feels a need to write letters of apology to every member of the Gotham Henchpersons Union.

The third thing he learns is this: it doesn’t matter if there are five Titans or twenty-five, it doesn’t matter if he’s in Robin red or Nightwing blue, it doesn’t even matter if he’s in a genuine leadership capacity anymore— everyone likes to gang up on Dick, and when he’s having this much fun, he almost welcomes it!