Right Back to Where We Started

Right Back to Where We Started is the first episode in Season One of The Titans. It is the first episode of the series overall.

Summary
On the anniversary of the disbandment of the Teen Titans, Nightwing is attacked by a new villain. This attack forces him to call in his old friend Donna Troy AKA Troia. An unexpected new ally crashlands into the city.

Flashback
The episode begins a few years ago in Jump City. A squadron of police cars are stationed outside of the bank as a robbery is in progress. A news crew is there with the news lady talking about the robbery and stating that there are hostages inside. The police chief uses a megaphone to try and talk down the robbers inside of the bank but to no avail. That’s when the Teen Titans, the city’s heroes, arrive in a beat up car with a T crudely painted on the hood. Out of the car steps Robin (Dick Grayson), Wonder Girl (Donna Troy), Speedy(Roy Harper), Aqualad (Garth), and the Guardian (Malcolm Duncan). Aside from Robin, their costumes are crudely made.

Robin steps up to the police chief and says that they can take it from here. The police chief says that they’re too young to handle this kind of thing but Wonder Girl says “We’re the Teen Titans. We can handle anything!” Cut to inside the bank where the leader of the bank robbers, a bald man named Captain Rumble, is threatening the hostages. One of his goons says that they’ve gotten a lot of the money from the vaults and that they’re ready to go. They ask what they’re going to do about the hostages and Captain Rumble says that they have no use for them anymore. He aims his gun at a woman and her children but before he can shoot, a steel bird themed boomerang knocks his gun out of his hand.

Smoke pellets are then suddenly dropped into the room, making the bank robbers hyper alert. Robin drops down from an air vent and gets the jump on one of the robbers, knocking him out quietly. A tendril of water glides along the floor and wraps around the leg of another robber and pulls him away swiftly. Soon the other Titans join in. What results is a fun fight scene set to the Ramones “Blitzkrieg Bop”. We see the different abilities and capabilities of the Titans.

Wonder Girl uses her super strength and agility to take down two of the robbers at once. Aqualad engages one of the robbers in hand to hand combat before another one aims his gun at him. Aqualad looks at a nearby water fountain and uses it to shoot a stream of water at the man, sending him flying into a nearby wall. He gets jumped by another robber who is about to shoot him but luckily the Guardian steps in to block the robber’s shot with his shield. Speedy shoots a trick arrow at two of the robbers.

The tip of the arrow explodes, unleashing a sticky glue-like substance that sticks the robbers to the wall of the bank. After Guardian is done helping Aqualad, he spots a robber aiming a gun at the hostages. He rushes over and hits the robber upside the head with his shield. A kid looks up at him and asks “Are we gonna die..?” The Guardian says confidently “No, kid. No one’s dying today.” The kid smiles at him.

Robin then goes up against Captain Rumble on his own, shouting to the others to take care of the hostages. The two fight and while Robin is able to put up a good fight at first, Rumble soon proves to be too much for him and punches him to the ground. The other Titans come to Robin’s aid despite his orders and they all manage to defeat Captain Rumble together.

They all go to check on Robin after the fight. He has a wound on his forehead that’s bleeding a little. Guardian fetches some disinfectant wipes from his utility belt and cleans the wound. Robin told them to handle the hostages and Wonder Girl points out that Aqualad and Speedy are helping the hostages out. Robin says “Well…Okay, but still. You shouldn’t have disobeyed orders like that. I could’ve taken him, he just…got me by surprise.” Guardian says “Yeah, well, if we hadn’t helped you sooner, he would’ve pummeled your butt into the ground.” Robin sighs. One of the hostages, a mom, asks Aqualad if she can have his autograph for her kids. Aqualad smiles, cooly saying “Always great to hand out autographs.” Speedy says that he’s worried about going out to see the press but the Guardian assures him that everything is going to be alright.

They walk outside where the news crew start filming them and snap pictures. The Teen Titans smile and wave at everyone, proud of their work.

Present Day
We then transition to years later. Dick Grayson, now in his mid-twenties, is living in the Bunker, the Bunker being a hidden safehouse in Jump City. His hair is longer and he’s no longer as clean cut as his teenage counterpart. He wakes up from a nap and walks out into the hallway. He passes the training room that the Titans used to use and we see a flash of them training and having a good time. He sighs and goes to the kitchen. He starts cooking himself a steak. As the steak cooks, he looks at a framed group photo of the Titans in their younger days that hangs on the wall. He softly asks himself “Where did the days go?” He finishes cooking his steak and sits down on the couch, watching the TV.

He goes to the news channel where the news lady talks about the eighth year anniversary of the Teen Titans disbanding. She talks about the new vigilante Nightwing and the good he’s done for the city. Dick keeps watching until an alert comes on the Bunker’s computer. He quickly finishes his steak before going to see what the alert is. The computer says that the villainous Electrocutioner is causing havoc in downtown Jump City. Dick runs to a small room containing his Nightwing suit and gadgets. He suits up before riding out into the city on his motorcycle. In downtown, Electrocutioner is blasting cars with electricity from his electricity gauntlets. Nightwing rides into the area and starts to fight with Electrocutioner. They have some fight banter with Electrocutioner mocking “You all alone again, Robin? What happened? Got sick of holding Batman and the Titans’ hands?”

Nightwing mocks him back “Why’d you come to Jump City? Got sick of getting your ass kicked by Batman constantly?” Electrocutioner taunts “Hah! Get with the times, numbnuts! Batman’s been missing. Hmm, maybe I’ll go back to Gotham and see if Batgirl’s still there!” After hearing that, Nightwing kicks him in the chest and pulls a weapons disruptor device off of his utility belt. He uses it to dismantle Electructioner’s shock gauntlets. Electrocutioner tries to turn his gauntlets back on but he isn’t fast enough as Nightwing knocks him out with one of his escrima sticks. He stands over the body of Electrocutioner as the police arrive. “Gotham may not need me, but Jump City does.”

The Jump City police chief, Amy Rorhbach, walks out of her cop car and goes over to Nightwing. She looks down at Electrocutioner and says “I thought this guy only stayed in Gotham.” Nightwing says “Batman’s gone. Maybe he came here to pester another vigilante” referring to himself. As the other officers get Electrocutioner into a squad car, she and Nightwing keep talking. She says “Oh uh…I’m not sure if this is right to say to you but happy anniversary.” Nightwing chuckles, saying “It’s no problem, chief.” Rohrbach then asks “Why did the Teen Titans break up? You guys made a really great team.”

Nightwing looks down at the ground sadly before saying “There comes a time in everyone’s life where they just have to grow up.” Before she can respond, he kneels down and picks up a small electrical piece that fell off of the Electrocutioner’s gauntlets. Rohrbach asks what it is and Nightwing says that he doesn’t know. He puts it into a small pouch on his utility belt, assuring Rohrbach that he’ll send it to the police station once he’s done looking it over. Before she can say anything else, he hops onto his motorcycle and drives back to the Bunker.

At the Bunker, Dick is attempting to study the device. He fumbles with it and finds a small computer harddrive in it. He walks over to the computer and plugs the harddrive in. He accesses it and finds data that links to someone called “O’Jeneus”. Dick says to himself “O’Jeneus? Hmm.” He searches for information about O’Jeneus and comes across a news article about Tyler O’Jeneus. The article explains that O’Jeneus was a weapons manufacturer who lost his job after it was outed that he was making weapons for supervillains. He was imprisoned but later escaped and hasn’t been seen anywhere since. Dick comes to the conclusion that O’Jeneus must still be supplying villains with technology and that he must be stopped. Right as he comes to this conclusion, a message pops up in his infobox.

He opens it up and it’s a phone message from an anonymous person. Dick answers the call and asks who it is and how they found this number. The man has a voice synthesizer that masks his real voice. He says “So you’ve found my harddrive eh?” Dick asks how he knows this and the mysterious man states that he fitted the harddrive with a tracker in case a hero should pick it up. He demands that it be returned to him and Dick asks if the person talking is O’Jeneus. The voice doesn’t respond to his question, simply telling him to meet up at the old shipping yard in the city. The call ends with the man saying “And don’t worry about your little secret identity, Dick. I’m not in the business of exposing superheroes. Shipping yard now.”

Dick suits back up and drives out to the shipping yard. He looks around and calls out into the darkness. Suddenly O’Jeneus appears, sporting a green jumpsuit with a jet back and goggles. Nightwing looks at his outfit and quips “Good God…and here I thought Kite-Man’s costume looked stupid.” Gizmo rolls his eyes and asks for the hard drive back. “No, seriously. Do they- Do they still make colors like that? It’s hurting my eyes. No wonder you need goggles.” Nightwing quips again. “The hard drive. I won’t ask again.” Nightwing hesitates and asks why he’s supplying tech to villains again. O’Jeneus says that that isn’t any of his business, you know, as a superhero and again asks for the hard drive. Nightwing tells him that he has until midnight tonight to get out of Jump City. O’Jeneus taunts “Or what? You and your band of trick-or-treaters will come and stop me?” Nightwing says that he doesn’t need them anymore and O’Jeneus says “That’s a lie and we both know it. ” He powers up a weapon and points to the ground. “Put it there then take six steps back.” Nightwing angrily asks “What’s so important about this hard drive?!”

O’Jeneus growls and pulls out a ray gun from his belt and blasts it at Nightwing. It releases a wave of energy that blasts Nightwing back, knocking him against a dumpster. In the process of being knocked back, he dropped that hard drive which O’Jeneus picks up. Nightwing stands up and tries to deactivate the ray gun with the weapons disruptor but its been fried by the blast. O’Jeneus knocks him back again with the gun and says “Well, it would appear the student isn’t the master. Should have stayed Batman’s sidekick.” He walks away from Nightwing but before leaving, he says “Oh and one more thing…At work, I’m Gizmo.” After that, he uses the jetpack to fly away. Nightwing groans. He tries to stand but falls, vision blurring. His body is having spasms due to the electric shock. Before he passes out, he takes out his phone. Unable to make out what he is doing, he calls someone. His hand drops as he loses consciousness. In his limp hand is his phone, dialing Donna.

Cut to Gateway City. It’s night and raining hard. In an abandoned warehouse, four armed men are surrounding a bound couple. One of the armed men asks the leader what they plan on doing to the couple and the leader says that the couple will be “harvested”. He tells them that the moving van will be arriving soon. Suddenly they hear someone running on the roof. They all look up when Donna (now going by Troia and sporting a new black costume) crashes through the skylight. She knocks out two of the armed thugs and gets shot by one of the others. Luckily her armored suit prevents her from getting injured and she throws the thug into the leader, knocking them both out. She quickly unties the couple and the man asks “W-what about the van?”

Troia assures them that she’ll take care of the moving van and tells them to run and find a phone to call the police. She walks outside the warehouse, dropping her shield and removing her armor as the moving van arrives. It speeds up. She widens her stance and presses her feet into the ground. As the van approaches, she pulls her fist back and punches it as hard as she can. It stops and quickly knocks out the driver and passenger in the van. As the police arrive, Troia gets the call from Nightwing. She hesitantly picks it up and asks what he wants. There is silence on the other end. “Hello? Dick? Urgh!” She goes to hang up, only to hear his heavy breath... Realizing her friend is in trouble, she starts flying to Jump City. She looks all around the city before finding him in the shipping yard. “Jesus Christ! Dick!” Donna says as she picks him up. He groans in pain and she carries him back to the Bunker. Once she gets inside, she’s a bit baffled by how it hasn’t exactly changed at all. She gets him to the med room and he starts to take his suit off. She walks over to a draw and gets out a few painkillers. She gets him to swallow, whilst he is unconscious. She leaves the med room to look around the Bunker as young her and teen titans run past. She goes into her old room and sees that it’s pretty much the same from when she left. She shakes her head in disbelief and walks over to the dresser. She opens the top drawer and finds an all red Wonder Girl outfit inside. She looks at it in a forlorn sort of way before saying “I thought I threw this thing away...” She looks at the window where the outfit is thrown out in a quick flashback. Young Donna yells, “And I’m not your sidekick either, Robin! I am a hero in my own right!” Robin yells at her, trying to reason but clearly caught up in her yelling, as she packs and storms out. Robin follows, shouting, “Donna! We can talk about this! Donna!” The flashback ends. Donna calmly puts the outfit back in the drawer. She sadly walks back to the med room from the other entrance, as though she had been exploring. Dick is awake now. She says, quietly and filled with pity, “I saw my room.” Dick looks at her silently. “I saw all of our rooms. It’s like we never even left!”

Dick grunts as he struggles to sit up in bed. Donna waits for his response. Dick, finally getting himself comfortable, says “You never did leave.” Donna sighs, “Dick…”

“Don’t start!” Dick exclaims “I know you all don’t want to be Teen Titans anymore but…but you’ll all come back! I know you will.” He tears up a little, “You have to…” Donna looks at her crying friend and sighs. She sits down on the bed next to him and says “Dick…You’re my friend and I love you. You know that. But listen…what did you think was going to happen? That we would never grow up and just stay in Jump City for the rest of our lives?” Dick shrugs and wipes his years away, saying “Of course not…I don’t know, I just- Don’t you miss it? Someone always having your back, someone to make you laugh and someone to listen when you’re down?” Donna looks down sadly, feeling bad. She then asks “Why did you call me here?” Dick slowly stands up but Donna gets him to lie down again. “…Go to the computer. Folder labeled ‘O’Jeneus Christ!’”

Donna walks into the main room and looks at the computer. She sees that Dick has saved the files from Gizmo’s hard drive. She reads through everything, face changing from frustration to anger to concern. She goes back and asks him what’s going on. He says “It’s too big for me to do myself…This could put the entire city at stake. I need your help.” He gives her a pleading look. Donna says “Alright, but just this once. As soon as we get this Jeneus guy behind bars, I’m going back to Gateway.” Dick says that that’s fine. Donna gets up and goes to the doorway of the med room. Dick asks where she’s going and she says she’s going to get some food. She asks “Is Zippy’s Pizza still open?” Dick says yes. Donna says, “Good. Best pizza out there. And when I return, you better have gotten rid of those wonder girl costumes or I’ll bring you back here in a worse state than you left.”

Donna heads over to Zippy’s Pizza and walks inside, seeing that it’s still a bustling business. People look at her in excitement as she walks over to the counter. She makes her order for two pizzas and then looks around at the other customers. “Don’t worry, folks. Just here for pizza then I’ll be on my way.” As she waits for her pizzas, she looks over and sees the big table that her and the Titans would sit at as kids. Donna watches as she sees their younger selves smiling and eating pizza, having a good time. She’s almost moved to tears by this before a mother and a little girl walk up to her. The daughter tells Donna that she’s her favorite superhero. She also asks if the Teen Titans are getting back together and Donna smiles, saying “I…No. Some other places need superheroes too, sweetie. You have Ro-Nightwing to keep you safe.” Donna’s order comes and she takes it, telling the mother and daughter to have a good night.

She makes it back to the Bunker and finds Dick drinking orange juice. She remarks that he used to hate orange juice when he was a kid. Dick says that while he’s still not fond of orange juice, he’s slowly opened himself up to it over the years. Donna passes him his pizza and the two start eating. There is an awkward silence, like two strangers eating rather than two old friends. Donna asks “Sooooo, how you been? I hear Gotham has changed a bit. You ever been back??” Dick sadly nods, “To look for Bruce.” Donna responds “Sorry, I- I really should have thought…Five years is a really long time.” Before Dick can say anything else, an alarm on the computer starts sounding. Dick runs over to it and checks it out, the computer saying that a large unknown object is hurtling towards Jump City. Nightwing and Troia run out and get to the large park in the city. They look up and see the object coming their way. Troia begins to fly up at it and discovers that it’s a small spaceship. She tears open the door of the spaceship and gets blasted back by a green light. She falls and lands back on the ground. Nightwing tries to ask her what she saw but she’s a little too stunned to talk.

The spaceship crashes in front of them, sending dirt and grass flying everywhere. The two heroes as well as civilians watch as an orange skinned alien woman stumbles out of the ship. Nightwing runs over to her and asks if she’s doing alright. She looks at him and speaks in a strange alien language. Nightwing says that he can’t understand her. Suddenly, she kisses him. They kiss for about a minute before the woman breaks away from him. She smiles and says “Greetings! I am Princess Koriand’r of Tamaran.”