Dick was bored. Oh so very bored.

He had nothing to do, and all these superheroes were being super annoying. He wouldn't be surprised if 'annoying' was one of their superpowers. If he had that power he'd be able to give the heroes a piece of his mind.

Dick groaned and threw his head back on the couch he was lazily sitting in.

He was fantasizing about having superpowers. That's how bored he was.

The 'team' of young heroes were sprawled around him, lounging while watching this movie he'd already seen a bunch of times. Don't get him wrong though, The Arrival was a fantastic movie, he just wished he was doing something productive. The Arrival was one of those complex thinker movies, like Interstellar. He enjoyed figuring out the plot and mystery of it all the first few times he watched the movie. But now he knew all the answers and everyone around him were dumb as bricks. Usually he would celebrate for such an achievement, but movie watching was not on his 'to do' list and it felt like a waste of his time.

He was ancy. He needed to do something, something worth doing. Ants were in his pants and he knew only one way to get them out. Of course, he thought bitterly, the heroes would never allow him to actually do anything HE wanted to do. Stupid heroes with their stupid annoying powers.

Kid Flash sat closest to him, the red-head was watching he movie earnestly, as if if he stared any harder the answers would spring out of the screen. Kid Flash? More like Kid Idiot.

Renegade huffed to himself and launched himself over the back of the couch, he needed to do something, anything, other than waste his time like this.

"Where you going?" Kid Flash asked, taking his eyes off the screen for once in the past hour, he hadn't even touched his popcorn that sat in his lap.

"Bathroom." Renegade responded curtly, stalking off to his room with his fists clenched. His destination was certainly not the place he told the speedster.

While passing through the halls a certain door caught the young mercenaries eyes. He smirked. Glancing over his shoulder to see if the heroes were following him (and they weren't), Renegade entered the room.

A storage room, perfect place to gather the right materials.

Renegade got to work going through the many boxes piled in the room, shelves were littered with random tools and dust. Clearly the heroes haven't been in here awhile, but after much searching, his labor finally bore fruit.

The young acrobat couldn't keep the grin off his face. This, this was productive.

He carried his box of goodies with two hands, it was surprisingly heavy but nothing he couldn't handle. He got to his room without much hassle, but he was running low on time, if he was gone for much longer the heroes would get suspicious.

He hated this mission. He had absolutely no desire to open up to the heroes. Last time he tried his world practically fell apart. He did not want to repeat that ever again, especially not willingly. Kid Flash in particular, he had somehow weaseled into trusting him and it made Renegade even more wary of him. Did he actually trust the speedster? He didn't have an answer, and that alone made his stomach crawl. He was afraid he did.

The Dark Knight himself he didn't even want to be near. He had literally broken down and cried on the hero. He had thought he was Slade. It was an insult to Slade more than anything, Slade was much better than Batman ever could be. Batman was not Slade, nor would be ever come close.

But he did, and that confused him so much. He did not want Batman becoming any more like Slade, that would just dig more into the hole this situation had thrown him into.

But darn it, Batman was getting to him. He wasn't scared of Batman, no, not anymore. He was scared of Batman becoming the equivalent of what Slade was to him. One might think he was a bit early to distinguish his feelings that way, but the more he thought about it the more he didn't like it simply because he recognized it.

Slade was the anchor to his capsizing ship in the churning ocean, but now that anchor is gone. He was throwing out buoys now, but that did nothing but bob in the waves. Then comes Batman and he completely sinks. Now he was a shipwreck at the bottom of the ocean, but, admittedly, he was anchored.

Renegade had played right into Batman's hands. That's what scared him. He was already becoming attached and it felt like he himself was betraying Slade. It was just one time, just one break down, and he was already cosying up to the enemy. Dang it. Why did he have to be so weak?

That dependency they thought was stockholm? That is the same dependency he had on Batman a few hours ago. They had no idea who he was or his problems, they have inaccurate conclusions because their data is limited.

He could fix that, he supposed, that technically was the mission.

He just didn't want to.

It meant an end to what he had with Slade, he didn't want that to end. Because even with that dependency that (apparently) anyone could help him with, Slade was family. No one could replace Slade.

...

Right?

Dick got to his room, realizing his eyes were burning while he thought. He set the box down on his bed and squeezed his eyes shut. Dang it. This is why he stayed away from thinking about Slade. Because then his worst fears will come out and he had no one to help him. That was the most dumb part about all of this. It was a stupid fear. So stupid, how could he possibly ask anyone for help?

Slade would help him.

Dick knew he would.

But that was the problem; Slade was the problem.

"Gah. I need to stop thinking." Dick said aloud, giving one last pinch to the bridge of his nose and initiating a calming deep breath.

He still had a mission to carry out. Slade or no Slade.

The mission was to open up to the heroes, be himself and not hold anything back. Well, he smirked, if he was to be himself and not hold anything back, the team of young heroes was about to be subject to Renegade's newest coping mechanism.

Time for a prank war.

Or in this case, since the team didn't really know of the 'war' it'd be more of a prank slaughter.

He dived into the box of goodies and immediately started setting up his traps. His room would be his base of operations, at least until he found a more secretive one. He wanted to ward away everyone else, especially away from the bathroom. Because of the no cameras in the bathroom he was a lot more free to do things he could not do freely in front of the heroes. Like what he was doing right now.

He was hacking into the mountains mainframe again, to keep the illusion no one was hacking them he had to cover his tracks each time, it was sort of a hassle, but it kept him busy, witch was much better than wasting his time watching a movie. He could pretend he was with Slade, infiltrating and gathering data. Unfortunately he had to chase away those thoughts, because those types of thought did him no good and would only make him lose his marbles rather than help in any sort of way. That alone made him sad, he didn't want to chase Slade away, but for the sake of his sanity he must.

He tapped away on the hologlove, his box of materials on the counter next to him as he sat crisscross on the closed toilet lid. He found the blueprints of the mountain, including every secret passageway and their hidden tripwires. There was one in the library that interested him, it was a perfect spot because the heroes now knew of his fear of large rooms and he had already professed his dislike for the library for that reason. The heroes would never think he would voluntarily go in there again, the perfect place for his new base of operations.

The vent system inside the mountain was a dream come true. It went everywhere and the tunnels were mostly large. His heart did little flips just thinking about being able to use this vent system.

His eyes wandered down to the clock and he cursed. Hes been gone for too long, the stupid heroes would probably be looking for him right now.

The young mercenary scowled as he shut off his hologlove. First things first, he had to secure his room.

He set up a particular trap he set up a million times before, the corner of his mouth twitching upwards at the memories this trap brought. He slid the paint can onto the top of the door. A classic prank, one he was quite good at. He could slip in and out the door with relative ease without disturbing the paint above him, anyone else however would barge in and end up with the ensuing paint bath.

It was the trap he set on all of his outposts with Deathstroke, one time the older mercenary made the mistake of coming into his room after he had just set up the trap. Dick had tried to warn him but he had been cut off by the paint splattering all over his mentor, the can itself landing on the mercenaries head like some knight's helmet. Dick had been quickly caught by a laughing fit but soon regretted it as his mentor promised him death by chores with his one-eyed glare of ultimate fury.

The young mercenary was taken from his thoughts by the pounding of feet and a recognizable voice echoing his name in question.

Renegade blanched but couldn't help the adrenaline rush as he bolted to his shower, he jumped in the tub and hid behind the curtains, waiting with a pounding heart and silently hoping his trap wouldn't be tripped. But that was the most hopeless hope he'd ever hoped, in other words, it was inevitable.

The door was swung wide open, the paint can on top hit the wall and toppled over onto the awaiting head below.

"Reneg-"

'THUNK'

"-AH!"

Renegade peaked from his hiding place with the biggest grin, Kid FLash was on the floor, the dripping paint can next to him. The speedster was already half a red-orange color , but now he was all fluorescent orange, it completely covered him, but it also got on the floor and walls, even reaching the toilet.

The young mercenary couldn't hold back his laughter.

"Hey! What gives?!" Kid Flash exclaimed, reaching up the wipe the paint out of his eyes.

Renegade stepped from his hiding place, laughing his head off, clutching his gut as he bent over.

Laughing felt so good.

Kid FLash got to his feet, surveying his now paint-sodden state. He groaned in distaste at the cleaning he would now have to do. "Dang it, how am I supposed to get all of this off?" The speedster was talking to himself, then zeroed his glare onto the young mercenary hiding in the shower. "What was that for?!"

Renegade couldn't contain his grin, although now that he thought about it, he really shouldn't have paint-trapped his OWN bathroom. "Part of the mission is to open up to you guys-"

"And that means smothering us with paint?" Kid Flash griped while trying to shake off the excess paint on his hands, only to land more paint spots on the mirror and wall.

Renegade continued without missing a beat. "-That means being myself. I always boobytrap my room for safety, you tripped it."

"You boobytrap your own bathroom?" Kid Flash said with the weirdest face, he was clearly confused but also slightly scared and maybe just a tad impressed. Then it twisted into more confusion with his head tilted and eyebrow went way up. "Is this another Deathstroke habit?"

This caused a chuckle to escape the young mercenary, somehow the thought warmed him, but then a wave of bitterness followed and the warm feeling was chased away quicker than a speedster on taco tuesday. Renegade blinked, actually he had no idea if speedsters were quicker when they were hungry or slower, because didn't they need food to be fast? But then to get the food they'd need to be fast? And- ugh he was thinking too much.

"Sorta, this one I picked up myself. Slade never really said anything about it." Dick shrugged, his smile was already falling and so were his eyes. He was at war with himself still. Hate Slade, love Slade, it was all so complicated yet both feelings of hatred and fatherly love he couldn't deny.

He was definitely bitter though, during the movie he had come to that conclusion with definitive facts.

He had always been scared of Slade being taken from him like his parents, his family ripped away again. But this was worse, so much worse, because Slade had given him up. He had been tossed aside like an overused toy. That was NOT ok. What made it even worse was that Slade KNEW. He KNEW how much he meant to him and his fears of abandonment. If he ever saw Slade again he'd probably hug him, then stab him.

"So if Deathstroke did have a problem with it you'd change yourself for him?" Kid Flash looked too innocent while asking this.

Dick paused.

Then grew angry.

"Yes. Yes I would. But not because I'm some mindless slave, because I actually value his advice." He snapped.

Kid Flash rose his hands in surrender, "Hey, it was just a question, we're cool."

Renegade stomped forward. "Not cool to question ones every tiny decision."

"... Um.. well isn't that the uh... point?" Kid Flash floundered as the angry mercenary came closer.

Renegade only glared at him, the mere aura of the look was almost as bad as the Bad-glare. The speedster felt a shudder run through him and he gulped. He felt as if he was about to be attacked. The younger, but much more dangerous, boy was stalking forward very ominously, his eyes hooded by his shaggy ebony hair. His eyes were tiny white slits, bringing a whole new gut feeling of danger to the hero. Wally swore the room darkened and the temperature went down a few degrees, and so did his stomach. The red head took an involuntary step back as the mercenary headed straight for him, one gloved hand reaching up for the blade sheathed in his arm.

Then Renegade slipped.

All malice left the room as the boy slid backwards and fell on his back with a yelp, orange paint splattering everywhere.

Kid Flash blinked and waited for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"I am not cleaning this up." Renegade growled from the ground.

"It's your bathroom, I'm pretty sure you're going to have to clean it anyway." Kid Flash said with a chuckle, wondering if he should question the uh... attempt at murder?

"I get enough of that from Slade." Renegade pushed himself up to his arms, a smirk on his face that didn't reach his eyes.

The speedster rose an eyebrow and uncertainly pointed at the fallen mercenary. "And uh, whatever just happened was what?"

"I was trying to scare you out, I was not trying to murder you if that's what you were thinking."

"What else was I supposed to be thinking?!" Wally exclaimed.

"Touché." Renegade lifted himself to his feet, observing his now completely paint-covered bathroom. "Well that didn't go according to plan." He was talking to himself at this point but he was fully aware of the speedster next to him. "I'm still not cleaning the toilet."

"You clean toilets a lot?" Kid Flash asked, his voice quipping with amusement.

"Deathstroke called it motivation." Renegade supplied, huffing while he put his hands on his hips.

Kid Flash's face twisted, "Motivation for what?"

"To not miss." Renegade said with a grin and a suggestive nod to the toilet.

Kid Flash sighed and resisted the urge to face palm, "I did not need to know that." Renegade snickered.

It was quiet for a moment then the younger boy sighed.

"Now maybe you can actually tell me where you put your cleaning supplies."

Kid Flash have him a sideways glance. "Did you seriously do all of this just to know that?"

"Pfft, no, I fully intend to clean this up. I'll give you a hint to how I work, what I say and what I do are different, but what I don't say and what I do are going to be the same."

Kid Flash blinked. "That made... no sense."

Renegade sighed again. "It just means read between the lines of what I say, because I'm the type of sarcastic that says one thing but does another."

"Right." The red head said, totally uncertian.

The young mercenary looked over himself with another sigh, "A change in wardrobe is probably in order."

Kid Flash chuckled. "Yep," then he paused, "where did you get all this stuff anyway?"

"I looked around, I was a bit bored." Renegade shrugged, "I had also planned on pranking everyone else's rooms too, that's what this box was for." He laid a hand on the lip of the box, sighing sadly knowing his chance to prank the heroes was basically gone now that Kid Flash had discovered him.

"Alright, note to self, don't let Renegade get bored." Kid Flash said with an almost fearful look in his eyes by the sight of the giant box.

"I would advise that yeah." Renegade nodded with a closed lipped smile.

A few hours, a wardrobe change, clean up, and an awkward explanation to the resident leaguer later Dick was bored again on the couch. Like last time, the team was with him, all chatting about something absent mindedly and paying little to no attention to the youngest present.

He was in civies now, a green shirt with his navy blue jacket and jeans. He kept his mask on, he brought his contact lenses but really didn't want to bother with them at the moment. The glasses he also brought would be too easy to accidentally slip off and there goes his secret identity.

For this reason he kept his mask. Out of all the things he was forced to share, his identity was one he was not willing to sacrifice. Dick Grayson was weak, they'd only pity him. Actually, if he was being honest, they were already pitying him, but as Renegade he was dangerous.

Dick sighed through his nose and buried himself deeper into the couch cushions. At this point being alone with his thoughts was dangerous, he was scared of all the uncertainty hanging about. A good spar would help his overactive mind, get him to use those familiar drills to calm his aching mind and heart.

Wally was the only one who noticed the forlorn look on the young mercenaries face. He sped over to Aqualad, kneeling down next to the sitting atlantean so his conversation wouldn't be so... open.

"Hey Aqualad, can Renegade train with us? It looks like he needs something to do other than sit around." Wally asked, eyes darting over his shoulder to the young sulking mercenary.

Aqualad looked as well, finding the boy deflated on the couch with clearly too much on his mind. "I agree, he does need to get out of his head for a bit. I will ask Black Canary, I'm sure she'd be willing to teach him a few non-lethal moves."

Wally beamed. "Thanks Kal!"

He zipped away and stood over the moping mercenary.

"Hey Rob, wanna do something other than lay around and think?" Wally asked with his hands on his hips.

Renegade opened his eyes lazily, looking up to find Kid Flash standing above him in the most iconic superhero pose. A smile tugged at his lips but he thought about the proposition more before answering.

"Sounds asterous. What are we doing?" He sat up, blinking away spots as blood rushed away from his head.

"Just come on." Wally grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. Renegade didn't like this, but he was too tired and depressed to complain. Wally started walking fast down a random hallway and Renegade was having trouble keeping up, especially with his arm still in the speedsters grip.

"KF hold on a second." He tried to protest but the red-head cut him off.

"Trust me you'll like this." Wally grinned as they got closer to their destination.

Renegade huffed in annoyance, heroes were so weird.

The duo made it to the room, the mission room that doubled as a training room because of the floor.

Wally let the mercenary go and presented the room with a grin. "Alright we're here."

Renegade rubbed his arm where the speedster had gripped it. Looking around with a rather unimpressed stare he asked, "Uh huh, and what are we doing here?"

"Training." A female voice said from the right.

Renegade swiveled, his stance lowering just a touch with the unannounced female walking closer.

Black Canary walked in with a hand on her hip. "The team says you need some activity to clear your head. I'm here to deliver."

Renegade scrunched his eyebrows. The team thought this? Pfft, yeah right. Artemis was avoiding him and anytime he got close to Superboy he would growl. He made it a personal mission to keep away from Miss Martian since the library, and Aqualad so far has done nothing but read a book in the living room. Kid Flash was the only one actually noticing and acknowledging him.

Renegade folded his arms. "Right, and I'm guessing I'm not allowed to spar with the team?"

Canary wasn't phased by his accurate assumption. "Correct, you'll be sparring with me."

Renegade sighed dejectedly, "Yup."

Then, to his surprise, the other team members came into the room. Artemis was talking to Miss Martian and Superboy simply stood next to them. Wally grinned and zoomed over to them, which, Renegade noticed, was outside the white floor.

"Alright, so how do we do this your way?" He kept his stance slack, hopping via body language that the leaguer would understand they weren't fighting yet. But he was still on guard, enough surprise training sessions with Slade kept him on his toes. No one expects to be attacked, so why should training not prepare you for something that happens a lot?

Black Canary moved closer on the white floor. Renegade didn't want to call it a mat because it definitely wasn't a mat, in fact the ground was rather smooth. Interesting grounds for training, one would suspect a bit nicer conditions for junior heroes to train on. Just by looking he could tell it would hurt if he landed harshly on this ground. He shrugged that thought away, in the real world there is no mat to safely land on.

"We fight, but no killing blows or maneuvers, think you can handle that?" Canary asked, raising an eyebrow. Renegade rolled his eyes, clearly she trying to goad him with her attack on his pride. Silly Leaguer, tricks are for kids, and he was not a kid.

"Of course I can do that." Renegade huffed and bit his lip to hide a smirk, he would not make this easy for her.

Black Canary slipped easily into stance, a solid one too. Renegade did nothing but stand there, arms still folded and lazy half-lidded eyes watching the woman.

They stayed like that for a few awkward seconds, Renegade was drinking it all in.

He finally let his smirk show, a crooked smile splitting his face. "Oh are we starting?"

Canary's gaze hardened, his attempts to get under her skin was working. "Yes we are starting, do you want to start from that stance?"

Renegade looked down in fake surprise, surveying his own position. "This? Oh, no, this isn't how I start a spar. I was just thinking how weird it is there was no preliminary activities before this."

He heard Canary sigh and she stood back up.

Renegade grinned. Success.

"Maybe you would like to show us how you train." Canary suggested, then as an afterthought made her one condition. "Without putting anyone's life in danger please."

Renegade smiled. "Sure. Honestly you guys are so paranoid, I'm not going to kill anyone by stretching." He then promptly fell backwards before sitting up on his butt.

He proceeded to do multiple stretch routines, including bending over backwards like a gymnast and throwing his arms around himself like swimmers do. As he went along his stretches became increasingly more like a contortionist, at one point he had his head between his legs while he stood, bending backwards.

Canary and the others were watching with confused fascination.

Wally was the first to speak though. "How do you get your body to do that?" Wally considered himself a flexible person, but Renegade was just... human pretzel.

Renegade smirked where he was, which was a literal ball of limbs. "How did you get so fast?"

"Uh, science experiment?" Kid Flash said blankly.

Renegade blinked. "Oh, bad example then." Another smirk crawled onto his face. "Artemis! how did you get so good at shooting arrows?"

She jumped when he called out her name, she quickly composed herself and floundered with her answer. "...Practice..?"

"Then it stands to reason..." He pause as he untangled his limbs. "That that would be the same way I do this." Once he was fully upright he springboarded into a series of flips, cartwheels, hand springs, and other twisty stuff. He landed on his two feet and raised both hands in the air like the end of a performance.

He knew he had shown off, but what could he say? It was in his blood.

"Alright." Renegade grinned and walked over to Canary, who was still a little awe struck by his display. "Now I'm all limbered up, we can spar now."

Canary got her game face on, settling in her stance. She sighed when once again Renegade just stood there with his arms folded.

"Now what?" She asked, "Are you waiting for an invitation?"

"Yes actually." Renegade answered with a pleased smile. "I thought heroes had more honor than this."

"Are you stalling? Are you afraid to hit me? I work with the League, I've been hit plenty of times before." Canary said, this had been a problem in the past, but it seemed odd to her a mercenary would pause before hitting a woman.

"No, I respect your prowess, I just don't think you respect mine." Renegade said smoothly. "I would have thought we'd do some sort of, passage of respect or some honor code before we start."

"What are you talking about? What do you and Deathstroke do?" Canary asked, utterly bewildered.

"I mean," He stepped forward, then when Canary raised her fists he paused. "I'm showing you, I'm not starting the fight." When she relaxed he moved forward again. "Like this."

He held out his hand like in a hand shake, but when she held out hers as well he slapped it and then extended a fist. She paused, confused. He nodded in encouragement and she made a fist as well. He bumped her fist with his own then backed away and proceed to bow.

"Like that." He said with a genuine smile.

The teenagers watching were all very confused by the interaction.

"Well that was... odd." Wally commented to himself.

Artemis was the only one who actually understood what that was about. It was exactly what Renegade had said it was, it was a sign of respect between the fighters. It meant they respected each others abilities and wouldn't harm them beyond repair. She was honestly surprised to see this, it was more of a tradition tied to a style of fighting than a villain thing. Who knew, Deathstroke actually cared about respect. At least, he taught his apprentice to.

"Alright well now that that's done, what's the game?" Renegade bounced on the balls of his feet with a grin, lifting his fists to a protective place around his face.

"First one who hits the floor loses." Canary didn't even finish her sentence before Renegade dashed forward with incredible speed. She raised a arm to defend herself but he suddenly went low, he twisted around her legs, coming up behind her. She barely had time to register he was behind her when she suddenly felt a weight on her back and something hit the back of her knees, making them buckle. His legs were around her neck, she realized, how and when did that happen? She was being pulled back and down, falling in a fluid motion until the pressure left and her back hit the floor with a jolt.

It was only a few seconds but Black Canary was stunned. She blinked, surprised that her eyes saw the cave ceiling.

"Canary: Fail." The computerized voice rang out.

"Huh, cool." Renegade voice added to the air.

Black Canary sat up, impressed with the skinny child standing a few feet away from her.

He came forward, giving his hand out to help her up. She took it without hesitation, only realizing it was Renegade who helped her up when she stood next to him.

Renegade just stood there, looking at her as his eyebrows slowly raised. "Well...?"

Canary was confused as to what he was asking, but proceeded to answer. "Good job."

"That's it?" Renegade questioned.

"What do you mean?" Canary asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"I mean... that's it? That's all you do? Throw each other around until someone hits the floor?" Renegade sounded a little incredulous, but his body langue said nothing.

"Well usually they last a little longer." Canary said.

"Well maybe I could fight someone else?" Renegade asked.

"Well clearly you have a much more advanced training than the other kids." Canary said with a narrow of her eyes, obviously he wanted to spar with someone else.

"Oh come on please? I'll go easy on them! I could teach them a few things!" Renegade clasped his hands together and bounced on his feet, giving her as big as doe eyes as he could muster with a mask.

"Superboy." Canary decided after a few more seconds of the boy bouncing around her. He could be so childish sometimes, enough to temporarily forget what damage he could do; that's what made her nervous.

"And get this beautiful face bashed in? No thanks." Renegade crossed his arms. Good, at least they were negotiating, although even with his experience with Slade that that could change with a blink of that cool grey eye.

He might as well be the messenger of the bad news. Time to slap those heroes with some truth, if they could handle it.

If they even believed it...

"You're not sure you can trust me to spar with anyone else. That's my issue with you guys." His eyes grew dangerous, not noticing his hands were clenching uncomfortably over his arms. "I could open up, sell my soul to the heroes cause, spill all my secrets, but I'm still just a murderer, can't be trusted in the same room as a bunch of teenagers older than him. Because I could simply be lying, who knows? Maybe I'm telling the truth when I say I won't kill you, but you won't take that chance."

Dick felt all that pent up anger rise from within his gut, spilling into his throat. He swallowed it, instead using his eyes to convey his wrath. His voice wouldn't be heard, that was obvious enough.

Canary just stared, contemplating. Her stance shifted ever so slightly.

He noticed this and his anger intensified.

Dick turned heel and started walking away before his anger could get the better of him. Stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets, he planned to relieve some of this anger via punching bag, but considering he wasn't trusted he might have to set up his mattress on the wall and just have at it. "Pfft. Trust heroes. Good idea Batman." Renegade scoffed, kicking at nothing on the floor as he walked, still well within the room, knowing his snide mumblings would be heard, exactly as he planned them to. "'I trust you with the knife, you trust we're not out to get you.' Yeah right. Totally feeling the aster right now. What a joke."

Dick was at the doorway when he heard his name be called behind him.

"Robin wait."

It was Kid Flash. Of course.

He paused, standing still for a moment. He didn't turn around, they didn't deserve that.

So he continued walking.

After all, he only followed orders from people he trusted.

-0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0-

Artemis didn't know why she was here, standing in front of the door to a murderers room.

He had every right to be angry with them, they weren't being very good heroes. She knew, that was the worst part, she knew what that felt like. To not be trusted because of what you were. That's why she kept her heritage a secret, because then she'd be in the same boat as him; distrusted and watched over as if her mere presence would kill everyone in the room. And seeing it play out in front of her made it all too real.

That's why she was here, knocking on his door.

Everyone had avoided him after that, even Wally who wanted nothing more than to help. Canary had called Batman and informed him of their little... argument(?) and they both agreed to give the boy some time to cool off. But it was quickly realized that anyone coming to that door would be met with nothing but his seething silence.

She knew she was asking for it, she was knocking on his door for crying out loud. How did he even do that? How does one make a simple closed door feel so menacing?

"Renegade?" Artemis asked, hoping by knowing it was her that he would at least open the door. "Renegade... do you want to spar?" She physically winced, hoping she wasn't making a mistake by doing this.

She waited a few moments more, scuffling her feet and checking the hallway to make sure no one caught her at his door. Why was she hiding this? Perhaps she felt like she was breaking some rule, like he was part of her secret linage, which technically, he was. But this, she was reaching out to him, this was her choice. It felt right, yet so wrong. She wanted nothing to do with her old life, yet here she was, knocking on its door.

She sighed. This was stupid.

The door opened.

Artemis took a step back in surprise. Renegade, still in civies, barely looked at her, a grin on his face and brushed right past her.

"Great! Let's go."

The archer was frozen for a moment, completely surprised by the younger's actions. When she shook herself out of it he was already gone.

"Hey! Wait!" Artemis pealed after him, running down the hallway.

She found him in the training room, doing jumping jacks. She grew a quizzical look, quickly wiped away by fear. Not afraid of Renegade, no, well maybe, he was a secondary fear. She was afraid someone would notice.

Superboy was watching static with Wolf, which basically made him blind and deaf to the world around him. (That's why he liked it honestly, it helped his powers not hurt so much, but he would never tell anyone that). M'gann was watching a TV show in her room, distracting herself more than anything. Kaldur has gone to visit Atlantis and Wally had gone home. Canary was still here, but she was in the library doing her own thing.

"So? We doing this or what?" Renegade called her to attention, smirking as he stood in the white circle.

Artemis shoved her nerves down and met him on the training floor.

He held his hand out and she complied, doing his odd respect thing before their spar.

They crouched and began to slowly circle each other, Renegade hung back this time, instead of going straight in like he did with Canary. She supposed, it was because he wanted to talk this time.

"They don't know do they?" Renegade asked, slipping forward and throwing a few punches.

Artemis blocked with her forearms and side stepped out of reach, not even bothering to return fire. "No."

"That's probably a good thing," Renegade shrugged, "or else you'd end up like me. At least I have Batman's promise protecting me from jail, but you... well... you've never done it have you?"

Artemis lunged forward this time, swiping at his feet with her leg. "No, I haven't." Renegade jumped out of the way, delicately dancing away from her attempt to knock him down.

"Figured as much." Renegade said.

They circled some more, each not really into the spar itself, and more of the words each wanted to say. Artemis wanted to simply help, while Renegade had a much more two-faced scheme.

"You'd be the third Crock I've met in the past three days. The only one I've fought though." Renegade said with a pointed smirk. He dashed forward as he saw Artemis stiffen up, he landed a hit on her upper arm and ducked under the leg that came up to bash the side of his head.

"I know Cheshire is your sister, Sportsmaster is your dad. Your family has been obsessed with me for the past few days, and now I'm fighting daddy's little girl. That can't be a coincidence can it?" Renegade hissed, although the smile on his face twisted into something much more sinister.

Artemis's eyes widened. "If your saying I have ulterior motives by being here then you're wrong. I chose this side, I'm a hero."

Again Renegade lunged forward, a fist going high, when she went to block it he dove under and between her legs. He rose up behind her and grabbed her in a choke hold.

"I know. I know everything Artemis." He whispered. His arms were iron, her balance was off, yet Artemis felt in no danger of passing out. He was oddly still, as if waiting for something, letting her get her bearings to get out of the hold.

"What do you mean?" She ground out, huffing as his hold got ever so slightly tighter.

"I mean, I know everything about your little team, your friends secrets are now my secrets." Renegade almost chuckled, this was too much fun. "And definitely yours, but I won't tell, if you won't tell."

Artemis gasped and she tugged at his arm, it gave just a little, but a little was all she needed. She stepped to the side and bent over in one fluid motion, sending the assassin flying to the ground.

"Renegade: Fail." The voice said.

Artemis has her hands on her knees catching her breath while Renegade simply laid on the ground as if it was the most natural thing ever. He even mocked her by placing his hands behind his head in a relaxed way.

"Are you... blackmailing me?!" Artemis asked in a stage whisper, not wanting to be too loud, because if he was, he was doing a good job.

"Eh... sorta... more like an impasse, I know your secret, and now you know mine, so if neither of us tell then we're good." Renegade said with an impish smirk.

He lifted his legs and bent backwards, then he did some weird move on his forearms and one of his legs was high in the air, but suddenly he was standing. "Pleasure doing business with you." He said, holding out his hand.

Artemis only stared at him warily. "How do I know you know my friends secrets?"

Renegades hand retracted, settling into a fold, his face growing a sly look. "You know, Conner's actually surprised me, M'gann's wasn't that hard to believe, Kaldur's makes sense, and Kid Flash totally looks like a Wally." Renegade grinned, tilting his head to the side. "But you don't know their secrets do you? But you respect them, so you'll keep them, even if you don't know them. How much, I wonder, do you actually know your teammates?"

"Don't do that!" Artemis cried out, fists clenching at her sides. "I trust my friends!"

Renegade laughed, his cackle sending an echo in the large cavernous room. "If that were true Artemis, I'd have nothing to blackmail you with."

Artemis was about to get her bow and just open fire, how dare he attack her teams friendship! He didn't know anything about friendship! Renegade was just standing there with a cocky grin, lazily leaning to one side with his arms crossed and victory in those mocking masked eyes. The tension in the air was thick between the teens, Artemis was reaching for her bow behind her back but then a computerized voice shattered the silence.

"Batman -01."

That's when Renegade lost his smile, his gaze became much more placid and his head tilted in innocent curiosity. "Hey do you know when dinner is?"

Artemis was dumbfounded by this sudden change in demeanor and couldn't answer because Batman walked in.

"Renegade." Batman called him over, Renegade huffing a little sigh as he left. When the boy got close enough Batman rose an eyebrow. "I trust you're playing nicely with the others?"

"Totally." The young assassin answered dryly. "How am I supposed to trust you guys when you won't trust me? I'm not going to spill anything until they trust me." Renegade huffed, throwing a glare to the floor.

"I am excluded from this?" Batman asked, regarding the boy with an odd look.

"You don't count because you're not here. I'm definitely not going to say anything to you." Renegade replied with a sting in his voice.

"Well." Batman continued on, not at all bothered by the boy's declaration. "A friend of yours said this belonged to you." Batman pulled a small box from his belt and Renegade became instantly curious.

"Me?" He reached out to grab it but realized Batman wasn't handing it to him.

"Do you know who it's from?" Batman asked, lifting the small colored box for the young assassin to observe.

Renegade thought for a moment, he knew this box, now where was it from? Selina! The meeting! It seemed like ages since then, was that really only three days ago?

"Catwoman, it was a present for my birthday." Renegade said carefully, glancing up at the dark man. What was he getting at? He was sure Batman knew who it was from, how did he even get it if he didn't know?

Batman tossed him the box, which he caught easily, and said, "Then open it up."

Shaking his head to Batman's weird antics, Renegade pride open the lid.

IM ALIVE

IM SO SORRY FOR MY ABSENCE SCHOOL WAS A BUTT THEN WINTER BREAK HAPPENED AND I WAS TIRED SO I TOOK A BREAK BUT NOW IM BACK.

YAY!

This chapter originally was gunna have a lot more in it but it got too long so yeah... tbh I wanna start doing shorter chapters but clearly I can't do that cuz this was an attempt at a shorter chapter and it's 7332 words long. Hah. I'm so good at hitting my goals (this is sarcasm btw).

But next chapter (coming soon!) (lol I sound like an ad, "coming soon to a theatre near you!") you're finally gunna find out what the present is!!! (Among other things of course... Hehehehe)

See y'all soon!