"Recognized: Batman 02, Renegade B-01."

Wally got up out of his chair so fast he barely comprehended Artemis's outraged cry as his movements made his popcorn explode everywhere. He came up to the Zeta Tubes in record time, finding an unmasked Dick Grayson calmly walking next to the broody Bat. Wally paid no attention to the Dark Knight as he tackled the younger boy in a hug.

"YOU'RE BACK!" The red-head shouted, squeezing the life out of the boy.

Dick was completely unprepared, his arms went flailing for a moment as the speedster seemed to just APPEAR attached to him. His confusion led him to return the hug for a moment, lightly putting his arms around the taller boy while giving Batman a side glance. "Yeah I-" his face twisted as he started patting the speedster like he was tapping out. "-hey hey! Watch the ribs KF!"

Wally retreated, unable to wipe the big grin on his face as his emerald eyes went to the wounded spot. "Sorry, I didn't open the wound did I?"

Dick took a moment to gently probe his bandaged side, deciding to just put an arm around it to ward off anymore surprise squeezes. Was squeezing people a hero thing? He shook his head to answer Wally's question, "Nah, it's been closed for awhile it's just tender."

"Sorry." Wally apologized again with a broken smile.

The acrobat scoffed, his head ducking a little as he avoided eye contact. "Dude I should be the one saying sorry, I freaking stabbed you."

The speedster waved him off with a shrug, "pshh I'm fine, it's gone now, speed healing and all." When Dick's eyes flicked up anxiously Wally grabbed his shirt and pulled up, pointing where there should have been a scar. "See? Not even a mark!"

Wally has just put his shirt down when the rest of the team filed in, Artemis holding a few arrows she was clearly tampering with and M'gann and Connor walking together, Kaldur trailing not far behind.

"It is good to see you up and walking Robin." Kaldur said with a small, kind smile.

Dick slightly rocked on his heels, eyes roaming the team for any sign of the mirth he came to expect, even with Bla- Damian's reassurance that there would be none. The young mercenary had attacked them in his sleep while he wasn't aware of anything- and was fully capable of doing it again. They had every right to be afraid of him. As many times as Slade even told him, he was never quite convinced he wasn't a monster, and a monster to a hero is just an enemy to defeat.

He mentally shook his head, now was not the time to be in his mind with his 'woe is me' mantra Slade trained him out of, the team didn't seem to share his fears so far- even though they should. Dick could never be too cautious, and yeah he did see some trepidation in a few of them but it was mostly just caution. He could live with caution- actually caution would be better than being too friendly.

Then Dick remembered he had to actually respond. "Oh, thanks," he piped up lamely. He was pretty sure he should have elaborated, like explained what happened or say something to keep the conversation going, but his lips remained closed and his eyes went to Batman- heckin Bruce Wayne- for direction.

"Oh! Ren- I mean Rob!" Wally spouted through the awkward silence, then cut himself off as confusion overrode his features and he fumbled, "Or is it Richard, or... or do you want us to call you Dick?"

The young mercenary gave a little huff of laughter, his face tight as it agitated his wound, "You can just call me Dick." His head angled to the side for a second and he made a low comment to himself that the rest of the team definitely heard but didn't comment on, "I have too many names for my own good."

This time it was Connor's turn to be confused, his solid blue eyes going around the group as he voiced his confusion. "Wait, Dick as in-"

"It's short for Richard." Dick explained quickly as he folded his arms nervously, remembering enough of this problem in the circus.

M'gann was next, her face twisting into confusion as well. "...How do you get Dick fr-"

She was cut off by Artemis, who quickly slapped a hand over the martians mouth after seeing the absolutely villainous smirk on Wally's face. Dick blinked in innocent confusion as the archer stared the speedster down, but she spoke to the Martian. "Don't. Ask that question."

Wally physically wilted, groaning in disdain as Dick just grew more confused and Batman narrowed his own batglare on the redhead. Apparently speedsters also have accelerated rebound time because Wally didn't stay down for long.

"Come on Dick!" Wally said, clearly revamped and grabbing one of the acrobat's arms. Wally pulled his smaller friend along as he headed for some destination unknown to Dick, but it was probably obvious to the rest of the team. He was WAY too excited to show this to the young assassin.

The ebony haired boy yelped as he was tugged along and felt a sense of déjà vu, but he didn't quite remember it with this much pain. "Hold on Wally! My side! Ow!" He called out, his free arm hugging his side as he was dragged long, catching a glance behind him to find the rest of the group trailing after them at more reasonable paces. "Can't we just walk to wherever you're going?"

"Oh, sorry," the speedster said. His pace slowed and his tugging became less urgent, but still his hand gripped at the boy's forearm as he led him to a familiar hallway. "It's a surprise and I think you'll really like it."

"Wally-" Dick huffed in agitation, but his argument died in his throat when they burst into the large training room. He was confused to see a large net strung taunt three feet above the ground, his mind already knew what it was, but it still didn't register until he found the pole and ladder, his eyes greedily looking all the way up to the two dangling ropes and bars.

A trapeze.

"Wow." Dick breathed, his pain forgotten and his cerulean blue eyes wide as he stared in awe.

Wally of course had released him by now, but he didn't even know until he found himself walking forward toward the ladder like in a trance.

"Batman put it in -but it was my idea-, we thought we might give you a little bit of home." Wally said as he watched the mystified acrobat marvel at the equipment. The boy gently touched the ladder, as if scared it would disappear at the slightest tremor in the wind.

The speedster didn't get an answer, an eyebrow quirking as he saw the young mercenary just look completely stupefied at the trapeze. Wally noticed the rest of the team arrived, including Batman, and once they observed for a good while they realized Dick might need some encouragement.

"...Are you going to use it or just stare at it?" Artemis taunted playfully while putting her hands on her hips. She had heard of the Graysons, had seen one of their recordings in a different tour, but they always came back to Gotham to pay their respects. She would be lying if she said she wasn't excited to see a trapeze artist fly before her eyes, and a famous Grayson no less.

But this was if he wasn't horribly scarred by what happened to his parents, shoot... they didn't think of that... With as unstable as he's been lately, or -she supposed- their entire time together, who knows what could set the kid off. And his parents falling and dying in front of him on the very equipment they brought to surprise him with? Yeah, great idea, they totally thought this through.

Artemis watched trepidatiously as the acrobat didn't seem to hear her, still gazing wantonly up the ladder to the platform.

"Dick?" Batman grunted, perhaps just to get the boy out of his daze.

It seemed to work well enough, his head snapped to the vigilante, a flash of surprise going across his face that was quickly replaced by the wonder it had previously been filled with, but also... fear. "I-I haven't-" his throat constricted, cutting him off, but he didn't retry the statement. His eyes looked to heavens again and Artemis couldn't help but feel something had changed in the kid, she just couldn't tell if it was good or bad.

"Go on, you grew up on the trapeze right?" M'gann prompted with slight confusion. She of course was getting quite the light show of emotions, if emotions could be turned into light waves that is. The Martian didn't press further into his mind, but for the first time he seemed rather open instead of uptight and anxious around her as he had been since they met. Something had definitely changed about him.

Dick had both hands on the ladder now, with his head still craned up and his Adam's Apple bobbing as he spoke. "Slade never had room for one of these..." It seemed more of a inner thought than a conversational statement, again giving the team a sense Dick wasn't quite with them.

"You aren't scared of heights are you?" M'gann asked, seemingly coming to at least a similar conclusion Artemis had, the Martian flying forward to try to fix the issue as soon as possible, "we didn't mean to-"

Dick waved her off quickly, not even looking in her direction, "No, no it's not heights, it's just been a long time..." M'gann touched the ground and wrung her hands nervously, still seeming to want to fix something.

"Then go." Batman's gravely voice prompted with a sharp nod.

Dick jolted into action, like a horse let loose in the pasture he scrambled up the ladder until he was at the top. He paused once he got there, letting lose a shaky breath and seeming to finally realize where he was and what he was doing.

It was bright up there, he was close to the lights even though they were a good ten feet above him in the dirt ceiling, a familiar feeling, the lights were always shining on the main event. He leaned to the side, his head peeking from the platform to look down. Down was a long way, a long long way into the brown mush he knew to be the net. He wasn't scared of falling, he wasn't scared of the trapeze, he had a very real and very human fear; he was afraid of hitting the ground. But up here he might as well have no fears, there was a net, he didn't have to worry about breaking on the unforgiving ground below.

He faintly heard Wally ask Batman a question, something along the lines of 'Wait should he be doing this with a bruised rib?' Dick wasn't sure what Batman's response was, he was already pounding his feet against the platform, pumping his arms and locking his eyes onto the prize.

The bird lifted off, his gut rising in his chest and his hair floating about him like in water. His arms reached out, his beating heart the only sound in his ears. His hands curled around the pole, familiar and welcome, when gravity started to have an effect, pulling at him and dragging him down. An acrobat's velocity was highest during the down stroke, Dick recalled, remembering have learned this not from his parents, but Slade when he was teaching him to swing with the grappling gun. He already felt like he knew what he had to do though, the boy's legs locked together and straightened, maneuvering down and up to gather momentum for another jump.

He sailed feet first into the air, his hands letting go as the world turned upside down. He twisted in a measured flip, keeping his head angled towards his feet and testing the air, testing his body, testing his memories. His arms were out to his sides, his arch was slow, his midnight hair once again tickling his forehead and his diaphragm expelling a held breath.

Again gravity took hold of him and a smile cracked on his lips. His arms reached again, latching on and swinging almost violently with his body until he went up and up and up...  now a vertical line compared to the horizontal ground. He let one hand go, twisting his straightened body like a pencil and swooshing down again. The apex of the arch was nearly upon him and he was already well prepared for the right maneuver, his legs curled and jutted out right as he let go, sending him spiraling, his form curling into a tight ball that twisted over and over again until he popped out fluidly like a diver (or a quite literal skydiver). He landed heavily this time on the next pole, his extra weight had not been accounted for and slowed his summersaults... well... little him liked to call them 'skysaults', it was the first English word he learned and he couldn't shut up about it when he did. 

Dick's cheerful, contagious laugh ripped through the air, he barely noticed though, too busy feeling the wind in his hair and the flight beneath his wings. He was on the crest of his next swing, letting one hand go again but instead of twisting vertically, he splayed his body like a starfish as gravity tugged him down again into a fast forceful yank. His breath was taken from him as he swung with one hand, letting his body be the friction that slowed his pace, his cheeks hurt he realized, his eyes were wet in the corners, and his chest felt as light as the air he breathed.

He twisted, letting his legs catch the next bar and laughing again as his arms dangled almost uselessly below him. The sky was where he belonged, up here where physics got messy and gravity only applied half the time. Back and forth, up and down, rhythmically and therapeutic, every tense nerve in his body was gone, fleeing as pure euphoria erupted in him.

He wasn't sure what moves he was doing now, all he cared is that he was in the clouds and he never wanted to come back down.

That might have been his fetal mistake, as reality crashed into him like a moon.

As he reached for the next bar, having already let go of the last one, a stitch in his side alerted him that he was in fact not on cloud 9. He winced and his arm drew back to aleve the pain that felt like it was splitting his rib cage and splashing acid inside.

His hands passed uselessly through the air and the bar swung on without him.

His face of pain slowly morphed into terror and he felt his body twist so he could look up, the bar kept getting smaller and smaller, his wide unblinking eyes suddenly able to see more of the ceiling.

The pain in his chest flared, his bright blue eyes caught sight of the platform as gravity pulled him to where all things that go up must return. He knew he had said something, it was lost in the crowd, he wasn't sure it was a word though. His hand reached up, as if that could combat against the most fundamental law of nature, just like his mother had reached for him. He could imagine his tiny self, anxiously gripping onto the edge as his red haired mother and brown eyed father grew smaller and smaller.

Until red.

Dick never closed his eyes, not when the rope collided with his back and his body dipped and bounced with the force. The tension in the net caused his to quickly slow, a common trait in trapeze nets, allowing him to come to a standstill within a few seconds.

Wally came up to the edge of the net, his hands gripping the rim like some lost puppy, staring at the frozen boy.

Dick didn't move for awhile, staring up silently and stiffly as the net had long since stopped swaying.

"Dick?" Wally voiced, growing concerned at all of this, the young mercenary looked completely spaced out and he wasn't sure that was a good thing... maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. "You... okay?"

"Wow..." The acrobat breathed breathlessly into the quiet air.

When he failed to give any further answer Wally spoke up again. "Dick we didn't um... blow you mind or anything did we?" He asked nervously, his emerald eyes flicking over to the team for a moment.

"I'm fine." Dick responded almost... contentedly, "this is the best I've felt in... I've forgotten how good it feels up there."

"So you like it?!" Wally asked, a giant grin wiping off any evidence of worry.

Dick smirked, almost laughing, "that's a redundant question, of course I like it." The acrobat sat up, or at least tried to, his side flared in pain, reminding him he probably shouldn't have been doing his acrobatics. He winced and clutched his side, but forced himself to stay sitting up.

"Need some help?" Wally asked, obviously noticing his friend having difficulties scooting off the net, again he berated himself for letting his enthusiasm for making Dick excited forget all about the kid's well being.

Dick shook his head, but he was clearly in pain, so Wally persisted. The speedster put his weight on the edge of the net, making Dick slide towards him and thus off the net with no hassle or further agitation to the wound. Dick's feet had just hit the ground when Miss Martian shouted and excitedly flew over.

"That was amazing!" M'gann said, clapping her hands together as her warm eyes crinkled.

The others came over soon after, all singing the acrobat's praises.

"You have a true gift, my friend." From Kaldur.

"Quite impressive short stuff." Artemis said.

"That was cool." Grunted Connor. 

Batman didn't say anything, but when the ebony haired teen looked his way he might have caught a small smile on the man's lips. Realization dawned on him then, Bruce Wayne had been a guest that night... he had been right there... He didn't know why he was just now realizing these things, apparently when ever it came to Bruce Wayne the connection to Batman was still slow, but Dick fought off the anger that began to boil in his belly. What's done was done, being angry at the man now would do nothing to bring his parents back and at least... at least he was trying to help him now. Dick tried to convey that through his gaze, not really forgiveness but more of an acknowledgement among other things. He must have done something right because the cowl dipped and the Dark Knight walked off silently, his presence forgotten except for the one blue-eyed gaze staring after him, trying to imagine what it would have been like if Batman had saved his parents.

"You need to rest," Wally's voice brought him back to the present and he almost jerked in surprise.

"Oh, right, yeah." Dick fumbled, "Yeah sitting down would be great right about now."

It was an hour later when Dick settled on the couch, Wally was next to him with a giant bowl of popcorn, talking to Artemis across the room about some movie Dick couldn't remember if he'd seen or not. He didn't particularly care either, he was deep in thought, finding himself getting an unprecedented idea. He was thinking it out long and hard, and finally came to the decision it was a good idea, one that Wintergreen might have been proud of.

Yeah, while Slade had been the father figure in his life, Wintergreen was the one most worried about him and wasn't afraid to show it. He would complain to Slade all the time how Dick didn't have any friends or shared anything remotely accurate about himself when he did meet people. Dick didn't particularly try very hard though, and Slade never pressed him to do so, it made Dick much more comfortable with a person who wasn't expecting anything from him besides him. Other people were just... they were just so much more put together than he was, how could he possibly share anything about himself if only about a third of his life was shareable and the rest left him in a panic attack? People who actually had control over their lives scared him, for a brief part of his life he was a puppet with other people in control of his strings, making him do many horrible things... He couldn't possibly hope to function and interact with others in a way that was 'normal' when he was anything but.

Slade didn't mind though, he never gave his lies a second thought, he knew exactly when Dick was lying yet said nothing because he understood why Dick would lie in any situation. But Slade would also treat the lies as truth, so Dick either had to dig deeper into the lie or fess up. As time went on Dick lied less and less to that man, it was embarrassing when he had to fess up and it was a lot easier to just tell the truth the first time. As he grew closer to the mercenary he learned Slade wouldn't judge, and his trust completely solidified. There was something overwhelmingly relieving when someone looks at the monster you are and accepts you all the same, it made him not hate his life so much. Slade has seen every side of Dick, every trial, every terror, everything that made him tense up and relax. His father figure knew how his brain worked almost too well sometimes.

The team on the other hand... he hadn't lied as much as he thought he would... this was the most truth he had ever said to anyone besides Slade. They had seen the monster, or at least knew OF it, they'd seen the repercussions, the scars, the mental screw up that he was. He was vulnerable to these people, but so far they hadn't tossed him away yet. It gave him a touch of confidence, something he recognized when he remembered trusting Slade. The team knew him this much and barely batted an eye, surely... surely he could show them some more?

Wintergreen always said he needed to be more honest with other people, it would get him friends, and maybe that's why Dick was so reluctant to be honest.

But now... now he wanted to tell them, to show them truth, to share experiences that he might entertain them perhaps, give back some of the trust they showed him.

Batm- err... Bruce Wayne repeated many times that trust was a two way street, and as much as he didn't want to prove the hero right he felt like it was time to take a stroll.

That must mean he trusts them right? With everything? The Court? The deaths he caused unwillingly... and willingly? The crazy amount of illegal activities he does in his past time? His mental stability that hinged on one man, one man's name?

Gah, no. This was stupid, he couldn't trust them. They were a bunch of heroes, they'll take one look at his real life and toss him in the madhouse where he belonged.

But... Bruce had promised, Damian had too...

But what was a hero's word worth? Probably more than a mercenaries.

Ugh this was so complicated yet so simple.

He just had to trust them, spit it out and just see where it took him. Whatever happens after this, after his attempt at being honest and therefore friendly, he had to at least hope that either Damian or billionaire, philanthropist, and moonlighter Bruce friggin Wayne (gosh that's still weird to think about) was on his side.

He, of course, couldn't stop the not-so-irrational fear that Bruce and Damian were lying and this was all a set up to get him to reveal everything and soon he would be locked up. He just had to take the leap and find out which side he would land on, either happy fun friend time or inevitable doom and despair inside a small lonely cell.

There's only one way to find out and Dick was almost queasy at the notion. But here goes nothing...

Dick looked up when Miss Martian walked by, he leaned back, nearly using his good arm side to reach out to her. "Hey Miss M?"

The Martian paused, a bit surprised and smiling when she stepped closer. "Yes Dick?"

The young mercenary took a deep breath, wondering why asking this was so hard. "Umm, do Martians have... like... the ability to share memories?"

Miss Martian blinked, clearly unprepared for a question about her people, but she recovered and thought for a moment before answering. "Yes we do." She nodded, but her curiosity grew too much. "Why do you ask?"

The raven haired boy became sheepish, shrugging his shoulders slightly as if that could hide the light pink dusting on his cheeks. "Well I was wondering if you could share memories... well MY memories... to everyone? Is that possible?"

The girl nearly took a step back in surprise, she had only gotten a taste of the acrobats past and decided she really didn't want any more, and now he wanted to share ALL of his memories with EVERYONE? "A-are you sure you want to share all of your memories?" She asked carefully.

Dick sucked in quickly, "No, no I don't mean all of them." He paused and grunted in annoyance, he was unsure how to phrase this. "I mean like... can you play memories like a movie? Start and stop?"

"Oh!" She exclaimed, finally understanding, "There is something like that, there's two ways we could do it. Either I pull everyone into a shared augmented reality in your head and you play the memories, or I could pull the memory from your head and implant it into everyone else's head. Although that one is a bit trickier, it's easier to move many minds into one rather than bits of one into many others... My Uncle would be able to do it, but I'm not that advanced yet." She explained.

Dick thought for a moment, nodding silently until he spoke. "Yeah, yeah that's fine, I can work with that." Then he scowled, "Wait how is making an augmented reality easier than implanting memories?"

Miss Martian smiled, "Well minds are naturally wired to create unrealistic and fictional things, dreams for example, things that aren't typically simple or straightforward. The hard part isn't creating the augmented reality, its creating room for other minds to temporarily enter. And if I were to take a memory to put it in everyone else's head I would have to break into five different defenses while with you its only one."

Dick blinked. "Oh. That's really cool actually."

The girl's smile grew at the compliment, then it faded. "...Out of curiosity... what memories do you want to share?" She asked, giving a glance to everyone else in the room.

"It depends really..." Dick sighed, looking out at the rest of the team splayed throughout the living room. "What do you guys want to know?"

"Huh?" Wally asked, jumping into the conversation right as Dick asked his question. He grew a giant grin and spoke quickly and obnoxiously. "Oh-oh-oh! What's the meaning of life?"

"42." Dick answered without missing a beat, smiling when it caused a double fist pump of celebration from the speedster. His eyes lowered as his smile wavered, taking a breath before slowly speaking. "I... I want to share some of my memories... I'm wondering what you guys want to know."

Artemis' eyes widened, finally realizing what he was intending. "You... want to share your memories with us?"

Dick shrugged, eyes lowering even more as he took her words to be negative. "Well I... I trust you guys and you don't know me too well and I wanted to fix that so I figured..." He trailed off and the ensuing silence was thick. He felt his face heat up bright red and he hunkered deeper into the couch, why did he think this was a good idea? Stupid, stupid, stupid...

Superboy broke the silence, walking over and sitting down on the other side of the young mercenary, perhaps trapping him on the couch the younger definitely looked like he wanted to escape from. "I'm fine with whatever your comfortable sharing." The clone grunted as he settled, keeping his gaze ahead to the TV as if his mere eye contact would frighten the boy off.

For some reason this sparked a wave of relief to wash over the acrobat. That's something Slade would say, he always made sure Dick was comfortable sharing, he never forced him into anything.

"I think it is a great idea!" M'gann chimed, floating around the couch and landing near Artemis who sat in a single seat.

"If you want to Dick, I too think it is a good idea." Aqualad said from the kitchen, walking around to stand by the green couch holding the three other boys. "As long as it is not too traumatic for you."

This made Dick scowl, he wasn't a baby! Sure yeah bad things happened in his life but he could think of his parents and not burst into tears, he even talked about them and Wintergreen without too much of a hassle. He could totally do this, he wasn't going in alone anymore.

...How does one go in WITH other people though? How on earth did their presence make it any better? As a pressure to keep it all in? As a physical reminder to not break down in front of others?

Well he already screwed that one up...

His chest tightened with anxiety. No no no, this was a bad idea, terrible, no good idea! What was he thinking!? He couldn't share anything with the team!

Wally had yet to say anything though. When the scared acrobat looked at the redhead his fear must have leaked through his gaze, because Wally's green eyes were on him, showing concern, regret, and fear... The speedster's mouth was set in a thin line while determination dominated his body language. He kept his intense eye contact as he spoke solidly, barely shifting in his seat but his facial features seemed to lean in earnestly. "You're sure Dick? Absolutely sure? We don't have to know everything about you to be your friend."

Dick drew a breath, the butterflies flitting around his stomach realizing something was changing, but hesitated to either settle down or continue upsetting him. Slade had made a similar comment once, when Wintergreen was fussing over how distrustful Dick was of adults and how he avoided people when he could. Dick had been feeling ashamed for it, but Slade had stood up for him, telling Wintergreen Dick had his reasons and didn't have to share anything he didn't want to share. The team was doing the same thing, it made Dick's chest flare with familiar warmth, the butterflies not quite gone (they never really were) but definitely settled.

"Yeah, but I want to." He said back, smiling softly and looking to the martian girl. "And I know exactly what memory to play first."

M'gann nodded, then looked to the rest of the team, clearly way too excited but managed to pull off an official tone. "You guys might want to find a relaxed position, I'm going to be taking your minds into Dick's."

The group of teens fidgeted and Kaldur found a seat on the other single couch, Wally was making side comments Dick respectfully ignored. When M'gann knew she had everyone's attention she looked to Dick.

"Ready?"

"Yup." He said, trying to focus on the warmth that was being quickly chased away by his returning anxiety. But he had already committed, no going back now, after this he would either be their friends or their prisoner. It was agony to wait to find out.

He watched the martian close her eyes and stretch her arms, then her eyes burst open into a pure green.

Then everything dissolved.

-0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0-

Dick opened his eyes, finding himself standing, but the floor beneath him was odd. He quickly looked around, finding familiar faces and an even more familiar apartment.

"Whoa..." Wally said next to him, and Dick understood why.

It was like they were standing INSIDE the memory, but not quite.

It was the apartment, just as he remembered it. The carpet was almost stained yellow with age a couple spots brown from previous use by other people, or a tired cranky Wintergreen. It was a cheap apartment, do doubt about that, and the landlord never really cared for anyone inside except for when rent was due. Slade was easily enough to keep him away. The young mercenary smiled, he loved this place. It was small, remarkably small, but he had grown up in a train car that was roughly the same size, it was home. It was blandly colored, browns and almost gross naturals, some of the 'art' hung as decorations were still there, at least in the memory they were.

Dick took a few steps into the room, standing next to the spare 'comfortable' chair that was placed in the apartment, looking down to find two things.

One- He was there, a small Dick Grayson sat in the chair, intensely reading Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham. The older Dick grew a wide grin, quite understanding now what Wintergreen had meant when he said he would burn a hole through the book if he stared too long.  The small Dick Grayson still had the sharp blue eyes and ragged midnight hair, but his skin was... marked. It was odd, he didn't remember being particularly wounded in this memory, but the small version of himself had red marks like blood along his skin in patches, his hands seemed the worst.

Dick grew uncomfortable with that fact, his lips forming a tight line as he felt the blood drain from his face. The butterflies rose once more, readily flitting into flight in his stomach and nearly making him nosious. Because of course the heroes would notice the almost literal blood on his hands, and Dick would have to answer.

The second observation he had though was when he looked down, the smaller him was wearing normal clothes, civies pretty much, but the older acrobat was wearing his Renegade suit.

"Oh cool." His belt felt comfortably full but the weight of the mask on his face was missing. He looked over his shoulder to everyone else and found they remained in the clothing they came in, meaning their super suits... or just clothing in Connor's case.

"So what's this place?" Artemis asked, taking a step forward towards the hallway.

"This is where I more or less grew up with Slade," Dick replied, smiling fondly at the severe lack of personalization in the apartment regardless of the anxiety in his belly.

"Wait... is that you?" Connor pointed to the small Dick Grayson in the chair.

"Yup." He quipped, watching as the little version of himself turned a page.

"You're so small," Wally noted, "and Dr. Seuss?" He gave the older acrobat a raised eyebrow with a hint of a smile.

Dick shrugged, "I was still learning English. And yes, I was small, in the trapeze business it's a good thing to be small."

"So what happens in this memory?" M'gann asked, clearly mystified by her surroundings like all of the heroes were, but she kept her focus on Dick, she was still holding all of this together after all. At least he thought so, he had no idea how these things work.

"This is when I met Wintergreen, we had a misunderstanding at first but after it was really funny." He said, already smiling and looking towards the front door.

"The old guy right?" Connor asked, Dick nodded, then the group quieted as they heard the door swing open.

Little Dick heard it too, he set the book down and shimmied off the chair, smiling to himself and quickly padding up to the archway.

Little Dick froze as the person turned the corner.

The older Dick Grayson's heart stopped.

That wasn't Wintergreen who turned the corner.

Deep maroon cloth, metal gold and silver accents, a sash of deadly needles crossing a broad chest. A cowl shaped oddly, like the face of an owl, two large gold circles embedded inside, that toxic yellow shining through the lenses.

It was a Talon.

And not just any Talon.

It was him.

"NO!" Dick jerked back and his hands fumbled frantically for his weapons. He flung out two daggers as he tripped backwards, falling on his back as his weapons sailed right through the chest Talon.

Dick could hardly breathe as everything dissolved, not registering the many shouts of alarm from the other teens. He grabbed his head with his hands, digging his fingers into his hair and putting his elbows on his knees that were splayed, curling inwards. He barely noticed the scene change, his wide eyes boring into the ground like he was petrified. His body shriveled, clenching and shaking like a leaf in a hurricane.

Wally noticed the world change though, he didn't realize he was using his super speed until his eyes lifted to see a frozen scene. The speedster's body tingled with energy, his suit giving off a few stray sparks even though he was barely moving.

His eyes roamed, the new room was on fire. It wasn't the same room as the apartment they had been in, he couldn't identify the material that was set aflame but it slightly looked like metal? The figure that had terrorized Dick still stood where he was a moment ago, bathed in red hues... or was that blood...? Wally sucked in a tense breath, where Dick had crumpled there was another one of those shadowy masked guys, a clawed hand viciously gripping his small friend's shoulder. Around Dick was dark, like the shadow of the dude behind him swallowed him whole, the details thinning out. But one thing was starkly vivid.

There was a body in front of him, a body of a little boy with his eyes wide open, staring blankly, emotionlessly, dead...

And just like that everything vanished again.

The team was in shock.

What just happened?

This time the room faded in smaller, a box of sorts, a long brightly decorated train car. The beds were off to one side, a colorful makeshift kitchen on the other, the giant door smack dab in the middle.

But all eyes were on the fallen teenager.

"Dick?" Wally asked quietly, hesitating to go over and put a comforting hand on his back. Whatever he had just seen... it was personal... way personal. He really wanted to ask about it, but he felt like he knew what would happen if he did and he did NOT want Dick to have another panic attack.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, then the boy snapped to reality with a large intake of air through his nose, startling the speedster. Dick rubbed his face with his noticeably shaking hands, and when he spoke his voice clearly warbled though he tried to hide it. "I-I'm alright. I'm fine-I'm fine..." The raven haired boy took a moment to look at his hand, watching it tremble with constricted pupils. "Ah crud." He whispered with a grimace, clenching the hand and again resting his forehead on his propped fists.

"...What was that?" Artemis asked, her own wide eyes still watching the place the offending figure had stood moments before.

Dick took a few more deep breaths, grabbing fistfuls of his hair and letting the air out slowly. He was fine. Totally fine. Feeling the aster. Completely whelmed. "D-don't worry about it, i-its nothing." He shifted his legs, making to stand, but when he lost his balance he ended up just kneeling. "I'm fine."

"I apologize for being blunt my friend, but that was not nothing and you are not fine." Kaldur said, taking a step closer to the ailing teen. If they had to pin him again Kaldur would like to do it before the teen got a weapon- even if a dream weapon.

Connor's folded arms tensed, his face practically set ablaze with anger. "He said he's fine!" He snapped at the atlantean, looking like he might punch the guy. Apparently Connor was a firm supporter that Dick could and should do things at his own pace, even if it was admitting the obvious.

The group quieted at the clone's outburst, waiting tensely for something to happen.

Eventually Dick let out a long drawn out breath, giving his face one last rub and started to stand. His hands were still shaking quite uncontrollably, so he folded his arms tightly around his chest, his gaze low. "N-no he's right, I'm n-not fine and that... th-that wasn't nothing." he looked up, giving everyone a short lived weak smile. "I will be fine though."

Miss Martian had felt all his anxiety fluctuate between high to outrageously high in the past few minutes, though honestly she was surprised they weren't all kicked out when he erupted. But what had happened? Who was that?

"That wasn't Wintergreen was it?" Artemis asked, more like stated, but asked just to make sure.

Dick shook his head, his chest shuttering with a hampered breath. "N-no, no that wasn't Wintergreen." He looked to the martian, his distressed face creasing into an unreadable face of curiosity and despair. "...Why...? Why did it change? It was supposed to be Wintergreen to come around the corner..."

M'gann's hands flew to her mouth, gasping. "I'm so sorry, I should have warned you... the older the memory is the more it's solidified with false information... I'm sorry."

"So..." Dick started slowly, still trying to process the information, "in my head it's... it's... one of those who turns around the corner instead?" He asked carefully, more like testing out the idea in his head rather than asking for clarification.

She nodded and hung her head in shame. "In this case, yes. I'm sorry..."

Dick sighed again and rubbed his forehead, "It's fine M'gann, its fine, it's not your fault. I need to not freak out so much about those guys anymore. That guy is..." he huffed, remembering he had to trust his friends. He had friends. "He's part of the people who made me... in-into a killer. I'm sorry I freaked out."

"Don't be sorry," Connor grunted, "that's stupid."

Everyone -including Dick- gave the clone a weird look.

"I mean it's not your fault either," Connor continued after the silence, "we're not upset because you're afraid of something. Everyone is afraid of something."

Dick opened his mouth to explain his situation better, it was more than being scared of something, is was being scared for everyone else because HE could be the killer anytime one of those Talons was around. But Wally beat him to it, raising a hand and speaking in complete seriousness.

"Clowns. Clowns terrify me." He stated, his face dropping like the very thought of one scared him wittless. 

M'gann twisted her hands together, feeling repentant and wanting to make Dick feel better. "Martians are incredibly susceptible to heat." M'gann offered with a slight wince, it wasn't exactly what she wanted to say... "A-and even if we can shapeshift we have a hard time fitting in." There, that's a bit better.

Artemis was next, "My..." she bit her lip and quickly changed her sentence, perhaps a bit too quickly, but keeping the sincerity she meant. "My fear is losing my friends."

"Oh heeeeyy," Wally said cheekily towards the archer, "I'm your friend now huh? What ever happened to flaying me alive?"

"Can it Baywatch. If you so much as glance at my room with that paint can again, then all bets are off." She huffed, folding her arms and looking away to not let the speedster see the smile that was hinting on her lips. "But normally you're almost unbearable."

Aqualad shook his head at his teammates antics, then dipped it to the troubled teen. "It may not seem like it, but my greatest fear is not being enough."

Dick just stood there, his hands clenching and unclenching rhythmically over his biceps. "Okay okay okay... jeez, you guys made your point." Dick said quickly, still not quite looking up at all of them and not sure what they were doing, or what he was saying, or anything really. He felt brain dead. "But yours seem all... beatable."

"Who ever said they had to be?" Connor rebutted rather quickly. "If I punch kryptonite, it's going to seem like it punched me. I have to have someone else help me if I ever come across it, Superman too, somethings you can't beat, and that's okay."

Dick didn't notice the tears slipping down his cheeks until he brought his hand up to itch his eyes, his hand was brought back wet and he scoffed. "T-thats nice and all..." his voice wavered and he cleared his throat a little before looking down again. "But there are w-worse things than death... and I don't want to be the cause of more... a-and s-sometimes... sometimes I have no choice."

"Hey." Wally said, catching everyone's attention in the thickening silence that followed. The speedster had his eyes locked onto the small acrobat, waiting until his eyes lifted too before he responded softly but strongly. "Even then, you're not going in alone."

Dick huffed, a half sob half laugh escaping his mouth. He rubbed his face again, not quite sure what to make of these friends, all he knew was the uncomfortably warm feeling in his chest. Then there was warmth around him, he tensed for a moment until he realized it was Connor. He was hugging him. Dick didn't even notice he came over, but now that he was there he couldn't help but lean into the hug. Then there were other arms, all around him, the entire team encircling him with their warm embrace.

So this is what Wintergreen was talking about.

When everyone broke apart Dick felt oddly energized, even though usually after something like that with Slade he felt tired and sleepy, maybe it was because he was in his head? Was it because he had friends and therefore had a different effect of his Psyche rather than a parent? Either way, he felt renewed, something he didn't even know was possible.

"Thanks guys." He said meaningfully, looking at each team member, each friend, and finding a warm smiling face in return- even from Connor. The young mercenary slapped his gloved hands together, finding them still slightly shaking but he paid it no mind. "Now, let's find a more fun memory."

Aqualad gave him a look, "You sure you want to continue?"

Dick gave him a sly smile, "Why not? I've got my freinds with me."

Wally let loose a laugh and gently shoved his shoulder, "Dude what about one of your missions with Deathstroke?"

Artemis looked wary, "Well don't those involve killing?"

Dick waved her off with a knowing grin, "tsk tsk, I'm disappointed Artemis, don't you know a mercenary is a gun for hire? Me and Deathstroke have been hired for many things other than simply killing. Besides, I only kill bad guys," his smile faltered at his next phrase, "I wouldn't be me if I killed innocent people."

"So what's a mission you suggest?" Connor asked, "regardless of killing?"

Dick's smile widened, almost to sinister proportions, "Oh I've got one you guys will definitely enjoy. It's my first official mission with Deathstroke, we were hired to save Commissioner Gordon's daughter. That's right up your guys's alley!"

They seemed surprised enough, although only Artemis and Wally seemed to actually understand. "What do you mean save?" The Archer asked, "I didn't think Commissioner Gordon would stoop to hiring mercenaries, no offense, especially Deathstroke."

Dick chuckled lightly, "None taken, and no, Gordon definitely didn't hire us. It's a Gotham gang war thing, pretty complicated." He shrugged, absolutely loving how confused they were. "The point is she was in trouble and Dethstroke and I were hired to save her."

The circus box car started to fade away as a hazy red sky spread out above them, old Gotham buildings materializing around them. They appeared to be in an alley, one of the bigger ones with a few large dumpsters and wire fences in between buildings. It was rather dark but there was still quite enough light from the dying sun to make out some details of their new surroundings.

Dick wasn't sure anyone else noticed, but a slightly smaller version of him was sitting on one of the dumpsters, leaning against the worn brick and keeping his gaze floating around. To be honest, Dick was really surprised by the accuracy of the memory, or maybe his mind just filled in the missing spots, but he wasn't sure he remembered the blue gum that was stuck to the bottom of his shoe, or the dog that was sniffling through trash a few yards away. 

Connor and Artemis sidestepped further into the alley as a yellow car screamed past them, each watching it get farther away before turning to the group.

"That felt pretty real..." Artemis noted nervously.

"Well this is a more recent memory, so it shouldn't blow up in our faces." He grinned, then shook his head, "Actually I take that back, in my line of work almost everything likes to blow up in my face."

Dick could do this, he just had to focus on a different memory, they might have seen that Talon but they knew not to ask about it right? That's what friends do?

Kid Flash looked like he was about ask a question, but Dick held up a silencing hand, pointing with his other and grinning maliciously.

Barbra Gordon was walking home from school, obviously because of her school uniform and backpack. Her hands held the straps, her sharp blue eyes up and alert and her red hair waving slightly in the wind. 

The team grew quiet, watching the girl walk closer, looking to pass the alley they were gathered in, when a familiar voice behind them made them all jump except for the grinning mercenary. 

"I would advise against taking your usual route home Miss Gordon."

Hia guys!

Long time no see!! Gah I've missed this book, it's weird.

Anywho, this is a touch smaller chapter because I'm making it a personal goal NOT to write over 10,000 words per chap cuz anything over 10,000 is just too much. Also cuz if I did continue writing this chapter would probably end up like 20,000 and you'd probably have to wait another month.

So yeah, smaller chapter but it's gonna be fun. Hehe.

8,724 words mah friends, and the next chapter the AN is going to be at the beginning (hint hint cliffhanger-I mean...)

Next chapter is gonna be all sorts of fun.

I did see Endgame tho, heckin AWESOME AS HECK. No, spoilers here, but if you wanna discuss/talk spoilers, PM me.

Also speaking of new movies I saw the Sonic trailer, apparently everyone hates it??? But I actually love it???? Like tbh I only know of Super Smash Bros via watching my brother play, so yeah I'm not real knowledgeable but still, I actually really like it. Seems really cool, the characters are funny and seem really enjoyable. Sonic's speed stuffs is familiar (CNN's Flash, Quicksilver, literally any other speed-based character) but still really cool, the ring portal things are an interesting idea too. But yeah, plot-wise it's as cliche as it comes, but hey plots like that are like 50% of all fanfiction/Dystopian novels so...? I see no issue here?

Anyway, I'm probably gonna see it, it looks like a really fun movie. 

Well that's all I gotta say, see y'all around!!