Hey all! Long time no see! Life has been busy and I've been doing a lot of little things all over the place so progress was slow, also I didn't have access to a computer for awhile and my phone messes up stuff so writing and getting stuff published has not been delayed entirely by my incompetence.

Anywho, this chapter was originally titled -Dick Punches A Hole Through A Kidnapper's Speeding Van-

It sounds exactly how it's said.

Sorta.

Heh

Here we go!

Oh and before I forget, 11,489 words.

"I would advise against taking your usual route home Miss Gordon." Said the 12 year old Dick Grayson, smugly leaning against the brick wall on top of the dumpster lid he was sitting on. Again, the older Dick Grayson noticed strange red marks on his counterpart's body, but these looked a touch faded and not so prominent. He had an idea about those, but it seemed a bit more of a private question to M'gann rather than a group.

Wait, dang it, isn't the point of this to share more with the team? Ugh, this was moving too fast, he needed to take simpler steps, like just let them watch this memory play out. He could dodge questions, and if worst came to worst he could just refuse to answer.

The team split in half, Connor and Wally were with Dick on his side of the alley while Artemis, Kaldur, and M'gann shifted closer to the wall (and memory Dick's dumpster) to get out of the memory's way. They kept quiet and watched as the red headed girl paused in her footsteps. 

Her face angled into the alley, not taking a step closer but her eyes scrutinized the younger acrobat. "And why is that?" She asked with a slight warning to her voice, clearly she was not new to Gotham's ways.

"I don't know," Dick shrugged, a small smile on his lips as he looked away to the wall across from him, uncomfortably close to where the real Dick Grayson stood. "Just a feeling. Even the most innocent of situations can go downhill in an instant."

"I'm not worried, my dad is commissioner Gordon, and he's got Batman on his side." Barbara said with a huff, trying to scare this scrawny kid away with the mention of not just her father but Batman too. Sadly she was disappointed.

"Pfft, Batman," the boy scoffed, finally looking at her with his sea green contact lensed eyes and raised an eyebrow. "You think he's going to save you? ...At this time of day? Unlikely."

"I can take care of myself," Barbara said stiffly, tightening her grip on her backpack straps as she shuffled her feet closer together. "I'm training to get my black belt."

The smaller Grayson snickered, leaning forward to grab his ankles, cocking his head to the side mockingly. "Oooo black belt, does the color black suddenly make everyone afraid of you?"

Barbara scowled and wrinkled her nose. "It beats whatever you're wearing."

Dick sat back up, his face clearing as contemplative confusion washed over him. He picked at his red shirt, leaning down and pulling up to sniff at the fabric, his dark Renegade suit almost visible underneath. He frowned as he inhaled his own stink, a hint of a smile on the edge of his lips, "I swore I washed these last week!"

Barbara seemed to get a good look at him then, noticing his scruffy clothes that seemed pretty good for a street kid, must be a pretty good thief, but almost the same age as her. "You know there's a shelter a few streets down." She pointed as her face became more gentle, her sympathies showing in her more relaxed posture.

"Pfft you think I'm a street kid?" Dick grinned like a shark, sliding to the edge of the dumpster and swung his legs where his green shoes banged lightly against the metal and his hands gripped the edge.

"Well you're clearly not in school." Barbara pointed out blandly, she was being cautious, a good call in this city, one shouldn't be too friendly with strangers, especially weird kids talking about how horrible Gotham is. Nothing in Gotham can ever expect to go smoothly.

Dick's smile dropped, his head dipping to one side as he narrowed his eyes on the girl. "So just because your dad's a cop and you've got a ninja belt AND you go to school means Gotham will treat you nicely?"

"Well-"

"Renegade, don't play chicken with the clock." Deathstroke's voice suddenly blasted through the air, echoing in the small alley and startling the super teens into fighting positions.

"Was that Deathstroke?" Kid Flash blurted, wide eyes darting about like the man was right behind him.

The real Dick Grayson chuckled, "Yes that was Deathstroke," he pointed to his ear, tapping it to emphasize his point. "Comms. This is my first mission WITH Deathstroke guys, of course he's here."

Artemis gave him a raised eyebrow, "Want to translate what he just said?"

Dick's face twisted temporarily into confusion, "You mean you didn't get that? He means get moving, time is crucial in a mission like this and not something to be taken lightly."

It was Connor's turn to raise and eyebrow, "You got all of that from 'don't play chicken'?"

The young mercenary nodded, "You kinda have to read between the lines with him, he can say at least five different things with one sentence, and that's without tone as a factor."

"Impressive, my friend, that you are able to understand such confusing instructions." Kaldur said with a small respectful dip of his head, "I'm not so sure I would be as receptive to a less straightforward trainer."

"Oh there's plenty of times he's straight forward," Dick shrugged, one side of his mouth twisting up as he brought his hands up and moved his hands like he was holding a spherical object. "The entire humor category of his brain, however small it may be, is pure bluntness."

Wally blinked. "Deathstroke tells jokes?"

"Not really," the young mercenary tilted his head, hands dropping and his smile growing steadily. "But occasionally he'll drop a good pun and I'll have to hold my breath to keep from blowing my cover, but then I get to get him back later."

"You stopped breathing." Connor stated.

The team gave the clone a collective weird look, the acrobat even put a hand on his chest, frowning and mumbling 'No... I'm pretty sure I'm breathing...'

Then the kryptonian pointed to the younger Dick Grayson, the memory was frozen. A quick observation said Barbra wasn't breathing either, the air itself even felt frozen, stifled and thick. Interesting.

"Ohhhh." Dick said, glancing at Miss Martian just to clarify if that was normal. "That's cool."

She gestured to the boy, "Well you are in charge Dick, you get to say when the memory starts and stops."

"Nice." He grinned wickedly and held up his hand as if he was holding an invisible remote. He pressed his thumb down the same moment he said "Resume."

The younger Dick Grayson lept off the trash bin and gracefully sailed through the air twards the girl, she barely had time to react when he pulled her close and deeper into the alley by her backpack. She struggled, but he had thrown her off balance, and considering she was taller than him he had to bend her backwards to get a good grip- which also threw off her balance, a small win for the short mercenary. Her backpack was to his chest and he looped one arm around her throat, grabbing his other arm to hold steady.

"One of these days a stranger is going to have their arm around your throat," He said in her ear, a look of alarm flashing across the heroes faces. "They're probably bigger than you and are dragging you towards a shady van." He began shuffling backwards to emphasis his point(even if there was no shady van- at least not yet), and to get her away from the sidewalk. She writhed in his grip, gasping for air because anytime she tried to call out his grip tightened over her throat, but he made sure she still had access to air and remained cognitive.

Kaldur and Wally exchanged glances, Dick simply watched, but he did notice the look pass between them and he suddenly felt embarrassed. Dang it... why did he feel embarrassed? Well no, it wasn't exactly embarrassed, he felt fearful, ashamed. No it was not a good idea to share his missions with heroes, he did bad things, things heroes look down on, of course they'd look down on him too. Ugh he was such an idiot... but too late, they were already watching, so he just sat and stewed in his fear, his face heating up as the memory continued.

"This is the most important moment of your entire life, if you let yourself get dragged into that car you are most likely to never see the sun again, much less your dad who is sitting uselessly at home." The 12 year old assassin said lowly in Barbara's ear, still moving slowly backwards to keep her off balance. "Your phone is in your backpack, also useless. Ten bucks says Batman isn't coming and your black belt means nothing when fear is the only thing filling your mind, making you frantic and stupid." He spat the words out, stressing certain ones as his voice flip flopped between sincere and dangerous.

"The question is, can you keep a level head and actually figure a way out when all the cards are against you?" Dick asked, his own eyes narrowed and his tone grew darker. "Gotham isn't fair. Reality is never like practice, the real world isn't the dojo where there's mats on the ground and everyone knows the rules."

Artemis looked to the real Dick Grayson, she recognized that mantra, her father drilled a similar phrase. She had to admit, it was helpful at times. Dick himself was contemplating, he knew he hadn't said all of that, there was a different memory blending in with this one... one of him and Slade training.

"This is how I learned." He said under his breath the same time his memory self did. Slade had told him that after rushing Dick and trapping him against the ground when he complained of fairness. He didn't particularly like that memory, but he didn't dislike it either, it was just a pivotal lesson taught to him. He was well aware the heroes would probably not take that memory kindly.

Again Dick was struck with embarrassment and doubt, what good would opening up to the heroes be if they weren't okay with who he was? He felt judged, or at least he feared to be judged, but this was definitely a new feeling he'd never encountered before because Slade and Wintergreen had always taken whatever Dick was in stride.

Dick liked animal crackers? Wintergreen bought him three tubs so he could make a little animal cracker kingdom. Slade was a bit mad about the mess, but Dick rolled with it and dramatized  the calamity of Thanos' snap that crumbled half the kingdom- totally unrelated to the crumbs covering Dick head to toe, condensed on his hands and mouth, and the few on Slade's shirt.

Dick cuddled and liked to be held? Slade held no qualms with suddenly being climbed upon as long as he didn't hinder whatever he he doing before hand. Wintergreen was less so but Dick was always able to coax the old man into at least letting him snuggle wherever he was, weather it be his lap as he read or his side as he watched the news.

Dick had an incessant need to know where everything is? Slade let him explore and even pointed out things Dick hadn't seen. Wintergreen always made sure to know where Dick was and to make sure Dick knew where he was. Slade was less inclined in that area, but Wintergreen made up for it, and he understood Slade couldn't always break the rules for Dick.

Dick knew how to gut a man twelve different ways and hated every one of them? Felt like a danger anytime he stepped out the apartment door? Slade taught him a new way of fighting, drilled in the more defensive moves until those were his backup moves if he ever got startled. His paranoia was quelled with the promise that Slade would keep Dick in check, he would never seek out death for an innocent person, but was assured killing when necessary- even if it meant the guy couldn't get up again to attack his turned back- was better than the mindless slaughter the serum under his skin yearned for and would even satisfy the beast inside. He never crossed the line.

Slade just... accepted.

Heroes are all... proof this proof that, liability here liability there, make sure you do this and help out here. Hard lines between good and bad, anything with a speck of bad on it must be scrutinized and watched because who knows if they'll turn fully evil and destroy them all?

Okay yeah he was getting salty and probably unfair to his hero friends, he was just annoyed that he felt embarrassed for being himself- something he'd never been embarrassed about before. (He didn't count The Court, he was rarely truly himself there so that was a whole different ball field of guilt)

This must be how Artemis feels, he already knew her reasons for keeping her linage a secret, but now he could feel it. He did not like it one bit.

Barbara had her hands on Dick's arm, she tugged and pulled but nothing happened, she stumbled back with him while he moved, but when he stopped her foot hooked behind his. She yanked as hard as she could and felt the arm give a little, she twisted until she was almost past perpendicular to the body behind her, and threw her shoulder into the ground.

The younger Grayson was yanked forward head first, it was jarring but his hands snagged at her backpack straps. The girl, in an attempt to free herself, ditched the straps, which worked quite well for both parties. Dick held the bag close to his chest as he fell forward into a roll, landing upright on his feet while Barbara was bent over to regain her breath.

Dick waited through her coughing, grinning and holding the bag in victory when she finally looked up through her stringy red hair. "Good job, ya got me. But I got your bag!" He held the bag with one hand as he unzipped the top, filing through the stuff inside quickly.

"Ooooh! What's in heeeeere?" He grinned devilishly, pulling up a workbook, "Math homework?" He took a good look at it and his face dropped the evil look, feigning enthusiasm that might not all been feigned. "Oh what math are you on? This looks like algebra!"

Barbra huffed, standing up on her own and taking a powerful step forward, crouched in an admittedly well formed standing base and pointing angrily at the boy holding her bag hostage. "Give it back you little twerp!"

Dick's face changed once again, a mirthful look covering his features. "Name calling are we?" He zipped up the bag and slung it over his shoulders, rocking on his feet as an absolute mad grin spread across his face. "Alright carrot top! Lets play!"

He didn't wait for her response, he turned and bolted down the alleyway, leaving an echoing cackle in his wake.

"Hey-!" Barbara called out behind him, "Where are you going?! Come back!" Her hands were in fists at her sides, she looked back to the nice and sunny sidewalk- clearly debating on abandoning her bag to the boy, but her face twisted and and growled angrily in the back of her throat, running after the kid.

Kid Flash was startled by the sudden running, he turned to the young mercenary in charge of the memory. "Wait did you actually steal her backpack? I thought this was a rescue mission?"

"I was distracting her," Dick said, jabbing a thumb at the white van that pulled onto the curb of the now empty alley. "Luring her away from the guys who wanted her." His face had finally gone down in temperature, sorta, he then pushed off the wall and started running, throwing his voice behind him, "Now come on! We have to follow!"

The team started running too, or flying in M'gann's case, falling in behind the leading mercenary.

"Can't you just fast forward to the next spot?" Wally called, running at a normal pace because if he sped forward he'd have no guide and no idea what to do.

Dick's cackle filled the air, "What? You can't run a few blocks?" He followed Barbara who used some stacked boxes to vault over a high wire fence, "Besides! You won't feel the thrill of the chase if we just stand around watching!"

The older Dick Grayson caught up and passed Barbara, not that she would know or care, but it surprised him to find Artemis running up next to him.

She was huffing and her arms pounded at her sides, her giant bush of yellow hair swaying behind her. She looked to want a conversation though, for reasons unknown to Dick, but he obliged and didn't pull ahead as he know he totally could.

"You know..." she started rather quietly, apparently this was not a conversation for all ears, instantly making Dick curious. "I can tell how hard it is for you to share." The duo vaulted over some trash cans, taking a look back to see Wally and Kaldur seemed to be chatting too, Miss Martian was above Barbara and Connor was in front of Wally and Kaldur.

Dick didn't know how to respond to that though, so he just scowled and kept on running, taking a high road over some trash and flipping back down into the alley. She fell behind when the younger Dick Grayson disappeared between two buildings, it was a particularly small crevice and it was surprising the younger Grayson could go through it so fast, the older Grayson following suit. She scrambled out of the claustrophobic alley- more like walkway- and quickly jogged up to him again.

"We've already accepted you this far Dick, you don't have to worry." He caught her gaze and suddenly Dick couldn't seem to look away. "I doubt there's anything you could reveal that'll make us not be your friend." She looked away and shrugged, well, shrugged as well as one can while running. "Unless you're a pedophile or something like that. You aren't a pedophile are you?"

Dick shouted indignantly, feeling a lump of coal burn in his gut. "Of course not!" He barked. No, he was the victim of pedophilia, no way would he ever want to come close to anything resembling it, not even The Court's puppet juice could make him do anything like that.

"Relax! I'm joking." Artemis said with a small smile, "You don't have to worry, didn't we just go over this with the weird assassin guy from earlier? I know my team, we're a bunch of teenagers, when we get attached to something not even the adults can stop us. That's how this team was made anyway, and it might be a bit early to say this... but I'd probably fight against the Justice League for you." Well when she phrased it that way it sounded like it was his plan to get in the team, gain their trust, and make them fight the JL. But none of this was his idea, it made him nervous to think that's what he had to do because he really didn't want to do that. Who knew what he was supposed to be doing here, definitely not him, it made his insides writhe just thinking about it. "I mean, if you have probable cause of course, I wouldn't BLINDLY follow you..." She was fumbling now, realizing what she said did sound funky. "I just mean to say that I trust you."

Dick just stared, barely recognizing the warm feeling rising in his chest and the weight that also lifted off of it. "Thanks...?"

If either of them were planning to say anything else it was interrupted, as the younger Dick Grayson called back to the lagging Barbara. "Come on Ginger! I know a shortcut to your house!"

They weren't too far away from each other, Dick had wanted her to follow so of course he was holding back. Barbra was winded though, gallivanting through Gotham's allies was not one of her hobbies. (Yet)

She struggled through the crevice, taking a sharp turn to finally catch up to the younger kid, panting with exertion. "You... you know where I live?"

He let loose another chilling cackle, using a fire escape to swing himself over some obstacle. "I know where everyone lives!" He yelled back, twisting down a different alley while Barbara and the heroes trailed behind.

It wasn't too long before the younger Grayson stopped, he was at the mouth of an alley, standing next to another big dumpster with the girl's backpack in hand. He didn't look when she approached, the heroes caught up quickly too and watched the proceeding confrontation.

"Alright your house is just two blocks away." Dick said, setting the backpack down and throwing the girl a grin, "Think you and your big shot black belt can make it?"

Barbara grabbed her backpack quickly and slung it over her shoulders, warily keeping a calculating eye on the younger teen. "Why do you care?" She huffed, annoyed and curious, it was not lost on her that he had led her home through back allies and lots of running.

"Good question," Dick pointed out, leaning back into the dumpster and putting his hands on the lip. The lid was open so when he pushed himself to sit on top he sat precariously on the edge as to not fall to either side.

"One you're not going to answer." Barbara said flatly and sighed turning away and started walking to the open sidewalk. "Fine, I'll just go then, weirdo."

Dick gasped dramatically, putting a hand to his chest as if he was hurt. "Weirdo!? Excuse me but we've met! You shared your personal math book with me!"

Barbara rounded on him, "you tried to choke me!"

"I was just giving you experience," Dick responded with a shrug, still wearing that goofy grin. "You can't keep the weirdos away if you're all bark and no bite."

"Who ARE you?" She exclaimed frustratingly. The real Dick Grayson smiled, she was always on the right track and knew exactly what questions to ask. It was obvious she was smart, smarter than most 15 year olds, but it amused him how close she was yet so far, she just needed a little shove in the right direction. But in the proceeding silence she continued. "No random kid knows Gotham THAT well to know where EVERYONE lives! And you basically had me chase you to MY home and started choking me just so I could have experience?!"

The younger mercenary's grin grew shark-like. "Yeah, pretty much. The name's Robin." He gave her a two fingered salute with his toothy grin.

She growled in frustration and stomped over, "Just stay away from me!" She shoved him hard in the chest and he let her do it, falling back into the trash in the dumpster with a playful yelp as he landed in the trash. She stormed away but the shove rocked the dumpster, making the lid fall over the younger mercenary.

"Is that it?" Kid Flash asked, looking between the retreating Barbara and his friend.

The real Dick Grayson only chuckled darkly. "Not even close."

As soon as those words left his mouth a black van pulled up in front of Barbara, making her jump in surprise and confusion. The back opened up and three heavily armed men poured out, all of them falling on the girl within seconds.

Dick had to give the heroes credit, they had good reaction time.

Superboy made the first move as the rest of the teens cried out, launching himself forwards to punch one of the males. Instead he fell right through, hitting the ground hard where a crater should have been created, but there wasn't. Artemis has also fired an arrow, but again it went through the people like a hologram, the arrow itself disappeared from existence. Aqualad went froward with his water sword but paused when he saw his teammate's failed attempts, stopping to look at the resident martian.

"Dick?" Kid Flash prompted, anxiously watching as the redheaded girl was manhandled upright, an arm around her throat another around her mouth as she was being hauled into the back of the van.

"Yeah I'm not proud of this moment." The mercenary said while shifting his feet uncomfortably.

Everyone's attention was diverted to the dumpster where the younger version of Dick laid, they heard the boy chuckle in the echo-y confines, then the lid lifted up to reveal a smiling Dick Grayson.

His face then promptly dropped, seeing the van and the missing girl.

"Rahat." (Crap) he muttered, launching himself out of the dumpster and throwing his shirt off. Underneath was his Renegade suit, he also pulled down his pants and green shoes, reaching for his belt for two disks. His other hand slipped his mask onto his  face, the white lenses narrowed into a scowl, angry at the situation and himself.

"They got her, I'm in pursuit." He grumbled into his comms. He threw the disks onto the ground, running forward with socked feet until he stepped on the disks and as he continued to run the metal boots unfolded and surrounded his feet.

"Whoa! I gotta get me some of those!" Wally exclaimed, wide eyed at the display of technology.

"Well I'm sure I could show you but Batman took all my stuff." Dick said nonchalantly, shrugging and smirking at the salt in his voice.

Then Deathstroke's voice crackled through the air, "Adapt my apprentice. This is not the first nor the last time a plan will go awry, skill is being able to improvise and still come out on top."

"Would have been easier though if I kept her from getting caught in the first place." He grumbled, running up and using the wall to jump high onto the van who was pulling out of the alley.

Then it noticeably slowed, Renegade frozen in midair with a soured look on his face. The pause made the heroes look towards their version of the little mercenary in question.

"Come on," the real Dick Grayson said, running after the van with his heroes in tow, "I think I can slow them down so we don't have to run so much."

"Here," Miss Martian said, motioning with her outstretched hands, her eyes glowing an eerie green once more.

The team started to float, the non metas slightly yelping and wobbling as they were not accustomed to random telekinetic magic controlling gravity's affect on them. Dick especially didn't like it, but after the initial shock and mental calm down he started to like it. His eyes were wide as he saw the ground far below, he was actually flying!

When he looked up he couldn't help a chuckle because Artemis was holding onto her bow like it would ground her, she was slightly curled into a ball in the air, eyes screwed tightly shut. Kaldur looked disoriented but looked to be over it and focused on the rest of them. Superboy was the least affected, Dick assumed he had needed flying help before and therefore this was nothing new. Wally was flailing about, red faced and trying not to yelp.

"Erm, Wally I'm carrying you, you don't have to do anything." M'gann said and Dick full out laughed as Kid Flash was trying to move in the air, swimming fruitlessly. "This will be easier... If that's okay Dick."

The young mercenary was unable to wipe the grin off his face, he gave her a thumbs up as his eyes stayed on the exasperated speedster. "No this is totally asterous."

"Artemis its okay, I'm holding you, you won't fall." The martian said after a second, realizing Artemis was still in slight fetal position.

The archer slowly unclenched, testing her movement and looking quite panicked. She and Wally both looked out of their element, and rightly so, but Dick couldn't help a jibe.

"Come on guys! Get traught! This is easy!" He chuckled midair, slightly floating backwards before he went too far back and did a summer salt in the air. He steadied himself after his laughter was cut off, he hadn't meant to do that, but hey, they didn't need to know that.

"N-no I'm good! I'm great!" Wally shouted, arms windmilling again as he careened forwards. "Everything is fiiiiiine!"

"Miss Martian, perhaps you could-?" Aqualad started, but she was already moving, sighing and shaking her head as her arm extended to the speedster and Artemis to steady them.

"Lets get going." Superboy huffed, eyes down towards the event that had stopped below them. The aerial view was nice.

"Yeah! We're burning daylight!" Dick pipped up, grinning still as the struggling heroes continued to... yeah, struggle.

"You froze the memory." Wally countered, eyes down on the ground he wished his feet were on.

"Psh that's details, I don't want to be stuck in my head all day." He replied even though he had no idea if that's how this Martian mind magic even worked. Was time passing? We're they doing things in his head super fast? He had no clue but decided not to dwell on it, too complicated and he didn't care much to find out. He was much more focused on what was happening at the moment and much less on the logic of what was happening at the moment.

The frozen Renegade started again, flying through the air, arching high and landing on the side edge of the speeding van. The younger boy stumbled, the van was moving quite fast now and was entering traffic, he was thrown off the ledge and he slid towards the back. Quickly activating the magnets on his glove, he slapped his hand onto the roof, his feet scrambling for the bumper. He grit his teeth as he settled, lifting his legs to press perpendicular to the back door, leaning back and settling solidly there.

He shifted his weight and drew his arm back, the heroes all watched as Renegade threw a punch into the van, going clean through the metal.

"No way." Wally looked up to the real Dick, "You totally did not just punch through a van."

The mercenary grinned, "Sadly no, I'm pretty sure this was part of a dream I had."

"You dream about your missions?" Superboy asked.

Dick shrugged, "Well its the first one, I was excited." His gaze grew glassy and distant. "It was a weird dream..."

Then an odd thing happened that everyone present could only describe as 'rewinding'. The frozen scene went backwards, the van mended itself as the fist drew back again, rewinding all the way until Renegade first activated his magnetic glove.

It started up again, this time Renegade crawled upwards onto the roof of the black van, laying almost flat against it. With one hand magnetically holding him into place he looked down to get a stick-like cylindrical device from his belt. The wind pelted his hair, making it hard to see and his breath left him as soon as he drew in. The van was going incredibly fast, or maybe it was Miss Martians' flying... In any case, he placed one end of the cylinder above him where out of the top a thin canopy exploded from. The wind pulled the thin film back, covering the mercenary and vanishing him from sight.

"Dude your stuff is so cool!" Wally said, eyes bugged on the shimmery surface of the cloaked assassin, "Where do you get this stuff!?"

Dick smiled warmly as he continued to watch below. "Deathstroke designed most of this stuff, I even used canopy the other day. There's a setting on it that solidifies it and makes it bulletproof."

"Why do the bad guys always get the cool stuff." Wally complained, folding his arms and watching ruefully. Then he paused, "Not that you're bad, I just mean-"

Dick chuckled, "Come to the dark side Wally, we have the cool gadgets the hero's can only dream of having."

Wally laughed too but then flattened his tone, and even then Dick could hear the fascinated desperation in the crevices. "Okay, but seriously, how?"

The young mercenary just shook his head with a little huff, "Why do you think the bad guys have it? We don't own these things, we're bad because we steal them."

"Oh," he sounded sad, but then burst forward with new questions and hope. "But who manufactures? Who sells these things? I wanna buy one!"

"Mostly the military." Dick shrugged nonchalantly. "Sometimes we do buy them actually, depending on Slade's mood."

"What? Deathstroke can get lazy?" Superboy asked, Dick might have taken offense to this but the curiosity in the clone's voice was too genuine.

The acrobat shook his head, "Strategic. He was in the military once, he knows how these things work. You don't want to make enemies with the guy you're stealing atomic bombs from because then they'll just bomb you and then you'd be dead."

The teens just looked at him.

"Well that's... literal." Artemis said in the proceeding silence.

"I like to live in the moment." Dick said offhandedly. "And right now is about the time we should pay attention."

The van pulled off the road, turning into a rougher part of Gotham where the grime was extra grimy and basically everyone was either homeless or in a gang, mostly both actually. It was interesting to see the world as a memory though, it felt pretty real, even the half-foot deep pothole the van hit sounded like it nearly broke the wheel. The black van entered a gated warehouse, part of the industrial era of Gotham that never really left, just got old and repurposed. This one was abandoned, windows were broken and the roof seemed to be caving in, the heavy bricks looked sturdy enough though.

Renegade shifted under the cloaking device, grabbing from his belt a small grapple gun. He sat up and grabbed the cylinder, the silky covering retracted quickly and quietly, condensing back into the short staff. He aimed his grapple and shot straight up, lifting off the van as it disappeared into the commercial truck entrance. Out of his boots came sharp knife-like metal and he dug his feet into the brick, creating his own foot holds while out of his wrists came palm spikes with the same purpose. Renegade climbed the brick surface, fast and methodical, undeniably he must have trained well for this to be that agile.

He crawled up until the top floor, slipping in silently as the metal spikes on his extremities retracted.

The team was placed inside as well, phasing through the wall with some martian density shifting, most of them glad to be on their feet again.

"I'm getting into position." Renegade whispered into his comms as he sleuthed through the upper levels. He was in an office like room at the moment, he quickly drew up his hologlove, finding a map of the area and all the heat signatures that revealed a heavily armed man. He paused before exiting the room, keeping to the edges and ducking into the shadows. The team followed, feeling the need to also sneak around even if it was pointless because they were invisible and it was just a memory.

Renegade found the opening to the main part of the warehouse, a big giant room where the machines would do their work and the people would help manufacture. The machines were all there (he wasn't sure their purpose yet, but he suspected it had something to do with metal) (and, ya know, not all the details stayed with him) but were pushed to the side, creating a path from the commercial truck entrance to the more office-like area of the building. There was plenty of space for hiding though, men were posted at intervals, every other machine on both sides, and above there was only four men on the crosswalks. With such a high ranking prisoner they wanted to be ready for anything, including the Bat himself.

It would be useless though, idiots. They wouldn't be looking for anything small, which was exactly why Deathstroke decided this be his first mission.

"Remember your objective." Deathstroke's voice growled through the air.

The younger mercenary's mouth twitched as he ducked behind a rafter to elude a passing guard, "Affirmative." He quickly dashed to the side, watching the dark van pull in and slow deep in the innards of the warehouse. Smart, she wouldn't know where she is and wouldn't be able to breach the building before she got caught if she tried to run. That was also assuming Barbara could escape her captors, which judging by the rope around her wrists and the gag on her mouth as she was pulled roughly from the back of the van he assumed would not be anytime soon. "I've got eyes on the prize." he mumbled.

Her backpack was gone he realized, and she was struggling when she should have stopped to at least save her energy. The men were escorting her, four of them marching her down the cleared way and towards the office area Renegade had just left.

The younger mercenary slithered off to the side, ducking back behind all the men and inching around at the same pace as the walking men, he couldn't hear much from this high up but he was pretty sure they weren't even talking. How ominous. Dick could almost feel the musty air, the dust as he breathed in, but it was just a memory.

Barbara was struggling still, yanking on her bonds and the hands on her shoulders and arms. Renegade watched with a hint of disappointment and worry, if she didn't stop struggling soon the goons would get annoyed and make sure she stopped, which usually included— Barbara grunted and doubled over as a fist buried itself in her gut. Renegade and Dick winced. Yeah, that.

Renegade's hand went up to his ear, tapping the comm, "How are things going on your end?"

"Are you honestly bored Renegade. Focus." Deathstroke's voice responded lowly. Renegade smirked as he heard the exasperation in his tone, Dick did as well. "On your left."

Renegade didn't react, instead shifting ever so slightly around the pillar he was behind to the side as a guard stomped past right where he'd been hiding moments before.

"I have incoming. They're expecting something big." Deathstroke continued, "Make sure they stay that way."

"Yessir-iebob." Renegade breathed, watching the back of the goon continue his patrol along the catwalk.

"Renegade." The older mercenary reprimanded.

"What? I acknowledged orders." Renegade pointed out lightheartedly, whispering in the air between smiling lips.

"William was never this talkative during a mission." He grumbled, more of a complaint. Renegade quickly covered his mouth with both hands to keep from laughing aloud, lensed eyes crinkling and shaking quietly. "You're up, apprentice." Deathstroke's voice grunted deeply.

"On it." Renegade smirked, releasing his mouth and no longer in danger of laughing out loud. He lifted himself from a crouch, but then he paused and Dick felt something odd. He had no clue as to what it was but it was deeply unsettling, like he was being watched. Then slowly, carefully in an absolute dead silence, Renegade twisted around. His masked eyes danced thoroughly over the team, his face seemed to be made of stone as he went through the line, the feeling of something being just horribly wrong settled in their stomachs. Renegade's eyes settled on Dick.

"Something isn't right." The younger Grayson said without emotion, eyes completely locked on the older boy.

Before Dick could respond or even register HOW the memory was talking and acknowledging his presence, he vanished, swiped away like a fog that dissipated into the air.

"Uh..." Wally spoke Dick's confusion and slight terror, that WASN'T supposed to happen. Dick looked first to Miss Martian, hoping for an explanation but he got distracted when he found a detail below that was't supposed to be there.

The men below had multiplied, even more heavily armed and looked nothing like the kidnappers. Even the building had changed slightly, there were large boxes instead of machines, metal warehouse walls instead of the brick factory.

"We've switched memories." Dick realized quietly, leaning forward to grab the rail that was now there instead of the pillar.

That's when a few of the armored men looked up, straight at Dick, and shouted an alarm. Dick was yanked back by Conner when the rail exploded with the spray of bullets.

"What? How can they see us? This isn't supposed to be real!" Wally exclaimed, wide eyed and fidgeting as Dick scrambled to his feet, looking equally alarmed.

"I don't know," The young mercenary huffed breathlessly, wide eyes still locked on the rail and chest heaving.

The sound of pounding feet against the metal catwalk jolted Dick out of his slight shock, a line of men coming straight at them from either side. "Move!" he shouted, pushing himself up from the ground to grab the rail again and launched himself over. As he fell his hand went to his belt where he grabbed the retractable and adhesive center, he slapped the grapple against the metal, not even grunting when he cut the line short and pulled taunt. He used his momentum to swing tightly under the metal walkway, going up and around to slam the first man off the catwalk with his straightened legs. He seemed to be on autopilot when he landed in a crouch and surged forward to push up the gun of the next man and nerve strike him in the neck, smoothly sliding into the next man's guard to swiftly take him out with a leg sweep.

On the other side Connor was making quick work of the other line while Artemis was shooting down into the fray below, only to jerk back when she got return—bullet— fire.

"This is feeling vary real!" She shouted, her voice border lining on frantic, staring at a graze on her arm that began to seep.

"Dick, you're in charge here do something!" Wally said, crouched low and very unsure of himself, he didn't have room to move around and it was very concerning to see his smaller friend take down those men three times his size. Not to mention Artemis got grazed, and oh, I don't know, THEY WERE BEING ATTACKED IN A MEMORY???

Dick finished off the last guy on his side with a bone breaking punch, letting the man slump as he turned to his friends. Despite his decisive fighting his voice shook and his hands flew around in a panic. "I-I don't know what's going on! I can't stop it! I can't stop-!" His frantic exclamations was interrupted by an explosion from the roof, the team collectively flinching as metal shards and embers rained down on them.

"Miss Martian do you have any control?" Aqualad asked as he stood up first, his drawn water bearers tight in his grip. The Martian looked to be trying, her eyes screwed shut and hands on her temples, but she was on the ground hunched over, clearly in no position to respond.

"I cant- I don't-" Dick muttered breathlessly as he continued to huddle where he ducked from the explosion, hands gripping his hair as his eyes stared wide and scared at the ground. "I cant- I can't- I can't-"

"Hey!" Conner took his shoulders, slightly shaking the boy to get his attention. Dick looked up, revealing the tear streaks on his cheeks and red runny nose, his hands were no longer on his head but dangling limply as the kryptonian held his upper arms. "It doesn't matter what you can't do, we can get out of here and everything will be fine because this is all in your head. But you need to tell us what memory this is and how it ends."

The Romanian boy just stared for a moment, a very short moment because another explosion rocked the catwalk.

"Dick." Connor reminded him, reclaiming the shaky boy's focus with his eyes.

"T-this is a failed mission..." Dick stuttered out, taking in deeper breaths as he looked around. Sensing the need, Superboy released him, standing up as Dick wobbled to his feet. "It hadn't gone to plan, we miss calculated and Deathstroke-" His eyes widened as he gripped the rail for balance, he looked to the team, "Survive, all we have to do is survive until Sl-Deathstroke gets here, but we really shouldn't stay here."

"Alright how do we do that?" Wally asked, still wide-eyed and had his hand on Artemis's back while she shielded her arm.

"We just need to keep moving, and stay away from the boxes in the center of the room, defeat anyone in our way." Dick recited, turning around and digging in his belt. He threw out two disks, slicing the wires keeping the catwalk up and grinned as the metal walkway dipped and became a slide. He heard the others behind him but didn't look back, it was not in his nature. Dick landed in a run, assessing paths and damage and goons all at once to determine the path of least resistance to anywhere else.

He took a few daggers from his belt and launched them into the legs of oncoming men, yanking the gun out of one man's hand and punching him in the face when he rounded the corner behind some crates. Fire started to build and when he did look back he saw Connor helping along a barely conscious M'gann and Artemis covering their rear. Wally was zooming around, dodging bullets and de-arming the ones closest to them, but even without their guns the men ran towards them with guttural war cries.

Dick leaped up and neatly wrapped his legs around a man's head, yanking them to the ground and the impact knocked them out with a sickening 'thunk'. He went into a handstand and twisted his legs around, kicking the next oncoming goon and launching himself up and over to land a boot in their face, kicking off to body slam the goon behind him and sending both to the ground and depositing himself neatly on his feet after flipping off.

The young mercenary started to run again, sending two disks onto nearby boxes as the rest of the team ran in behind him. Dick was doing a mental headcount, but one fiery head was missing. "Wally?!" Dick shouted, confused and knowing they were running out of time. The speedster appeared in a flash of yellow, hunched over with his hands on his knees and breathing heavily.

"Why am I so tired?" He asked between breaths, finally standing up straight with an exhausted expression.

"I don't know," Dick said, frowning because he was really starting to hate those words in that particular order. He detonated the disks and the explosion brought down crates and pillars across the way they entered, sighing to himself as finally they were relatively safe. "We should be good here, Deathstroke should be here any second."

"He's going to kill these guys isnt he?" Artemis asked, clutching her wounded arm with no apparent anxiety, but her grip was tight and he could see right through it.

"Technically, he already has." Dick's face twisted, shrugging with one shoulder. "Also considering this is a memory I have no idea how killing even works, so uh, try not to die?"

"Great." Wally said, halfheartedly lifting a fist into the air that didn't even make it over his head. "Trying not to die, my favorite pass time."

At that exact moment, four armored men appeared on either side of the team, if they were hiding in shadows or came down form the ceiling or even just APPEARED out of mist Dick would never know, there was no time to find out because the team was immediately under heavy fire. Wally was gone in a flash as everyone else did evasive maneuvers and Superboy became a human shield for the incapacitated martian. Dick launched himsefl at the closest man, using a nearby box to help him up and out of the corner of his eye he could see Wally disarming most of the men.

That was when a fist landed itself in Wally's gut, a kick to his side sending him to the floor, Dick felt his heart flutter anxiously as the man lowered the muzzle of his gun at his dazed friend's head. Artemis was busy fighting hand to hand with her own opponent, Aqualad similarly in a pickle, and Superboy was now huddled over Mg'ann. Dick himself saw no way to finish his own fight and get there in time.

Turns out he didn't have to, because a familiar flash of gray and orange completely demolished the man standing over his friend. The man, now headless, was thrown onto Artemis's opponent, the girl startled and jumped back at the sight alone. The orange clad mercenary jerked the butt of his katanna on Aqualad's opponent's chin, his other katanna slicing quickly and smoothly through the man's middle, leaving him spluttering on the ground.

Dick couldn't help the grin as he kicked his own opponent towards the man, two sword points sprouting form the man's chest as his face twisted in agony. Deathstroke lifted the man with his swords, throwing him off onto other men.

"Status?" Deathstroke asked clearly, standing in front of his apprentice quite solidly as blood dripped down from his blades.

Dick was thrown for a loop and he froze. Deathstroke was taking to HIM, like the Renegade memory had. The first time Deathstroke was speaking to him since the roof.

"Uhh..." Dick couldn't find anything more intelligent to say, this man had given him away to the people he feared, leaving him high and dry like the crunch of his parents bodies on the floor.

But this wasn't HIS Deathstroke, it wasn't his Slade, this was just a memory, what was he supposed to say? He didn't remember this memory THAT well.

The rest of the team was frozen as well, staring at the master and apprentice, watching the younger quail and flounder under the mercenary's solid gaze. Dick took in a deep breath to speak, his body feeling tingly and not in a fun way.

His chance was cut off at the sound of a bazooka being fired somewhere to their right.

Dick's eyes didn't close and in fact widened as the warhead collided with Deathstroke, the man swept off his feet and hurtled into the broken crates Dick had destroyed to seal them against the bad guys. The resounding explosion rocked the ground, sending the teens to the floor with various grunts and yelps finally dislodging the young acrobat's gaze. Dick scrambled to his feet first, absentmindedly surprised to find his ears were actually ringing, this was definitely more real than should be allowed. Deathstroke laid limp in the splinters, smoke curling off his metal suit and his chest seemed torn open. A direct hit in the chest from a bazooka definitely would have killed a normal man, and actually did kill the old mercenary.

Dick raced to his mentor's side, only to pause a few feet away, staring at the 'dead' form of Slade. He remembered this night, especially this part, quite well. He remembered his pounding heart as he dug through the debris to get to his fallen mentor, the silence as he came upon his morbidly still form. His shaking hands had reached out, eyes wide and uncomprehending, scared, and even angry.

Wally put a hand on his shoulder, Dick didn't exactly know when that happened but he just continued to stare, his mouth running quietly. "Deathstroke died in this mission."

He didn't see it, but he could feel the confusion rolling off the speedster next to him, "But isnt he-?"

"Slade is immortal." Dick said, probably louder than he should have, maybe to remind himself. "He can get hurt, he can die, but he comes back every time."

Wally went silent, the rest of the team finally getting their bearings and getting up next to the young mercenary. True to his word, Deathstroke did get up, he tossed off pieces of wood and again stood in front of Dick.

"I believe Ms. Gordon still needs your help," Deathstroke said, then his head angled down and his voice lowered in a way Dick knew he did when he was trying to unnerve his enemies with a simple condescending phrase. "Just as you need mine."

It usually worked too, and with those words it definitely worked on Dick.

Miss Martian yelled from her position, Connor was helping her stand but now she stood alone, a hand outstretched towards Deathstroke with her eyes completely green.

The world started to spin and Deathstroke went away, gone in a mist as vertigo clutched at the teens. Dick closed his eyes to swallow the bile and he felt Wally's hand on his shoulder tighten. When the world stopped spinning M'gann dropped to her knees, breathing heavily but clearly awake and cognitive.

"I'm sorry," she breathed, "I-I tried to get us out of there as fast as I could."

Connor had lowered with her, an arm around her shoulders and he looked up to Dick, an odd expression on his face the young mercenary was too tired to decipher.

"No," Dick said, taking another deep breath to settle his fried nerves. "This one is on me, I... I lost control or something, I'm sorry, you guys shouldn't have gone through that." The hand on his shoulder felt nice, and he mourned its loss when it went away.

"Hey it's fine, near death experiences are pretty commonplace in the hero business." Wally said, but even to his own ears he sounded rattled. "But uh... what exactly happened?"

Miss Martian rose once more, rubbing her forehead with a grimace. "We we're sucked into another memory, one that was outside of both mine and Dick's control. His subconscious didn't like us going through his memories even if he invited us, so he was using a memory to push us out, but once the end of the memory came close I was able to put us back into where we were originally, so Dick has his control back now."

"Oh..." Dick said, glad it was explained, sad his subconscious didn't like his friends, but none the less relieved it wasn't an... outside force... "Sorry about that, I should have warned you then, I don't exactly have good experiences with..." He looked down as he searched for the right word, feeling a touch cold and heavy. "Mind games."

Wally looked like he was about to say something when Artemis started shouting, turning her wild eyes to her teammates. "Is no one going to acknowledge that Deathstroke absolutely slaughtered those men?!"

Dick's face twisted, folding his arms and feeling rather defensive. Wasn't this the same girl who said there was nothing he could show them that would dissuade them from being his friend? "What were you expecting? Hes a mercenary." Then again she was talking about Slade, not him, he could live with that.

Aqualad put his hand on the archer's shoulder to calm her, glancing at Dick before speaking. "It is of no consequence now, as Dick mentioned earlier, it is the past."

"Uh, guys? We're still in a memory." Wally's words pulled the team's attention to where exactly they were.

They were back in the factory, it was gray here rather than red, and Barbara was tied to a chair in the center of the room. The room itself was rather open, a stupid decision on any kidnappers part, there were many broken windows that lead to other rooms, plenty of hiding places. Dick watched as Renegade paid them no mind, scuttling lowly across under broken glass and settled to where he could see Barbara. The girl looked scared, byt not hysterical like he'd seen most kidnapping victims, she was breathing heavily through her nose and gagged mouth, eyes searching for a way out as she twisted her binds to try and find a way to break free. Her ankles were tied to the chair legs though, her wrists together behind her and even her torso to the back of the chair, she was getting nowhere fast. Two men were guarding her door, one was inside and a few were patrolling the mass of conference rooms and offices.

"Engage." Deathstroke's voice crackled the air and Renegade shot off like a bullet.

He was silent though, barely making a sound as he launched himself up and tackled the single man in the room with barely a thud of his fists to his neck and carefully set the man down. Barbara was wide-eyed and her breathing picked up as Renegade slipped closer. He raised his hands in a placating manor, his voice barely a whisper when he said, "It's okay, I'm here to help."

She seemed alright with this as he slipped out a dagger and cut the gag off, tossing it to the floor and putting a finger to his lips in an obvious order of silence. She didn't need any verbal reinforcement as she nodded, eyes scrutinizing his features as he knew she surely recognized him. He made quick work of her binds and helped her up, leading her to the door where he motioned for her to stay.

Renegade simply walked out the door and Barbara flinched as two thumps signaled her captors were taken down. The younger mercenary popped his head back in from the doorway and motioned for to follow, in which she did with wide eyes. The team glanced at one another before shrugging and following, M'gann saying she was fine enough to walk much to Connor's chagrin. They got pretty far before needing to hide, they were almost to their destination (a window) when he took her hand to duck behind a wall, pulling her along as a guard's feet thumped past them, going towards the sudden sound of far away gunfire and yells of angry men.

After a few seconds he bolted, nearly yanking Barbara along, when they finally got to the window.

Renegade was busy tugging at his grapple gun, perching on the sill and motioned for Barbara to come closer.

"You're that kid, Robin, from the streets." Barbara said quietly, daring to speak even though he had said to keep silent, but considering most of the danger had passed (thanks to a Deathstroke diversion) he grinned and shrugged along.

"Not from the streets," he said sternly while his smile said he was joking, "and my name is Renegade."

Barbara looked at him warily, nearly leaning away from the boy. "Neither of those are your real name are they?"

Renegade shrugged again, "The apprentice of Deathstroke can't go around as 'John Doe' can he? That's a terrible name. Unless your name is something cool like Percy Jackson or something."

Barbara did back away this time, raising her hands to ward him off as she spoke rapidly, "Wait wait wait, Deathstroke?! Deathstroke is here? You're his... apprentice?! But you're like.. ten!"

Dick's face soured good naturedly, putting his fists on his hips even though he was crouched and it probably looked odd. "I'm twelve! And yeah, the only reason you're alive right now is because Deathstroke was hired to protect you, so lets get out of here." He smiled again, trying to get the girl to cooperate was harder than he thought as an apprentice of Deathstroke, that's why most times he didn't introduce himself to victims they were paid to save. "I can take you home," He couldn't help a mirthful smirk, "I do know where it is after all."

"That..." Barbara took a deep breath and seemed to deflate with it, keeping her eyes on the young mercenary. "...actually makes a lot of sense."

"Yeah," he said, noting how exhausted she looked, not surprising since kidnapping is rather traumatic and tiring. "Let's just get you home."

"Right..." She still seemed to be contemplating, but Renegade motioned again for her to come forward. It was a tad awkward, but Renegade gripped Barbara tight and shot off the grapple gun, swinging them away from the dangerous factory.

Dick let out a breath that puffed out his cheeks, looking almost nervous as his head nodded slightly. "Yeah we can just skip to the good part now." No one made any objections as the world spun again, landing them in a small bedroom in a townhouse.

Barbara was standing in her room, Renegade was in front of her right beside the open window, looking rather cheeky.

"So I'm safe? Why were they after me? Why were you hired to save me?" She asked, her hands moving around more expressively since she was in a more comfortable environment.

Renegade gave her a layered smile, he probably shouldn't answer most of those, but he ducked his head and relented. "Yeah, its just a gang war thing, kinda complicated but the point is someone wanted you dead and someone else didn't, the guy who didn't hired us to make sure you didn't die. We'll probably be watching you for another week but nothing like this should happen again."

"So... I'll see you around?" Barbara asked uncertainly, confused on how she should respond to that.

Renegade chuckled, folding his arms, "No, you won't see us, but we'll be there and we'll be watching."

"You really are a stalker." She grumbled, "and I thought Batman was creepy..."

Renegade lit up like a Christmas tree, nearly jumping on his feet. "Hey that's right! No Batman!" He placed out his hand with a crap eating grin, "Fork it up."

Barbara looked almost offended, "What?"

Renegade's elated mannerisms didn't waver, in fact he shifted almost happily, "Earlier I said ten bucks-"

"Renegade."

Barbara took a staggering step back as Deathstroke appeared in her window, he didn't even fit, but he stood right outside on her fire escape with one hand holding what she assumed to be a grapple gun because it looked similar to Renegades. His half orange mask was directed at the red-head, his single masked eye narrowing on her. Renegade seemed to jump a bit, being cut off by his mentor's appearance and twisted around to see him, all the while smiling.

"Heya DS," he said putting his hands on his hips, "target is secure."

Barbara looked a little affronted at being called a 'target' but Deathstroke jerked his chin at the boy, "You were tailed, I took care of it. I'd rather you be aware of your surroundings than placing bets."

Renegade's smile grew repentant, "Right, it wont happen again." Barbara's eyes darted between the two, unsure if she was seeing something wrong, like... alarming, because it was unnerving. Renegade— Robin— whoever, was Deathstroke's apprentice and seemed to be getting chastised, but it seemed so casual and Renegade was too quick to apologize. She of course didn't miss his flinch when Deathstroke appeared, maybe he was scared of him... and these two people were hired to protect her?

"Renegade."

Clearly there was some hidden order in his name because Renegade threw Barbara a smile over his shoulder, a smile that seemed a little forced. "Bye!" he even waved as he jumped out her window, Deathstroke already gone.

Dick released a breath and closed his eyes, Miss Martian taking his cue and everything dissolved. It felt a touch like falling into a pool, but it was dark, but he was much too tired to care because when he opened his eyes he was back in the Mountain, feeling almost violated. He felt sore, mentally and physically, sitting in one position for so long (as it was clear time had passed, he wouldn't be sore otherwise) was not healthy for his acrobatic body. It was also one of the tells of his true feelings, he felt like crap, pale and weak. He wasn't sure how one could FEEL pale, but if there was ever a time to feel pale that is when it would be.

The team was quiet, each silently reviewing in their minds what happened, not all of it quite digested yet.

There was no doubt about it, Dick felt sick and he knew exactly why. He had lost control in his own mind, that alone made him want to curl into a ball and hide, so he didn't think much of it when he rose to his feet and said, "I'm going to my room."

Wally stood up with him, eyebrows knit with concern at the very depressed looking mercenary. "Want me to come with?"

"No." Dick said too quickly, body slightly sizing at the thought, "I just... need to be alone right now."

He let autopilot take over as he walked away, down the hall and towards his door. He could already hear his friends talking behind him, talking about him, but at this point he didn't care, too much had happened in his head. In fact he was glad they knew (maybe) because now he wasn't alone with these feelings, even though he was literally removing himself from the situation. It was good they were discussing, that meant maybe they would have some type of answer to a question he didn't have, some type of viable consolation to his issues beyond the pity.

Dick made it to his room and shut the door behind him, taking one look at the lock before flipping it into place. He told himself it was because he didn't want to be disturbed, because he really needed some alone time, a shower, sleep, something to clear his head. Something just felt off about something and he couldn't pin point what it was, and he didn't particularly care enough to dive in his muddled brain to find it so he left it be. The acrobat's feet dragged him towards his bed before being redirected, his eyes finding Matthew's fluffy belly splayed next to his pillow. His feet were taking him to the bathroom, where his thoughts just soured and he tried to stamp them out. Dick really wanted Slade at that moment, he needed to hug, he needed to cry or something because there was this pressure beginning to build in his face. But at the same time he didn't want Slade, he wanted to hate him, to be disgusted, instead he angled his thoughts towards someone he COULD lean on. He could lean on Wally, though that one time they 'cuddled' was because of a panic attack, not really for this type of stuff. And he didn't want to freak him out by asking even though the stupid speedster would probably say yes in .2 seconds. There was always Damian, Nightwing, Batman... Bruce Wayne.

Dick found himself in front of the sink, staring at himself in the mirror, emotionless.

Yeah, what a weird thought, Bruce Wayne comforting assassin child because assassin dad abandoned them. But it wasn't just that was it? Sure Deathstroke had abandoned him but he was getting better with that, this was something else. He had lost control, he hadn't been able to do anything to stop or save him or his friends, and that scared him most. Deathstroke could take it, he was immortal, but his friends were a bit more aquatinted with mortality than he was. He needed someone, someone who wouldn't get hurt, to help him.

Dick needed help.

Dick needed Deathstroke.

The pressure in his face left, the heat building up behind his eyes disappeared. His shaking hands stilled, his shuddering breathing leveled. His skin no longer held a pale sweaty sheen, his maskless face was impassive and almost bored looking.

Dick took one look in the mirror and felt like screaming, he felt like combusting, he felt like crying for all he was worth.

Because he couldn't make himself blink.

He couldn't make himself cry.

He couldn't even move his hand to itch his nose.

Because he was no longer in control of his body.