Summary: The Bat in Dick Grayson does not appreciate the invasion of his city. The Talon in him is screaming for blood. The logical part of him, the one that's still eighteen and scared, wants to go to ground. He obliges all of them. Takes place during the Justice League episode Starcrossed Part II
Notes: Dick Grayson is Renegade in this, not Nightwing, because he has had more dealings with Slade Wilson than Superman at this point.
They had only been in Batman's hideout for five minutes when Clark caught the hiss of a door opening and closing. "We have an intruder," he murmured. Diana, Flash, John, and J'onn tensed but Batman did not so much as twitch. Instead he appeared absorbed in trying to discover what the Thanagarians wanted with Earth, and what they were actually building. "Batman, did you hear me?" the Kryptonian questioned.
"Yes," came the brusque reply, the man not looking up from the computer. The other members of the Justice League exchanged uneasy glances. Batman did not look up but his next sentence, snapped out in an irritated tone, was designed to reassure them. "He has permission to be here."
"Thanks for that," came a wry, amused voice and a figure in a feather covered brown cloak stepped into view. He appeared to be wearing a pure black one piece uniform underneath with some kind of brown sash across his chest, black boots, and gloves of a darker color with short, sharp blades curving out of them. A black domino mask with white lenses covered his eyes and his mouth, the only other part of his face they could see under the shadow of the cloak, was curved up in an amused smirk. "It's nice to know you're not going to let your friends attack me."
"I don't have friends," Batman rumbled and the figure let out a snort of laughter.
"Right, you just have people you glare at with different degrees of genuine irritation," was the swift retort.
Batman didn't verbally reply but he did stop typing and spin the chair around the face the figure. The figure grinned at the imposing Bat and lifted a gloved hand to removed the hood of his cloak. Whatever had darkened the gloves on his hands left a hand print on the hood but it fell out of sight before Clark could decide what the substance was. "Did you know there are crazy hawkpeople all crawling all over?" the young man asked. His dark hair faded into the shadows of the cave surrounding him, the color making Clark wonder if the boy was related to Bruce in some way.
"I'm aware of that fact," Batman replied coldly but Clark could have sworn he saw Bruce's lips twitch into an almost smile. Then the Bat's eyes fell on the gloves. "How many?" he rumbled, voice going dark, and the smile slipped off the boy's face.
"I don't know. I didn't count." Bruce didn't look convinced and the boy's expression turned icy. "Fine," he growled, tone almost akin to the Bat's. "Four in the 'Haven, all of them messy. I gave up trying to incapacitate them after the first one almost shattered my arm when I was fighting him. Two more outside the city. Three in Greensborough with Wilson. We hid the bodies there so I might have to go back and move them after this so-called invasion is over. We were headed in opposite directions, before you ask. Eight in various places between towns along the highway. None outside the city limits or inside Gotham proper." The boy didn't ask if Batman was happy but his tone implied it anyway.
"Seventeen then," Bruce said, voice empty. The boy nodded once, the movement sharp, in response. "Anything to tie them to you?"
"Of course not," came the sharp reply. "I was not trained to make foolish mistakes. I was forced to circle back at times to obtain my weapons but I have them all and I was not sloppy enough to leave a blood sample."
"Good," Bruce said but his tone this time was not entirely pleased. The boy seemed to slump under the weight of that and then winced, lifting one hand to press against his left shoulder. Bruce arched an eyebrow and the boy scowled.
"Dislocated arm. It's nothing serious."
"Could somebody please tell me what's going on?" Wally interrupted, glancing between Batman and the still masked boy.
"That isn't important," Batman growled. Wally twitched a little and Diana frowned at Bruce reprovingly. She and Wally had bonded during the time they'd spent together, becoming like brother and sister, and the princess of Themyscira was not one to shy away from Batman's irritation.
"What he means to say is that my name is Renegade," the boy interrupted, voice a little harsh. "And he's not happy that I just killed seventeen people." Wally made a sound that was almost a squeak and Clark felt his head snap around to stare at the kid. Small and slim as he was, Clark couldn't picture the boy killing seventeen Thanagarians.
"That's not what I'm upset about," Batman said, voice suddenly tired.
"Then what is it?" the boy, Renegade, snapped. "Because I'm getting mixed signals here."
"I am not pleased about your actions," came the reply and Renegade let out a frustrated, almost animalistic sounding, snarl.
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"Let me finish," Batman growled, tone dark enough to make Wally flinch. The boy straightened up sharply, like a soldier coming to attention in front of a superior officer, and all emotion washed off his face.
"Bruce?" Diana questioned but Batman ignored her.
"In not concealing your actions against the Thanagarian troops could have, and could still, draw the wrong sort of attention to you. It still might after this is over with." The boy's expression softened somehow, although Clark would be hard pressed to describe how, and he tilted his head slightly, giving off the impression of being a curious puppy.
"The Court is hibernating B. They aren't going to risk coming after me for at least another year. Especially not with how active the Shadows have been around here." Clark glanced over at John and J'onn but both gave him blank looks. Diana and Wally appeared to be equally mystified by what was going on. It sounded like the boy was speaking in some sort of code.
"That doesn't stop me from worrying," Bruce replied and the boy smiled, reaching down to peel off his gloves.
"So I've noticed." He wrinkled his nose at the soiled objects and tossed them aside where they landed with a wet thump. "I'm going to have to burn those."
"You left extra things in one of the blackout cases," was Batman's reply. The boy flashed Bruce another quick smile at that.
"I'd hoped you hadn't gotten ride of them after our last argument." The boy reached out and carefully removed the cloak, letting it fall to the floor with a soft hiss and revealing a flash of a red V that seemed to go across his chest. He winced again at the motion and scowled before lifting both hands determinedly to remove his mask. Cobalt blue eyes gleamed as the boy studied the members of the Justice League. "Richard Grayson, nice to meet you."
The name garnered a twinge of recognition in Clark's mind but he couldn't quite place it. He guessed that Grayson was related to Bruce Wayne in some way, though he wasn't sure whether or not it was by blood, but he felt like there was something else significant about the name. He resolved to check it out as soon as he had downtime again.
"Mind helping me with my shoulder?" the boy asked, turning his gaze to Bruce. "I can get it myself but I'd rather not." Batman rose fluidly and crossed to smoothly slide the boy's shoulder back in place. Richard's jaw tensed and the members of the Justice League wince at the sound it made slipping back into place. Then they startled when the boy's eyes flashed yellow.
"Holy Hera," Wally muttered and in another situation Clark would have grinned at the Flash using Diana's version of cursing. At the moment he was mildly concerned by the sign that Richard wasn't human. Was the boy a fake sent in by the Thanagarians to trap them? J'onn's eyes glowed and the boy turned to scowl directly at the Martian.
"Stay out of my head," he warned darkly. J'onn's eyes narrowed at the boy and Clark knew, without checking, that he wasn't the only one studying Renegade suspiciously. "Trust me, the boy added in a softer tone. "You don't want to see what's lurking there."
"How do we know you aren't one of the Thanagarians?" John questioned,shifting into a fighting ready position. Beside him, Diana's hands clenched into fists.
"He's not," Bruce said, turning to look at them with steady eyes. "What you just saw is part of his genetics."
"Not exactly," the boy hedged. "But close enough. I've been genetically altered in several ways and the yellow eyes are part of that." He tested his range of motion and then turned to grin at Bruce. "I'm going to change into something without quite as many bloodstains. Batman nodded and the boy faded away into the shadows, his movements difficult for even Clark to track.
"Where'd you pick him up?" Wally asked the instant the boy was out of sight.
"That isn't important," was Batman's sharp reply.
"He reacted to you like a soldier," John commented, tone almost accusing.
"By the time I rescued him, he had already been condition to follow orders or be faced with re-education," Batman said, voice tone implying that the conversation was over. The Justice League exchanged looks behind Batman's back but the boy returned before they could question further. The uniform he wore was an exact copy of the one before with a vivid red V across his chest. A fresh domino was plastered over his eyes and now that the gloves were clean Clark could see the gleam of claws at his was carrying the brown sash from before and this time the Kryptonian's eyes fell on the series of knives sheathed in the leather of the sash. The young man slipped it over his head and paused a few feet away from the Justice League, carefully outside of Clark's immediate reach since he was standing the closest to Superman.
"You said you ran into Wilson?" Batman questioned, not looking up.
"Yes," came the smooth reply, fingers flexing slightly.
"Can you contact him?" The boy's head tilted curiously at that question and he bit down on his lower lip for a moment.
"I can," he replied at last. "Why?"
"Meet up with him during the invasion," was the swift order. "I'll contact you afterwords."
"Right," the boy said, face sliding into a smirk. "We'll cause a little chaos in the meantime." He crossed the floor to pick up his earlier discarded cloak, fastening it around his neck. "Don't do anything heroically suicidal."
"I promise," Bruce agreed easily, almost too easily. "But that goes for you too."
"A hero? Me?" the boy teased, smirking widely. "I think not." He turned to leave and then hesitated, glancing over his shoulder. "Be safe Bruce." Then he vanished into the shadows the same way as he had arrived, by barely making a sound.
