Alright, I held true to what I said and got this up before the weekend's end. For now I did decide I want to change it though. I looked it up, and supposedly Dick once disguised himself as a villain in order to infiltrate a secret society that lex was running, and that his name was Renegade. What do you guys think? It's either that or use Talon which would be referencing the fact that (also in the comics), Dick was supposed to be selected by the Court of Owls to be an assassin. Except when his parents died it threw it off as he moved in with Bruce. A friend of his from the circus ended up being chosen and turned into an assassin and had that as his alias. Or maybe I'll end up with someone completely unrelated to his character's history, I just happen to know this stuff and take advantage of it :P I'm updating the poll on my profile to incorporate these names. But for now I'm switching it to Renegade. Also, I'm still looking for a beta reader for this story. I tried proof-reading this myself, but it's generally my weakness.
Bruce Wayne went into the clinic and walked up to the receptionist's desk. The woman recognized him and buzzed open the door to let him through, "Leslie, you wanted to see me?" A petite lady looked up from her computer to meet Bruce's worried face.
"Yes, I did," Leslie stood up from her desk, speaking in a soft, but serious voice, "Walk with me." She motioned with her hand for him to follow her to the lab, "So, what Dick has is called retrograde amnesia, pretty much what most people think of amnesia as. I think everyone assumed that the cause was severe trauma to his brain when he got injured."
"And it was, right?" Bruce asked, raising an eyebrow. Leslie didn't answer at first as she typed in the password on the keypad. Once the door opened, she walked over to the counter and spread out two pictures.
"The first one on the right is a brain scan from before the incident, a few months ago. This here is the cerebellum which controls his memories." She touched a part of the scan with her finger. "And then this, is the after." Her other hand touched the corresponding part on the other photo. "They're exactly the same. There's a slight fracture that the stitches will fix, but the cerebellums are exactly the same… no damage done."
Bruce stared at her blankly, "So, what is that supposed to mean?" He narrowed his eyes and scanned the pages for anything different between them. "If his brain is fine, then what's causing it?"
"I'm afraid that's the million dollar question," She sighed and put the scans in a file folder, "Brain damage isn't the only possible cause of amnesia, there are others. Not everything shows up in brain scans, so I want to check on some other stuff. After all, scans aren't the only thing we can check. Could you get me a blood sample to run some tests on? It could narrow down the possibilities,"
Bruce's face faltered. They still hadn't found a sign of Dick, not really assisted by the fact that the team had let Cheshire escape. The security cameras had been disabled prior to the breakout as well. "I'll see what I can do," He lied, and accepted the syringe that Leslie was offering him. After a few more formalities, the man exited the clinic and headed over to Mount Justice to assign a mission.
"Team, report for briefing," He said over the intercom as he exited the zeta tube. Within minutes, the whole team stood before him, already suited up. A screen opened up behind him and displayed a photo of a scientist. "This is Henry Gray. He works at Star Labs. Recently, he's almost finished developing a regenerative technology. The Justice League received a tip-off that the League of Shadows was interested in stealing the data. We're going to go keep an eye on him until it is completed."
"Cool. Wait, we?" Wally asked, confused. Aqualad nudged his arm slightly to shut him up, "Alright. We can use the bioship to get there." They all started towards the bioship and M'gann connected everyone but Batman mentally.
'Why does Batman keep coming with us on missions?' She asked curiously
'I don't know.' Superboy responded 'But I'm tired of his babysitting.'
'He's just worried about Dick.' Wally argued. He'd known Robin for years, and he also had known how close he and Bruce were.
'Wally's correct. I do not know if Robin is Batman's actual son, but they seem to have a strong relationship similar to that of a father and son. If any of you were in his shoes, I have no doubt you wouldn't be the same way. So that's enough.' Aqualad ended the conversation as they got onto the ship, Batman taking Robin's usual seat. The bioship lifted up and they rode in silence towards their destination.
"Hurry up," Renegade demanded, "We don't have all day." The teen sat on a desk next to Gray in the giant office, messing with the gun in his hands. He'd mostly learned how to use it, but still needed to perfect his aim. The man in front of him frowned at Dick fearfully before returning to his work.
"Be patient Renegade. We don't want him messing up, or else he's useless." Cheshire chimed, who was pacing back and forth between the two windows, keeping an eye out. She knew they weren't the only ones after Gray. Some people hated the idea of it existing at all. Almost as if on cue, the window in between them shattered as an unexpected guest entered.
"Deathstroke," Renegade acknowledged, standing up. "What are you doing here?" He asked, and narrowed his eyes at the presence of the hired gun.
"Business, kid," Deathstroke said and pulled out his sword. He walked towards the scientist until Cheshire blocked his path.
"The league of shadows needs him alive," She said and drew her own weapons out.
"And I need him dead in order to get paid," He responded. "I advise you not to get in my way, or you'll be dead too."
Meanwhile, the team arrived on the scene and split up. "Superboy and I will patrol the perimeter. The rest of you get inside to keep Gray safe." Aqualad ordered. The rest of the team, plus Batman, walked into the lab to find the standoff between Cheshire, Renegade, and Deathstroke.
"Oh look, now it's a party," Cheshire sneered. "Renegade, you handle Deathstroke and I'll get the rest." Renegade nodded and took Cheshire's place while she began to fight with the team.
"So you're going to 'handle' me?" Deathstroke smirked under his mask. "I won't say this isn't going to be fun." Renegade dual-wielded daggers and ran at Deathstroke, aiming for his stomach. Deathstroke easily stepped to the side, punching Dick in the back of the head. The teen stumbled forward slightly, but turned around and ducked Deathstroke's sword.
Cheshire took on Artemis and Batman while Wally and Miss Martian worked on freeing the scientist from where Cheshire and Renegade had tied him to the chair while he worked. Cheshire blocked Batman's punch and returned a kick to his stomach. Artemis grabbed her in a choke hold from behind, but Jade backed her sister into the wall behind them.
Renegade did a back hand spring to avoid another slash from his opponent and gave his signature laugh, "Missed me!" The cackle echoed around the large room and Kid-Flash looked up from the ropes. 'Wait, that laugh! Robin! Quick M'gann! Add him to the link!' Megan quickly obeyed, 'Robin?'
"Get out of my head!" Dick yelled aloud. He stopped and glared at Megan. Deathstroke took advantage of the distraction and swung at Renegade, catching him off guard. Dick clenched his teeth as it grazed his upper arm and tore at his skin. The man then kicked Dick in the stomach and knocked him down against the wall.
"Robin!" Kid Flash yelled and ran towards him. He punched Deathstroke at super speed and knocked him out cold before turning to Dick, "Dude! Are you ok? We've been-" He was cut off as Renegade threw a dagger at him. Wally quickly vibrated his molecules and the weapon passed through his body, but then he just stood there. Renegade got to his feet and knocked Kid Flash down, about to stab him with his other knife.
Artemis, Cheshire, and Batman had all paused for a moment at the scene but then started to move again. Artemis notched an arrow in her bow and aimed at Jade. "Go. I've got her covered." Batman ran in the direction of his son while Artemis glared at Cheshire, "What's with this? You're treating him like a sibling? I thought you didn't want a sibling!" Cheshire frowned under the mask and stared back at her sister.
Wally gaped up at his former best friend who was ready to murder him without a single thought. Batman arrived and pulled Dick off before he could stab him. Then Miss Martian levitated Kid Flash to safety before trying to help the scientist again. Renegade grunted and went to jab Batman, but the man grabbed his wrist and squeezed a nerve so he would drop the knife. Bruce grabbed his other wrist as well and pinned him against the wall, doing his best to keep him subdued but not hurt him.
"Let go!" Dick shouted and kicked at him to no avail. Bruce stared at his ward and frowned.
"What did they do to you? I can help. I'm not going to hurt you." He said gently. Tortured him? Blackmailed him? Mind-control? Cloning?
"Not going to hurt me? You have been for years. You were just waiting for me to get killed one day!" Dick scoffed, and glanced at Cheshire through his mask.
"What?" He looked at him as if he was crazy. "I wouldn't hurt you. Dick, don't trust the shadows. They're manipulating and lying to you." He tried to reason.
Artemis was still aiming at Cheshire, "Well? Anything to say?" She scoffed. Jade spun her head to the window as if she saw something. Artemis fell for it and looked there too. Cheshire dropped a smoke canister and punched Artemis, grabbing her bow and throwing it out the broken window. She stood back up and ran where she'd last seen Renegade.
"Funny," Dick smirked, "They're saying the same about you." Cheshire found them and rammed into Batman, knocking him off of Renegade.
"Go!" She shouted to Dick. "I'm right behind you!" She stabbed her knife through Batman's cape and into the desk to momentarily trap him and dashed after Renegade, aborting the mission. She was more worried about him then the job. She met him safely on the ground two stories below and they ran past Superboy and Aqualad to escape.
Batman eventually ripped off his cape and stood up, running to the window to find that both of them were long gone. He swore loudly and punched the wall, leaving a crater. The man shut his eyes and clutched the windowsill. When he opened them again, his eyes drifted to Deathstroke's sword which was lying on the ground next to his unconscious body. Some of Dick's blood had been left on it. Batman took some of it in a vile and glared at Slade coldly for hurting his son. The Dark Knight, now even darker, then swept from the room, leaving the team behind and becoming more determined to fix what the shadows had done to his son.