XXX One Year Later(if ya lost track she's fourteen now) XXX

Riley looked out her open window. She holds her head in her folded hands and looks around at the streets below. She could faintly hear the cars going by and the honking. It's been boring for her just sitting in Lexcorp not doing much. Though she is grateful that a hero hasn't shown up making her leave.

She hears ringing and looks behind her. The cell that Lex gave her was ringing, he gave it to her so that he could call her should he need her to do something. She reached over and picked it up. She read the ID and started in surprise. Roy was calling her, does he even know I'm Renegade? She wonders.

She flips the phone open and clicks accept. She put the phone to her ear and heard Roy's voice, it sounded anxious and worried. "Hey, what's up? I haven't heard or seen you in over a year? Why is that?" Sounds like he doesn't know, she thought.

"Nothing much and…..Lex. He just suddenly doesn't want me out in public. I don't know the reason for it, though," she said lying. She's absolutely bored and knows the reason why she can't leave, but she doesn't want to tell Roy that.

"You know what I'm doin?" Wally's voice came on suddenly. "Making a bologna sandwich. Kind of like what you just did," he said and Riley frowned.

"Am I on speaker phone!" she demanded. On the other side, Roy stood uneasily with both Chad and Wally. Chad silently glared at Wally. He had told them since she was their friends too and they had a right to know. Wally was angry and hurt and Roy was well, brooding and looked like he doesn't believe him.

"Yes you are," Chad said and they heard a sharp intake of breath from Riley.

"What's going on here?" she demanded over the phone.

"Riley," Roy started, "is it true?" he asked.

"Is what true?" Riley asked. On Riley's side, she started pacing in her room, she had abandoned the window when she realized all her friends were together.

"Is it true that you're…..Renegade?" Roy asked. Riley, squeezed her eyes shut, praying that this was a dream, a horrible dream. She brought up her free hand and pinched herself. Not a dream, he'll be so mad, but he deserves the truth, she thought.

"Ah," her voice shook a little as she thought about how they'd react. They probably won't wanna be friends anymore, she thought. "It's true," she whispered, a silent tear making its way down her cheek. Roy stood shocked, looking at the phone in disbelief.

Her reply was so quiet, they almost missed it. Wally looked hurt and angry that Riley would keep this big of a secret. For Roy, it was still sinking in. Chad had already come to terms with it and has determined to help her. "I'm so sorry, you guys. I can probably guess you'll never want to speak to me again. And I don't blame you."

"How could you!?" Roy demanded suddenly. "How could you keep this a secret from us?" he asked, looking at the phone angrily.

"I….had no choice!" she replied, equally angry. "And what about you guys! I know you're all sidekicks! You kept that from me, but I kept your secret from Lex! He'd kill for that kind of information. And….he might just kill me for keeping it from him," she said. They stared at the phone.

All were in shock, Chad only knew that she knew his, she even said she knew a few others, but he didn't know who. Now they know, she knows all their identities. And she's kept it from Lex all this time, and that Lex would kill anyone, even Riley, for that info. "See! We don't actually know each other as much as you thought you did."

"You knew?" Wally asked confused. Riley was sitting on her bed, staring blankly at the window across from her. She swallowed the lump in her throat. "You knew but kept it a secret all this time?" he asked.

"Yup. Because, I valued your friendship and didn't want anything happening to you," Chad and Wally were sitting on chairs while Roy continued to pace. They were sitting in Oliver's mansion. Ollie was at the table close by, hearing every word and not joining, knowing this was between them and Riley.

"How come you 'have no choice'?" Roy asked, clenching his fists. Ollie looked up at this and seemed very interested in her answer. Chad and Batman knew the answer to that question.

"Why don't you ask Chad or Bats? They seem to know a good deal about me," she sneered through the line. They all looked over at Chad and he shrugged. "I heard you shrug Chad. You get to answer the question." Chad looked at the phone in surprise as did the others. She heard him shrug.

"No, you have to answer, it's your life and you get to answer. Not me," he replied. They heard a heavy knock through the phone and Riley's small sharp intake of breath.

"I have to go. My trainer is calling," she then hung up and they looked at each other. Ollie looked between them, very interested in what she said.

"She laid some stress on 'trainer', why?" he asked and Roy and Wally shrugged. They all looked at Chad and he bit his lip slightly.

"Batman and I found out that Lex hired a trainer for Riley, to make her into Renegade," he started and Ollie gestured for him to continue. "Her trainer is…Deathstroke," he said, taking a small step back unconsciously.

"Slade!" Ollie yelled and they all looked at him. "He is a mercenary and one of my worst enemies. We were on the same island and he tried killing me. If he's here, training Riley, we need to get her away from him. He can corrupt anyone given enough time. And she's getting close to the point of no return."

The sidekicks all felt a sense of dread fill them. "What do you mean?" Chad asked hesitantly.

"After enough time being trained by Slade, one starts to think that they're actually loyal to him. Not because of force or pain. If you want to save her from him, do it before its too late," Ollie said angrily.

"I always planned on saving her. Will you guys help me?" Chad asked and the others looked at each other. Both were angry that she kept it a secret and killed so many people, but hearing what Ollie said, that changed things. They both nodded after thinking about what was said.

"We'll help you save her," Roy said.

"And I'll help where I can," Ollie said and Chad nodded.

"We'd appreciate that since you know the man," Chad said and Ollie nodded. "Let's go to Batman and tell him what we've learned, you to Ollie," Ollie nodded and they all got up and left.

XXX

Riley hung up, closed the phone and tossed it onto the bed. Slade walked into the room and looked at her suspiciously. "Were you talking to someone?" he asked, his one eye narrowed. Riley shook her head then thought that wasn't a good way to answer.

"No, sir. Just talking aloud to myself," she said and Slade nodded, though he still looked suspicious. He walked over to the window and then closed it.

"Get changed into your workout clothes. We're training," he said, then left her alone. Once the door was closed she sighed in relief. He hadn't heard a word of my conversation with the sidekicks, she thought. She then changed into her workout gear and ran to the training room. Slade then had her practicing fighting blind again.

She's gotten better at fighting blind and Slade is proud of that. He then switched to fighting hand to hand. After a while, he decided to stop and Riley went up to her room and sat down on the bed. Her phone beeped and she looked at it in surprise. She reached over and grabbed it, flipping it open.

On the screen was a simple message: We're going to help you, from Roy. She scowled and hit the reply button and she typed a message back to him, I don't want your help! and clicked send. She then silenced the phone and gently tossed it onto the desk beside the laptop. She rested her elbows on her knees and settled her head in her hands.

After a while, a heavy knock brings her back to reality. "Yes?" Slade came into her room and she stood up.

"Get changed. I have a mission for you. Once your ready meet me at the training area's computer," with that he left and she felt heart rate pick up. She ran out of her room and made her way to the training room and grabbed the Renegade outfit and went into the changing room. Once she finished changing she went over to Slade.

"What's the mission, sir?" she asked and Slade turned to her.

"A competitor to the Light needs to be taken care of," he looked at her critically. "He goes by the name Foldar. We have minimal info on him since he stays hidden. Here's the description," she looked down at the holo glove as it received the description. "We've learned that he operates out of Jump City's harbour, close to Gotham City."

Renegade swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded. They then went to the roof and went into the helicopter. The ride to Jump City was….tense, neither talked but they felt the tension and questioned it. Soon, much to Renegade's relief, they landed in Jump City and she got out. She then started making her way to the harbour which wasn't very big.

She stopped at the top of a hill and looked out. A small island was by the city's coast, if one built a tower there, it'd overlook the whole city. She looked around and saw the small harbour was by that small island. She then started running and jumping from roof to roof. Soon she was over the harbour and she crouched down.

She raised her left arm and pulled up the description of Foldar: tall, black hair, wears black, nose is twisted to the side (broken) and has a heavy accent. Sounds pretty obvious, she thought and took out her mini electronic binoculars. She looked around the empty harbour and saw only crates waiting to be put on ships.

Soon the sun sunk to the horizon and she saw movement. She zoomed in and saw figures approaching each other. She lowered the binoculars and looked around. She saw a crane and whipped out her grappling gun. She pointed it at the crane and pulled the trigger. The hook flew across the open space and hooked onto the crane.

She looked around before jumping off. She swung through the darkening sky toward the crate. She rolled to break her fall and looked around to make sure no one heard. She went to the edge, looked around and pulled out her binoculars again. She looked at the men and nodded. The tall one was the man she was looking for.

She eased her gun out of its holder and leveled it at Foldar's head. She blew a strand of hair from her eyes and slowed her breathing. After she exhaled she pulled the trigger. The sound of the trigger echoed around the dock as Foldar fell to the ground dead. The others looked around confused and she killed some more before she was out.

She stood up and jumped down. More people came toward her and she pulled out shurikens and launched them at the men. More fell to her and the remaining men scrambled away. She grabbed the strand of hair that escaped from her ponytail and tucked it behind her ear. She then turned and headed back for the helicopter.

"You're not going anywhere," a voice called out and five figures walked out of the shadows. Renegade growled as she recognized them. All five were the ones she knew the identities of and three were her friends.

Batman and Green stood behind the three sidekicks, ready to help if needed. "Yes. I. Am," she growled out. She stepped forward and everyone got in a fighting stance. She went into her own fighting stance, feet set apart, slightly bent, arms up, one in front the other slightly behind. With the arm in front, palm up, she bent her hand, gesturing for someone to come forward.

"We don't want to fight you," Robin tried again. "Let us help you the easy way," Renegade gave a tiny jerk.

"Didn't you hear me the last time. I don't want your help. I don't need your help," she growled out as the obedient little assassin while the other part rebelled. "I am loyal to my master and boss!" she yelled.

Green looked at her in pity. "She's starting to actually believe it," he mumbled and Speedy, Kid, Robin and Batman nodded minutely.

"Please, we know that's not true. We know Slade," they saw her stumble back slightly and her gaze harden, "beats you up if something goes wrong. Let us take you away from him and help you," Robin said.

"You don't know anything about Slade," she growled and they waved Green up. "What's Greeny got to say that you haven't already tried?"

"For one, I knew Slade," he said and she looked at him in surprise. Green knew Slade, how does he know him? she thought. "Yes, I knew him. And I can tell you that he's a vicious man. He only sees you as an investment for his own personal gain. He doesn't care about you on a personal level."

Renegade's eyes narrowed at him and the glare she gave rivaled Batman's. "He's tough. But what do expect from a mercenary? I understand that and I'm ok with it. Nothing will change my loyalties," she stated and the voices in her head battled. We aren't loyal! He beats us, and there's the threat of death! her rebellious side kept saying.

But the other part was still loyal. We are loyal to Lex and Slade. You get hurt but that's because they want you to be perfect. Don't you want Lex's approval? a voice asked that she knew wasn't her own but nevertheless, she agreed. Maybe if she was perfect, he'd glance her way and maybe act like a father figure for her, even though it's years late.

"I don't want to fight you!" she called out and they felt a faint sense of hope in them. "So let me leave," the hope was dashed away. So, she still wants to leave and head to Slade, Robin thought.

"Then…..I guess you'll have to fight us. 'Cause we're not letting you go back to that man," he said. Renegade growled and pulled out a few shurikens and threw them at the heroes. Kid dodged his and the others threw or shot their respective weapon at the other ones to protect themselves.

XXX

Ok, sorry, but cliffy! I just really want to publish it tonight and I have a bad headache that's preventing me from writing. Don't worry, though, next chap should be up by tomorrow! Review! Luv ya! -RK