Summary: should be known by now^^

Disclaimer: should be known by now, the picture is the wonderful actor Matt Bomer don't own either^^

- there were some pro and negative comments towards slash? Would anyone want a slashy version of this? Wally/Dick and Slade/Dick primary

Theoretical, he realised, he had every thing here which mattered to him, the question was did he want to?

Slade had been nothing but kind to him in the past few days. Getting him his clothing and his most valued possessions could be considered an act of kindness, too. But the question remained why? Yes the man mentioned the military and while Slade left the service it was still in his every movement and a big part of his mind, just like being an acrobat was part of him. So it was something like kinship? Yes, they didn't agree on everything but... . His so-called allies and their behaviour had hurt him deeply, theoretically they were on the same side but practically? He knew they wouldn't trust him and he had lost his trust and faith into them. They were just too different, just not like him, just not like Slade. For as much as he had denied it in his past, Slade was a lot like him. In his teenage years it had been one of the worst insults to be compared to the man, but now he wasn't sure anymore. The bad guys were supposed to be bastards and annoying while the good guys were supposed to be nice and caring. Why was the bad guy kind and the good guys utter bastards? The world just didn't make sense anymore and he felt lost. Feeling like a little child he took the stuffed toy elephant and went back to bed. Hopping to awake to a world which finally made sense again.

Slade watched the movements critically, a lot of sleep was a sign of depression. Dick wasn't a person to hold a grudge for long, so for him to get a depression once the first fumes of anger died done wasn't much of a surprise. At least he had the little stuffed toy, a prove of his parents love, it should keep the worst thoughts at bay. Now, with the blind self-righteousness which got him through the days fading away it was time for something new to fill the gapes, not poison to break him down but steal to built him up.

With a little breakfast tray as excuse he entered Dick's room, the younger male turned him, good his reflexes were still in good condition.

"You steal, you kill, you are bad, a criminal", said Dick slowly in a soft voice, it wasn't insulting just stating facts.

Slade nodded, no reason to deny the truth.

"Why are you helping me?", the hero finally asked while clutching the toy tightly to his chest.

"You know I have a sense of honour don't you?" he asked calmly no matter how rude it was to answer a question with a question.

"Yes, I know", Dick replied," you consider me a fellow soldier in a way don't you?", trying to make sense out of Slade's kindness.

Yes he could work from the angle," you are more like me than like the heroes", he stated and watched with a sense of satisfaction as Dick nodded. "They don't understand the world, they are like little children seeing everything in black and white", he continued, " you are starting to see everything in grey don't you?"

"Why aren't the good guys behaving like good people, why are you, a murderer, better as a human being than them?" , spilled from Dick with a look of desperation on his face.

Slade stepped closer to him and sat on the edge of the bed pleased as Dick didn't make a move to get away, " the real words has so many shades of grey, there are no absolutes. Some people need to be killed to stop them, however that does not mean that you should be like your little brother. Killing because they kill, what makes that you? God's judge? Those self-righteous psychopaths are pathetic. Tell me do you know the epistemology child?"

"Do you believe in that theory?" Dick asked completely focused on Slade.

"We know what we can prove and we can never fully understand the world", he agreed," I know for a fact that the world got to be a better place as I killed certain people as for the others, if I hadn't taken the job than another would have. There is good in the world and bad, am I evil for taking advantage of it?"

"Killing is bad", stated Dick again in a weak voice and Slade moved closer and whispered," the murder of you parents was bad, a little criminal trying to prove a point by killing innocents. But getting paid for killing terrorists, saving innocents, is that bad, too?"

A pained expression crossed Dick faced," if killing can be right, than what is right?" he asked, almost in a whine.

"Your own code of honour tells you what is right and wrong, saving billions for the price of a few is already a part of it isn't it?" , it was almost rhetorically on his part, yet Dick nodded anyway," and do you consider yourself a bad or even evil person?" There this was important, his key argument...

"I saved many people I'm a good person", Dick's voice gained confidence, "saving people if I can help them is a part of my honour code", his voice had reached a clam self-confident tone.

"And killing can be a necessary evil", Slade added smoothly and after a moment of silence ... Dick nodded.