FOUR BOYS: The Path We Seek

Chapter 18: Broken Bonds

"The difference in judgement between you and me originates from different rules derived from past experience."

"What are you doing here?" Superboy hissed. R was hurt by the other's acussing and seemingly displease tone at having seen him.

The smaller raven answered, "I wanted to see if you guys were alright, I wanted to see if L was okay-"

"Oh what, now you care. Now you are on our side? Might I remind you who shot him." S replied snarkly.

R flinched, 'Why had he come.' his gazed turned to the floor unsure on where to look.

"I managed to get away to buy us time." he mumbled.

Batman walked behind and placed a steady hand on the boy's shoulder.

Turning to S the vigiliante spoke, "Renegade couldn't help-"

"You stay out of this." S hissed, Wally's eyes widened, "S!" he shouted.

Batman glared, "Perhaps you should let Wally decided." S turned to his teammate, Wally nodded.

S looked like he wanted to intervene but sighed and sat at the green sofa he had been seating all this past days.

Batman gave R a small pat and left them to talk.

The boy stood at the entrance hesitating to come in. Wally huffed, "Dude I'm not a ghost alright came here-uff."

The sudden impact had made him gasp, Superboy leapt into action but stopped and the muffled sound coming from the sheets by Wally's stomach. 'It was not a dream, everything was not a dream.' Wally and Superboy looked surprised at their 'ex-leader' the boy who the Light had chosen, trained to be the best and with a composure nobody could match, or thats what they had seen so far.

"Hey it's alright see? In no time I will be back up and running. Right Supey?" L said trying to calm the boy and gave the clone a narrowed gaze daring him to say otherwise.

The clone rubbed the back of his neck, "Yes, Wally is fine."

"Still, I-im sorry I did this, I couldn't sto-." He said between sniffs as he nuzzled himself in the others stomach.

"Dude please, this is embarrassing. Besides R you've gone through far worse since the beginning, this is nothing compared to it. Please we are cool alright, stop it its creeping me out." Wally said, he earned a soft punch by R as he half laughed. "You are an idiot."

Wally grinned.

...

Wally had then started to tease R about his name Richard which in time Richard started to tease him about Rudolph for the matter.

S stood up, "I'm going out for a bit." He said and left, Richard turned to stare at the back of his leaving teammate looking a bit uncomfortable.

"Don't worry Ren, he is fine its just...Well, he'll come around 'k." R wasn't so sure.

"Wally about your memories..."

"Hmm? Oh Bat's told you about it. Yes a weird ass dream but thats all I've got." L replied casually.

R didn't know if he should feel relieved or not.

They kept on talking, about Flash and Batman and cookies and games of cards. Until Wally felt his eyelids heavy and Flash came just in time to administer some painkillers. The hero nodded to R, the boy gave back a tiny smile. He couldn't help but feel odd at the mountain, judging by S casual departure and L's comfortable sleep he judged he was the only one who felt that way.

He stared at his hands, 'Was it alright for him to be here? S and L were fine and they seem to get along with the heroes, the mountain was a good place for them to be. For him though... he didn't have any special power, and the things he had done even before they were out of Cadmus, he didn't deserve this.'

"What would a non-meta do in here." He muttered, he jumped suddenly aware of a presence by the door. It was a, or well, the blonde girl he had met on the last mission. She had slghtly tan skin, green uniform and combat boots, she smiled as she leaned on the doorway.

To his surprise she spoke first,"Well I am a non-meta as you see and can actually fight against super-powered heroes, now YOU boy wonder, may even give them a hard time. You are not a common boy after all."

"Artemis.."

"Artemis," She nodded, and extended her hand, "you seem in need of non-meta company."

He took the offered hand, "I'm not good at talking." She squeezed his hand and pulled him up swiftly turning around, "sparring then, come let's leave prince charming dreaming on the fairy kingdom."

He blanched and followed. 'Who was she? She was not in their database'

'Contigency 75' he thought unconsciously.

...

A punch, a dodge, flip-kick, block...

"Good block." Canary said as she assessed his adversary.

Superboy nodded in determination he felt much better, and in fact had gotten much better at controlling his anger and fighting.

He waited for the next attack, Black Canary launched...

Artemis entered the main room followed by R. She stood watching the battle, R marveled at how S had gotten better at sparring, not throwing raged punches hoping to connect but rather assessing his opponents movements and taking the best approach.

One miss step had R sighing, Canary smirking, Superboy falling and Artemis laughing.

The fail symbol appeared on the floor, the hero offered him a hand, S took it.

"Anybody see what he did wrong?" She said in general but starring at R.

"Unstable core. Wrong foot placement. You aimed for the best ungarded point once you had the opening." R summarized.

Artemis whistled impressed. "Impressive boy wonder."

Black Canary looked at him, "Exactly, good job Renegade." Pride in her eyes and a beaming smile.

R turned to S oferring a slight smirk, "You were 2 seconds late to change your stance. You should focus on guarding every opening."

Superboy's eyes narrowed. He huffed, "Think you could do a better job?"

Black Canary frowned at the tone but let it slide in favor of actually wanting to see a sparring against Renegade.

R stared at S for a second thinking about something, "...Sure, Supey."

Black Canary nodded, "Focus Superboy."

"Please BC, I've been practicing alot, I'm sure this time I can defeat the Renegade... Just as Water did." R frowned at the hidden meaning.

There was also familiarity in which Superboy talked to others, or how he refer to him as an it... It somehow irked the boy in the wrong way.

...

'BEGIN' the computer announced

Out of reflex or because of training Superboy had somehow managed to block the first attack, stumbling a bit by the force of R kick.

Both boy's assessed each other.

"Keep your focus S!" Black Canary said, observing from the sideline.

Superboy was soon standing directly in front of the R who was quick to engage the Kryptonian in hand-to-hand combat.

R jumped into action swiftly aiming a punch towards Suberboy's temple, slightly surprised that Superboy had managed to blocked his attack by grabbing his wrist, effectively stopping the blow from making contact.

Superboy used this to his advantage as he used Renegade's momentum to flip the boy over his shoulder.

Renegade was moving before Superboy even had time to think, within seconds he was standing right in front of him. He aimed a punch towards the boys temple, but it never landed.

Renegade had ducked backwards, placing his hands on the floor, he used his momentum to bring his legs up and land a kick underneath Superboy's chin.

"You keep doing the same thing." R supplied.

Superboy grunted at the force of the kick, R may not be considered a meta, but he had something else, and that included lethal force and a deadly aim.

He tried to kick out at where R had been just a few seconds before but his foot connected with nothing but air. He almost lost his balance before looking over to where his teammates stood a good few metres away from him smirking lightly.

Superboy recovering from his initial shock growled. He had to admit he underestimated R but this was a fight he was not going to lose.

Superboy charged forward once again, all control and rationality left behind. He was ready to land a blow however, just as he was close enough to land the punch, R was airborne and flipping over him. He followed the ex-leaders movement only to receive a sharp kick to the ribs when he turned to face his opponent. He growled and punched out but Robin was again bounding away from him in an array of backwards walkovers.

Black Canary frowned as she didn't like how this was turning.

"I still don't get it. How can you say you lost to Water, Renegade." Superboy moved towards R more slowly this time, the boy matched his movements by edging backwards.

R tensed his teeth clenching, "Face the facts. I already told you I was in no condition at the time."

"There is still no way. Please I´ve fought against you even having broken bones. I've seen you spare with L and W, there is no way, Water would have won." R had already back away so much as to stand at the edge of the arena.

Superboy ran at him, trapping him in the corner of the platform trying to limit R movement. R looked troubled and started making slight mistakes, Canary noticed the change. What had happened, what was S talking about.

R realized what S planned to do, attempted to maneuver away from him, but the clone was ready for this and blocked every attempt.

"Please are you really trying? I start to believe more on the fact that W did not win against you, but you let it happen-"

"-Stop saying things you don't know, S!" R shouted clearly loosing his cool for a minute.

"BE SERIOUS ABOUT THIS, STOP FAKING, STOP LYING TO US ALREADY!" the clone pressured.

S threw a punch towards R's head which he did not meet the target, as he had expected. Even with in small space, R had managed to duck out of the way and now glared at S's back. Superboy growled immediately tried again, kicking out at R's stomach, but the boy saw it coming and turned to the side, The clones foot only brushing the kevlar suit.

"Are you going to keep dogging? Or you really going to fight back. No wonder Water won."

"Stop it" R growled.

"Boys." Black Canary warned.

R grabbed his leg as it passed in front of him and pushed it back strongly, Superboy stumbled backwards loosing his balance, but did not lose his footing. R started attacking seriously, punch after punch, kick after kick, his eyes were narrowed and his body shook with anger. It turn Superboy started to react as well, he was getting angrier with every hit the boy landed on him. He couldn't think properly. Couldn't strategise. He just needed the other to stop.

He yelled as he charged forward, in blind rage simply colliding with R pushing him to the floor and straddling him.

R struggled to get free he panted slightly and looked above, his anger replace by shock when he noticed S was not finish.

The fist came done with great force as the light of the field deemed.

...

"SUPERBOY STOP!" The punch impacted with the floor sending pieces of concrete flying of off the crack just a mere inch from R's face.

L had gotten out of bed with difficulty. He stared at the scene infront of him. "Gu-Guys! What the hell S! What is wrong with you dude?!"

R kept starring ahead into the raged clones eyes, his body unmoving other than labored breathes. His cheek had started bleeding from a small slash made by one of the flying pieces.

"Superboy stand down." Batman said.

"Are you going to say the truth, now or will you keep denying it."

R swallowed, "You just won, like Water did at that time."

"No." S growled, "Say it R, you planned it, you made it happen, you allowed Water to win that time, right. You made him become the leader. That way Water would be subjected to the last stage and you would get away for the Light." Superboy stared at the blue orbs of his teammate.

Black Canary as well as Wally and Artemis stared at the scene in silence and expectancy. 'Was this why S was so upset, why the fight had gotten slightly out of hand. Had he wanted to test R's reasons.'

"I- I couldn't he-help it." R whispered sourly his eyes feeling with pain.

Superboy laughed bitterly as he got up, "I knew it. You planned this and you've been lying to us, you've been using all of us to your heart's content to follow whatever plan you have for yourself. Talk about friendship. Tch, you are just like the Light-"

"-You wouldn't understand." R insisted as he stood shakily.

"What else is there to understand from somebody who is clearly not on our side." Superboy's eyes shone with anger, "I'll tell you what's clear... You are a merciless leader, a liar, a killer, a weapon for the Light."

Blue eyes were opened in shock and pain as he regarded the retrieving clone.

"Superboy!" L shouted, S was taking it too far. The ginger got between his comrades albeit slowly.

Black Canary and Artemis were silent.

It was the dark chuckle from the young raven, followed by an equally dark laugh, that had L truning to him worriedly and S's frown to deepen. R looked at the clone, no trace of amusement in his face, "You think you are so clever, Supey!" S flinched, "You are correct about the fact that, I'm a leader, a liar, a killer, a weapon." The blue orbs shone threatenly, "but so are you. The four of us we, we were all trained to be weapons for the Light remember or have you forgotten because you've spent some quality time with the heroes as W and I faced the wrath of the masters."

"Ren." L said trying to get close to the clearly agitated raven.

R backed away in response,"You got everything figured out right. You are so happy playing the hero now that you feel you belong somewhere else rather than in a pod. Sorry I couldn't stay back then, sorry that I had to take W with me. I was just ecstatic to run back to our masters and sacrifice my friend in order to prove my loyalty to them."

Tears where already threateaning to fall at that point, but he was not done, "You know, being here doesn't mean you are less of killer than I am! I know I'm not a hero I know what I was taught to be, what I was trained to be. I kill, hurt, control and destroy everything and everyone in my way."

R took one last breath, "I know I have no room here, that I've never had somewhere to belong... At least I'm not trying to fool myself and think I deserve something better."

L's heart constricted at the pain of his friend, and jugding by S's expression he was clearly feeling it as well.

Tears were falling silently as the boy shouted, "Still it didn´t mean that I wanted all this to happen to Water, to L, to you and me. It didn't mean that I would stop trying to get us out of that hell even if I knew it wouldn't it wouldn't be possible. I still wanted Water, Wally and you out of this, I wanted you to be free even if it meant that I would, that I would have to s-stay th- there, cause I knew I don't deserve anything else."

From the very first time they met R, the boy had never once lost his composure like that to anyone. R turned away and rapidly headed to leave, Wally speeded infront of him, ignoring the slight burn on his abdomen. R sobbed in the other shirt, "Water wanted to be the leader instead and that way help me break us all out of the Light's control. I- I selfishly agreed. As you said Superboy, I let him win once I knew about a final stage, a 'Last Substance' that would turn off our remaining humanity..."

He turned to the clone once again who flinched as he saw the pained glared directed his way, "I was scared. I was actually terrified to know that once I turned into what they want, every hope for us to be free, would end. I was afraid I would take you all with me and even the League and Earth down with us. So yes, I sacrificed Water, I ran away, I lied to you guys, hoping there would be a slim chance."

He shook his head controlling his breathing once again, "As I thought there isn't any sort of hope in this hellish world."

R's eyes were glossy and he panted slightly after letting everything out. He bit his lip and did not look at Lightning who was still holding him.

Wally was surprised as he was suddenly pushed away "Dude! Ah hey, Ren wait!"

The boy left running out of the place. The ginger turned to the clone, he was clearly in shock, devasted, hurt and angered with himself.

"Superboy." L called his tone firm, 'They needed to fix this. As they knew, they had been clearly running away form their reality. Was it really R who had abandoned W, or was it them who had abandoned the other two.'

...

R had headed to the place where he knew he wouldhave a bit more space, the grotto. He stared at the sea as he sniffed and wiped the remaining tears away. It seemed everything he did at the moment was cry and ruin everything.

There was a beep, he turn to look at the small wrist computer Alfred had handed to him before leaving.

It was the Dark Knight. "Renegade I'm done here. I'll be heading back to the batcave, are you done?"

"Why?" 'Why would they want him there.'

"..."