AN) Thank you for being so patient with me. Musical has been taking up a lot of my time and energy, though I spend most of the time being a gangster and acting like I'm either a Gotham goon or a Newsie. I also wrote a report on how feminism changed Wonder Woman over the years, it be lit. I've given my laptop up for lent, so I'm writing this on my phone. I've taken a break to better care for my mental health, which I hope is all going well for you guys. I'm super excited to write this for you guys, and am eternally thankful for your kind words and support. This school year has gone well for me, I'm starting to place less of my value in my grades and am trying to find where my value comes from. So, without further ado-and there's been a lot of it-please enjoy this chapter of Renegade.

Wally's leg was bouncing faster than the Energizer Bunny on a double shot of Espresso. His hands were rubbing together, the entire situation called for him to sit still. To listen to Batman, to offer sympathetic words to Gar and Meg and to take things slow. But all Wally wanted to do was move. Run around, do something. He couldn't just sit around while his little brother was hurting. He couldn't remember who they were, that could be fixed. What terrified Wally was the fact that Dick was addicted to some sort of drug. He tried to convince himself that it was something he and Uncle Barry and faced and defeated before, but Wally couldn't imagine his brother's mind being held hostage some chemical. Wally had been friends with kids in high school who had started using drugs, he had tried to help them quit, even had to arrest a couple of them in costume. He had seen what they had gone through, the aftereffects were horrible. He had seen people curled into balls, shaking and scratching at their skin. From what he had heard, Dick had almost done the same thing. Sweating buckets and begging for death...Wally was supposed to protect him. How could he not protect him from this?

A hand brushed over his arm. Wally's eye jumped to his right side where Artemis was sitting next to him. She tried to smile, Wally couldn't bring a smile to his face.

"You alright?" She whispered, he shook his head. How could he be alright when Dick was still being hurt? "We got him back," she squeezed his arm, trying to encourage him to see the positive in this situation, "we can help him again Wally. You can be his Steve!"

"I should've never stopped being his Steve!" Wally was on his feet, hands vibrating as he tried to keep all the anger from spilling out. It was Arty's fault, it was that monster's fault. But Wally was angry. He was tired of being angry and not being able to do anything about he. He didn't want to hurt other people, so he couldn't yell or punch or hurt anyone but that monster. So Wally had been angry for five years, waiting for Dick to smile and melt all that anger away. To have Dick hug him and make everything okay again. But that wasn't happening, Dick didn't know who he was, Dick didn't trust him.

The eyes were on him, figures. He stared right back, Kaldur was solemn, Connor looked like he was five seconds away from bursting himself, Megan still held Gar in her lap, refusing to let her little brother go after what had happened earlier. The League was looking at him with either blank or sympathetic stares. He didn't want their sympathy, he wanted them to do something! Get Dick to snap out of whatever brainwashed state he was in! They were just tip toeing around the situation, they just had to take things slow to protect him, make sure he feels safe. How could he feel safe when he was locked in a cell, how could they protect him when he wanted to kill them? They should just let Wally talk to the kid. Now that Dick was out of Slade's grasp Wally would win Dick over. Just like Steve brought Bucky back from the Winter Soldier Wally would be able to rescue Dick from whatever Slade had forced him to be.

"Wally, I don't think you ever stopped being someone who cares about him." Uncle Barry, of course, was trying to diffuse the situation, get him to calm down enough so he could be swept under the rug again.

"Duh! But he's not Bucky anymore, he's trapped in whatever that monster made and we need to shock him out of it!"

"That's not the best idea…" J'onn's voice was hesitant. "After his resistance to my attempts to establish a mental link it would be best to take things slow…"

"And let him be hurt more?" There was Connor's outburst. "Sure the mental links didn't work, but why not do what Alfred's doing right now and just talk to him? Give him back music and tell him stories?"

"That's what we're going to do." Bruce sounded so calm, it made Wally even angrier. Why didn't he feel as awful as they did? "With the assistance of the Titans…" the man turned to the strangers in the room. To Wally their presence was as unimportant as it was insulting.

"Why are they here? How on Earth are they connected to this?"

"Why do they have more rights to see Dick then we do?" Artemis threw in her two cents, coming to the defense of her boyfriend.

"Right now Dick doesn't trust us. It would be better to have an outside group gain his trust, and make him trust us again based on that." If only there was a flaw in that logic so Wally could point it out and get his way. His uncle was persuasive, he was calm, and gosh darn it if he wasn't right. "Let's go for a run. Just you and me." There was that confidence again, his eyes betrayed him though. Wally knew he was just as nervous as Wally was, but he had faith. Uncle Barry always believed that good would work itself out in the end, even if it wasn't the way you expected it to work.

Uncle Barry guided him out. Wally didn't want to argue anymore, all it would be was shouting with no results. Even though he was in college he was still seen as a kid by the League members. There was a swish as the door shut, Wally keeping his jaw clenched. He wanted to scream. Uncle Barry didn't take him to the zeta ports. Wally wasn't sure why they went to Barry's room on the WatchTower, but he didn't question it. He didn't want to say anything in case he yelled at his uncle, who didn't deserve it.

"Okay," Uncle Barry turned to face him. "Let's hear it."

"What?"

"Come on kiddo, I know you're upset so just let it out. Yell, scream whatever. I'll even let you curse."

Why would Barry want to hear all that? It was just what everyone had been saying, but with a lot more volume.

"Why?"

"It's not good to just keep it inside." Uncle Barry was still smiling. "Come one, do it here instead of in front of everyone. You'll seem a lot more reasonable to Bats if you're not foaming at the mouth."

It took the ginger a second to process everything, another moment to decide what he wanted to say first. He sorted through everything he wanted to say. How much Dick loved them, and now hated them, all the times Wally held onto him because the little boy thought it was just a dream and he wasn't really safe, every horrible word Dick had believed about himself. Wally could still see his blue eyes, could still feel the tears against his hands. There was almost a haunting laugh stuck in his memory,Wally could hear all the giggles and see all the smiles that made him feel like a hero. Making that boy happy, that's what made him a hero-not stopping bank robbers, but making his little brother feel happy. And it was gone, all gone. Dick was bitter, he was hurt and scared. He didn't smile anymore, there was no way he would laugh at Wally's jokes. He had tried to run away from them, he had threatened to kill Garfield. That was what Wally was supposed to save him from. His brother was hurt, and it was all that monster's fault.

Wally could've stopped it. He could've saved his brother. He could have finished the mission faster, he could have ran over to Dick-fought through the explosion and pulled him out of that monster's arms and ended this whole nightmare in one second. There were a whole lot of 'could haves' and not a lot of 'dids'.

That's when Wally West screamed and Barry Allen listened.

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Scott was moving up the stairs so quickly his suitcase was banging up the stairs like an elephant. The flight home had been tiring to say the least, Scott prefered to stay with his feet on the ground. Take off was the worst, that push back into the seat made him feel trapped. But despite the unliked traveling he was excited to be home. He had bought the most blatantly American T-shirt for Dick. George Washington riding a T-Rex wearing an American flag with fireworks in the background, honestly Dick was going to kill him but it was hilarious.

Throwing his dirty clothes into his hamper Scott grabbed the gift shop bag from his suitcases front pocket. He had bought a bunch of pins for his school bag, but the shirt was just too good to pass up. Scott, of course, teased Dick about being American everyday, Dick returning the favor with jokes about tea.

His parents were putting their bags away in their room, though Scott figured his dad was putting things away and his mother would be asleep. She never seemed to stay awake after a trip. Scott let the door slam shut behind him and jogged down the sidewalk to the Wilson's front lawn. He rarely went in through the front door, Dick normally came over to his house and if Scott came over they slipped in through the back. He rang the bell, feeling strange to be entering like a stranger. It took a couple minutes, but the door opened and Dick's grandpa looked down at him.

"Hey, if Dick home?" Scott knew Dick was always home, his best mate was quiet and kept to himself. He and his dad would go out every once in a while, but if Scott wasn't doing anything Dick wasn't either.

"You just missed him." There was something off about that. Dick hadn't said anything, but he had missed their last Skype chat so it must've been by surprise. "He left around an hour ago."

"Oh. Well, I just got back and I got this shirt for him." He held the bag out, wanting Dick to see the monstrosity as soon as possible. "Can you give it to him for me?"

"Of course." The old man took the bag, peering down inside of it. He chuckled, "he's going to like this one. Did you have fun?"

"Oh yeah, there's some pretty cool stuff in DC. I really liked going up to the top of Washington Monument. I took a lot of pictures in the National Treasury museum thing and at the Library of Congress." Scott didn't just want to stand around talking, so he quickly said goodbye and returned to his own house.

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Will watched the boy leave before shutting the door completely. Scott was a good boy, Richard's only friend it seemed. He didn't know how long they could keep Scott from getting curious. Slade would just tell the boy Richard died or something horrible and relocate, but Will didn't want the child to be hurt by this.

Speaking of Slade, the man was locked away in his haunt and Will prefered it that way. He had been irritable and downright unpleasant since Richard had been taken. Working on tracking the boy down and planning on how to get him back. Will moved through the house silently, the silence was normal but it still felt unnatural since there wasn't any whistling or humming seeping out from Richard's door. The room as empty.

Will removed the shirt from the bag, smirking at the silly print. Laying the shirt across Richard's unmade bed he grabbed the boy's bag from off the desk chair. It was already filled with his favorite books, albums, some toiletries, photographs and art supplies. Will had begun to add some of Richard's favorite clothes. His blue hoodie, those T-shirts with slogans, the plain shirts Slade bought and a pair of dress slacks and a dress shirt-Will wasn't going to let Richard look like a complete hooligan all the time.

He had hated the idea of the boy since he heard it. No child should be involved in such horrible things, and never treated the way he had been. When Slade had cursed up a storm when Richard had been taken Will had been relieved. He never wanted the boy to come back. Now he was safe. Will had wanted to let Richard escape but he had never had the chance to and keep his life. Now Richard had been rescued. Will, for the first time ever, was thankful to the heroes. While Slade would probably try to get the boy back Will would do everything in his power to stop it.

If Richard ever returned Will would be ready. He would take the boy in the middle of the night and get him away from all this. That's why he had the bag, that's why he hid it in the trunk of his car.

William Wintergreen never wanted Richard Grayson to be near Slade Wilson again.

AN) I hope you guys enjoyed! For me it was important to focus on how people reacted to Dick being rescued. Wally's going to have to deal with uncertainty and feeling helpless for a little while longer. I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers this week, since opening night for Guys and Dolls is this Wednesday and ya girl is weak. Please leave a comment, I am always looking for new ideas and ways to improve. Remember, today is going to be a good day and here's why-you are you, and that's enough. Never doubt your worth, ability, importance or strength. You can do it, I know you can. I love you guys, see you later.