A/N: Umm... Hey guys...It's been a while...

Anyway, I'm not going to disillusion you guys, this is my least favorite chapter yet :(

I tried so many times to fix it, and this is what I ended with. Basically there's a fast forward in time and then some setting of the stage for next chapter's epicness. Ugh, I hate fillers.

On the plus side, Renegade appears! Yay!

I'll try to be more efficient in 2013...My goal is to update one more time before the year ends. Will it happen? I don't know. I'm shooting for getting chapter eight up on my birthday.

As a side note, who has seen the Hobbit? Thoughts? Opinions?

Review Responses:

Bumbleboy92: You reviewed in December! I don't know why, but it made me happy to see that I was still getting readers even with my lack of updates. Your list of "Perfect Things" made me smile because they're the factors that I love in a story too...Of course, that's why I'm using them...Thanks for reviewing!

Persistence: I completely understand, school is an evil device created to prevent the creative minds of the world from publishing their works on ! Then again, it does give us the grammar neessary to create these works...Anyway, I'm glad that you're liking the progression of the story! Deathstroke is a manipulative (insert mean word here that can accurately describe the cruelty that is Deathstroke)! That's my insight for the day ^^ Have a wonderful holiday season!

kuromi123: I finally updated! Yes, young Richard is now Renegade D: The League and the Team, I highly doubt, will find out Dick's alive in this story. Still debating a sequel. Anyway, nope. I figured the whole "Deathstroke kidnaps Robin" plot, despite how much I love and always read those fics, wouldn't work right. Add in some feelings of betrayel and emotional trauma, and BAM! You got a voluntary apprentice :D Erm... I'm gonna stop now because I don't even know what I'm talking about anymore...Hope you enjoy, and thanks for the review!

I only did three this time because...I felt like it? I don't know...I'm running on no sleep.

Here's the chapter!

Chapter 7- Dispassionate

"You can say I give you this information as a dispassionate observer."

―Bill Goldberg

Jason Todd waited. To say he'd been concerned would be an understatement, not that he'd admit it. Richard hadn't shown up at the apartment at all the previous night. Or at all the next day. Or even the day after that. None of Red Hood's sources knew anything; according to Red Arrow, not even the League database held any clues. It was as though the kid had vanished into thin air.

Half a year after Dick disappeared, both boys had given up hope of seeing the little bird ever again. Neither Red Hood nor Roy knew if he was taken, killed, or just chose to leave. That was probably what killed them the most. They didn't know if their brother left willingly or was forced. They didn't know what sort of state he was in. They didn't know anything.

In the span of the teen's absence, several things had changed. Red Arrow was now considered rogue. It all began due to his love interest: Cheshire. It was on a mission with the Team that Red Arrow had tagged along on. They were supposed to halt all activities at a League of Shadows base in the Rocky Mountains. For the quickly maturing team, everything was going swimmingly. That is, until a certain feline showed up. With her skills, Cheshire soon incapacitated Miss Martian, causing the young heroes to quickly retaliate. With the combined attacks of the remaining teammates, Cheshire was cornered in a matter of minutes.

Watching all of that, Red Arrow came to a conclusion; he couldn't just stand by as they arrested his girlfriend! So in a display surprising everyone, Red Arrow shot a smoke screen arrow, distorting the Team's view. There were shouts of complaint and confusion going all around, the perfect cover. Sprinting into the smoke he'd created, Red Arrow had grabbed Cheshire's hand and led her away. When the smoke cleared and the Team could see again, both Cheshire and their ally were gone.

However, that incident wasn't what clinched his rogue status. All that did was put it into debate. After all, he only helped out Cheshire. It was clearly a desperate action done for love. It's not like he had any malicious intent. Well, that's what Green Arrow and Black Canary argued, and it worked. All he'd gotten was a stern lecture about responsibility versus relationships while in the business.

The real reason that Red Arrow was now on the League enemy list was because of Red Hood. After the Cheshire incident, Roy had been skating on thin ice, but that didn't stop him from assisting his friend when he'd asked for help two weeks later. Red Hood's scheme was risky, he was going to steal tech from Wayne Enterprises, but he needed a lookout in order to do so. Roy was that lookout. Going into the mission, Red Arrow knew he'd be crossing a line with the League, but the tech was to help in the hunt for Dick. It was some sort of cell phone sonar programming that Wayne Enterprises kept under lock and key, supposedly it was a bit amoral.

During that fateful night, Red Arrow crouched on a building nearby the Wayne tower. When the Red Hood was almost done (he had the program, was escaping, and everything) the League showed up, or at least Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Hawkman. Knowing that he wasn't coming back from this one, Red Arrow showed off why exactly he'd once been called Speedy.

In quick succession he fired an arrow at the Wayne building with a wire attached so Red Hood could slide to safety, an arrow with kryptonite attached (courtesy of the original Robin) at Superman so he couldn't be an issue, and a smoke screen arrow to distract the other Leaguers. He fired them so fast that Red Hood was standing at his side by the time the League recovered. Normally it would've been more difficult to accomplish a feat such as evading the League, but the group of older heroes were clearly too relaxed. They'd expected an easy mission. Shame on them.

That night, Red Arrow had looked towards the League with a fierce look. He'd chosen who to side with, and it wasn't them. With a two finger salute from Red Hood, the two young men disappeared into the night, leaving behind a very shocked and betrayed Justice League. Red Arrow was classified as rogue the very next day, in the meantime disappearing off of the League's radar.

Another change was the official announcement of Robin number two and his subsequent training with the Team. As he wasn't yet an official sidekick, just an in-training one, Robin Two was considered an authorized guest by the zeta tubes. The last time Jason had managed to get information, the boy was being announced as A07.

Back in Blüdhaven, Jason had been forced to adjust to living without his little brother. The first adjustment involved him coming up with a tale to preserve their identities. The excuse he'd come up with was that the young Chester Honeywell had been sent to live with his mother for a while. At first, many people who Dick had gotten to know had knocked on the door with questions, much to Jason's chagrin. Luckily, the older "Honeywell" brother found that as time went on, less people came. In fact, even he was feeling the affects of time. The longer Dick was missing, the less he entered Jason's thoughts. That is, until something happened a few months later.

It was at the eight month mark that a figure known as Renegade began popping up. At first, people thought he was just made up. Even Jason thought he wasn't real. Renegade was said to be a thief, an errand boy for the most ruthless mercenary on the planet. That's why Jason didn't believe he existed. Nobody had enough guts to work for Deathstroke the Terminator.

When Renegade was still said to be causing problems at the ten month mark, Jason finally acknowledged his existence. In fact, he was even beginning to respect the thief…until he stole thousands of dollars from Red Hood's business. That made the anti-hero pissed. Nobody stole from him. It was at that point Red Hood decided it was time to meet this Renegade character face to face.

And he had the perfect idea for such a meeting too.

"That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Roy said as soon as Jason had relayed his plan.

Jason scoffed at the other guy's criticism, "I'll have you know," he said, "that it's better than anything those tight wearers in the League could come up with to catch the guy."

"No it's not. There's a reason Renegade hasn't been caught yet, and it isn't because of bad plans. He's good at what he does."

"Which makes my plan so perfect!"

"Perfectly stupid."

Jason glared at his red-headed friend, "Listen, those do-gooders, like the cops, Mini Justice, and the League are using do-gooder methods to catch Renegade. Their way isn't working. It's smart, sure, but it's not going to get anything done."

"And your way will? It's crazy and way too simple to catch him!"

"That's why it'll work. It's so simple that he'll have no choice but to play along."

Roy just rolled his eyes and walked away. As he walked though, he couldn't help but realize that, despite the idiocy and simplicity of it all, Red Hood's plan could actually draw the infamous Renegade out of hiding.

"Check out the happenings in Blüdhaven!" Wally called as he sped into the room after just entering the cave.

"Why?" Connor asked monotonously, he and Kaldur had been playing a nice, quiet game of chess, until the speedster had interrupted.

"Red Hood is up to something."

Kaldur moved his queen and then turned to face Wally. "I believe that the Red Hood is always up to something," the Atlantian said.

"But this time it involves Renegade!" Wally's exclamation instantly drew the attention of everyone in the room. All eyes, those of Kaldur, Connor, Zatanna, Megan, Artemis, and Raquel, were wide in amazement. Renegade was a mystery, a specter that even had the League stumped. The thief was good at what he did, going in and out of even Wayne Enterprises without setting off an alarm. He was so good that he was dangerous. Especially given that he worked under the infamous assassin Deathstroke.

That's why the League wanted him. He was accomplishing feats for a man high up on their priority list. The objects that Renegade had taken already weren't all that valuable by themselves, but Batman was close to discovering just how dangerous they could be when combined. Add Deathstroke into the equation, and the League had a serious problem on their hands. Then, of course, there were the millions of dollars that had been stolen as well. Nobody knew if the money was just Renegade going for some self-profit or if Deathstroke needed it to buy something.

Either way, one person that'd been robbed was the drug lord of Blüdhaven, Red Hood. The team didn't know a lot about Red Hood, but they did know that he had some personal connection to Batman. They also knew that one did not simply mess with the Red Hood and get away with it…Or at least, nobody did until Renegade came along.

"Well?" an impatient Wally asked, "Turn on the news! It's got to be showing everywhere by now!"

Not needing to be told again, Artemis grabbed the remote and flicked on the television. The scene that greeted the team was…unexpected? Odd? Inventive? A bit much? They really weren't quite sure how to describe it because what the screen was showing was all of that and more.

What the news was broadcasting that had the teens in shock was a massive fire on top of a rather wide building. It wasn't just a random fire either. It was controlled. In fact, it was controlled so well, the message it was trying to send was crystal clear. Even from the news chopper that was sending the image to the public. See, the message the fire was sending…was a literal message. Like, with words and everything. It read:

Dear Mr. Renegade,

I do not take kindly to little punk asses taking my stuff! You got a problem with me you say it to my face! Or are you not man enough?

With regards,

Red Hood

P.S. You'll regret ever screwing with my business.

P.S.S. Fuck you asshole!

"Is Red Hood challenging Renegade to a fight?" Raquel asked in amazement.

"It would appear so," Kaldur responded, equally amazed.

Artemis snorted, "He didn't hold back on his feelings, did he?" she observed amused.

"Why would Red Hood do this?" Miss Martian questioned aloud to herself, which drew the others' attention.

"What do you mean Megan?" Zatanna asked.

"Well," the Martian began, "Renegade doesn't seem like the kind of guy to be baited by such a blatant challenge, and Red Hood, from what I've learned about him, should be smart enough to know that."

"So why would a smart guy like the legendary Red Hood do something like this to draw out an enigma like Renegade?" Raquel summed up.

"That's what you are going to find out," Batman's voice said suddenly, causing everyone to jump. The team looked around in confusion until Aqualad decided to grab his comm. unit which had the Dark Knight's image on its screen. The rest of the teens quickly followed suit and grabbed their comm. units as well.

"Excuse me Batman, but why are you not delivering this mission to us in person? Or on the screen in the briefing room?" ever the leader, Aqualad was the one to ask.

Batman scowled, "The Joker broke out of Arkham, so I'm needed here in Gotham. I also tried contacting you as I normally would if I couldn't go directly to the cave, but nobody answered. I'm assuming that you couldn't hear me due to the volume of the television."

At Batman's reproach, Zatanna quickly grabbed the remote from where Artemis had set it and turned down the volume. "Sorry," the magician in-training apologized, "we should probably finish updating our alert system…" of course, before his death, Robin had been the one updating it, but Zatanna wasn't about to bring up the deceased hero.

"We'll address that later," Batman stated, "Right now, I have a mission for you. As you know, Red Hood is causing havoc in Blüdhaven in an attempt to draw out Renegade. Your job is to head over there, lookout for either Renegade or Red Hood, and apprehend them if possible."

"You actually think Renegade's gonna show?" Rocket asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You're going there as a precautionary measure. If he does show, you'll be there. That's a better outcome than him showing and nobody being there. Batman out," after that not so good goodbye, the screens on the comm. units all went blank.

Kid Flash was the first to speak up, as per usual, "Did anyone else think Batman seemed a bit out of character?"

"Just you Baywatch," Artemis dismissed.

"Bioship is ready to go Aqualad," Miss Martian informed before Kid Flash could say anything to offend the archer.

The Atlantian nodded and said, "Very well, then let us move out."

"Shitshitshitshitshit…" Red Hood muttered as he hopped onto another building. Everything had been going according to plan when out of nowhere the freakin' mini capes popped up and chased him halfway across his own city! Since when did the League get so involved in Blüdhaven? They usually let it rot on its own. When the twerps were hunting down Dick about a year earlier it hadn't been as surprising. Dick was the Batman's ward after all. But Dick was dead. Even Chester was gone. So why would the punks be there now?

"I think he went that way," Red Hood winced when he heard the Martian's voice, they were getting closer.

"Do you hear his heartbeat Superboy?" the magician girl's voice asked.

The clone's grunt sounded out, "There's too many around here to pick out his," he explained.

"I say we check there," the archer suggested, obviously pointing toward where Red Hood was hiding behind a smokestack.

"Wait!" Kid Flash's tone screamed shock, "Look over there! I see his hood! And it's going fast!"

"I see him too!" Rocket.

"No way could he get there so fast." Artemis.

"It looks like him though, can't you see the jacket?" Superboy.

"It appears to be him." Aqualad.

"Well, come on!" Zatanna.

Footsteps taking off quickly.

Red Hood sighed in relief. How embarrassing would it have been if he'd been caught by the wannabe heroes? He was too good to go down that easily, even if he didn't have powers. Well, he had a gun…he supposed that was close.

Dusting himself off to return back to the lonely apartment, Red Hood became aware of a presence nearby. Looking up, he noticed a small silhouette standing on top of the no longer in use smokestack.

"Hey!" Red Hood yelled up at the figure, pulling out a gun to add emphasis, "Get down here and show yourself or I'll blow your brains out!" Red Hood kept his gun trained on the figure as it shrugged and quickly made its way down.

"What's got you so rattled?" the surprisingly monotonous voice of a teenager came from the figure once he was safely on the rooftop. The voice was clearly male, obviously mid-puberty too…yet it was oddly familiar.

"Who are you?"

The kid stepped into some light so Red Hood could finally see him. He was muscular and stood only about an inch or two shorter than the anti-hero. He was wearing a black spandex suit with a red bird…thing on his chest, he also had short raven hair, and a mask with white lenses so that his eyes weren't visible. What really made the boy stand out though was his haunted smirk. It was familiar, yet not…and it was gone as quickly as it appeared.

"You gonna answer me?" Red Hood asked annoyed.

The kid shrugged, "I was getting to it, although you should know who I am. You did invite me here after all."

Red Hood's jaw dropped, "You. You're Renegade?"

"Yep."

This…was not what he'd been expecting. Red Hood, like many others, assumed that Renegade was a big, thug-like, threatening guy in his mid- twenties. A kid in his mid-teens? Definitely a surprise. That meant killing him would be morally wrong...There goes his evening. On the upside, his plan did draw out the thief. And on that note…

"What the fuck man!?" Red Hood shouted, "You think you can just steal from me and get away with it? Just because you're a kid, doesn't mean that I'm going to let you get off the hook that easily. I won't kill you as I planned, but I will beat you within an inch of your life."

"I am not a kid," Renegade muttered dully, "Haven't been for a while."

"Doesn't matter how old you think you are, physically, you're what? Sixteen?"

"Fifteen."

"Close enough. Now, how about you just give me back my money, plus an extra-" as he'd been talking, Renegade had rushed over and slapped his gloved hand over where Red Hood's mouth was, much to the older man's irritation. Sure, he could've kept talking, but the shock of some kid being gutsy enough to do such a thing to him, the Red Hood, had made him shut up on the spot.

"We've got company," the young thief whispered.

Red Hood looked around in confusion. Nobody was around them, so why did Renegade think there was? The kid was probably a nutcase, and not in the cool way like he himself was. Except, right after that thought passed through Red Hood's head, footsteps were heard.

"I swear I saw him!" Kid Flash's exasperated tone filled the air.

"We all saw him Kid, but it was not actually him." Aqualad reassured.

"Who would project Red Hood's image onto that building?" Zatanna asked, "And who can make it look so realistic too?"

"And why would it just disappear like that once we got close? Wouldn't it make more sense to keep the projection up?" Miss Martian added.

As the team discussed possibilities, Renegade motioned for Red Hood to follow him with a finger to his lips. Silently, the two morally challenged young men inched off of the roof Young Justice was unknowingly sharing with them and jumped onto one lower down. They continued their building jumping until they were comfortable with the distance between them and the super teens. That's when Red Hood rounded on Renegade.

Pulling out his gun, the anti-hero spun to where the teen had been standing only to find that the kid had disappeared. "What the…?"

"Hey, Hood, want to see something cool?" the familiar voice of Renegade came from on top of the billboard that stood atop the roof they were on. Despite the youthful wording, Renegade sounded completely emotionless when he spoke. That was a cause of concern for Red Hood. A kid shouldn't sound like that. Especially one Dick's age…wait….a possible connection formed in Red Hood's mind just then, but he didn't voice his thoughts. Whether it was because he didn't want to guess just yet or he was afraid that he was right, he didn't know. Either way, he decided to push that thought back for a later time.

"Well? Do you?" Renegade's monotone voice asked.

"It better be good," was all Red Hood said. Although in the dim lighting caused by the lights from the billboard, he noticed the haunted smirk form on Renegade's face again.

"Oh it will be," Renegade stated while flipping down from his perch so that he was once again level with Red Hood. All Red Hood could do was hope that Renegade wasn't purposely making a habit of doing that.

"Well," Red Hood asked impatiently, "What do you want to show me?"

"This," right after he said that, Renegade pushed a button on his gauntlet and the Red Hood found himself staring at…himself. A full- fledged, 3D, completely lifelike version of himself.

"What the hell is this?" reaching out to touch his other self's mask, Red Hood found his hand going right through it.

"It's a holograph. I'm able to project it distances by combining it with tech from my holocomputer."

"You're the one who distracted the Justice Kids?"

"I found it only fair since I brought them here."

"What?" Red Hood was confused now.

"Following orders. When you challenged me, you challenged Deathstroke. He doesn't like getting ordered around. He sent me to handle the problem, as in you."

"So what, you're going to kill me?" Red Hood asked in amusement, still observing the odd boy, "If so, what was the point of sending the mini Justice League?"

"It was just a bit of fun."

And if that wasn't creepy when said tonelessly, Red Hood didn't know what was. "What do you mean?"

"I was trying out a new program. I'll show you," Renegade said. He then pulled up a holosccreen divided down the middle. On the left side was an image of Batman in the Batcave. The right side was blank.

"I don't get it," Red Hood stated.

Renegade's smirk appeared again. What shocked Red Hood was that the image of Batman smirked at the same time. "I see you figured it out," Renegade observed, at the same time, Batman's mouth moved and his voice sounded from the screen.

"Wow," Red Hood whispered, "So you tricked the little heroes by pretending to be Batman and sent them here for your own amusement? All the while intending for them not to accomplish what you fake sent them to do? And people call me sadistic."

Renegade's mouth quirked downwards, "I suppose that I should end the charade then," he said, the Batman image doing the same thing in synch with the thief. Red Hood just looked curiously at the boy as he typed something onto his wrist computer...thing. The ex-hero couldn't help but be envious of such an item. He really needed to get himself one of those.

Red Hood's jealous brooding was interrupted when an image of the Young Justice team inside of some sort of spaceship…thing appeared on the right side of Renegade's screen.

"Batman?" the fish boy asked in surprise, "We are on our way back to the mountain now, why are you calling us?"

The Batman image on the left screen glared at the same time as Renegade, "I see you didn't catch either Red Hood or Renegade. Why is that?"

Red Hood could barely contain his laughter when all of the kids paled. After a few minutes of watching the kids squirm, the Martian finally spoke up. "Renegade didn't show up and Red Hood was too hard to keep track of," she explained.

"Well that's a load of garbage," Renegade stated. From the looks on the team's faces, Red Hood could clearly tell they were in shock at Batman for using such an un-Batman-like phrase.

"Excuse me?" the magician, Zatanna, managed to ask.

"You heard me. That's a load of garbage. I know for a fact that Renegade is here, and I'm looking right at Red Hood."

"What are you talking about?" Kid Flash asked.

Renegade/Batman smirked, "Allow me to show you." Suddenly the image of the Batcave behind the Dark Knight's image fizzled out until the screen showed the back of the billboard that was literally behind Renegade.

"What just happened?" the speedster, ever the questioner, inquired.

"Surprise, I'm not in the Batcave!" Once again with the creepiness involved with a lack of emotion, "But that's not all!"

Just like with the Batcave, the image of Batman began to fizzle out, only to be replaced with a Renegade sized silhouette.

"Who are you?" Superboy asked, as he was the only one who seemed to have retained his voice upon the revelation that Batman wasn't actually Batman.

"I'm Renegade. It's a pleasure to meet you, by the way. Sorry about the wild goose chase, but I didn't want Red Hood thinking that he was in control," Renegade said, although it appeared that the team was hearing his voice as an obviously distorted baritone, "And I'm not actually sorry. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some issues to bring up with a certain fellow in a red helmet. Bye." The gaping faces of Young Justice were the last things Red Hood observed before the screen vanished and he was preoccupied with a new challenge. This new challenge was Renegade, for the teen had pulled out two short swords.

"You wanted to fight," Renegade said dispassionately to Red Hood, who was in the process of pulling out his own weapon, "So let's fight."

A/N: THAT ENDING! ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGG GG! I hate it so much!

Ahem...Read and review, no flames and whatnot...

I almost forgot! I don't own YJ!

I'll try to be better at updating...

There's three chapters left! Plus a potential epilogue! So there could be 4.