A/N: You guys! I feel like an awful human being for disappearing on randomly long breaks when you review such nice things! So thanks for being awesome!

Shortest chapter I've written in quite some time, so...sorry. Furthermore, my inexperience with action scenes is clearly displayed, but have no fear! I will get better!

My confidence in this chappy is rather low too, but... It could partially be due to some OOCness and rushing. I tried to go through Jason's thought process, to explain things better. I hope it worked!

Ahem, I shall not beat around the bush, so here ya go!

Chapter 8- Disenchantment

"We dream, we wake on a cold hillside, we pursue the dream again. In the beginning was the dream, and the work of disenchantment never ends."
― Kim Stanley Robinson, Icehenge

Red Hood was not scared. Not one single bit. He was no longer capable of feeling such an emotion. So, when Renegade charged him with a ferocity that was borderline animalistic, Red Hood's heart most definitely did not start beating faster. His eyes did not grow wide. He was not scared. Concerned? Eh, he may have been a tad bit concerned. But not scared. Not one little bit. Not even when he began to tire while Renegade's barrage of sword swinging didn't halt.

That's another thing. The stupid kid never stopped moving enough for Red Hood to get a shot off. It was constant motion with him. More constant, even, than what Red Hood had gone through in his Bat-protégée days. Duck. Jump. Flip. Block. Never slowing, never halting, never predictable…never a good sign.

Renegade's movements were precise and potentially deadly…but every time his swipe could've cleaved off Red Hood's head, he'd falter for less than half of a second, barely giving the anti-hero enough time to dodge. The hesitation wasn't that noticeable, but it was there. It almost as though something was holding the kid back from truly aiming to kill. Something like a conscience.

Just as Red Hood realized that the little punk may not be as ruthless as he originally appeared, something completely unexpected happened.

It began with a slight creaking noise, then just like that, Renegade's right foot fell through the crumbling ceiling they'd been having their little bout on. After struggling for a minute or so, it was quite obvious that the thief was now stuck. It was also quite obvious that the teen was now at the mercy of a gasping, but smirking, Red Hood. Not quite how he'd planned on the fight going, but he'd take it.

"Nobody can best me kid," the ex-hero cockily boasted, while still attempting to regain his breath. "You should've known better than to mess with the Red-"

CRACK!

Before he could finish his little monologue, the building made a terrible creaking noise. Red Hood's eyes barely had time to widen before both he and the trapped Renegade were sent tumbling down through the newly collapsed ceiling. Low and behold, they'd been duking it out on top of an abandoned warehouse. Even inadvertently they were cliché.

As he fell into the warehouse, Red Hood barely managed to grab onto a guard rail from the catwalk, preventing his imminent contact with the cold, slightly cracked, cement flooring below. After hanging there limply for a while to regain his bearings, Red Hood managed to maneuver his way down to the ground, which was now covered in pieces of the broken roof. As he glanced at the pile of rubble out of his peripheral, Red Hood finally remembered the kid he'd fallen into the warehouse with…the kid who was conspicuously absent.

Red Hood turned toward the pile of debris with wide eyes, did Renegade get buried alive? Brief panic overcame the anti-hero at the thought. Sure the kid was annoying, and maybe a bit insane, but that didn't mean he had to die. He was, after all, just a kid. Of course, it was at that exact moment when an object, closely resembling a batarang, landed right in front of him. Then it began to beep.

"Oh shit!" Red Hood managed to shout before diving out of the way, the force of the ensuing explosion scattering/obliterating the debris where, seconds before, he'd thought Renegade to be. Of course, it was now obvious the thief was not buried.

Nor was he armed with just his swords.

Perfect. Just flipping perfect.

"Nice dodge," the familiar voice of Renegade rang out from somewhere in the rafters, away from the moonlight entering through the newly added hole in the ceiling. "Can you do it again?"

The next thing Red Hood knew, the small explosives were raining down on him from above. He'd dodge one, only to find another coming at him. Flipping away from another barrage, Red Hood couldn't help but find something oddly familiar about this technique. It vaguely reminded him of something a Bat would do…But who else in the Batfamily….? Oh no. That was impossible. Deathstroke was obviously taking pages from Batman's book because there was no way possible that the person he was thinking about could ever sound so…dead inside, the way Renegade did. Right?

Red Hood's musings were cut short when a boot smashed into his face, knocking off his helmet. Now with just a domino mask, Red Hood's glare was completely visible. "What the hell man!?" he asked irritated. Nobody kicked off his fucking helmet and got away with it!

The haunted smirk appeared on the thief's face, but what Renegade said next was what really stood out. It confirmed all of Red Hood's fears. "You were predictable, and I was faster. Remember Jason, if your opponent is faster, you've got to adjust."

Oh God. "Dick?"

"Should we go back?" Kid Flash asked while the Bioship hovered. The Team had been unsure what to do after Renegade's call, so they opted to just float in place and debate. "I think we should go back."

"I disagree," Aqualad, surprisingly, said.

"Why?" Miss Martian asked the Atlantian. She'd assumed everyone would be willing to go back and help the poor civilians; she had yet to get acquainted with the horror that was Blüdhaven.

"Our mission was a hoax. The real Batman expects us to still be at Mount Justice. If we were to really be needed in Blüdhaven, our Batman would have contacted us upon realizing we were no longer at the mountain." Aqualad reasoned.

"He's got a point," Artemis agreed, "If the League really wanted us to intervene, they'd have called. Besides, it's Blüdhaven; we'd do more harm than good if we hung around in hero form."

Zatanna nodded, "Yeah, let's go home. We're not supposed to be here. My father even told me once that the League generally avoids Blüdhaven, that the city is too chaotic for them to handle. Not that they'd admit it though."

"What about the fires?" Rocket asked, "Red Hood and his men basically set the whole place on fire. What if the fire department needs help?"

"It seems that we are split evenly," Aqualad noted.

"Supey still has to vote," Kid Flash pointed out. All eyes turned to the clone in question.

Connor shifted uncomfortably in his chair at the sudden attention. What did he want to do? It used to be Robin's job to reason with the others in these situations. The young boy had been skilled at swaying opinions in his favor. Apparently the responsibility now fell onto him, the clone who hadn't even been around experiencing the Earth for three years yet. Yep, that's a wise choice for a tie breaker.

Of course, with the remembering of Robin, Connor's self doubt vanished only to be replaced with sorrow. He missed the boy terribly, the others did too. Even if he'd died over a year ago and been replaced shortly thereafter. Not that Connor had anything against the new kid hero…

"Uh, Supey?" Kid Flash's voice, and hand waving in front of his face, drew the boy of steel out of his reverie.

"Yeah?" Superboy asked, knowing fully well what the speedster was going to say.

"Are we going back or going home?"

What would Robin do?

"Um…"

People needed help.

"I think…"

But, if what he'd heard of Blüdhaven was true, the help Young Justice had to offer wouldn't be accepted.

"Let's just go home."

Superboy stared at the floor of the ship the entire way back to Mount Justice. The whole time he wondered if he actually did pick what Robin would have. It was the smarter decision after all.

…Wasn't it?

Renegade froze. "Dick Grayson is dead," he stated causing Red Hood to wince.

"Oh God, it is you," Red Hood gasped, taking a step forward.

Renegade didn't seem to like that. Readjusting his grip on his swords, the now confirmed ex-Boy Wonder pointed the deadly objects at his older brother. "Don't get any closer Hood."

For the first time that night, Red Hood heard emotion in Renegade's voice. It wasn't nostalgia, guilt, sadness, or any of the other emotions he expected from a Dick Grayson turned criminal. No, the only emotion Red Hood heard was fury. Pure, unrelenting, venomous fury.

Holding up his hands, he wasn't going to hurt the kid now that he knew it was his little brother, Red Hood asked, "What happened to you Dick?"

"I told you, Dick Grayson is dead!" Renegade's posture got more threatening and Red Hood took a step back in shock. In the short span of time he'd been hanging around this Renegade persona of his brother, he hadn't lost control once. But now that Red Hood knew Renegade was Dick, it was almost as though the floodgates had opened and the teen's repressed emotions were slowly beginning to overwhelm him. The last thing Red Hood needed at that moment was for a volatile Dick Grayson to attack him. Something told him it'd be much more violent than their previous brawl had been.

"That didn't answer my question," the older of the two boys stated.

Renegade glared, "I don't have to answer your questions!"

"I'm just curious," Red Hood thought of a lot of other things he could've told Dick, but he didn't think it would help his cause. "How about you just tell me what happened the night you disappeared."

"I don't answer questions asked by people I've been ordered to kill."

Red Hood's heart literally stopped right there. Goody two shoes Grayson killed? "What?"

"You heard me Red Hood, I've been ordered to kill you by Deathstroke himself."

"Not that part! You've killed people?"

Renegade shifted his weight slightly, something Red Hood had noticed Dick did a lot when he got uncomfortable. At least some things never changed.

"Well, not yet," Renegade admitted before sneering, "But that doesn't mean I don't know how. And that doesn't mean I won't do it!"

"Do you want to?"

"Huh?"

"Kill me. Do you want to kill me?"

Shifting his weight again, Renegade's expression changed in rapid succession from confusion, to regret, to fear, to anger.

"You deserve to die," the younger boy hissed.

That statement made Red Hood's blood boil. Screw calming the little shit down! Who was Dick to decide whether or not he, the Red Hood, deserved death! The brat had absolutely no right! "I deserve to die!?" the offended man bellowed. "I think you're mistaken. With all of the lives you've probably ruined by working for Deathstroke, maybe you're the one who deserves to die!"

"YOU DON'T THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT!?" Renegade shouted, charging Red Hood with his swords drawn. Red Hood easily dodged the younger's rage induced attack, but the teen quickly turned his anger into an advantage for himself, putting more power behind his movements.

"What do you mean?" Red Hood asked as he ducked a blow that could've sliced off half of his face.

"I've ruined lives, and I may not have killed anyone, but I am responsible for quite a few deaths," the other boy raged, picking up speed as his self loathing enhanced his overall anger.

Flipping out of the way of yet another strike, Red Hood kicked Renegade's left hand, causing the sword being held in it to go sailing across the room. "How are you responsible?"

"I've been sent on seven assassination assignments before yours. All seven of them killed themselves once I arrived and told them that Deathstroke sent me. Jumped right out of their windows, or off of roofs, one person grabbed a butcher knife from their kitchen and sliced his own throat." Renegade kicked Red Hood in the chest sending him flying back a few yards, their fight halting as the teen continued talking, "I had to kidnap a few people as well. Eighteen people ages ranging from twenty three to fifty one. All of them were killed by Deathstroke in the end." What Red Hood noticed during Renegade's little monologue was that he'd gone back to having no emotion.

It was a defense mechanism, he noted, which could only mean one thing…

Deathstroke had broken his little brother.

"What happened to you?" Red Hood heard himself ask again. This time Renegade answered.

As manic grin formed on his face, the teen exclaimed, "What happened to me? I reached my true potential! Don't you see it Red Hood? I'm not meant to be a hero! That's why I was so easily replaced, that's why I always needed help! That's why in the end I had to abandon everyone!" Renegade's voice was borderline hysteric, maybe even a bit psychotic. It was rather disconcerting, and Red Hood guessed that if he could see the younger's eyes, they'd look rather crazed at the moment.

"Nobody even misses poor orphan Richard Grayson anyway," Renegade continued, "They all moved on. Even you did. You gave up on me, you stopped looking."

"Dick, er, I mean, Renegade, I didn't mean to stop looking. I thought you died. I didn't know you'd been taken."

"Don't you get it!? I wasn't taken! I chose to leave! Batman needs to regret ever replacing me! The League needs to pay for ever looking down on me! Killing you will just be the beginning! Once word spreads that Red Hood was killed by Renegade, the whole hero community will fear my name! Once that happens, I'll show them exactly what they threw away."

Red Hood blinked in surprise. Dick had willingly gone with Deathstroke? That wasn't possible! Unless…unless the younger boy hadn't actually had an encounter with the mercenary prior to when he'd vanished. If that was the case, why hadn't the League taught Dick about that creep earlier?

Come to think of it, why hadn't he?

Red Hood frowned; he'd failed to reveal the horrors of the world to his brother, just like Bruce had failed to with him when he was younger. Well, Red Hood wasn't going to fail Dick again.

He refused to be like Bruce again.

"Richard," Renegade winced at the mention of his name, "come back to the apartment okay? We can get through this, two head cases are better than one in the family anyway." Red Hood's attempt at humor went unnoticed, especially with what Renegade did next.

"No. NO! I can't go back! I can't ever go back! You hate me for leaving, he said so. He said everybody hates me because I left! Because I wasn't good enough! Nobody but him can ever be proud of me. You just want me to go back because I'm dangerous now! You want to use me! You want to kill me! I won't let that happen!" Renegade began shaking. Whether in fury, fear, or something else, Red Hood didn't know. All he knew was that his brother was quite literally coming undone right in front of him.

Fucking Deathstroke, the bastard, had clearly played mind games with his little brother. Red Hood was beyond pissed off, but before he killed the mercenary, he had to calm the currently unstable Dick. One thing at a time.

"Dick," Red Hood said gently, if that was even possible (especially with his current set of emotions), as he removed his mask becoming Jason Todd again, "Look me in the eyes."

Renegade shifted his weight before meeting the eyes of the boy who helped him after he'd run away. The boy who'd comforted him after he faked his death. The boy who understood just what it was like to loose his mind completely, something Renegade could now relate to.

"Listen to me when I say that I want you to come home, not because you're a fucking weapon now. I miss you. Hell, Roy misses you too. Don't listen to a thing that creep has told you."

"No! You don't miss me! I left…you hate me! You want to use me!"

"Richard John Grayson, I do not hate you! I want to help you get through this, whatever it was that that monster did to you." Jason wasn't quite sure when he became the sane one, but it was an odd feeling. A feeling that he never wanted to feel again. As soon as Dick was healed, Jason knew, he'd be the crazy Bat again. After all, one can't recover their sanity after dying. Dick may never be the same again, but the majority of his mind would return in time.

"I-I believe you," Renegade muttered, seemingly astonished by his own confession. Then if that wasn't enough of a shocker, he added, "But I can't go back."

"What?" Jason was confused now; he'd just given a heartfelt speech. Weren't things supposed to be all fine and dandy with rainbows and sunshine?

Damn. He must've been watching way too much TV recently if he thought that.

Renegade, seemingly oblivious to Jason's bewilderment, walked over to his lost sword and picked it up. "Deathstroke caused this. He played with my head," the teen stated venomously, "and he will pay. I'll make sure of that."

"How?" Jason asked as he put his mask back on. Dick was still unstable, but so long as his instability induced ire was directed elsewhere, he could handle it.

"Simple," Renegade said while sheathing his swords, "He unmade me mentally, so I'm going to unmake him physically."

Red Hood looked in surprise at Renegade, his not so little anymore brother. His not so little anymore brother who just said he was going to murder someone. He understood that Deathstroke needed to die, but he wasn't comfortable with Dick being the one who did it.

Especially since he really wanted to do it himself.

He decided he needed to voice his thoughts, "I'm not sure that-"

"Sorry Jay," Renegade interrupted, his voice went blank again, never a good sign, "But this is something I've got to do…and I've got to do it alone."

That's when Red Hood noticed the flash bomb the younger boy had placed, just as it went off too. Effectively blinded, Red Hood couldn't see anything for a good five minutes. Upon regaining his sight he wasn't surprised to find Renegade gone.

With a sigh, Red Hood leaned up against a nearby warehouse wall and pulled out his cell phone. After pondering his options for a bit, Red Hood decided that he probably should call up the person he, surprisingly, was starting to call his friend…maybe even his best friend.

"Hey Roy Boy, I've got some news for you…"

A/N: Not my best, but if I kept nit-picking everything it never would get posted. :D

Notice the lack of Review Responses? That's because I couldn't pick which ones to respond to! You guys are all so wonderfully inspiring (and I'm pretty beat)!

In other news, I am commencing my first type up of the sequel! What would you like to see? I've got the beginning planned out rather well, and a few pieces in the middle (one bit is very Tim heavy) but after that it could go anywhere! PM me with suggestions or characters you'd like to see!

Chapter 9 could potentially take some time...

That wraps it up! I hope you enjoyed! It's coming to an end real soon!