Teen Titans – ReBeL Yell – If I Had Stayed a Renegade

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SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL FOR

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DICK AS RENEGADE OFF DUTY AND PLAYING HOOKEY FROM HIS MASTER OUT OF METROPOLIS HAS A JOY RIDE AND ENDS UP FACING HARLEY QUINN, WHO'S COME TO SEE THE LACY'S (COPYRIGHT) DAY PARADE IN METROPOLIS WITH CAT WOMAN AND IVY AFTER A FAST BREAK FROM THEIR STAR-STUDDED SAVING OF AN ENTIRE UNIVERSE (PULLING THAT OUT OF SOMEWHERE.) IN THE SAME UNIVERSE, THIS ONE, DICK IS STILL WAITING ON A SAVIOR AND IS SLADE'S APPRENTICE SINCE FIFTEEN AT NOW SEVENTEEN. WHEN SHE PUTS THE PIECES TOGETHER, WE GET SOME FLUFF MOMENTS. WAIT ON IT!

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"Ah, the wind through our luscious, goo- goo – ga – gorgeous manes and a big ass party – sized float!!" Harley hollered as Ivy drove from point A to point B. Selina was doing her own…...sigh seeing, so it was just the two of them. In a car. Driving. For hours . "I've? Am I boring you? I know that look…You need a –

"No, blow, I mean it."

"What?" Snorting, Harley had to have gone clean, just for this villain free weekend. "Look, I want us to have a no – strings, no evil boyfriends or fiend's week with just us three gals hanging in front of –

"The float that SELINA suggested she pop with her claws." Sighed Ivy with a scowl. "That…cat – preacher is doing this to make a move on the same bloodthirsty, toxic industry that creates the worst industrial and textile waste in the US! I could so get behind that. BUT~ But." Ivy bit her lip, eyes on the road. "We….are so out of it if our faces end up in…..Super – short's territory. That boy scout would pound a school bus of kids and not be blamed for that kind of illegal shit."

"I KNOW!" Ivy jumped as Harley had gotten fired up by Ivy's complaint. "Typical patriarchal response to heroism – we get jack shit and he gets to blow up the Daily Planet while ending up on the fricken' front page!"

"I know, right?" Ivy agreed, something that they could both understand was however…

"We'll not get caught, Ive." Harley put a hand on her girlfriend's shoulder. "We'll blow this stand as soon as it gets too loud, and you'll be a hero. This is somethin' to be thankful for, my little cactus bride!"

"I….am just going to ignore that last part, but hell yes. We are so in. OH! If we get to the Botanical gardens on the way, I want to bring the pine trees to life to scare those corporate morons if you…don't mind?"

"With pleasure, pumpkin – mama! Columbus ain't got nothin' on us! Hit it!"

/

Slade could just shove it. They all could. He was here after a bit of blood being shed, a poor piece of shit being beaten to his last beating pulse…Dick shook his head and walked on through the crowd of float viewers. They'd come to just stand, to wait as the procession had thirty more minutes until show time. Dick was off on his own, his bike something of a borrowed variety on his way out of the safe house. After Slade had reprimanded his unruly apprentice from biting the hand that had force fed him since three years ago, Dick had flipped the switch and left the shack with his comms out. His hair down and, his freedom plus their's on a long strand. He cussed to himself under his breath, coat neck up to his lips as the thing he'd not grabbed was his gloves. And it, was Kansas sort of cold as a witch's tit out in this bustling city scape from the wind gusts.

He shivered and kept walking, the only scare being when his pocket began to buzz.

Wait?

He threw off the coat and felt the cold hit him, sweat dropping as he knew Slade was onto him. Get rid of the boots? Suit? His hat?? What else was with a tracking device??

He ran, his breathing the worst off as he saw a red shiny car door, and hit it.

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"Holy crap! IVE! We hit a…. a…..kid?"

The city folk all had mixed looks on their faces. It was a city, he'd hit the door just as Harley had swung it back.

"Is anyone a registered CPR…oh, crap. Let me." Ivy dragged Harley out of the way as the kid opened his eyes and butted into her. "He's awake! We're not murderers! YAY?" Harley was glared at by her boo, the boy panted and looked up, shuffling to get out of their way for good bef –

He saw the masked prick and yelped, knocking into the street before he scrambled to get away. Harley however had a fit. She was sure the kid was a little brat for not doing the right thing – but he wouldn't kiss her gorgeous princess? What gave!

"Hey! You, brat! You missed your early mistletoe scene. Hold o –

"Ya!!"

She was tripped, whining and rising to dust off her knees only too soon after - not knowing that Slade was in wait as he snuck away before her senses could put two and two together. She shrugged and kept running. Not hearing the notorious Deathstroke click his tongue in annoyance below the steely masked plate, knowing he wasn't in the mood to clown around with any traitors before a day of over – fed fowls and festivities. (He's talking about Thanksgiving.)

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"Hello???? I'm not gonna bite. Why are you so jumpy, huh?" She moved slowly, sneaking around as the teen had hit a dead end of crates, garbage bins and old drums from some keg smashing party. A bar district to be more so, precise. "I'm a….a good lil' elf! I could –

So soon, Dick felt his arms worsen. He could catch his death…He sneezed, her eyes on him until a very large six-foot four weight dropped from the roof tops above.

"Pardon my intrusion on your day to relax, Quinn. Congrats on being wed by the way, all over the news by now." Slade looked to the crate where Dick had given himself away.

"That boy is with me, I'm sorry to cut this little drop - by so sort." He pretended to pity her conscience. "I'd advise you to go back to your company and leave us, if you'd please."

"Are you…. Death…." She squinted at his neo – kill call get – up. "Are you on a hit? In dress pants? Thee, Deathstroke out of his disco affair? I'm not letting you kill a kid, either way. Nope. Nada." She shook her head firmly. "You don't do that anymore." She put her hands to her hips. "It's in your bio for shit's sake. Why don't you do your own dirty work like the rest of us no – name psychos?"

"I had thought you'd read all there was to be written in my file, Quinn. Somehow." Snorted the death walking thug. Harley flicked a brow up, so not intimidated. That was, until Dick actually sneezed and was sick. Actually, carry – my - ass - home – sick!

"Excuse me, my dear –

"Don't you "my dear, me. Deathie. Whatcha hiding? More trafficked meta- teens I should tell the bat about back with Gordo and co? You'd be blacklisted to shit by the JLA, AND I could tell my posse to throw rocks at the old grandpa - no one would be a better fit for Waller's Team. I can see it now!" She sighed dreamily, before shaking her skull free of the revenge - delusion.

Slade cleared his throat, his neck cracking as he'd not wanted to start a fight with said ex of the Joker. "That information is no longer in my file. Quinn? I think I hear someone calling for you, by way…"

She gasped as Slade stepped by her to scoop up a rather skinny looking brat. Not a street tough, like she'd seen him from a movie as a kid star of it….

"We'll be on our way, either way you handle things. Enjoy your bird, Miss Quinn."

"You should too, Dead – beat." Shot the queen of clowns from behind his back, her quip including her finger going up to flip off the animal outside of its cage. " Sending a bird your way – courtesy of the lovely freedom fighter, Harley – Quinn. And no, I didn't say you could get your hands on a new underling. What if you give him a stroke? He's just –

"Do you want to know his story, or would you rather he gets hypothermia first to have you prattle on about your glory days to come? I have patience, just not for anyone, like you."

She felt her metaphorical bunny ears droop at his remark. "I'll give you the bird, but next time I –

"You might even know each other, actually." Slade pondered and diverted from the scathing remarks a minute to think aloud. "Figure that one out Quinn, while you celebrate for tonight." Slade went off on his way, up to the fire escape as Dick slept in a sickly stupor under his arm. He'd skipped his meals, found it funny to push Slade's buttons and had run off without proper winter gear on. The kid needed correction, immedately.

"Well, feed him some meat on his damn bones. You starve all of your baby – geniuses! It's gross!" Harley shoved her finger in the air and demanded, but Deathstroke had reason to knoew better. Dick didn't have his abilities. He had not earned that curse to bear, never yet than later.

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Serve him in bed his medicine though, he did. Dick awoke to his body wrapped in a swaddled warmth. It was wintery outside and the frost on the windows of their safe house was…cozy.

"Sir?"

"Yes." Slade was brewing a cup of coffee for himself to see to Richard's conditions. "So, you found me…" Dick grumbled and sat up, his head aching a bit from the fever still raging on in his body. "It was about three days; you caught a bit of a bug. You'll be fine. Fluids and rest, though didn't you stuff gloves into those oversized –

"Everything was bugged, sir." Snorted the teen as he tried to cover himself up with the comforter overtop his shivering frame. Slade didn't say much at all to the last retort. He had to see why Dick was being this way in such a time of three years, Why not yesterday?

"Was it her, apprentice?"

Dick's eyes looked down as he lowered the blanket, not breathing a drop out of his mouth and nose before he had to elicit a sneeze that was, kittenish to keep the rest quiet for his headache. "Sir, she's not going to see me again. She's not a Titan…she's a princess." He sniffed as he was soon handed a box of Kleenex. "And no, that wasn't why I ran away." He blew into the rag, the rest discarded no sooner after that. "You…you said- you said I was not the only one, once. That you had a son, and…. he died. You couldn't save them, just like I couldn't save my parents from falling…" Dick swallowed, the lump heavy in his throat from the cold he'd fostered due to undereating out of pain and stress. "This, was about…. another kid. She was at the last meeting at the Nanda Parbat, had her eye on me the whole time…. she even, she even had something to say. That I'm not cut out to be the next Deathstroke."

Slade blinked. "Who was she, and why didn't you tell me or Wintergreen about her, Richard?" Dick grumbled and acted like a kid who didn't want to answer the question. Slade however, didn't babysit. "You could have been –

"I, know her face…. for some reason, she was so intense and she had it tough. I think, she and Speedy, heh, yeah. That was it…" Sheepishly, Dick recalled a cat mask and his old rival from their younger years. Dick felt his gut gurgle as he held it, the wince somewhat too soon for him to counter without a bucket nearby.

"Lie back down before you relapse all over the sofa." Slade grumbled and put down his mug to help his apprentice recover. Just like his kids, the ones Dick still didn't know entirely everything about. "You'll be fine. I have to forgive you for that. The League of Shadows is difficult to function around if you're not trained to handle them…but please, I want you well enough to make the journey back to the estate. We'll be taking it easy for a few days." The man retrieved his mug and took a sip, wincing a bit at the bitterness since Will, well…. Will wouldn't be brewing his tea either until they came home for December to recoop. "Where about is the place this time, sir?"

"Colorado, you might like it in the wintertime. It's peaceful, quiet." Slade replied, grateful that Dick was too weary to raise a fist. "Hunting began a week ago. We are long due for some practice rounds in the woods, right behind the estate. Plenty of large game, and you have to up your resistance to the elements. I'm surprised it took you that early to give up and this - this is no surprise by how you've been fussing over a few comments in my absence." The man took another sip of his coffee before giving up on it. Even dirt water in the army had more bite to it that...this, glop.

Dick didn't reply, he just wanted to sleep.

Slade sighed, trying to think a minute before replying, "When you can, I have some soup I made in my spare time. But if you don't mind resting first."

"My, head….it still hurts a bit." The boy swallowed a cough down quickly, before it came up anyway as something else. He pulled the sheet up over himself, forgetting that and not knowing that Slade didn't get sick. Deathstroke, couldn't catch a cold and not because he was an idiot. "I, guess I have a lot I want to be thankful for, but can't…. I don't want to change. Not like this."

"What choice did you have then but to kill me?" Slade sighed and let his eyes to wander a bit to the kitchen. He moved and before long, a glass of water was held out to the boy wonder. Maybe he'd give Will a ring, tell the man to prep for a sick person recovering on their flight back. Maybe, in the meantime. "Thanks, too bad we missed the parade." Sniffed the seventeen year old, sounding forelorn more than he did when talking about the Titans. Time, was going to erase them. He had promised the boy that in the beginning. "Gotham doesn't throw them anymore since the Joker's reign ruined everyone's time participating. Too many joker gas - bomb threats...Too many hiding places." Dick went on, Slade's mind picking up a thought as he ran by the mental numbers.

"Hmm, maybe we can see some of it, actually." Slade moved to the other side of the room and pulled out his on-the-go trusty laptop. "It's not your usual hi – def TV from Wayne's or even the estate as you recall, but it'll do." He switched the device on and to Dick's shock. There it was.

"You, your drones captured the entire thing?" Dick looked at the man, astonished that he actually was pretty human for an unbeatable mastermind to do this for his disobedient underling. "They did, to a degree. The camera wasn't much use until it spotted you. Your hat was also bugged, by the way." Slade smirked and ruffled Dick's hair while he gawked at the sky cam of the entire parade. Including the part where Harley had chased him into the side streets. "You, are incredible. And not in a decent way, sir."

"Likewise, you need to think before you bolt off into the big city." Slade let Dick watch the video as he sat nearby to monitor the kid's actions. He was still too weak to do much, so Slade was just there. To be thankful for the company he'd kept three years in the making. Cheshire guilting his apprentice however, was most unfortunate. "Just recoop for the next while. I'll warm up the soup. I don;t want a vomiting apprentice sick through our flight back home."

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Ivy had in fact made Dick nervous when she'd taken to an incognito defense and had protested the downy feathers used in puffer coats sold by the Lacy's stores nationwide and the new plants built to construct the damned things which Ivy was all against. She was…. very vicious with her political stance and that was only after her little fun time with Selina popping a large Snorky – Pig balloon that the women cut the shit and found Harley in time to lose the po – po's sirens. Heading to their fav dive in the city, they were glad to be so far away from more trumpets and Super – troopers. Straight out of Kansas, the women took a small detour. With Harley, thinking over what Deathstroke had told her in the alleyway.

~ You might even know each other, actually. Figure that one out Quinn, while you celebrate for tonight. ~

"Harleen, darling!" Selina came by with a glass of the bubbly to celebrate the good news. "We made the front cover of Lois' shitty paper. Aren't you proud of your lovely tender vine?"

"She's amazing, kitty. But…." Harley fought to let it go, yet those words…

~ Might have already met…. ~

Her eyes popped open. "Blue eyes….black….holy bat shit ladies…we have to call ole' Bruce and tell him what I found! I am so effin' thankful we have such an awesome bunch of smart women in this very room! Group hug!!"

She boasted her success, shit drunk after her eight glasses and dying to know if that kid was the missing Wayne in tights who took the cake right from her paws. Could he be? The one Slade called, kid Death mini?

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Harley was a doctor in her hey – day so…. Slade has a point. Can she crack his code before Renegade goes off on another killing spree with his mentor for life? So, what did you think about Porky pig symbolizing corporate greed? I'd say Sylvester but yeah. Why not! Happy Nation Indiginous People's Day and a many more in the winter haul for y'all. I'm making a gf dairy free apple loaf cake and wow. Hope I don't die. It was 220 internal temp and I know our oven is alive. Likes to mess with the calibration…poor thing, and poor Dick. Did he ever get his soup? Find out!