Renegade had completed a contract on several criminal gangs in Los Angeles and was jumping from rooftop to rooftop, heading for the abandoned warehouse where he had left his Deadly-Cycle.

He suddenly froze on a rooftop, his muscles stiffening and his eyes wandering from side to side straining his enhanced hearing to its fullest. His instincts screamed at him that something big was about to happen and if there was one thing he trusted without a doubt, it was his instincts.

After all, it was crucial for an antihero mercenary assassin of his caliber.

Someone is following me. I'm sure of it.

So the acrobat remained motionless and still in a fighting stance and ready for whatever was to come. He did not have to wait long when suddenly he felt a gust of wind and a very rapid shift of air around him accompanied by a slight sting in his neck. All this happened in less than a millisecond and it was so fast that even for the Talon it was impossible to react.

Before he could even fully register what had happened, the mercenary staggered sideways from the sudden rapid shift of air and brought a hand to his neck, pulling out a needle. His hand closed into a fist around it, easily breaking it into a thousand pieces, and he cursed silently as his vision began to blur, turning then sharply but seeing no one in front of him.

His legs began to shake and the next second Renegade fell to his knees before colliding on the solid, uneven surface of the roof, his vision obscured.

The last thing Dick saw was a figure in red looming over him and before passing out he mentally cursed at Flash.

"We finally managed to capture Renegade!" Green Lantern exulted, raising his fist in the air with a satisfied smirk.

Wonder Woman rolled her eyes with a small smile at her friend's antics and leaned back in her chair, watching the other Justice League members.

Batman had somehow managed to intercept Renegade's client and sent Superman to arrest him, although not before he had managed to pay the mercenary and erase all traces of the money transfer. It was only by sheer luck that they had managed just in time to catch a glimpse of Renegade walking away from the crime scene and the Caped Crusader had ordered Flash to use a powerful sedative on the assassin using his super-speed in such a way that Renegade could not have expected it and would have had no way of foreseeing it.

The Amazon, however, had noticed how Renegade had frozen on the roof and she was certain that he was aware that someone was following him, even though he never had a chance to predict and counter the fastest man in the world.

"Renegade is currently in the Justice League prison that was built specifically to be impossible to escape. Not even the strongest members of the League such as Superman, Dr. Fate and Wonder Woman would be able to escape from the containment cells and the same goes for the world's most dangerous super-villains, including Renegade." stated Batman abruptly, interrupting any background buzz.

"I knew those cells would be useful sooner or later. We rarely used them but man, I'm glad you built them." reflected Green Arrow, idly playing with his bow.

"Agreed. This time Renegade can't do his ninja skills that put even Batman's to shame." Flash chuckled but stopped quickly when he noticed the vigilante's glare.

"As I was saying, Renegade has no escape. I'll take a DNA sample from him to find out his civilian identity and consequently trace it back to Deathstroke's as well. Once he is awake, I will interrogate him and get whatever information I can. After that, Renegade will be sent directly to Belle Reve prison." the Dark Knight coldly declared.

His tone, if possible, was even more icy and emotionless than usual, and this did not go unnoticed by his teammates. Green Lantern leaned to Aquaman's side. "I'll bet you thirty dollars that Renegade will collapse in less than five minutes." he whispered to the Atlantean.

The king of Atlantis stared at his friend for a few seconds before nodding. "Bet accepted."

"Do you know you're going to lose, right?" said Wonder Woman amusedly to Hal.

"Why do you think so?"

Diana had many answers she could give him but in the end she opted for the simplest one, keeping the others to herself. "Because Renegade is not afraid of anything or anyone, not even Batman."

This was in fact one of the things she had learned during their fight against him. It was clear that Renegade had no doubts in his own abilities to the point of challenging practically the entire Justice League and he had been right since he had easily emerged victorious from that confrontation: thus, it was not a matter of arrogance but of unshakable and unconditional confidence in his own abilities.

Moreover, Renegade had repeatedly demonstrated that he feared neither Batman nor the world's mightiest heroes. It was probably a consequence of having been raised and trained by the world's best mercenary.

However she had picked up something else from the young assassin.

During the fight Wonder Woman had kept an almost constant eye on the mercenary's posture and had come to several conclusions.

Renegade had fought not only to win but to dominate the battle. His movements were so fluid, acrobatic and fast that they were often very difficult to follow even with well-trained eyesight such as hers and Wonder Woman did not think it was possible. His movements were also accompanied by a lethality, deadliness and brutality that Diana had never seen in anyone else, not even those few times she had fought Deathstroke or any other world-class assassin.

His movements so fluid, fast, acrobatic and graceful -which reminded her of a bird's- and equally deadly, lethal, ruthless and brutal, added to his more than perfect and flawless mastery with firearms and swords -the thought of how Renegade had easily humiliated her with a sword still burned in her chest. Moreover, it was common knowledge that Renegade was the best in the world with escrima and was probably in the top three of the best in the world with all weapons in existence, even though many voices in the criminal world claimed that he was at the top of that ranking to what Batman had reported-, not to mention his fighting skills and so much more, well, all this painted a definite picture in the Amazon's mind.

It was as if Renegade had been trained from birth to be an invincible war machine. His movements so oily and never wrong by a single millimeter proved it.

And this made Wonder Woman very nervous. She, who had been trained from birth as a fierce warrior Amazon to be the best among them all, found herself genuinely uncomfortable when she faced the mercenary, even though she had obviously hidden it in the remotest part of her being.

There was a distinct difference between being trained to be the best Amazon of all and being an invincible, infallible, perfect war machine. And although Diana's superhuman physical abilities far exceeded Renegade's, he had the healing factor on his side and as the heroes could testify it was nothing short of excellent and very functional, far better than Deathstroke's.

And it should also be remembered that in the fight against Renegade, he was holding back and by a lot.

Of course, she herself was also holding back by lot -unlike Superman and the Flash who were eliminated even before they could have made a single move- but still.

Thoughts of what he was really capable of resurfaced in her mind along with the carnage, massacre and bloodbath that the mercenary had carried out in Russia.

There was so much blood, decapitated bodies, mutilated bodies, organs and blood and brain matter and chunks of human flesh splattered all over the room that she had a few nightmares about that horrific and inhumane scene.

Not even the most trained and fierce heroes like her, Aquaman and Batman could remain stoic and impassive in the face of that carnage.

And Wonder Woman feared that was only a very small part of what Renegade was capable of doing.

"Wonder Woman has a good point."

Black Canary's voice brought the Princess of Themyscira's attention back to the conversation that was taking place.

"Yes but we're talking about Spooky." stated Hal gesturing randomly in a tone of voice that suggested his words meant everything.

Before anyone could add anything, the sound of a chair moving was heard and all the heroes turned their attention to Batman who had just stood up. "I'm going to take a DNA sample from Renegade and then have it analyzed in the cave."

"Is it safe?" asked Zatanna worriedly.

"The sedative should keep Renegade out for at least another half hour. A little less if his meta-human status accelerates the process of the sedative residue disappearing in his system but in any case we have incapacitated his meta-human abilities, so there should be no problem." explained the Dark Knight impassively.

However, Gotham's vigilante did not even have time to leave the meeting room when he suddenly froze abruptly in place at the same time that all the heroes felt a genuine shiver of fear spread down their spines.

A familiar and very disturbing laugh spread throughout the Watchtower in such a way that it was impossible to discover its point of origin.

Wonder Woman felt her heart lose a beat and some of the color faded from her skin.

How the hell could that be impossible? That is-

"Am I wrong or is that Renegade's fucking laugh?" Hawkgirl growled but Diana noticed how her friend both clutched her mace nervously and how her face was a little paler than usual.

The Amazon could not blame her, otherwise it would have been hypocritical of her to say that she did not feel ice flowing through her own veins because of the mercenary's eerie laugh.

It almost seemed as if the Thanagarian's words had awakened Batman who emitted a fierce growl. "Flash!" he barked.

The speedster gasped when the Caped Crusader called out to him but still understood his implied order and quickly disappeared only to reappear the next millisecond with wide eyes, a pale face and tremors throughout his body. "H-He escaped!" he stammered, clearly surprised. "He i-isn't in the c-cell!"

Flash had not even finished his sentence that Batman was already running. All the heroes exchanged a worried look before following him. Within seconds they reached the room dedicated to the containment cells and Diana gasped at what she saw.

Barry was right.

Renegade was no longer in his cell.

Each cell was designed the same way: the door was heavily reinforced by titanium, tungsten -considered the strongest metal in the world-, the strongest material in the world aka CrCoNi -metallic alloy of chromium, cobalt and nickel- and other very strong materials. The door was -or at least was supposed to be- impenetrable: all solid except for a small liquid crystal portal that functioned as a small window that allowed the inmate to observe outside and League members to keep an eye on the prisoner. In a high corner of the cell was a camera, set at such a height that it would be very difficult to destroy it. There was a keypad on the door to enter the access code to enter the system. The cells were of medium size and contained only a small bed.

Nothing more nothing less.

At the edges of the cells were mechanisms that, when activated, emitted either radiation from a red sun to render Superman and other Kryptonians harmless, flames and fire to weaken Martian Manhunter and possibly other Martians, and much more. These mechanisms were only activated and deactivated outside the cell, of course.

Diana stared at the few items lying on the floor inside the cell: broken handcuffs, inhibitor collar that took away superhuman abilities and powers -and gave a strong electric shock every time someone tried to take it off- and even the chain of the ball and chain -which weighed more than twenty-five tons, making it practically impossible to move a single step- was broken.

The inside of the cell was completely clean, except for those few items that should have been used to stop Renegade but were apparently insufficient: it was as if the mercenary had walked straight out the cell door but it was virtually impossible!

Not to mention how the entire prison area, including the cells, had been built with the most advanced human, Martian, Thanagarian, Kryptonian, Atlantean and Amazonian technology with a dash of magic courtesy of Dr. Fate.

How the hell did Renegade escape? I don't know any hero or villain who would be able to break out of these cells!

Some heroes had argued that the precautions were excessive and that it was a little too far to apply them on the world's second deadliest mercenary who, despite everything, was still a 17-year-old. However, Batman had explained that it did not matter how old he was: Renegade was still a dangerous assassin and that was why so many restrictions on him were necessary.

Wonder Woman was a bit undecided on which side to take but in the end she had agreed with the Gotham vigilante's words since anyone who could easily take down the JL should not be underestimated and all appropriate measures should be taken.

So Batman had stripped Renegade of all weapons -and had checked several times from top to bottom, even in all the tiny compartments almost invisible to the human eye- and had taken off his gloves -which hid knives, lock picks and a few other gadgets-, the spikes on his arms, armored boots -which hid other gadgets and weapons- and his utility belt. But as soon as his hands made contact with the fabric of Renegade's mask, a strong electric shock had immediately gone through the figure of the Dark Knight who was forced to stagger backward.

Apparently the electric shock from the safety system of the assassin's mask was so strong, or perhaps endowed with a hint of magic, that somehow even Superman was unable to resist it and the Kryptonian was literally on the verge of fainting, which is why the heroes were forced to leave the mask on Renegade's face, much to Batman's dismay and unhappiness.

The Amazon's gaze shifted to the small table present and predictably every single one of Renegade's weapons and gadgets was gone.

Reluctantly Diana had to admit that she was very impressed that Renegade had been able to escape from the most secure cells in the world, far more so than any prison like Belle Reve.

Apparently Renegade is very skilled at continuing to amaze me.

It was Aquaman who broke the stunned and astonished silence and said aloud the words that passed through his mind. "This cannot be possible." he whispered, disbelief, astonishment and horror coloring his tone of voice.

"Didn't you say these cells could contain the world's most powerful heroes and super-villains?"

Batman glared at Hal. "Indeed they are." he grunted, clearly very displeased with the situation and how the young mercenary had managed to evade the containment cells he had designed.

It certainly had to be a blow to the Dark Knight's pride.

"We should have taken a DNA sample from him the moment we caught him." muttered Black Canary frowning. "At least we would have known who is hiding behind Renegade's mask and probably Deathstroke's as well."

Martian Manhunter nodded in agreement, wincing slightly. "You're right."

"How did Renegade escape from the Watchtower?" asked Superman confusedly, staring at the Caped Crusader. "I didn't hear the zeta-tubes activate."

Batman did not even dignify him with a glance, which hurt the Man of Steel a bit. "He probably somehow hacked the systems connected to the zeta tubes in the facility."

"Aren't you in charge of the Watchtower's technological security?" Flash immediately regretted the question and his damn tongue when he fell victim to one of the most grim looks Batman has ever given anyone. "Y-you know what? Never mind!" he chuckled nervously.

"I will have the objects that served as restrictions for Renegade analyzed in the cave, although it is very likely that he has erased all traces of him." Batman grunted as he entered the code and opened the cell.

"We'll wait for you at the monitor room so we can see what really happened from the camera recordings." Wonder Woman informed him.

The Caped Crusader walked out of the cell containing the mercenary with the inhibitor collar, handcuffs and broken chain of the ball and chain and sent her an abrupt nod before walking away from the room.

"I will take the ball and chain to the Watchtower laboratory. It's worth a try." volunteered Superman and then entered the cell and lifted the ball and chain that weighed more than twenty-five tons as if it were a feather.

It probably was to him.

Diana and the other heroes began to head for the monitor room, each of them wanting to find out how the hell Renegade escaped from the world's most secure containment cell. Wonder Woman hesitated briefly at the threshold, casting a fleeing glance at the cell that should have easily contained the mercenary but didn't.

Renegade... the greatest mystery I have ever encountered.