Overcoming Wayne Manor's defense systems was embarrassingly easy for Renegade, more than he expected from the world's most paranoid man.
Or perhaps he was simply too good.
Probably the latter.
In any case, Richard Wilson in his Renegade armor easily managed to sneak inside the billionaire's house and close the door behind him. He briefly took only a moment to admire the grandeur and magnificence of the place. His gaze immediately shifted upward, focusing on the enormous and refined crystal chandelier which he was immediately attracted to from the first time he saw it.
Dick was certain that if he, by some strange irony of fate, was ever adopted by Bruce Wayne in another alternate life or universe, one of the first things he would ever do would surely be to climb the chandelier, giving both Bruce and Alfred heart attacks.
Resisting the temptation to climb it -and the temptation to slide down the railing from the upper floors was also strong- he walked on, silently thanking Alfred for giving him little tours the first few times he had brought Batman back to the Manor, saving his life. He paused when his eyes fell on one of the few paintings that adorned the hallway: a painting that Alfred had shown and told him about but that he could not stay to analyze too much.
The painting depicted Thomas and Martha Wayne together with their son: the father of the family had a small smile and one hand resting proudly on little Bruce's shoulder while his mother had a huge smile between her lips, her hand resting on her son's other shoulder.
What completely caught the Talon's attention, however, was little Bruce's so bright and beaming smile: a smile that conveyed joy and light as his blue eyes shone with a life of their own.
Everything Bruce now was no more.
Dick doubted Bruce had ever shown such a smile after his parents' deaths. Or at least not one that reflected the intensity of the smile in that painting.
The thought was so sad, distressing and depressing that it caused an aching twinge in the acrobat's chest as he let out a small sigh.
According to the butler's words, Bruce was eight years old when the picture was taken: a picture taken a few months before the tragedy that permanently marked the billionaire's life.
The assassin's gaze remained fixed on little Bruce's and he made a slight grimace.
It was surreal to think that this child, who emanated childlike vibes of purity and innocence from the picture, would grow up to become the most feared and brooding vigilante in the world and surrounded by a heavy loneliness and darkness that have and are consuming him from within, leaving nothing but a mask while his true self has now been sucked out for years.
Bruce did not deserve such a fate.
He did not deserve to witness a tragedy of such magnitude that forced him to grow up in a Manor in a perpetually silent and lonely atmosphere, haunted by ghosts and whispers that never left the owner, with the butler just the only company who, despite all his good intentions, was still merely a man who could not work miracles, probably doomed in a Limbo between remaining professional and stepping forward to be the orphan's parent.
Neither did Dick deserve to be kidnapped by the Court of Owls when he was only seven years old and immediately after watching his parents die in front of his eyes, brutally tortured, killed and trained for three years until he became the most dangerous weapon in the world without free will, forced to be used by the richest bastards in Gotham for their own filthy purposes.
Neither of them deserved such fates.
Yet here they were because life could be truly bitchy.
With a sigh Dick finally looked away from the imposing painting, absentmindedly wondering how many hours Bruce had spent in front of it, and headed for the billionaire's main study. He entered it in seconds and stopped in front of the grandfather clock, subsequently moving the hands to 10:47. It shifted sideways, revealing a secret entrance followed by a long flight of steps that he walked down, finally reaching the Batcave.
He had been to the Batcave a few times before but for obvious reasons he could not stay there too long, unlike now when he had plenty of time to admire the beauty of the place.
With an almost childlike excitement the mercenary looked around, his gaze taken both by the various souvenirs Batman had brought back to his cave and by the various vehicles: in addition to the Batmobile, which he had the pleasure of driving and which turned out to be a fantastic experience, a beautiful vigilante gem was also the Bat-plane.
Dick mentally promised himself that sooner or later he would drive the Bat-plane before he met his permanent death: whatever it took!
Not to mention the fucking Batcomputer: although Slade's technology was particularly advanced, it paled sharply in the face of Wayne Enterprises' technology. The 17-year-old was too well trained to drool over such beauty but he would not blame himself if he did.
Focus, Dick! Eyes on the mission!
The assassin, however, hesitated to get past the Batcomputer but finally groaned. "The temptation is too strong." he muttered in defeat.
He dropped into the chair in front of the Batcomputer, not too surprised when he discovered it was damn comfortable, and began typing rapidly, his movements on the keyboard so fast that even Flash would have a hard time following them all.
He remained in front of the Batcomputer screen just long enough to allow him to leave a little gift for Bruce that the man would surely find in no time. After all, Dick was a polite host and knew good manners despite his reputation as a Renegade.
Wintergreen would probably kill him if the man ever learned that he had entered Wayne Manor when no one was there and acted as if it were his home without even thanking the owner for his kind welcome.
No more distractions now.
The mercenary advanced but again hesitated, his eyes falling on the amazing animatronic T-rex built to life size, momentarily putting aside his enormous curiosity about how the hell Batman got him into the cave without anyone noticing.
...Screw it. When am I ever going to get a situation like this again?
Renegade smiled happily once he had easily scaled the animatronic, standing on top of it. He gave a cheeky thumbs-up in the direction of some of the cavern's cameras and the next instant he threw himself down below.
The Talon performed a triple somersault in midair, briefly enjoying the feeling of adrenaline and the air blowing over his face and hair, and cushioned the huge fall by a roll on the cold floor of the cavern and then soared into another somersault in midair, landing perfectly on his feet without either difficulty or pain.
"Congratulations Renegade: that was a dive of 10." the mercenary affirmed, speaking aloud and clapping his hands, congratulating himself. "What a wonderful performance."
He chuckled with a giggle that echoed throughout the cavern eerily, nervously shaking the bats hanging from the ceiling. He shook his head with a smirk and was finally able to walk toward his destination.
That is, the zeta tube.
In fact, his goal was to reach the Watchtower and, taking advantage of the absence of all the heroes, he would have free access to all their technology to attempt to somehow track down Klarion and then find a way to reverse the spell.
So Dick had the brilliant idea of using the zeta tube present in the Batcave to gain access to the inside of the Watchtower because no matter when he wished to have a zeta tube in the Wilson house, it was a technology too complicated to build even for two geniuses like him and Slade and if they stole one obviously the heroes would notice and locate them because of the tracking device built into it.
So this was the only way for Dick.
Sure, technically there were several zeta-tubes scattered around Gotham and other cities but what better opportunity than this to give Bruce a nervous breakdown?
In any case, the acrobat arrived in front of the zeta tube, activated his holographic glove and hacked it in less than ten seconds.
Seriously, this is too easy. At this rate I'll have to personally strengthen the Watchtower's security systems.
Recognized: Unknown
The young man blinked behind his mask, adjusting to the new brightness of the Watchtower. He took a few steps forward when suddenly he froze, his enhanced hearing picking up a person's heartbeat.
Who the hell infiltrated the Watchtower at this critical moment?
Renegade silently slipped without making even the slightest sound. He turned several corridors before stopping around the corner, hearing a female voice that spoke so softly, however, that he could not understand the words. He stiffened, ready to take down the intruder as quickly as possible -and yes, he knew that he himself was technically an intruder as well but he would not do any thing that would disadvantage the JL, unlike this intruder instead- and turned the corner sharply without making a sound.
He froze when he saw a familiar figure in the center of the room, her back to him, and gave a mental sigh of relief.
Not an intruder.
His muscles relaxed once he ascertained that the hero base was not under attack and he leaned silently on the doorframe, curious about when she would notice his presence. Minutes passed and she still did not notice him, focused instead on mumbling and uttering words that were incoherent to him.
I had honestly forgotten that she is not yet of age and is only seventeen years old, despite being an important member of the Justice League.
"You know, you should be more focused on your surroundings. You really need training on this field."
The mercenary watched in amusement as Zatanna leapt into the air with a startled cry of surprise and turned so fast that he swore he heard her neck snap. Her blue eyes widened comically when she saw him. "Renegade?"
"In the flesh. Please don't-"
"Sniahc depparw ylthgit no Edagener!"
Renegade released a puff of air when immediately chains wrapped tightly around his waist, trapping his arms along his sides. "attack me." he concluded in a flat tone.
"Yeah, then I also offer milk and cookies to the second most dangerous mercenary in the world." the sorceress drawled sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"I would never refuse them."
She stared at him impassively and crossed her arms, fixing him with a hard stare. "What are you doing here, Renegade? Especially how did you manage to infiltrate here?"
Then, before he could even open his mouth, she cast another spell.
"Llet eht hturt!"
The assassin returned the look, not amused and unimpressed. "I am here to find a way to stop the person responsible for the attack and bring back the adults. As for how, I exploited the zeta tube present in the Batcave."
Zatanna blinked. "Batcave?" she repeated slowly, arching an eyebrow in confusion.
"You know, Batman's cave. His base." the assassin clarified, giving her a look that clearly indicated how much he was reconsidering her intelligence. "His computer is the Batcomputer, his car is the Batmobile, his plane is the Bat-plane, his weapons are the batarangs and so on." he stated in a tone that sounded like he was talking to a six-year-old.
Why do I always have to clarify everything every time? Because no one can get there on their own, heck! How many heroes or villains do they know with the suffix Bat?
Zatanna opened her mouth to express her disappointment at his condescending tone when his words penetrated her ears and she snapped it shut. The next second she burst out laughing, bending over with laughter.
She knew that she must have been concerned that a mercenary of Renegade's caliber knew all the identities of the JL but at that moment she was more focused on not dying of laughter.
The assassin could not help but be affected by her amusement and he too began to giggle.
The young hero managed to calm down about two minutes later. "God. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time." the sorceress confessed, wiping away a tear that formed in her left eye from so much laughter. More giggles escaped her as she stared at Deathstroke's former apprentice, amusement dancing in her eyes. "How did that even come to your mind?"
The Talon shrugged his shoulders as much as his chains would allow. "I am very original about names."
The sorceress rolled her eyes with an amused snort. "All right, Mr. Original. No more joking now." she diffidently narrowed her gaze toward him. "What are your real intentions on the Watchtower, Renegade?"
"I already told you." the acrobat pointed out with a frown. "I am here just to find a way to locate Klarion and reverse the spell."
The young hero briefly opened her eyes wide before taking on a hard, cold stare. "How do you know it was Klarion?"
"I have my sources." he replied with a lazy smirk, easily evading her spell.
Zatanna narrowed her eyes, not amused. "Who told you that?"
"A person."
Frustration appeared on her face but she did not even have time to open her mouth that the anti-hero interrupted her.
"You know what? I'm getting tired of all these questions now."
Zatanna stepped back with a shocked scream when Renegade suddenly broke the chains by simply spreading his arms wide. Her wide eyes briefly fixed on the chains that fell to the ground with a metallic clang before returning them to his bored gaze.
"Did you really think that miserable chains would be enough to stop me? Please: my physical strength is very remarkable." he stated not in an arrogant or vain tone but was simply stating the facts as they were.
Zatanna was shocked when Renegade, instead of attacking or threatening her with one of his many weapons, took a slight step back, peacefully raising his hands in the air.
"I have no intention of hurting you, Zatanna. I don't hurt the innocent or even heroes. You should understand that after all this time."
The sorceress knew that he was telling the truth since he was still affected by her magic. However, she still diffidently narrowed her gaze. "It is hard to trust the second best mercenary and assassin in the world who has defeated the entire Justice League twice."
The assassin sent her a smirk. "I can understand that." he conceded, lowering his arms. "However, right now we have the same goals. We both want to locate Klarion, kick his ass and bring the adults back to Earth."
"I also want to know how you can be sure that Klarion is responsible for the disappearance of all the adults?"
"I know it's going to be hard for you but you're going to have to trust me." The Talon sighed at the obvious distrust and mistrust the sorceress was showing. "Look, I could have taken you down before you even knew I was there and I would have even been able to hurt you before you cast your spell but I let you hit me to try to explain to you that I pose no threat to you or to good people in general. That and I could have killed you and your teammates from the first battle but I didn't because Earth and the universe need the Justice League and I would rather die than kill one of the heroes." he gave her a smirk. "Who do you think is the one who bandages your most serious wounds after one of our fights?"
Zatanna stared at him with a look that could not completely conceal her surprise. She had always known that the boy in front of her had never killed an innocent and, although they had had doubts about the death of Hugo Strange about which Batman later found out that he was working with the Light, that was his modus operandi.
But she would never have thought that Renegade would not only sincerely prefer to die rather than kill a hero but also that he was the one who was medicating the most injured heroes, helping their healing process.
And there was no way the assassin was lying: he was still under her magic.
This was all the proof she needed.
Sure, she knew she couldn't begin to trust Renegade blindly -he still remained the assassin with a body count second only to Deathstroke himself- but at least she now had confirmation that he would do nothing to mortally injure either the innocent or her teammates.
"Fine. All right. I'll try to trust you." Zatanna let out a sigh she did not know to hold back and absentmindedly ran a hand over her hair. She gave him a hard look. "But at the first suspicion that you are trying to fool me I will make you regret being born."
The acrobat chuckled, completely unmoved by her threat. "Crystal."
The sorceress grimaced at the fact that he had not been threatened by her, even though she must have expected it. She put her hands on her hips and looked at him. "Well? What's your plan?"
"First, if you would kindly erase your magic on me. You know, it's not nice to be forced to tell the truth all the time." he said with an amused smile that, however, did not completely hide his threatening tone toward her if she did not.
Zatanna blushed a little for forgetting and murmured a quick apology to him. She cleared her throat and straightened up, ready to cast her spell as her blue eyes brightened considerably. "Lecnac eht tsal lleps!"
An aura appeared around the young assassin and quickly disappeared. "Batman is not paranoid." he blurted out.
"What?"
"Nothing." the anti-hero waved a hand dismissively. "I had to make sure I was no longer forced to tell the truth and that was the first thing that came to mind."
Zatanna snorted amusedly, briefly bringing her hands to her mouth to muffle her giggles. "Fair enough, I guess." her gaze turned serious as she stared at him. "Tell me you have a plan to resolve this situation."
Renegade had a thoughtful look for a few seconds before sending her a bright, victorious smile. "I have a plan but I will need your help."