Wonder Woman and the rest of the Justice League had no clue what the hell had happened. One moment everything was normal, the next second all the children and teenagers disappeared from the face of the Earth.
Needless to say, all the adults were fucking scared of the disappearance of their children/younger siblings/nieces/nephews/friends and traffic accidents, assaults and general chaos had increased all over the world.
The only thing that was certain was that Dr. Fate had discovered that the source of this mess was a powerful spell and within a few seconds he was able to discover that a group of sorcerers in Roanoke were behind the disappearance of all the minors in the world. Island. Even before the heroes could set off for their destination, Diana and the others suddenly turned when they heard a deafening noise, similar to the roar of lightning, and they opened their eyes wide at the appearance of Shazam in the Watchtower without hearing the zeta tubes announce his arrival.
Shazam himself blinked in surprise. "It worked." he muttered absentmindedly, increasing his teammates' confusion.
"Shazam? Where were you before, buddy?"
"Huh? Oh, right." Shazam shook himself at Green Arrow's question. "Well, before all this mess I was in the form of Billy Batson, so I witnessed Uncle Dudley disappear and only then found out that all the adults in the world were gone. But here you are, so the situation is resolved." he concluded with a smile.
The heroes exchanged a look and Shazam noticed it, his smile fading.
"Isn't that so?"
It was Flash who informed him in a gloomy voice. "All the minors in the world have disappeared."
"However following your explanation, it is obvious that the spell was much more complicated than that. It's as if we are dealing with two separate worlds: in one there are minors, in the other there are adults."
The heroes opened their eyes wide at the intuition of the best detective in the world. "Is it really possible to do something like this?" Black Canary asked in shock, turning to Dr. Fate.
The Lord of Order nodded solemnly. "This is a very complicated spell that not all magic users are capable of performing but yes, it is possible."
"Then that means you can act as an intermediary between the two worlds." Batman grunted in Shazam's direction. "Go to the other world and find out Zatanna's condition."
Wonder Woman opened her eyes wide, remembering -not without a hint of shame towards herself - only at that moment that her friend was only 17 years old and that at that moment she was the only superhero of the JL and that in some way she would have to comfort many millions of children and teenagers.
She must be so scared, finding herself completely alone.
The hero who everyone believed to be an adult in all respects nodded to the order of the Gotham vigilante and with the Shazam scream and the magical lightning he disappeared. The rest of the team patiently awaited the return of Shazam who reappeared in less than five minutes.
"All in all Zatanna is doing quite well in all aspects. She also located where the spell came from and said she felt Klarion's magic."
"Shouldn't it be impossible? I mean, we all know Klarion is billions of years old, so why is he in the underage world?" Superman asked shaking his head in surprise, turning towards Dr. Fate as he was the sorcerer who gave them all the information they knew about the Lord of Chaos.
"Magic is anything but rational, Kal-El. Klarion is one of the most powerful magic users in the entire universe, so it may be feasible for him to remain bound to the underage Earth despite his actual physical age." Dr. Fate explained in a solemn and serious voice.
"Enough chatter now. I say we go to Roanoke Island and defeat the other sorcerers." Wonder Woman growled, eager to resolve the critical situation as quickly as possible to return everything to normal.
The entire population of both Earths was in total chaos and the sooner they resolved the situation the fewer victims there would be on both worlds.
"But first it would be better to warn Zatanna not to engage alone against Klarion." Martian Manhunter suggested wisely. "It would be practically suicidal for her to face one of the most powerful sorcerers in the entire universe."
"Speaking of it…" Shazam began in a hesitant voice, fidgeting nervously. "Right now Zatanna has an ally and they promised they would deal with Klarion, no matter what the cost."
Diana narrowed her eyes, immediately sensing that he was hiding something very important. Judging by the suspicious looks of her teammates, they understood it too.
"Who is this ally?"
"I'm sorry but I can't tell you, Hal. I promised I would not reveal the identity of Zatanna's ally." Shazam replied, very good at choosing his words so as not to even miss the gender of this ally. "But you can rest assured that Zatanna is in extremely loyal, skilled and competent hands. If there's anyone I could trust with my friend's protection and life, despite everything, it's that person."
"Well, I don't know about you but I trust Billy's judgment." Aquaman stated shrugging and getting several murmurs in agreement.
Unsurprisingly, only Batman was clearly suspicious of the identity of this ally of Zatanna but apparently divine miracles really existed because he didn't push the subject at all.
As for Wonder Woman, however, she had a very likely hypothesis about their teammate's unknown ally who was currently in the other world and would find out whether her theory was correct or not.
"Shazam, a word before we leave." Shazam turned sharply towards Wonder Woman, clearly taken aback. He glanced briefly at the other heroes who were busy preparing for the trip to Roanoke Island and finally nodded. "Not here. Come on, follow me." she stated, walking away without ever turning to make sure the younger hero was following her.
Arriving in the hallways of their personal rooms, Wonder Woman approached hers, punched in the code, and after her door opened they entered. She then walked over to her nightstand.
"What do you want to talk to me about?"
The Amazon chuckled silently at Shazam's visibly nervous and agitated tone before turning serious again. "I can't say it out loud but I'll write it down for you." she said, grabbing a pen and starting to write on a sheet of paper.
"Aren't the personal rooms soundproof?"
"Yes but it's not worth the risk."
Once she finished writing she handed it over without a word to her teammate who, after reading it, widened his eyes in shock and stared at her with a look of pure panic. "H-How do you know?"
She smiled at him enigmatically. "Call it an intuition." she said, shrugging. "Don't be so flustered and nervous, Shazam. I have no intention of telling anyone."
"R-Really?" he asked in surprise, clearly relieved when she nodded. "Thank you so much!" he hesitated and gave her a curious, questioning look. "Can I know why?"
Wonder Woman pursed her lips, contemplating what words to give him but in the end she already knew the answer to his question from the start. "Because with him by Zatanna's side, I can be 100% sure that he will be able to keep her alive, no matter what. Furthermore, with him the chances of taking down Klarion are significantly increased, even if it's the two of them." she stated sincerely.
Shazam nodded in understanding as he placed the paper on the nightstand. "I can understand it. Can I go or did you have anything else to ask me?"
"You can go. I'll stay here for a moment and then I'll join you all."
Once alone in her room, the demigoddess sighed and sat down on her bed.
Her previous guess about the identity of Zatanna's unknown ally turned out to be correct and she was truly happy about it.
Because who better than Renegade himself could help Zatanna, not let her die and defeat one of the most powerful sorcerer in the universe?
Even though the princess of Themyscira didn't know Renegade too well -although she certainly knew him better than the rest of the heroes- she was certain that the young assassin hated the current critical situation as much as she did, if not more since in his world there were only defenseless kids who were surely scared and confused by the disappearance of the adults, and Shazam's words proved her right.
Diana couldn't think of a better person than Renegade to trust to keep her friend and teammate alive and to take down Klarion: after all, she trusted the mercenary with her own life and well-being and could easily expand her trust in him towards the rest of the Justice League as well, even if the others didn't have the same opinion as her about Renegade.
Renegade would do his best to help bring the situation back to normal and his best was more than enough. With Renegade on their side, even if he was in the other world, their chances of success had definitely skyrocketed.
Yes, she knew that her unshakable and unconditional trust in an individual as dangerous and lethal as Renegade could probably be risky and reckless but she couldn't do anything about it: after everything she had discovered about the young mercenary, from his actions and his attitude that he had addressed only to her and not to the other heroes, Diana couldn't help but trust him.
He had definitely earned it after everything he had done, or rather, not done.
Not killing the heroes despite the double opportunity when all the other villains would have taken the opportunity.
Not raping her despite the double opportunity when the vast majority of the population would have done literally anything to seize this opportunity.
Thinking about it was enough to make her feel nauseous, even though the mere thought that Renegade could have done it was definitely an insult not only to his career as a professional anti-hero mercenary but above all to his person who she would never have wanted to insult or denigrate.
Never having killed an innocent person but having only killed the scum of society: serial killers, rapists, human traffickers, pedophiles and so on.
Not having gone down the dark path despite all the pain he endured and suffered at such a young age, even though she didn't know what had happened to him.
How could she not trust him after all this?
Having confirmation that Renegade was Zatanna's ally immediately reassured her: it was as if a huge boulder had been lifted from her chest.
She woke up from her own thoughts and decided it was time to kick some sorcerer's ass.
Defeating the sorcerers was easy enough and a little disappointing but that didn't surprise Wonder Woman: the only one of note was Wotan but, having learned the lesson, Superman made sure to defeat him first.
The rest of the sorcerers were in no way comparable to Wotan and even less to Klarion himself.
The thought of Renegade and Zatanna against Klarion crossed her mind but she shook off the thoughts: she was more than confident in Zatanna's magical abilities but more importantly in the abilities of Renegade who was apparently an expert at accomplishing things -that anyone would say were impossible- with such ease that it scared even herself.
She watched as Dr. Fate grabbed the gem at the center of the ritual and then muttered an incantation. The next second the entire world lit up white and she was forced to abruptly close her eyes, reopening them once she felt it was safe to do so.
The first thing she saw was Klarion trapped in Dr. Fate's signature yellow cross, which surprised her as she didn't think Zatanna was capable of something like that.
The girl gets better with magic day by day.
The second thing she noticed was Zatanna looking around in wonder, though she couldn't say why. The Amazon shifted her gaze and scanned the rest of the area, expecting to see the familiar figure of the mercenary somewhere, perhaps ready to taunt them or something.
Instead she saw no figure in black and red.
Maybe he's already gone, although it seems strange to me that he would go away without even saying goodbye or making fun of us. Or more specifically, me.
Strangely, Diana felt a sort of disappointment wash over her body and she frowned, very confused and surprised by her own emotions. She ignored the chatter around her as she tried to figure out why on earth she would feel disappointed at not seeing the young mercenary again but she was abruptly cut from her own thoughts by Klarion's words.
"No matter. I still completed a vital mission, even if it was not originally planned."
Wonder Woman was very wary and suspicious of the sorcerer's mischievous smirk, even more so when he moved his eyes towards Zatanna, fixing her with a significant gaze. She immediately noticed how the sorceress had stiffened and how her face had lost a bit of color and became worried for her teammate.
"Renegade!"
The Amazon froze on the spot at Zatanna's choked scream, her heart skipping a beat as a bad omen began to fill every fiber of her being. While the other heroes looked at each other with confused looks at the invocation of the young assassin's name, Diana, who already knew it was Renegade who was the sorceress' mysterious ally, was focused on something else entirely and had a very bad feeling about it.
Now certainly she was not the best detective in the world but still she still considered herself an all around decent detective with good instincts and intuition.
If Zatanna called Renegade's name in such a choked, wavering voice it almost certainly meant that she was worried about him and therefore the mercenary was seriously injured.
Or worse.
Wonder Woman shook her head, immediately dispelling that rebellious thought and snorting to herself in amusement.
There was no way that Renegade, the world's second deadliest and most dangerous assassin and mercenary, the one who twice defeated the entire Justice League like it was a walk in the park, the one who virtually single-handedly exterminated one of the world's most dangerous mobs aka the Red Sharks, the one who executed a coup at the damn League of Assassins and killed Ra's Al Ghul when he was only eleven fucking years old, the one who escaped from the safest and most secure prison ever aka the Watchtower prison like it was nothing, the one who had the best healing factor she had ever seen was dead.
It was so stupid to even think about it.
So why was it that despite his defeat Klarion seemed pleased with himself? And why did he cast that meaningful look at Zatanna, who coincidentally shouted Renegade's name right afterwards?
The princess of Themyscira growled at herself, ignoring the puzzled looks that some heroes near her gave her.
Don't be stupid, Prince. Renegade is too skilled, experienced and annoyingly perfect to have been killed.
Even against one of the most powerful sorcerers in the entire universe aka the personification of chaos himself?
Even against one of the most powerful sorcerers in the entire universe aka the personification of chaos himself. Renegade would find a way to take him down, no matter how skilled Klarion is at magic.
When she brought her attention back to the present, she found Zatanna hiding in Superman's arms, her body trembling. Her heart clenched painfully at the obvious pain of her friend and immediately fear and horror filled every fiber of her being, giving her difficulty even breathing.
She barely registered the Man of Steel's next words.
"Can you explain to me what Renegade has to do with this, Zatanna?" he asked in a soft whisper.
"R-Renegade... h-he is-"
No... it can't be... Zeus, tell me it's not true that-
"Did someone mention my name?"
YES!
At that moment his voice was to Diana damnably one of the best sounds ever and she had to physically force herself not to scream or jump from unbridled joy, surprising even herself but she put this strangeness momentarily away. Her muscles immediately relaxed and she let out such a deep and long sigh of relief that she did not even know she was holding back. Only now could she finally breathe properly. If her heart was beating more lightly than usual out of fear, now it was still slightly faster but for a totally opposite reason.
See? I said it was impossible for Renegade to have been killed. That boy is too annoying to die.
Diana decided to ignore how she had been so frightened and horrified to even think about a hypothetical death of the young mercenary, feeling such terrible feelings that she had rarely experienced in her entire long ultra-centennial life.
It was probably because, for some strange reason, she was the closest member of the JL to Renegade and the only one who understood that he was not an evil person at all, on the contrary.
Yes, surely that's why I was so terrified at the idea of Renegade's death. After all, it would have been a great loss to Earth to lose one of its greatest protectors and the one who managed to decrease crime literally all over the world.
In any case, she found it genuinely amusing that her reaction to Renegade's voice had been to mentally relax and exult, completely opposite to that of the other heroes, who instead stiffened and virtually all of them -except Batman, Zatanna and Shazam- had paled.
"Renegade!"
Most of the heroes called Zatanna's name when they saw her running toward the mercenary who was about ten meters away from them -but still, the sight of seeing him alive and well remained gold to the demigoddess-. The Amazon swore that she saw something strange in Renegade's chest and approached along with the other heroes to get a better look at what it was. However, she did not get the chance as Zatanna wrapped the young assassin in a fierce bone-crushing embrace, preventing her from seeing his chest, and she did not miss the almost imperceptible gasp on his part, which she considered very strange.
Seeing Zatanna embrace Renegade so fiercely aroused a strange sensation in the Amazon warrior's chest that she had literally never felt in all her long life.
Strange but so unpleasant that Diana did not want to feel it again, even though she did not know how or what to do since she did not even know the reason for that uncomfortable and unwelcome feeling.
She did not have time to think about it when she saw Zatanna immediately turn away from Renegade: the sorceress had probably noticed her gasp as well. She frowned when she saw Zatanna staggering backward as if she had been physically struck and her frown increased when she heard several other heroes making horrified, shocked and incredulous gasps and sounds.
What the hell did they see?
Wonder Woman moved to the side to get a better view and when she had it she stopped abruptly, her feet frozen to the ground and making even the slightest movement impossible. Her heart clenched painfully at the sight, losing a few beats, and she felt herself suffocating from the rest of the world.
Renegade's entire chest armor was gone, clearly letting her see his entire chest completely charred, incinerated and burned, the color of his burned skin darker even than the Dark Knight's armor.
Only then could Diana smell the unmistakable odor of burnt flesh and if she had not been trained from birth to be the strongest and most dangerous Amazon ever, she would have already vomited on the spot. She felt nausea fill every fiber and cell of her body but she was stronger and managed to resist against the temptation to empty the contents of her stomach. However, this did not diminish at all the painful, horrified, frightened and agonized feeling that she was experiencing at that moment, almost as if she was the one who had such severe injuries instead of the mercenary.
How does Renegade remain standing as if nothing is wrong? As if his entire chest is not burned and charred? Could it possibly be a combination of adrenaline and the healing factor? However, I highly doubt that his healing factor can heal him quickly, no matter how phenomenal it is. And I cannot help but notice that this time Renegade is not showing any visible pain but is even confused and perplexed! It is as if he cannot feel pain at all but it is practically impossible!
Her next thought overwhelmed her harder than a truck going 300 kilometers per hour could.
Renegade should be dead. No one can physically survive this kind of injury. I am sure his burns far exceed third-degree burns. It will surely leave horrible scars on his body and who knows how long he will need for complete healing, not to mention even the severely damaged nervous system.
Shit, so much pain for a boy of only seventeen. One of the best people I have ever met, despite his worldwide reputation. He is the last of the people who deserves so much pain, not to mention all the physical and emotional suffering he has already endured in the past at an even younger age, in the words of Renegade himself and Martian Manhunter. It's not fair, dammit.
Wonder Woman could not tear her gaze away from his charred and burned chest and she could not help but continue to stare at it with morbid fascination.
Renegade should be dead.
Renegade should be dead.
Renegade should be dead.
Her legs almost gave out at the very thought and it was only by a miracle that she could continue to stand: at that point even something as simple as walking would pose a huge challenge for her.
Never had Wonder Woman felt so close to completely losing control: control of herself, control of her emotions, control of the situation and any other form of control and once again she did not know why she was doing this, which annoyed her to no end.
Although at that moment annoyance was the least of her worries, replaced by immense concern, fear and shock at Renegade and relief at seeing him in good condition, despite everything.
"NO! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"
Wonder Woman finally managed to shift her gaze from the morbid scene of Renegade's very serious burn wounds just in time to see Klarion snap his fingers, causing the yellow cross that immobilized him to disappear. Automatically her body stiffened, ready for the eventual confrontation against the sorcerer but he remained strangely still, pointing an accusing finger at Renegade.
"How the hell are you still alive? I killed you, damn it!"
Her shocked, faint, trembling murmur of "W-What?", which she barely registered that she herself had uttered those words that came out of her mouth without her permission, was lost in the air, thankfully ignored by all.
At the confirmation of her current worst fear, she felt her heart briefly stop and her brain go into blackout.
"The spell was supposed to burn not only your entire chest but also all your internal organs, heart and lungs first and foremost! And I know it worked because not only did I see you dead but also because my spells never fail, damn it!"
At that point Diana was on the verge of collapsing to the ground from the purest form of exhaustion in all aspects, a feeling she had never experienced before.
She was completely horrified by what she had just heard.
Renegade's entire chest was burned and incinerated.
Renegade's internal organs were burned and charred.
Renegade should be fucking dead and instead he was standing as if nothing was wrong, as if he was not responsible for Wonder Woman's greatest shock, fear, worry and weakness she had ever experienced in her entire life until this damn moment that looked more like a nightmare than reality.
Diana could not blame her teammates for bursting into hysterical and shocked screams since she too was definitely on the verge of insanity and hysteria, her whole being completely shaken by an inner turmoil so strong and overwhelming that she has never experienced it before.
"It's true, I was dead." Renegade began and his words filled the Amazon's heart with the purest form of horror and shock. "But unfortunately for you, I never stay dead. In fact right now my heart, lungs and other internal organs are growing back. Superman, if you would kindly give you all a confirmation."
Oh Zeus, tell me that this is just a sick nightmare and that I will wake up soon.
Superman's face, already pale, lost further color and he let out a shocked, hysterical and frightened scream, his body beginning to shake. "I-It's t-true! T-They're g-g-growing in t-this m-m-moment!"
Fucking Hell. How the hell could something like that be real?
Green Arrow and Flash muttered something Diana couldn't quite understand but she was pretty sure it was that they were feeling bad or something, which she couldn't blame them for at all.
"What the hell are you, a fucking monster?"
Wonder Woman felt the urge to wrap her hands around Klarion and throttle him to a slow and painful death, savoring his final moments when he would realize that his lifeblood was slowly running out.
Her body trembled with rage.
How dare that son of a bitch call someone like Renegade a monster?
Just because Renegade apparently could not die, no matter the severity of his wounds -even when his own internal organs were destroyed, burned and charred, damn it!- surely that did not make him a monster, quite the contrary.
The Amazon could not have been more pleased and grateful that Renegade possessed such an exceptional and unlimited healing factor: without it he would be dead by now and that would have upset her so much.
A world without Renegade was a world she did not like at all: this because Earth would have one less protector and there would be no other person capable of bringing down the crime rate globally at the same speed and efficiency as Renegade.
The Earth needed Renegade as much as it needed the JL itself and this was one of the most deeply ingrained beliefs in Wonder Woman's mind that nothing and no one could ever convince her otherwise.
Renegade's growl brought her back to reality. "Watch your words, dude, or I will send your severed head by post to the rest of the Light."
Wonder Woman was briefly impressed that Renegade was aware of the Light but quickly shrugged it off.
After all, this is Renegade we're talking about.
And she was not at all surprised by Renegade's open hostility toward the Light who, unlike him, was a real threat to the heroes and the Earth.
"Remember: the only reason you managed to kill me is both because you targeted Zatanna in her weakened state but mostly because you protected yourself behind a lousy magical barrier, coward that you are. Otherwise I would have killed you no problem."
This partially explained how Klarion was able to kill Renegade and the demigoddess could only silently agree with the young assassin.
Klarion had behaved like a true coward, taking refuge behind his magical barrier and refusing to face Renegade face to face.
After all, if Renegade was able to outsmart a sorcerer as powerful as Dr. Fate, he would be able to defeat Klarion as well.
You are a mean fucking condard, Klarion.
"Are you threatening me, you insect that you are?" Klarion growled, baring his teeth in the direction of the young assassin.
Wonder Woman stiffened, ready to leap to Renegade's defense and kick the Lord of Chaos's ass if she had to.
She would truly enjoy and relish every moment of her violent beating on Klarion, avenging Renegade for what he had done to him and for targeting her teammate as well.
"Are you really sure you want to take on a monster?"
Diana chuckled silently when the mercenary used Klarion's own words against him but her amusement was abruptly interrupted when he gave himself a light tap to his chest causing a small piece of his burned and charred flesh to peel away from his chest with a sickening pop.
I think I'm seriously going to be sick.
She really could not understand how the hell Renegade could have such nonchalance about it, limiting himself to an annoyed sigh, as if a mosquito was bothering him instead of having literally every internal organ burned and charred as well as his entire chest whose skin was falling off piece by piece.
I will never understand him and his mind.
She felt compassion for Shazam when he vomited, reminding herself that he was only a little boy.
She turned around and saw that a good portion of the other heroes were on the verge of vomiting like Shazam when a glowing rage swept over her.
The others had disgusted looks on their faces.
She really hoped they were disgusted by the burn wounds and not by Renegade himself, otherwise she would have given a piece of her mind to all of them and made them regret every decision they made, damn them.
The demigoddess scowled to herself, surprised by her own thoughts of such intensity. She shrugged them off, knowing now was not the time to think them over, and returned to staring at Renegade. Her eyes became inscrutable and indecipherable but her heart ached painfully on Renegade's behalf.
He does not deserve this.
She was briefly surprised when Renegade looked at her with a gaze she could not decipher -she longed to see his eyes at that moment to understand what he was feeling- and for a moment she felt as if the two of them were the only people in the whole world, their intense, deep gazes fixed on each other.
The magic broke too soon for her likingand to her utter disappointmentRenegade shifted her attention to Klarion when the sorcerer spoke. "You know what? I'm out of here. You're a fucking monster, man!" he growled and with another snap of his fingers he disappeared.
Now Diana regretted not throttling the bastard.
She could not help but agree with her Thanagarian friend when the red-haired woman asked the question everyone was wondering about.
"The short explanation is the fact that I met Zatanna in your base and-"
"Wait a minute: you snuck into the Watchtower?"
Really, the princess of Themyscira should not have been surprised after all the surprises and shocks Renegade has been giving her since they met but she was anyway.
Is there anything that boy cannot do?
"The next person who interrupts me will literally get a stick up their ass." Renegade threatened coldly and Aquaman wisely chose to shut his mouth, which amused Diana.
Glad to know that death did not change him at all.
"Anyway yes, I entered the Watchtower because it was the best place to try to locate Klarion. There I met Zatanna and we decided to ally because we both had a common enemy to defeat. So I was the ally Shazam told you about.
"Once we found out where the spell came from we headed here and fought against Klarion. At one point, however, that bastard immobilized us with a fucking magic lightning and launched a fatal magic attack on Zatanna, which resulted in me pushing her to the side and receiving that blow that as you can see killed me. I awoke from death only a short while ago: only Zatanna can tell you the other details of the fight." he concluded with a casual shrug.
Wonder Woman widened her eyes in surprise, realizing only then the magnitude of what had really happened.
Klarion's attack was aimed at Zatanna and would surely have killed her on the spot with such a painful and inhuman death. However, this did not deter Renegade at all who, despite the pain from the magical lightning -which Diana knew from experience hurt like hell- pushed the sorceress to the side, absorbing the deadly and fatal blow himself.
Of course, to the newly discovered Renegade knew that he would not remain dead, but still he had no obligation to sacrifice his life for Zatanna's but still he decided to save her life by sacrificing his own.
Wonder Woman was the only one in the Justice League who knew how much Renegade valued heroes, which is why she was not at all surprised that he sacrificed himself for Zatanna, unlike her teammates.
However, just because death was not permanent for him, that did not mean that it was not at all a traumatizing experience for him to die and be resurrected.
And this led the Amazon into a spiral of questions.
Is this the first time he has died?
Has he died before?
How many times has he died?
What kinds of deaths has he been forced to endure?
The thought that such a young person died more than once, especially considering that it was Renegade, was enough to make her heartstrings tighten painfully and she felt her knees almost give way.
Renegade died now that he was only 17 years old, so if he had died several times in the past, how much younger was he?
This was a question Diana was afraid to know the answer to and she was not ashamed to admit it.
The mystery of Renegade was growing darker and more puzzling but Wonder Woman would never give up.
One day she would have the answers to all her questions, no matter how dark it would become. She would solve the mystery surrounding the figure of Renegade so that she could better understand him from all possible angles.
Hal's hysterical voice shook her from her thoughts. "No one can wake up from the dead like they wake up from a fucking afternoon nap!"
"I can." replied the acrobat dryly. "As you can see my wound is already almost completely healed." he pointed to his chest whose lower half had returned to its original color while the upper half was still burned and charred.
Diana was astonished and amazed at the exceptional demonstration of the effectiveness of his healing factor. She knew it was good but not so good that it had healed the lower half of her chest of all kinds of burns in even three minutes.
One thing she noticed was that no scars were left on the healed portion of his skin: it was as if his chest had never been charred and burned in the first place.
"As for my internal organs," Renegade paused briefly, as if he were reflecting on something. "only most of the heart is missing from regeneration. That has always been the organ that takes a little longer to regenerate. The other organs are fully functional and whole."
The Amazon could not help but envy his nonchalance: he was talking about regenerating his own heart and other organs from scratch as if he were talking about planning a beach vacation.
Beach holiday that Diana deserved after witnessing all this bullshit that exhausted her physically, emotionally and mentally, she thought.
"How the hell is it possible for you to stand like you're not missing a part of your heart?"
Clark, the real question is how Renegade was able to stand when he had no heart or other internal organs at all as all of them were destroyed, burned and charred.
"My very unique abilities allows it. I am literally able to live even with my internal organs destroyed. They regenerate in no time anyway."
This partially answered the question in her mind.
Yet the way Renegade spoke about it painfully tugged at her heartstrings once again, making her feel feelings she had never felt in her entire ultra-centennial life.
It was so painfully obvious that even though Renegade talked about it as if it were nothing, it was actually something that affected him deeply, or at least it initially affected him and he couldn't help but get used to it, probably against his own will or something.
Diana could never have understood what it meant to have her heart, lungs, kidneys and other internal organs destroyed and then have them regenerate quickly but it didn't take a genius to understand that it was something very painful and traumatizing that would leave mental scars.
All of this caused her to speak for the first time since Klarion and the other sorcerers' spell was undone and she barely registered that the voice that rang out was hers, the words that automatically came out of her mouth.
"Does it hurt?"
Only then did Wonder Woman realize that, among all the countless questions that crossed her mind, this was the most urgent one to which she immediately wanted to know the answer.
By now she had grown accustomed to the strange fact that she genuinely cared about Renegade's health and well-being, even if she still couldn't understand why.
Maybe because she was becoming emotionally attached to him after all she knew about him and all the good he had done.
This wasn't unlikely since Renegade wasn't evil at all and so Wonder Woman was growing fond of him and everything he represented.
Yeah, probably so.
Renegade's gaze moved to her and she almost winced: despite his mask, Diana easily recognized the feeling of genuine surprise and emotion that passed through him, almost as if he would never have expected such a question from her or even from anyone in general.
Besides Deathstroke, who I know was a great father to him, does he have anyone else who genuinely cares for him?
Just thinking about it a whirlwind of different emotions exploded in her chest, making her crave to punch whoever in the face dared to hurt such a young person, causing him so much pain and emotional and mental scars.
"At first, yes. Then I got used to practically every sensation of pain until I practically didn't feel it anymore." he answered sincerely. He gave her a small but sweet smile that stirred her stomach with a feeling that wasn't so unpleasant or unwelcome. "Don't worry about me, Princess. I've endured similar injuries many times before, although this is the first time resulting from magic. I'm perfectly fine."
Diana didn't know whether to cry, laugh, shake his shoulders, or do all three.
There were so many things wrong with his words that she didn't even know where the hell to begin.
"At first, yes. Then I got used to practically every sensation of pain until I practically didn't feel it anymore."
This means that Renegade was tortured so brutally and for a prolonged period of time to the point that he could no longer even feel any physical pain.
And even at a young age.
Every fiber of her being ached for him.
How the hell Renegade didn't become an evil super-villain who wants to destroy the Earth but instead decided to become an anti-hero mercenary who only kills the scum of the world I will never understand. He would have more compelling motivations than any evil super-villain I know.
Regardless, she couldn't help but return the smile the mercenary sent her way, even as a slight grimace left her lips without her permission. She was surprised when she felt the overwhelming urge to let him know that the grimace was not directed at him but for all the pain and suffering he felt at such a young age that made him the person he was today but she managed to hold back.
"That explains a little bit about your virtually infinite tolerance of pain." Martian Manhunter commented. "We've never heard you show any signs of pain."
At least others have gotten there too, although not at as deep a level as I have.
Suddenly Renegade broke out in a coughing fit and he immediately clapped his hands over his mouth. Wonder Woman physically forced herself to stay rooted to the spot and not fly towards him to see if he was okay. When it ended seconds later and when he dropped his arms back to his sides, her gaze automatically fell on his gloves now stained with dark black blood and worry fully overwhelmed her.
"Ugh. That's why I hate wounds to internal organs: they're always the most annoying." he complained.
Wonder Woman gave herself a mental facepalm, hating Renegade's nonchalance for his own well-being.
How much on earth has he been hurt physically, emotionally and mentally if he doesn't care at all about his injuries and his overall well-being?
This too was a question Diana feared she knew the answer to.
She saw him caressing the bare skin of his chest, now of a pale color and smooth and soft and no longer burned and charred ash-black in color as it was before. "See? Completely healed now."
Ignoring his healing factor that continued to amaze her with disarming ease, her gaze remained fixed on his chest, noticing that his skin was decidedly paler than that of any other person. She briefly looked back at his face and only then noticed that his face was also paler than normal and this raised more doubts and questions in her.
Was he kept locked away somewhere devoid of the sun's heat? Or is that his completely normal physiognomy and he is simply pale? Or is it something else?
Diana belatedly realized that her eyes had automatically fallen back to his chest and that without her permission they were taking in his muscular and decidedly fit chest, made of such a wonderful, charming six pack and-
She cursed silently in several languages and immediately looked back up, grateful that neither Renegade nor the other heroes were staring at her. She felt her entire face heat up faster than Barry's and once again she cursed under her breath, wishing the damn blush would disappear from her face.
She was so focused on herself and her damn blush that she missed the next chatter and barely registered the young mercenary's words. "-I'd better be going now. See you around, Justice League."
However he had no time to do anything as Batman subsequently spoke for the first time.
"Not so fast, Renegade."
Don't screw up, Bruce.
The assassin groaned annoyed. "It seemed strange to me that you still hadn't said a single word, dude. But still, after all, you're not known for being a big talker."
The Amazon's amused smile disappeared at her teammate's next words. "Turn yourself in for all your crimes, Renegade."
Are you fucking serious, Bruce? After everything that's happened and what you've learned?
For some strange reason she felt warm inside as Renegade's next words mirrored her thoughts. "Are you serious about doing this now despite all that's happened?"
"Justice never rests. "You must be captured, tried and sent to Belle Reve, no matter what."
Never before did Diana feel such a strong and irresistible urge to strangle the Dark Knight as in that moment.
Fucking arrogant stubborn insensitive ungrateful bastard-
"I don't have time for your bullshit, Batman. We already know how this is going to end anyway. You try to put me down, I easily kick your ass by holding me back by a lot, you then cry and complain while I happily return home. Can we skip this part and part amicably, at least this time?"
Diana totally agreed with him and was about to let him know when Flash suddenly spoke. "I don't really disagree with Renegade that much." he said, surprising her and the rest of the heroes. "I mean, do you really want to fight the same guy who literally feels no pain even with his internal organs completely burned out and destroyed?"
…Good point but not what I was thinking about.
"Your teammate is right." the assassin nodded in appreciation toward the speedster. "Even if I were still wounded and with all my organs burned and destroyed, I could still continue to fight against you as if nothing had happened. I can literally fight in all possible conditions, even the most unthinkable ones, and even in those cases I can easily kick all of your asses. Starting with you, Batman."
His comment made most of the heroes hesitate and look at each other uncomfortably but Diana didn't know whether to be surprised, horrified, shocked, pained or all four at his words.
"It doesn't matter. We have a duty to fight you and bring you to justice."
The demigoddess was about to give him a piece of her mind when she was once again beaten to it. "You won't fight him."
She was pleasantly surprised when Zatanna stood protectively at the mercenary's side, glaring at the rest of the team.
"If it were not for Renegade, I would now be dead and with my entire chest incinerated and charred and all internal organs completely destroyed and burned and I, unlike him, possess neither an excellent healing factor nor can I return to life even after death." Zatanna pointed out usefully. "I think Renegade deserves a pass this time. After all, he literally gave his life for mine and sacrificed himself for me."
At least someone else has a shred of intelligence. This is exactly what I was thinking. Although I would have proposed a permanent pass since he is not a threat to us or to the innocent but others certainly wouldn't see it that way.
"No criminal deserves a pass, least of all one as dangerous as Renegade."
"Thanks for the compliment, Bats."
An amused snort escaped her lips at his effrontery and brazenness and she ignored the confused and surprised looks from the heroes near her.
"Step aside, Zatanna. You are clearly emotionally compromised as you feel indebted to him for saving your life."
The sorceress's gaze became hard and cold. "No. I will not move aside. If you attack him, I will fight by his side until he can leave."
Good girl.
The other heroes were shocked by Zatanna's behavior and even Renegade was staring at her with a completely shocked and surprised look, her mouth wide open. It was a comedy show Diana had never seen from him. "Zatanna… you shouldn't-"
"I'm going to do it anyway." she interrupted him. "You have helped me in more ways since we met in the Watchtower. It's my time to return the favor." she stated solemnly, meeting the shocked gaze of the mercenary with blue eyes that reflected her determination and firmness.
Diana was curious as to what Zatanna meant about Renegade helping her in more ways than one since they met in the Watchtower but she knew that was a question for another time, when maybe it would just be the two of them.
"Get away from him, Zatanna, or you will face severe repercussions for your insubordination."
Zatanna proudly met his gaze without ever wavering. "Dare me. I'm not your fucking pawn, Batman."
Take that, Bruce. That's what you deserve for your asshole behavior.
"Did you hear her, dude? Now step back or I will kick your ass so hard your ass will burn for at least a month." he threatened him with a nonchalant but frightening grin.
Wonder Woman couldn't help but giggle at his words. However her giggling immediately stopped when her training, instincts and reflexes allowed her to see the quick movement of Batman whose hands entered his utility belt.
Even before her brain registered what she was doing, her body moved automatically and instinctively. In a matter of milliseconds she found herself protectively in front of Renegade, her hands snapping to the side and blocking the multiple bat-shaped weapons thrown by the Caped Crusader towards the mercenary.
Her hands curled into fists, destroying them easily.
When the reality of the facts fully reached her, a fiery fury she had never felt before filled every fiber and cell of her being. Her entire body began to tremble with the purest, most dangerous and frightening form of rage and she gave Batman a look so cold, so hard and so pissed off that if she had had Superman's heat vision, the Gotham vigilante would already be there by now a pile of ash and dust.
Diana was fucking pissed at Batman and felt such a dangerous, intense, deep rage that it was honestly a wonder she hadn't already smashed his face in, marveling at both her self-control and her fierce yet unexpected anger.
She didn't have time to psychoanalyze herself: she had more important things to do right now.
"How dare you." she growled dangerously, her anger wanting to escape from her chest so she could vent it. "How dare you try to hurt the person who saved the life of one of our teammates? How dare you try to hurt someone who literally died to save Zatanna's life and was of fundamental importance in stopping Klarion?"
This was one thing she couldn't understand: How could Bruce, one of her best friends, be so insensitive and cold about such an important and sensitive subject?
It is almost certainly due to the darkness that is consuming him more and more every day. But that doesn't justify his bullshit.
"Are you protecting a murderer now too?" Batman growled, giving her one of his infamous glares.
Unfortunately for him, the demigoddess wasn't just any superhero and wasn't intimidated in the slightest. "I am not protecting a murderer but a hero for the action he performed." she growled back. "Hardly an assassin, in its worst meaning and conception, would have died to save the life of a super-heroine. At least for today he has earned the title of hero after such a noble sacrifice that he was not forced to make."
Renegade was an assassin but a good assassin, damn it!
There was a clear difference between an evil assassin and a good assassin
If only Bruce and the others would get their heads out of their asses and get over their fucking prejudices! Me, Aquaman and the Hawks, according to the human definition of assassins, would be assassins too but they don't treat us as such!
"Renegade must be brought to justice. Now step aside or-"
Fucking Hell. Did Bruce just dare…?
Her anger, already cold and dangerous, instantly tripled.
"Don't you dare disrespect me like that, Batman." Wonder Woman interrupted him coldly, her blue eyes shining with anger that simultaneously scared and excited Dick like never before. "Although I don't use it often, I hold the leadership role of this team as much as you and Superman. You can't order me around like I'm your little dog." she sent him a sharp smile. "Only on paper we are on the same level because otherwise I am completely superior to you and we both know who would win in a fair fight."
She longed to see Renegade's reaction to her fierce and protective defense towards him and against Batman but she didn't dare take her eyes off the Dark Knight.
She saw him about to speak but beat him to it, interrupting him once again.
"Now you will let go of Renegade or I will personally make sure to break both of your legs in a way that would take your human body weeks to heal." Wonder Woman cracked her fists menacingly, coldly narrowing her eyes into slits. "Am I clear?"
Wonder Woman was dead serious: if Batman dared to even think about trying -key word: trying- to hurt Renegade, she would keep her promise and painfully break both of his legs.
She was fed up with Batman's decidedly unhealthy obsession with Renegade, driven more by the wounded pride of having lost 3 times to a seventeen year old rather than by the sense of justice he kept babbling about.
For a moment a tense silence reigned and the two heroes stared at each other menacingly for a few minutes. She continued to stare intently at the other hero, silently conveying to him that she would not go easy on him if he decided to continue with his bullshit. Finally he grunted and walked away, turning away, his mantle fluttering dramatically behind him.
Dramatic asshole.
Pleased with herself, the Amazon ignored the completely shocked and incredulous looks of her teammates and turned to face Renegade. She thought he would make one of his jokes about her defense towards him and against the Dark Knight, perhaps teasing her with something like "Princess, I didn't know you had a crush on me!" -so funny, as if!- but, to her enormous surprise, she saw him absorbed in his own thoughts, almost as if he wasn't there mentally.
Probably because he has rarely seen anyone defend him, or perhaps not at all, and therefore he was very confused.
Damn if that was depressing.
Wonder Woman approached him with deliberately heavy and noisy steps, thinking that this would be enough to bring him out of himself since he was the most attentive and alert person she had ever met but she was wrong.
He must be really out of his mind if he didn't hear me. At least this means that Renegade unconsciously feels safe right now, otherwise his training would have taken over and he would have noticed.
Hesitantly, she placed a hand on the young assassin's arm, gasping in surprise as his body moved instinctively and automatically, squeezing her hand tightly. Before he could flip her violently to the ground, she saw him suddenly freeze and blink behind his mask.
Instead of thinking about how he was about to flip her to the ground, her attention shifted to their intertwined hands and the warmth his glove gave her.
"Sorry, Princess." Renegade apologized embarrassed, immediately letting go of her hand. Diana blinked, shocked at herself as her body regretted the loss of heat. The mercenary gave her a half-smile that once again made her stomach shake. "Mercenary and assassin instincts, you know?"
Yes, I definitely should have seen this coming. Not the best of my ideas.
Wonder Woman snorted in amusement. "I understand that." she nodded in understanding, obviously referring to her training and instincts as a fierce Amazon warrior. "Are you okay?" she asked, worried about him.
It wasn't like Renegade not having awareness of his surroundings, so she thought her question was fair.
"I'm fine, Princess. Thanks for asking." he nodded and she nodded back, even if she didn't fully believe his words. "You know, you didn't have to do that for me. And neither do you, Zatanna."
"I couldn't stand by and let Batman try to arrest the boy who without hesitation saved my life by literally dying for me when he had no reason to do so." Zatanna said, fixing the other seventeen-year-old with a deep, serious look. "For this I can never thank you enough."
Wonder Woman nodded in agreement with the sorceress' words. "Zatanna is right." she said, focusing her intense, deep gaze on the mercenary. "I couldn't let Batman hurt the one who saved my friend and teammate's life. You deserve all my respect, young warrior: I will never forget what you did today for the Justice League."
She meant every single word.
Even though Renegade had her respect from practically the beginning -respect that increased as time passed through all the discoveries, his actions and things that happened- now it was practically at its maximum.
Wonder Woman not only had a deep respect, admiration and esteem for Renegade but she trusted him with her own life and those dear to her.
And this was demonstrated by how the assassin in front of her did not hesitate even for a second to die to save the life of her teammate when he was not at all forced to do such a thing: the only reason why he did it was because of the goodness and kindness of his heart and he would have done it even if he were not characterized by his excellent healing factor which fortunately he had.
If she had any suspicion about the mercenary before, it was completely gone now.
Diana trusted Renegade as much as her teammates and those closest to her, if not more so with his efficiency and skill.
And perhaps, as Renegade insisted on calling her by the nickname "Princess" full of genuine affection and care on his part -a nickname that Diana had gotten used to and had come to terms with herself that she liked so much- in the same way from this moment she could have called him "young warrior": a title that suited him perfectly.
Renegade moved, clearly uncomfortable with all the compliments he had received. "I haven't done that much, after all." he murmured shyly.
He's so cute when he's shy and embarrassed.
Diana's eyes widened in shock at her sudden thought.
She never thought that one day she would call the second best mercenary in the world cute, shy and embarrassed.
She began to consider the idea of having been infected by some human disease, no matter how impossible it was due to her Amazon demigoddess status: otherwise she couldn't explain all these intrusive thoughts she's had in the last few minutes.
Quick! Bring your attention back to the conversation before anyone realizes something is wrong with you!
Wonder Woman sent him a genuinely amused smile, masking her embarrassment and nervousness. "Modesty doesn't suit you, Renegade." she said, getting a chuckle from him. The sound of his laughter, not the disturbing one but the genuine and amused one, surprised her pleasantly. "As one of the three leaders, I speak and thank you on behalf of the Justice League for saving Zatanna's life, heroically sacrificing yours." she declared solemnly, never taking her eyes off him.
The demigoddess really wanted him to understand how everything he had done was important to her and that she would not ignore it but rather wanted to recognize his heroic and noteworthy actions.
Renegade shrugged casually. "It wasn't a problem at all. I knew that I would not stay dead, that I would be resurrected in a short time and that the wounds would heal within minutes, no matter how severe."
Her gaze turned inscrutable as she felt her own heart break at his words.
What atrocities, horrors and tortures has Renegade been forced to endure if he is so genuinely nonchalant about his own death and resurrection? He is speaking from personal experience, so that means he has died and resurrected multiple times in the past and this is definitely one of the worst traumatic experiences one can have, no matter how much he ignores it.
Before she could think of what to say to him to make him understand that yes, his death and resurrection was a huge problem and that it was a traumatic experience for everyone, especially if it is a recurring thing, Superman interrupted her, reaching them.
Couldn't you have waited another moment, Clark?
"Wonder Woman is right." he began, landing softly on the ground next to them. "All of us are extremely grateful for your noble and heroic gesture. We were also a little uncomfortable with Batman's idea of trying to arrest you after finding out that you were literally dead just minutes ago from saving our teammate's life." he said, gesturing to the rest of the League behind him.
Glad I'm not the only one on the team.
"The big guy is right." Green Lantern intervened with a nod. "We definitely didn't feel like arresting you after your sacrifice, considering the fact that you're literally a boy of only seventeen."
"That and you would almost certainly have kicked our asses for the third time." Flash added helpfully.
Both good points.
"In this case, age doesn't matter. I thought you had learned your lesson after all this time."
You're missing the point, Renegade.
"That doesn't take away the fact that a seventeen year old died to save our teammate, never mind if you can resurrect and that your healing factor heals everything in a short amount of time."she pointed out with a soft voice and look, grateful when she received a few nods from the other heroes.
"But that doesn't mean we'll go easy on you next time we meet, Renegade." Hawkgirl challenged him, pointing her spiked mace in his direction. "Sooner or later we will defeat you, boy."
I would directly prefer to avoid fighting with him and focus our energy, resources and attention on the truly evil super-villains to be brought to justice, like the members of the Light. It is a total waste of time for both us and Renegade to continue to deal with him who is doing us and the entire world a favor by eliminating the worst scum.
The mercenary chuckled. "I wouldn't dream of it any other way. However, yours will remain a mere hope." he stated, giving them a shark-like grin.
Diana wasn't surprised when some of her teammates shuddered.
Renegade cleared his throat and gave all the heroes a smile. "Well, thank you for your beautiful words but it's time for me to leave. I have many things to do."
Wonder Woman was not at all disappointed with how he had to go.
No uh.
"You know, assassin and mercenary stuff."he continued, chuckling at the heroes' uncomfortable looks and Diana smiled amusedly. "So I greet you. Heroes." he nodded respectfully to all of them and when he looked at Wonder Woman his entire posture softened noticeably and, when he spoke, his voice came out tender and respectful, which surprised her greatly. "Princess." he said softly.
Diana didn't miss all the gratitude towards her that Renegade silently expressed through his nickname for her. She felt a wave of heat wash over her completely, from head to toe, to the point that her legs turned to jelly and her heart began to beat faster than usual, every fiber and cell of her being trembling. It was hands down the best feeling she had ever felt in her long life, even though she still couldn't put a name to it.
However it was not important, or at least not for the moment.
Her gaze automatically softened and she couldn't help but give in to her temptation and give him a bright, radiant smile that she had rarely given to anyone in her life.
Really, she could count on one hand the people and situations where she had smiled so brightly, radiantly and brilliantly and still had a few fingers left.
She fervently hoped that, through her smile, she had been able to silently communicate to him that she had gotten his message and that she had greatly appreciated it.
From the way he returned her bright smile, Diana was very confident that he understood.
She blinked in surprise as one moment Renegade was in front of her, smiling at her with a smile she had rarely seen on his face, while the next she began coughing from the smoke that filled the area, followed by his characteristically creepy laugh at which she didn't think she would ever get used to.
She couldn't help but smile fondly, despite everything.
Dramatic and theatrical brat. Never change, Renegade.
She giggled when she heard several curses from the other heroes, especially Green Arrow.
"For God's sake– was that really necessary, dude?"
The smoke quickly dissipated, courtesy of Flash making it disappear with his speed.
"It was an eventful day." Black Canary pointed out, thus breaking the silence that had suddenly fallen after Renegade's theatrical retreat.
Aquaman snorted. "You can say it loudly."
"You know, there's one thing Renegade left out during his summary of what had happened." Zatanna intervened, getting the attention of all her teammates. "While we were on the Watchtower and while I was thinking about the spell to use to locate Klarion, Renegade had the brilliant idea of reassuring all the children and teenagers frightened by the situation through a message of hope and comfort broadcast worldwide in all electronic devices."
Wonder Woman's eyes widened in surprise, as did her friends, and she felt her heart warm noticeably with pride and affection for Renegade for such a sweet and noble gesture he made.
Come on, how could anyone still think Renegade was evil after all that?
Only a breed of idiots could continue to think this.
And Diana was fucking proud of herself for being the first JL person to figure it out and pretty quickly too.
"Are you kidding me?" Hal asked in shock.
"Nope." Zatanna shook her head with a smirk. "I don't know if, now that the two worlds have reunite, that message is still available. If I can get it back I will send it to you."
"Please do it." Diana nodded gratefully at her, fiercely wanting to hear the message from Renegade that piqued her interest.
Zatanna looked at her with blue eyes shining with an emotion she couldn't decipher but the sorceress looked away from her to look at the other heroes. "And it's not just that. Not only was Renegade fundamental importance in helping me locate Klarion with such a motivational, encouraging and charismatic speech that for a moment made me feel as if he was a leader I would follow even after death-"
"Don't you think you're exaggerating?" Flash asked raising an eyebrow.
The sorceress ignored him and continued. "but he also revealed to me that after our fights it was he who bandaged and medicated all our most serious wounds."
"You can't take every word he says at face value, Zatanna." Hawkgirl warned. "Renegade still remains-"
"At that moment he was under a spell that would force him to always tell the truth." Zatanna interrupted. "Long story." she cut short the perplexed and surprised looks.
The gravity of her words and their meaning fell on the heroes, excluding Wonder Woman who could once again be proud of herself for being the first to understand that it was Renegade who bandaged their most serious wounds.
Not hers because, now that Diana thought about it, she emerged from fighting the mercenary with nothing more than superficial wounds.
This meant that Renegade continually managed to submit her without inflicting serious injuries on her, an Amazon warrior demigoddess who could easily rival Superman himself and who was perfectly capable of taking him down.
Very impressive and admirable. And scary too.
Furthermore, it was obvious that Renegade favored her over other heroes and that he treated her differently, almost as if he held her on a higher pedestal. The question she asked herself in this regard was:
Why me?
It was a question she was unlikely to have answered anytime soon and Renegade almost certainly wouldn't have answered her directly if she ever asked.
Diana was cooking dinner -and it had taken her a long time to learn the human culinary art but in the end even cooking was now within her skills thanks to continuous practice- when her phone rang, signaling the arrival of a message. She went to get it and found that Zatanna had sent her a video. Curious she opened it and let out a surprised gasp as Renegade's masked face covered her screen.
She was deeply struck by the message of hope and comfort for billions of frightened children and young people that Zatanna spoke about previously: they were beautiful words that will surely have saved the lives of many kids.
I have rarely ever met someone so young yet so kind, compassionate and thoughtful, not to mention so effective and skillful.
The Amazon was surprised by the fact that Renegade repeated the message in all the languages he knew -she couldn't keep up with him but counted that there were more than ten, an impressive number to say the least- and her surprise increased when she suddenly recognized clearly modern Greek.
Obviously Renegade is multilingual and knows about ten different languages. At this point I would not be surprised if he also knew ancient Greek and Latin, the most common ancient languages that are taught in various parts of the world today.
She typed a reply to her friend, relaying some of her thoughts, and at one point in the digital conversation with Zatanna she frowned at one particular message from the sorceress.
istg that I am not lying when I say that you are the luckiest woman in the whole world lol
Leaving aside the youth slang that she was unlikely to ever understand, she didn't understand at all what the hell the sorceress was referring to but dismissed it as simply an oddity on her friend's part.
While she was eating her dinner and was idly flipping through television channels looking for something to catch her attention, her phone rang again. She grabbed it and nearly choked on her food when she saw the image that had been sent to her.
After avoiding death by choking on food -an extremely embarrassing and highly undignified death to say the least for a woman of her caliber- she burst into laughter so amused, open and light that it knocked the air out of her lungs and echoed throughout her apartment.
Never ever in her entire life had Diana laughed so hard to the point of almost feeling sick from the sheer amusement but damn if she needed it.
And once again she owed this to the last person you would expect.
Thanks, Renegade. I really needed it.
Batman was checking the cave cameras and frowned when he saw Renegade wandering freely.
One of the most dangerous threats on Earth has been to my home and my cave.
His frown increased dramatically when he saw everything Renegade had done: from putting his dirty hands on his computer to jumping from the animatronic T-rex as if it were a damn toy.
He reluctantly admitted that the boy was the best in the world when it came to agility and acrobatic moves.
What worried him a lot though was that Renegade had typed something into his computer, so the vigilante started digging for missing or stolen files and things like that. He frowned when he noticed a file that had never been there before and had a name he didn't like at all.
Gift for old Brucie ;)
Batman knew that he should never have clicked on the file for a million reasons: possible viruses that would destroy the entire system, steal extremely important vital information, delete thousands of cases and so on. However, he was human too and one of his worst vices was that he was damned curious, so he clicked.
What Bruce never, ever expected in billions of years was to see an image of himself as Batman in a pink tutu.
He panicked when he realized that as soon as he clicked on that file, the image had been sent to most of his closest contacts such as Alfred, Leslie, the JL, Selina and Lucius and all those who knew his double identity. Bruce attempted to cancel sending photos but Renegade's computer skills far surpassed his and he could do nothing but stare at the computer screen with a look that was both weary and surrendered to his impending doom and in defeat and frowns, wishing he had Superman's heat vision to burn away the opprobrium in front of him, never mind the millions and millions of dollars in damage.
"I must say, the pink tutu looks very good on you, young master. It suits your armor."
The vigilante jumped at Alfred's sudden voice and cursed silently. Turning he cast an indifferent, flat look at his butler whose gaze was as stoic as ever but his eyes betrayed his true amusement.
Traitor.
Batman let out a tired, defeated sigh.
"I really hate that boy."