Renegade quickly reeled from his surprise at seeing the heroes in the Red Sharks' main base and raised an eyebrow from under his mask. "What on earth are you doing here?"
"We could ask you the same question, Renegade." Batman growled, sending him a glare.
"I'm pretty sure the world's best detective has already figured out what I'm doing here." the young assassin taunted him with a smirk, spreading his arms in the general direction of the massacre.
Apparently that was the moment when the heroes fully realized that they were literally surrounded by a bloodbath. Renegade watched in amusement as Superman, Flash and Green Lantern quickly took on a pale, sickly complexion and how they seemed on the verge of fainting. Even the always quiet and calm Martian Manhunter seemed not to be doing well and Dick swore his green skin was a little more faded than usual. Even warrior heroes who have fought wars and killed for their people like Wonder Woman and Aquaman seemed very upset and uncomfortable with so much brutal and cruel death, carnage and bloodshed surrounding them, and the acrobat noticed even Batman clenching his jaw and stiffening.
"I think I'm going to faint." Flash whispered faintly, looking up at the ceiling since it was the only area where there was no blood or decapitated and mutilated dead.
"I don't want to sound rude but your left foot is on top of a spinal cord." Renegade remarked with an innocent smile.
The speedster swallowed heavily and lowered his gaze, realizing to his horror and nausea that the mercenary was right. The next millisecond he disappeared, leaving a red and yellow trail behind him.
Dick was pretty sure poor Barry had gone somewhere to vomit and judging by the tired, sympathetic looks on the rest of the heroes' faces they probably thought so too.
"My God." whispered Superman in horror and disgust. "It's carnage. A bloodbath" he added weakly, swallowing hard.
"I'm definitely going to have nightmares about it." admitted Green Lantern shuddering.
"How dare you."
Their gazes focused on the Caped Crusader who cast Renegade the most pissed off and furious look the heroes had ever seen on him. The Gotham vigilante was clenching both fists tightly, his jaw was so clenched that everyone swore they could hear his teeth chattering hard and he was literally seething with rage and seemed on the verge of exploding from the most explosive fury ever.
Everyone ignored the return of the Flash who flanked Green Lantern. "What did I miss?" the speedster whispered to his best friend.
"Nothing yet but I think we're about to witness Batman breaking his no-kill code." Hal murmured back. "I've never seen him so pissed off."
"Neither do I." Martian Manhunter agreed at their side. "His emotions... I've never felt him so close to completely losing control of his emotions."
Before anyone else could add anything they were interrupted by Batman slowly approaching Renegade with a menacing and furious step. "More than fifty men killed brutally, ruthlessly and without remorse. More than fifty men without arms, legs, spinal cords, eyes, heads, busts and more. More than a hundred liters of blood filling this room that reeks of death, blood and carnage."
"Should we stop him?" asked Wonder Woman uncertainly as she stared at her friend stopping a few feet away from the mercenary.
"I sure as hell am not going to stop him." huffed Aquaman shaking his head.
"Answer me, Renegade." the vigilante hissed, staring intensely at the assassin with his menacing white eyes as if he were looking directly at his soul. "Have you killed so many men so brutally and violently that they did not deserve such a cruel and horrible death just for a contract?"
Renegade never looked away from Batman's advance and he crossed his arms, narrowing the eyes of his mask. "First, if that was a way to instill fear in me let me tell you that you have failed fully, dude." he began, ignoring the surprised choked noises of the other heroes and the vigilante's snarl. "Second, I could very well run away from you without giving you an answer but I will give it to you anyway. The answer to your question is yes. I have been hired by the League of Assassins to eliminate the Red Sharks permanently."
Batman stiffened and fixed him with an even harder look than before. "Do you also work for Ra's Al Ghul?"
The Talon blinked once behind his mask before bursting into a genuine giggle.
They still don't know!
"What the hell are you laughing at, man?" asked Green Lantern frowning.
"I can't believe it." murmured the murderer, snorting in amusement and shaking his head in disbelief. "Are you really telling me that you don't know that Ra's has been dead for a long time?"
The youngest watched confusion envelop Batman's limbs even though the man gave no sign of it. "What are you talking about?" he asked gruffly.
"The best detective in the world, my ass." muttered the acrobat with a snort, ignoring the vigilante's glare and the surprised looks of the other heroes. "Ra's has been dead for more than six years due to a coup at the League of Assassins organized and executed by myself with the help of some other assassins. Now Talia is in charge of the League and let me tell you that your ex-girlfriend is a much better leader and person than her old bastard. And for the record, not only did I bring down Ra's empire but I was the one who killed him and it was one of my best kills."
"You're lying. You would have only been about twelve at the time of the events." Batman growled, leaving out the fact that the mercenary knew that he and Talia had been having an affair.
"Eleven years." Renegade casually corrected him. "And no, I'm not lying. I have no reason to lie. I swear it on my mercenary honor."
"Are you telling me that you killed one of the most evil and dangerous super-villains in the world by making a coup on his organization only when you were eleven years old? And-hell, now you're only seventeen fucking years old?" Flash blurted out completely hysterical, vibrating quickly on the spot.
"Yes to both your questions."
"I can't believe it." a hollow, derisive, emotionless giggle escaped Green Lantern's lips. "Earth's mightiest heroes have been taken down easily by a guy who isn't even of legal drinking age. As if our ego and pride didn't need another beating, hell!"
Wonder Woman stared in shocked silence at Renegade, incredulous that, just as Hal had said, the person who took down almost the entire Justice League single-handedly by holding back a lot and executed a massacre of more than fifty mobsters to the point of upsetting heroes like her, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter and Batman was only seventeen years old.
She seriously began to think she was beginning to understand how dangerous Renegade really was and his real threat level. Someone so young but equally dangerous, deadly, brutal and ruthless roaming the world freely… well, she understood why Batman was obsessed with capturing Renegade.
Even though her traitorous mind whispered to her that the mercenary only killed the most dangerous and evil people in the world and that he never accepted a single contract on innocents.
"Your age is not important." Batman stated abruptly, drawing all attention to himself. "It doesn't matter if you're only seventeen, you're still a dangerous super-villain roaming at large and you deserve to go to jail." he snarled. "And the massacre you carried out here confirms that."
Despite his mask, it was obvious that Renegade had just rolled his eyes and the heroes were still somewhat impressed by his total lack of fear toward Batman. "Good riddance." he mocked him. "They belonged to a mafia accused of trafficking drugs, organs, people and children! They were sexually abusing children, men, women and the elderly! They were selling United States weapons and information to terrorists and enemies of the US! And you still tell me they didn't deserve to die?" he finished with a snarl.
"No one has the right to take the life of another human being." replied Batman solemnly. "No one has the right to be judge and executioner."
"Does the great Batman, however, have the right to be a vigilante and beat up criminals at night, breaking various laws?" the Talon snorted half derisive half genuinely amused.
The Dark Knight stared at him grimly. "There is justice and we must apply it. Justice is imprisoning criminals, not taking away their lives and the chance for them to redeem themselves."
"Justice is also putting the world's craziest and most deranged murderer in a fucking useless asylum so that he escapes from there whenever he wants just to kill more innocents?" retorted Renegade, returning the grim stare.
"I cannot kill him. I am neither judge nor executioner."
"In fact, I'm not asking you to start killing." said the mercenary, surprising all the heroes except Wonder Woman. "I respect your code of not killing. I respect the justice that you heroes symbolize and represent. But what I do not respect is your iron will to protect even the most dangerous criminals in the world."
"No one has the right to take the life of another human being." Batman repeated once again. "Neither I nor the other heroes nor you. If you kill a killer, the number of killers in the world still remain the same."
"If, however, I killed more than seven hundred killers, the number of killers in the world drops by more than seven hundred." Renegade reasoned, his tone of voice clearly indicating that he felt like he was reasoning with a child rather than the world's scariest hero. "In fact, calculating even these deaths I now exceeded eight hundred."
Silence fell in the room and everyone stared in surprise at the mercenary and his victorious smirk on his face.
"The boy is right."
Batman cast a glare at Aquaman who winced slightly before returning to stare at Renegade and visibly clenching his jaw, a signal that the vigilante was really getting annoyed. "You have no right to kill other criminals as well. You are no one to do that."
"Although my methods are obviously illegal, it is indisputable that they are morally right. Why do the innocent have to suffer and go through Hell while criminals get only a short time in jail or never get caught, blissfully living their lives?" retorted Renegade taking a step forward toward Batman who stiffened. "If you go and look at the statistics, the crime rate internationally has decreased since I've been around. And it's not just because I kill criminals but also because criminals fear me more than anything else in the whole world and now they think five times before they do some shit."
"You are as much a criminal as the criminals you kill."
"For God's sake." Renegade brought a hand to his face, sighing heavily. "Are you seriously comparing an anti-hero mercenary who has never killed an innocent person in his entire career of more than six years to, I don't know, a serial rapist or a mafia boss?" he growled, clearly tired of Batman's stubbornness.
And Slade says I am stubborn.
"You can't be an anti-hero." the Caped Crusader growled back. "There is no such thing as an anti-hero. There are only heroes and criminals. And you clearly belong to the criminals."
"Obviously the mighty Batman has a basic black and white view of the world without its deep gray area complexity." the Talon uttered a scoffing verse. "For you there are only heroes and villains, only black and white, without anti-heroes and gray. It is obvious that for you there is no middle ground. You have not suffered enough to understand that."
The heroes stiffened at Renegade's words, knowing full well the tragedy behind the Dark Knight's birth, and waited with bated breath for their teammate's reaction. Batman clenched his jaw and fists and shot a fierce look at the assassin. "How dare you-"
"Don't. Dare."
Renegade's cold and emotionless tone made the entire Justice League shiver, with Wonder Woman swallowing worriedly since she remembered it well from her first encounter with the mercenary while they were fighting. The coldness and lack of emotion in the voice of the youngest surprised even Batman who shut his mouth tightly.
"You do not know true suffering. You don't know real pain. Sure, I know that unfortunately you suffered a severe tragedy that made you what you are but believe me, Batman, when I say that your tragedy, all your suffering, pain and agony is not shit compared to what I went through. If you went through just five percent of what I went through, you would already be dead."
Batman stiffened. He had so many questions to ask the mercenary, including how the hell he had managed to find out their identities -his own included since he had sent all them fucking flowers as a tease- but before the hero could even open his mouth he was preceded by the anti-hero.
"You know what? I think that's enough for today. Before I leave: there is a computer in that room where there is all the information you need and also the evidence that incriminates several U.S. ministers of corruption and treason since they were the ones who sold sensitive U.S. information to the Red Sharks." Renegade warned them, pointing to the room.
The heroes exchanged a glance before Martian Manhunter took a few steps forward, fixing his piercing red eyes on the mercenary's figure. "Do you really think we're going to let you leave so easily?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. And before I forget." the acrobat shifted his gaze which fell on Wonder Woman, who stiffened. "I hope to see you again soon in an occasion where we can talk more, Princess. Oh, and I hope you enjoyed the flowers I sent you."
With a movement so swift that even Superman and the Flash were surprised, Renegade pulled a smoke bomb from his utility belt and threw it to the ground, hiding in the smoke. The JL's two fastest heroes darted forward quickly dispelling the smoke but Renegade was already gone.
"Oh, come on! How the hell does he do that every time?" complained Flash, clearly remembering that the same thing had happened in their first fight against Renegade.
"He can't have gone far. Let's look for him." ordered Superman.
Wonder Woman shook off the whirlwind of emotions inside her, especially confusion because of Renegade's greeting addressed directly to her and again ignoring the flower part, and all the heroes split up to search for the young assassin.
The seven founding members reunited a few minutes later when it had become evident that Renegade had managed to escape. "I swear I will never understand how the hell he escaped our eyes." commented Aquaman frowning.
Wonder Woman's gaze shifted to Batman, noting that the vigilante was heading for the room Renegade had pointed out to them earlier where they would presumably find very important information and evidence about the Red Sharks' criminal network and their relationships with other mafias, terrorists, etc. They followed him, some of the heroes feeling a little sick walking through so much blood, brutal and merciless death and literally stepping on organs, brain matter, human flesh and more.
When they reached Batman they found him typing rapidly on a computer and he informed them that Renegade had not lied and that he was finding all the information and evidence they needed.
She sighed, considering their mission imparted by the head of the Defense Department -who, thanks to U.S. intelligence, had provided them with information about the Red Sharks, the coordinates of their main base and more- a success.
Their mission consisted of getting the Russian mobsters arrested and forcing them to talk but even that was fine, in her opinion. In fact, Wonder Woman did not care so much that Renegade had preceded them by literally carrying out a bloody massacre on the Russian mafia, about which perhaps even a fierce warrior like her would have some nightmares.
This is because she, as well as Aquaman and even as Hawkgirl, had already killed for her own people and was not completely against the idea of murdering criminals. Indeed, if things were done according to the Amazon, the Justice League's modus operandi would have been significantly different and more like Renegade's but nevertheless she knew that other heroes did not see it the same way as she did and she respected their ideal of justice, even if she did not believe at all in the idea of giving virtually endless chances to redeem themselves to criminals who clearly had no intention of redeeming themselves.
The princess of Themyscira gave another sigh, longer and deeper than the previous one, and mentally put aside all thoughts and considerations about Renegade, about the bloody, brutal, and ruthless massacre he had carried out on more than fifty mobsters and about every word he had said.
At that moment the Justice League had a lot on its plate, namely, safeguarding the security of the United States.
Not that it's something difficult to do since Renegade did all the dirty work but still.