Renegade jumped up sharply, his muscles tensed to their fullest and his eyes wandering in all directions. He only partially relaxed his muscles when he realized that he was not in immediate danger but still remained extremely alert, his heart beating hard in his chest.

Wait a moment: heart?

The acrobat brought a hand to his chest and he was right: he could feel a heartbeat a little faster than normal but that was not the problem.

The problem was that he actually had a heartbeat.

His gaze fell on his wrists chained very tightly by handcuffs. He raised both arms and brought his hands to his neck, finding confirmation of his theory when his fingers lightly grazed a cold, metallic surface.

The assassin let out a sigh and stared wearily at the small space in which he had been confined, noting distractedly how the holding cell was adorned only with a bed.

The Justice League had not only managed to capture him but had also slipped him an inhibitor collar that would nullify his superhuman abilities. Feeling something cold around his left ankle, he lowered his gaze and stared directly at the ball and chain, distractedly noticing that they had also stripped him of boots and the gadgets and weapons contained in them. Renegade tried to move but quickly discovered that he could not move his left foot a single millimeter. He tried to lift it but quickly changed his mind when he realized that he would surely break not only his arms and hands but also his back in the mere attempt.

"Oh, come on! Are you kidding me?" he complained. "Where the hell did they get a ball and chain that weighs tons?"

The first thing Renegade had noticed once he regained his senses was that the familiar and comforting weights of the two swords on his back as well as the utility belt wrapped around his waist were missing. They had also removed the guns from his holsters, the escrima sticks attached to his waist, the spikes present on his arms and the gloves that contained some gadgets and knives inside. He also felt some missing weight on him in the tiny compartments throughout his armor that hid weapons and gadgets.

Dick was sure it was Batman who searched him since no other hero would be able to strip him of every weapon, gadget and tool he possessed. He was somewhat impressed that the vigilante had done a flawless job, although he should have expected it from the Dark Knight.

The mercenary froze momentarily when he realized something.

The mask was still attached to his face, so they still did not know his identity.

He felt no sting either on his neck -besides the one Flash gave him- or anywhere else, so they still have not taken a DNA sample from him. Maybe they took a hair from him but the acrobat still remained somewhat optimistic that they did not.

If the mask was still on his face, it meant that his security system worked great.

I'm really glad I asked Constantine to enhance the electricity of the security system with a bit of magic. I knew it would be helpful.

Now that he was thinking hard, why did neither he nor Slade ever think of extending the mask safety mechanism on his utility belt as well?

Man, for the two best mercenaries in the world, we really are idiots.

The Talon made a mental note to warn Slade and to institute the same mask safety mechanism on his utility belt as well.

And to call Constantine again for another small favor.

To sum up Renegade had been captured by the JL and thrown into one of their containment cells, stripped of every weapon and gadget and tool, could not use his superhuman abilities because of an inhibitory collar that would also give him a strong electric shock if its sensors picked up that he was attempting to remove it and to top it off he had a ball and chain on his foot that weighed tons and so he could not move at all from where he was.

"Just great."

It was a wise choice on their part. I wonder if all these restrictions are part of their protocol or if I am a special guest. I am sure it is the latter since from what I remember their protocol did not include all these restrictions. Maybe they have updated it in recent periods. Once I escape from here I will have to hack the Watchtower systems again and find out if they have updated the protocols regarding criminals caught and put in their cells.

The assassin took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself.

He needed to escape as quickly as possible before the heroes showed up. Knowing the way they operate, he knew it was a matter of time before they would take a DNA sample from him and interrogate him but interrogation did not worry Renegade at all because he was not intimidated by anyone and had even been trained to evade questions when forced to tell the truth, so the lasso of truth was not a problem.

Renegade shook his head and brought his attention back to his current situation and decided it was time to escape.

First step to escape: regain full mobility in his arms and hands.

The Talon jingled the handcuffs a few times, not surprised when he felt them very tight around his wrists. He tried a few tricks he had learned from both the circus and Slade but the cuffs were too tight, so first he would have to gain some elasticity and flexibility. The assassin brought his hands behind his back and began to stretch his right arm more and more until-

CRACK

Noise of broken bones resounded with a sickening and disgusting crunch throughout the cell. His right wrist snapped and Renegade, without even wincing in pain, tried again the circus tricks that only he knew and in less than thirty seconds he managed to free his right hand from the cuffs, not without some more crunching of bones. He stared at his still-cuffed left hand and decided that for now he did not need it free.

A few years ago Dick had asked Slade to obtain an inhibitory collar so as to verify that if the acrobat was ever injured while his superhuman abilities were temporarily absent, his healing factor would heal his injuries once the inhibitory collar was removed. His father after some persuasion disgruntledly agreed and Dick, once the object was put on, wounded his shoulder with a gunshot -risking to give the man a heart attack- and, after taking off the inhibitory collar, he saw pleased and satisfied that the wound healed completely in less than a minute.

Man, he infinitely loved his healing factor.

So now all he needed to do was to find a way to remove the inhibitor collar, possibly without tripping the safety system otherwise he would receive an electric shock that he would want to avoid.

The young mercenary looked around but besides the bed -which he could not even reach because of the damned ball and chain on his foot- it was completely empty. His gaze fell on his right hand and an idea began to form in his mind.

I don't know if this will work but it's worth a try.

He brought his handcuffed left hand close to his right hand, laboriously raising his right arm, and began to pull a piece of nail off his index finger. After about a minute he succeeded and took the thin but fairly sharp piece of nail. With a grunt from the effort he raised his right arm up again and began to use the thin, sharp piece of nail as if it were a sort of toothpick or lock pick, inserting it into a tiny hole in the inhibitor collar, being very careful not to apply too much pressure.

It took him less than two minutes but eventually he heard a metallic click and the inhibitor collar opened. His reflexes were faster and he grabbed the object on the fly before it fell noisily to the floor of the cell, avoiding the risk associated with Superman's super-hearing.

As soon as the inbred collar fell from his neck Renegade felt all his energy return to normal as well as the bones in his broken right wrist began to heal quickly. He silently placed the object on the ground and the first thing he did was to easily break the chain that held the handcuffs together through his superhuman strength. Next, the acrobat also easily broke the chain that bound the very heavy ball and chain to his left ankle and gave a mental sigh of satisfaction when he was able to walk freely.

He looked up and smirked at the camera before returning to action.

Now, as for escaping the cell.

Escaping from a cell reinforced by the most advanced human, Martian, Thanagarian, Kryptonian, Atlantean and Amazonian technology with a dash of magic, added to the escape without setting off the security alarms, was an experience that proved quite disappointingly easy for Renegade.

It is true that thanks to his unattainable hacking skills Dick knew the complete structure of the Watchtower by heart, including the cells along with the weak points he had identified with which to escape, but still they would have to improve the security of the prison area if they wanted to cause him more trouble.

Not that Dick was planning to get caught by the heroes again but still.

The Talon walked out the security door of the cell, silently closed it behind him, and when he turned around he sent a smirk in the direction of the camera. His gaze fell on the table on which was resting his entire Renegade equipment that they had taken from him and he raised his eyebrows under his mask.

They are more stupid than I thought if they leave their prisoners' weapons on a small table outside the cells. That and they are too arrogant about how they think their cells are so safe and efficient when in fact they are not. No holding cell is going to be completely secure but there will always be some weakness that can be exploited to break out.

In less than a minute the mercenary was re-equipped with everything they had taken from him but hesitated.

I should wipe every trace of my DNA from the containment measures.

With an irritated sigh Renegade turned and walked toward his now former cell. He raised his holographic glove and connected it to the keypad, beginning to hack it. It took him less than ten seconds before it turned green and the acrobat silently opened the cell, leaving it open. He removed every single trace of DNA on the handcuffs, ball and chain and inhibitor collar as quickly as he could, also stowing the piece of nail in a compartment of his armor, and exited the cell, closing the door silently behind him.

He turned his gaze back to the camera and besides an arrogant smirk and derisive greeting he mimicked with his lips a I can't wait to see you again, Princess before making the gesture of calling him, with a wink from behind the mask in addition. The acrobat quickly but never making a sound reached the zeta-tubes and began hacking them, first starting by momentarily deactivating their sound.

Since he was a little shit troll, the last thing he did before he was lit up by the zeta tubes was to let his eerie giggle spread throughout the Watchtower.

Dick couldn't wait to get his hands on the recordings just to observe the heroes' reactions to his giggle.

An incredulous and heavy silence fell in the monitoring room once the heroes had finished viewing the camera footage that had recorded the killer's escape.

"A fucking 17-year-old broke his right wrist to escape from the handcuffs, broke a fingernail and used it as a fucking lock pick or toothpick to successfully remove his inhibitory collar and subsequently broke both the handcuffs and the chain of the ball and chain." Green Arrow summed up in a hysterical tone, seeming on the verge of tearing off his signature goatee with his own hands. "What the fuck? How the hell was that possible?"

Green Lantern patted him on the shoulder in consolation and understanding. "I don't know but I'm with you, man."

"Renegade escaped from the cell as if it were an easy thing." Hawkgirl whispered impressed, a hint of genuine respect and admiration into her tone of voice.

"I'll have to further improve cell security." Batman grunted, clearly very displeased that a 17-year-old had managed to escape so easily from the prison he had designed.

Meanwhile, Wonder Woman had her face covered by her own hands, a slight blush present on her cheeks as she recalled Renegade's labial.

I can't wait to see you again, Princess.

The Amazon swallowed a tired, irritated sigh that threatened to escape her throat.

I do not understand whether Renegade is actually deliberately flirting with me, although I fear the answer is positive. But the question I ask myself is: why? What does he hope to achieve? Once again I have more questions than answers.

"You are late." Slade remarked without ever taking his eye off his current activity, which was cleaning his guns.

The noise was very familiar and comforting to Renegade who immediately felt at home, his shoulders relaxing. "Yeah, well, I had a situation." he affirmed as he removed his mask.

The more experienced mercenary emitted a distracted murmur, a sign that he was curious but not overly concerned about this unforeseen situation, and his son contentedly gave him an elaboration.

"The Justice League has captured me."

The movements ceased abruptly and Slade raised his head so quickly that Dick swore he heard his neck snap in protest. "WHAT?" the acrobat grimaced slightly and the man continued, still gruff but slightly kinder than before. "How on earth did they catch you?"

"I was jumping from rooftop to rooftop on my way to my Deadly-Cycle when suddenly I realized I was being watched. However, I could not do much as Flash drugged me even before I could even blink." Dick explained, frustration coloring his tone of voice. "Next time Allen won't be able to fool me like that again." he added in a whisper.

"What happened next?" Slade growled.

The acrobat smiled at the overprotective mercenary dad mode and threw a smirk at his father. "They put me in one of their holding cells but as you can see I managed to escape."

"You escaped from Justice League prison." he repeated slowly, punctuating each word as if it helped him understand it for the better when in fact it did not.

"That was easy enough." said the Talon casually shrugging his shoulders. "You know nothing can stop me, least of all an inhibitory collar, handcuffs, ball and chain that weighs tons and more advanced human, Martian, Thanagarian, Amazonian, Kryptonian and Atlantean technology, besides being stripped of every weapon and gadget I own."

The super soldier's gaze turned flat as he stared impassively at his son. He wearily rubbed his temples with a resigned sigh. "I shouldn't even be impressed anymore by all the crap you manage to pull off but damned if I am every time."

Dick chuckled. "I'll show you the footage of the League and how I managed to escape."

Slade grunted before suddenly stiffening and fixing his son with a serious look, a hard twinkle in his left eye. "Did they take a DNA sample from you?"

"No. I also checked the Watchtower cameras and apparently escaped just in time since, if I had woken up a few minutes later, Batman would have already taken a DNA sample from me."

The former military man's posture relaxed at his words. "So you woke up earlier than they expected." he waited for a nod before continuing. "However, you mentioned an inhibitor collar earlier. If you didn't have your superhuman abilities-"

"Apparently my metabolism has become so accustomed to sedatives that it disposes of them faster than normal, regardless of my superhuman abilities." Dick explained casually, sensing his father's question.

Slade was not irritated by his interruption but still narrowed his eye menacingly and wary. "How can that be so when rarely has anyone been able to sedate you?" the acrobat merely sent him a mysterious smirk and the more experienced assassin's eye widened shocked. "Don't tell me you drugged yourself just to weaken the effects of the sedatives on you!" he hissed furiously and worriedly.

Dick remained unmoved by the man's anger and gave him a cheeky wink. "100 points to Gryffindor!" he chuckled at the super-soldier's glare. "I had to make sure I found myself ready in such a situation. And you have to admit that it worked in this case. After all, wasn't it you who taught me to be ready for any scenario?"

Slade glared at him. "And then you say the Bat is paranoid." he huffed, involuntarily feeling his lips rise a few inches. "You're just as paranoid as he is, kiddo. And that's saying a lot."

"Meanwhile, paranoia has allowed me to keep the heroes from discovering our identities." Dick pointed out with a mock haughty air before suddenly bursting out laughing. "And second, you definitely need to see the heroes' reactions when they realized I had escaped."

"Were you being dramatic as usual?"

"Very. Let me just tell you that as they were gathered at the meeting hall suddenly my laughter echoed throughout the Watchtower. Most of them were literally on the verge of fainting. Their reactions are gold."

"...You need to send me the video. I have a primary need to see it."

"I absolutely will. That video goes without a shadow of a doubt among my all-time favorites."