Revived

2

"Did you see the news?" Danny frowned hearing the loud thump of Sam's lunch tray as she practically threw herself into her seat. "Renegade's been spotted again."

"Renegade's back?" Tucker perked up, having almost been falling asleep as he sat down beside Sam. Danny just sighed, pushing around his lunch with his fork. What he wouldn't give to have Alfred making his meals again. The staff at this school were far too underpaid to actually give a shit about what they were giving the students. It was practically criminal. Of course, it didn't help that now everyone was far too afraid of changing the menu given the ghost attacks that had been tied to it. Danny groaned, pulling himself out of his thoughts before he could spiral down that familiar pit of guilt.

"Why do we like Renegade again?" It was a question he often asked in the confines of his mind, seeing as how his friends seemed to be obsessed with him. "He's a killer right?"

"Well... yes but..." Sam's voice fell into a mumble as Danny just rolled his eyes. "He just... He's not JUST a killer, Danny. He's an Anti-Hero."

"An Anti-Hero? Like The sirens? Isn't Renegade another Deathstroke?" Tucker just burst out laughing only making Danny flush a bit in embarrassment. Look, yes he was Robin. He understood heroes and their codes. He worked with the Teen Titans and often accompanied his brothers and father on missions. But he wasn't that well informed on things. To him, everything was black and white. If you weren't a civilian, you were either a hero or a villain.

"No, Dude." Tucker tried to speak through his laughs, only making Danny's embarrassment worse. "The sirens ... well the sirens are the sirens. They don't follow normal stereotypes. They're their own kind of people."

"So what is an Anti-Hero?" Danny was just genuinely tired, as he leaned his head against his hand. "Wouldn't the use of the word 'anti' mean that they aren't a hero? What's the difference between that and a villain."

"Well... A Villain would be like the Jo-... HEY!" Tucker grunted in pain as Sam suddenly sent her elbow into his gut. "That... That hurt."

"Ixnay on the okerjay, Tucker!" Sam growled as Tucker paled eyes darting over to Danny who was gripping his fork to the point where it bent in his grasp.

"Shit. Sorry, Dude."

"I-It's fine." Danny forced out, trying not to let his mind slip under the sound of that manic laughter. He could still hear it, even now so many years after it happened. He could still hear the sick sound of metal to flesh. It had been over a year since it all happened. "Just go on."

"Well... An Anti-hero isn't afraid to do questionable or outright bad things but it's ultimately for a good reason. Or well... a reason that's good to them. Basically, it's a hero who isn't okay with going the dark path for things if it is the right thing to do. Whereas a hero typically refuses to do what an anti-hero would deem necessary." Tucker rambled on in a way that had Danny barely focusing, all while Sam just nodded along, eyes glued to her phone no doubt looking for something. "I know of a few Anti-Heroes that even work with the Justice League, Like Green Arrow and Arsenal, or Starfire. Then there's Red Hood and Renegade that go out of their way NOT to work with the Justice League but no one really knows why."

"So what makes Renegade an Anti-hero and not a Villain?" This time it was Sam that answered but not with words. She pressed her phone into Danny's hands letting the other work through it all on his own. There on the screen was a gruesome image of the man known as Renegade, standing there on the roof of this tall building in Gotham, one foot pressed on the chest of a dead Joker nearly falling off the roof with how he was positioned. In one hand, Renegade held a sign, his calling card. Renegade often left some sort of symbol or sign that represented the victim of whoever it was he killed.