A Twist of Fate

Chapter 23

Wally was pacing the length of the small room gnawing at his nails. The others had gone ahead of the train to stop Parasite and his black hole of doom. Why in the world do villains always want to destroy the world? They live in it, for pete's sake! Wally stopped in his pacing to plop himself on the opposite bed as Renegade. He had been passed out for nearly four hours and it was starting to make Wally nervous.

Suddenly Renegade screamed. He bolted upright pushing himself back into a corner. Wally shocked, froze, not wanting to do anything to frighten him. Wally slowly sat up from his bed.

"Renegade?" He asks, "You alright."

Renegade sucked in a breath that hitched at the end, "Fine. I'll be fine." The words were greeted through teeth and half Russian but Wally caught the words 'Fine'.

"Nightmare?" Wally asked.

Renegade only nodded.

"Do you want to go back to sleep?"

Renegade shook his head, 'no'.

"What if I tell you a story."

Wally looked over, saw the twitch of the boy's eyebrow, and grinned. "Let's get started. There's so many tales I can tell you about Uncle Barry. He even ran into a pole once. And let's not even mention, kissing Captain Cold on accident once." That got him to laugh. Score! Wally mentally high fived himself.

It was hours of that. Wally was telling stories until Renegade would fall asleep but not ten minutes later he would be up again after a nightmare. The stories were all about members of the Justice League being humans. Even Superman, who accidentally walked in on Canary taking a shower at the Watch Tower and was promptly kicked on his ass, twice. Once by Canary and once by Green Arrow. Green Arrow even asked Batman for enough Kriptinte for an arrowhead. Batman asked why before promptly giving him a Kryptonite covered arrow.

When the train finally stopped it was past midnight and no one would be awake until tomorrow morning. The team wasn't long before they made it into Renegade's and Wally's room, on silent feet. Magan was the only one with enough courage to sit on the edge of Renegade's bed as he slept; after Wally's warning of him waking up with Nightmares for the past few hours.

"How'd it go?" Wally asked.

Roy grunted, "You're conclusion was right. He not just absorbed our abilities but weaknesses as well. Good thinking that way. How'd you come up with it?"

Wally grinned delighted, "It was because of Renegade. I was thinking if Parasite could take a human's skills that means he had to take everything, not just the wanted skill. He took both Renegade's acrobatic talent and fighting. Both skills when he was only wanting one!"

Artemis smirked, "Looks like you're not a complete idiot after all."

"I think that's the nicest thing you've said to me." Wally said putting a hand over his heart in mock pain and joy mix, hiding the more real flinch he had to the words.

Renegade groaned, slitting his eyes open, "You guys are loud." The words were slurred but the concept was the same in all languages.

Kelder walked over leaning down to see in the cavity the bed was, "How are you feeling my friend?"

"Food." Renegade whined, "I want cookies."

Magan smiled, "We'll get you some food. Just sleep up."

He spoke a foreign phrase before slipping back to sleep.

"He's been in and out of sleep for the past few hours." Wally told them, "I think it would be good to get him back to the Cave if he wakes up and doesn't snap out of his nightmare right away. Thankfully that hasn't happened yet."

Kelder nodded, "That would be wise. I will tell Haley."

"You know what kind of back story you got?" They all turned to see the previously sleeping masked teen, squinting his eyes open, "And Walls is right. My nightmares can get bad and I don't always knock out of them right away."

"What do you suggest we say?" Kelder asked.

Renegade sat up with a groan, "Remind me to never pick the pocket of a man that can drain my energy. Anyway Haley will know if you lie in a second but he won't care. Tell him that a brother of our former guardian asked if we wanted to go live with him. We told him yes. The money we made here can go to the passports and tickets to America."

"If Haley knows we're lying, then why say all this?" Roy asked.

"So he can have it on record. He needs to record all his employee hiring and leaving." Renegade said eyes drooping again, "I remember someone saying they'd get me cookies. I want cookies."

Magan smiled softly, "You need sleep first. We'll tell Haley."

Renegade nodded, turning over and seemingly passing out again.

"I'll go then." Roy declared, "I'll see you all in a couple minutes."

Roy left and the tension in the air dropped. Magan reached over hesitantly and petted Renegade's black hair.

"He's so young." She mumbled, "Who would ever train him to be the bad guy."

Wally looked at him, "He's also more skilled and knowledgeable than us."

"Slade also respects him more than our own mentors respect us." Artemis grumbled.

Kelder raised an eyebrow noting the information for later, "He is still a thief no matter how young."

They lapsed into silence until Roy came back and they started packing.

~ ~ ~

After nearly six hours they got all their stuff packed and Renegade up and awake enough to walk. On the other hand, Renegade leaned against Wally nearly the enter walk out of the train, eyes dangerously close to falling closed again. Artemis kept poking the poor boy each time his eyes drifted shut and it woke him back up.

"Dangers." Haley called at them.

The team all halted in their departure to face the older man.

Haley walked up a large box in hand, "I would like to thank you for everything."

The team frowned, Kelder speaking for them all, "I don't think we know what you mean."

"Sure." Haley smiled knowingly, "Either way, this is a gift from all of us to you."

He handed the box over to Wally, "Don't wait too long to open it." He warned before walking away, leaving them all dumb founded.

"He knows." Magan confirms, "At least he knows that we caught the guy that was actually doing the thefts. It really is a gift for us."

Wally smiles and opens the box with careful hands. The team all lean over, peering into the box. Bright blue eyes stared back at them, a tongue lawed out in contentment, and fluffy black fur.

"It's a wolfhound." Renegade commented with a soft smile, "I call naming him."