Dick, regardless of destiny or linage, of curve balls and trials that life mercilessly threw at the boy, Dick was a gentle soul.
To everyone but himself.
Pride was never part of Dick's vocabulary. Even when he got cocky on the field it was gone as quick as it came, not by a reprimand from Slade, no, the boy himself would become sullen and almost scared after any display of pride. The child was hyper aware of himself, hyper aware of everything really, it's what made him a good mercenary. But it was not okay.
Slade had tried smoothing that out of him for years, of relaxing the tense muscles that became rock hard when the boy said anything positive about himself. But the mercenary couldn't break it. He tried as many ways possible, complimenting, encouraging, especially physical affirmations. But the boy's insecurities, his pride, it was all shot, jumbled up and mish moshed then stuffed into the gangly acrobat Slade knew.
The boy dreaded himself, if it not were for the serum running under his skin Slade was 100% positive the boy would have taken his own life by now. The boy would not allow himself pride because of what he was, of what he was meant to become. Of the inevitable.
His boy was a walking mess of anxiety he could not comfort, because there was none.
Slade had tried to be as painless as possible, that boy didn't need anymore grief and guilt on his plate. Slade's training shied away from hard unforgiving rules and punishments, and even then he barely had to use any sort of discipline at all because Dick was already so cautious and careful. The old solider never meant to use that fear in his training, but he couldn't say it wasn't helpful. That fire that lurked under his caution was potent and deadly, and most surprising, driven by his unrelenting need to be compassionate.
That's where the Court made their mistake, the secret behind Dick's skill was not anything like malevolence and thirst for power that all other villains had, it wasn't even revenge or self preservation, it was a need to do good. Slade didn't want to say it, but because they were so hard on him is what made him into such a resilient boy today. His will alone overrode any of their attempts of brainwashing him into compliance.
Maybe that was why Slade was always so wary of using Dick, he was a true and tried hero. Slade... Slade didn't want to lose him. All his training, all the late nights and compliance with odd requests from the boy was to fix what the Court did to break him, to make him ready. Although he didn't foresee growing attached in the process, something he was paying for now.
Dick would know what was happening, Slade had been warned himself the spare few times when he became The Courts marionette. Slade didn't care much if he warned the heroes or not, because either way, after this they would know he's dangerously unpredictable. It would both stop The Light's plan to use him and make him a victim in the heroes' eyes, because when the strings were loosened Dick would beg forgiveness as he always did. However hard it may be for either party, Dick would be safe with them.
And that's all Slade wanted.
That was his rational for the atrocity he was about to do.
He was about to be the puppet master to Dick's limp strings. Something he promised he would never do because of the anguish it caused the boy, even though he really had no way to be in control until Sportsmaster decided to litter his apprentice with muscle controlling nano-bots.
Slade stood in front of the screen in his 'scheming' room, the keyboard was up and he held his recently bought VR headset in his hands. His single eye was staring at the screen, live security feed of the young heroes 'secret' base. Since Dick's return to the mountain the heroes had dragged him off to the trapeze they set while he was gone.
A gift Slade was rather jealous of, because while he had wished to give Dick that tie to his family he was reluctant to give him such a blatant reminder of their deaths. Dick, of course, had loved the trapeze and Slade couldn't help but be proud. He had actively refrained from giving him reminders of his family in fear of setting him off, but he was glad the hero's gift hadn't done anything of the sort. In fact, it seemed to improve his mood. Afterwards, the group had settled in the living room of the base where for the past hour or so they had been sitting for around with Miss Martian floating with green eyes. He assumed they must be doing something in their heads, but Slade was waiting for the right opportunity to start the real show.
That opportunity presented itself when the team seemed to wake up and Dick promptly walked to his room alone. Slade's eyebrows furrowed as he watched his apprentice walk, finding him to be in some sort of daze, but he could see clear as day that the boy was rattled. He shoved this thought to the back of his mind, noting the boy locked the door before going to the bathroom.
From the camera in the corner he could not fully see into the bathroom, but he could see Dick stopped to stand in front of the mirror. His face was red with built up tears, a face Slade had seen many times before.
The old mercenary ignored the cold feeling lumping in the pit of his stomach as he lifted the headset over his face and eye(s). He was sure it wasn't meant for a one-eyed man to use but it would have to do. The system required no controller because the flash drive downloaded a mental activity scanner into the headset that would copy the electromagnetic commands in Slade's mind and send them to the nano-bots in the boy's body.
Slade would have full control over every function of Dick's body besides his mind and organs, it was his muscles and tendons the nanos had latched onto.
His now covered eye saw a loading screen before it hazed into reality. He saw Dick clearly now, through the boy's eye(s) who was still facing the mirror. The acrobat's face was no longer red, his features unreadable, his body stagnant like a board.
Deathstroke the Terminator stared at the face of the boy he would call son, cradling the trust so blindly thrown at him, the desperation and tense need for someone that he decided to fulfill.
And ripped it to shreds.
-0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0-
Dick was absolutely terrified.
As often as this had happened, (which was around three, outside of his time with The Court) he knew something was wrong about this 'takeover'. And it wasn't the fact that he couldn't tell his body to do anything at the moment (although that was one of the HUGE issues on the top of his list), it was the fact that he was still here.
When The Court took over it was nothing like this, he could tell when The Court would take over because it would hurt. It was the electrum igniting under his skin, sweeping away all control until he was gone, but it was done gradually and the sweep was more like a bath in fire. And when he was gone, he meant GONE. It was like being dunked under water, knocked unconscious but still aware of some feelings and movements that he could only barely remember after he was pulled back up.
This was nothing like that.
He could feel everything, see, and even think. He was as cognitive as can be without being able to get his muscles to listen to him.
In the mirror he saw himself blink. He felt the muscles in his face move accordingly, but he hadn't told them, and he certainly hadn't told only ONE eye to blink. He winked again, then twice fast, until finally the other eye blinked as well.
Dick was pretty much full on panicking, he wanted to say his heart leapt into his throat when his hands lifted and slammed unceremoniously onto the counter, but his heart beat remained steady in his chest. Dick could literally only watch as his face scrunched, doing a number of odd expressions before smiling. It looked so wrong to see someone else smile for him, it was like his grin but something was off about it, something he was too busy panicking to pin point.
Who? Who was controlling him? Because The Court would already be ruled out by the lack of pain and mental unconsciousness, but also because who on earth would make him smile? He wasn't sure if it being someone else was a good thing or a bad thing, he hesitated to think 'better the devil you know' because the Court really was bad news and he didn't want to kill anyone. But right now he was even more unpredictable and that was almost worse.
His weight was lifted off his hands, said hands shifted to the sink where his head and eyes angled down to look at the hands now gripping the faucet. His limbs felt jerky and tight, but he could do nothing about it and prayed this was all a bad dream.
His hands left the sink, his whole body turning on one foot and walked out of the bathroom. He was taking bigger steps than necessary, at one point one of his arms instinctively jutted out for balance and it physically burned the limb. Dick wanted to cry out, but his face remained smiling, his body still walking, though thankfully he was taking smaller steps now.
He was halfway through his room when his feet stopped, his body turned almost robotic-ly to look at his bed, where Matthew had flipped over and now regarded the panicking happy-faced mercenary with a slow blink of his slate blue eyes. Dick moved forwards towards the cat, knowing the cat was the destination because his eyes hadn't blinked or shifted since they saw the cat.
His hands reached out and he bent slightly over to reach across the bed, Matthew's fluffy tail flicking at the approach.
No no no no no no, whoever was controlling him better not even think about hurting his cat.
Dick's body twisted, hands moving to the bed to lift his body onto it, sitting near the edge and then reaching again with one hand to the cat. His face had softened, he was no longer smiling but it felt odd, like he was frowning in slow motion. Maybe the command or whatever it is was wearing off, because no way would someone lose a smile THAT slowly. It gave him no hope though, because the rest of his body was still not his, his no longer smiling mouth was still not listening to him.
His hand touched the top of Matthew's head, sliding down onto his back near his tail before repeating the process until it was a smooth motion.
He was petting the cat.
Confusion rolled over Dick like a wave, who the flip was controlling him?! What puppet master would want to PET a CAT while they had access to his not quite full Talon abilities? Not to mention the Young Justice headquarters he was in! They had access to League stuff! He couldn't let whoever it was use him to get league info! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! They should have locked him up! He should have told them! He should have warned them this could happen! A prison would be much better than this!
His brain felt on fire, it was working hard to control what it couldn't, and panicking over it. His hand lifted from the cat, moving off the bed to walk towards the door. He wanted to scream, to shout warnings, to curse whoever it was pulling his strings, but to his tense relief he turned before he reached the door.
Dick cautiously waited for something else to happen as his body was being walked around the room, pacing almost. He got the sense that whoever it was controlling him was thinking, maybe they didn't plan this very well. An armature? That's not much to go off of. What Dick did know was that the silence was killing him, the only sound in the room was his own soft footfalls, did they have control of his vocal chords? Dick sure didn't.
Then it dawned on him, the pacing was getting more natural, the swing in his arms not so forced. The person controlling him wasn't an armature, they were learning.
But this wouldn't fool anyone, Dick was too talkative for a good walk to be infiltration enough, but then Dick wanted to say he got sick to his stomach when his body was launched into a cartwheel. The only reason they'd want to know how to do that well is if they wanted to weaponize him, to make sure their control was smooth enough for fighting.
That's not good.
He was doing a hand stand currently, beyond the screaming inner monologue he found the action odd because he could feel the blood flowing down to his head, the ground beneath his palms, but having zero control made it feel more like a dream. He bent backwards, making an arch with his back that he stood up from, his breathing barely changed but it did speed up (if only just enough to be noticed) because of the exertion.
Okay, so he could be taken down by the inability to provide energy to the stunts he does while controlled, he could be tired out into submission.
Good to know.
That was sarcasm.
None of this was good news.
His body straightened up and stilled, his head angling downwards as his hands reached for his belt. Dick was not surprised by this action, but the implications of such an action dug at the deepening pit in his gut. On the flip side, Dick was suddenly very thankful Batman had taken all his gadgets.
The hands rifled through his belt pockets and Dick felt some sort of victory as his puppet master was realizing they were empty. Until, of course, they went through his back pocket and found the folded up picture that rested there.
His hands pulled the picture out, lifting it for easier viewing. Dick didn't know how to feel about this, whoever was controlling him was obviously seeing this too. Seeing the picture of Slade coddling him only made the ache in his heart long even more for the older man to be here by his side. He needed his help, despite current grievances, this new problem (or any other argument he had Slade had) was bigger than Dick's hurt feelings and whatever weird reason Slade had for giving him up to the heroes. Whatever their situation was it didn't change the fact that he needed Slade like he had so many times before.
His hand flipped the picture over, scanning the back for whatever reason before tossing the picture aside. Clearly, according to his puppet master, it was useless. Dick wanted to snatch it up and put it back in his pocket. It was a sacred picture and regardless of Slade's 'betrayal' it was still a moment of calm admits the chaos of his mind and he didn't want to lose it.
His head twisted around, going to one of the dressers in the room, where resting on top was Dick's pair of gloves. Dick was bewildered by this, he hadn't expected to get his gloves back, but there they were, sitting innocently on top of his dresser. He was slightly put off that the 'holo' part of his 'hologlove' was gone, stupid Batman, but his hands reached out and grabbed them, putting them on rather skillfully considering how long whoever was controlling him had practiced with his hands.
Head twisting towards the door, The Puppet Master -as Dick was now calling this unknown person- decided they had enough frolicking in his body to get used to it and now it was showtime.
His newly gloved hand went for the doorknob first, but without hesitation his second hand reached up and easily unlocked the door. Behind him, Matthew silently jumped off the bed, padding up towards the acrobat with his tail raised in the air— a feline's equivalent of a hello or recognition. Dick's arm swung the door open so fast there was a bit of a 'whomf' to it, and as Dick stepped forward Matthew twisted between his feet, making the acrobat stumble.
Dick wanted to hiss in discomfort, but apparently the Puppet Master felt similar because his windmilling arms did not burn—but unfortunately his legs had disobeyed while attempting to gain balance. Matthew simply trotted along unconcerned and Dick was staring after him with a scowl, again he and his Puppet Master were on the same page. At least, the .02% of his brain that wasn't in full fledged panic mode was on the same page as the person hijacking his highly dangerous body.
The acrobat continued walking down the hall, Dick's inner panic rising steadily as the kitchen came into view. His eyes were moving from person to person, not looking around much for details like Dick thought they would. Wally was in the kitchen eating, leaning his hip against the counter where a few granola wrappers were discarded carelessly, the tell tale sign of speedster destruction. Artemis was lounging on the couch, hanging over the top and seemed to be part of the conversation that paused when he walked in. Conner stood in the kitchen as well, the rest of the team was gone, M'gann probably to rest and Kaldur to report or something. Dick wasn't paying much attention to who wasn't there because his body seemed to want to make contact with the ones who were.
Dick's mental screaming increased ten fold as his body stopped in the kitchen archway, in clear view of the two teenagers.
"Hey 'ick, y'u fee'ing a'y bett'r?" Wally greeted around his granola bar, waving a hand while his eyes looked him over with a friendly amount of concern.
Dick was pleading, he needed them to notice, to realize he wasn't himself and stop him before he did anything he'd severely regret and hate. He wanted to use his eyes, his mouth, even a hand gesture or something, but his body stayed completely still.
Conner's gaze was almost soft, but his folded arms made him look like his normal grumpy self. "Well that was fast." The clone commented under his breath, clearly they were talking about him while he was away.
"Oh, is Dick back?" Artemis said from the living room, he heard some shuffling and imagined she jumped over the couch and entered the kitchen on the far side near Superboy. She folded her arms too and leaned against the cupboards next to the fridge. "M'gann is fine by the way, she went to her room to rest."
Dick figured as much, but didn't care because his friends were in danger, of HIM. Puppet Master did not answer Wally's question, even though a simple nod or shake would do, in fact nothing was happening at all, not even blinking.
Please, please, please take notice!
Wally swallowed his granola bar and frowned, "Dick? You okay?"
Still his body did nothing.
Artemis frowned. "We're not mad at you or anything, what's up with you?" The archer tried, her narrowed eyes looking a bit more scrutinizing than friendly. Dick didn't care much, as long as they figured it out before Puppet Master decided to go all commando on them.
Wally's look changed, his frown also becoming more concerned as he shoved himself from the counter and took a few small steps towards Dick's frozen body. "Dick? Are you having a panic attack right now?"
Dick was screaming, at least he wanted to, because yes he was definitely panicking about attacking. His eyes blinked, but nothing else changed.
Help! Please! You have to get away from me!
"Is this... normal for a panic attack?" Conner asked, his eyes narrowing too as he felt the odd shift in the air.
Wally assumed a cautious stance, inching forward with one hand out like he was approaching a spooked animal. "This is definitely not normal." He said to the kryptonian, and his green eyes stayed locked with Dick's as he spoke. "Dick? Can you even hear me? What's going on Dick?"
Then his approach stopped all together and he twisted around to look at Conner. "Wait is he sleeping? Is this one of those Night Terrors again?"
"His eyes aren't closed." Conner grunted, "And he would have attacked us by now, and wasn't he gone for only five minuets? That's not enough time to fall asleep is it?"
Wally's furrowed eyes shifted back to the stone-faced acrobat. What on earth was wrong with his friend?
Dick's body stayed still as the speedster came close, didn't flinch or react at all when the red-head experimentally nudged his arm. After that Wally lost his cautious stance, giving a confused look to his teammates. "I have no idea what's wrong with him, it's like he's frozen." He then waved his hand in front of Dick's face, again gaining no reaction from the dull-eyed mercenary.
Help me! Please!
Dick didn't think he could get more hysterical in his head, but he started sobbing when his body finally moved. Puppet Master shot his hand up, latching onto the speedster's wrist while his other hand fisted and slammed into his friends gut, driving all breath from the teen.
Wally's eyes grew wide and he was allowed to stumble back from the blow, gasping for air and holding his stomach. Conner and Artemis tensed, not sure weather to engage because Dick might have been acting on instinct rather than decision, but something was definitely off with that dead expression. It was not lost on them that the young mercenary had yet to speak.
"Ow." Wally gasped while hunched over and quietly grunted, "okay I might have deserved that."
"Dick?" Artemis tried cautiously, wide eyed and tense.
HELP ME!
Dick's head snapped to the counter where a clean pan was on the stove, he took two powerful strides towards it before his fist slammed down on the handle. The pan flipped up into the air right in time for Dick's leg to kick it, sending the metal careening into Conner's face. The kryptonian was caught off guard and was sent slightly backwards, making the other two heroes freeze and stare at the attacker.
No no no no no! LEAVE THEM ALONE!
Dick's body moved fluidly forward, jumping up above the counter and flipping over it in one smooth motion. Landing nimbly, he crouched and swept a leg under the female archer, sending her to the ground with a yelp. Wally was there in an instant, trying to make sense of what was happening and to get in between his friends.
"Dick what's going on?! I don't want to fight you!" His hands were up like he could ward the boy away, his stance lowered solidly while his eyes went wide with panic and confusion. Next to him, Superboy shook his head to get his mind back in the game while Artemis recovered.
"Maybe its a delayed night terror?" Artemis said, scrambling backwards on her haunches while Dick seemed to have paused. "A creepy-er one with his eyes open?"
"Last time he had a night terror he beat us by running away. He isn't running away, he wants a fight." Conner said, his stance lowering with his fists out. The clone had no desire to hurt the kid, but defending himself and his teammates might have to trump that, not to mention they really shouldn't let Dick run off again.
Artemis got to her feet, reaching back to get her bow and placing an arrow on the string. "Well last time you didn't have me, and he wasn't so... glitchy."
"Glitchy? You think hes a robot?" Wally asked in pure confusion, Dick was many things, but a robot was not one of them. Even though currently Dick was frozen in a stand, shockingly still. Kinda like a robot... He knew Dick wasn't a robot of course, but maybe something happened to make him robot-like?
"I don't know!" Artemis stamped her foot indignantly behind the speedster, "It was the only word I could think of!"
Conner looked between the two teens and was confused by their fighting, word choice was not something to be arguing about right now. "Do we just wait for him to make a move?"
"I'll call Batman, you guys can... distract him or something." Wally said, slowly inching away with his back to the cupboards because Dick's eyes were solely on him and it was beginning to be really unnerving.
That was the moment Dick moved, lunging forwards towards the speedster. Wally yelped and sped off, heading for the communication hub. "M'gann? M'gann is the mind link up?" He stopped in the center and brought up the holoscreen. After getting no response from the mind link he found the intercom system, slamming on the button before screaming into a hidden mic. "Kaldur! Mindlink is down! Wanna get in here? Dick's gone... robot!"
Kaldur must be near one of the systems because his voice came back genuinely confused. "What do you mean?"
"I mean he's attacking us! Again!" Wally yelled, taking a look behind him into the kitchen where he heard grunts from Superboy and various fighting sounds. "He's not responding to anything we say or do until he attacks and hes moving really weird and freezing up!"
"I am bringing Black Canary. Keep him inside."
"We'll try, I'm not sure whats wrong with him this ti-AAH!" Wally was cut off as something slammed into his body, ripping him away from the keyboard he'd been typing on and slamming his head into the ground painfully. He slid a few meters from the impact, another body rolled along with his. He turned to his back and got to his feet, seeing it was Artemis that had barreled into him. More like thrown actually.
"Yeah I'm pretty sure he's trying to kill us this time!" Artemis panted as she got to her feet, leaning heavily on one leg and missing her bow... and quiver. "He's got my weapons!"
There was a small explosion that rumbled the ground in the direction of the kitchen, followed closely by a blue flash of electricity, and then Superboy's pained screaming until it abruptly ended.
"Guys-!" Wally started to shout, attempting to gain Kaldur's attention even though the holoscreen was a few yards away now.
He was cut off by the whistling of an arrow, his wide eyes catching the green shaft before the floor was quickly saturated by smoke. Wally thought quickly, hearing Artemis yelp somewhere beside him and a metallic 'thwip'. His lightning crackled in the fog as he sped around, finding the edge of the smoke before starting to run rings around it. The fog let up and revealed Artemis caught in an electric net that came from one of her own arrows, she was unconscious now.
Wally tried to find the source but the tell tale whistling sound made his adrenaline spike. He dashed to the side, dodging the explosion but not the shock wave. The speedster was thrown to the floor but he scrambled to his feet quickly, eyes on the knocked out Artemis who was too close to the explosion for comfort. He floundered his way over to the archer, picking her up under her armpits and speed-dragged her away from the fight. He was able to toss away the net (grimacing at the electricity that temporarily raced through him) before dashing across the room to attempt to deal with his brainwashed buddy.
There were explosions everywhere now, they were shaking the ground and tossing dirt and flames into the air. Wally was able to dodge and weave between explosions, just barely saving himself from becoming speedster barbecue, but had no idea he was being corralled into a small portion of the room. Wally sped forward through a clearing, to his right and left were explosions that threatened to throw him off his feet. Kid Flash slid to a stop, arms windmilling as an arrow hit the ground right in front of Wally's feet.
He tried to turn the other way but it was too late, the arrow beeped once before exploding in the speedsters face. Wally went airborne, feeling crispy and discombobulated. He barely noticed he hit the floor because his first instinct was to curl up to protect his insides and regain his senses. He held his ringing ears and squeezed his eyes shut. Everything felt muted by the fog that drifted over his head. He could feel his heart pumping, blood rushing through his ears, but it all seemed far away.
The roar got louder, he feared he would pass out, but it held a distinct slosh and felt all too real. Wally managed to weakly push himself up, blinking through the dense smog and fire just in time to see a wave of water crash down around him. He had just enough time to brace for impact and hold his breath. The water didn't hit him with too much force, thanks Kaldur, but he was knocked off the ground instantly.
Wally was completely disoriented by the time the water receded. He was splayed on his back but he sat up quickly to figure out what was going on, where he was, and if he could breathe now. Turns out he was out of the water, because air flooded his lungs and it took him a moment for him to actually register his hands on the ground and the puddle he sat in. He looked up quickly, taking in the room for danger and a little part of his gut shriveled at the sight.
It looked like a war had come through...
Correction, STILL going through.
Kaldur was cutting arrows from the air, diffusing them at the same time with his water swords. Arrows were being sent to the side to see if he could throw the hero off but the water reached up and diffused the arrows as they came raining down. The Atlantean was advancing towards the source of the shooting, somewhere high in an alcove Wally had never seen before. Black Canary was off to the side, hopefully getting League help because she couldn't do much while Dick was up there where none of them could really reach. How did he even get up there?
The speedster got to his feet unsteadily, swallowing rising bile and closing his eyes at the bout of dizziness. He grimaced, feeling otherwise okay besides being exhausted and a little toasty, he might have gotten concussion though. The tilting ground sure thought so.
The room was littered with still burning fires between the puddles, the water around Kaldur seemed alive and his arms were glowing more than Wally had ever seen. Kaldur was also growing tired, obviously this much water-magic exertion was not something he did often. Wally steeled himself and got closer, realizing he could get up to where Dick was perched with a super speed jump, despite the raging headache springing from behind his eyes. Kaldur said nothing to the approaching speedster, too focused on the water and the unrelenting rain of arrows, Wally called out his plan anyway.
"I'll get him down!" He shouted before bolting. Wally gulped and plunged onward, narrowed eyes on the assailant. Dick was getting really scary.
Wally pushed himself faster, letting lose the flow of electricity that ignited across his skin and into his bones, making everything else look frozen in time. He didn't have much of a runway but it would do, he ran as quickly as possible in the short distance before leaping off the ground. Wally arched off the ground, raising his arms and legs to land on the ledge, practically flying through the air towards the black haired boy and his arrows.
Unfortunately once in the air speedsters lose speed, not that he wasn't going fast, but gravity and wind resistance remained in affect while his main force of movement (his feet) were severed. It gave Dick enough time to turn his head to look at him, notching back an arrow and moving his sights towards the flying speedster.
Wally's green eyes widened as his breath caught in his throat, he had no way to dodge this one. In a last ditch idea, Wally swung his arm back, concentrating on generating the electricity there.
Just as the string was let loose Wally hurled the gathered lightning at his friend's feet.
The arrow was sent, but it didn't explode, instead it broke apart, twirling, heading for Wally's feet. Wally recognized it as a bola the second the lightning he threw struck the ground in front of Dick. The acrobat was blown back in slow motion as Wally still careened forwards. Unfortunately the bola added to the speedsters weight, dragging him out of the speed force and down. He wouldn't be able to land on the ledge.
Wally felt his stomach rise into his throat as he frantically reached out at normal speed, being just able to grab the lip of the cave.
Dick was there in an instant, face completely blank as he raised his fists up to smash down on Wally's hands. Wally grunted between his grit teeth, lunging upwards and grabbing the boy's shirt collar. Wally locked eyes with the young mercenary as he let go of the ledge, dragging Dick over the edge with him.
Wally released him as they fell, deciding he didn't want to break his legs on impact, or break Dick. As far as he could tell Dick had the same idea, his eyes on the ground and readying himself for landing.
Wally landed on his legs of course, he tried to distribute the impact but the bolas weighted his feet too much and he went into an awkward side tuck and roll. The initial impact on his feet sent a shock wave of pain up his legs and even into his back. His shoulder connected next, and he was sure if he hadn't then his ankles- if not his fibula/tibia- would have definitely broken.
Thank goodness for speed healing. But not so much for pain.
The pain clenched the air out of his lungs, his heart thumping loudly in his ears as his body tumbled to a stop. He laid on his back, shoulder throbbing (pretty sure he dislocated it at the very least, maybe even fractured it) and legs spiking suspiciously like TV static. His head arched back at the wave of throbbing pain, wanting nothing more than scream but his throat closed up and all that left him was a few gasping squeaks. All he could see was white and he was fighting to stay conscious when all he wanted to do was enter the land of painless sleep. No, he had to stay awake, Dick was practically slaughtering them.
He forced his eyes open (not really sure when they closed) and saw Dick hit the ground, rolling to distribute the impact and into a low stance, bow— but no arrows —in hand.
"My friend," Kaldur called, holding only one water bearer with both hands and panting. He started to slowly circle the young mercenary, who reciprocated the action. "I am unsure of what has been truth and what as been told to lead us on. I do know this though." Kaldur paused, leveling his blade at the boy who also stopped. "He may carry the name Renegade, but Dick Grayson would never willingly betray those he calls friends."
Dick's body froze completely, giving Kaldur the chance to leap forward, changing the sword to a mace for a knock out blow. At the last second Dick moved, raising Artemis's bow like a staff, blocking the hit completely. Kaldur didn't let up, switching again to a sword and slashed at every angle, keeping Dick on the defensive. Canary entered the game, leaping into the fight and landing a few solid good hits on the assassin. They fought rather fluidly, dancing almost, Dick surprisingly (or maybe it wasn't too surprising) being able to keep his own against the two heroes.
Kaldur and Canary rushed him, forcing him to back up and block every slice from Kaldur and hand to hand from Canary, still with that calm face that hinted nothing. Every hit landed by Canary he doubled on her, sending a smashing kick to her gut that made her back off for a few seconds.
He focused on Kaldur for that moment, twirling his bow staff dangerously but without wasting an ounce of effort and efficiency in his attack. Kaldur was starting to waver, his unrelenting attacks on top of the intense water magic he'd done earlier was doing a number on him.
Canary put herself back into the fight right as Kaldur started to falter, letting him catch his breath for a moment. She went into an intense round of hand to hand with the young mercenary, blocking jabs at her neck (no doubt aimed for nerve clusters) while Dick used his lithe body to evade most of her attacks. The boy sustained only bruises though out the fight but he was getting visibly fatigued, his midnight hair started to stick to his head and he began to pant through clenched teeth.
Suddenly ignoring Canary completely, Dick lunged at Kaldur, using him as a stepladder to jump up and over behind the female hero and knocking her to her knees before she could dodge. Kaldur leapt forward with a downward strike with both hands on the sword, attempting to get Dick away from the Leaguer. Dick raised the bow to meet it, kneeling and supporting with two hands.
With a crack like the break of a bone, the bow broke in half.
Dick immediately rolled to the side, getting enough distance between himself and the two heroes. The fight seemed to pause, Canary rose to her feet and Kaldur reclaimed his breath for the few sparse seconds of inactivity.
Dick's mouth twitched into a smile, one that didn't look quite right, and twirled the two halves in his hands, holding them with practiced familiarity. He rushed Kaldur, laying down his own heat with his improvised escrima sticks, it took all of two seconds for the Atlantean to go down.
Dick stood over his unconscious body, chest huffing but otherwise frozen.
Canary was on him in milliseconds, trying to get him in a headlock so she could finally end the fight. She twisted around, throwing him to the floor bodily with her practically hugging him from behind. She pinned an arm with her leg and forced him to straighten out so he had no leverage. Her arm was around his neck, but his face never changed from that sick smile. The impromptu escrima sticks fell from his hands, his free hand latching onto the arm around his throat. It was only there for a moment before he wiggled, the quiver still attached to his back gave him enough room between him and Canary that he kneed her spine and slipped his trapped hand away. He reached back and found a discarded arrow lying in a puddle, he jabbed it at Canary's head. She dodged easily enough, but her jerking loosened her grip. He slammed his head back into her chin, the woman just barely grunted in pain when he jabbed the arrow again, hitting her necklace right on the canary cry.
Black Canary's eyes widened as electricity shot through her body from her neck, her hands releasing the boy to fly to her neck, desperately trying to get the device off. Dick was up in seconds, reaching down and grabbing her jacket as his other fist reared backwards. His fist connected with her head and he let go, letting her body slump to the ground.
Wally waited with wide eyes, wondering if he should pretend to be unconscious or call out to the boy. There was still fire, still puddles of water, and debris was littered everywhere. It was just Dick, surrounded by unconscious bodies of people he shared his deepest darkest secrets with.
Wally jerked in surprise when a guttural cry tore through his mind, making the speedster physically wince and gasp in pain. It sobbed uncontrollably, blubbering incoherently and absolutely stunning the tired redhead.
"Wally!"
Wally nearly blacked out in relief. M'gann. Oh thank goodness.
"M'gann! Sweet green cheeks from Mars, I'll never call your cookies burnt ever again!" Wally yelled over the crying in the mind link, temporarily ignoring it in the pure need to acknowledge he wasn't alone. He could feel the confusion from the Martian and a sneaking suspicion rose from the pits of Wally's mind. If Miss Martian activated the mind link and crying was the first thing spearing through his mind...
"Wally what's going on?! Who's crying?"
"...I think that's Dick..." The redhead said carefully, not understanding but recognizing the sobbing voice belonged to the frozen mercenary standing over Kaldur and Canary's unconscious forms.
"W-Wally?!" The crying paused just long enough for the name to be croaked out, confirming the speedsters theory and surprising the Martian. Wally opened his mental mouth to speak but Dick shot off in a rush of blubbered words only half understood. "Yo-you're not- you're not dead! Oh my g- my go- I never sh-should h-have- this is all my fault! I-I am... I'm so sorry! This- this is all my fault-! all my fault- all my fault-"
"Dick! Calm down! What's going on?!" Wally shouted over the boy's mantra. He was so confused and it only heightened his anxiety, Dick's body wasn't moving but Dick's mental self seemed to be in complete disarray.
"I'm s- so sorry!" Dick continued to whimper, he could hear the pure agony in his voice, like if he could he'd be rocking in a ball on the floor. "I-I should have- should have told you guys! I should have s-said something!" There was a break in coherent words, he breathed deeply and harshly like he was running out of air. He couldn't be though, his body was fine, just standing there. But then the hiccuping and the sobbing cut off for a moment as Dick screamed. "I SHOULD HAVE FORCED BATMAN TO PUT ME IN PRISON!"
"Dick... you're not making any sense." M'gann said, her small voice tinged with fear, the fear gnawing away at Wally's gut. His eyes on Dick flickered to some movement from the kitchen, seeing Miss Martian in camo-mode, her slight distortion in the sky cluing him to her whereabouts. He couldn't make out her face but he could practically feel the worry etched into it, it probably mirrored his own.
"You knew this would happen?" Wally breathed, scared of the answer.
Dick's response was instant, apparently he could hear their gentle (scared) whispering over his agony. But he was still a rambling mess of words with too much emotion. "Yes? No? I kn-knew it was a possibility- it-it hadn't happened in a while but it's different this time and I don't even know whats going on or how it happened! This is all my fault-! Stupid stupid stupid- I never should have come here!" He erupted into sobs again, his answer didn't clear up much of anything for the cognitive heroes.
Then Dick's body started to move.
The young mercenary's sobbing voice cut off with a sharp intake of air. "Please! Please you have to stop me! Before I kill anyone! Please! Pleasepleaseplease! I can't do it again!"
Wally was having a hard time connecting the pleading to the stone faced mercenary stalking towards the kitchen. He was also stuck on the 'again', and he had a sneaking feeling that whatever 'it' was had nothing to do with killing.
The two impromptu escrima sticks were thrown to the side, the assassin emotionlessly reaching down to pick up one of the few arrows scattered in the water.
"There's something you're not telling us-"
Dick's body broke into a run, leaping up onto the wall and running across it in a few steps before pushing off.
"M'GANN LOOK OUT!"
He raised the arrow like a javelin, eyes narrowed on the Martian shocked in place. At the last second she moved, but the arrow still detonated. Dick, who was still holding the arrow, was blown straight into the ground, an accompanying grunt of pain striking through the mind link.
M'gann was thrown to the side, hitting the ground with less force but the close exposure to fire made her weak. She stumbled to her hands and knees, trying to keep the mindlink up and get away from the fire that was sapping her energy. She was also concerned about Dick, clearly he wasn't doing any of this on his own volition and was highly upset by it, as anyone would be. He was also right next to the source of the explosion.
"Dick! Are you alright?!" M'gann asked as soon as she could, realizing the mindlink had gone down for a second because Dick was mid-sentence when she finally heard his voice.
"-gotten close! I should never have found Slade! I should have died with my parents!"
While Dick lamented, Dick's body rolled to the side, seemingly unaffected by the explosion. His eyes set on the weary Martian. She honestly looked unconscious, but her face was twisted in concentration, she was obviously working as hard as she could to keep the mind link up.
She wouldn't be able to save herself.
"Please! Somebody just stop me! Wally! Wally please!"
The speedster groaned into the ground, sucking in a tense breath and gathering his hands under his body. He lifted himself up, grimacing at the pain and almost buckling under his bad shoulder, "Yep, definitely dislocated..." He muttered quietly (not in the mind link, though he was sure they got some form of pained feeling from him). He managed to sit up, holding his bad arm. Wally blinked away the spots dancing in his vision, reaching forward to untangle his still very much hurting legs.
He experimentally dragged a leg out of the now loose bola, grimacing at the pain shooting up his leg and back. The pain was bearable though, thrumming into a nice buzz he could dismiss with enough sweat and determination.
The speedster painstakingly got to his feet, leaning heavily and staggering to keep his balance. "I'm coming." He grunted, holding his bad arm.
Dick's body was zeroing in on Miss Martian but at the speedster's movement his head snapped in his direction.
"Wally, Wally he's coming for you, well, I-I'm coming for you." Dick sounded stressed, scared, and tired. Wally couldn't help but concur.
"That's the point, I'll distract you long enough for us to come up with a plan." Wally scowled, grimacing through the pain as he stumbled around on his feet.
Dick's face split into a smirk, changing to the easy target and darting forward.
Wally's eyes widened, yelping as he forced himself to speed to the side, having just enough adrenaline to keep himself alive. "What is the plan exactly?!"
Dick lunged again, the speedster dodged, rolling to avoid a kick but realizing his mistake when the pain doubled down on his legs. Wally cried out, hunkering to clutch the legs, Dick's mental screaming adding to his own. Dick's body flew over the speedster, clearly expecting resistance but there was none. The boy slid to a stop, digging his feet and hands into the ground and scowling at his prey.
"WALLY GET UP!" Dick shouted, almost echoing in the speedsters brain.
Instead of giving a response Wally just pushed himself to his feet, narrowly dodging another lunge from Dick.
"Left hook!" Dick called out, confusing the speedster as he dodged a fist aimed for his face. "My left was open right then! You could have hit me!"
"I don't want to hit you!" Wally yelped, ducking under a high kick and backing from the quick fists of his friend.
"Don't worry about hurting me!" Dick said, demanding with a type of anger and frustration that only created another worm of worry in the speedster's heart. "I can heal! Just get me to stop! Knock me out!"
"I don't want to feed your ego or anything but you're kinda unstoppable!" Wally dove to the floor, grunting again as he got to his feet, dashing to the side and jumping over Dick's swiping legs.
"The next time I leg sweep do the same, it'll throw me off for a second! Sure I'll acrobat my way out but it'll give you some breathing room." Dick replied, sounding the most calm as he had the entire time. Wally took note of this, as it was more like now that he had a mission he could focus on he was less inclined to panic. A non-panicking Dick was much more preferable.
"Right, and the mean time?" Wally yelped as he bent backwards to avoid another round of fists.
"Don't let me trap you, pin you, or otherwise keep you from moving." Dick said, again sounding calmer than the past two minuets. "Is M'gann okay?"
"No idea, but the mind link is still up so I assume shes at least awake." Wally replied, risking taking his eyes off of Dick's body to glance over at the martian on the ground. "The fire isn't helping at all."
"Hurry!" Came the exhausted martian's voice, sounding in pain and rightly so.
"Wally pay attention!"
The speedster focused back on Dick's offensive right as a foot caught him in the chest, sending him backwards onto the floor. The red head didn't respond, busy rolling backwards and scrambling to his feet to avoid Dick's fist slamming into the ground where he'd been milliseconds before.
He turned his back on the young mercenary and ran, or limping more like. He couldn't access the speed force, he was too tired, his everything was in too much pain. Through his blurry eyes and short huffing breaths he saw the kitchen and headed there, if only to lure the assassin away from Miss Martian.
He jerked to the side, avoiding a lunge and the small mercenary hit the ground next to the speedster. Dick's body was up in seconds, lunging again, but in just enough time for Wally to twist out of the way and jarringly jump out of reach.
"Wally no! Never turn your back on an enemy!" Dick screamed through his mind, his frantic tone back with a poisonous passion. Wally just continued limping, too tired to respond and only having one goal in mind. "Wally no! I don't want to kill you! Please! Listen to me!"
Wally called on his last reserves, the last of the last, scraping the bottom of the bucket for any ounce of speed to give himself. His skin felt on fire until he blinked and seemed to appear in the kitchen. The red head leaned heavily on the wall, his heart was thudding so loudly in his chest it felt like it was going to burst out.
Another scream punctured the air, a real one, one not in the mind link.
"Superboy!" Dick gasped, as if it never occurred to him the kryptonian wouldn't stay down long "Wally you're leading me to Superboy!"
Wally only nodded, gasping in pain as he took in the war torn kitchen, luckily Dick wasn't mentally screaming anymore and neither was Superboy. Darkness started creeping along the edge of his vision, focusing solely on Superboy tangled in electric chords on the floor. The bright flashes of electricity felt like strikes on his skin even though he wasn't near enough to be affected. His head was throbbing and spiking like a knife was being driven through his eye sockets.
Then something collided with his back, heavy and pushing him into the ground. Wally barely felt it, finally relinquishing himself to the numbing painless bliss that was unconsciousness.
"WALLY!"
Conner ripped apart the sizzling chords, angry and concerned. He was angry he let himself be zapped unconscious and let his friends deal with Dick alone, not that they were helpless, but that he was Superboy, he was impenetrable and superhumanly strong. He should have been able to take care of Renegade in no time flat, but instead he let himself get hit by an electricity arrow and proved useless.
The angry clone got to his feet, only a little unsteady, and easily finding Dick's body perched on top of an unresponsive, face down, Wally. Conner scowled as Dick's mental self resumed crying and screaming, cursing at the speedster for being dumb and himself for being even worse.
Dick's body wasn't looking at him though, he was still focused on the speedster, two fists raised in an almost primal beating action. Conner roared as he jumped forward, his own fist out and refusing to hold back this time. Artemis was gone and from what he could see from the doorway Dick had made a war in the mission room.
Dick jumped backwards from his flying fist, a scowl implanted on his face.
"Conner! knock me out!"
The clone's next lunge was slower because Dick was screaming at HIM now, allowing the young mercenary to easily dance out of the way and towards the kitchen again. "Whats going on Dick?"
"Someone has taken control of my body! Knock me out before I kill someone! Please!"
"If you could stay still that would be helpful." Superboy grunted as he jumped again for the lithe assassin.
"I just told you!" Dick's voice lashed out in fear, "I can't control anything!"
Conner was getting deja vu, remembering how Dick broke down when he was not able to control his memory. Meanwhile, Superboy chased Dick's body back further into the kitchen, not finding the mercenary immediately he paused. "Don't focus on that remember? What CAN you do?"
He heard Dick take in a breath, not his body, but his mental self.
"I... I can see where I am, where I'm going, a-and what I'm about to do."
"I can't find you right now, so where are you?" Superboy asked, being surprisingly gentle, when Dick was scared he either curled up or lashed out, he lashed out before so right now he was probably curling up. Mentally at least. Getting angry with Dick wouldn't fix anything right now, even though his insides were screaming for revenge for his friends, demanding Dick was a traitor. He also wondered how hurt everyone was, but considering the mind link was up he had to assume M'gann was alright, or at least cognitive. But why wasn't she helping?
"I'm under the stove, grabbing the gasoline tank, I'm rigging an explosion! Conner you have to stop me! I don't want anyone to die! I-I might have killed Wally! And maybe even Kaldur too! Please!"
"Calm down, Wally said he was getting Batman, and when it comes to you he always listens so he'll be here and no one else will get hurt." Conner reasoned, zeroing in on the stove. The cupboards under it said stove were open and he could see the boy's hunched over back. He grabbed the back of his neck, lifting him up and out, trying to think of a humane way to knock him unconscious. Dick's pleading voice in his head wasn't helping.
"—Wait, its— Wait! Its open!"
Not understanding, Conner continued to hold the boy and turned him around. Dick was clutching the gasoline tank, a sick smile spreading as he lifted it up over both of them and tipped it over.
The gasoline really couldn't do much to him except serve as a distraction, and that's exactly what it did. The liquid slashed in his eyes and mouth, making the clone drop the kid to wipe his face.
"I'm going to set you on fire!" Dick screamed in his head as his body disappeared from in front of the kryptonian.
"Which is dumb!" Conner cut him off, tired of all the screaming in his head. He swiped his face one last time and forced himself to open his eyes, it stung a bit, but he'd live. Dick's body was gone again. "Fire can't hurt me. Where are you?"
"I don't think thats my intention!" Dick pointed out, gasping out one more word in anguish. "M'gann!"
Conner just then realized what he meant when he bolted forwards out of the kitchen, running to the mission room and finding both M'gann and Dick's body near each other. Dick was emptying the can of gasoline on the downed Martian, still wearing that sick smile. Conner saw red.
The boy flipped out of the way, going backwards behind the charging kryptonian bull and landing solidly in a crouch, right at the end of a stream of gasoline leading to Miss Martian. Conner twisted around just in time to see the boy smirk before he raised his gloved arms and brushed them together. Somehow that made a snapping sound and a few sparks fell right onto the gasoline below him. The gas ignited on contact with a crackling 'fwoom', racing along the stream towards Miss Martian.
Then too many things happened at once.
"Recognized: Batman-02"
"How...how'd... how did they know I can d—"
When Dick's voice cut off Conner knew Mg'ann was unconscious, he lunged forward and snatched her body right as the fire spread to her puddle. He mentally apologized but didn't see any other way to save her, he threw her away from the puddle and from any other fire, getting caught himself in the flames.
It was hot of course, but it didn't burn, he had more important things to think about anyway.
Conner kept through the flames, finding Dick exactly where he was before, just standing there, and Conner took full advantage.
Out of the corner of his eye he could see Batman and other leaguers appearing, but he focused on pulling his arm back as he jumped forward, slamming his fist into the boy's head and dropping him like a rock.
He stood there, panting for a moment, unsure of whatever had just happened. He hoped nobody was dead, he wasn't sure he'd be able to forgive Dick if any of his teammates died, weather it was his fault or not.
"Superboy." It was Batman, running over and looking all types of upset. He stopped in front of the clone, away from the bath of fire Conner had just stepped out of. That's when the kryptonian noticed he himself was on fire. He assumed batman had already seen all the damage, but Batman took one look at Dick's crumpled body and glowered. "What happened."
Conner took a second to think of an actual answer, lowering his gaze around to the destruction caused by the kid he just clocked over the head. "...I'm... I'm not actually sure. But I do know one thing." He looked up at Batman, "Dick was sent to kill us, and almost succeeded."
IM ALIVE
Man I keep saying that, I should stop dying.
In my defense I got a full time job, usually leaves me dead on my feet in the afternoons and I only get two days off per week and yeah I still have to like... live.... and stuff, so yeah not a whole lot of time for writing. I will admit tho this chapter was mostly done before today, some of it wasn't sitting right and a few details came to me last minute that I really needed to put in.
In other news, this chapter is 10120 words, I hope this makes up a little bit for the long wait, and I prolly shouldn't promise anything else, so um... be cautiously optimistic my friends! Next chapter will be a doozy!
(I may or may not title it RIP)
I apologize for the little cliffy, I really needed to end it so I can post it.
In other news, discussions about Slade anyone? He's a tricky one that Slade.
;3