"All sectors report status."

Renegade stood to the side, Kaldur waiting for his men to report in. Malina island took less constant upkeep than expected, especially seeing as it was technically a Krolatean base. They just had to oversee and keep things going.

"sector one: secured."

"sector two: secured."

There was a gap of static.

"sector four: secured."

Kaldur and Renegade shared a look.

"sector three, report," Kaldur ordered. Static continued to crackle, "sector three."

"well that's promising," Renegade quipped.

Kaldur stood and put his helmet back on, storming out. Renegade followed along, eyes seeking out the intruders who must be around. Kaldur alerted his men of the possible threat and told them to double down.

And, they were not hard to find.

"Intruders on the level," Kaldur announced over the comms.

Renegade caught the shadows just as Kaldur did.

"and in the water."

He turned and fired the laser-beam into the water, Renegade slid his sword out of its sheath and took to Kaldur's side. As the heroes began popping out of cover they sprang into the fight. renegade shot a smirk over his shoulder to Kaldur.

"seems this mission won't stay boring after all," he snickered, dodging a hit and giving plenty more back.

"you were bored?" he heard Kaldur ask.

Renegade was keeping up with the fight, sure, but also he was watching what Kaldur was doing. This would be a good basis for whether he really was a traitor.

As Manta's men swarmed Kaldur stood back and contacted the higher ups. Renegade stayed on alert to make sure no one got a lucky hit in.

"Manta to partner, the base has been infiltrated, abort operation."

"Partner to Manta, the device is already primed, you have five minutes," Renegade faltered a step. Five minutes? That was it? "get your men out. The bomb will take care of the rest."

"perfect."

"oh, you've got that right," Renegade scowled.

They seemed far enough away from the fight to not be in immediate trouble, but Kaldur laid down cover fire with the lasers of his helmet and Renegade did the same with his pistol.

"Manta to all troopers, endgame enabled," Kaldur said, "strategic retreat to Manta flier, you have four minutes."

The two started moving, not waiting for the troops to follow. As they ran Renegade finally took notice of Batman, fighting alongside Robin and Batgirl. Any other day he'd pick a fight with Batgirl- who he was almost 100 percent sure was Barbara- for the hell of it, now he wasn't in the mood.

They moved through the base with precision, noticing as the heroes changed strategy, going after them having noticed their retreat.

"three minutes to departure," Kaldur said, and Renegade noticed a hero getting close- he didn't know this one, but considering the shirt they must be working with wonder woman. He drew her away from Kaldur and managed to manoeuvre out of some hits, but didn't give any of his own.

As he stepped back to help Kaldur he realised he was a bit late.

A fist slammed into Kaldur and he went flying, the helmet coming off and clanging on the ground. As he stood again the heroes took a double take and Renegade moved in to Kaldur's side.

"I hadn't believed Artemis till now."

Renegade almost couldn't hear what Aquaman said. But the sheer emotion on the heroes faces as they crept closer...

They didn't know. They'd been told but not believed.

Kaldur had really turned traitor.

He kicked himself for spacing out, forced the rushing thoughts to a halt- not all the heroes had to know. He could be a double agent and only one or two people knew. Batman most likely.

But not even his own mentor? Harsh.

"you did not want to believe!" Kaldur had accused, and Renegade focused in as Superboy said "None of us wanted to believe this!"

"how could you betray us?"

At the question Renegade felt a pang, a moment when his mind thought of the other possible situations he could hear such a statement hurled. He forced himself to not think about it- he didn't care, he didn't, the heroes opinions didn't matter. He only succeeded in a small amount, but that was enough.

"you dare question me?" Kaldur's voice had turned hysteric, his eyes wide as he scowled at his former friends, Renegade didn't understand the emotion from him, it was wrong, how could- "when all of you let Tula die!"

Oh. Shit.

Now Renegade understood the emotion.

"Kaldur that was a mission," Artemis was in the picture, easing forward as Kaldur readied his weapons, Renegade did the same, but there was something in him that didn't like how this was going, "Aquagirl knew the risks. No one wanted-"

"Neptune's beard!" it was the fish boy who interrupted, and Renegade took the chance to lean closer to Kaldur and mutter to him a plan of escape, "don't coddle this traitor! He has joined forces with our king's greatest enemy!"

"you mean the king who hid from me the true identity of my father?" Kaldur's voice sounded to Renegade like that of a man who had only pain left, and it was all he could give. He had nothing else to throw to his enemies, and nothing else to live off of, only the ache in his chest that grew stronger every day.

"that was my error in judgement, Kaldur'Ahm," Aquaman said, seeming like he thought he could bring his old apprentice back to the good side, Renegade knew it would not work, "no one else need suffer for it."

Kaldur gave Renegade a look, a sign to prepare to leave.

"all will suffer if Black Manta demands it," he said, smoothly.

Renegade laid his finger over the trigger.

"blood is thicker than sea water."

It was a small explosion, but enough for them to disappear into.

But Kaldur didn't go the right way, he ran for where the bomb must have been set, Renegade followed.

"what are you doing?" he kept his voice low.

Kaldur didn't answer.

As he crouched in front of the bomb Renegade gave up on getting an answer and settled instead for keeping watch. As Artemis slid down into the room he unsheathed his sword and levelled it on her.

"Kaldur..." she began.

"just you and me, old friend?" Kaldur offered. Renegade backed off slightly as Kaldur drew his water bearers.

"no," Superboy appeared, "it's a regular reunion special!"

"you can take me down," Kaldur said, but then let the water of his weapons drop, he put them away and gestured to the bomb, "or you can save everyone from this bomb."

As the heroes eyes fell on it Renegade smirked, "I've heard the yield is quite impressive."

"you have two minutes," Kaldur added.

The heroes backed off. Renegade dropped a smoke bomb and the two finally disappeared, headed for their escape vessel.

Dick finished putting away his gear and flopped onto his bed. He had about five hours of un-filled time to sleep, two of which he'd probably use doing something completely unrelated thanks to his insomnia.

He hadn't had a full night's rest since the eve of his twentieth birthday. He tried not to think about why.

He tried to get comfortable, shifting in his blankets, but the bed was still uncomfortable and unfamiliar. It didn't help that Batman and Batgirl and Robin had all been at Malina Island.

He'd run into them enough times to count on his fingers since he'd left, and he'd never had too many issues. This was, however, the first time he'd had a run-in with them because they were on clear opposing sides. the others, it was a mission and he was taking someone out and they were in the way. Now...

It felt like a point of no return. A clear line in the sand. He didn't know why it bothered him, he shouldn't care. Yet, his stomach squirmed.

He sighed and shifted again, trying to find a position that was comfortable on the bed. The submarine creaked and he tried not to think about the pressure of the huge amounts of water surrounding the ship. He missed Isabel, she was always good company on the excruciatingly dark, quiet nights when sleep eluded him more than the questions of the universe.

He needed a distraction, so much so he audibly whispered, "oh thank god," when he heard a knock on the door.

He opened the door, and there stood Kaldur.

"evening."

"It's five in the morning."

"and we're on a submarine and this is my leisure or sleep time, so it's evening to me," he smirked and leaned against the doorframe.

His sweatpants and t-shirt probably weren't appropriate for talking to his allocated boss, but he couldn't much so care. Especially seeing as Kaldur was wearing something similar which meant he got a good view of his biceps as he crossed his arms and gave Dick a disapproving stare.

"what can I do for you?" Dick asked, not changing his demeanour or expression.

"I need a training partner who isn't incompetent."

Dick raised an eyebrow, "interesting."

Kaldur looked on, seemingly waiting for Dick to offer his time or say he couldn't help. Dick would not, he would instead wait for Kaldur to ask himself.

Eventually he gave in on waiting, "would you be willing to spar with me?"

Dick made a face and a show of considering it, "I don't know, my bed was starting to look pretty comfortable."

"what happened to your insomnia?"

Dick cracked a smile, "am I really the only one you'd be willing to spar with?"

Dick was having fun with this. He hadn't thought about the fact that he wasn't wearing a mask and thus was at risk of Kaldur finding him out and he hadn't thought about the possibility of him noticing things about him that tipped off Dick's original alias. He couldn't think about that, he was too busy thinking about how much he missed Kaldur and how he hadn't realised when he was younger just how much he'd enjoyed the Atlantean's company.

"as I said, you are the only competent one I'd be willing to spar with."

"aw, well call me flattered," Dick snickered, "I'll grab my escrima sticks."

"I was thinking hand-to-hand."

Dick raised an eyebrow, "interesting. Well, lead the way to the training room."

Kaldur smirked, "I have my own."

"of course you do," Dick snorted, "well, let's get going, unless you're worried I'll whoop your ass."

Kaldur knew Richard. He knew him. the fighting style was eerily familiar, he knew that sense of humour, he'd heard this voice before.

And the eyes felt like they were mocking him.

He'd almost broke cover when Richard had opened the door. The sound of his voice was no help, but it was his eyes... he knew them. He knew this person. He was absolutely sure of it.

Leading him to his training room gave him a chance to steady himself. He couldn't drop cover, no matter how close he was. Everything about Renegade put him on the edge of giving himself away, but he needed to know who he was and what kind of threat he was.

And he needed to know why he had that strange feeling every time Richard was in the same room as him.

They passed into his designated quarters. He blew down the hall past all the doors to the very end, which opened into a room with mats on the floor. Several elaborate masks and decorative weapons were hung on one wall. There were drains on the sides of the room that held water ready to be manipulated and a weapons rack was tucked into one corner.

Kaldur stood in the centre of the mats, observing Richard as he took in the room.

"does it meet the league of assassins standard?"

Richard smirked ever so slightly, "not enough sharp things," he gestured to the weapons rack, "and not up on the walls? Sacrilege."

"walls are for art."

"should a sword not be a piece of art?" he asked, hands slipping into the pockets of his sweatpants.

"I prefer other weapons over plain steel."

"right, yeah," he grinned, waving his fingers in the air, "magic."

"do you not believe in magic?"

"I'm a science person myself," he said, walking closer to the wall containing the masks and spears, "computers, too. No computer is safe from me," he said with a wry grin.

Something in Kaldur's heart leapt as he took in his face, that smile and those eyes and that humour and...

He knew him.

"should I be worried?"

Richard shrugged, "you got anything worth hiding?"

Kaldur stood next to him, training his eyes on the masks on the wall, "not from you."

"debatable."

"what's that supposed to mean?"

Richard shrugged, "my father used to say, 'a man with a secret is a man with a purpose,' I don't take you for the uninteresting type."

"your father is in the league?" he knew the answer, but he wanted to see Richard's personal reaction.

Richard nodded mutely, something in his face as he glanced away from the masks. Some form of hidden meaning Kaldur couldn't decipher.

"was," he said like he was correcting himself.

"I'm sorry."

Richard shrugged, "happened when I was a kid." he seemed to make some quick decision and added, "besides, that's what happens in this line of work."

"that is true."

They lapsed into silence, and Kaldur took the moment to keep rifling through his memories. Trying to put a name to the eyes, the voice, the humour.

"are we going to spar or not?"

Kaldur blinked, "right, of course."

Sparring with Richard helped with nothing but intensifying his feeling of familiarity. It felt like he'd done this before. Every hit, every block, every move. He was seconds away from being lost in memory because he was sure he'd done this before. The man standing in front of him, blue eyes above raised fists, was someone he knew.

The way he fought. He knew it.

Before Kaldur could realise what he was doing he found himself throwing everything at Richard. The best way to figure out the intricacies of a fighter was to push them to the edge and find out what was left of their style when they were too tired to be dramatic. The things that always existed in their moves. Richard had a set position he always came back to, arms in, feet square, and the way he moved was something Kaldur saw in Batgirl and Robin. A distinct way of fighting found in training with people bigger and stronger. He moved through dodges in such a way that flowed into hits.

He didn't realise when his magic started running through him, static zipping over his knuckles. Richard didn't complain. Every hit he took came back at Kaldur ten-fold.

Richard twisted out of one hit and Kaldur landed a punch on his shoulder, sparks singing as electricity shot through him. Kaldur hadn't even been trying, his mind had slipped into it.

Richard didn't flinch and didn't waver, he kept on fighting. After a few more hits he ducked out of a hit from Kaldur, back handspringing on his right arm, the one weakened by the electricity Kaldur had sent through it. Kaldur took the moment and targeted the weakness, moving in and throwing fast hits before Richard could get his bearings. For a moment it looked like he had a chance at winning as Richard seemed to pause, a shock running through him.

And, oh no, Kaldur was wrong.

It was a moment to another kind of change. He didn't see it happening, just the before and the after.

Richard fought without holding back, a ferocity to his movements that Kaldur hadn't seen till then. Every hit came with a new strength and every move was precise. He was no longer flowing, he had turned into a collection of twitching muscles that saw every opening and got in before it was gone. The movements weren't jerky, more like someone who wasn't caring about grace and confusing the opponent by weaving out of hits. If Kaldur didn't know better he'd say that Richard was fighting without a care of what he was doing or the consequences, he merely wanted to take down the opponent, everything came after.

Kaldur's back hit the mats, the breath ran out of him. his head hit the ground with a smack. Richard's knee dug into his right wrist to hold it down, one hand was around his throat, there was a weight on his chest that was not helping him fight the wind that was knocked out of him.

And he looked up to find Richard, eyes no longer familiar. They were gold, ringed with green. Red along the outsides and skin pale.

He did not know those eyes. He did not know the person above him.

It happened in a second. A moment to another change, just as it was before. His eyes seemed to swirl and turned back to blue, the red rim disappeared. The pale tinge to his skin remained, however, as his eyes turned wide and he shot back to his feet.

"I'm sorry."

Kaldur took deep breaths, a hand to his face.

"I, uh..." Richard cleared his throat as Kaldur forced himself to sit up, "do you need a hand?"

Kaldur let his hand drift away from his eyes and looked up to find Richard offering him a hand up. He hesitated to take it, the crazed fighting before gave him pause. He remembered what Artemis had said about this man- he was dangerous.

But there was something about his voice that made Kaldur believe his apology. He grimaced as he accepted the hand and let Richard help him to his feet.

"it is I who must apologise," Kaldur said, breath still mildly uneven, "I underestimated you- severely."

Richard let a smirk bubble past the worried expression, clearly realising Kaldur wasn't going to explode, "I get that a lot."

And the eyes were annoying him again. Could he not get a break? Was Richard that great an actor that he could switch between the deadly killer and the sarcastic guy in moments? If that was true Kaldur had to admit he was mildly jealous.

"I have to ask," Kaldur said, schooling his features.

"I know."

"what was that?"

Richard seemed to suddenly be carrying a weight, his shoulders drooped and he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"long story, but to put it short..." regardless of his attempts to simplify he seemed to be having trouble with words, "It... is what happens when you mix Lazarus with Electrum."

"the element?"

"crudely. But in actuality it's a bit more complicated."

"uncomplicate it."

Richard snorted, "heard of the court of owls?"

"No."

He seemed to be visibly relieved, his face lightened, "another of those assassin cults. They're killers were made practically immortal with... a really... bad process."

"that doesn't mix well with Lazarus."

"yeah."

"then why did you mix it?"

He laughed, but in a forced way that suggested he was hoping it would balance out the true emotion. His face dropped once he realised he hadn't the energy to keep the façade going.

"I was ridiculously close to dying, so they tossed me in the pits."

Kaldur froze.

"tossed?" he struggled out.

"well," Richard's hand drifted to his neck, fingers brushing a pale scar Kaldur only just noticed, he dropped his head and let his hand rub against the hairline above his shirt's collar, "tossed is a bit crude, my sister lowered me in."

Kaldur didn't exactly know how to respond to that.

"pretty bleak, I know, but there are worse aftereffects," he said and leaned in conspiratorially, "there was this one dude, like three decades ago, who had half his face burned off, and whenever his muscles got tired it'd spasm and he'd be unable to control half his face."

Kaldur smiled awkwardly and tried to ease himself, this was normal for Richard and the rest of the league of assassins.

"anyway." Richard shrugged, "wanna go again?"

Kaldur had a better idea, "you said no computer's safe from you?"

"yep."

"then come give me a hand with something," Kaldur gestured out of the room.

"did you break your laptop?" Richard asked drily, "have you tried turning it off and back on again?"

Kaldur had to clench his teeth to stop himself from laughing, "no. We need to hack in to NASA to find out when they're launching their rocket. That's our next mission."

Richard rose an eyebrow, "NASA? I like the sound of that."

"and you're still sure he's a traitor?"

"definitely," Dick said, one hand on his chin as he looked at the screen. Slade and Alex were both there, standing worriedly just as thoughtful, "he's different to when we were younger, but there's no way he's really turned traitor."

"he did find out his father was Black Manta, and a friend of his died," Alex suggested, "how impossible is it, really? What do you actually have to go on?"

"I know Aqualad," Dick said, "it would take more than a dead friend and a Vader-Luke moment to get him to abandon everything. He was loyal to his king, he lead the team."

There was a noise off-screen and Slade sighed, "Demon brat's got out again."

"don't look at me, it's your turn to get him to go to bed."

"since when?"

Dick snickered, "I see babysitting duty is still an issue over there."

Alex rolled her eyes, "he's only five and yet he's as slippery as a snake trained in stealth."

"and he has a tendency to pull hair," Slade grumbled.

The noise occurred again and Alex gave Slade a raised eyebrow that forced him to sigh and walk away.

"it can't be that hard."

"of course you would say that," Alex said, "you're like, the only one that kid likes."

"aw, I always knew I'd be a good mum."

"yeah, well just make it look like Aqua-dude doesn't need a personal body-guard so you can come home to your child."

Dick shook his head with a grin, letting the conversation lull.

Alex sighed and rubbed at her eyes, she seemed pale.

"are you okay?" Dick frowned.

"right as rain, why?"

"Don't make me answer that."

Alex sighed, "you need to stop doing things just cause you're worried about me."

"that would cross a lot of things off my schedule, I don't like big changes."

"hilarious."

And yet the truth in the statement wasn't all that funny to him.

"what did you do last night?"

"not drugs," she said, "do I get a medal or a gold star?"

"funny."

"look, you can't judge-"

"I'm not judging."

"-you don't even sleep, okay, at least when I'm high I come down and go to bed, but no, you just walk around and find things to do."

"not sleeping is not the same as doing drugs."

"what, are you a doctor now? Didn't think so."

Dick rolled his eyes then rubbed at them, "look, I got three hours last night, consecutive."

"wow, you deserve a gold star."

"and I ate all my vegetables like a good boy, are you happy?"

Alex sighed, "did you do your homework?"

Dick groaned, "Alex just please try not to do anything stupid, I'll be home soon, surely. The only reason I'm here is cause the Light's got trust issues, after this mission they should be trusting enough to at least let me leave."

"hooray, you can come hover over me again."

"you bet I fucking will."

"If you took all the energy from your constant worry over me and everyone else in your life, you might actually have some time to sort out your own life's problems," Alex said, "ever thought of that?"

"hadn't crossed my mind, anyways, gotta go."

"wait-"

"oh no, you're breaking up," Dick said dead-pan, while making crackling noises, "we must be going through a tunnel."

"you're in a submarine-"

He flicked the button and the call disconnected, the screen turning black.

"so what you're telling me is you think we can... 'work'... with Renegade."

"yes," Kaldur said, head resting on his hands as he leaned towards the screen. The cold metal of the desk hurt his elbows but he was too comfortable in this position to move.

"Renegade is the super deadly killer assassin right?" Wally checked in, his ginger mop of hair a bright fire taking up his screen. He was sitting on an angle so Kaldur could only just see the corners of the angry scar that ran in jagged arcs down his side and neck, but he felt the ghost of them teasing him on the screen, 'remember when your friend almost died?'

"yes, but he's just as human as you," Kaldur pointed out, "he's only with the Light because Ra's Al Ghul is, and they are in the process of emancipation."

"really?" Artemis perked up. The backdrop of the warehouse was in the corners of the square screen she took up, Kaldur wondered which one she had extensively researched and scoped out just for this small conversation.

"that's what I've heard."

"then there is a chance he could be swayed to help us, if necessary- only if necessary," Batgirl said, peeking in from one side.

"when would it be necessary?" Wally asked.

"if we needed a getaway or information or just assistance in general, it couldn't hurt," Artemis said, "we'll all think about it. Kaldur, continue to scope him out. We'll continue talking next meeting."

"yes," Wally said, "when you'll be dead."

Everyone grimaced.

"yep," Artemis said, "when I'll be dead."

"are you sure you can go ahead with it?" Kaldur asked, "there's still time to back out."

"no," she said, voice even, "you need something to make you look good, and this way I'll be there to help."

"I still don't like this," Wally said.

"none of us do," Batgirl sighed.

"how will the team cope with a new leader so soon after it was changed?"

"it should ease over fine, Batgirl's ready to help the chaos." Artemis was running a nail along her lips as she stared into the distance thinking, "I think they'll want Conner or M'Gann to step up, as they're senior members. most likely it'll be a joint effort seeing as neither are particularly fond of leadership. Batgirl's ready to step up if need be, she's pretty much as senior as it gets without being one of us OG six."

"then we're all set," Kaldur said, "we commence as planned?"

"we commence as planned."

Kaldur nodded, "then I will see you all next time we meet."