Son of Deathstroke

Meeting the Team

Renegade watched over the shipment of weapons being unloaded at the Gotham docks. They weren't expecting trouble, but one could never be sure. Over the past week, he had earned Penguin's respect four times over, and with Batman mostly occupied by The Distraction, he practically had free reign.

All the guns were off the ship and were almost completely loaded onto trucks when the first green arrow embedded itself in a crate and exploded. Renegade grinned from his perch on the crane overlooking the shipment as the rest of the team of young heroes revealed themselves. Finally, a bit of action.

As they slowly worked their way through the goons moving the guns, he decided it was time to intervene.

He quickly made his way down the arm of the crane. Just before they got to the trucks, he threw knockout darts into Artemis and the water guy-- Aqualad, he remembered from the files. Before their teammates even noticed, he had already gassed the Martian and Kryptonian, leaving only--

"HEY!" Kid Flash yelled as he skidded to a stop. "Who the heck do you think you--" He found himself yelling at empty air. No one was there. "What the--"

Renegade whacked him over the head with the butt of one of the guns he was supposed to be guarding. "Sorry about the concussion," he apologized as the speedster crumpled to the ground. "Your metabolism would've worked gas or injections out of your system in a heartbeat. And I figured you might want to be spared the indignity of being awake for this." He gestured to two of the men to come forward. "Put 'em in a net. Oh, put it over the water, that'll be funny. Then hurry up and finish the shipment. I wanna see what they do when they wake up."

xXx

Kid Flash yelped as he felt something sharp poke him, waking him from oblivion. Artemis glared at him as she paused in sawing through the ropes holding them above--

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? We'll all fall in the water!" he yelled.

"I'm getting us out. Everyone else seems ready to get out of here. And if you don't want to swim, just grab onto the net." She finished just as the net fell out from under them. She held onto it as Miss Martian hovered and the three boys fell into the water. Aqualad was fine; if anything, he was (heh) in his element. Superboy landed close to the docks and quickly pulled himself out. But Wally was left floundering awkwardly to shore. By the time he hauled himself heavily onto the hard concrete, he was shivering hard.

"Man, why'd you have to do that?" Wally whined as he vibrated to warm himself up. "At least a little more warning!"

Renegade chuckled as he watched them bicker from his perch on the rooftops. Artemis and Kid Flash sounded like an old married couple. He totally shipped them. Arteflash? Kid Fartemis? He would come up with it eventually.

"Who was that?" Wally finally asked after a bit more arguing. "I didn't get a good look at him."

"How do you know it was a him?" Artemis asked.

"Why must you make such a big deal out of this?"

"Enough," Aqualad interjected. "What did you see of our attacker?"

Renegade leaned forward, furrowing his eyebrows slightly. This was what he needed to hear.

"I didn't really see much. I mean, he was small. Not like a midget, but he was pretty short. And he didn't really seem like an adult. Like, he was our age or something. But I don't remember hearing about a teen villain."

"Well, I have," Artemis crossed her arms. "It's mostly just rumors, since he doesn't really do much head-on stuff. I've heard so many names for him I don't even know which one to use."

"What are some of them?" Wally asked.

"Mostly Jack stuff. Jack of Spades, Jack Frost, Jack of All Trades, Jack of All Spades, Jack-in-the-Box. But I've heard a few others. Like, um... the Stroke of Death. Apprentice of Deathstroke. Divider. Uh... I think he's been called Renegade in the past."

"Wow. This guy needs to make up his mind. But what's up with all the Jack names? Think that's his real name?"

The teenaged mercenary grinned. "No, it's because you don't know Jack," he murmured to himself. He ducked as Superboy glanced his way. Got to watch out for that super hearing, he thought.

For a moment, he considered ditching the Plan and improvising here and now. But the Plan was there for a reason, and waiting a day could save them months in the long run.

"Is that all you know?" Miss Martian asked.

"Yeah, just about."

"That's IT?" Wally exclaimed in disbelief. "That's all you know?!"

"What, you think I met the guy?" she asked defensively.

Funny story, he thought to himself. You did. He'd met her when Sportsmaster, her father, and Deathstroke had worked together on a contract. They hadn't spoken much, but they'd exchanged a few words and sized each other up long enough. If they were to meet again, they would recognize each other, as Renegade had upon seeing her photograph in the files.

Chuckling to himself one last time at the speedster's misfortune, he stepped over the peak of the roof and wandered off to find accommodations for the night.

xXx

Just warning you guys: No strong ships in this one. Maybe awkward, vague hints of one, but nothing more. So don't get your hopes up.