High School Sweethearts : BO1 : Dick Grayson

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧

"Hello M'gann! We should hit the beach everyday!" M'gann exclaimed, stretching her arms out. Renner was appalled by the reaction, as he had only one bathing suit, and it was a pair of trunks that were black and white, striped. He wore a thick black wool sweater over it that had been stretched out so that it had holes in it.

It was easy to take off and put on, and it covered enough that nobody could see enough underneath to determine any scars on his arms or chest, where he had been slashed at once or twice.

"First a moment of silence for our absent comrade" Robin said sadly, Renner holding back a small smile. Soon, most of the group was in the water though, all besides Renner who thought it best to sit out swimming for the day so he wouldn't have to take off his shirt. "Why don't you join us, Cutie?" Robin asked, almost whispering the last comment.

"Not for me, I'm all for the shirtless men thing, but not when it comes to me taking off my shirt" Renner explained, causing Robin to frown, "If it's any help, I'm sure no one around here cares about scars" Robin held a serious tone, trying to encourage Renner to the best of his abilities.

"That does help a little, but I don't know... I've never really showed anyone my scars before, well, besides you. It would be a.. turning point, I guess" Renner rambled. "Well, today's is our free time and for us to relax or whatever, not for endless worries. Trust me, I get it.. but it's so much better when you just break through" Robin explained, making Renner turn to face him, "Okay. Fine, but only for you."

Renner stood up, Robin following, and pulled his shirt off from over his head, dropping it on the towel he had set up.

Renner had a long, thin scar over his chest along with a nasty claw wound that never healed right on his lower torso. Not to mention the shorter scars placed on his arms, similar to the one on his chest. Renner tried not to pay attention to the widened eyes of his friends and pulled Robin along when he join them in the water.

Eventually they started to eat some lunch and moved on to volleyball since they had already dried off, Renner destroyed the offending team at the game. While they ate, Renner had went off to the side so he could quickly change into a dry mask that resembled an owl and was made out of laminated wood.

"What aren't you good at?" Robin whined, as he watched Renner spike the ball so hard into the ground a tuff of sand came up with it as it bounced.

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After their beach day, Renner quickly made a run for his room to change, since he had realized in the cold air inside of the mountain was not forgiving. He changed into a simple outfit similar to the one he wore to Gotham to see Justine, since he would have to get more comfortable wearing darker colours to blend in when visiting the equally dark city.

When he left his room again, he found everyone had changed into their suits and heading for the main room, where Batman, Red Tornado, and two Green Arrows stood. Renner made it in first and waved slightly "Parent Two, Parent Three, people I don't know" Renner stopped in front of them, the others trailing behind after a minute.

Renner was obviously referring to Batman, Red Tornado, then Green Arrow and his new sidekick, the last two he did not know at all. Green Arrow stifled a laugh at the remark while Batman nodded slightly before doing a double take, "Why am I Parent Two?" He asked quietly. "'Cause I have another unofficially adoptive parent" Renner spoke casually, sufficiently confusing everyone.

"This is my niece, Artemis, she's going to be joining the team" Green Arrow explained. Artemis glanced towards Renner with a half way to horrified expression, making him second guess not changing his mask. "That mask is seriously creepy" Artemis commented, making Renner frown, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious.

He tugged on the slightly-too-short sleeves of his black trench coat awkwardly, though his anxiousness disappeared when he felt fingers entwined with his own. Wally decided to make an entrance, a robotic voice declaring that it was 'Kid Flash, B03', and Renner briefly recalled his number was A0.. something.

"The Wall-Man is here! Now let's get this party started" He exclaimed, running forward before tripping and dropping all of his beach equipment. Renner easily hid his amused smile and remained looking serious as his owl mask had pitch black glassy eyes that he could see through without anyone else seeing him.

"Wall-Man, huh?" Artemis asked, clearly laughing at him internally. She made a comment about Wally's 'uniform', and with newfound respect in the boy after their short conversation about him being gay and how easily he had accepted it, he felt sorry for him now as the team and some of the league stared down at him.

"Uh, who's this?" He asked, clearly a little ticked off because of the remark. "Artemis, your new teammate" She spoke, to which Wally responded with his own hero name and a quip about not knowing her at all.

Green Arrow was quick to defend, "She's my new protégé" He explained. "What happened to your old one?" He asked, just as said former-apprentice decided to show up, the robotic voice declaring him as 'Speedy, B07'. "For starters, he doesn't go by Speedy anymore" Renner recognized him as the man that had lashed out at the Hall.

"Call me Red Arrow" Renner rolled his eyes, do all of Green Arrow's apprentices have to be so annoying? The group fought over him being 'replaced', a rather pointless argument that Renner hardly paid any attention to, besides when Kaldur ended it with a question "You came here for a reason?"

"Yeah, a reason named Dr. Sterling Roquette" He revealed, and Renner noticed Robin's instant recognition "Nanorobotics genius and Claytronics expert at Royal University at Star City! Vanished two weeks ago" Robin explained, bringing up holograms full of information on the Doctor. "Abducted two weeks ago, by the League of Shadows" Red Arrow corrected.

"Whoa, you want us to rescue her from the shadows?" Robin asked, obviously hoping for such a mission, while Renner was not. "I already rescued her" Renner immediately took back what he said about him being annoying, the masculinity radiating off him and his general look made Renner glad he was wearing a mask.

"Only one problem, the Shadows had already coerced her into creating a weapon. Doc calls it the fog, comprised of millions of microscopic robots, nanotech infiltrators capable of disintegrating anything in their path, concrete, steel, flesh and bone" He explained further, continuing to talk about it also stealing important data from various companies.

"Roquette's working on a virus to render the fog inert" Red Arrow finished, half-revealing the object of their mission. "If the Shadows know she can do that.." Renner spoke hesitantly, his voice hardly loud enough, "They'll target her" Red Arrow finished for him.

Renner, personally, had no experience with the League of Shadows but had heard stories. They left him decently intimidated, understanding that it was best to just not bother them as much as possible.

"Right now, she's off the grid, I stashed her at a local high school's computer lab" He informed, showing a hologram layout of the school. "You left her alone?" Green Arrow asked incredulously, which Red Arrow brushed off easily "She's safe enough for now". "Then let's you and I keep it that way" Green Arrow failed miserably at bringing the two together once more.

"You and I? Don't you want to take your new protégé?" He asked, obviously still hung up about it. Just as Green Arrow was going to retaliate, Batman decided the fight had gone on long enough and didn't need to be restarted. "You brought this to the team, it's their mission, which means it's hers now too" Red Arrow scoffed and left.