Luthor's Assassin

Artemis

The next day, Dick woke up and instinctively shot upright, launching into training mode and beginning his stretches. He was about halfway through them when he woke up enough to realize that he wasn't at Lexcorp, and Slade wasn't about to yell at him for not completing the task fast enough.

Oh, yeah. He was with the sidekick squad.

That didn't make him feel any better, however, and he cautiously moved towards the door, half expecting Batman to appear at any second and glare at him. The Dark Knight didn't, though, and Dick was surprised to find that the door was unlocked.

He opened the door slowly and poked his head out into he empty hall. No one was there, so he stepped out and began to make his way through the mountain.

There were only two entrances he knew of in the cave, the first one being the zeta tube (which he could only use when Batman authorized it and he couldn't hack it since his hologlove had been confiscated), and the bay doors in the hanger that only Red Tornado could open. He wandered aimlessly through the halls for a few minutes, absent-mindedly tugging at his collar as he did so.

He finally came across a gym, and was surprised to see a set of parallel bars in the corner, looking basically unused. He stared at it for a second before all but soaring over to them in excitement.

It only took a minute to chalk up his hands and bandage them, but it seemed like too long, and by the time he was onto the bars he was almost trembling with excitement.

It wasn't a trapeze, but it would do.

Slade never allowed him to use any device that could remind him of his parents. He was never given a reason why, but he had learned fairly quickly not to ask questions where Deathstroke was involved. But the mercenary wasn't here right now.

He flipped and spun to his heart's content, enjoying the brief feelings of weightlessness and freedom. The bars creaked under his hands, and his muscles trembled from the strain (he hadn't done this in so long), but he didn't care.

Dick was so wrapped up in his flight that it took him a while to notice Superboy.

The clone was standing near the door, and Dick nearly fell off the bars in surprise. He managed to right himself and hung from the bar, peering at the clone from his upside down position.

Superboy stared at him.

He stared at Superboy.

"So," Dick said, breaking the awkward silence, "do you need something?"

The kryptonian blinked at him.

"No," he answered gruffly. "I was just wondering if it was normal for humans to get up this early."

Dick sent him a baffled look.

"Why?" he asked, "what time is..." he trailed off as Superboy pointed at the clock above the door that Dick hadn't noticed before- the time was 4:23.

And Dick had been working for about an hour.

"Oh," he said quietly. "Uh- no, it's... not technically what people call... normal... but, erm- it's normal for me."

Superboy nodded, as if that explained everything, and then turned, disappearing down the hall. Dick shook his head, puzzled by the odd behavior, and returned his attention back to the bars.

A few hours later, he had moved from the bars to the weights to the punching bag, which he was busy pounding into dust. The clock read 7:12 when suddenly the faint smell of smoke caught his attention.

Slightly worried, Dick began to follow the trail of smoke to the kitchen, where Miss Martian was peering through a thick black cloud to attempt to see what was in the pain. She perked up when he walked in.