The runaway

Chapter three

Hours later, I snuck into the shadows, and sat on a beam near the lower ceiling, right over where my team sat.

"So what do you guys think about this nightwing guy?" Wally asked.

"I don't trust him, he's all mysterious and refuses to tell us anything about his past" Artemis states.

"That's fair, but he also doesn't know us very well, and probably wants to trust us more before he tells us anything personal" Wally said

"My friends it is not wise to speak ill of another teammate, he will be on our team, and we must treat him as such" kaldur tried to mediate.

"But it's strange, I couldn't get into his head, I know you guys always tell me not to do it to the good guys, but I was curious, and I couldn't even get in, it was like hitting a wall" Megan interjected.

Ah so that's what that strange feeling in my head was earlier. Slade had ingrained in me the resistance required to defend against a telepath. It was strong enough to block raven who is very experienced in her power so I'm not very worried about them finding anything.

"Why couldn't you read his mind?" Connor asked sounding worried.

"I don't know he was blocking me or something"

I flipped down in the room "or ya know, you could ask him yourself, because I know for a fact that you really don't want to see what's rattling up around my head, you'd be more disturbed than most heroes can handle" I walked off, slightly angry that they were talking about me behind my back, I would go back to Gotham, but I'm afraid that if I'm out in the open, Slade is going to see me, and I fear Slade more than some heroes who don't know what they're talking about.

I walked to the gym, ready to punch a punching bag into next week.

I stood in front of the bag, and just started going at it, tuning everything out, and suddenly I was back, back in a dark horrible place that Slade called home.

The gym was the only thing that allowed me some escape from him because he controlled literally everything else.

Punching became my venting tool.

I bounced back to reality, realizing that my knuckles had started bleeding through my gloves, and the punching bag was demolished.

It wasn't like I had superstrength or anything, I just knew how to put power into my punches, something I learned when i started working with Batman, but it was explored more when Slade took over.

I took a deep breath, calming my nerves.

Slade isn't going to find you, stop thinking about him.

"E-excuse me" a timid voice ripped through the thick silence, I turned around to see miss Martian, not only did she look sheepish but she looked a little afraid.

"Yes?" I asked, I tried to make my voice more gentle but it had been a long time, either I wasn't allowed to speak or I had to basically yell.

"I fixed dinner, if you want to join, you don't have to if you don't want to, I just wanted to offer it to you"

I rubbed the scar on my arm "yeah, sure" I followed her as she lead me to the kitchen, everyone was seated at the six person table, it was round and there was only one spot left, in between Wally and kaldur.

Dinner was awkward and after we went and sat on the couches, I lay down on the floor, while everyone got comfortable, I closed my eyes and deepened my breath after the movie started, signifying that I was asleep, well to other people I looked asleep, and my mask eyes closed with my real ones so, the white was gone.

I heard the team start talking and I realized Megan was the one doing it

"It was really scary, and he seemed really angry at something. He demolished the punching bag, and his knuckles were all bloody." Her voice shook with how afraid she was, I guess I never really realized how people view me when I tune the world out, it just helps me focus.

"Sounds to me like connor's old anger issues" Artemis started.

"Or something happened to make him this way, maybe we can ask the bat?" Wally asked.

Inside my head I laughed. First he was trying to get something about someone Batman cares about from him, which never happens, and second bats doesn't know what happened, so he wouldn't be able to tell Wally even if he could.

I stirred in my sleep, and "woke up". Looking around at everyone I started to get up before Wally practically screamed out. "We should play truth or dare, ya know? So we can get to know each other."

I stopped in my pursuit of the zeta beams, I remember playing truth or dare, but I haven't played it since, I shook my head to get the thoughts out.

I shrugged in answer, and sat down on one of the couches, Wally sped away and retrieved a bottle, he laid it on the table, and spun it around. I got the open end, and the opposite end was pointed towards Artemis.

"Nightwing truth or dare?" She asked.

"You can't ask me anything that relates to my identity" I said, they all nodded. "Alright, truth then" I stated.

"Why were your fists all bloody when Megan found you?" She asked.

I considered my options, I could either tell them about him, or I could lie and say it connects to my identity.

I took a deep breath. If I told them what happened, Batman would probably watch the tapes and hear what happened, and they could help me avoid him, and it'd be easier to escape him if I had backup.

"When I was thirteen, I ran away from Batman, we had a fight, a big one, he was being overprotective because I had gotten shot too close to my heart for comfort, so he wanted to take away my opposite identity, I got really angry, so I hopped on my motorcycle and sped out of there, I soon found myself in a city with four other teens and we banded together, called ourselves the teen titans. When one day we started interacting with a villain named Slade, now I thought he was just doing typical villain crap, but he actually had a plan. One day our alerts went off, signaling that someone had contacted us, we all gathered and there he was sitting on the screen was Slade, I tried to figure out who he was, but even bats didn't have an info on him.

He told us that he'd planted a bomb, one that could destroy time itself, and we believed him, because well he's that smart and crazy, it turned out to be an elaborate plan to separate me from my team members, he wanted an apprentice and thought me the perfect candidate, he poisoned my friends with nanobots, it was to keep me in line, because if I didn't follow an order, he'd kill them.

Slade was a mercenary, and would kill them if I didn't follow him, i followed him for four years, my friends stopped searching for me within the first one, and I am terrified that Slade is going to come and find me, the consequences for me running, well I'd rather not discuss, but I really need your guys' help so he doesn't find me again."

The room was silent, everyone thinking on what I had just said.

"We will help protect you my friend, do not worry, Slade will not find you"

I nodded hopeful for once.

Then there was an explosion that rocked the mountain.