A Twist of Fate

Chapter 19

The first night was alright for Dick. He didn't have any nightmares or getting awoken in the middle of the night. The next morning Jack had introduced them to the rest of the troop. Everyone was mostly welcoming. There were a few weary eyes. The older one were all grinning and asking them questions. The knife thrower even walked up to Wally and asked if he wanted to learn more about throwing knives.

They had all branched out. Doing whatever they were asked. They looked into anything and everything. Asking questions. Dick stuck around Haley and the ringmaster didn't seem to mind. They didn't perform any of the times at this stop, only gathering information. What the thieves had stolen and trying to see what they would steal next.

Dick let the heroes do that. He got to know the circus again. Zeka wasn't on foreign tours but they had a few tigers, lions, and more than enough horses. Dick did take the team into the tent for practice. He gave pointers for what kind of arrows Artemis and Roy should use.

When he went over to Wally he saw that the boy was hitting the target nearly every time with the knives. Wally was grinning broadly each time there was a thunk. Dick picked up a knife and threw it at another knife. Wally jumped.

"Nice." Verden, the knife thrower, commented.

The knife Dick had thrown had embedded it's tip into the hilt of the other knife. Dick walked up to Wally with a gin, "Looks like you've found a thing you're good at, other than running." He whispered in his ear.

Wally nodded, "Thanks for saying that I knew how to throw knives. I know how to throw a boomerang. Cold taught me. This is kind of similar. I never even thought of that talent until you told them knife throwing."

"I kind of guessed. Find out anything?"

Wally shook his head, "Nothing. It's as if there is only one person or all of them."

Dick thought. He knew it wasn't all of them. So that meant there was only one. At the end of the day they all met up in their train car. Roy brought up on his computer the theft that day. It was during the circus that meant it couldn't have been anyone that performed.

"There was that acrobat that wasn't there for his performance." Artemis commented, "He could have done it."

"But he performed on the other thefts." Magan commented.

"And so did his siblings." Artemis added.

Wally chirped in, "I got more than one warning today that a sickness was going around ever since they got to Europe and to steer clear."

Dick listened not daring to butt in. It wasn't his mission. He was just here because Batman had physically dragged him from his room and told him he was going. On the other hand this was the Circus that raised him when he was a kid. The Circus that his parents loved. The Circus where he had lost everything in one fatal night. A night that is forever etched into his heart, mind, and soul. A night that he could only fully remember in dreams, that woke him up screaming out their names, hearing the sickening crack of bone and flesh hitting the ground.

"Renegade?" Wally called, waving a hand in front of Dick's face.

Dick blinked, the room coming into focus again. Everyone was looking at him. Staring would be the key word.

"Dude, you good?" Wally asked.

Dick locked his jaw wanting to say he was fine but knowing the word would never leave his lips. He couldn't lie out right to those innocent green eyes. Dick looked away, grinding his teeth.

"Dude?"

Dick abruptly got up, "I'm getting some air."

He didn't wait for any of them to tell him otherwise striding out of the room before going out of the train entirely. The air was brisk enough that it frosted against his chapped lips. The air chilled his thoughts. Dick knew that he would help his home in any way he could. He just couldn't tell them. At least not yet.

A hand dropped on his shoulder. Dick felt an instant of fear before training kicked in and he grabbed the hand and pulled. The person lurched forward as Dick ducked behind using the hand and wrapping it around to the person's back. The entire arm was at an odd angle and with only a little more pressure and twisting he could give his would be attacker a spiral fracture.

"Ouch dude, it's just me."

Dick froze knowing the voice. With a double check on who it was Dick released Wally. The speedster took his arm back rubbing it.

Dick winced slightly, "Sorry."

"No problem." Wally waved it away but he was still rubbing that arm, "I spooked you. It's no big deal. Sorry for startling you." Wally leaned against the train car, next to Dick looking up into the cloud filled sky, "Anything you want to talk about?"

'Yes. No. I don't know.' Dick thought but kept his mouth shut.

Wally didn't seem to mind the silence. He just watched the sky. Dick looked up to. It wasn't nearly dark yet but the storm clouds were coming in fast, blocking off any light they might have had.

"Sometimes I wonder if what we do really changes anything." Wally announced, "Because every time a hero puts a villain away they just come back. Again and again. What good are we doing if they never stay in jail?"

Dick smiled softly, "You give hope. Batman isn't a symbol of fear but a symbol of hope for Gotham. So is the League. They represent hope and unity, instead of war and death. But you can't have light without dark or else how are you to tell them apart?"

"Never thought of it that way. I always saw the Bat as one scary guy. He still is but I can see how he is the symbol of hope for Gotham." Wally admitted.

Dick didn't say anything back.

"Why do you hate Batman?"

"I don't hate Batman!" Dick snarled before realizing his mistake.

Wally nodded, not caring that Renegade had slipped up and revealed that he didn't hate Batman, "So why do you always make his life difficult then say, us?"

Dick sealed his lips, locking his jaw once again.

Wally poked him.

"Stop that." Dick growled.

Wally poked him again.

Dick batted the hand away but he did it again, and again, and again.

"Fine! I don't hate Batman. I hate that he's human!"

Wally frowned, "Aren't you human?"

Dick sighed, "Just let me explain. Me and my Family were in Gotham one day, the day my life went to shit, and were killed. Batman was there but not in costume or whatever. He saw the same thing I did and could do nothing. Didn't care. Didn't help. Even after."

"Your family was killed in Gotham and Batman saw it but couldn't do anything?" Wally asked, disbelief dripping from his voice.

Dick nodded once and turned his head away, not wanting to look at those bright green eyes and see the pity that everyone else gives him.

"Sheesh that's one shitty day." Wally said back.

Dick cracked a smile, "Shitty day indeed."