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“Y’know you hire mercenaries to kill someone right? Not to just sit around and listen to you complain?”
The Knight glared at his partner and wondered why in the hell Wilson took the annoying bastard as his apprentice.
The man seemed to take his silence as a way to continue talking, “I mean really I hate the bat as much as you do and I’m not killing my men because I’m pissed off.”
As the mercenary expected, his employer punched the wall in front of him in anger. “You don’t get a say in how I do my job, Renegade. Last I checked, you work for me.” The Knight hissed.
“I’m here to do only one thing tonight. I want Batman dead and it sure as hell won’t be done by your hand. Kidnapping Oracle wasn’t part of the damn plan.”
Suddenly the other man was in his face, trying and failing to scare the older man. “You don’t get a say in what I do and what I don’t,” he scoffed, I’ll kill you by the end of the night Renegade, don’t fucking test me.” The threat fell on deaf ears as the mercenary applied pressure to the younger man’s wrist, leaving it in a hold that would cause a broken wrist if he moved.
“Let go.” To Jason’s surprise he doesn’t let go, he only gains a playful look in his usually cold blue eye. It vaguely reminds Jason of his older brother, the man who would always crack jokes and never shut up on patrol. He pushed those thoughts into the back of his mind, the man in front of him couldn’t be his brother. Grayson was murdered by the Joker around the same time he accepted that Bruce didn’t give a shit about him. He wasn’t even safe in his own mind--he wasn’t himself; he was Joker's and a permanent reminder sat under his left eye.
The office door suddenly swung open breaking the man’s train of thought. “Boss?” Renegade drops the hold he had on his wrist. The man at the door stopped and quickly dropped his gaze as he got a good look at the two powerful men. The slight flicker of the blue-gray electronic helmet, and the presence of the young mercenary makes the man pause in the doorway.
“What.” The Arkham Knight watches as the man opens his mouth to speak, then closes it before opening his mouth again. Seeing that hesitation the Knight smirked. He felt powerful and he loved it. He had a whole army, the world’s greatest mercenary and his apprentice all under his thumb. With all parties agreeing on getting the same thing done tonight. Killing Batman.
“Sir, Batman destroyed another checkpoint.”
Before he could lose his temper the second in command spoke up. “Let me go. I know the bat better than anyone, I’ll get the job done.” Renegade felt the familiar giddy feeling wash over him. He was finally going to get revenge for everything Batman did to him and he’d enjoy every second of it.
———————————
Finding the bat was simple. Grayson knew almost everything about how Gotham’s protector worked, Barbara’s death would likely hit him hard, which left him vulnerable.
Landing quietly on the rooftop he heard the faint click of the holographic comms unit, as the man noticed his presence. Batman turned when he saw the mercenary step into the rainy, moonlit rooftop. The man looked taller and had more muscle than the last time the former Dynamic Duo met.
“Not one hint of Recognition I’m hurt.” Renegade snarked as his right hand twitched towards the right hip holster. “Who are you?” Was the man’s reply as he followed the mercenary’s gaze to a nearby building where in the moonlight you could make out the muted colors of Robin. Renegade scoffed before he made a move towards the city’s protector. The gun was lifted without any hesitation as it was aimed on Batman. “I see you still have my replacement at your side. I’m surprised he doesn’t hate you,” he paused as the two men started to circle each other. “Oh wait, you saved Jason and left me with HIM for almost two years!”
Bruce felt conflicted no one talked about Jason–no one knew how Jason died other than Alfred and Tim. His eldest son seemingly went back to Blüdhaven and he hasn’t been seen for years. As much as Bruce wanted to think he was alive, the logical part of his brain knew he was gone. But the man in front of him talked like him. Dick couldn’t be alive, couldn’t he?
The man was annoyed with the lack of recognition as he rushed towards the black clad vigilante.
Batman barely blocked the man’s sword at the mercenary’s next words.
“Don’t you remember me? The first goddamn child soldier you brought into your crusade? The first Robin?”
Batman barely avoided another sword swipe as he rolled backward and whispered, “Dick?”