Blood Ties

Chapter 17 -Rollarcoaster Ride (Up)-

"Recognized: Batman 02, Renegade B-01."

Wally got up out of his chair so fast he barely comprehended Artemis's outraged cry as his movements made his popcorn explode everywhere. He came up to the Zeta Tubes in record time, finding an unmasked Dick Grayson calmly walking next to the broody Bat. Wally paid no attention to the Dark Knight as he tackled the younger boy in a hug.

"YOU'RE BACK!" The red-head shouted, squeezing the life out of the boy.

Dick was completely unprepared, his arms went flailing for a moment as the speedster seemed to just APPEAR attached to him. His confusion led him to return the hug for a moment, lightly putting his arms around the taller boy while giving Batman a side glance. "Yeah I-" his face twisted as he started patting the speedster like he was tapping out. "-hey hey! Watch the ribs KF!"

Wally retreated, unable to wipe the big grin on his face as his emerald eyes went to the wounded spot. "Sorry, I didn't open the wound did I?"

Dick took a moment to gently probe his bandaged side, deciding to just put an arm around it to ward off anymore surprise squeezes. Was squeezing people a hero thing? He shook his head to answer Wally's question, "Nah, it's been closed for awhile it's just tender."

"Sorry." Wally apologized again with a broken smile.

The acrobat scoffed, his head ducking a little as he avoided eye contact. "Dude I should be the one saying sorry, I freaking stabbed you."

The speedster waved him off with a shrug, "pshh I'm fine, it's gone now, speed healing and all." When Dick's eyes flicked up anxiously Wally grabbed his shirt and pulled up, pointing where there should have been a scar. "See? Not even a mark!"

Wally has just put his shirt down when the rest of the team filed in, Artemis holding a few arrows she was clearly tampering with and M'gann and Connor walking together, Kaldur trailing not far behind.

"It is good to see you up and walking Robin." Kaldur said with a small, kind smile.

Dick slightly rocked on his heels, eyes roaming the team for any sign of the mirth he came to expect, even with Bla- Damian's reassurance that there would be none. The young mercenary had attacked them in his sleep while he wasn't aware of anything- and was fully capable of doing it again. They had every right to be afraid of him. As many times as Slade even told him, he was never quite convinced he wasn't a monster, and a monster to a hero is just an enemy to defeat.

He mentally shook his head, now was not the time to be in his mind with his 'woe is me' mantra Slade trained him out of, the team didn't seem to share his fears so far- even though they should. Dick could never be too cautious, and yeah he did see some trepidation in a few of them but it was mostly just caution. He could live with caution- actually caution would be better than being too friendly.

Then Dick remembered he had to actually respond. "Oh, thanks," he piped up lamely. He was pretty sure he should have elaborated, like explained what happened or say something to keep the conversation going, but his lips remained closed and his eyes went to Batman- heckin Bruce Wayne- for direction.

"Oh! Ren- I mean Rob!" Wally spouted through the awkward silence, then cut himself off as confusion overrode his features and he fumbled, "Or is it Richard, or... or do you want us to call you Dick?"

The young mercenary gave a little huff of laughter, his face tight as it agitated his wound, "You can just call me Dick." His head angled to the side for a second and he made a low comment to himself that the rest of the team definitely heard but didn't comment on, "I have too many names for my own good."

This time it was Connor's turn to be confused, his solid blue eyes going around the group as he voiced his confusion. "Wait, Dick as in-"

"It's short for Richard." Dick explained quickly as he folded his arms nervously, remembering enough of this problem in the circus.