Off the Deep End

Complications

Dick stared at his reflection in the mirror.

He needed a haircut.

He let out a breath, turned off the tap and leant against the sink.

He activated his electrum. He saw his yellow and green eyes in the mirror. He used to hate them, for a long time. he didn't like looking at mirrors while it was activated because he knew he looked like a monster. But now...

He stared at it, waiting for the repulsion. Waiting for a hallucination of Cobb staring back at him.

He didn't get it. there was a deep blankness, nothing. He stared at his eyes, they were just his eyes. Not Cobb's or any of the other Talon's. not the crazed aftereffects of a maniac coming out of the pits. Just his eyes. his.

And when they appeared he could feel the electrum thrumming, feel it giving him more energy than he knew what to do with. His senses heightened, he could hear every creak in the ship, smell the bare traces of dust, see every spec.

He breathed out and let it go. He missed it immediately, in the way a runner misses the track, the way a wrestler misses the hit, a junkie misses the adrenaline, a vigilante misses the... purpose.

The yellow and green faded to blue. He had feelings towards that colour.

They were his mother's eyes. They were what he got from her that wasn't an assassin cult's legacy. They were what everyone always used to compliment him on.

Dick Grayson, Robin, the boy wonder had blue eyes. Renegade had yellow, even though he didn't always let it show. The green tinge was from Renegade, his connections and his mistakes.

He was both of those people. He was neither of those people.

No.

He was those people.

They were pitstops of his life. He had been Dick Grayson, circus boy. He had been Dick Grayson, Boy Wonder. He had been Dick Grayson, wondering teen. He had been Dick Grayson, Renegade.

He hadn't even chosen that name. Thalia came up with it when they realised he'd need an alias. He was the betrayer. The rebel.

Was.

Now?

Now he just had to get to the next day, then the next, hopefully saving his friends and family along the way. Saving himself along the way.

His comm went off and Artemis' voice crackled in his ear.

"Renegade, I'm going on break, get to Kaldur's room."

Dick sighed, stood straight. He brushed the hair from his face and left the bathroom.

"on my way, Tigress," he said.

The day had started. He just had to keep it going.

M'Gann was basically doing all the heavy lifting, Kaldur was more pointing out where one piece of column went, and then the next. Especially seeing as everything was almost done, Kaldur was back to his old self pretty much.

Dick stared at the pantheon around him. an open area, marble flooring and engraved and a painted ceiling, the columns were etched to hold ancient runes filled with magic. The view was getting better by the second, coral reefs beginning to flourish, schools of fish winding their way through the buildings.

There wasn't much for him to do when he was on watch, but standing around in Kaldur's mind was slightly less boring than standing around in the room.