Stranger of the Dark {Jason Todd/Titans}

010

Titans Season 3 Episode 10 Spoilers
••• = pov switch :)

The sun rose after Crane's fiasco at the place Jason and Arwen were supposed to meet Dick and Crane forced them to follow him, of course.

"What the fuck is this?" Jason scoffed, looking around the warehouse looking building they entered. "This is where the victors go to rest their weary heads." Jonathan replied. "I don't think anyone won." Arwen chimed in trying to hold back the anger that had been flowing through her since she found out Crane was behind the explosion, making Jason look bad.

"They were gonna take me back but you fucked it all up." Jason added. "So you had a moment. I've had plenty of them myself. Let bygones be bygones. I forgive you." Jonathan shrugged, pulling away a tarp as he walked passed a car. "Sprezzatura." He sighed, admiring the yellow vehicle.

Jason shook his head and leaned against it, glancing at Arwen then back at Crane who closed the warehouse door. "Show some respect. Sit." He sighed pointing to a chair, Jason reluctantly sitting and Arwen leaning against the wall behind him with crossed arms.

"You know who Edward Bernays is?" Jonathan asked, sitting beside Jason. "The sauce guy?" Arwen wondered out loud, Jonathan glaring at her, "Eggs and bacon. Classic American breakfast. Do you know why?" He asked, tilting his head as he leaned back in his chair facing Jason.

"What does this have to do with-"

"Pork farmers paid Edward Bernays to make it so. See, but Edward Bernays, he had this...this uncle, right? Dear old uncle Sigmund. As in Sigmund Freud." Jonathan rambled, Jason sighing and Arwen shaking her head.

"See, and Freud taught Edward Bernays how the human mind worked. And Edward, he worked the human mind. He didn't sell the proletariat bacon. He sold them the idea that a hearty breakfast was what every doctor thought was best for them. After that, the bacon sold itself. Edward Bernays understood that an idea is is the most powerful weapon we have." He concluded, turning to the computer screen on the table and clicking away.

Arwen watched as the screen lit up with an editing software. "It's not the product, it's how you sell it. And Gotham is in need of a new product. We now interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you a message for the good people of Gotham." He smirked, clicking one last time and leaning back while Arwen and Jason leaned forward.

"Gotham City used to have a protector, a guardian angel. But Batman abandoned Gotham and left Nightwing and his friends in his place. And what has Nightwing done? He's robbing you. Poisoning the very water you drink, the water you give to your children. Nightwing is a criminal protected by Gotham City Police. Only you can stop him. There will be a $50,000 reward paid to the person who brings him in. Dead or alive. But take heart, Gotham. A new hero will rise, and you will know his name. Red Hood."

The broadcast ended, a smirk plastered across Jonathan's face and an almost shocked look on Jason's. Arwen could already tell what Jason was thinking. She knew what Crane was trying to do and it was working.

•••

"What's that?" Lily asked, peering over Gar's shoulder. "I'm not sure. I just found it." He shrugged, flipping the pages full of drawings and symbols. "'One river, many wells. Discovered by Ra's al Ghul.' Nepal. Syria. Others?" Gar mumbled, reading to himself. "Hufrat Alwilada? What's that mean?" Lily asked pointing the the annotation on one of the pages. "Place of rebirth. 'The Lazarus Pit'." Gar answers reading the next notation.