His eyes fluttered open at last and the first thing he saw was the concerned green eyes of his friend Carrie. Seeing him awake, a relieved expression spread on her features and she looked away, "Laurie, he's up."
Shortly after, Laurie and Carrie both came into view and judging by the relief on their faces, Jason could easily guess that he had been unconscious for a rather long time.
Though he couldn't stop himself from teasing the two even then as he spoke up, "who are you?"
"What?" Both his friends stared back at him in shock.
"Where am I?" He tried to sit up though a wave of pain jolted through his shoulder, "and what the hell happened to my shoulder?"
Carrie noticed that even though he was putting on a convincing act, the corners of his lips were twitching from trying to hold in his laughter, "you insufferable little asshole!"
Laurie seemed to be quite confused as he was shocked already by Jay not recognizing them and a bit scared to see Carrie's reaction to that.
"How the hell could you fake amnesia at this moment?" She had hit him on the head with the pillow as he finally dissolved into laughter, "do you have any idea how worried we had been for you? And you almost gave us a heart attack! How dare you!"
Hearing the commotion, Helena and Richard had come to the room as well. Much to their surprise, they found Jason finally conscious but unable to control his laughter while Carrie was still rather furious at him.
Naturally, they turned to Laurie for an explanation.
"He faked memory loss," Laurie spoke up, "probably thought it would be fun to scare us like that."
"Oh of course," a smile played upon Helena's lips as well, "this pipsqueak can never pass up any opportunity to show off his acting skills."
"Hey, who you calling pipsqueak?"
"See, there's no memory loss," Helena stated, "he got hit in the shoulder not the head so relax, everything's okay."
"I know everything's okay," her eyes still flashed in indignance, "but the fact that he had the audacity to pull such a stunt on us and that too after staying unconscious for a whole twelve hours is unacceptable."
"Don't be like that, Carrie, or I'll start believing you actually care," Jay finally spoke up, but got hit on the head with another pillow though his remark did not get any sharp retort in reply.
Jason knew they all cared and it warmed his heart to see them so concerned for him. But then he was Jason Todd, he just couldn't pass up any opportunity to cause drama.
"Dramatic must have been your middle name," Laurie remarked, "I'm convinced now that you're addicted to drama so much that even after gaining consciousness, the first thing you do is cause a scene."
"You know me too well," he winked.
"So this proves you're feeling much better," Richard spoke up at last as all the chaos had resolved, "how's the wound now?"
"Still hurts but I'll live."
"Of course he'll live," Carrie huffed, "the absolute nuisance that he is."
"Aw Carrie, stop being so angry now," Jay remarked, eyes twinkling in mischief, "it was just a harmless joke."
Richard ruffled Carrie's head gently, "let him be, you know he's incorrigible."
However, as they all settled Jason recalled wisps of what had commenced back at Gotham Theater and he wanted to ask from Richard about the Talons and whether the Mayor and the Joker had been retrieved from them.
But he didn't ask outright because both Carrie and Laurie were unaware that the city's protector, Batman, was none other than Richard himself. Only Jason, Helena and Barbara knew of the entire vigilante situation because they were equally a part of it.
So after both Carrie and Laurie had left for their homes respectively, Jason spoke up, "Dickie, can I talk to you?"
"Sure, kiddo," he replied, turning his attention towards him though it was quite clear that he had been bothered about something as a deep thoughtful look had been on his face whenever Jay had looked at him.
"Those people who stormed into the Theater and took the Mayor and Joker away, they were Talons, right?"
His brow furrowed slightly, "how do you know?"
"I may or may not have heard you and Lena talk about the Court before too."
"Yes, they were Talons," he replied, a weary sigh passing his lips as he sat down on the chair beside him, "I don't know why they were there nor why they took the Mayor and Joker. All I know is that where there are Talons, there's trouble."
"So you didn't go after them when I clearly told you that they had the Mayor and Joker with them?"
His eyes locked with metallic blue irises of the boy in front of him, "Jason, you were hurt. And the GCPD and SWAT teams had cornered us from all sides. We couldn't risk you losing a lot of blood so Helena suggested it would be better for us to escape instead."
"Oh..."
His eyes focused absently on the wall, the thoughtful expression on his features deepening, "and by now Gotham believes that we, I mean the vigilantes, are also involved in this entire attack."
"But Joker and the Mayor?"
"The Mayor was brought to the State hospital," he explained, hand reaching up to massage his throbbing temple, "surprisingly, the Talons took him out to leave him at a medical facility so that he could be treated in time. Whether he survived or not hasn't been revealed yet, probably Bruce Wayne is keeping it a secret to avoid political upheavals. As for the Joker, I have no idea."
Jason pondered on all he had heard from him then spoke up, "what do you think the Court is going to do to the Joker then?"
Richard took a while to think but even then he couldn't be sure of his answer, "I don't know. The Court has its ways of staying unpredictable."
"But you said Miss Vikander..."
At that, Richard had to interrupt, "just how much have you been eavesdropping on me and Helena?"
A slightly sheepish look crossed Jay's features, "occasionally...?"
"Stop doing that," his tone was firm but he was thinking what exactly the Court could have done to the criminal, "I will tell you myself if there's something that we discuss which you should know too. Other than that, don't be over smart in trying to find things out for yourself."
***
Lavina looked down at the corpse of who used to be Gotham's worst terror, now nothing more than a waste of human flesh and bones rotting away after death. Beside her stood Samantha, an unreadable expression on her face.
"You didn't have to actually kill him," the elder woman turned away from the scene, stepping out of the cell as the horrid stench of decaying flesh was unbearable to stand in for long.
"I did what should have been done years ago," Samantha replied, bluish grey eyes sweeping over the dead body in disdain, "that way, he wouldn't have ended up killing so many more people."
Lavina kept silent as she walked through the corridor that led them away from the cell, Samantha following close behind after she had locked away that dark room.
It was the same place that held Lincoln March's remains. The same place where each traitor to the Court was thrown in.
The same place in which a few of the Court members wanted to see the Gray Son held captive as well. But she would never let that happen.
"Thank you for looking after the funeral, Miss Vikander," the woman's light voice addressed her again and the sheer nonchalance of it struck her as odd, "you've always helped me out and for that I am grateful."
It seemed as if Samantha hadn't just gone through the death of her father nor the fact that she had herself executed revenge on the killer already. She seemed too calm and composed.
Almost as if she had been expecting that. And while that sort of tranquility was something Lavina prided herself on, seeing shades of it get reflected in her newest prodigy struck her both as an accomplishment as well as a threat.
"You're always welcome, dear," but the reply she gave her was devoid of any judgment and the same words she would have spoken to her in any other situation if she were to pay gratitude for anything she did for her.
She had thought the young woman had a lot to learn from her. But seeing her stand with her head held high and her demeanor free of anything that could reveal her secret of killing the Joker pointed in a different direction instead.
Deep down, Lavina felt as if Samantha had learnt all she had to and there was nothing left for her to absorb in her young naïve mind to make her prepared to face the responsibility of being the Court's Head.
"So what have you thought about the offer I made you?" The elder woman asked as they were out of the basement at last.
It didn't take Samantha long to give her reply as she had thought it over again and again by then. It was almost as if she had been waiting for that very moment.
"I'll take up the position. From as soon as it can be handed over," her eyes were resilient as she replied, making it clear that she was not saying that under any hasty decision.
***