I run up to him and reach for his mask but before I could take it off, he grabs my wrist and tries to flip me over his shoulder, but I just attach my legs to his waist and make him fall back with him under me. I grab both his hands and put them in one hand making it impossible for him to escape.
He furrowed his eyebrows and said "Madeleine?!" He looked shocked but relieved to see me. It has been almost ten years since we last saw each other. "Hey I would appreciate it if you let go of me and off me. I mean I'm not complaining or anything." He said with a smirk and I just gave him an eye roll.
I get off him and stand up. He stands up right after me and pulls me into a hug. We stayed there for what seems like forever, forgetting Dick was watching us the whole time until he cleared his throat. Jason and I both turned our heads but not moving our arms.
"We have to go. Who knows when more guys are going to come. I have to get this dude somewhere safe so we can talk to him." He tells us.
"Right." I say letting go of Jason. I went upstairs to press the elevator button and by the time the boys came into the room with Adamson the elevator was already there. We sent Jason and Adamson down first leaving me and Dick to talk.
"How do you two know each other?" He starts.
"We were friends when I was younger." I told him.
"Like Arrow/Queen Family younger or Doom Patrol younger?" He keeps questioning.
The elevator came back up and we both got in as I said "Doom Patrol younger. Though we only knew each other for about a year. He was my only friend my age. Then he left to move with his uncle in Gotham, which somewhat explains why he is in a Robin suit. Batman must have seen potential in him. I taught him how to fight when we were ten he must've remembered. But why is he Robin? I thought you were Robin." The elevator was almost down the way.
"I quit about a year ago.'' The elevator dinged and we both stepped out to see Jason practicing maneuvers.
I rolled my eyes and said, "Alright Todd, help us with this fat dude."
He smirked and immediately did what he was told. The boys got Adamson's arms while I got his legs.
"Guys, dude looks dead." Jason says looking a little worried.
I scoff and say, "Trust me. There's a difference between dead and knocked out."
He just gives me a glare. "This is awesome! Robin and Robin, in action." I clear my throat, interrupting him. "And Scarlet Arrow."
I gave him a surprised look, not knowing he knew my alter ego. He just shook his head and stuck his tongue out at me.
"Who the hell are you?" Dick asks, not noticing our little interactions.
"Jason Todd. The new Robin. Robin 2.0 , right?" He says in a cheery voice. "Hey, seriously, man, it's an honor to meet you and see the faces behind names, am I right?" He turns to me and gives me a wink and smirk. I wink back at him and I can see the surprise wash over him before he puts his cocky mask back up. "I always wondered what this moment was gonna be like, never thought that when it happened I'd be saving your life."
We finally got to the car when I said, "So, there's a new Robin, eh?"
"Yours truly. In the flesh." He smirks once again.
"You must like saying 'In the flesh' a lot, huh?" I say mocking him.
"Batman know you're here?"
"Of course. Bruce knows how badly I've always wanted to meet you. Pick your brain, catch a couple of pointers, he's all, 'Go for it, bro.'" He tells us.
We finish putting Adamson in the trunk. And I finally relaxed the muscles I never even knew I was clenching.
"Hey, let me go grab my clothes. I'll be right back." He says before he starts to run off but before he gets far he turns back around and runs towards me and gives me a peck on the cheek.
I just stood there with my jaw slightly open Dick was looking amused at me with his eyebrows raised. I shrug my shoulders at him and just close the trunk door.
I walk over to the passenger seat but Dick says "Get in the back, I want to talk to the new Robin."
I roll my eyes at him and open the back seat and get in. When Jason comes back he has his signature smirk and regular civilian clothes. Dick starts the car and pulls out of the parking garage.
"Can't believe it. Here we are, together, in the same car. This is so cool!" Jason starts.
"Yeah." Dick starts.
"Real cool." I finished for him.
"So how long have you and Bruce been..." Dick started again but didn't know how to finish. He gave me a look through the rearview mirror.
"Together? I don't know, probably about a year." Jason tells us. He must not have seen Dick look at me.
I snorted but Dick gave me another look through the mirror, this time a glare, "What?! looks like Batman didn't waste any time!"
Dick just ignores me and continues to interrogate Jason, "So did you and he..."
"I was out boosting cars. Guess I chose the wrong one. Or the right one." He says, shaking his head slightly.
"You tried to steal the Batmobile?"
"No, man. Just the hubcaps."
"And just like that, he took you in?"
"Guess he saw potential."
"Told you." I say and cross my arms. Both the boys turned to look at me, Jason with a confused look and Dick with another glare.
Jason started talking again so I stayed quiet, "So, what do you think of the new suit? Upgrades are pretty sick, right? The new tunic is made with Zylon fibers, six times stronger than Kevlar. Seriously, bro, you can hit me with a flamethrower from ten feet and I'd be like, 'That's all you got?'."
"Zylon fibers?" I asked
"Smart, right? Hey, no offense but you gotta admit, the old version was a little outdated."
"So how'd you find us anyway?" Dick asks.
"The tracker."
"What tracker?" I ask him.
"In Dick's arm."
"There's a fucking tracker in my arm?" Dick flung his arm out
"Yeah. In mine, too. Don't you remember him putting it in?"
"No." Dick said a little sheepishly.
"Maybe you forgot." I tell him, trying to reassure him. "So Dickie, where are we going?" I say starting to get bored of the conversation they were having.
"I gotta find a place to put that guy."
"Can I make a suggestion?" Jason asks.
"Sure."
I zoned out the rest of the ride until we got to a big building. We walked inside to the elevator.
"According to Bruce, the design of this place is inspired by Frank Lloyd."
"Wright." Dick tries correcting him.
"I know, right? Dude's really into, you know, lines and shit. Bruce has a bunch of places like this. He calls them 'safe houses,' but they're more like condos." Jason 'explains'.
Dick goes up to the eye scanner. It flashes red and we hear a voice say, "Access denied".
"I got this." Jason walks over to where Dick was standing and puts his eye in front of the scanner.
"Access granted."
"Guess he changed the locks." Jason said with a shrug. We all stepped into the elevator, I wasn't in the mood to talk so I just let the two boys bicker on.
"Why are you doing this? Why do you even want to be Robin?"
"Are you kidding? This is the dopest gig ever. Hangin' out with Batman, kicking bad guys' asses, being famous, driving the goddamn Batmobile."
"He lets you drive the Batmobile?" Dick asks, he doesn't wait for an answer and continues asking questions, "Wouldn't you rather have your own name? Like 'Sparrow' or 'Blue Jay,' for Jason?"
"Fuck, no. The whole point is being Robin. Batman needs Robin. Why do you think he makes us wear those lame colors? Cause we're drawing fire. 'Look over here, assholes!' Then boom, the Bat lands and starts trashing ass."
The elevator door rang, and we all got out.
"Here, I'll go back and get our friend." Dick said, handing his case to Jason. Jason just shrugged and went to put them on the table. I followed him and put my cas on the table too.
"Want a soda?"
"Sure." He goes into the kitchen with me behind him. I jump up on the island and wait for him to bring me the soda.
He comes back from the fridge and hands me the drink already opened. I put the soda down and get up and start walking to find a bathroom.
I find it and, in the bathroom, there is a shower and a tub that is in a circle. It looks more like a hot tub in my opinion. I fix my hair and wash away the blush from my face. I just stand there looking at myself for like five minutes until I hear a thud. I open the door and see Dick with Adamson lying next to him still unconscious.
Dick motions me to get out of the way so I step over Adamson and walk back to the living room. I go to sit on the couch and pick my soda up from the coffee table. Jason comes over to me and sits next to me.
"Hey."
"Hey," he goes over to a painting and just looks at it. Dick comes out of the bathroom with something in his fist. Dick walks over to Jason and puts what he was holding in his hand.
"Hey! What the hell man?!"
"I'm not Robin anymore. Have a safe trip back." He tells Jason, I can tell he is probably gonna get mad soon, but I don't care.
"What the hell did you do Dick?!" I ask starting to get up. Jason raised his hand and I saw a small little chip. "What the hell is that?"
"The tracker." Both boys replied with the same thing but Dick had a stern voice and Jason had a patronizing tone.
"Why did you take it out?" I ask, "All the Justice Leaguers put trackers in their mentees." I told him.
"Because we're not animals in Bruce Wayne's private zoo. Or Oliver Queen's!"
I try to respond but Jason beats me to it, "You don't get it, man. He did it for you. For us. In case anything ever happened, he could find us."
Dick just rolled his eyes "Thanks for stopping by. Tell Bruce I'm gonna need the place for a couple of days. He should be okay with it."
"I'm not sure you really understand him, man."
"I think he's the one guy in the world that does." I say but neither of them listen to me so I just sit down on the couch and watch how it plays out.
"Look, Jason, he might have you thinking that you're a partnership, but everything Bruce does is in the best interest of one person. Bruce. Time to go."
"Sorry, man. I can't. He wanted me to show you these."
They moved to the couch and laid out a manilla folder with pictures of people with their faces melted off.
"How did you get these?" I ask him.
"They were sent to the Gotham PD addressed to 'Robin.' Whoever sent them thinks you're still Robin." He tells us, directing the last part to Dick.
"I know these people." Dick said.
"Aren't they Haley's workers?" I ask.
"Yeah, I worked with them before..." Dick trailed off.
We sat there looking at the pictures until Jason finally broke the silence, "That must've sucked." Silence again. And once again Jason spoke up, "He burns them with acid."
"Hydrofluoric acid." Dick says, correcting Jason.
"Calling card of the Maroni crime family." Jason states like we didn't already know.
"Harvey Dent, your parents..." I start to say.
"I know." Dick starts, "Tony Zucco worked for the Maroni's when he killed my parents. But they were put away years ago."
"Why'd he, do it?" Jason asked.
"Haley owed the Maroni's protection money. Couldn't come up with the cash. So my parents paid the debt with their lives." Dick states.
"Papers call this guy 'the Melting Man' because he melts the flesh right off their bones." Jason tells us. "Creepy as shit, huh? Any idea who this freak is?"
"The man I'm thinking of is dead."
"So that's a no. Have you checked back in with the police?" I ask
"Why would I go to the fucking cops?"
"Jason! Five people are dead, you wouldn't think to go the fucking cops?!" I yell at him. He gets scared and I can see both boys visibly flinch.
"They hit a dead end, so they came crawling to Bruce and me. As usual. When Bruce realized who the victims were, he sent me to find Dick." He raises his hands in defense as he says this. I just roll my eyes at him and lean back on the couch.
Dick gets up and starts walking to another room. Me and Jason both look at each other with questioning looks and get up to follow him.
"Grayson? What are you doing?" I ask, trying to catch up with him.
"To see if someone is still alive." He looks back and gives me a sarcastic smile.
I stop in my tracks not wanting to go any further into the building, I get a bad vibe from this place.
"Alright, just don't fight each other. Please?" I sigh. I head back to the kitchen and sit on the counter again just waiting, swinging my legs back and forth. I don't know how long has passed but soon I hear the elevator ding and I get up to look who is there.
"Madeleine!" I hear both Rachel and Gar yell.
I don't get time to process it but soon I am falling to the ground with purple and green hair in my face. Rachel giggles and Gar quickly stands up. He helps Rachel first and I stand on my own. Gar sees the suitcases on the table and goes behind it to look at them.
"When did you get another one?" He asks.
I laughed and was about to answer but before I could I got interrupted, "One of 'em is mine." I turn around and see Jason smirking like an idiot. He clearly loves attention.
"Wait, I thought you were Robin." Gar asks, directing it to someone else. I turn around and see Dick standing close to Kori.
"I am."
"He was."
"He used to be."
Dick, Jason, and I all say at the same time.
"Alright, enough, sit, Dick bathroom. Now!" Kori said. Dick followed her to the restroom and I went to the couch with Jason.
"Are they together?" Jason starts but before I could answer him Gar interrupts me.
"I think so the other night I could hear them through the walls." He let out a dramatic shiver and jumped over the couch to sit next to Jason. "I'm Gar." He holds out his hand for a shake but Jason daps him up instead.
Dick and Kory came back after 10 minutes, and dick told me and Jason to pack our stuff and put it in the car.
~~~
Hey guysssss.
So, I was able to log back in. Whoop whoop!
Anyways I actually finished this book! I will post another part when I get home, but I am super happy with this ending. Also if any of you have watched the show Alice in Borderland, I'm going to start a story about Chishiya so be on the lookout for that book!!