This chapter is dedicated to @MJManoj Thank you for the vote on the first book !!! :))
Jason
I couldn't sleep. I lay awake, even until I could hear Bruce and Damian return from their patrol. Sighing, I threw my covers off of myself and began pacing around restlessly. Sleep was never easy for me, not even when I was a kid. Back then, I could never drown out the shouting of my parents. When I came to live with Bruce, nightmares of my mother had already haunted me. And after what I went through with the Joker, things just got worse. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt like I was going to see them all over again. Even after months of not really dreaming about any of the things that happened, I was afraid they could come back.
My helmet glinted from where it sat on top of my desk. It seemed to be taunting me. The fact that I hadn't been wearing it very much ever since I came back to Gotham hung heavily in the back of my mind. Slowly, I walked towards it. I stared at the empty hollows where I could see through every time I put it on. Reaching out, I took it in my hands, contemplating on whether or not I should do it. It felt like it was calling out to me. Frustrated, I made my way back to my bed and sat on the edge.
I remembered the first time I decided to put the helmet on, back when I'd been so full of rage that there was no room to feel anything else. I had so much rage, I barely thought anything through and let the feeling guide me. It was a wonder I didn't die a second time for those five years, before I went to confront Bruce. In truth, I had been angry at him after my dip in the Lazarus Pit. I trusted him, and he let me die.
But I realized it was also my fault.
Bruce had left me safely in the Manor, and I was the one that went looking for trouble. I was the one that went looking for my mother, who had given me up. I went looking for her, even though I already had Bruce. Bruce who had been nothing but kind to me, who thought me what I needed to know, and who made me something better than I was. Bruce gave me a home, and I'd thrown it all away. I couldn't blame him for that.
The rage had subsided for a time, and I thought about just going back to Bruce and apologizing for what I'd done. For what I'd put all of us through. But then I came back to Gotham and learned that the Joker was alive, put in a body cast by the Batman. And I felt it. The rage. The fever. It came back full force. He had gone as far as to put Joker in a cast, but he couldn't kill the maniac? Not even for me?
That's what I couldn't comprehend. Couldn't live with.
After that, I had... wandered. Bruce did care for me. In his own way. But no matter what I did, he wouldn't go down the dark path of killing. And now I understood. He was right when he said it was something that was hard to come back from. But I was trying.
Still, I had to wonder. Did I have to put the helmet on again? Why? I'd only come up with it to get back at the Joker, and to make Bruce understand why I'd been angry. But now that all of that was through, did I have to keep wearing it? I wasn't a hero anymore. I wasn't Robin, and I definitely wasn't going back to being that. But could I try to live a life away from everyone, letting criminals run around and not do anything about it?
The sound of a door slamming somewhere down the hall pulled me out of my reverie. With a start, I shook my head and got up from bed. I needed to go out. Knowing that someone was after my Jason Todd persona made me reluctant to go out as my handsome and devilish self, so I had no choice but to be the Red Hood again. Leaving my helmet on the bed, I went into my closet to grab my clothes and my babies. Unlike the rest of the rooms, the back of my closet didn't just contain my suit. It contained my toys. Shrugging on my new biker jacket, I decided to take my knife tonight and just a couple of batarangs. I needed more of the exercise anyway, and my guns wouldn't give me that. Lacing up my boots, I walked back into my room and placed the helmet on my head.
With one last glance around my room, I went to my window and decided to get out the old- fashioned way. Feeling more like a teenager rather than the grown up that I was, I carefully climbed down the side of the manor. Luckily, the vines still crawled all over the place and made it easier to get out. Somehow, I felt like I was fourteen all over again. I had mastered the art of sneaking out then, especially on exam nights when Bruce made me study instead of go along with him. As a kid the prospect of beating up bad guys seemed a lot better than studying for a test. In fact, it still did.
But I learned the drawbacks of sneaking out the night everything went downhill. If only I had told Bruce where I'd gone, what I was doing, maybe then, my mother would also be alive now. And maybe then, I'd be different. Hating that my thoughts always travelled down the path towards my dark past, I shook my head and marched towards the garage.
I picked my favorite one out of the bunch- my silver and red Ducati. Not bothering with a helmet, because I was already wearing one, I proceeded to guide the bike towards the front gates of the manor. Hoping Bruce didn't put up the security because he just got back with Damian, I carefully pushed the gates open. I breathed a sigh of relief when my hands weren't electrocuted off of me. I finally got on my bike and revved the engine before speeding away from the house.
The woods surrounding the Manor were as quiet as always, broken only by the eerie sounds of crickets and owls. Shuddering, I pushed my bike to its maximum speed and soon made it into the city itself. Gotham's tall and foreboding buildings stood to greet me, as well as the seemingly ever present rain. I knew Bruce and Damian had already gone patrolling as the Dynamic Duo, and I just wanted to be out of the house. So ditching my bike in a secluded alley, I climbed onto the rooftops and enjoyed the solitude. But not for long.
"I thought you would've left town by now," purred a familiar feline's voice.
"Aw Cat, it's like you want me to leave," I said with a smirk as I turned to her.
She looked as she always did, leather suit and cat ears and all. "Not really. Talking to you is almost as fun as talking to the Bats. But with his son around, we haven't really had time."
I laughed at her words, glad for once that I did go out. If anybody could understand me aside from Asteria, it was the woman standing before me. She wasn't afraid to kill to protect herself or the ones she cared about. "You almost sound jealous, Cat."
"Please," she scoffed with a dismissive wave of her hand. "The Bats and I go way back. I know I have nothing to be jealous about."
"You guys with your twisted love story," I muttered. "You're worse than those soap operas on television. Maybe I should write a script about it and sell it."
Catwoman smiled back at me. "I've always wanted my own T.V. show," she mused. "Why not?"
I opened my mouth to reply, but the sound of voices floated over to me in the silence of the night. "Please, stop..." a man's voice seemed to say.
"Looks like you're needed," Catwoman commented, probably hearing the sound as well.
"What? You're not even going to offer to help me?" I joked before sighing. "Yeah. I'll be right back."
I made my way towards the sound, leaping towards the next building and still straining my ears to hear the man's voice. I was surprised when I stopped over the edge of the building and found Catwoman beside me. She shrugged at me when she saw me looking. "I wanted a front row seat. I like watching you work."
I knew I should've been flattered, and as it was, I was smiling inside my helmet. But I knew she only said that because she thought I was going to end up killing some, if not all, of the six men below. Without bothering to reply to her, I jumped into the alley like I always did and used my grappling hook to slow my descent. I landed between the couple and the men surrounding them. All of them were armed with big guns, and I felt a twinge of regret at leaving my own babies behind. Especially my favorite AK- 47. Oh well, Jason. This will be much more fun.
"Come on guys," I spoke through the silence that the shock of my unannounced appearance caused. "Do you really want to do this? Because if you change your minds, I'm going to let you walk away right now. I'm not even going to kill any of you."
The men looked at each other, then their guns, before bursting into laughter. Rolling my eyes at the idiotic people that lived in the city I was born in, I turned to the couple I was rescuing. Imagine my surprise when I met a pair of brown eyes staring at me. "You," she whispered.
"You've got to be kidding me!" I exclaimed, momentarily forgetting where we were.
Razel seemed taken aback by my outburst. "Excuse me?" she asked, looking appalled.
I realized I wasn't Jason right now. I was the Red Hood. With an inward sigh. I cocked my head to the right. "You may want to hide behind the dumpster again, sunshine. So you and your little boyfriend here don't get holes like I did when we last met."
"You know this guy, babe?" Her boyfriend's annoying voice chimed in. I turned to him and saw him clearly for the first time. He had perfectly coiffed blonde hair and dark green eyes.
"Ask questions later, babe," I retorted before Razel could reply.
The sound of someone cocking their gun made me turn back to the thugs surrounding us. As the asshole looked at me smugly, I felt it. The rage. It seemed to be a reflex, whenever I was facing guys like these. Guys who should've made better choices. Guys who tried to take the easy way out by choosing a life of crime. Guys like my father. The guy I would've been if Bruce hadn't stepped in.
The one standing in the middle, who I assumed was their leader, smiled at me. "Red Hood," he greeted. Oh good. He knows who I am. "I've heard about you. But in case you don't know how to count, there's six of us and only one of you."
"If you have heard about me," I replied coolly back and pulled my knife from its holster," then you know you're going to need a lot more men to make this an even fight."
Of course the guy seemed offended by what I said. Gritting his teeth, all he said was, "We'll see."
And those were all the words it took before they started firing at me. I leapt back onto the fire escape to avoid the first round of fire power, thankful that the shadows were as helpful as ever. I gripped my knife tightly in my hands, waiting for the right moment. "Where is he?" I heard someone yell.
"Quiet, you idiot! Or else we may not hear him!"
Grinning, I took out a batarang from my utility belt. It was fashioned like the one Dick's had been, only mine was in red. With a practiced throw, I sent it at the two guys who were arguing about me. It lodged itself perfectly in their shoulders, making them fire their guns without aiming. Distantly, I thought I heard someone hiss, but I pressed the button controlling the batarang and electrocuted the two thugs. They dropped to the ground along with their weapons, ceasing the rain of bullets.
The rain itself was still pouring, making it even more difficult for the other baddies to find me. I was surprised when Catwoman leapt into the mix, while I was still perched on the fire escape. Curious, I also jumped to the ground again, completely soaked now. Luckily, the helmet was keeping my head dry.
"I thought you weren't joining this party," I spoke to Cat but kept my eyes on the men, who now looked a lot more terrified that Cat was here.
"They shot me," she hissed. "And the rain is also beginning to piss me off."
I glanced at her to see she looked bedraggled and angry, much like a real cat would be if it got caught in a storm. I laughed, not really meaning to, and earned an angry hiss from her. "Sorry," I murmured when I sobered up. "Let's finish this shall we?"
Cat finally smiled again, her red lips curving up. "With pleasure," she purred and pulled out her whip.
It wasn't long before the guys were dropping their weapons and crying out in pain, when her whip came in contact with their hands. "Your turn," she told me when they were running off with no weapons.
"Thanks," I replied with a little sarcasm before chasing after them. Of course I had to do the whole chase sequence all over again, even though I'd just gone through one with Croc this morning. Two of the guys were running, while the other two remained with Cat in the alleyway. Still, I chased down the other two, knowing Cat could handle herself.
When one of the guys slipped on a puddle, I was once again thankful for the rain. It not only made Cat pissed enough to help me, it was also doing all the work for me. After hastily handcuffing the guy, I ran after his last pal. Unfortunately, unlike the time Tim and I had gone after Razel's attackers, these guys were more prepared for a getaway. As we rounded the corner, the guy jumped into a waiting van and screamed "Go, go, go!" without even shutting the door. Huh. Guess he's really scared. The van careened away from me, tires screeching as it sped off. With my bike a few blocks away, I had no way to pursue.
Turning back around, I walked at a slower pace to the alley and dragged the handcuffed guy along with me. Cat was licking her wounds by the time I arrived. I mean, she was literally licking them. The crazy people I had to put up with. Razel and her boyfriend seemed fine though. They were having a hushed conversation, but they turned to me when I approached.
"So, are you going to tell me why those guys were after you, or are you going to say you don't know again? Because twice in less than two months isn't a coincidence," I told her.
She remained quiet and looked sheepishly at her feet. Her wet brown hair hid her face from me, and I sighed. "Right. Of course. You don't know."
"Don't talk to her like that," her boyfriend interjected defensively and wrapped his arms around Razel. "Razel is a good person. It's not her fault if she doesn't know why those men are after her."
Right. Did I say criminals made me angry? Well, criminals and arrogant assholes did that. Like this guy standing before me now. With his name tag saying he's Jared Haynes, and he works at Wayne Enterprises. Wait, what? Wayne Enterprises? The revelation seemed to make a light bulb go off in my brain, but I decided to examine the piece of information later on. Preferably when I was more alone and dry.
"Look buddy," I growled and pointed my finger in his face, wishing it were my gun instead. "I'm trying to help your girlfriend. I'm not good at being useless like you, so excuse me if I want to track these men down and make sure they never harm her again."
"I can take care of her just fine-"
Razel stopped what he was saying by pushing him away and placing her hand on his chest. He turned to her with confused eyes as she finally looked up from hiding behind her hair. "It's alright, Jared. He can help."
I looked at Jared as if to say, well there. She said it herself. But of course, my helmet rendered facial expressions useless, because it hid my good looks behind its red painted metal. I turned back to Razel who was also looking at me with a puzzled expression on her face, and for a moment, I felt like I didn't have the helmet on. Like I was plain old Jason Todd and she could see right through me. I bit my lip as I waited for her to say something.
Finally, she did. "I really don't know why those men are after me, but I'd be happy to answer any questions that you think would be useful."
"I don't have any questions at the moment," I admitted. "I need time to think of leads, but I'll know where to find you when I need to ask you something."
"Okay," she replied in a determined voice. "I guess this is good bye, then."
I couldn't help it. For the first time ever, I smiled at her. "More like, 'see you later.'"
She grinned back at me, though she probably didn't even know I'd been smiling in the first place. "See you later," she chirped back.
She and Jared turned to leave, probably to find their car before they were dragged into this alley. Just as they were about to round the corner leading out of the shadows, Razel glanced one last time at me. "Thank you," she mouthed with a smile. Then she was gone.
Razel
It was very late.
I was regretting the fact that I didn't listen to Bruce and head straight home. Instead, I had to meet up with my boyfriend- Jared. He worked the night shift at Wayne Tech, and we went out for some midnight snacks. Unfortunately, midnight snacks are more dangerous to our health than they make it out to be. Especially when six armed men drag you into an alley just after eating.
Luckily, Red Hood had come to save me. Again. I'd be flattering myself if I let myself believe he was looking out for me. The last time I'd seen him was back in December, so it was probably just a coincidence. I crawled over to my bed, happy to let my aching and still- in- shock body rest. My mind, however, was far from relaxed.
Red Hood both terrified me and made me feel safe. Maybe even safer than Jared ever did. He did rescue me twice, after all. But I also heard the news about him a couple of years ago. When he had terrorized the drug lords of the city and controlled the crime. It made me wonder what changed him. Was he even the same person? It was hard to tell with his mask on.
Yet, I couldn't help but feel like I knew him. When he looked at me, I felt as though I knew whose eyes were looking through the hollows of the mask he wore. If Red Hood really was going to help me though, maybe I would figure it out. For the time being, I had to get some sleep.
The dinner at Wayne Manor was something else. Bruce seemed happy to be around his family and friends, though. And I could see why. Even just sitting quietly at the table, I could feel it. The love and care they all had for each other. I could see it in their eyes, even when they were disagreeing, and behind their words even when they were teasing or insulting each other. I could see it, even behind Jason's green eyes as he glanced at his family from time to time. And I could see it in the way Bruce smiled.
It made me feel bereft. A family like that would be really nice. It made me feel even more alone as I pulled my blankets tighter over my cold body.
Jason
I finally found my way back home.
Cat had disappeared as soon as I finished talking to Razel and her ass of a boyfriend. But Cat was like that. She came and went as she pleased. After dialing 911 and telling them where the goons I tied up were located at, I took to the rooftops again and went back to where I originally left my bike. So much for not going on patrol that night.
Before heading home, I tried to find a trace of the van that had sped off with the sixth thug. Since I didn't really plan on finding any action before I went out, I hadn't thought to bring a lot of weapons. I definitely hadn't thought to bring a tracking device. Like I said, regrets in my life just kept piling up. I barely even dwelled on it anymore.
After hours of seeing empty streets and feeling like I was in a ghost town, I headed back to the Manor. I took the other route though and entered through the slightly mythical Batcave. Not bothering to change out of my wet clothes, I immediately headed for Bruce's huge computer. It was built with multiple monitors and technological stuff only Tim and Bruce could really understand. All I needed to know was how to make it work.
Turning it on, I glanced at the clock to see it was way past three in the morning. In a few hours, the brats would be getting up to go to school. And I probably had to go with Asteria to the baby doctor again. But if I wanted to help Razel, I supposed I was going to be seeing her a lot, either way.
It wasn't like I cared. Pfft. Me, caring? Yeah, right, and the Joker isn't actually a psychotic maniac. Notice my sarcasm? Yeah, well. I thought Razel was safe. I'd dropped the case back in December. But if she was being targeted now, then it was my fault. Because I hadn't caught whoever was after her. And if they went back a second time for her, then it must be about something really important.
I didn't really know Razel Anders, but from my previous research with Tim, nothing fishy came up about her. And Bruce seemed to like her well enough, so I didn't see any reason to mistrust her. Maybe she was telling the truth about not knowing why bad men were after her. But then there was her boyfriend.
I don't know. Maybe I just hated the guy because he was an arrogant douchebag who couldn't even protect Razel. Or maybe, there was something about him. Maybe the reason they were after Razel was because of him. After all, she was important to him, right? Important enough to make her leverage if they wanted something from him. And he worked at Wayne Tech. Not only were they good at developing new gadgets, they also handled creating weapons and gathering information.
Thankfully, if he worked for Bruce, it meant daddy Bats would have all his files stored away in the computer. Smiling as the computer finally booted up, I typed in two words.
Jared Haynes.
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Jason in action does things to my heart HAHAHA
Plus, our favorite feline made a cameo ;) What do we think of Jared guys? Is he guilty? Or does Jason simply think he's an asshole, thus his misguided idea that Mr. Boyfriend is behind the attacks on Razel? Thoughts?
Love always,
Angel