A/N: In this chapter you will briefly be introduced to a character called Debbie. She is going to play an important part in this story (or another one who knows?) later but if you want to know more about the little girl and who she is, you can head over to Deadpool_Red's account here on Wattpad. She wrote Debbie's story and is currently writing the second book about her.
I also took notes that some of you wanted to see more interaction between Alice and Tim and this shall come soon c:
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The last time Roy Harper had come to Gotham to answer Jason's call for help, it had been right during the time of the gangs war. Of course, he had made sure to make a grand entrance. Stopping a runaway's car by shooting an arrow in one of the tires and from a great distance. Roy had been pretty proud of his shot. Who wouldn't after all? The fugitive had been stopped by both Kyle and Jason, the latter making sure to put a permanent end to his escape.
"You were going to name that dude your second-in-command?" Roy had asked once all of it was over. Jason had snorted and just shook his head before he did the only thing he was good at: isolating himself from everyone. Away from his family, away from Roy, until one day Jason came back. Roy couldn't hold a grudge against him, it was in Jason's nature to act this way. But he had been left weeks with seeing his best friend again.
During that time, Jason had taken a few resolutions concerning his gang. He monitored them more closely, trained them more efficiently in case they had to face another threat similar to the one they had faced. Jason still hadn't found his second-in-command and Roy was pretty sure he was taking his time to not make the same mistake again. Roy had been spending a lot of time with him again then and he had learned to know some of the gang members to try to help Jason take his decision. He liked that woman who had asked he trained her himself and another guy who preferred to shoot first, talk after.
Jason thought the guy wouldn't be a good idea "I need a diplomat Roy, not someone who would shoot his own shadow because it looked him weird somehow". So he had asked the woman. She had nicely declined the offer, claiming she liked her current position best.
So Roy did what Roy does best, he suggested another option to Jason. He told him there was someone who could fit the job's description. Of course, he had left the gang at that moment but Roy was sure that with a little convincing, Kyle would come back.
He did.
Jason had personally gone to New York to seek him out and make his offer. At first he promised it wouldn't be permanent, if he didn't like the position he could back away and it was kind of like a trial period for a regular job. Roy thought the kid did pretty good and was happy to see Jason get out of his broody phase once more. Jason and Kyle were a dynamic duo. They were almost the same age, though Kyle was a year younger, but he was always willing to help.
But when Jason called him the night before, asking if they could sit somewhere and talk, Roy understood something wasn't right.
So Roy had accepted and was now waiting for his friend on top of a roof, sitting at the edge of their meeting point, Gotham alive under his dangling feet. They had fixed the rendez-vous at 10pm. It was past 11pm and Jason still hadn't arrived. Roy didn't really mind though, he knew his friend was most likely going to be late so he had brought a bag of arrows which needed to be fixed with him.
He was about to work on his eleventh arrow when Jason finally showed up, a plastic bag in hands. Jason landed right next to him. "Sorry, I'm late" he said as he sat next to his friend.
Without looking up from what he was doing, Roy answered "Well, let's pretend you're very early for our next meeting."
Jason snorted. He removed his helmet and his domino mask, discarding them both on the roof. He closed his eyes and breathed in the fresh night air. Gotham was starting to get colder and Fall would soon be upon them.
Roy stared at his friend. Clearly, there was something wrong. He looked like he hadn't slept at all and kept sighing. The redhead grabbed his bag and put the arrow he had been working on back in it. Roy looked at the plastic bag on Jason's lap. "You went to see the little troublemaker?"
"Yeah. That's why I'm late. She wouldn't let me go."
"Ah. At least she gave you cookies."
"She did."
"Hers are good."
"The best."
"Are you going to share or not?" Roy asked, a smug smile on his lips. Jason didn't even look at him when he handed him the bag filled with cookies. They were fresh and there was a ton of them. Roy fished for a chocolate chip one, simple but effective. He stuffed it in his mouth and let out a pleased groan. Debbie's cookies were truly the best. He had met the little girl after an unfortunate accident she had been victim of. Jason had been taking care of her for months before that and had kept it to himself. She helped Jason cope with a lot and he was glad he had her to take care of him. She had a surprisingly sharp mind for someone her age so Roy decided he liked her too. But right now, even Debbie's cookies weren't enough to make Jason feel better. "What's up, Jaybird?"
Jason didn't meet Roy's eyes, keeping his gaze in the far distance. "I fucked it all up." He rubbed his forehead and shook his head.
Roy swallowed the cookie. "What happened?"
So Jason told him everything. He told him about the failed mission during the gala, he told him he himself had jeopardized it all by asking Kyle to do it, that he was not ready for this kind of responsibility and that therefore he had given him a one-week ultimatum to decide whether or not he was in. He told him he had almost lost on of his best soldiers, that they had lost tracks of the terrorist even though he was right there and they could have stopped all his activities that same night. Jason lowered his head, defeated.
Roy wrapped his arm around his friend's shoulders. "Hey Jaybird, it's ok. We all fuck up sometimes and I don't think it's such a great deal. I bet Tim and Barbara are working together to find that terrorist."
"Roy, I'm tired of depending on others to deal with the shit I pull up."
"You didn't do anything wrong. We all fuck up sometimes. We just need to learn how to pull ourselves together again to move on and correct the shot."
Jason sighed once more. He turned his head towards Roy, who had also discarded his domino mask on the concrete floor of the flat roof they were perched on. "I just want to stop this asshole. He was right under our noses, Roy."
"I know."
Jason reached into the pocket of his jacket and took out a pack of cigarettes. He took one out, brought it to his lips and lit it. He took a long drag of it and let the smoke twirl out of his mouth. He was still feeling like shit but it was slightly better now. He noticed Roy glaring at him. "What? D'you want one?"
"No, I don't do this kind of shit."
"Oh because you're such a good reference with this kind of stuff, uh?"
Roy shook his head and gave Jason a slight nudge. "This is all behind me. I'm clean now."
"Let's hope it stays this way."
"Preach, Jaybird." Roy smiled and somehow, Jason smiled back. He took another drag of his cigarette, enjoying every seconds of it. He had never tried to stop smoking and he certainly wouldn't start now. "So, what do we do now? Because I'm totally ready to help you but you need to tell me what's next."
"Dick went back to Blüdhaven to try and get information from the BPD. They may have heard of something unusual so we're waiting on that. Tim and Barbara are working nights and days together to find a lead using every single camera this country has. I gave all my lieutenants a profile of Vassili so they can spread the word as much as possible."
"You sent me one too?"
"Yeah, you should have it. I added it to your database."
"So, Vadim Vassili. That's the guy?"
"Yes. Nobody knows anything about him, the dude appeared out of nowhere with only one thing in mind: kill innocents. We keep finding people linked to him but nothing worth anything. Guy's a ghost. There was no DNA we could take from when he captured Jill so we can't even track him like that to know if it's his real name."
Roy smirked. "Jill! That's her name!"
Jason frowned and stared at his friend. "What?"
"I forgot her name," he waved him off, "But please continue."
The redhead was still smirking but Jason decided to ignore him. "Every time we think we have a lead, the dude is actually ten steps ahead of us."
"We clearly need to stop him before he does more damage."
Jason nodded, taking another puff before extinguishing the cigarette. "Let's hope we find him before it's too late."
***
Vadim Vassili was not happy. His hostage had managed to get away, his cover had been blown and Najma Reza had been thrown in jail. He still had a head start on those who tried to stop him but it still brought discontentment to him. Using the sewers, he hoisted himself up and reached his lab/warehouse. He had transformed the place himself to fit as many guinea pigs as possible to test his new weapon on.
What better way to be noticed and eliminate all his enemies than through the use of a biological weapon?
Vassili walked through the aisles of hospital beds. He observed all the individuals lying on them. Some were handling the drug better than others, though the aim was to cause as much damage as possible so those who showed resistance to the drug were quickly disposed of.
The man then headed to where Dr Yann Basit was. He had given him a small lab equipped with top-notch instruments. Vadim felt too generous with the man, but nothing was too expensive for his weapon.
He walked inside the room without knocking. Dr Basit almost jumped when he saw him and put down the purple vial he was holding very careful next to other test tubes. "My dear Yann, congratulations."
The doctor stared at him, clearly not expecting this. "Uhm. Thank you?"
Vadim walked around the room, observing everything Dr Basit had been working on for the past few months. "The little pill you gave me, the narcotic, it worked very well. Though I wish that woman had talked more, but that's not your fault if she didn't. You wouldn't be able to create something that makes people talk, would you?"
Dr Basit tried to hide the shaking in his hands. He was a man of science, a renowned doctor and yet his hands were shaking like leaves. "I could try if that's what you want, sir?"
"No, that won't be necessary. I think our little concoction will work miracles."
"Speaking of which, I've been doing a lot of progress. Less and less of my patients are able to resist it."
"Excellent. How long will it take for the production to start?"
Dr Basit scratched his forehead. "It will start in a few days. The poison is still not stable enough in contact of air so I need to rectify this issue so you can use it as freely as you wish."
Vadim was now standing awfully close to the kidnapped doctor. He was staring in his eyes. "Work faster."
"Ye-yes sir," Dr Basit stammered.
Vadim smirked. He was making his way towards the door when he abruptly turned around. "Would it be possible for you to create a liquid form of my weapon?"
"Of course sir."
"Good. Prepare me at least three syringes once the solution is viable." And he walked out, carefully closing the door behind him, a large grin on his lips.