Warning, mild language, some angst, possible triggers
He heard the click of a gun and immediately knew there was somebody on that rooftop garden.
Red Hood jumped, landing softly on a roof overlooking the one with the sniper, eyes scanning the area for any sign of the possible target. He then looked over to the sniper, a man clad in black between the tomatoes and the radishes, aiming his rifle towards the deserted sidewalk.
Was he planning on killing a thug?
If so, then Red Hood would be more than happy to let him proceed.
But something told Jason that this man meant harm towards someone unworthy of it. His gut twisted as he tried to turn away, and he sighed to himself, perching on the edge of the roof just out of the sniper's sight, but within earshot of both the street and the sniper.
The black-clad man spoke into his wrist. "Get in position."
So there was more than one man for this hit. Jason noticed a slight change in the shadows in one of the dusky alleyways, and knew that there at least four men in there, ready to ambush the victim.
The only places the victim could come from were the cafe across the street, which only had like a dozen people inside of it, the pub down the road or she/he was in a car. Nobody was stupid enough to walk down a dim deserted road all by themselves at late night.
Jason watched as the sniper prepared a sort of deadly-sharp, metal-piercing dart full of this weird blackish liquid, which most likely was some sort of poison. He was only one rooftop away from him, so he'd be ready to kick the gun out of his hands in an instant if the victim wasn't a thug, but he waited to see who it was. Maybe it was someone he knew.
Why does he have a dart rifle? Why not simple bullets?
Maybe he wants the target to suffer.
All those thoughts raced through Jason's head when suddenly a silver motorcyclist raced down the empty road, with a silver hi-tech helmet over her head. She had a lithe form, fit and clearly agile, but the slight ripple of muscle as she switched gear told him that she could be deadly.
Immediately he thought of the silver-bike lady that Bruce had told him about. This thought threw Jason off, making him hesitate for a second.
That second was all it took for the sniper to fire.
The dart got itself in the woman's shoulder, and she yelped, losing control of her bike. She yanked off her helmet, panting, before yanking it out as fast as she could.
Red Hood immediately recognized the messy head of red-brown hair. Familiarity struck through him, and when the girl turned her head, Jason felt rage and confusion echo through him.
The sniper had shot his sister.
Jason lost it, jumping to the sniper's roof and shooting him. The sound of gunshots was enough to spur the ambushers on, and they jumped out of the shadows, knives in their hands.
Jason jumped down, landing in front of Sevanna, his guns in his hands.
"Touch her and you die." Jason growled.
They just ignored him, three of the buff ones grabbing him. They fought like tigers, quickly disarming Jason before proceeding to slice and dice him. He, though, met their strikes blow for blow, not caring that he was outnumbered.
He spotted two other men making their way towards Sevanna, who had a strange predatory look in her eyes.
That threw him off. Sevy usually had eyes glazed over from alcohol, lust or some other youthful thing.
This, this glare that she gave to each of them was enough to nearly make Jason shit his pants. It was the glare of a hunter staring down his worst foe, of a warrior ready to beat the crap out of the enemy and then make him beg for mercy, of an agile killer that was ready to snap your neck.
The hesitation earned Jason a blow to his face, but he continued to fiercely fight, shooting one man with his own gun and stabbing another in the heart. He heard sounds of scuffle behind him, and he took care of the last attacker, before turning to see Sevy expertly flipping a man twice her size over her back, before shattering his arm.
Jason was frozen. Watching his injured sister expertly fight was like watching a pig sprout wings and a unicorn horn.
She was quick on her feet, the dart's poison still not taking an effect on her, sweeping out the man's feet from under him before smashing his head against the pavement, knocking him unconscious. The other attacker was still awake, screaming about his arm (which had bone sticking out of the damn beefy muscle, mind you) before she shut him up by punching him in the nose.
She panted, before turning to Jason. "So now my brother decides to associate himself with me..." She dryly said.
Wait. She shouldn't be able to recognize him! He was in his suit. What the- he needed to cover it up. Fast.
Jason cleared his throat. "I'm sure you have me mistaken for someone else, mere citizen." He tried a deeper voice.
Sevanna laughed. "Mere citizen? Why, Jay, I'm hurt!"
So she knew.
Jason gave up the act,knowing Tim would wipe the cameras, before making his way over to her. "It got you, didn't it?" he touched the bleeding wound on her shoulder, a deep puncture wound . It dripped with a black fluid along with the crimson, and the fact that she was still standing upright seemed a miracle.
"Yeah. It's probably some sort of neurotoxin, and it smells like the fear toxin. So I'll be fine. Probably." Sevanna said, before stumbling as she tried to walk away.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Jason snapped.
She tried to take another step, but suddenly she collapsed, her head feeling lighter than air. Jason immediately scooped her up, before taking her bike. "I'm getting you the Manor."
Jason started the bike, internally panicking at how pale his sister had gotten. Her breathing came quicker, black tracing up the veins in her shoulder, making its way up her neck.
"Jesus, Sevy." he muttered.
"Let go. I can go by myself. I don't need to trouble you." She warbled, attempting to weasel out of his grip.
"No!" Jason said, surprised at how persistent she was, even though she could possibly be dying right now. "You look like shit, Sevy. You could die any freaking moment and you are clearly incapable of getting wherever you need to go by yourself. You have got to let me take you."
Sevanna opened her mouth to argue, but Jason shut her up instantly.
"Tim will wipe the cameras. You don't need to worry. I've got you." Jason murmured to her. She slowly nodded, before burying her face in his chest as he sped down the road on the bike.
He thought of the last time she buried her face in his chest- it was when she was nine years old, and she had raced into his room one stormy night after having a nightmare about him dying, shouting his name. When he responded, she wept with relief and had refused to let go of him for the rest of the night.
He shook the distant memory away, fear spiking in his chest as Sevy started coughing violently.
"I thought you- you didn't care about me.." she managed out, her breath getting more shallow.
"Bullshit. You're my sister. Now save your breath and hang in there. I've got you."
************************************************
Briar was over at the Manor after Tim had called her, asking for help on his own AI system. They were all in the Batcave when Jason burst in, a limp Sevanna in his arms.
"Help her!"
Immediately Damian raced upstairs to get Alfred as Jason gently laid her down on a cot, checking her temperature- which was burning.
"What happened?" Dick asked, worry written all over his face. Her veins were traced out with black against her terrifyingly pale skin, she seemed to be shivering but her body temperature was soaring, and her arm and outfit was nearly covered with blood.
Jason spotted Briar, and immediately went defensive. "Who the f**k are you?"
"Briar Cruz, TMC division, CIA." She flashed her badge, before kneeling down beside her boss, touching the wound.
"It's a sort of highly concentrated weaponizable trauma toxin- the AX41. It causes hallucinations and if no antidote or extraction procedure is registered, she could suffer cardiac arrest. We-we got all of it off the streets though- the only remaining serum is under heavy lockup at the CIA base!" Briar immediately went into work mode. "I need some clarithromycin, a scalpel, a syringe, a high UV source and some penicillin, and in my bag there's a small antidote in a blue bottle. Get those now. You- Red Riding Hood dude, make sure she doesn't stop breathing."
Tim raced to the medicine cabinet and then Briar's bag, and Alfred came down the steps with Damian.
Jason looked strangely at this random woman in the Batcave, glancing over at Bruce. He just nodded, and Jason went to Sevy's side, keeping a hand above her nose to make sure she was breathing.
Alfred made his way over Sevanna, pressing his hand down onto her wound, attempting to stem the bleeding, before he started stitching her up.
As soon as Briar got the stuff, she immediately turned on the UV source and placed the antidote above it, activating the serum. She then dumped in a bit of clarithromycin before mixing the liquid.
"I'm sorry, can you stop playing Potion and actually save my sister?" Damian spat.
Suddenly Sevy started shaking violently, and a scream tore out of her throat. Bruce raced to her side, panicking even more.
"What's happening to her?!" He cried, unsure of what to do.
Briar glared once at Damian, before taking the now greenish liquid and filling a syringe with it. She then grabbed the scalpel, shoved Red Hood out of the way, and cut a small incision in her neck.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU'RE HURTING HER!" Jason shouted, but Dick grabbed him before he could kick Briar in the face.
"Jason, calm down!" Dick shouted, and TIm just stood helplessly by the side.
Briar jammed the syringe into the cut, straight into an artery, before injecting the antidote. Immediately Sevanna stopped shaking, before her breathing slowed to a normal pace. She went limp in Alfred's arms, less tense than before.
When she finally was asleep, everyone turned to Briar and Jason for an explanation.
"Red Riding Hood goes first." Briar shrugged.
"Jay, what happened?" Tim murmured, looking over at her and back to him.
Jason sighed, pulling off his helmet. "Some guy with a dart rifle shot her as she was riding her bike. I found her about to be ambushed by five other armed guys, and we took them out- before she collapsed. I brought her here cause I didn't know where else to bring her."
Briar looked even more troubled. "Someone's tipped them off. A CIA agent definitely gave them access to the AX41 serum in the first place, but someone must've known that Sevy was doing a stake out tonight."
"Whoa whoa whoa- stake out? Sevanna was doing a stake out? I have so many questions. Why is a CIA agent in the Batcave? Where did Sevy get that bike of hers? Is she the silver bike lady? Where'd she learn to fight? Sevy's a disappointment, a drunkard- why would these AX41 CIA double-agent dudes go after her? What is going on? What is Sevy mixed up in? Is she a criminal? Is she gonna kill somebody?" Jason went off, confused as heck. He was about to continue asking questions when Briar's furious glare cut him off.
"Sevanna is not a criminal. She's my boss." she said through gritted teeth.
Jason was dumbfounded. "You. CIA. Sevy. Boss. Sevy... CIA?!" he muttered to himself.
"Looks like the ogre figured it out." Damian scoffed. "She's the leader of the Midnight Crew, Todd. "
"And don't you dare call my boss a disappointment or a goddamn criminal again! You do not know how hard it was for her to do this and put up with your put-downs at the same f***ing time!" Briar seethed. " Any other human would go physically insane doing what she was doing all while getting no support and bucketloads of hatred from her family! "
Bruce was shocked. He never thought that Briar- the cheery, techy nut job- would explode like she did right now, the girl's eyes fiery. Alfred and Dick quietly looked down, knowing that what she'd say next would hurt all of them.
"Do you know what kind of bullshit she's had to go through? She lost her mentor to a goddamn psychopath, she lost her family of freaking detectives to her stupid facade that she put up to protect them, and she was about to even lose all of us! She's been shot, she's been mauled, she's been beat, she's been drugged, poisoned, even slashed! Her heart even stopped for a full ten minutes! Why? Because she wanted to protect the only people willing to be her brothers and sisters when NONE of YOU wanted to be!"Briar ranted, completely pissed at Jason and at the entire Batfamily. She stopped, catching her breath, trying to calm herself down. When she did, she grabbed her bag.
"You know what she said to me once? As I was trying to keep her awake after she was shot? 'Let me go, I'd be less of a burden on my family anyways, Briar. Let me go as I have failed, and I will always fail. I will always fail in being a leader, in being a daughter, a sister, in making my family love me, in making them and you guys proud. I will fail, Briar. That's who I am. Just a failure.' You know why I still remember that, word for word? Because I cared enough about her. And it's time you guys showed her the same."
With that, Briar sniffled, before storming out of the Batcave, the Batboys staring at the ground.
**********************************************************
Look, Sevanna.
Look what you've done.
All around her, Sevanna saw fog and blood.
Look, Sevanna.
They're all dead.
Dead because of you.
Limp bodies suddenly were clearer than ever, glassy eyes staring at her. She recognized their faces, and felt her heart rip into pieces. The crew...
Look over here, Sevanna.
She whipped around and saw her brothers lined up, execution style. Jason, Dickie, Tim and Damian. She tried running towards them, but found herself paralyzed. She couldn't move, couldn't look away. All she could see were the looks of utter fear on each of their faces.
'Save us!'
She screamed their names, thrashing in the fierce invisible chains. She watched in horror as the barrel pressed into each of their heads and fired. She watched each beloved brother drop down like a rag doll, never to see the sun again.
She screamed louder in pain, in loss, in guilt.
It was her fault. She couldn't save them.
You failed, Sevanna.
You will never win.
This is a warning, Sevanna. They will die because of you.
She suddenly saw Bruce, standing alone at four tombstones, crying to himself. He turned around, looking Sevanna in the eye, before pressing a knife to his own neck.
'You killed them. You will never be my daughter. Never ever. You're worthless. I'm ashamed of having a child like you.'
Her heart shattered and stabbed her throat, and she began reaching out for him, trying to stop her father. He slit his throat and collapsed, more blood staining her hands as she scrambled to get by his side, scrambled to save him. She screamed his name, over and over.
'Dad! Daddy, please, no!' She hadn't called him Daddy since she was seven. "No! I'm sorry! I'm sorry, take me instead!"
As she desperately tried to wake him up, she fell forward into a dark abyss, falling.
Nobody would miss you if you died.
You're worthless.
Sevanna saw jagged rocks at the bottom of the pit, so close but so far away.
Your death would mean nothing.
Accept it.
She did, shutting her eyes.
Accept it.
********
Sevanna woke up with a gasp, panting, wiping away the wetness on her cheek. She shot up in a sitting position, before realizing that someone's head was right next to her side. A sleeping Jason, now stirred awake, grumbling to himself.
Immediately Sevanna tried to weasel out of his grip again.
If I stay away, I won't be able to hurt them. She thought, blinking back tears as she attempted to get out of the cot.
Jason though, quickly blinked away his sleepiness as soon as he realized what she was trying to do.
"Oh, hell no." He immediately pushed her back down. "Stay. Down."
Sevanna just glared angrily at him. "Let me get up. I'm fine."
Jason just scoffed. "Y'know, Agent Wayne, you're kinda like Bruce. Doesn't know what's good for him."
"I need to leave."
Jason's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. "Where you gonna go?"
"Away from you guys." That sentence hurt Jason, though he would never admit it.
"Why?" His voice cracked, but he quickly covered it up by clearing his throat.
"I'm nothing but trouble." Sevanna looked away from Jason, staring at anything but him. He though, immediately understood, placing two fingers under her chin and forcing her to look at him.
She immediately hid away years of pain and fear, but Jason didn't miss the flash in her eyes.
"You can tell me." He softly said. "What did you see?"
Sevanna firmly shut her lips, and Jason groaned. Why was she so damn stubborn?
"What did you see, Sevy?"
Sevanna remembered the way his body had dropped to the floor. She remembered the way she felt so useless. How she couldn't stop it from happening.
Jason gazed at the troubled look on Sevy's face. She shook her head, trying to get herself into control. Come on, Sevanna. Pull yourself together.
"Sevanna, what did you see?" He reached out and held her face in his hands. "Come on, you can tell me,"
Sevanna maintained the world's best poker face and she looked Jason in the eye, before asking a simple question, not stumbling on any word.
"If I died, would you care?"
Jason was taken aback by the abruptness of the question. Sevanna just looked at her lap, unwilling to even look in his direction as she continued.
" If I died during a mission, would you be there when they'll bury me?"
Jason crushed her in a hug, shutting her up immediately. She was stiff, the gesture taking her by surprise. "Shut up. Don't you ever say that again." He held her tightly. "Don't you ever f**king say that again."
"Why not? The sister you loved is dead because of me. Wouldn't it make you happy if I died too? A life for a life?"
"No. No, no and no! Why do you think I wouldn't give a damn? I can be an ass sometimes, but you are my sister. No matter what happens, I will never let you go. Never."
Sevanna pulled away, from him, eyes shining with tears that she quickly blinked away. Jason immediately turned her head towards him. "Look. At. Me. What did you see that made you think otherwise?"
"You should push me away. You should forget about this Midnight Crew stuff. You should've just let them kill me." she muttered.
"No. No!"The others heard Jason shouting, and slowly crept into the Batcave, peering in to see him talking to Sevy.
"You should've let me die. I'd rather it be me than you!" Sevanna firmly said, like she believed every word.
"Shut up!" Jason grabbed her again, squashing her in a hug.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He sobbed. "I was a shitty brother. Okay? Don't go off on a stupid CIA suicide mission. Please. Don't do that. It's all my fault."
"I'll do anything to keep you guys alive. Even if it means death for myself." Sevanna replied, calmly.
"So that's what you saw? All of us, dead? " Jason sniffled.
"Because of me." Sevanna had quieted down to a whisper, a tear tracing down her cheek.
Jason saw how broken she really was. A pane of glass shards, each piece precariously balanced another. Bruce had told him everything about Sevy's true self while she was asleep, and he was surprised the glass pane hadn't completely shattered.
He just held her tighter, burying his nose in her hair. "We're not gonna leave you. I promise. I'll never leave you. Not again. Not ever."
Sevanna finally accepted his hug, wrapping her own arms around Jason, ignoring the sharp pain in her neck.
Before they knew it, there were four other people squeezing into the embrace. She heard Jason shift to leave, but she found herself clinging to him even tighter, not letting him leave.
"Suffer." She whispered in Jay's ear with a hint of amusement, as Dick threw himself onto Jason.
"Jaybird! You finally opened up about your emoootionnss!" I'm so proudddd of youuuuu!" Dick sang.
"Shut up, dildo. You ruined our moment." Jason grumbled, wiping his face.
Bruce snaked his arms around his daughter's waist, gently hugging her. "You're not gonna lose us. I promise." Bruce promised her.
"Don't make promises you can't keep." Sevanna simply replied. "But stay, I like this idea of squeezing the life out of the injured person. Let's see who can make me asphyxiate first. Or who can pop my stitches."
Tim laughed. "Y'know, I like this version of you way better."
"The one being smothered by four boys and a freaking bulldozer of a man?"
"Bulldozer?" Bruce asked.
Jason snorted. "More like gorilla."
"Colossus."
"King Kong."
"Brick wall."
"When did this lovely family moment suddenly turn into everyone insulting me?"
Damian wriggled his way to cling half onto Dick and half onto his sister. "If you die I will freaking kill you. I am only beginning to get to know the real Sevanna. If you ruin my chance to you will regret it."
"Geez, Dami, I didn't know you cared!" Sevanna booped his nose, a grin on her face. He grumbled as she grabbed him and yanked him off of Dick.
Surprisingly, Damian didn't kick her face off. Instead he begrudgingly accepted her cuddles, a stubborn look on his face.
"Awwwww look at Damiii with the mama hen...." Dick was melting all over the place. Finally, they weren't bickering for a good seven minutes.
"Shut up, dildo."
"That ain't nice, Jason. Watch the mama hen instead with the terrifying assassin baby."
"Quit calling me a chicken." Sevy snapped.
"And call me a baby one more time. I dare you."
"But, Dami, you're like three years old." Sevanna squished his cheek.
"BETRAYAL." Damian scrambled away from Sevanna, who was laughing.
Maybe she wasn't so alone in her battles.
She finally felt like a part of the family instead of the odd man. She finally felt like she belonged.
She savored the moment, until Timothy knocked the wind out of her.
"Oof!"