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Jason, as a former crime lord, was intimately familiar with Gothams criminal underground, but not so much Metropolis’s. And yet here he was, in a city he did not belong, creeping along the walls of what seemed to be an abandoned underground railway station.
Black masks goons had been acting strangely for a while now and he could swear that he saw some of their faces now working under different psychopathic bastards, as if Scarecrow was such a better alternative to Black mask. Whatever had changed, it had all of them antsy and something that had Gothams criminals in an uproar was never good. The past few weeks Jason had watched closely as Black Masks dealings slowed down as if he was trying to keep a low profile. Ironically enough it only raised Jasons alarms. For good reason too: Jason watched as large chunks of Black masks people moved to Metropolis.
For a moment Jason seriously debated leaving it at that; whatever Black mask had planned Superman could easily deal with himself, after all he seriously doubted that Black Mask could be any kind of threat to him. But then they took a kid from crime alley that had gotten a little too close to the operation they were running and that made everything more personal. Maybe Jason should simply be thankful that they decided to let the kid live. He wasn’t though. He wasn’t thankful for a lot of things. And he wasn’t sure how long that kind of mercy would last – not that they were known for showing kids a lot of mercy anyways.
That’s why he acted quickly – impulsively, he heard a voice in his head mutter that sounded too much like Bruce to warrant any deeper thought. So, what was supposed to be just another stakeout, an attempt to gather more information before he would ultimately decide to just leave everything to Superman, turned into an active mission. He just hoped he had enough bullets in case it should come to a shootout. It tended to. Jason wasn’t known for being the stealthiest of Robins. He wonders if Batman thinks that that is one of his many failures.
He shrugged that thought off. No use thinking about it when they were – well, not exactly enemies, but certainly no allies either. At least they weren’t since he stopped being a crime lord a few months ago. That and a few murders that Jason swept under the rug that Batman (probably) didn’t know about, and their relationship improved to not quite ‘having a chummy family dinner’ but rather a ‘not attacking on sight when they saw each other on patrol a few weeks ago.’ If they did have that kind of relationship, it would be easy to just walk up to his old man and deliver the information, he had on Black Mask who could easily contact Superman. But they didn’t. Hence it would need Jason to have way less stubbornness than he had to actually do it. But no, he could save the kid himself. And uncover whatever Black Mask was doing at the same time.
That’s why he was here – in an abandoned underground railway station underneath Metropolis. He had followed from a distance but now they had come to a stop and Jason could slowly make out words as he continued to approach: ‘…money. …metropolis…’
Jason wished they would talk louder. He wished he could walk quicker without the danger of alerting them all; he didn’t want to miss important information. Expanding a drug ring? To Metropolis? Would that even make sense? He knows for a fact that Black Mask is still recovering from when Jason had control over most of Gothams crime. It wouldn’t make sense to expand when they didn’t even have their old size back. Especially in Metropolis. The city where Superman operates. ‘…caught by… boy scout?’
Jason continued walking along the tracks, keeping his back to the wall and his steps as light as possible. As he did the platform slowly came to view and with it crates and crates of technology from Lex Corp. This…complicates things. Maybe he shouldn’t be surprised. Two power hungry men working together? Makes sense. Only question is what each of them could do for each other and what their rewards would be. Lex is a genius, a genius who is also paranoid and an egomaniac, but a genius nonetheless, surely, he has somehow the better deal out of the both of them. ‘…enough…defend ourselves…’
Thinking about it, Jason knows that both men really want one thing: the city. Lex wants Superman out of the way to be the most powerful man in Metropolis and Black Mask wants control of the Gotham underworld back after Jason had first stolen it from him and afterwards continued fighting against his influence. Sure, makes sense but where is the connecting piece? How would they be able to help each other? Lex Luthor has his weapons and technology that he can, and clearly has, shipped to Sionis to help him out with his goal and Black Mask - ... What does he have?
Jason got his answer after one more step in the form of glowing green crystal. And not just one piece, but a small mountain of it laying on a crate between a small group of Black Masks men. ‘We just need to take this to the big man and carry the stuff back to Gotham.’
Where the hell would Black Mask get so much Kryptonite from? This is bigger than Jason first expected clearly. His eyes scanned the platform trying to count how many crates lay stacked around the place (a lot, and if Lex was smart, which he was, he didn’t immediately give them all of it) until his eyes landed on a tied-up boy in the opposite corner.
Their eyes met and from his panicked reaction Jason could immediately tell that the boy was not aware of his new vigilante persona. But at least he was being quiet. Still Jason raised a finger to where his mouth would be before silently climbing onto the platform. He kept his form hidden behind the pillars and crates as the men continued talking.
When he was close enough, he quickly grabbed the boy by his collar and hid with him behind a few crates. The boy’s yelp was thankfully drowned out by the conversation the goons were still having. Jason had missed the last half of it but clearly the person who had voiced their concerns before was still complaining. ‘…then it’s not just your ass on the line.’
‘Stay quiet. I’ll get you out of here.’ And the boy had to get out of here. It would be way too easy for the kid to get into the crossfire whenever the shooting would start. And now, Jason was sure that it would start. The possibility that the goons would leave the Kryptonite alone for even a second was extremely slim and Jason needed to keep it out of Luthors hands no matter what. As much as he’d liked to pretend that he didn’t care about Superman he did care when he was the strongest defender of earth, which was routinely attacked by a myriad of dangers.
In a way Jason was lucky: multiple groups of Black Masks’ were sent over to Metropolis but it seemed that only the group Jason had followed originally was currently here. It was likely that there were multiple points were Luthors things would be dropped off from where Black Masks goons would then pick them up and ship them over to Gotham. Even if one point was hit by any number of Superheroes or vigilantes the others would most likely be fine. At least that was what Jason did when he shipped his drugs. It seemed like it was the same system here. And this was also the group that had brought the Kryptonite along. Luck.
Jason was just untying the last knot when all hell broke loose. Shouts filled the air, and Jason heard the sound of guns cocking. He immediately recognized the voice. ‘I’m giving you a chance to surrender without violence. Whatever you’re doing here I’m sure –’ A gun shot rang out and a couple seconds later the sound of a bullet hitting the ground echoed through the station. What did they expect? Superman sighed; it made Jason wonder how often this had already happened to him. ‘Alright.’ And Superman jumped into action. Jason watched as Superman took the goons out. He should probably leave before he would be spotted, the boy would be fine, Superman was here after all, but before he could he watched out of the corner of his eye how the last one left standing grabbed a shard of Kryptonite and ran towards Superman.
Superman should be fine. Normally. But he still had his back turned from when he took out the other goon and the Kryptonite seemed to affect him already from 4 feet away. He would be fine. Realistically. It was mostly instinct that made Jason stand up, cover the boys eyes with one hand and shoot the man in the head with the other.
The body dropped and it was silent. Superman’s eyes darted to the body on the ground and then to Jason. He stared. Jason didn’t make any friends with that, not if he was able to keep the man from attacking by not killing him.
The boy broke free from Jason and ran away. He was pretty sure he heard sobs. Not like he could blame him. Supermans eyes didn’t leave him though.
How much did he even know? If he knew as much about Red Hood as most of the population then he would think that Jason was a crime lord from Gotham who had been, at least according to rumors, defeated by Batman. But Superman was, if not friend then at least a very close ally to Batman. But Batman was also very guarded, so Jason doubted that he knew a lot. Especially with the way he looked at him. Red Hood, a crime lord, at a supply drop of two other criminals. Yeah, Jason realizes that this doesn’t look good.
‘I expected you to be in Blackgate.’ The corner of Jasons mouth twitched. He should be. But Bruce hadn’t put him there yet. ‘You would think I would be, right?’ Maybe it would be better to argue his case but without revealing his identity it wouldn’t be possible. Saying that he wasn’t a crime lord anymore wouldn’t help in this situation. It had been, what, 4, 5 months? ‘Then I will put you there.’ This doesn’t sound good. Jason tensed, if he was able to make it to the Kryptonite then –
‘Wait.’ Jasons stomach dropped at the sound of the voice and his and Supermans head snapped to the stairs leading out of the station. Batman, of course. They were probably working together since it involved villains from both Gotham and Metropolis. Jason was naïve to think that they hadn’t already noticed what was going on. ‘It’s…’ Batmans voice trailed off as he glanced at the corpse laying on the ground. It didn’t take the world’s greatest detective to put the pieces together. Jason gritted his teeth. ‘It’s…fine.’
Surprising was an understatement. Superman clearly felt the same way as he looked between Jason and him, in shock. ‘Batman are you sure he is –’ ‘I know who he is, Superman. Better than you do.’ Batman said and looked at Jason. Jason couldn’t tell what kind of expression he wore underneath the cowl and somehow, he doubted he would be able to tell even if he didn’t wear it. Superman didn’t look convinced though. ‘I have to insist, he is a danger –’ ‘He is my son.’ Bruce interrupted.
And didn’t that feel strange? To be called his son after everything that happened? Jason doesn’t understand himself, but it felt like someone had stabbed him and then twisted the knife. Somehow, he thought that after everything that had happened; his death, all the years that passed, and everything he had done, all the people he had killed, all the times he tried to kill Bruce himself, somehow, he thought that all of this nullified the fact that Jason was his son. It sounds ridiculous now that he thought of it. And he doesn’t know how to feel. But hell, if he was gonna run into Bruces arms crying.
‘He is trying to be better.’ Jason had already shifted half a step back in case either one of them changed their minds. ‘Your son?’ Superman scanned him as if he could find an explanation anywhere written on him. Maybe why the son of a vigilante turned into a crime lord? He turned to face Bruce again, who was still looking at Jason. ‘I don’t understand. Since when –’ But when Superman glanced back at Jason he was already gone. He learned from the best after all.