Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jason sighed as he realized he could feel the music the club was pumping out, even from a building away in the alley where he was stashing his bike. He was extremely glad he’d made sure his helmet had a good noise regulator.

He’d gotten to the club a half hour early for his meeting with the leader of a group of drug smugglers and her lieutenants. His original plan was to slip into the club through a back entrance, then keep an eye on the main room from the second floor until the meeting. And he had been on his way to doing just that when he saw the girl at the front of the line.

She was thin and on the shorter side with light brown skin. Her hair was chin-length, curly, and a pitch black that faded to a dark red at the ends to match her lipstick. Although she’d styled her hair, makeup, and clothes in a way that made her look older, he’d have placed her at seventeen max.

No one was allowed in the club unless they were twenty-one.

Jason hovered in the shadows near the corner of the building, watching as the bouncer looked over her ID with a frown.

“Just send her in. She’s fine,” the other bouncer huffed from where he was flirting with a guy slightly further down the line.

“I don’t know.”

Bouncer Two rolled his eyes and came over. He looked at the ID and scoffed. “It’s fine, Mark. Just let her in.”

Mark squinted at her and repeated, “I don’t know.”

“Mark!”

“Hey, if you wanna be caught sending in underage girls, be my guest. I’d like my head to stay out of a duffle bag.”

“You’re just being paranoid again. Her ID’s perfect. Get moving before the boss gets mad at us for holding up the line.”

Jason saw Mark starting to give up and figured it was time to step in. Pulling on Red Hood, he swaggered out of the shadows and up to the line. Those who didn’t immediately fall quiet at the sight of him started whispering with their neighbors. Both bouncers stiffened and the girl eyed him cautiously. Thankfully she didn’t look scared of him, and she didn’t flinch away when he wrapped an arm around her.

“There you are, Little Red. Hope I didn’t make you wait too long, beautiful.” He gave the bouncers a none-too-subtle glance over. “Any trouble, boys?”

“N-no, Mr. Hood. Just making real sure she’s of age. Don’t want no kids in here.”

Hood laughed and grabbed the girl’s ID. “Yeah, my Little Red’s got a babyface. But she’s definitely a woman.”

The bouncers laughed -- nervously so on Mark’s part -- and let them through.

He led her to the VIP area and into a small booth, the girl pressed to his side with his arm around her shoulders.

“Mr. Hood,” she said once they were settled. “I’m grateful that you got that guy off my back, but I’m not, uh…”

Her accent was primarily Latin North, but there were a few of Gotham's other accents too. Mostly the Crime Alley offshoot of the Narrows accent, but there was a little bit of Diamond too with a hint of Bristol posh layered over it. The latter was odd, but not entirely out there. It wasn’t unheard of for those on the Northside to have a bit of Bristol in their voices if they grew up watching the bigwigs bossing their parents around.

“I would hope not,” he spun her ID between his fingers, “Miss Olivia Draper. I don’t date kids and I don’t like people who do. This is a good fake. A really good fake. You certainly got your money’s worth. But I’m guessing you’re, what, fourteen?”

The address on the ID placed her in Bowery’s Hispanic neighborhood, but it also said she was twenty-two.

She glared at his helmet, then looked away. “Eighteen.”

“Try again.”

She didn’t say anything.

“Alright, fourteen it is, then.”

“If you think I’m underage, then why’d you let me in?” she asked, eyeing him.

“Because those idiots were going to let you in either way. At least now someone’s keeping an eye on you.”

“You could have just told them to send me off.”

“And you just would have ended up somewhere else.”

“So what, you’re going to babysit me out of the goodness of your heart?” she said with a raised eyebrow that suddenly reminded him of Alfred.

He shoved down the feeling and tugged her closer. “I didn’t say that. Normally I’d have one of my ladies pick you up and take you home or to a shelter. Tonight I’m feeling generous enough to make a deal.”

“What kind of deal?”

“I’ve got a meeting soon. I came early to keep an eye on things to make sure nothing shady is happening.”

“Aren’t you a crime lord?”

“To make sure nothing shady I don’t approve of is happening,” he corrected with a snort.

“So it’s true?” she whispered. “You do protect people. And not in a racket sense.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” he grunted. “I make sure people keep their hands away from where they’re not wanted, make sure all the drugs are both clean and only sold to people old enough to know they’re throwing their lives away, and make sure kids are being taken care of and are allowed to be kids. That’s it. I’m not protecting anyone; I’m just a scumbag with rules.”

“If you say so,” she said, sounding entirely unconvinced with sharp brown eyes that almost seemed to be studying him. “So how do I factor into this?”

He scooped her up and dropped her on his lap, managing to keep his hands polite while making it look like anything but to the outside observer. “I’ve noticed people are braver when they can both see me and think I’m distracted,” he answered in a low voice. “And apparently, having a girl in my lap is supposed to be extremely distracting.”

“Most guys would find it distracting,” she shot back, slipping her arms around his neck.

“I suppose.” He’d never really gotten it himself, and Dick had only managed to confuse himself while trying to explain it, but there must have been something to it with how often Selina got one over on Bruce purely by pressing up against him (Ew!) so he’d used it to his advantage a few times since coming back to Gotham. It worked like a charm. “But I’m a lot more focused than most.”

She hummed then shifted awkwardly. “So what do you want me to do?”

“Just sit there and look pretty,” he said, then looked up at the waiter coming towards them. He put one hand on the girl’s knees and the other on the back of her neck, gently guiding her head to his shoulder. Quietly, he added, “If you start feeling uncomfortable, cough and I’ll stop immediately.”

She nodded, and the action thankfully came off more like a nuzzle.

“Can I get you two anything?” the waiter asked, voice pleasant if slightly nervous.

“Nothing for me,” Hood grunted, running his fingers through Olivia’s hair. “How about you, Little Red?”

She pulled back to look at him through her lashes. Humming, her finger started drawing circles on his chest. “How about a Cinderella?”

“Well, you heard my princess. And make sure there’s nothing in it. I want her to be nice and sober for what we’re doing later tonight and I won’t be happy if I find out that’s not the case.”

“Of course, Mr. Hood,” he agreed quickly. “I’ll be right back with that.”

“Should I be concerned about how good you were at that?” Hood asked once they were alone again.

“No, I’ve just taken a couple of acting classes.”

He didn’t buy it, but he decided not to push it. Instead, he focused his attention on the club.

Tim had planned to spy on Marisa Cortés’ meeting with the Red Hood by going undercover at the club they were meeting above. Tim had planned to snake a camera up the vent in the storeroom next to the bathroom.

Tim’s plan had been carefully calculated, even if he’d had to go behind the other Bats’ backs.

Tim’s plan had been thoroughly destroyed long before she walked into the meeting on the arm of the Red Hood himself.

She was starting to regret Olivia.

The idea had been good when Tim had first come up with her. Caroline Hill -- the first undercover alias he’d used -- had been awkward, but he’d realized what was wrong while thinking over the mission for his debriefing report. It was the proportions and attention that was getting to him, not being a girl in general. So he’d changed his plans for Alvin Draper to Olivia instead. Olivia could pass for older than Tim could pull off and women really could get into places easier if they had conventionally attractive faces. With makeup, a more modest chest piece, and some stylish-yet-inexpensive clothes, Olivia could pull off most undercover ops. She was Tim’s Matches Malone.

Then Hood had shown up on the scene. Most of Gotham was unaffected, but a lot of people in the Narrows, especially Crime Alley, started becoming paranoid about anyone who looked just a little too young. Young men and women that Tim knew were eighteen or older were still getting turned away and even Olivia -- who had one of Oracle’s perfect-to-the-point-of-technically-being-legal IDs -- would sometimes get sent off “just in case.”

She’d tried to look a bit older, but apparently, that hadn’t worked. The one bouncer had thought she was eighteen and Hood had somehow managed to think she was younger than she was.

She was fifteen, not fourteen!

This brings her to her current situation: being babysat by Gotham’s newest crime lord and getting a front-row seat to the meeting she’d been trying to spy on.

Cortés was already there when they entered, sitting at a table with some of her lieutenants and talking to a young man who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there. Hood relaxed slightly, for reasons Olivia would already have known even if he hadn’t explained before the meeting. It was no secret that Ray Cortés was spoiled rotten by his mother. She doted on him every chance she got and had killed men for trying to use him against her, to the point there were rumors that she’d had her husband killed not for his power, but because he’d taken a swing at Ray. Up until recently, she’d kept him out of the business, but she’d started bringing him to safe meetings after he turned eighteen. Hood thought she’d bring him in for the meeting, counting on Hood’s rumored care for children to keep him in check. That was the only reason he was bringing Olivia in with him. Had Ray not been there, he’d have assumed something was up and sent her back out to their table.

Instead, he led her to a chair across from Cortés.

“Red Hood,” the leader of the Víboras greeted him. “Welcome, would your friend like a chair?”

Sticking to the ruse, Olivia slipped into Hood’s lap before he could answer.

He set a hand on her hip. “No, I like her right here.”

“You got here a little early. A few of my boys are still distracted in the club, but I’ve made sure they’ll be here soon. It seems you’ve found a little distraction yourself, though.”

He shrugged. “Little Red and I had plans before I got your invitation. Decided to bring her along instead of making her wait until we could have our fun later.”

Ray leaned forwards, eyes slowly roving over Olivia. “I’d be happy to keep her company during your meeting.”

Skin crawling, she fought the urge to lean back from his gaze. She went to cough; both because she’d probably accidentally start a gang war if she was left alone with Ray and because she needed eyes on the meeting.

Before she could make a sound, though, Hood was already wrapping a protective arm around her waist. “Sorry, I don’t like to share.”

Ray frowned -- pouted, really -- but didn’t push it.

The last of Cortés’ lieutenants arrived soon after and the group got to business.

Cortés and Hood were only just starting to work together so the Bats had already picked up most of the information passed around, but there were a few things Olivia made note of and she got a good bit of information on an upcoming Víboras shipment.

Altogether, it was a good op. The only issue was Ray. He continued to stare at Olivia off and on throughout the meeting. About halfway through, her eyes met his and he winked.

She knew it was a bad idea, but the creep was getting on her nerves. She dropped her hand into a spot where only Ray could see it, then flipped him off.

He immediately bristled but didn’t get a chance to say anything before his mother turned to ask his opinion on something. She smiled and relaxed a little more into Hood as Ray fumed.

Once the meeting was over, Hood led her back out to the main room, but he stopped them near the bar instead of heading back toward their table.

“I know what I said before, but I think we should just head out now.”

She looked up to see him watching Ray as he slinked into the VIP area, the other’s eyes not so subtly glancing toward Olivia.

Grateful to both avoid the creep and not have to spend a couple of hours pretending to be a party girl, she stepped closer to her escort. “Sounds good.” 

They left the club and she expected him to leave her as soon as they were out of sight, but he kept leading her down the street.

“I’m guessing you don’t have a ride, being fourteen,” he said.

“I’m not fourteen, and I’ll be fine.”

“Sure, kid.” He turned her down an alley and up to a bike. He grabbed a helmet from the saddlebags and tossed it to her. “Get on.”

“And if I say no?”

“I’m sorry, did you think I was asking?”

She crossed her arms.

“Kid, you can go ahead and walk off, but I’m just going to follow you anyways to make sure you get somewhere safe so you might as well get on.”

She scowled and put the helmet on. She gave him the address for the apartment she used as a safe house and slammed the helmet into Hood’s gut when they arrived. She also slammed the door to the building, earning a dirty look from the guy in 3B who liked to hang out near the mailboxes.

She changed out of her Olivia guise and waited half an hour to be sure Hood was gone, then headed home.

“Doesn’t it make you feel weird? You know, getting called a girl and stuff?”

Olivia shrugged, despite the fact Stephanie couldn’t see her. It didn’t feel weird. Sometimes it felt off, but then again sometimes it felt nice. Mostly, though, it didn’t feel like anything. It wasn’t really any different than being treated like a boy. Just a change in pronouns and a slightly different wardrobe, and the latter was just to fit in at the bars and clubs she had to frequent as part of the job. “Nah. It’s just kind of whatever. It doesn’t matter.”

“Huh. I don’t know. I think I’d feel weird if I had to go too long being called a guy.”

“Maybe it’s just different for girls.”

“Pretty sure guys are supposed to be the ones that get the weirdest about that stuff.”

“I don’t know then.”

Stephanie hummed. “Could Olivia go out for a girls’ day with me?”

“Girls’ day?”

“Yeah. We’d go shopping and get our nails done. I haven’t had a good girls’ day since Cass left.”

Olivia bit her lip as she thought about it. She did need some new clothes and getting her nails done could be fun, but they shouldn’t let their secret identities and aliases get mixed up.

Then again, connecting Olivia to Cluemaster through Stephanie could come in handy…

“I’ll think about it.”

“Cool.”

“Stephanie?”

“Shoot! Got to go!”

She snorted as Stephanie hung up. The blonde was home with a dislocated elbow so her mom had banned all vigilante stuff until she got the all-clear from Leslie. That didn’t technically mean Tim, but Tim wasn’t exactly Tim right now either. Olivia was spending the night out on the town, making appearances for appearances’ sake. Currently, she was at a bar in Calle Habana enjoying the music and keeping an ear out for gossip.

She was just sticking her phone back in her purse when someone sat down at her table and wrapped an arm around her. “Well, well, if it isn’t Little Red?”

She brushed the arm off and turned to give Ray Cortés a blank look. “Do I know you?”

Not taking the hint, he set his hand on her thigh. “We weren’t properly introduced. I’m Ray Cortés. We met a week ago when you were on Hood’s arm.”

She stood up. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“That’s alright, baby. How about I buy you a drink and -” He tried to grab her, but she stepped away.

“Sorry, I was just leaving,” she said and walked away.

“Aw, don’t be like that sweetheart.”

She kept walking, pulling her phone back out as she headed for the exit. She called for a taxi, then leaned against the wall of the alley, waiting.

A hand wrapped around her wrist.

“Get lost,” she huffed and yanked her arm, but Ray held on. “Final warning.”

“Come on, let’s go back inside,” he said, trying to pull her back to the bar.

She dug the heel of her stiletto into his foot and slammed the palm of her free hand against the underside of his chin.

“Ngh! You little bi-”

“What’s going on here?”

The two looked up at the large figure looming over them on the neighboring building’s fire escape.

“Nothing,” she said, crossing her arms.

“None of your business,” Ray huffed.

Red Hood leaned against the fire escape’s railing, one of his hands resting casually on the holster at his hip. “If nothing’s happening then you can run along, Cortés. I need to talk to my Little Red.”

Ray scowled at the man and for a moment it looked like he was going to grab the knife on his belt, but then he turned and went back into the bar.

“Since when am I yours?” she growled as Red Hood made his way towards her.

“Since no one else is keeping an eye on you.”

“I can take care of myself.”

He hummed. “Nice palm strike.”

She shrugged and turned back to the road.

“I’ll take you home.”

“I already called for a taxi.”

He leaned against the wall next to her. “Then I’ll wait with you until it gets here.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“He’s watching us through the window. The moment I leave he’ll be out here.”

“Don’t care. Why are you even here?”

An explosion sounded nearby.

“Nevermind,” she sighed and he chuckled. She looked down at her phone when she got a text and gave him a look. “My taxi just canceled.”

“Guess you need that ride after all.”

“Fine,” she spat out after reminding herself that she’d have to burn Olivia if she ended up having to go Robin on the Víboras’ spoiled prince.

There goes an entire night of work. And it was too late to join on patrol, too. Maybe she could sneak out after Hood dropped her off?

He held out his hand as they turned the corner. “I’ll be taking the fake ID you used to get into that place.”

“I didn’t even drink.”

“Don’t care, hand it over.” When she didn’t, he cocked his head. “Kid, I will search you.”

She dug the card out of her purse and slapped it into his hand. Great, now she was both losing a night and she had to beg for a new ID from Barbara. She hoped the redhead wouldn’t ask how she’d lost two cards in just over a week, but she doubted it. “You’re the worst.”

“Well I am a crime lord,” he chuckled and started leading her away.

“Do you bother all the girls like this?”

“Only the underage ones.” He seemed to realize what he said a moment later as he cursed and pointed at her smirk. “You know what I mean.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

She could feel his annoyed glare through the helmet. “Maybe I should talk to your parents. Put the fear of me into them so they’ll make sure you stay home at night.”

She couldn’t hold back a snort when she imagined him going all the way to Peru just to tell her parents that their son was spending her nights sneaking into clubs with a fake ID and a dress.

“What? You think I won’t?”

“It’s not that,” she said, shaking her head. “My parents are out of town right now.”

“Then who’s keeping an eye on you?”

Nobody, Tim could answer honestly with an eye-roll. He was fifteen not five.

My live-in housekeeper, Tim would tell anyone who asked, even if Mrs. McIlvaine didn’t check in much more than seeing if she needed to make him any meals for the day or if he’d be going out. She didn’t need to watch him, but he’d learned to exaggerate after seeing how weird Bruce and Dick got about it when he told them he wouldn’t be in boarding school anymore.

“I’m an adult,” Olivia said because she was supposed to be twenty-two.

“Try again.”

“My aunt stays with me,” she sighed. Clearly Hood wasn’t buying her fake age and likely never would.

He stared her down and she glared right back.

“Alright then.”

Chapter Text

Tim yawned as he pushed open the door to Olivia’s apartment. He’d been up late the night before because Riddler had decided to be especially difficult. Then he’d caught a quick nap before zeta-ing over to San Francisco to help his team track down a device stolen from a software company that worked with the military.

A part of him had wanted to just zeta into the cave and sleep until dinner in the room Bruce had generously given him for the times when night turned into day before they could head in, but his parents were supposed to be home for the weekend. He’d told all the Bats they’d be home. He didn’t want to have to explain that their flight got canceled so they’d just decided to go straight to their next stop since the next flight to Gotham would mean they’d barely have time in the city at all so it wasn’t worth it.

The others always got weird over how little his parents were around, especially whenever they had to cancel a trip home. And he got it, kind of, but it wasn’t like his parents were neglecting him. He had more than enough money in his allowance to buy anything he might need, even without Mrs. McIlvaine doing all the grocery shopping. He had a roof over his head that was far nicer than most. His parents always answered his emails within a day, sometimes even within an hour if he timed it around their schedules, which they made sure he had access to. They usually called once a week unless something came up or the phone service was too bad wherever they were working (and they always emailed if they weren’t going to be able to make that week’s call).

It wasn’t their fault their work meant they couldn’t be home much. Tim wouldn’t even be home much if he hadn’t decided to stop going to boarding school so he could be Robin more, and if anything he saw his parents more now than he had back then. They’d barely ever been able to call since his boarding school had been strict about phone use and now he could be home to see them during their short stops in Gotham instead of just having to hope their trips would line up with his vacations.

The point was: Unless he wanted the others to get weird about his parents being gone, he couldn’t zeta to the cave. With that out, he’d figured he’d just go to the closest safe house to the main zeta in Gotham, which happened to be Olivia’s. He’d dyed his hair and slipped in his contacts, but otherwise just relied on his baggy clothes and black eye to hide his lack of makeup and chest piece.

It worked. The few people he’d bumped into had all called him Olivia without blinking. 3B mailbox guy had even whistled at his eye and asked, “You have a boyfriend in need of a talk, girly?”

Which meant he made it to the apartment and could finally crash for a few hours before he needed to grab something to eat and head to Wayne Manor.

Except he couldn’t because someone was sitting on his couch. “What are you doing here?”

Hood rolled his shoulders, relaxing on the couch a little more. “I came to talk to your aunt.”

“She’s not here. Come back later, or better yet, never.”

“See the funny thing is, I don’t think she’ll be back later. In fact, I don’t think she exists.”  He held his hand up, showing Tim the ID he’d confiscated a few days before. “I did some digging. The ID is fake, of course, but I couldn’t find any evidence of Olivia Draper anywhere else either. Just the rent and utilities for this place and a bank account under your name that you deposit a few hundred in cash into every week. No school, no job, no phone, nothing.”

“So I get paid under the table and have a burner phone like a lot of people in Gotham,” Tim said, crossing his arms. “What’s your point?”

Hood cocked his head. “My point is you don’t seem to exist. So I went digging more. You’ve lived here for around a year, and your bank account is about that old. There’s some awareness of you in the months leading up to that, but otherwise, you seem to have come out of nowhere. You’re not for sale, but you’re good as a pretty face or for a bit of information in return for information or a bit of cash. Though you don’t seem to be making what’s landing in the bank through just that.

“I couldn’t find a single connection between you and any Drapers in Gotham. Although strangely, I did dig up some info on a boy, Alvin Draper, whose description is pretty similar to yours. He was a runner and only around for a few weeks before disappearing shortly before you started popping up. No one has any idea where he went, most just assumed he got picked up by CP&P or traffickers or got in too deep and ended up in the harbor.”

He knew Olivia was an alias. Wonderful. Tim braced himself to start running.

Hood leaned forward, looking ready to follow. “So here’s what I’m thinking: You left home, either because you ran or you were kicked out. You used Draper so no one could figure out who you were. You were a runner, then managed to snag a better job. Something more secure, dealing in information and better paying. It let you be able to make the change to Olivia and get settled here. Sound about right?”

Tim just glared at Hood, giving nothing away. He was already too close to the truth, Tim wouldn’t tip his hand by agreeing or arguing.

“Alright then. I’m not going to push.”

Tim snorted.

“You’ve got a safe roof over your head, that’s more than most street kids can say. I won’t ruin it if I don’t have to. I just need you to answer a few questions.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Then you need to learn when I’m making a request and when I’m telling you you’re going to do something.”

He flipped the crime lord off.

“So this job of yours,” Hood said, ignoring him. “Is that the reason for your eye?”

“Would you believe me if I said no?”

Hood snorted.

“It’s not in the job description if that’s what you’re worried about. My boss isn’t hitting me or letting other people hit me.”

“But your still getting hit.”

“It’s Gotham. I can get hit just walking down the street. Trust me, my boss doesn’t want me to get hit.” If Bruce had had his way, Batgirl and Robin never would have existed. But Barbara had pushed and then so had Dick, Jason, Tim, Cass, and Stephanie. All Bruce could do was prepare them for what they’d face and watch over them like a guardian demon. Demon, not angel, because Tim was pretty sure guardian angels weren’t supposed to break people’s bones whenever their charges got hurt.

Misunderstanding, Hood said, “Because you’re a pretty face?”

“I thought we already established I’m not selling myself or anything.”

Hood relaxed back again. “Just need to be sure, kid. I have rules, remember.”

“My boss doesn’t work in the Narrows.”

“But you do, and that’s good enough for me.”

Tim sighed and rolled his eyes. “I’m a pretty face, but that’s all anyone gets to see. And if they try to touch, they get the same treatment Cortés got. I also don’t go near drugs or anything else like that. It’s like you said, I deal in information. Just information.”

“Information can still be dangerous.”

“I’m careful.” Then Tim decided to tip his hand, just a little. “I mean, I got quite a bit of information on the Víboras two weeks ago without breaking a sweat, didn’t I?”

There was a pause, then Hood laughed. “You little sneak.”

Tim stiffened as the man stood up and came near, but he couldn’t see any aggression so he didn’t pull away as the man reached over to pat him on the shoulder.

“Alright, kid. I’ll back off, for now. I’m still going to be keeping an eye out for you, though.”

“Or you could not?”

Hood ignored him as he headed towards the window. He paused, leaning against the frame. “One last question, and feel free to just tell me to fuck off on this one. With the Olivia thing, was that your boss’s idea or-Are you a girl? Boy? Agender or genderfluid?”

Tim was already raising his middle finger when the question registered. “It wasn’t his idea. I…” He wasn’t a girl. At least, he didn’t think so. It would feel bad to be called a boy if he was a girl, right? But shouldn’t the same be true in reverse? He shook his head, deciding to focus on something else. Like he usually did whenever he thought too much about Olivia. “I dunno. What’s agender and genderfluid?”

Hood looked him over for a moment, then got off the windowsill and returned to the couch.

“Hey B.”

Bruce grunted, not looking up from the work he was doing on the computer.

“Can… Can I talk to you about something?”

“Is this about the Víboras?” he asked. “Or maybe why Barabra’s had to issue you two new IDs in just over a week?”

“No, it’s-Never mind. Sorry for bothering you.”

“Tim,” Bruce called as Tim tried to leave. He grabbed Tim’s shoulder and turned him so they were facing each other. He set his other hand on Tim’s other shoulder and looked him over. “What’s going on? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine. It’s nothing like that. It’s not important.”

“It seems important.” He squeezed Tim’s shoulders. “How about you just tell me and I’ll decide if it’s important?”

“I just… I’ve been thinking this past week and I… I might be genderfluid. But I’m not sure. I’m still looking up some stuff. Like I said, it’s not important right now. I’ll just -”

“Hey, no,” Bruce said, rubbing his arms. “I’m glad you told me.”

Tim nodded, staring down at the ground.

Bruce’s hands sat awkwardly on his shoulders, then dropped back down onto the chair’s armrests to tap against them. “Do you need anything?”

“No. That was it. Sor-”

“No,” Bruce said quickly before Tim could try to run off again. His fingers dug into the chair’s armrests. Why was talking to his kids -- to anyone, really -- always so hard. “No, is there something I can get you? To help? Like how Dick used to have his binders. Do you need something or… a name change? Do you want to change your name? What pronouns should we use?”

“Oh, uh, no. I don’t think I need anything. And Tim’s fine. I like Tim. Um, can I get back to you on pronouns? He/him is fine for now, but…” Tim shrugged.

Bruce nodded. He’d need to do some research. “Just let me know if that changes. I’ll update your file.”

“Actually,” Tim said before Bruce could turn back to the computer, “can we leave this off for now? I haven’t told anyone else yet.”

“Of course,” Bruce said, his voice soft and his chest warm as he realized Tim had come to Bruce first. Tim had trusted him before anyone else. He hesitated, then held his arms out. As Tim accepted the hug, he said, “Thank you for trusting me with this. Let me know if there’s anything you need. Even if you just want to talk or if you decide to tell one of the others and want someone at your side.”

Tim nodded into Bruce’s chest. “Thanks.”

Red Hood watched over the working women with a smile.

The smile quickly fell as he heard someone join him on the roof.

Turning, he drew his gun, then holstered it a second later.

Olivia froze in the doorway of the roof access. “Should I come back later?”

“No, it’s fine,” he said, sitting down on the parapet and looking her over.

He’d seen her a few times over the past three weeks since he’d called her out, but hadn’t felt the need to talk to her. He hadn’t figured out how to broach the topic of school yet (She was a teenager! Job or not, she should still be getting some form of education. Actually attending high school was probably out of the question since she was playing herself off as twenty-two, but maybe an online school? Or she could use her fake ID and get a GED?) so he was sticking to his promise to back off unless something came up.

She’d gotten another fake ID, but he didn’t see the point in taking it. Her boss was likely the one supplying them so the only thing he’d accomplish is getting her in trouble for losing it. Besides, the only thing she used it for was to get into places kids weren’t allowed. She did buy alcohol, but careful observation proved she never actually drank it. It always ended up either abandoned, in a planter, or spilled in a drunken accident. The alcohol was just a prop to help her fit in while she gathered information. It was a simple tactic, one he’d seen Brucie pull at parties all the time.

She hadn’t turned up with any noticeable injuries after the black eye and he hadn’t seen or heard about any more altercations like the one she’d had with Cortés’s punk, so the only slightly worrying thing was something he spotted when he hadn’t even been Hood. He’d stopped at the mall on his way to get groceries to grab a replacement for a shirt he’d bled through and spotted Olivia hanging out with a girl he’d recognized as the daughter of Arthur Brown aka Cluemaster. It was possible the two just happened to be friends and he couldn’t find any evidence of the daughter being involved in her father’s business, but there was a chance Cluemaster was Olivia’s boss and he didn’t like it. Thankfully, the chance seemed to be low since he couldn’t find any other connections between Olivia and him. He’d considered asking Talia for more on Cluemaster from her Batman-stalking files, but the villain never operated in his territory and wasn't part of the plan so Talia would wonder why he was asking and that would risk bringing Olivia to her attention. The kid didn’t need to be on the League’s radar.

So he’d been keeping his distance, but now she was in front of him. His quick look didn’t reveal any injuries and she looked calm so she wasn’t up on the roof trying to hide from someone. She wasn’t dressed up like normal, though she also wasn’t as dressed down as she’d been the last time they’d talked. She was wearing baggy clothes again, but she’d put on just enough makeup to soften her face and her hair was pulled up into a small ponytail. Dressed down meant she probably wasn’t working so she wasn’t on the roof for a meetup. The building wasn’t hers, but she could be visiting a friend. If she was just looking for air, though, why come up to the roof instead of just stepping onto the fire escape?

“What are you doing here?” he decided to just ask.

“Looking for you.”

He watched her walk over to sit next to him, letting his silence pose his question for him.

“I heard you’ve got a meeting with one of Thorne’s guys in two days.”

“Where’d you hear that?”

She smiled up at him, blinking innocently.

Someone should be very relieved that he didn’t care who knew about the meeting. “I might. Not that I expect anything to come from it. Thorne is playing it off like he wants to talk about keeping the peace, but the truth is he lost business when I took over and he wants it back. That’s not happening, though. I know how Thorne works.”

“He doesn’t follow other people’s orders, especially when they limit his profit,” she said, nodding. “He’ll just try to get around your rules.”

“Or try to put a bullet in my head,” he snorted. He watched the working women for a moment before focusing back on Olivia. “Why are you asking anyway? Do you work for Thorne?”

“Yes, because of course I’d admit it if I did.”

“Shut up.” While he respected how much of a smartass she was, that didn’t mean she wasn’t still a smartass.

“Actually, I was just wondering if you were looking for a distraction to bring with you.”

He frowned, staring at her. She couldn’t be suggesting… “You want me to take you with me?”

“It’s a fair deal. You get underestimated and I get information. Just like last time.”

“Last time I had assurance that the meeting was safe. Did you not hear me say Thorne’s probably planning to put a bullet in my head?”

“You’re wearing a helmet.”

“Kid.”

“I know how to take care of myself. I’ll be gone the moment something starts happening.”

Hood stood up to loom over her. “Did your boss put you up to this?”

“No,” she said, looking away.

“Try again.”

“I’m serious. He, uh, doesn’t exactly know anything about this.”

He crossed his arms, feeling a headache start to form. “And by this, do you mean the meeting or me?”

“Both? I mean, he knows there’s a meeting, but he doesn’t know I’m looking into it. And he knows who you are, obviously, but he doesn’t know about,” she made a vague gesture, “whatever this is.”

“Because you’d get in trouble for consorting with another crime lord.”

“No, well, yes, kind of. He doesn’t want me getting too close to any of the big names. Especially the ones with a gimmick. But he specifically warned me to stay away from you.” And then she rolled her eyes. “He thinks you’re extra dangerous.”

Was… Was she kidding? He trained with the League of Assassins. He was going toe-to-toe with Black Mask and Batman. And he was coming out on top. His danger level wasn’t worth an eye roll. “Kid, did you miss the duffel bag of heads? Do you understand my body count? Hell, I practically stalked you for a few days there and broke into your apartment.” It had to be said, even if he’d been trying not to think about it. He was at most four years older than her and he’d only been trying to make sure she was safe besides, but he was still an eighteen-year-old man digging into the life of a random minor. That really should have been more of a red flag to the kid.

She rolled her eyes again. “First, I’m in the information business, remember? I’ve even stalked people before. Not my best moment, but it means I know the difference between stalking someone and digging around to make sure someone isn’t in a bad situation. Second, I know you can be dangerous. I’m not stupid. I just also know you’re not dangerous to me. You don’t hurt kids.”

“I thought you were an adult.”

“I am, but you’re convinced I’m not so I still fall under that protection.”

“That…” was a good point. He didn’t want to be Batman. He wanted the people he protected to know he was safe and that they could come to him.

He just hadn’t expected them to write him off as not dangerous.

She reached up to pat his shoulder, giving him a faux-reassuring look. “Don’t worry. Everyone else seems to think you’re very scary.”

“I will push you off this building.”

“No, you won’t,” she shot back with a smirk. “And even if you did, we both know you’d catch me.”

Hood stared down at her as a memory echoed in his head.

“Keep it up and I’ll drop you, Little Wing.”

“Nice try. You’d just catch me again. You’d never let me fall.”

Shit, was this what it was like being a big brother? He didn’t want to be a big brother. Especially to a brat like Olivia. He just wanted to make sure she was okay like he did for all the kids in the Alley.

Except she didn’t live in the Alley and he usually didn’t devote so much time to one kid. Oh man, he’d gotten invested. Was this how Bruce had felt when he found Jason stealing his tires?

Oh no, was he becoming Bruce!?

“So will you take me with you?”

“No.” No, he wasn’t Bruce. He wasn’t going to take a kid with him to a meeting that would very likely involve gunfire.

“What? Why?”

“Because it’s not safe.”

“I can -”

“No, kid. It’s not happening.”

She glared up at him and stood up. As she walked away, she called over her shoulder, “Fine, then I’ll figure out my own way into the meeting.”

“I’d like to see that,” he snorted. The meeting wasn’t going to be in a club that she could get into just by flashing her ID and doe eyes.

“Then I’ll see you there,” she said and shut the door to the roof behind her.

Chapter Text

“Here you are, sir,” the waiter said as he stopped at the table in the private room Colby Ledford had booked. Ledford was already sitting at the table with some muscle standing behind him and a trio of young women seated next to him.

“Hood! Good to see you,” he said, standing up to shake Red Hood’s hand before sitting back down and pulling the blonde into his lap. “Please have a seat.”

“Can I get you anything?” the waiter asked.

“I’m good,” Hood grunted and sat down opposite Ledford.

“Come on, Hood, relax a little before we get to business! Drinks are on me!” Ledford jeered, toasting him.

“I’m good.”

The waiter quickly nodded and left.

“Well at least enjoy one of the girls.”

The ladies, who’d looked bored behind their working smiles, perked up at the suggestion. The brunette even winked at him while the one with silver hair shifted a little closer.

Before he could object, a voice -- a familiar voice, one that shouldn’t have been there -- said, “I believe that seat’s mine.”

He turned to glare at Olivia, knowing his helmet would hide the expression.

She was dolled up even more than normal with makeup and an updo befitting a semi-formal engagement. She was wearing a high-necked red cocktail dress that fitted in perfectly with the high society women that dotted the tables of the Iceberg Lounge’s main floor above them. She had a champagne glass in hand, though he assumed it only held club soda given she took a sip from it as she slipped into his lap.

She batted her eyes at him, wearing a smile that leaned a little too close to smug to pass as flirtatious for anyone who knew better. “Sorry for slipping away. I just wanted to grab something from the bar since I knew you wouldn’t be drinking. At least,” she stroked the cheek of his helmet, “not until later.”

Was this karma? Was this the universe punishing him for that time he’d taken Robin for a joyride before Dick had given him the title? Because if so the universe needed to mind its business and stop endangering kids.

Ledford sat forward to leer at Olivia. “And who’s this?”

“My Little Red. Don’t mind her, she’s just a bit clingy. Couldn’t bear to be away from me for even an hour.”

He chuckled, still leering. “No hardship for you, huh?”

Hood wrapped his arm around her. “Let’s just get to business already.”

As he’d assumed, there wasn’t much to the meeting. He’d successfully talked in circles enough to make Ledford think he was learning something without actually learning anything. In return, he gave Hood a few details on a deal Thorne was working on with Black mask as well as some weapons coming into Dixon Docks. The latter probably meant more to Olivia since he never went that far south, but he did make a note to keep an eye out for any extra weapons making it onto the streets in his territory.

Then Ledford leaned forward and the atmosphere of the room shifted. It wasn’t obvious, and the women didn’t notice, but Hood could see the change in the men’s posture. Ledford was about to get to real business and the muscle knew it.

Olivia yawned and slid off his lap. “All this talk is booooooring! And my drink’s empty. I’m going to go grab another drink. Maybe dance a little.” She pressed a kiss to his helmet. “Feel free to join me when you get done here.”

“Don’t go too far,” he grunted.

She winked, then turned to the ladies. “You three wanna leave these guys to their man talk and have some fun?”

They looked less than thrilled, then the silver-haired one glanced down. Her eyes immediately shot back up and she smiled. “Sounds fun!”

Confused, but hiding it well, the blonde and brunette took their friend’s lead and followed Olivia out.

“Hurry back, ladies,” Ledford called after them before turning back to Hood. “Women. Anyways, I was hoping we could talk about Ricardo Street. Mr. Thorne’s not happy your little takeover has pushed our guys out. I’m hoping we can come to a… compromise.”

Hood flicked the safety off on the gun Olivia had slipped out of his holster.

She was gone when he went looking after Penguin’s men broke up the meeting. He headed to her apartment to find she was in her bathroom. He waited on the couch until she came out, her hair pulled up in a towel with a pair of baggy sweatpants and a t-shirt hanging off her thin frame.

“I figured you’d be here,” she huffed, but otherwise ignored him as she went to the kitchen.

“I told you you couldn’t come tonight.”

“I’m pretty sure you told me you’d like to see me come.”

He rolled his eyes. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Not my fault you underestimated me.” She came back carrying a mug. “Maybe next time you’ll just bring me with you.”

“There won’t be a next time. What you did was reckless? You nearly ended up in a shootout.” Shit, he really was becoming Bruce.

She raised an eyebrow as she sipped from the mug. “No, I didn’t. I left the moment things started to go sideways. I was perfectly safe. I even got Gemma, Stacy, and Lisa out with me.”

“And what if Ledford hadn’t let you leave? He could have tried to use you as a hostage or hurt you to try to get at me.”

“Please. He’s an idiot and a sexist one at that. I knew it wouldn’t occur to him that you’d care what happened to your arm candy because he wouldn’t care what happened to his. That’s why I got them out.”

“Kid,” he growled.

“Don’t kid me. I had everything under control.”

“You are not doing that again.”

“You can’t stop me.”

“Oh yeah?”

Hood scowled as an arm linked with his just as the doors to the warehouse opened.

“I’m going to kill Derek this time,” he muttered once they were past the guards.

“Please don’t. And if it helps his case, I didn’t manage to sneak past him this time. Turns out my friend spiked my tea bags with sleeping pills. I noticed in time, but my babysitter didn’t.”

“Your friend tried to drug you?”

“Calm down. I have insomnia and that was the tea I only drink when I’ve been up for more than thirty-six hours.”

“How long have you been up?”

Olivia just patted his arm.

“I tied you up!” Hood snapped after their latest meeting.

Olivia rolled his eyes. “You need better knots.”

He’d learned those knots while training with the League of Assassins.

“Also, you tied me up too close to the knife drawer.”

He sighed. “This needs to stop.”

Crossing his arms, Olivia leaned against Hood’s bike. “Well I’m not going to stop collecting information, so are you going to stop vouching for me?”

“No.” He couldn’t, and Olivia knew that. He wasn’t safe on Hood’s arm, but he was safer than he’d be without Hood. “But something needs to change or you’re going to end up -” In a warehouse, beaten, with a timer ticking down until… “- dead.”

“I’m -”

“Careful. So you’ve said.”

“He’s just worried, Tim. You’re spending a lot of time around Red Hood’s territory.”

“And I told him there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Hood has threatened you.”

“Hood threatened Robin, not Olivia.” And Tim wasn’t entirely convinced Hood’s threats were actually as threatening as Bruce and Dick were making them out to be. Hood didn’t hurt kids, which everyone knew Robin was. If anything, the threats were probably just another example of Hood’s mother-henning. Like how Hood had kidnapped her last night -- and by that, she meant Hood had stayed at her apartment for the night so she couldn’t go anywhere.

Unfortunately anywhere hadn’t been information gathering as Olivia, but patrol as Robin, which meant Tim had had to call Bruce and tell him she couldn’t go out. That led to an argument about her going out as Olivia too often, especially so near the Narrows. As a result, Dick felt the need to call and make sure she was okay. And she was. She knew Bruce was just worried. He and the others only saw the dead bodies, the fights with Black Mask, and the threats against all the Bats.

They hadn’t seen how kind Hood was with the prostitues and how protective he was of the kids in his territory. They hadn’t seen Hood nerd out while trying to talk Olivia into joining an online school or the way he fretted every time someone so much as looked at a weapon while she was nearby. They hadn’t seen firsthand how protective his rules could be. She wasn’t stupid enough to think Hood was a good guy (he was a crime lord who had gift-wrapped heads in a duffle bag), but that didn’t mean he was one of the bad ones.

“Hood knows a lot of things he shouldn’t Tim. Probably more than Bruce has even told me. He knows about Matches, so he could know about Olivia.”

Tim doubted it, but if Hood did know, then either he was being bizarrely patient or he wasn’t going to do anything about it. “I’m fine.”

There was a moment of silence, then Dick asked, “Is it… Tim, if this is about wanting to be more feminine, you know we’ll support you. You don’t have to be Olivia for it. ”

“Thanks, Dick, but that’s not what this is about. Promise. I’ve just been getting a lot of good information lately.”

“No information -- no matter how good -- is worth you being in danger.”

A click sounded behind her and she turned to see Hood pulling open her window. “I know. I’ve got to go now.”

“Alright. Be careful, little sibling. Talk to you later.”

“You too,” Tim said and hung up.

“Am I interrupting something?” Hood asked as he reached back through the window he’d climbed through to grab a duffle bag off the fire escape.

She hoped the bag of heads wasn’t getting a sequel.

“No, just my co-worker calling to hassle me over not showing up last night.” When Hood’s posture shifted into something protective, she quickly added, “Not in a bad way. He’s kind of like my big brother. He and the others are worried I’m working too hard. I couldn’t exactly tell them you’d placed me on house arrest so I told them I had a job last night.”

“Why didn’t you just tell them you were taking the night off?”

“Because then at least one of them would have assumed I’d been forced to say that at gunpoint and come running over here.”

Hood snorted and set his bag on the coffee table in front of her.

“Shut up.”

“That should tell you something about your work ethic, kid.”

“I don’t like not working. If I don’t have anything to do, my head goes all,” she made a vague motion.

“Then get a hobby.”

“Information is my hobby.” She loved putting facts and numbers together. If she didn’t have a case, she had true crimes, mystery and strategy games, and cold cases. And if that failed, she had mission and patrol reports as well as all sorts of Drake Industries files. Bruce and Lucius even let her look through some of Bruce’s work for WE sometimes.

“And yet you don’t want to go to school.”

“Give me a textbook and access to the internet and I’ll learn more in a few nights than I would in an entire semester of school.” She’d done it before.

Hood shook his head and unzipped the bag. “You’re just like my brother and d-the old man.”

“Really?” she asked, leaning forward. Hood had never mentioned something as personal as his family before.

“My brother couldn’t sit still if it meant the fate of the world. He’s smart enough to have steamrolled through any major he wanted, but he just didn’t have the patience for all the schoolwork and ended up dropping out of college early on. And the old man goes crazy if he doesn’t have something to do. Gets all paranoid and everything.”

She filed the information away and opened her mouth to ask for more information, only to have a bundle of fabric thrown in her face. She pulled it off her head to see it was a black motorcycle jacket with brown detailing and a red lining. “What’s this?”

“Put it on. With these.” He dropped a larger bundle into her lap. “I want to make sure everything fits.”

Frowning, she ran her fingers over the fabric. “Are these armored?”

They were. She recognized it as one of the better lightweight protective fabrics. It wasn’t as good as the kinds LexArms and S.T.A.R. Labs sold nor as good as the kind GRC designed for the Bats, but it was still high quality and she’d come across it a lot. The League of Assassins and other similar mercenaries especially liked to use it. Which was why it was strange that Hood’s suit was made of the stuff. Black Mask, Penguin, and Two-Face might have been able to get ahold of the fabric if they ever tried, but Hood was new blood. He shouldn’t have had the connections or money to kit himself out, let alone what he’d need for replacements and repairs. He certainly shouldn’t have been able to randomly gift her with some.

“Yup. Now go.”

The full outfit lived up to her Little Red nickname. Black pants tucked into brown motorcycle boots that matched both Hood’s jacket and hers. A red tank top fit under the jacket while a red scarf wrapped around her neck over it as a nod to his helmet. The scarf had a rebreather hidden in it, allowing her to seal it to her face under the guise of pulling the scarf over her nose.

“Why does this scarf have a gas mask built into it?” she asked, coming out of her room.

“Because we live in a city that frequently experiences chemical warfare.” Hood came over to check the outfit, zipping the jacket up all the way and fitting the mask over her face. The clothes were a little loose, but not enough to be unsafe, and the mask sealed correctly.

“Are you going to explain what all this is about now?” she asked, pushing the mask down.

Hood crossed his arms and gestured for her to sit down on the couch, which she did. “You’re not going to stop showing up.”

“Nope.”

“And I can’t babysit you every night nor can I trust anyone else to do it.”

“Derek, Anya, and Min tried their best.”

“So we’re going to make a deal. I’ll bring you with me to meetings, but you have to do everything I tell you to while we’re there. Immediately.”

“Alright, deal,” she shrugged.

He moved in front of her and knelt so they were face-to-face. He grabbed her shoulders and said, “I’m serious. If I tell you to stay somewhere, you stay there. If I tell you to go, you leave. No arguments. I need to trust that you’ll get to safety the moment things go bad and be where I need you to be in case of an emergency. I-I need to be sure if I tell you to stay out of somewhere, you will. No matter the circumstances. So you’re going to promise to do everything I say -- and mean it -- or I’ll have to take drastic measures.”

“Drastic measures?” she asked with a frown. What would that mean? She knew Hood wouldn’t hurt her and he didn’t trust the police or CP&P.

His grip on her shoulders tightened. “I’ll hand you over to Batman.”

That was not what she was expecting. “What?”

“He’s a bastard, but he’ll at least make sure you get placed somewhere safe and can ensure you stay there.”

“Unless he makes me a Robin,” she joked out of lack of anything else to say. Because she’d be in more trouble than Hood realized if he dragged her to Batman.

Bruce would be ticked if he found out she’d not only ignored his order to keep her distance from Hood but had actively been working with him. Olivia would be burned for sure and Robin would be benched indefinitely. Being benched meant not being able to hang out with the Titans in person. It meant limited cave time.

It meant Dick wouldn’t visit as often without the excuse of patrolling with her. Or worse, he’d visit more to assure her she was still part of the family even while benched. Then either his day job, his vigilante work, or his health would end up neglected (most likely his health) and it would be Tim’s fault.

It meant Stephanie would get weird about hanging out with her like she always did whenever Tim was benched.

It meant Cass might even feel obliged to come back early to watch Bruce’s back since Robin wasn’t doing it, and she was having such a good time in Hong Kong. Tim couldn’t ruin that.

Bruce could not find out and bench Tim. That meant she had to make sure Hood didn’t try to hand her over to Batman, which wasn’t something she’d ever planned for given the stories Dick and Bruce had told her made it seem like he hated Batman.

Before she could start plotting, he abruptly stood. His hands fell to his side in painful-looking fists, twitching towards his holsters. “I won’t let that happen. I’ll put a bullet through his head if he even thinks about trying to put another kid in those colors, especially you.”

Oh. Oh yeah. She was right. Hood’s threats against Robin were just mother henning. Even worse, he was one of those people who seemed to think Batman press-ganged them into being Robins and Batgirls. As if Bruce had control over any of them. As if she and the girls hadn’t been out there getting into trouble before he ever took them under his cape.

She swallowed down her usual response to those kinds of comments and grabbed Hood’s wrist. “I’m just kidding, Hood. Chill. I’ll be good.”

He stared down at her for a moment before stepping back with a breath that was loud enough to sound through the helmet. His fists clenched and unclenched as he slowly calmed down. Voice hard, he said, “You’ll follow my every order.”

“I will,” she agreed with all the sincerity she had.

He nodded and took another step back.

Deciding to lighten the mood, she leaned forward and pointed at one of his holsters. “So does the outfit come with a gun?”

“So you can accidentally shoot yourself?” he snorted.

“I know how to shoot a gun! My dad taught me.” Alfred had actually taught her, but not for lack of trying on her dad’s part. A year back, he had decided to take her to the range for a Father-Son Day. It’d been a nice day out, even if she’d had to fake inexperience. He’d even taken her out for ice cream afterward.

“Do you know real gun safety or Crime Alley gun safety?”

“Oh shut up,” she said and he laughed.

Mission accomplished.

Chapter Text

Little Red pulled his scarf down as he slipped out of the rooftop access of the warehouse Hood was meeting in. He pulled the comms that were disguised as earbuds out of his pocket and put them in his ears. He connected them to Batwave to see what the others were up to and give Oracle a heads up in case Hood’s and Two-Face’s goons came to blows.

“Got her in my sights,” Spoiler announced and he frowned.

He knew the girls were doing recon that night, but he thought they were investigating a warehouse. Steph hadn’t mentioned anyone in particular Oracle was having her look into.

“You’re good to engage, but this is non-confrontation, remember. Fall back the moment you sense a fight.”

She’d made it seem like it’d be entirely waiting and watching, no engagement at all.

“I know, O.”

He brought his hand to the comm to switch on his audio and ask about the change.

Boots hit the roof behind him with the distinctive soft scuffle of someone who normally moved silently, but wanted others to know they were there.

As far as he was aware, there were only six people in Gotham who could walk quietly enough that they’d need to make an effort to be heard, not including himself. Cass never made the effort to be heard (and wasn’t currently in Gotham besides). Despite his best efforts, Bruce had two volumes of footsteps: undetectable and obnoxiously loud, with no in-between. Red Hood strangely had a Robin’s grace and would sometimes purposely make himself known, but he made even less of an effort to do so for Little Red than Dick did for Tim (the assholes liked sneaking up on him to scare him). Alfred probably wouldn’t have any reason to be on a semi-abandoned warehouse on the edge of the Narrows, and wouldn’t be wearing combat boots even still. Which only left Dick or…

“Hey.”

Little Red spun around as he heard Spoiler’s voice both in person and through his comm. He couldn’t see her face behind her mask, but he could see the way she stiffened at the sight of his face.

He darted forward.

“You’re -”

She cut off as he slapped his hand over her mouth.

They stared at each other for a moment.

“Spoiler?” Oracle asked.

After smacking his hand away, Spoiler signed, “What the fuck?”

“Spoiler?”

“What are you doing here?” he signed back.

“Come in, Spoiler.”

“Me!? What are you doing here!?” She punched his chest, then frowned. “Are you wearing armor? Please tell me you are not Little Red and we got some bad info.”

“Spoiler, respond!”

He grabbed her wrist when she opened her mouth, then quickly signed, “I’ll explain later. Don’t tell O!”

“Nightwing, I’ve lost contact with Spoiler.”

“I’m here, Oracle,” Spoiler said, glaring at him. “Sorry. The target freaked out and started crying.”

He frowned at the excuse and she flipped him off.

“I was trying to calm her down, but she just booked it back into the warehouse. I’m going to fall back before I get company.”

“Alright. Don’t go radio silent like that again. Fall back to Seventh and Jacob.”

“On it.” She punched him in the arm and signed, “You owe me. Big.”

“Thank you! Breakfast tomorrow? My place?”

She nodded, then grappled off the roof.

Tim fidgeted under Stephanie's glare as she finished off the waffles he’d gotten delivered.

She’d explained that Oracle had sent her to Two-Face’s warehouse, not realizing Hood’s meeting had gotten pushed up. When Spoiler spotted Little Red splitting off, Oracle had recognized him from chatter about Hood’s “sugar baby” so she sent Spoiler in for a wellness check and to see if they could get any info.

He’d explained how he’d met Hood and their subsequent meetings that had resulted in him becoming Little Red.

Judging by her glare, Stephanie hadn’t approved of any of his actions.

“So…”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Steph-”

“You do realize Hood has talked about how he wants to kill you, like, multiple times, right? I know the others are trying to hide the specifics, but I overheard Babs listening to one of the recordings. He was very descriptive.”

He rolled his eyes. “Hood doesn’t hurt kids. He protects them. He probably just said those things to freak out B because he’s one of those people who think B dragged us into this instead of the other way around.”

“Lame.” She took a sip from her smoothie. “As if I’d ever let an emo furry tell me what to do.”

“Don’t call him a furry,” he groaned.

“Who’s a furry?”

Stephanie jumped and the two turned to see Red Hood climbing through the window Stephanie had left open after using it for the same purpose.

“Batman,” Tim answered.

“He’s an emo furry,” Stephanie emphasized and Hood snorted.

He leaned back against the window frame and looked them over. He pointed at Stephanie. “You’re Stephanie Brown, right? Cluemaster’s kid?”

Oh no. Tim knew that face. That was the face she’d made the first time they’d met.

The one she’d made right before she decked him with a brick.

“And you’re Red Hood, the Joker fanboy.”

And that was the particular way Hood stiffened which meant Little Red needed to quickly de-escalate or a lot of people were going to get shot, most of them fatally.

He gently kicked Stephanie’s leg. “Would you not antagonize the crime lord, please?”

“You’re the one who said he’s harmless.”

“He is,” he said, ignoring the look Hood sent him. The crime lord wouldn’t hurt Stephanie since she was a kid. If she kept it up, though, he’d probably give an empty threat that she’d interpret as real. Then she’d hit her panic button and he’d have to call Barbara to stop her from sending Dick or Bruce, which meant explaining why Hood was in Olivia’s apartment threatening Stephanie and… “That doesn’t mean needlessly annoying him is a good idea.”

“If he’s going to bring up my asshole dad, I’m going to bring up his asshole namesake. Fair’s fair,” she shrugged.

“Or we could all just agree not to bring up any assholes we may be loosely connected to,” Tim offered, looking between them.

She snorted but didn’t object.

Hood tilted his head in that way which Tim knew meant he was rolling his eyes. “Speaking of assholes we’re connected to: How do you two know each other?”

“She’s my girlfriend,” Tim explained at the same time that Stephanie said, “He’s my ex.”

They shared a look.

“She’s my ex,” he said as she said, “He’s my boyfriend.”

“Right,” Hood said slowly with amusement clear in his voice.

“It’s complicated,” Tim sighed.

“I saw another girl kiss him and automatically assumed he was cheating on me so I ghosted him for a while. He was understandably mad and I realized I might still be going through some stuff after my last boyfriend disappeared off the face of the earth right before I found out I was pregnant, only to show up later to simultaneously try to get back together with me and berate me for giving the kid up for adoption. So we decided to have a break to figure shit out,” she offered.

“It’s complicated,” Tim repeated when Hood just stared at them. “We’re not dating, but we haven’t broken up either.”

“We’re in relationship limbo. It’s not helped by the fact that he’s still coming to terms with his gender and I’m still trying to figure out if I’m into girls.”

“Femme girls,” Tim corrected with a smirk. “You definitely like girls. I’ve seen you checking out Cassie. And Kara. And -”

“I’m not checking them out, just their muscles. Of which you have none.”

“I have muscles!”

“Baby muscles.”

“Lean muscles!”

“Yeah, I’m just gonna go,” Hood cut over their bickering.

“See ya,” Steph waved him off.

“Sorry, was there something you needed?” Tim asked, turning to him with an apologetic look.

Hood tossed him a thumb drive.

He stared at it blankly, then lit up. “Is this…?”

“Yep, which means you can have a night in. And that’s not a suggestion. Take your not-girlfriend on a not-date or try sleeping for once.”

“Fine,” he huffed, already pulling out his laptop. He’d probably spend the night organizing the info on the Víboras to hand over to Bruce anyways.

“I’m serious.”

“Yeah, yeah, Steph’s probably going to spike my tea or food anyways.”

Hood looked at her. “You’re the one drugging him?”

“He has a prescription,” she shot back. “He just forgets to take his pills on his own when he gets focused on something so I like to get creative.”

“I told you there was nothing to worry about,” Tim said distractedly.

“If you say so, kid. Stay in tonight.”

“You got it.”

Hood shook his head and left.

“Mother hen,” Tim snorted. “Bet he thinks I don’t know he’s meeting with the Cortéses tonight. It’s not like I wanted to be in the same room as Ray ever again anyways. Not unless it was to take him down.”

“Tim, what the fuck?”

“So what’s going on tonight?”

“Why do you think something’s going on tonight?”

“Maybe because you’re here, cooking me dinner, instead of doing any number of crime lord activities you could be doing instead.”

“Maybe I just wanted a night off.”

“You’re just as much of a workaholic as I am.”

“Maybe I wanted to do something for your birthday.”

“It’s not my birthday. It’s not even my fake birthday.”

“Well, you didn’t tell me your real birthday so I decided to pick one for you.”

“So Scarecrow then?”

“Mad Hatter.”

“Gross… Can you make those caramel chocolate cookies?”

“Can you take your meds without needling?”

“If my ankle wasn’t sprained, I’d kick you out the window.”

“Uh-huh, sure ki-Wait, what’s wrong with your ankle!?”

Jason was peacefully doing maintenance on one of his pistols with some tea and an audiobook when someone knocked on his door.

He waited a moment to see if they would leave before they knocked again, and this time they didn’t stop knocking. Cursing under his breath, he put down the gun, turned off the book, grabbed his other gun, then went to open the door.

“Who the fu-” he cut off, as he cracked the door open to see a familiar kid on the other side.

She looked like she was wearing part of a school uniform with her black pleated skirt, white blouse, navy and silver knee-high argyle socks, and black Mary Janes. Her black shoulder-length hair was even pulled into a neat bun with a silver bow, her red streaks nowhere to be seen. Add in a blazer, tie, and sweater vest and she could have walked right off Gotham Academy’s campus. Large black sunglasses hid her eyes, but not the tears falling down her cheeks.

“Olivia? What’s wrong? Are you hurt? How did you find this place?” He was positive he hadn’t told her about that particular safe house. Five of his most loyal lieutenants knew a couple of his safe houses and Olivia knew a few more on top of those, but the one he was in at that moment was his favorite safe house. It was one of three that he’d reinforced to the point he felt safe enough to sleep in it. It had the best view, just high enough that it caught most of the Alley and out past the docks to the ocean. It had no noisy neighbors since he owned not only the apartments on either side of it, but also the ones above, below, and across the hall from it. Best of all, it had a really good kitchen for the area. He’d made sure not to tell anyone about that safe house. He hadn’t even told Talia, though he was sure she still knew. “More importantly, who do I have to kill?”

She didn’t look at him as she pushed past him to flop facedown on his couch, dropping her backpack on the coffee table.

He watched her for a second, then shut and locked the door. He went to put on his helmet, then hung her backpack on the coat rack. Next, he started the electric kettle and grabbed a bottle of water.

He poked her shoulder with it. “Drink. I’m not explaining why I’ve got the body of a teenager on my couch to my cleaners just because you died from dehydration. I have a reputation.”

Snorting, she sat up and took the bottle.

Once she’d gotten through half of it, he nodded to the hall. “Bathroom’s the first door on the left if you want to clean up.”

“Thanks.” She finished the water then grabbed her backpack and disappeared down the hall.

When she returned a half hour later, the schoolgirl outfit was replaced with bright green leggings and an oversized Wonder Woman hoodie. Her makeup had been touched up and the red streaks had reappeared in her hair, which was left down.

“Is that my jacket?” he asked as he handed her a mug of tea.

“No,” she lied and curled up on the opposite side of the couch as him.

He stared at her.

She stared back.

“We’ll come back to that. How did you find this place?”

She shrugged, then gave a long explanation that included descriptions of spreadsheets and timelines, absolutely unnecessary commentary on the creativity of the aliases he’d used to buy or rent his safe houses, and a fair bit of stalking, both physical and cyber.

By the end of it, he’d lost any remaining sense of guilt he’d still held onto from when he’d first checked her out. She clearly felt no guilt for doing the same and more.

A part of him wondered if he should be more worried about the locations of all his safe houses ending up in the hands of someone whose job revolves around gathering and selling information, but he brushed it off. Considering how easily she explained it and the fact her boss had told her to stay away from him, he figured she hadn’t sold him out yet. Which hopefully meant she never would.

“You’re unhinged,” he said when she finally finished talking. “And also too smart for your own good.”

“It’s not that hard to figure out if you think about it,” she muttered into her tea.

“Sure, kid.” It’s not like he’d managed to keep hidden from Batman or anything. “So now that we’ve figured out how you got here, do you feel like talking about why you’re here?”

She spun her mug in her hands for a moment before muttering something.

“What?”

“My… My parents came home early.”

“Your parents?” He tried to remember if she’d ever told him anything about her parents but came up empty aside from a joking mention of her father teaching her to shoot when he’d first given her gear. He'd mainly heard about her co-workers and boss, treating them like family instead. Honestly, he’d assumed she was an orphan. Or as good as. “They’re still in the picture.”

She snorted, but it came out more of a sob. “They’re still alive if that’s what you meant, but… they’re out of town a lot for work so I take care of myself.”

“They go out of town and just leave you alone?”

“My aunt stays at the house, but she’s really just there to watch the house. Unless I don’t check in for a while, she doesn’t pay much attention.”

“So they go out of town and just leave you alone,” he reiterated and she sighed. “So they came back early, and that’s a bad thing?”

“I don’t spend much time at the house when they’re not home if I can help it. I’d rather be out with my friends or at my apartment or my boss’s house. I usually only go home long enough to check in with my aunt or if I need to grab something. I, uh, needed to grab something today and they weren’t supposed to be home until this weekend and I knew my aunt was out so… My parents don’t know about Olivia.”

He thought about the schoolgirl outfit she’d been wearing when she arrived. “Do you mean the job Olivia or your gender Olivia?”

“Both.”

“Shit.”

“They only found out about the second, though. Mom seemed upset, but Dad took it well. Or I thought he did, for a moment, but when he was calming mom down he said that it was okay because the trans thing is in right now so they could work with it to seem progressive and he got mad when I tried to explain that I wasn’t a trans girl and, well-Anyways, I’m not allowed to come back. Not until I stop messing around and just pick one or whatever.”

“Shit.” He moved closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry.”

“I mean, nothing’s changing. I wasn’t really living with them anyways and I already knew they wouldn’t approve. That’s why I told everyone except them and my aunt! This is just confirmation, nothing new. I just -- Why does it feel like everything’s different? Why does it hurt so much?”

“Parents suck.”

He thought about Willis’s harsh fists and sharp words. He thought about his mother choosing the escape of a high over spending a bit more of her little time with him. He thought about the Joker, still living it up in Arkham, while little Timothy Drake was running around in Jason’s death shroud. He thought about Sheila just standing there.

He thought about the ache when he found out what happened to Willis. He thought about cradling his mother after realizing she wasn’t breathing, sobbing into her hair. He thought about the bomb underneath the Batmobile that went undetonated. He thought about trying to free Sheila, even when it hurt so much to move.

“Sometimes parents hurt you or just don’t care enough about you and you wish you could not care about them in turn, but it’s not always that easy. You can’t choose to just stop loving someone like flipping a switch, even if you really want to. Just… Just try to remember that you didn’t do anything wrong. They’re the ones with issues, not you. You don’t deserve to be treated like this.”

She nodded and turned to press her face into his chest.

After a startled pause, he wrapped his arms around her.

Chapter Text

Admittedly, showing up at Red Hood’s door hadn’t been Tim’s brightest idea. She just hadn’t known where else to go after her parents kicked her out.

She could have gone to Stephanie’s or called Kon for a pickup, but her friends would have just tried to cheer her up and she wasn’t in the mood. She similarly wasn’t in the mood to deal with Bruce’s awkward, though heartfelt attempts at comfort. Barbara had work and there was no way she was going to be able to hold herself together long enough to make it to Blüdhaven, let alone Hong Kong, so Dick and Cass were both out as well.

That only left Hood, who was surprisingly big brother-shaped underneath all the crime lord stuff. If she’d been more with it, she would have gone to one of the safe houses she was supposed to know about and used the panic button to bring him to her. At the very least, she would have stopped somewhere to change into Olivia instead of showing up partially wearing her school uniform with femme Tim Drake’s face.

She just couldn’t stand to be alone for any longer than what the trip took.

Thankfully Hood hadn’t questioned her much. He just asked a few questions, then let her cry herself out on him. Even after she’d gotten ahold of herself, he’d just put on an old monster movie for them to watch together and started doing weapon maintenance. Then he’d made her dinner and let her crash in what appeared to be an unused guest room.

She could already hear the lectures she’d receive if any of the other Bats heard about that.

Hood was in the kitchen when she got up. “Late breakfast?”

“Sure, thanks.” She sat down at the table, staring at the shiny red metal wrapped around his head. “Did you sleep in that?”

“Who do I look like, Black Mask?”

“Hey, in his defense, Steph and I are pretty sure that the original Batgirl/Robin duo accidentally did something to lock him in the skull and the three of them are hiding it because he’s embarrassed and they think it’s a funny inside joke.”

He froze, staring at the pan he was using to make crema de maíz. “That makes a disturbing amount of sense.”

“Right!? Also, you didn’t answer the question.”

He shot her a look, then went back to cooking. “No, I didn’t sleep in it. You, however, clearly slept in my jacket.”

She tugged the hood over her head. It wasn’t her fault she didn’t have a change of clothes in her school bag. She was just lucky she’d had to bring her PE leggings home because her substitute teacher had taken offense to the green color and made her get black ones at the student store (she was planning to bring them back the moment her usual teacher was back from paternity leave). Without a backup, her options had been her itchy blouse, her thin undershirt, or stealing something from Hood. Stealing won. As she’d predicted, he was the perfect size for his jackets to be optimally floppy and that hoodie in particular was just as soft as the ones she’d liberated from Dick.

He was never getting it back.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. This is mine.”

He pointed a knife at her. “If you think I won’t kill you over my favorite jacket, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Uh-huh. Sure. Says the guy threatening me with a butter knife.”

“You think I couldn’t kill someone with a butter knife?”

“Someone else, sure, but not me. You’re too much of a softie.”

“Get out of my apartment.”

“Sure, after breakfast.”

He threw his hands in the air and went back to the food, grumbling under his breath.

She watched him for a moment before starting the kettle. “Thanks for, you know, yesterday.”

His annoyance quickly fell away. “It’s fine, kid. I’m glad you weren’t alone and I doubt you would have come here if you had a better option. Just don’t go telling anyone about my safe houses because then I’d have to beat the crap out of you and that would just be awkward after you rubbed your snot all over me last night. Also, don’t break anything if you don’t have the money for a replacement.”

“It’s not Kay’s fault he didn’t realize you’re a sap who likes boring Victorian romance novels. How was he supposed to know you were actually reading Sense and Stability and it wasn’t just decoration?”

“It’s Sense and Sensibility and Austen lived during the Regency era.”

“Okay, nerd,” she chuckled, rolling her eyes. “How does anyone believe you’re a big scary crime lord?”

“Probably because I gave a bag full of heads to the city’s most prominent drug dealers,” he deadpanned.

Before she could respond, music started playing on her phone.

"He was a boy. She was a girl. Can I make it any more obvious?"

She pulled it out, turning toward the hall. “It’s Steph. Be right back.”

"He was a punk. She did ballet. What more can I say?"

He waved her off.

“Hey -” she started once she answered, only to be immediately cut off.

“Where are you!? You said you were going to stay in last night, but when I stopped by Liv’s apartment with surprise dessert, you weren’t there. I thought maybe you were at your house, especially when I checked the cameras and saw your parents are in town, but I checked to see if you made it to school during homeroom, and not only are you not at school, but your parents pulled you out!? Something about private tutors!? What is going on!?”

Her parents had… “Do the others know?”

“I didn’t tell them, but if you hadn’t picked up, I would have gone full Empty Nest Protocol. I still might if I don’t get an explanation! What’s going on? I might have thought it was Hood if your parents weren’t being weird. Did something happen? Do they know about Robin?”

“No. They just-We got into a fight. It was bad so I left. I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

“Are you okay?” Stephanie asked, voice softening. “Does Babs need to call her dad on them? Or better yet, do I need to pay them a visit.”

“Yeah, no, and no. Please don’t tell the others.”

There was a pause before, in a suspicious voice, she asked, “Where are you if you’re not at Liv’s or your house? Babs would know if you went to a safe house or out of town.”

“I’m at a safe house, just not one of ours.”

“Are you with Hood right now?”

“We’re not in the same room, so technically -”

“What happened that made you go running to Hood instead of me!?”

“I told you, I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

“Empty. Nest. Protocol,” Stephanie growled.

“Look, we can meet up after school, okay? I’ll explain then. I can’t do this over the phone, Steph. Please.”

She groaned. “I swear, if you die, I will find a way to bring you back just so I can beat the crud out of you. The Batburger by my school. You’re paying.”

“Thanks.”

“You really are okay, right? You’re not just saying that?”

Tim sighed and wrapped her free arm around herself. “I’m not physically hurt. Mentally and emotionally, I will be okay. I’m better than I was last night. Hood helped. I just need to figure some stuff out. I’ll see you after school.”

“One more thing: Hood isn’t being a creep, right?”

“He hasn’t done anything Dick wouldn’t do. I keep telling you he protects kids. He’s not going to hurt me.”

“Uh-huh. Just be careful, Timmy. See you later.”

“Back at you.”

Hood was setting a bowl on the table for her when she came back into the living area. “Everything okay?”

“Steph somehow found out my parents pulled me out of school and freaked out. I’m meeting up with her later to tell her what happened.”

He leaned back against the kitchen counter. “So you do go to school?”

“Did. I just said my parents pulled me out.” She’d have to give it a week, then reregister herself for classes.

Except, her parents would notice if her tuition started coming out every month again, even if she gave the school a fake email for them. Olivia didn’t have that kind of money and Tim’s allowance sure wouldn’t cover it.

If she even got an allowance still. Her parents might even have canceled her account to reinforce the lesson. They’d done it before.

Although, before she’d still had the means to access food, shelter, and education. She could sign herself up for public school (maybe go to school with Stephanie or figure out where Bernard ended up after Louis E. Grieve shut down) and she could stay at Olivia’s apartment (not that they knew that existed), but she couldn’t use Olivia’s account (which they also didn’t know existed) too much without Barbara or Bruce noticing.

Did she want Bruce to know? If she told him, he’d feel obligated to do something about it. He’d at least try to get custody from her parents, and there was still a chance that it wouldn’t be necessary. Her parents weren’t transphobic or homophobic or anything. They were just worried about how it would affect Tim, them, and the company if it got out. Once he calmed down, her dad would realize being genderfluid wasn’t actually any different than being just trans female (maybe she could even put together a slideshow of LGBT facts for him since he loved slideshows) so they could still push the progressive angle. Then he would talk her mom around and they would let her come home before they took off for Peru or whatever. Everything would go back to normal if she could just hold out until then.

That meant she’d need to figure out how to supplement her expenses so she didn’t raise suspicion.

“Shoot. I’m going to need to get a job,” she groaned. Maybe she wouldn’t sign up for school then. At least, not until her parents take her back. It’s not like it’d be hard to catch back up and working during school hours would mean it’d be less likely she’d get caught and she wouldn’t have to sacrifice casework time. She’d only need something small, just to keep food on the table and purchase things she didn’t want the other Bats to know about.

“You have a job.”

Right, Hood was still there. “A second job. Part of my income came from my parents. If they cut me off, then I’ll need to get a second job. Or ask my boss for help, but I’d rather not. I can take care of myself.” At least until she talked her parents around.

He watched her for a moment then grabbed his bowl off the counter and nodded at hers. “Eat.”

As she started to eat, she watched him retreat to his room and considered where she’d apply to work.

Jason paced as he ate.

He didn’t like Olivia’s situation, not one bit. Part of him wanted to track down her parents and teach them a lesson. Part of him wanted to track down her boss and put the fear of Hood into the bastard so he’d pay his employees a living wage as Hood did. Part of him just wanted to make sure the kid he’d reluctantly gotten attached to was taken care of.

His pacing paused as the third part caught onto part of the second.

Hood had cleaned out all the creeps, drug dealers, and narcs from the youth shelters to make sure the street kids had a safe place to sleep and grab dinner while also striking a deal with the local schools so the street kids could still get free breakfasts, lunches, and education without risking someone calling CP&P. His employees were paid a fair wage and had medical benefits. His employees were encouraged (with threats) to keep their kids in school and to use the free daycare Hood had set up to ensure kids could be cared for while their parents were working. His employees were encouraged (with cash bonuses) to get their GEDs if they hadn’t finished school. He even made sure his employees had help filling out the paperwork and applying for financial aid if they wanted to get higher education.

Most of that had never applied to Olivia.

Admittedly, she was more working with him than for him, but that hadn’t stopped him from wrapping her in armor or trying to talk her into going to school.

Hell, she was responsible for most of those policies since he’d created them while trying to be productive after having to put a pause on ticking off Black Mask so he could figure out a way to do it that wouldn’t put Little Red in the crossfire.

Why hadn’t he ever paid her in anything other than information she could have (would have) gathered on her own? Why hadn’t he ever tried to give her a reason to go to school? Why hadn’t he done more to ensure she wasn’t being abused than just checking her for injuries?

He could do it all now. He could make sure she kept going to school. He could pay her so she didn’t have to get a second job or do extra work for her boss. He could try to talk her into cutting down on her time working for her boss (he didn’t have high hopes for getting her to quit altogether considering he’d been trying to do that for almost as long as he’d known her).

He could make sure the kid was taken care of.

His mind made up, he finished eating and put his helmet back on. He went into the living area to see she was still at the table, slowly eating as she tapped at her phone. He sat across from her and plucked the phone from her hand.

“Hey!”

“I’ve got a proposition for you,” he said, setting the phone down out of her reach. “One that will make it so you won’t need to get a second job.”

Her eyes narrowed and she set down her spoon. “What do you have in mind?”

He leaned back, crossing his arms. “We’ve been working together for a while, yet you don’t get any of the benefits the rest of my employees do.”

“Because you don’t hire minors,” she pointed out.

“I think we’re well past that, kid,” he snorted.

“So you’re, what, going to start paying me for being your arm candy? What’s the catch?”

“There are a few things. First: You’re going to keep going to school.”

“You would make that a requirement.”

“I can help you get the paperwork you need since Olivia Draper is supposedly twenty-two,” he continued, ignoring her commentary.

“I could just get my GED as Olivia,” she muttered under her breath, then said, “It’s fine. I can sign up under my real name. My parents won’t notice as long as they don’t have to pay for anything.”

Of course they wouldn’t. “Alright. The second thing I want is for you to cut back on how much you’re working. Take some time for yourself. You’re a kid, take the chance to act like it. Take your not-girlfriend on not-dates, make some friends that aren’t co-workers, join a club, be in the school play, whatever.”

“I knew you were a theater kid,” she grumbled. “And I have a life outside of work.”

“Sure, kid.” As if she didn’t only ever mention doing stuff with her co-workers or Stephanie. Her co-worker took her out for ice cream. She went to her co-worker’s dance recital. She was improving her computer skills with her co-worker’s help. She was playing video games with some of her co-workers. Her co-worker kidnapped her so they could spend the day at the Metropolis Boardwalk. Either she was using co-worker as a cover or she only ever hung out with the people she worked with. “So live it.”

She mirrored him, leaning back and crossing her arms. “I guess I can try cutting back a little. It has been a while since I could get over to the skate park.”

“There you go. As for my final requirement,” he hesitated, knowing this would be the hardest sell, “I want you to keep me updated on your comings and goings. Always let me know when you’re going out and where you’ll be. And be truthful when doing so.”

“Excuse me?” she hissed and he raised his hands.

“I don’t need to know what you’re doing or with who. I just want a general location so I either know you’re safe or can warn you if I find out something’s going down. I also want you to start carrying a panic button. It will have a tracker in it, but I’ll only be able to see your location if it’s active. You’ll be able to activate it in case of emergency or I can activate it remotely, but you’ll know if I do that and I’ll only do it if I believe you’re in danger and you’re not picking up your phone. Alright? I just -- If I do this, then I’m taking responsibility for you. I need to make sure you’re safe.”

Her shoulders hunched up and she looked away. After a moment, she said, “I’ll think about it.”

Well, it wasn’t an outright no, so he’d take it. “Alright. Take your time.”

Stephanie wrapped her arm around Tim’s shoulders. “Sorry, Timtim… You sure you don’t want me to visit your parents?”

“It’s fine, Steph. Really. They just need some time to cool down and get over their shock,” she sighed, leaning into the half-hug.

“Uh-huh, if you say so…” Stephanie set down her milkshake. After grabbing an afternoon snack, they’d retreated to her house so they could talk without having to worry about eavesdroppers or talking in code. “Now, what? You’re just going to live at Liv’s place until either your parents take you back or -- more likely -- Bruce figures out what happened and adopts you.”

“Yeah, why not? I’ve already been staying there half the time anyways to keep up appearances with Hood and it’s close to your school so we could go together.”

Stephanie pulled back to be sure Tim could see her incredulous look. “You mean you’re not going to try to use this as an excuse to take a break from school? You. Miss I’ll just call myself out sick for the whole week, it’s fine! Really?”

“My parents will be more willing to hear me out if I keep up my grades while I’m on my own.”

Tim had said it so matter-of-factly and expecting good grades from Tim after pulling her out of school certainly sounded like the Drakes, but Stephanie still felt like she was missing something. “Right. Why not stay at the manor, though? Your parents have probably already split town so I’m sure you could convince Brucie that they want him to keep an eye on you while they’re gone. Plus, your parents would like whatever Richie Rich Bristol public school is closest to him way more than they would good old Wayne Memorial.”

“Technically since Grieves closed down, the closest to the manor would be South Wayne Memorial High School, so my parents probably wouldn’t notice if I went to North Wayne Memorial instead.”

Stephanie shook her head. “Timmy, Timmy, Timmy. It’s just Wayne Memorial or WM High. Only Diamond or Bristol Babies call it North Wayne Memorial. I’m warning you now, you are going to get the shit kicked out of you before First Period’s even over if you come to school talking like a Bristol Baby. And don’t think I’ll help you. I’m only even willing to hang out with you in public -- as Tim, not Liv -- because everyone thinks I’m your sugar baby.”

“Wow, Steph. Wow,” Tim deadpanned before letting out a few giggles.

“Every woman for herself, Bristol Baby,” Stephanie snickered, lightly shoving her. “Seriously though, why don’t you stay at the manor? It’d be a lot easier to do Robin stuff.”

“I… think I’m going to cut back on the Robin stuff, actually,” Tim said, sobering up. “Just until I get everything settled with my parents.”

“You want to take a break from Robin? Who are you and what have you done with Timothy Drake?”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

“Come on. You know it’s going to be hard enough keeping this from Babs and Bruce. The less time I spend around them the easier it will be.”

“Or you could just tell them.”

Tim leaned forward, fidgeting with her hands. “If I told them, they’d just jump to conclusions.”

“The correct conclusions.”

“Steph.”

“Alright, fine. You can’t tell them or let them find out because for some reason they would jump to the strange conclusion that your parents are complete and utter neglectful assholes who kicked you out because they’re also transphobic assholes.”

“And they aren’t any of those things,” she affirmed, glaring at Stephanie.

Ignoring her, the blonde continued, “So you’re just going to quit being Robin until this all gets sorted? And you think that won’t make them ask questions?”

“I’m not going to quit completely. Just maybe go down to once or twice a week as Robin. If I tell them I need to cut back because my parents and Mrs. Mac are getting suspicious, I’ll have some time before they start looking into it.”

She hummed and grabbed the milkshake she’d been neglecting. “If you say so.”

There were a few minutes of silence as she drank and Tim nibbled on the fries, then Tim leaned against Stephanie.

“Before we move on, there was one more thing I wanted to talk about.”

“Hm?”

“Well, Dick is in Blüd and Cass is in China and -- as all-seeing as she is -- Babs doesn’t go in the field. So if I’m not going out all the time…”

“Is this your way of asking me to babysit Brucie?” Stephanie groaned.

“Someone’s gotta do it.”

“You know what, fine. I’ll do it.”

“Tha-”

“But I’m going to be Robin.”

Tim blinked at her. “What?”

“If I have to be Furry-Man’s backup, then I’m doing it as Robin.”

“Why?”

“Because it’ll bug you into hurrying up.”

Tim rolled her eyes. “And it will tick off Bruce.”

“And it will tick off Bruce. That’s just a bonus, though. It’s mostly to annoy you.”

“Fine. You can be Robin when I’m not.”

“Nice. I’m adding a skirt to the suit.”

“What? No!”

Chapter Text

As Red Hood climbed through Olivia’s window, he met Stephanie’s glare with an unimpressed look. “Is she here?”

“Maybe she is. What’s it to you?”

“Why are you even here? Are you moving in or something?”

“Maybe I am. What’s it to you?”

“Does this mean you two are dating again?”

“Maybe we are. What’s it to you?”

“Can you say literally anything else?”

“Maybe I can. What’s it to you?”

He rolled his eyes and turned to Olivia’s bedroom door. “Oy! I’m going to shoot your friend if you don’t get out here!”

“And I’m going to steal your gun and shoot you if you wake her up,” Stephanie growled.

“I’d like to see you try,” he snorted, turning back to her. “Why’s she still in bed? We had an early night last night. She said she was going straight to bed when I dropped her off.”

“Uh-huh. Then she texted me an hour later to say she was going to bed. And then two hours after that I snuck in to steal a couple of those peppermint cookies you made her, only to find her sitting at the kitchen table, half-working on decrypting her copy of the thumb drive you stole from Black Mask and half-working on that stupid slideshow she’s making for her dad that we both know isn’t going to do shit.”

He shook his head. “I knew I should have come in and made sure-Wait,” he cut off, turning to look at the laptop sitting on the kitchen table. “When did she copy the drive? How did she even know about the drive? How do you know about the drive?”

“Bang,” was Stephanie’s only response.

He turned to her with a raised eyebrow, only to find her standing next to him instead of sitting on the other side of the couch. He looked further down to see his gun in her hands, pointed at his thigh with the safety off and her finger on the trigger. “What the fuck?”

She gave him a Cheshire smile and flicked the safety on. She pushed the gun into his hand, then gave it a pat.

“I hate you.”

“Same.”

🎭Nerd📍

Im going to the skatepark after school

Alright the one off Carson way?

… you’ve never been to carson have you

What am I saying of course you’ve never been to a skatepark You theater nerd

No only edgy white boys skate at carson

Is that something I need to deal with

 Nah they’re not creeps or anything they’re just obnoxious

Northside was the creep park but they’ve all cleared out since you took over and made it clear you wouldn’t put up with any of that

Good

Where are you going then

Idk haven’t decided

Either Bayview esplanade or Robinson

I’ll let you know when I get there

Uh no those are all in different directions

I need to know where you're headed

Kid

Answer me

I swear I will track you down and drag you back to your apartment if you don’t answer

Last warning

Trackers are going live

Oh my god chill my teacher almost caught me texting so I had to wait until she stopped paying attention again

Are you seriously threatening to ground me!?!???!??

God your such a dad

Wtf no I’m not

And I thought you were at lunch if you're in class pay attention 

Yes dad

Shut up

Just focus on your class and text me where you're going BEFORE YOU LEAVE

“How does your hair not fly in your face all the time while you’re grappling?” Tim asked. “My hair’s way shorter than yours and I have to keep it gelled back.”

“It seems we still have a few tricks to teach you when it comes to being a girl, grasshopper. Lesson three-fifty: bobby pins,” Robin joked and did a backflip as her grapple released. She landed perfectly on the roof next to Batman. “Lots and lots of bobby pins. And just a spritz of hairspray. No gunky gel required.”

“You could just pull it back,” he grunted, not looking away from the warehouse he was staking out.

“But that would make the headband redundant,” she said and pointed at her red, bat-eared Alice band.

“I still can’t believe you talked B into the skirt, let alone that.”

“Hm.”

“The headband was his concession for shortening the skirt. Not that it can really be called a skirt by this point. Miniskirts are longer than this. If I didn’t know he was just a weirdo, I’d think he was being a creep.”

“It could get caught on something,” he muttered. “Or be grabbed. It’s an unnecessary risk. You’re still wearing pants.”

“I’m also wearing a cape.”

“A cape with safety releases,” Tim corrected.

“You’re supposed to be on my side, Enby Wonder!” Robin huffed and knelt next to Batman. “So what’d you need my help with?”

“The information Robin Three dug up paid off. There’s a shipment of guns inside headed for Mask and Penguin. I want you on the front of the warehouse. Keep an eye on the guards and make sure we don’t get some unwelcome company. I’ll locate the shipment and tag it for Gordon.”

“You got it, bossman,” she gave him a salute then ran for the warehouse, using a jump Dick had taught her to clear the space between the two buildings. She found a space on the front of the building behind a sign to tuck herself away that had a good view of both the guards and the large sliding doors. “In position.”

“I’m moving in,” Batman responded.

It was silent for a few minutes, then a voice said, “You’re not Robin.”

She spun around to see Hood halfway out of the nearest window.

“Red Hood?” she gasped, only just remembering to heighten her voice so she sounded like Robin instead of Stephanie.

“Hood is there?” Tim asked and she heard him start rapidly typing.

“Robin, fall back now,” Batman barked.

“That’s me. Who are you supposed to be?”

“Uh, Robin. Duh,” she said as she slowly twisted her body into position to slip past the sign. Tim might think Hood was bluffing about wanting to hurt Robin, but she wasn’t so sure. “What are you doing here?”

He cocked his head and held up a trigger. “Giving Mask a message. You’re not Robin.”

“He’s got a detonator,” Tim warned Batman and the man grunted.

“Shows what you know.” She leaned casually against the wall, pretending to stare at his helmeted face while keeping a close eye on the detonator.

He gave her a pointed once over. “Last I checked, Robin… had black hair.”

She shrugged. “New hair, new me.”

He snorted. “Nice try. What really happened? Did Batman get another bird killed? The turnover just keeps getting shorter, doesn’t it? From six months to a week.”

Her eyes widened as she heard Tim suck in a breath. She didn’t know much about Jason Todd-Wayne or his Robin, but what she did know is that Robin Two’s death was a closely guarded secret. Joker kept it to himself for whatever reason and the superhero community wasn’t talking. She didn’t even know Robins Two and Three were different people until Bruce finally let Tim tell her who they were, and she’d been dating Tim for a month by that point.

“Let’s see how long you last, Newbie,” Hood said and raised the detonator.

“Batman!” she warned and he pressed the trigger.

The warehouse shook.

Hood gave her a salute and disappeared onto the roof.

“Shit. B! Batman!” she hissed, rushing over to the window.

“I’m alright. The blast was mostly contained to Mask’s portion of the shipment,” he growled and she saw him leap up into the rafters near a group of smoking and melted shipping containers as a few guards rushed in, guns at the ready.

“GCFD’s two minutes out. Gordon and his team aren’t far behind,” Tim said.

Batman met her at the window and they grappled away.

Hood ignored Olivia as the kid came up behind him.

He ignored him as he crossed his arms.

He ignored him as he cleared his throat.

“What are you doing?” Olivia finally asked.

“Installing some cameras and shock traps on your windows,” Hood answered, grabbing a screwdriver.

“Why?”

“Been blowing up a lot of Mask’s shit lately. I want to be sure he doesn’t try to get at me through you. I already put in bulletproof glass two weeks ago, but I thought a bit of extra security wouldn’t hurt.”

“You put bulletproof glass in my apartment without telling me?”

“The blonde demon didn’t let you know?”

“Stephanie was there? Where was I?”

“Sleeping. I think she drugged you again.”

“You both are awful.”

“I brought mantecaditos.”

“Nevermind, you’re cool,” Olivia said, heading to the kitchen. “I’m going to have access to the cameras, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.” There were a few moments, then Olivia returned. “Why are you ticking off Mask anyways? Stealing business from him was one thing, but now you’re just blowing up his stuff. What do you get out of it?”

“It’s all part of the plan,” he grunted, glaring at a particularly difficult screw.

“What plan?”

“Nothing you need to worry about, kid. Get your homework done.”

He groaned and sat down next to Hood. He audibly took a bite, then said, “All I’ve got is some stupid book report. It can wait.”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, you heathen. And book reports aren’t stupid.”

“Says the guy who reads period romance novels for fun,” he muttered.

“Just do your homework.”

“It’s not even due until next week. Besides, I got Macbeth so I’m waiting until I can get over to the library to rent the modern English translation.”

Hood froze, then pulled himself back into the apartment to glare at the kid. “No.”

“No?”

“No. Those translations take everything good out of the stories! If you need some help reading it, that’s fine, but those things don’t even bother to keep the dirty jokes, let alone the elegant prose.”

“Dirty jokes?” Olivia said, blinking up at him. “Why would there be dirty jokes in Shakespeare?”

“… Get up, kid. It’s time for a lesson in Elizabethan theater.”

The kid grumbled as Hood dragged him to the kitchen table.

Stephanie perked up when she saw Tim coming down the stairs, though she didn’t get out of her backbend. “Hey, Timbo. You Robin tonight then?”

“Yeah, need a night out to clear my head.”

The two stretched in silence for a moment before she asked, “Did you finish the slideshow ?”

“Yeah. I, uh, sent it yesterday.”

She nodded and -- taking note of his tone -- decided to change the subject. In a low voice, she asked, “How was the meeting last night?”

“Fine. Would have been better if the Víboras hadn’t shown up. I guess Cortés is spooked by Mask’s and Hood’s fighting and decided it’d be best to choose a side.”

“And she chose Hood?” Stephanie asked.

It kind of made sense. Hood watched out for his people, which would line up with Cortés’ need to protect her son. That said, Cortés favored control over money. Stephanie would have assumed she’d choose to align herself with Mask. She’d have to kick up more money to him than she would Hood, but she’d also get almost completely free reign to do what she pleased with her territory instead of having to bow to Hood’s rules.

“That’s what the Víboras claim, but I don’t buy it and neither does Hood. Either way, I had to deal with Ray sending me creeper eyes all night.”

“It’s too bad Hood didn’t give you a gun.”

“And it’s a good thing he hasn’t given you one. You do realize shooting him would cause a gang war.”

“He has it coming,” she shrugged. “Besides, we’re already on the edge of a gang war anyways the way Hood keeps antagonizing Mask. If the fuse is going to be lit, it might as well be for a good cause. Like shooting Ray Cortés in the ass.”

“No, Steph.”

She shrugged and stood up to go get dressed in her Spoiler suit. “Just saying.”

Jason studied the picture of the new Robin. He wasn’t sure what to make of the blonde girl, except that he was pretty sure it was Spoiler behind the mask. The new Batgirl, Cassandra Wayne, was still in Hong Kong according to his sources and Spoiler had almost completely disappeared since Blonde Robin had shown up. In fact, almost all of her recent appearances line up with his cameras spotting Tim Drake coming to Wayne Manor.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure who Spoiler was or why she’d suddenly decided to take over as Robin. Cassandra was the only kid Bruce had taken in since Jason and the blonde didn’t seem to be another Bristol baby that Bruce could have lured in as he’d done for Drake. As far as he could tell, she didn’t have any ties to Dick or Babs either. There were a few mentions of a blonde being spotted with Drake, maybe even dating him, but nothing conclusive enough for him to get an ID from.

He also hadn’t been able to find a reason explaining why Drake had suddenly backed away from Robin. Something had definitely happened, from Jason’s cameras never picking up the kid going home anymore to his sudden switch from Gotham Academy to Wayne Memorial of all schools. He thought maybe the kid’s parents had gotten into trouble, but everything seemed normal with them. As normal as they could be when they were filthy rich and spent all their time hoping between business meetings and archaeological sites.

There was a rumor he’d changed schools to spend time with his girlfriend, who Jason was assuming was Spoiler, but the Drakes weren’t big enough to earn the kind of spotlight needed for any real details to make it Jason’s way. He’d considered scoping out the school out of mask given he was young enough to be mistaken for a student, but he didn’t know how much the Robins had been told about him and didn’t want to risk one of them recognizing his face. He supposed he could ask Stephanie to snap a picture of them without telling her anything. He knew she went to that school and -- having been born and raised in the Bowery -- she was suspicious enough of the rich that she’d probably buy it if he told her he thought the Drakes were up to shady business and he was gathering information. He didn’t want to risk putting her either on the Bats’ trail or in their sights, though. Especially if she brought Olivia along.

Considering one was a rogue’s kid and the other was a black-haired pseudo-orphan, he was pretty sure he knew what would happen if they landed on Bruce’s radar.

“What are you working on?”

“Well, hello to you too,” he huffed, turning around to see Olivia ducking into his fridge. “Aren’t you supposed to be in school?”

“Bomb threat. It was a prank call, but they still let us out early.”

“So you decided to break into my safe house. What if I hadn’t been decent?”

“This is one of your garbage safe houses. One trash enough that even Jacob knows about it. You’re not going to take your hood off here.”

“Alright, fine, but that doesn’t mean you can just break in whenever you want. Are you the one who’s been raiding my fridges?”

“No, that’s Kay. They finally broke up with their boyfriend so they’ve been couch-surfing your safe houses until they find a new place to live. Or a new boyfriend. I’m not sure which.”

Jason was going to shoot someone. Not Olivia, obviously. Probably also not Kay, though he did need to sit them down to congratulate them on cutting off the dead weight and help them find a stable place to live.

Maybe he’d track down one of Mask’s operations once he got done finding out what Olivia wanted.

His Little Red came first, though. “So why are you here?”

She shrugged and turned to him with a bottle of water in hand. “Heard you got into a big fight with some masks last night. Not the Bats. Wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine. The Fearsome Hand of Four wasn’t as fearsome as their name implies. Besides, I got some backup from the Bat.”

“Batman was there?” she asked, trying to sound casual while clearly fishing for information.

Information Jason was not going to be giving her. “That’s nothing you need to worry about. Assassins and Bats are way above your pay grade, kid. Stick to digging up info on what Cortés is planning.”

She rolled her eyes and closed the fridge.

“So,” Stephanie said slowly, dragging out the vowel. “Hood blew up Mask’s HQ.”

“Apparently,” Tim sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“Maybe it’s time to tell the others what you’ve been up to.”

“Not yet.”

“Tim, he’s losing it.”

“He’s got a plan. I don’t know what the plan is because he’s keeping it close to the chest, but he’s adamant that the plan exists and it seems to be going the way he thought it would.”

“Or maybe he’s just as crazy as his namesake and eventually that crazy is going to get you hurt,” she countered, flopping onto the couch to lay her head in his lap.

“You’re kidding, right? You do realize how much security he’s put up in my apartment specifically to keep whatever he’s up to from backfiring on me.” He started playing with her hair. “I’ll be fine, Steph. I know how to protect myself and I’m never without a panic button or a set of trackers. And you’ve been around Hood enough. You know he won’t hurt me.”

She hummed, closing her eyes. “Just be careful, please.”

“I will.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, then she asked, “So is Cass coming home this week or next week?”

“Next week.”

Hood rolled his shoulder as he landed on a roof that overlooked the working women. He figured he could take a short break, then he’d check on the ladies and continue his patrol.

He’d just sat down and started digging through his jacket for some nutrient bars when a familiar figure climbed onto the roof from the fire escape. “Hood!”

“Hey, kid.”

Little Red skipped up next to him and joined him on the parapet. “Are you taking a break or is something happening with the girls?”

“Break.” He wrapped an arm around him, nervous the kid would slip over the edge. “Did you get your homework done?”

“Yes, Dad, ” Little Red groaned, rolling his eyes. He grabbed a nutrient bar and leaned into the half-hug. As he opened it, he smiled up at Hood. “Guess who got 110% on their book report?”

“Nice job,” he said, squeezing him.

“Yeah. Does this make me a theater dork like y-”

“Brat,” Hood cut him off and shoved the snickering kid off the parapet.

He landed on his back on the roof, still smirking up at Hood.

“Get out of here. I need to finish patrol.”

Little Red stood up and gave him a salute before passing him a folder and leaving the way he came.

Hood made sure he made it safely to the ground, then flipped through the folder. He frowned when he realized it was information on a trafficking ring that was beginning to sprout up on the very edge of his territory.

He quickly scanned through it, then tucked it into his jacket and dropped down amongst the working women. “Hey, Cherry.”

“Hood!” quite a few of the girls greeted while a specific redhead stepped forward to pull him into a hug.

“You just checking in or do you need info,” she asked after kissing his cheek.

“A little of both.”

“Well, we’re all doing good, so ask away.”

“Have you heard anything about some new guys hanging around the northeastern edge of the Narrows?”

Chapter Text

Olivia stared as Stephanie finished ordering her drink.

The blonde paid and turned to Olivia. “Are you going to get something?”

“Depends, does mine need to be pure liquified sugar too?”

Stephanie rolled her eyes and turned back to the barista. “My friend just wants a boring black coffee.”

Olivia knocked their shoulders together and said, “A medium green tea, please. Two pumps of honey.”

Once she paid, the two grabbed a table to wait for their drinks.

“You know,” Stephanie said as Olivia pulled out her phone. “Some of us like to have fun with our food.”

“You can have fun without overdosing on sugar,” she snorted as she double-checked that nothing was going on nearby that might make them late for their movie. “I think Dick is the only person in the world who gets more syrups in his coffee than you.”

“So what you’re saying is I need to up my game?”

The two laughed before discussing the movie. When Stephanie left to grab their drinks, Olivia checked her phone again.

“Nobody move!”

Olivia’s head hit the table with a groan as a few other noises of annoyance filled the air. She peaked up to see people scowling at the front door, the baristas with resignation. The one at the register was already opening the cash drawer. Stephanie was crouched at the counter giving the front door a death glare that Olivia could relate to. If these guys made them late for their movie, Robin and Spoiler would be hunting them down that night with extreme prejudice. They’d already had to miss the movie five times for various Bat, Titan, or Hood reasons.

There were four men, all dressed casually with hoods up over their heads and cheap skull masks covering their faces. Two made their way toward the register, wielding a pistol and a large knife respectively. The one that stayed at the door had a shotgun and was relaxing against the glass and keeping watch. The last had an excessively large handgun and was waving it in the faces of anyone he thought looked a little too annoyed as he walked around the tables. It was pretty clear he was all bark and no bite, though, so Olivia turned her attention back to the ones at the register and mentally requested they hurried it along.

They had just finished up when she felt a gun against the back of her head.

“Looks like we’re done here. You’re with us, jeva.”

Standing up, Olivia met Stephanie’s gaze to see hellfire blazing in her eyes.

Well, Robin was going to tear these guys a new one sooner than she’d thought.

Compensating dragged her out in front of his buddies and shoved her into a van that pulled up. She was stuffed between Knife and Shotgun while Pistol shut the door behind them and yelled at the driver to go. She watched all four carefully as she kept track of where the van was going. Subtly, she pressed the panic button hidden on her ring. Then, after a moment of thought, she also pressed the panic button hidden in her bracelet.

Hood would kill her if he found out about this and she didn’t use the bracelet he’d given her. He might even suggest constant check-ins or something like Bruce had done that one time she’d accidentally forgotten her panic button at home before getting kidnapped as Tim Drake.

Hopefully Hood wouldn’t give anything away if his rescue bumped into the Bats’ rescue.

They weren’t on the road long before they stopped and Compensating dragged her out of the van to find a parking garage. There were two cars and an SUV waiting for them. Knife and Pistol got to work swapping the plates on the van for new ones while Shotgun and the driver left in one of the cars. Compensating brought her over to the SUV and waved his gun in her face. 

“Joyas y celu, ahora.”

Olivia gave him her burner and pulled off her ring, bracelet, and necklace.

Bruce was going to be so smug that the subdermal trackers paid off.

“You won’t get much for them,” she said, making her annoyance very clear.

Ignoring her, he took the jewelry and said, “Earrings too.”

She frowned and brought her hands up. “They’re just the cheap freebies from when I got them pierced last week,” she lied. She had just gotten them pierced last week, but they were actually trackers that Hood had given her disguised as simple red steel ball studs.

“Take them off or I’ll do it for you,” he snorted.

“Maldita sea la madre que te parió,” she muttered just loud enough that she knew he’d hear as she pulled off the earrings and handed them over.

Hood was probably going to load her up with subdermal trackers too now. She hoped Robin showed no mercy.

“Watch it,” he growled and shoved her against the SUV. He gave her stuff to Knife and started patting her down as Pistol drove off in the Van. She watched Knife leave in the second car, then slapped Compensating’s hands away when he started getting too personal.

“You watch it,” she snarled.

He snorted then opened the SUV’s backdoor and shoved her towards it. “Inside.”

She took a step towards the door, planning to get his guard down then knock him flat and run for it, only to freeze when she saw who was waiting in the back seat.

“Hello, Little Red,” Ray Cortés said with a wink.

She stared at him. “Did you seriously have your guys rob a Robin’s Roast and kidnap me just so I would talk to you? You need to learn the definition of the word no.”

He smirked and relaxed back into his seat, patting the one next to him. “I think you’ll find the word no doesn’t apply to me.”

“I’m starting to wish Steph had stolen one of Hood’s guns,” she muttered as she climbed in.

They traded vehicles three more times before arriving at a warehouse in the Northern section of the Bowery.

Marisa Cortés was waiting for them on an armchair in the main office and she greeted them with a shark’s smile. “Hello and welcome. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Not long enough,” Oliva snipped. She tried to sit down in the other armchair, only to get dragged over to the couch with Ray.

“Tell me, do you prefer Little Red or just Red when you’re apart from Hood? Or would you perhaps prefer Olivia Draper?”

“I’d prefer your son keep his hands to himself,” she growled, pressing into the furthest corner of the couch and glaring at Ray when he tried to scoot closer.

If Marisa thought that knowing her name would earn her any kind of shock, she had another thing coming. She and Hood had already anticipated that someone would eventually connect Olivia and Little Red given she barely wore a mask -- if the scarf could even be called that -- and she’d used Olivia’s name a few times while meeting up with Hood before he’d given her the Little Red outfit. It was why he’d been so insistent on getting her apartment secure. She was pretty sure he was even crafting a new identity for her in case she needed to disappear.

Mostly because she had already started putting together a new undercover alias as a precaution and Hood could be very Bat-like when it came to things like that.

“Funny,” Marisa said, turning away to grab a tablet off the table next to her.

“Not kidding. If he tries to touch me again, I’ll feed him his own hand.”

“I think you’ll be quite a bit more friendly when you see what I have here,” Marisa said and held out the tablet.

Olivia narrowed her eyes at the device and accepted it. “And what is this?”

Had they figured out she was Tim Drake? She figured there’d be more restraints involved if they’d figured out she was Robin and planned to tell her. Did they find out something about Hood that they thought would turn her against him? She couldn’t imagine what. He might have been secretive about his identity, safehouses, and ultimate plan, but everything else he did was purely about the theatrics of it. Everyone and their mother could put together a list of all the people he’s killed and the crimes they should have been convicted for. His safe houses weren’t big enough a find for these dramatics and she wasn’t sure how the Víboras of all groups would have managed to suss out his identity or plans. Olivia Draper didn’t have loved ones aside from Stephanie and Hood himself while Tim Drake’s loved ones were fine the last time she checked, so they couldn’t have connected her to some hereto unknown victim of his. Did they think they’d turned up some proof that Hood was cheating on her? Because that was laughable. Even ignoring the fact that Hood and Little Red’s pretend relationship was purely physical and they’d never pretended otherwise, she was pretty sure Hood wasn’t even into girls.

Wait, did they catch Hood with a guy and think that was going to turn her away from him? If so, wow! Just wow!

“This,” Marisa said, looking far too pleased with herself, “is proof that Red Hood is your father.”

“What?” she choked out. If Jack Drake was Hood then she’d voluntarily clean Beast Boy’s room for him for a year.

Misreading her shock, Marisa nodded and leaned forward to press play on the tablet.

A video showed Little Red and Hood sitting on the edge of a roof, legs hanging into the open air with Hood’s arm wrapped around his back. Hood spoke, but the audio was slightly off from the visuals in a way that Olivia assumed meant something else had been used to capture it -- likely a long-range microphone given the video’s poor quality made it clear it had been zoomed in a lot to get the shot -- and the two had been poorly edited together.

“Did you get your homework done?” Hood asked, voice soft as he stared down at Little Red.

“Yes, Dad, ” Little Red groaned and leaned into Hood. He did something in his lap, then smiled up at Hood. “Guess who got 110% on their book report?”

“Nice job.”

“Yeah. Does this… like y-”

“Brat.”

The video ended as Hood pushed him back.

Olivia stared at the tablet for a moment, then looked up at Marisa. “I’m sorry, was that supposed to prove something.”

“You called him Dad, sweetheart,” Ray pointed out.

“I was being sarcastic, obviously,” she said, not looking at him as she grabbed his wrist before he could wrap his arm around her. “He was being a nag so I called him Dad.”

“A rather familial reaction towards someone you’re supposedly in a sexual relationship with,” Marisa noted. Before Olivia could say anything, she continued, “Which does seem rather questionable, in my opinion. You see, I’ve been keeping an eye on you two. As much as you may talk, you never give him more than a kiss on the helmet, and the only places his hands ever touch that’s lower than your hips are your knees.”

“So you’ve got a video of me sarcastically calling him Dad and the fact we aren’t exhibitionists. Congrats.” Olivia rolled her eyes, then narrowed them. “So this is why you decided to throw in with Hood. You’ve been poking around for a way to blackmail one of us.”

“Mask is a known quantity. Hood is a mystery. I’ve never been one to buy into the whole devil you know belief. Someone with something to hide is someone who will pay to keep that something hidden. You were the obvious weak link. He never lets anyone else near you except his most trusted lieutenants, you always disappear or were never there to begin with when things get dangerous, and you look awfully young to be dating someone so adamant about adults not touching minors. This all just proved I was on the right track. A mother’s intuition, you could say.”

“Your mother’s intuition needs to be brought into the shop, but even if your crazy conclusion was right, what did you plan to do about it? Ransom me back to Hood? I don’t think you’ve considered the ramifications of this.”

“I’m not stupid,” Marisa chuckled, leaning back, “and I don’t want money. The deal I want is rather simple. I’ll join up with Hood for real. I’ll even kick up part of my profits like all of the others. I won’t be following his rules, though, and neither will my men.”

“Why would he ever allow that?”

“Simple. I’m sure he’d be willing to make some allowances considering the territory will one day be the responsibility of his daughter.”

“Not his daughter, and you’re not seriously suggesting you’re going to make me your heir?”

“Of course not. Ray is my heir, but as his wife, you would have some duties at his side.”

Olivia stared blankly at her and tightened her grip on Ray’s wrist enough that he flinched. “No. Hell no! I know you are not suggesting an arranged marriage like this is the dark ages and I’m some captive princess! I especially know you aren’t suggesting I marry your creep of a son!”

Marisa’s eyes narrowed. “Careful. You’re in a very perilous position.”

“You -”

The door to the office slammed open and a Víbora stuck his head in. “We’ve got Bats!”

Marisa nodded at the door and two of her men left with the new guy, leaving only Marisa, Ray, Olivia, and one guard.

“We need to move,” Marisa said, starting to stand.

“You got a lot of things wrong about me,” Olivia said as she and Ray stood up as well, his wrist still in her grip, “but do you want to know your biggest mistake?”

Marisa’s eyes narrowed.

In one smooth movement, Little Red yanked Ray forward into a punch that knocked him out, then she grabbed the gun and knife tucked into his waistband. She flipped off the safety and shot the guard in the wrist before he could get his gun up. She turned the gun on Marisa as she dropped to the ground to hold the knife to Ray’s neck.

The crime boss’s hand froze inches from her gun.

“I am not a wink link,” Little Red said with a smirk. “You’re right that we’re not together, but it’s because Red Hood just needed a pretty little distraction as arm candy and I was the one smart enough to point it out to him. I don’t participate in fights because I don’t like how Hood ends them, not because I’m incapable of joining in. Plus, it gives me a chance to snoop around when he sends me off. No one ever questions the arm candy.” Her smile grew as Marisa’s eyes widened and face paled. “Yeah, I’m not his daughter. I’m his Robin.”

Speaking of Robins, there was the smallest creak of a vent shifting and Olivia tossed her weapons to the side and flipped behind the couch.

“OH PLEASE, DON’T HURT ME!”

“You little b-”

The vent cover fell open with a clatter and the sounds of a fight filled the office.

She peaked out to see not Robin, but Batgirl taking down Marisa and the guard. She quickly snuck out of the office, then up to the roof. Her plans to disappear were stopped when Nightwing flipped up in front of her.

“Hey, I was just going to get out of here before the police could try to question me. I figured B wouldn’t want Olivia to show up in any police reports.”

He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “Little Red.”

Oh.

“… incredibly reckless! What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking I was perfectly safe,” Tim huffed.

“Hood is a serial killer. He’s been blowing up cars and buildings around the Northside and is just short of going to war with Black Mask. He’s attacked Nightwing and me multiple times. He has made many threats against Robin in particular!” Bruce growled.

“I’m not saying he’s not dangerous, but Hood only kills the worst of the worst and he never hurts kids. He won’t hurt me and his threats against Robin are just talk. He says all that to get under your skin because he doesn’t like Robin being out there. He didn’t do anything to Steph when he ran into her at the docks.”

“Because he knew she wasn’t you and didn’t consider her Robin.”

“He called her newbie! She was a Robin, and he didn’t do anything! Besides, he doesn’t know I’m Robin so it doesn’t matter! Today was the first time I was in any danger, and I didn’t even get a scratch!”

“Hood is a wild card who’s lashing out at random! You can’t -”

“He is not! Hood has a plan! A very detailed plan!”

“Which is?”

“I don’t know,” she growled, rubbing her face. “He’s not stupid enough to tell me any of it considering he thinks I’m an information broker or something similar. Or maybe he’s worried I’d get involved and end up hurt. Probably both. But he’s told me he’s got a plan and I believe him because I’ve seen how he works. He acts impulsive and like he’s just a big brute shoving his way into power, but he never moves without a plan. He’s a nerd and a theater kid under all that bravado and gunpowder. And he cares about the Narrows, especially Crime Alley. He wouldn’t be risking Mask’s retaliation if he didn’t know he could swing it in his favor.”

His eyes narrowed. “How much do you know about him? Under the mask? Have you seen his face?”

A brief glimpse, just a flicker of salt and pepper hair paired with pale skin, flashed through her mind before Tim scowled and stood up. “You think I wouldn’t have said something if I had found out who he was? I told you, he trusts me more than most, but he doesn’t trust me that much. He’s never taken his helmet off around me. All I know is that he grew up around the Alley, he’s younger than most think (probably mid-twenties at the oldest), and he’s got at least one brother and a father figure, one he’s not close to but probably used to be.”

His eyes narrowed even further, but Dick stepped forward before he could comment.

“How’d you figure that much out?”

“If the accent wasn’t obvious, he knows the Alley the way only locals do. Especially the working girls. Honestly, the way they talk to him and about him, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them might have an idea who he could be under the mask. Not that they’d ever say anything to us, obviously. The way he talks and moves just makes him feel closer to your age than anything, maybe even younger. And he mentioned his brother and dad before. Something about his brother dropping out early and his dad being a workaholic. He stopped himself from saying dad, though, and corrected to Old Man. Makes it feel like the guy isn’t biologically Hood’s father, but they probably used to have a close enough father-son relationship that he’d called the guy Dad.”

Bruce looked away with a blank face and Tim assumed he was cataloging the information for later alongside whatever else he’d managed to dig up on Hood. He turned back to Tim, saying, “You’re still missing key details. He is dangerous.”

“You know who he is.”

Chapter Text

Bruce and Tim were in the cave, staring each other down with Stephanie and Dick watching on when Cass spoke up.

“You know who he is.” They turned to her to see she was observing Bruce. “You are nervous, angry, scared, guilty, and hiding.”

“Is that true?” Dick asked, turning to him.

“I have suspicions,” he grunted. “I still need to follow a few leads.”

“Who do you think he is?”

“Not until I know for sure.”

“B!”

“Master Bruce is correct,” Alfred said, walking in with a tray of drinks and mini sandwiches. “This is not the time to jump to conclusions. Though Miss Tim’s information does align with our theories.”

“You’re in on this?” Tim asked, accepting a mug of coffee.

“Master Bruce needed a second pair of eyes to ensure there weren’t external factors interfering with his judgment.”

“Seriously? Who is this guy?” Dick snapped.

“Not now.” Bruce gave Tim a look. “You need to stay away from him.”

“Can’t.”

“Tim.

“I had a panic button on me when I got grabbed and I had to press it to keep my cover. If I don’t contact Hood and let him see I’m fine in person, he’s going to tear Gotham apart looking for me.”

“It’ll be a bloodbath,” Stephanie agreed. “He’ll definitely mow down the Víboras if he thinks they still have her, then go after anyone they might have sold her to. You guys haven’t seen him with her. He’s an ass, but he cares. Scarily cares. Full overprotective big brother. Like Dick, but with guns. It’s the only reason I didn’t go to you guys when I found out.”

Something almost soft flickered over Bruce’s eyes before he turned so none of them could see his face. “Fine. You will check in to keep him from retaliating, but then that’s it. No more Little Red or Olivia Draper.”

“But -”

“End of story.”

“Fine,” Tim growled and turned to leave.

“You’re also not going alone.”

“I’ll go with her,” Stephanie offered before Tim could argue. “Hood already knows we’re friends so I can be right there with her without raising suspicion.”

Bruce looked between them, then nodded.

They left soon after on Robin’s Batcycle. They swapped to Stephanie’s van in the Bowery, which gave her an opening to ask, “So you’re going to tell Bruce about your parents now, right?”

“No.”

“Tim, Babs has probably already started burning Olivia. That’s going to include getting rid of your apartment. Where do you plan on staying? I’d offer my place, but Mom would sell us out to Bruce -- even if it’s just to yell at him for not taking care of you -- and my dad…”

Tim snorted as he imagined the look on Arthur Brown’s face when one of the guys he had watching out for the Browns gave him the news. “He’d probably break out of prison the moment he heard just to hunt me down.”

“I still don’t get why he hates you,” she muttered. “Robin, sure, but Tim Drake?”

“I’m a stuck-up rich kid who’s taking advantage of his sweet, innocent baby girl.”

“I hate that you’re probably right. It’s a moronic idea.” She gave him a teasing look. “I mean, you’re a virgin and I’m a teen mom. If anyone’s going to be taking advantage of the other, it’s me.”

“Knock it off, Steph,” he groaned, poking her.

She poked him back. “Come on, serious time. Where are you going to stay? It… I know you don’t want to think about it, but it’s been almost a month since you emailed your dad and you still haven’t heard anything from your parents. I don’t think the slideshow worked.”

“I know,” he whispered, slipping down in his seat.

“So tell Bruce.”

“I can’t. If I tell him, he’ll want to do something about it. I don’t want my parents to get in trouble. They’re not bad people.”

“Tim, they were never there for you even before they kicked you out.”

“That wasn’t their fault.”

She sighed. “Agree to disagree. Fine, but where are you going to stay then?”

“I-I don’t know. I’ll figure something out. I just need to think.”

“Sure.”

The rest of the car ride passed in silence.

Red Hood glared at the door as he paced around Olivia’s apartment.

He’d been terrified when her panic button had gone off. Terrified, and guilty because he was sure whoever had gone after her had done so to get to him.

He’d realized he was partially right when he’d managed to corner the Víbora that had Red’s things and got him to spill how Marisa Cortés had ordered him and the others to bring her Hood’s daughter so she could be married to her son. Cortés was obviously trying to get something on him (though how she’d come to the conclusion Olivia was his kid, he couldn’t guess), but her punk had been making eyes at Olivia since day one so he knew Cortés probably would have had her grabbed eventually either way, if only to make the asshole happy.

Content that he was only partially responsible for Olivia’s abduction, he’d started trying to dig up information on where Cortés could be hiding. He’d barely started looking, though, when he got the news that the Bats had raided the Víboras hideout and taken Cortés and her son into custody. There hadn’t been any mention of Olivia in the reports, but the Bats did reveal evidence that Cortés had been behind the human trafficking ring Olivia had clued him in on.

With two reasons to kill in mind, Hood had immediately headed over to intercept the police caravan escorting the Cortéses to lockup. He’d planned to take out Ray and wring as much information out of Cortés as he could before doing the same to her. Just before he could fire his first shot, though, he received a text from an unknown number.

Nothing means what!? 30 min my place - Cesario

A part of him had wanted to stay and deal with the Cortéses, but the need to be sure Olivia was fine like she claimed was too strong.

Which was why he was furiously pacing around her apartment.

Fuck not being Batman, he was getting her subdermal trackers. And a taser. And he was teaching her how to pick locks and where to hide the picks on her so they won’t be found. And -

The door opened and he immediately darted forward to grab Olivia. “Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Did they do anything to you?”

There weren’t any visible injuries and her clothes didn’t look overly rumbled or damaged.

“I’m fine. I told you I was fine,” she huffed, rolling her eyes. She didn’t stop him from patting her down to make sure there weren’t any hidden injuries, though she did give him an annoyed look the whole way through. “Are you done?”

“Why didn’t you contact me earlier? I was about to tear through GCPD to get answers from Cortés when you texted me.”

“I told him it’d be a bloodbath.”

Hood turned to see Stephanie closing the door to the apartment. “What are you doing here?”

“I was with him when he got grabbed. Since I didn’t have a way to contact you, I went to the other guy.”

“I managed to sneak away when the Bats’ raided the Víboras base and my boss picked me up,” Olivia finished. “I’ve been busy calming him down so I didn’t get a chance to call or text you.”

Hood crushed him in a hug. “Damn it, kid, you scared the hell out of me.”

Olivia froze, then melted into the hug. In a quiet voice, he said, “Sorry.”

He held his little brother for a moment then pulled back and nudged him toward his room. “Get packed.”

“What?”

“You can’t stay here. The Víbora I interrogated was under the impression you were my kid. It’s sure to be all over Gotham by morning.”

Olivia and Stephanie shared a look, the blonde shocked and Olivia annoyed.

“I know. Someone caught you nagging me about homework and gave the video to Cortés, getting it in her head that you’re my dad. My boss wants me to go to ground. He’s got somewhere for me to go.”

“No.”

“No?” Stephanie repeated, crossing her arms.

“Once the news gets around, everyone I’ve ever even so much as inconvenienced is going to be gunning for you, from Mask to the Bats. Especially Batman.” Bruce had had his DNA for over two weeks now. He had to be getting to even his limits when it came to paranoia-fueled denial. If he found out his long-lost failure supposedly had a kid, he was going to stop at nothing to figure out Olivia’s real identity and take him away so Jason couldn’t corrupt him or whatever would be his excuse. “Your boss isn’t going to be able to keep you hidden. I’ve got better resources and skills. You’ll stay at a safe house I’ve set aside and I’ll get you a new identity.”

“You don’t know anything about her boss’s resources or skills,” Stephanie argued.

“I know they’re not good enough to keep her from Batman.”

“Okay.” The two turned to Olivia, who shrugged. “I’ll go with you.”

“What!?”

Hood nodded. “Get packed. Just the essentials and anything you really can’t stand to leave behind. I can get anything else brought over later. I need to make a call. I’ll be right back.”

Olivia nodded and he climbed out the window, Stephanie hissing behind him, “LIV!”

When he got to the roof, he pulled out his phone and placed a call. When no one answered, he cursed and texted the number instead.

🗡️💅🏽

How come you never have to pick up but I get a lecture when I don’t

Stealing your Bowery safehouse for something

Don’t send the ninjas after me or show up unannounced

Thanks

He put his phone away and climbed back down. He quieted his steps when he heard Olivia and Stephanie whisper-arguing in the bedroom.

“- not going to be Olivia or Little Red so I’m following the rules. There’s no way Hood’s letting me out anytime soon and he’s giving me a different identity, so no Olivia.”

“You know that’s not what he meant. I know you don’t want to tell him about your parents, but stop trying to loophole your way out of this. He said to stay away from Hood.”

So Olivia’s boss finally found out she was working with him, then.

“He’s overreacting. You know I’m fine.”

“You got kidnapped.”

“That’s not Hood’s fault.”

At least this reaction meant he was more worried than angry. That was good.

“I-Ugh! If you try to go through with this, I will go straight to the others and tell them everything! About Hood and about your parents!”

“You can’t. Look, I’ll figure something else out. Just give me some time.”

There was a moment of silence, which was interrupted by Hood’s phone buzzing with a text. He quickly silenced it, but the damage was done.

Quieter than before, Stephanie whispered, “You’ve got one week. If you haven’t come up with a plan that I agree with by Saturday night, you have to tell the big guy everything.”

“… Alright.”

“And you’re not staying with Hood the whole time. We’re going to Ti-visit your friends out of town after school on Friday and stay the night there.”

He frowned. He didn’t like the idea of Olivia leaving his protection at all, let alone for a weekend, but at least he’d probably be safe out of town. Especially if Hood could convince him to get the trackers implanted, or at the very least do frequent check-ins. He’d also need to make Stephanie see that he was the safest option for Olivia.

Or threaten her boss into backing off.

School, though, might be an issue. She didn’t go to school as Olivia and everyone both thought Little Red was older than she was and weren’t aware that she was genderfluid, so the kid should be okay, but it’d still be nerve-wracking. Maybe he’d convince her to stay home, at least for a little while. He didn’t want her to miss school, but she’d probably be okay missing a week or two while things cooled down, and given her lack of concern for education, she probably wouldn’t even fight him on it. Maybe he could see if her school had one of those At-Home programs that have been springing up recently so sick kids didn’t have to worry about missing school.

“But-”

“Deal?”

Olivia sighed. “Deal.”

As the two fell silent, Jason pulled out his phone.

🗡️💅🏽

You aren’t the only one in need of my attention. Is this about the girl you’ve been trying to hide from me?

What girl

Do you think I haven’t heard about your Little Red?

You’ve been spying on me

No, but I have been listening to the gossip of Gotham’s underworld. Before you say it, I have no interest in the girl or in you following in your father’s footsteps. Just please keep her out of the safehouse’s armory. Those weapons are not for your use, let alone hers.

I’m not following in anyones footsteps!!!!

And b isn’t my father!!!!!!!

Make sure to clean up after yourselves as well. Now I have an important meeting.

Jason scowled at the phone but didn’t bother to text her again. Instead, he shoved it into its pocket and knocked on Olivia’s bedroom door. “You almost done?”

“Almost.”

Stephanie opened the door and glared at him. She pushed him out of the way and called out to Olivia, “I’m heading out.”

“Talk to you later.”

“You better.”

She stepped out of view of the bedroom, then pointed at Hood’s face. Too quiet for Olivia to hear, she hissed, “I swear to God, if anything happens to him, I will beat you into unconsciousness, strip you down to your underwear, and stick you in a deathtrap that would make Uncle Eddie nervous!”

Then she stomped out of the apartment.

Hood stared after her for a moment before the name clicked. He turned to Olivia and asked, “Does she seriously call the Riddler Uncle Eddie?”

The kid looked up from the Superboy shirt he was folding with a frown, eyes going to the door to the apartment. “Only when she’s really mad, like considering going full supervillain levels of mad.”

“You do realize how concerning that sounds, right?”

He shrugged and went back to packing. “She wouldn’t actually become a supervillain.” He paused again, staring off into the distance. “Not even if I became one first, which, like, rude. Understandable, but still rude.”

“… Kid, that is not as reassuring as you seem to think it is.”

“It’s fine. It’s been taken care of.”

“And what does that mean?”

“Nothing, don’t worry about it. Can you hand me my Wonder Woman hoodie?”

“Yeah, fine, but we’re coming back to-Wait, is this my jacket? How do you have it!? I stole it back!”

Bruce was looking over some documents in his study, trying to ignore the sounds coming from Dick’s phone as his son played with it on the couch, when Cass tapped his shoulder to make herself known.

“Report,” he requested and turned to face her.

“Did Hood do anything?” Dick asked, putting his phone away and sitting up.

She shook her head. “Steph was right. He was worried. And angry, but not at Tim. His feelings were protective.”

Bruce stared at Cass’s ear, carefully keeping his face and posture blank.

He wanted to hope this meant Jason wasn’t completely lost to them.

(If Hood truly was Jason. Talia wasn’t taking his calls and Ra’s had been annoyingly yet unsurprisingly vague.)

He couldn’t let himself hope, though. Jason had changed. Maybe Jason cared about Olivia, but there was no telling his reaction if he discovered the truth. He’d made too many threats against Robin to be trusted around either of the younger birds. (And if he wasn’t Jason and it was all just a trick, then that was one more way he could hurt the kids.)

“So Tim handled it then? Is he home now?” Dick checked.

Cass frowned.

“What happened?” Bruce asked.

“Tim’s parents kicked him out.”

“What!?”

“Just now? Why? Where is he then?”

“No. I don’t know when or why. I heard Tim and Steph talking about it. Tim has been living in Olivia’s apartment so Steph was worried about where he would live since Barbara is going to get rid of the apartment.”

“Why didn’t he say anything?” Dick asked, glancing between her and Bruce. “Did you know about this?”

“No.” How had he missed this?

Well, he supposed it wasn’t hard. He didn’t like how little Tim saw his parents, but he didn’t feel it was his place to interfere so long as they weren’t hurting Tim and the boy still had adults taking care of him. Tim was independent and Bruce tried to respect that, given how his hovering had pushed Dick away and his inability to trust had led to Jason running away.

It appeared he’d found a whole new way to fail one of his kids, though.

“Tim was worried,” Cass said. “He doesn’t want his parents to get in trouble.”

“Of course, he didn’t,” Dick said, glaring off into the distance. “Where is Tim now?”

Cass hesitated.

“What?”

“Hood has a house in the Bowery near Chinatown.”

Bruce’s fists clenched as Dick’s jaw dropped.

“You left Tim and Stephanie with Hood?”

“Stephanie left before Hood took Tim to the house,” Cass corrected. “Hood did not appear to be a threat and Tim went willingly.”

Bruce stood up and moved towards the grandfather clock.

Cass grabbed his arm. “No. Steph gave Tim a week. He needs to either find a place to stay or tell us. She does not believe he will find a place and neither does he. I believe we should… Tim needs to… Tim should get to…” Her face screwed up. “Words. Tim is sad/mad/worried at you. You are worried/mad/guilty about him. Talking won’t work right now.”

Dick nodded. “You’re saying we should wait until we’ve all had time to calm down before talking to Tim about this, right? Because Tim’s worried about his parents getting in trouble for kicking him out and we’re all worked up about the Hood thing.”

She nodded. “And Tim needs time to… to come to… to… TERMS! He needs to come to terms with his feelings about them not taking him back. He hoped they would, even if he knew they wouldn’t, and Steph made him realize it today.”

“That doesn’t mean he should be left alone with Hood,” Bruce growled, trying to pull his arm away.

Cass tightened her grip. “Hood is safe. He looks at Tim like Dick and Barbara look at Tim, Steph, and I. All I see is love and care and protection mixed with annoyance and jokes. He will not hurt Tim. I would not have left if I saw differently.”

“And if he finds out Tim is Robin?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I will have to watch them to be sure. But Tim trusts he will not hurt Robin and I trust Tim. He might risk himself, but he would not risk Steph.”

Bruce tugged his arm free, but Dick stepped between him and the clock.

“Bruce, hold on. I get it, I do. I don’t like the idea of Tim being with a stranger either. Especially one like Hood. But Tim’s been hanging around Hood for months and nothing happened until today. We can show Tim a little bit of trust by giving him the week to come to us.” Dick met his glare evenly. “You said you know who he is behind the mask -”

“I have suspicions. I don’t know for sure.”

“Well, would the guy you suspect he is hurt Tim.”

Bruce’s eyes glanced over Dick’s shoulder to a framed picture of Jason. “I would like to believe he wouldn’t, but -”

“Then for once in your life, trust your instincts and your kids.”

“I do trust you.” He trusted Dick and he trusted Tim, but could he trust Jason? Jason, who had decapitated eight men and delivered their heads in a duffle bag?

Jason, who had stalked up to Bruce with a headful of glitter and the most adorable frown to ask if Bruce could send Dick back to the circus he came from.

“Maybe they’d let us trade him for a cute little kid! Then I could have my own little sibling! I’d be a way better big bro than that ass!”

He ran a hand over his face and turned back to his desk. “Fine, one week. But Cass, I want you to keep an eye on them. If anything seems off, you get Tim out of there. Got it?”

She smiled and nodded.

“Thanks, B.”

He grunted and sat down.

Taking that as a dismissal, Dick gave him a wink and Cass kissed him on the head, then the two left.

Bruce’s eyes drifted back to the picture of Jason.

Chapter Text

🔻

Check in

I’m starting to understand why Cortes thought you were my dad

We just talked two hours ago!!!!!!!!!$!!!!

I’ll take that to mean youre fine

Nope

Penguin grabbed me

I’m just waiting to bleed out while my cement shoes finish setting

Not funny

I’m completely fine

As long as it doesn’t suddenly become possible to die from boredom that is

Thought you and the blonde demon were hanging out with frineds

Frineds

We are

Shut up

Kind of

My friends are busy so we’re mostly with friends of friends right now

Or should I say frineds of frineds 

I know where you live kid

What are you up to

Doing a wellness check of sorts

Kid man or woman?

Kids

Well have fun

Try not to scare the kids with your very very scary hood persona

Forget Penguin I’m going to dump you in the harbor

😎

You can try

Jason snorted and put his phone away.

It had, thankfully, been an uneventful week. No one had connected Olivia -- or Carey Adler, according to her new ID -- to whatever his real name was so he and Stephanie went to school every day in the blonde’s clunky purple van without trouble. Even still, Hood had made them promise to go straight to either the safe house or Stephanie’s place straight after school and stay there until dinner. They always chose Stephanie’s. Supposedly it was because the kids’ friend Kasumi also hung out with them, but the mystery girl was always gone by the time Red Hood got there to bring Carey back to the safe house so he could make him dinner before patrol. Stephanie, meanwhile, was very present when he got there, to the point she’d happily invite herself over for dinner if her mom was working.

He hadn’t made any progress when it came to convincing the kids that he could keep Carey safer than his boss could nor had he sold Carey on the subdermal trackers, but the kid had promised to keep up the check-ins even after he moved to wherever his boss was putting him and he’d agreed to wear not only the panic bracelet and tracker earrings, but also a pair of trackers that could be hidden in his shoes and one in a patch that was disguised as a tattoo. The trackers had, of course, come with the same condition as the first set of trackers: Hood wouldn’t activate them unless either Carey’s panic button activated or he had solid proof the kid was in danger and couldn’t get ahold of him.

He’d honored the condition, even if he had been tempted to see where the kids were spending the night and make sure the place was safe.

To distract himself, he decided to focus on the next stages of his plan. He knew from bugs he had on Mask that the final part of his plan was at the most a week out, which meant he needed to make sure everything else was in place.

Bruce had been given ample time to run every test he could come up with on Hood’s blood, so he had to be at least ninety-three percent sure of Jason’s identity.

Carey was… not as safe as Jason would like, but the kid should be safe enough with his boss until everything was over. Hood would just have to track down the unknown man and put him in his place after.

The apartment that would play the stage for the final showdown had been properly outfitted to ensure the clown couldn’t slip away and Hood would have the guns needed for his ultimatum.

(And if he’d decided the gun he’d give Batman would have blanks instead of normal bullets as he’d originally planned, well, no one had to know. Especially not Talia, who’d made it very clear she thought it was unnecessarily suicidal despite being adamant Bruce would never pull the trigger.)

All that was left was to pay a visit to the Robins. Just a quick hello to both see if they were up to snuff and give the Old Man a good reason to keep them far away from the action when Mask finally played his wild card.

It had been hard to nail down when exactly to deal with Batman’s soldiers after hoity-toity Timmy decided he was too good to wear the cape full time. He needed to get both birds, and in a short amount of time, if he wanted the message to stick and ensure neither Tim nor Spoiler had time to prepare for him. He’d been hoping to catch them on a night they were patrolling alone yet at the same time, but then both birds had been spotted in San Francisco with the Titans that afternoon. A lucky break, really. He’d already had plans to sneak into the tower from when it had been just Tim, so it wasn’t hard to adjust the plans before heading to the West Coast.

As he’d known, Bruce hadn’t bothered to tell anyone else Jason had come back, so he was still in the zeta beam’s and Titans’ systems. It was easy enough to take Gotham’s zeta-tube to San Francisco’s, then use his codes to walk right into Titans Tower. Once in, Hood used those same codes to put the tower into low-level lockdown. It didn’t block communications or alert the inhabitants since that would risk raising flags. It wouldn’t have even kept a Titan with half a brain out for more than a minute or two, but it would give Hood a heads-up before he had unwanted company and it shut down all the security cameras.

His next step was to incapacitate the Titans already in the Tower. Thankfully, most of them were out of town. Cyborg and Beast Boy were in the communication center so he used some tasers to knock them out as soon as they got off their call. Raven was already asleep and a bit of sleeping gas ensured she’d stay that way. That left only the Robins.

They were together when he pulled up their locations, but after ten mixtures they split up. He considered which one to go for first, and landed on Tim. It didn’t seem Spoiler was in the Titans system yet, so it wasn’t hard to throw up a few locked doors to keep her occupied then he made his way to the common room his target was in.

Robin was just finishing up a call when he got there and Hood watched him put the phone away before saying, “Hey, Tim.”

He spun around and Hood got his first good look at his successor.

Tim Drake was on the shorter side and was all lean muscle, like Dick. His face was softer than Jason’s had been at that age, but not quite as round as Dick’s. He seemed to lean into it more than Dick, though, with a bit of makeup helping give him an almost androgynous look that his hair didn’t hurt. It was shoulder-length, pin-straight, and pitch-black. His suit was similar to Spoiler’s Robin suit, though it lacked the skirt. Surprisingly though, he did have the headband, and even paired it with a set of red studs.

“Red Hood?” Robin said, confused.

And then he relaxed.

What the fuck? How the hell did the rich brat survive this long if he relaxes when faced with murderous crime lords who’ve broken into a supposedly safe area? The other Robin had tried to look casual when they’d run into each other, but she’d clearly been nervous and had immediately located an exit strategy in case he attacked.

This Robin just frowned at him and crossed his arms. “What are you doing here? Is this about Batman?”

“What if it is?” Hood asked, trying to regain his footing.

Robin cut in before he could continue, saying, “Look, he’s not forcing us into this or whatever. I came to him. I figured out who he was when I was a little kid so when he started spiraling after the second Robin died and Nightwing couldn’t help the way I thought Batman needed, I took the suit and became Robin behind Batman’s back. He needed someone to make him slow down just a bit and wonder what could happen, whether he wanted that someone or not.”

That… didn’t completely line up with what Hood had been told. Robin had known since he was little? The way Talia talked about Tim stalking Batman after Jason died had made it seem like he’d figured it out then. Hood had been sure Bruce had noticed Tim following him and set it up to test him to see if he’d make a good replacement for Jason. If he’d already known before… And what did he mean he stole the suit? Either Tim was an amazing liar or Talia hadn’t gotten the full picture.

But that didn’t change anything. “Still. You do realize, the whole idea of training teenagers to fight against something he’ll never eradicate is a mistake.”

“Batman didn’t have a choice,” Robin scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Most of us were already out there before he got to us. The training is all he can do to try to make it as safe as possible for us.”

“Yet it didn’t surprise anyone when the second Robin died,” Hood chuckled. “When he died, no one cared. No one remembered him.”

For the first time, Robin looked ready for a fight. “Are you kidding? No one could forget him! I’ve spent my career wearing this mask under his shadow! I’m only even Robin because of the impact he had on Batman! Because he’ll never stop blaming himself for what happened to him! You don’t know anything about the second Robin!”

“Don’t I?” Hood growled and reached up to pull his helmet off.

Robin stared at him with first confusion, then shock, and finally annoyance. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Oh my god! That makes so much sense! How did I not put it together sooner?” He looked back at Hood. “Oh, right, you’re supposed to be dead. League of Assassins, right? I bet it’s the League. That would explain some of the things I’ve been noticing and why Bruce is being so weird about you.”

Hood tossed his helmet to the side and dropped his hands to his belt. “I didn’t come here to swap stories, Tim.”

Robin stared at him for a moment, then crossed his arms. “You’re not going to attack me.”

“You think so?”

“Yes,” he said, overly confident. “You don’t hurt kids.”

What the fuck? What was it with all the cocky, too-smart, black-haired teenagers in his life completely underestimating him? “You’re not a kid. You’re Robin.”

“And Robin is a minor. Always has been. So you won’t hurt me.”

Hood hadn’t planned on anything more than a fistfight with Robin, but the attitude was really tempting him to pull out his gun and put a bullet somewhere nonvital. “Did Bruce tell you nothing about me?”

“Depends. Do you mean Jason? Because he kind of did, but he doesn’t like to talk about… anything revolving around feelings, actually, so Dick and Alfred were better sources of information. If you meant Hood, then no. He basically just said to stay away. He did say you’d threatened me, but I told him you were just needling him.”

Hood grabbed Robin and threw him through a window.

He jumped out the window after him to see Robin twisting with the fall and landing in a roll.

He turned to Hood with a scowl. “Seriously?”

“I told you I didn’t come here to talk,”  Hood said and swung at Robin, only for him to duck out of the way.

He grabbed his staff from his belt, expanding it as he ducked another blow. “What do you want? What is the point of this?”

“I died, Tim. I trained as hard as I could. I did whatever Bruce asked, at least at first. But it didn’t matter. You think you’re tough enough to be Robin? Then show me. Show me what you have that I didn’t.”

Robin narrowed his eyes and nodded, raising his staff. “Fine, if that’s the only way to get through to you.”

Hood snorted, then they were fighting.

He blocked two blows from Robin’s staff, then aimed a blow at his head which Robin just managed to duck before catching Hood right in the face. He retaliated by kicking Robin back into a planter. He threw a batarang at the sidekick, distracting him long enough to get ahold of the staff. Just before he could rip it out of Robin’s grip, something hit him hard in the back of the head.

Ignoring the pain and slight vertigo, he shoved Robin back and turned to see Spoiler had managed to make it out of her quarantine.

She was glaring at him as she picked up another chunk of planter. “I told you Hood’s threats were serious.”

“In my defense,” Robin huffed, getting to his feet, “I’m pretty sure this is just some sort of test and he doesn’t actually want to hurt me.”

Spoiler turned her glare on him while Hood spun around, hands in the air. “Are you still not taking me seriously?”

Robin looked between them and shrugged. “No?”

“I’m going to shoot you,” Hood grunted, then brought his arm up to block the planter chunk that Spoiler threw at his head.

Jason Todd-Wayne was alive. Jason Todd-Wayne was Red Hood.

That certainly explained why Bruce wasn’t going after him as hard as he could have despite being convinced Hood was extremely dangerous. He was holding back. Hood’s theatrics, nerdiness, and concern for the Alley also lined up with the stories Tim had been told. If he’d been resurrected by the League of Assassins, then that would explain his training and resources.

Of course, there was always the chance he wasn’t Jason Todd-Wayne. Tim had studied Jason Todd-Wayne enough to recognize his face, even older and more defined, but it could have been a very skilled mimicry. He also wouldn’t have been the first clone Tim had come across. Bruce likely would have ruled those options out first, though, and been all the angrier for it.

Oh man, Tim had effectively been living with Jason Todd-Wayne!

“Stay away from him!” Spoiler said as she pulled a batarang out of her belt.

“Woah, okay, hold on,” Robin said, raising his free hand. “Let’s calm down for a second. Spoiler, he’s Jason. Like, Jason Todd-Wayne.”

She frowned and cocked her hip, batarang still in hand. “You mean the second Robin. The dead one.”

“I’m guessing the League of Assassins did something, but he didn’t confirm or deny it.”

“Are you sure he’s not a clone like Superboy?”

“I’m pretty sure. Bruce wou-”

“Oh my God! Bruce totally knows! No wonder he’s being all secretive about knowing Hood’s identity.”

“Right!”

“Do you think -”

“Are you two done?” Hood asked.

The two looked at him, then turned back to each other.

“Do you think he’d teach me how to shoot?” Spoiler asked. “Like, really shoot.”

“I doubt Batman would like that,” Hood said, glaring at them both.

“Who cares what he thinks?” she scoffed. “I’d already know how if Mom didn’t tell Alfred he couldn’t teach me. But she didn’t say you couldn’t and Robin wouldn’t rat us out, right Enby Wonder!”

“Please do not give her a gun,” Robin sighed.

“Says the one who went full supervillain when he got a gun!”

“I didn’t go supervillain just because I got a gun!”

“What are you two talking about?” Hood cut in again.

“Nothing,” Robin said, giving Spoiler a pointed look. “Can we go back to fighting now?”

“Oh!” she gasped, looking between the two. “What if this is how it starts!? You started hanging out with Hood and his guns, and then -”

“No, no, stop! I didn’t turn into evil Batman because I started hanging out with Hood. Knock it off!”

“I’m just joking.”

“Well, you’re not funny.”

“You know what, fuck this.”

The two watched Hood turn and march off to climb up to the broken window he’d thrown Robin through.

“Does this mean you won’t teach me how to shoot?”

“Wait, I still have questions!”

Hood ignored them both, disappearing back into the common room.

“We should probably call B.”

“He’s going to be ticked that we didn’t hit our panic buttons.”

“Speak for yourself. I -” Spoiler cut off as yellow gas filled the area. “Shit!”

Holding their breath, the two scrambled for their rebreathers as Hood dropped back down with his helmet once more covering his head.

He went for Robin first. The younger boy moved to duck away as he tried to secure the rebreather on his head, but Hood caught him. He slammed his palm against Robin’s chest, making him gasp just as Hood ripped the rebreather off and tossed it away.

As Hood tackled Spoiler, Robin collapsed. He tried to keep from breathing in the gas, but his lungs weren’t cooperating. He crawled towards his rebreather and slipped it over his face, but he could feel his mind going foggy and his limbs weakening.

He turned back to the fight and saw Spoiler lying on the ground, Hood standing over her with her rebreather in hand. He tried to shuffle back when Hood started to approach, but Hood easily caught up just by walking.

“Bedtime, Timmy,” he said as he pulled Robin’s mask off.

Hood glared at the sleeping kids. So much for testing them. They clearly weren’t going to give it their all. First Carey, now these two? Did he really have that soft of a reputation among Gotham’s youth? He’d have to figure out some other way to test them, preferably without letting them know he was involved.

That would have to wait, though. For now, he’d focus on giving Bruce a good enough scare to ensure he kept the two away from Hood’s business. How to do it, though? He could just leave them there, knocked out with Hood’s calling card, but would that be enough to get through the Bat’s thick head? Especially considering how stubborn and uncaring the kids were? No, he couldn’t trust that that would be big enough, and he didn’t know if he’d have time for a take-two. Whatever he did, it had to be big enough to keep the two away.

Keep them away.

Hood made quick work of their armor, leaving them in the leggings and compression shirts they wore underneath. A thorough scan with his helmet detected subdermal trackers in both kids, one in Spoiler and three in Robin.

“Seriously, Bruce. One, sure, but three? That’s paranoid even for you.”

Considering he had no desire to cut the trackers out, Hood took a quick trip down to the labs to grab a pair of Faraday bands. Inspired by Faraday cages, they created an electromagnetic field around the wearer that blocked all frequencies.  They were meant to be used on technopaths, androids, cyborgs, or the like to keep them from wirelessly interacting with technology, but they’d block the trackers’ signals just as easily.

He stuck them in his pocket, then went back for the kids. He knelt next to Spoiler to pick her up, but paused when his eyes landed on her mask.

Well, he had been curious about who she was and the Titans’ reactions when they realized the kids had been unmasked by their kidnapper were sure to be priceless. Batman would have a lot of explaining to do, and Dick was sure to tear Bruce a new one over keeping secrets. Hood could still remember how bad it got when those two went at it.

“Have fun dealing with that, Old Man,” he snorted and grabbed the edge of Spoiler’s mask. Pressing the hidden buttons in the right order released the electrostatic charge that kept the mask locked onto her face and he gently pulled it off. “Now who do we have…”

The mask slipped through his fingers as he stared down at the face of the girl who, just that morning, had conned him into making her waffles before school.

“You have got to be kidding me,” he growled as he turned to Robin. “No, no fucking way.”

When he pulled the bird’s mask off, the face underneath it wasn’t exactly what he was used to. He knew enough about using makeup to soften or sharpen different features to be able to see the similarities, though. The fact that he’d been looking after the kid for months didn’t hurt either.

It made sense.

He hated that it made sense.

The kid had moved through clubs the same way Brucie moved through galas.

He could shift from the witty snark of Nightwing to the quiet aloofness of Matches Malone at a moment’s notice.

His little honey pot routine was stolen straight out of Selina Kyle’s playbook, if dialed back some.

He had been kidnapped by the Víboras, Stephanie had gone to his boss, and the Bats had torn their operation to the ground.

His boss had explicitly told him to stay away from Hood, when Hood had made it clear that all the kids in Gotham but one were under his protection.

He had ignored his boss’s warning and approached the crime lord with all the stubbornness of a Robin.

Little Red had shown up in an outfit befitting Gotham Academy.

Tim Drake had been attending Gotham Academy.

Hood cut back the time Little Red could spend working.

Tim Drake cut back the time he spent as Robin.

Little Red went to the same school as Stephanie, his not-girlfriend

Tim Drake went to that same school to be with his blonde girlfriend.

Tim Drake had relaxed the moment he saw Hood.

Tim Drake had known exactly why Hood was there.

Tim Drake had known Hood.

Tim Drake was Carey.

Tim Drake was Olivia.

Tim Drake was Little Red.

Chapter Text

Yawning, Stephanie stretched and sat up. She looked around the unfamiliar bedroom she was in to see blackout curtains, a boring farm painting, and rustic furniture. She turned to the lump in the twin bed next to hers and reached over to pull back the covers so she could see their sleeping face. “Hey, Timberly, did we crash at a safe house? I don’t recognize this one.”

Tim didn’t so much as twitch.

She got up and went to the window with a frown on her face. She didn’t remember going to a safe house last night. In fact, hadn’t they been spending the night with the Titans?

She pulled open the curtains to see not Gotham or even San Fransisco, but a wall of trees.

“Speak for yourself. I -” she cut off as yellow gas filled the area.

“Shit!” She rushed back over to the bed to check on Tim. Thankfully, his breathing and heartbeat seemed fine so he must have just still been under the influence of the gas. She checked the window next, only to find it was made of reinforced bulletproof glass and had a magnetic lock on it that was connected to some sort of system. She studied it closely and cursed when she realized it was the kind that would stay locked even if she cut the power.

She checked the door next and was surprised to see it was not only unlocked (with the locking mechanism on their side), but it was also slightly ajar. She listened at the door for a second before, with a glance at Tim, opening it and stepping out.

The hall on the other side had six doors. The first led to the backyard. The second led to a bedroom similar to the one she’d woken up in, but larger with a king-sized bed and an en suite. The third door led to a bathroom/laundry room mix. The fourth opened onto a set of stairs going down into a cellar that had been converted into a home gym. The fifth led to a bedroom exactly like the one she’d woken up in, down to the sheets. The final door led to the open kitchen/living room.

She took the time to thoroughly check each room for a means of escape. Unfortunately, all the windows were reinforced the same as the first room and the exterior cellar door had been bricked up.

She found a hidden door in the cellar, but breaking into it only revealed a small room stocked with swords, daggers, throwing knives, and staffs as well as locked crates labeled things like SMOKE BOMBS, GRENADES, and AMMO as well a variety of gun names. Unfortunately, the locks on the crates would need proper equipment to break so she resigned herself to tucking a pair of sheathed daggers into her waistband and grabbing a bandolier of throwing knives. She dropped a staff and another bandolier off with the sleeping Tim before continuing her search.

The fancy double doors in the master bedroom and the backdoor in the hall opened onto the same large deck which had a hot tub alongside some sun chairs and closed patio umbrellas. The deck was enclosed by a heavy metal railing and reinforced netting that her dagger couldn’t cut. The deck’s gate was magnetically locked like the windows in addition to a pair of deadbolts that needed keys for both sides.

The front porch seemed to be similarly enclosed, but she couldn’t check as the front door was locked up tight with a magnetic lock, a biometric lock, and three different deadbolts.

When she was convinced there was no one else in the house and no way out, she collapsed on the living room couch, muttering curses under her breath.

Seventeen minutes and quite a bit of groaning later, she heard a car pull up in front of the house. She turned off the tv and crouched behind an armchair, grabbing a throwing knife. There was a moment, then she heard gravel crunching up to the porch. The person unlocked and opened the porch door and came up to the front door. Instead of opening it, though, they just set something down and went back the way they came. They did it twice more, and after the third time, they stopped at the porch door. They fiddled with it before coming back to the front door.

It was a preventative measure, she realized with a scowl. Even if she and Tim could force their way onto the porch when the door opened, they’d be stopped there.

As soon as the front door began to open, she threw the knife.

Red Hood -- Jason Todd-Wayne -- caught it and frowned. He looked it over with a sigh. “You found the armory. Great. She’s going to be pissed.” He tossed it onto the kitchen counter, saying, “Do you want chocolate chips or blueberries in your waffles, Blondie?”

“Nice try, but I can’t be bought, asshole!” she growled, grabbing another knife. “Your waffles aren’t that good!”

“That’s not what you said yesterday.” He dodged the knife this time. He glared at where it was stuck into the cabinet, before shrugging. “You know what, this is all her fault anyways. She can deal with it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Nothing. So chocolate or berries?”

“Fuck you.”

“Chocolate it is.” He set the bags he was carrying onto the counter, then went back to the door. “I’m guessing Timmy’s still sleeping.”

“Carey’s going to kick your ass when she finds out about this.”

He rolled his eyes as he came back in with a pair of duffle bags. “Considering Carey barely put up a fight last night, I doubt it.”

“Shit.” So he did know Tim and Carey were the same person.

“Yeah, shit.” He tossed one of the bags onto the chair she was hiding behind, putting the other on the couch. “Why don’t you get washed up while I make breakfast?”

Eyeing him, she grabbed the bag and unzipped it. Her eyes widened as she spotted a familiar t-shirt near the top. “Did you break into my house and steal my clothes?”

“Hell no. I’m not digging through some teenage girl’s drawers.” He grabbed another load of groceries from the porch and kicked the door closed behind him. “Your mom packed it for you. And before you say anything, I made Carey pack a go-bag when she moved. I didn’t touch her stuff.”

“My m-What did you do to my mom?”

He rolled his eyes and set the grocery bags down. He started putting the food away as he said, “Nothing. I just went and told her who I was and asked if she knew you were Spoiler.”

“What the hell? You’re lucky the bat furry already snitched!” she snapped, tossing another knife.

He caught that one too. “Bruce told her? Did he tell Timmy’s parents too?”

“No. Unlike me, Timmy had blackmail since he already knew who the Bats were under their masks. I didn’t find out until way later. Besides, the Drakes can’t even be trusted with taking care of Tim. Do you really think we can trust them with Batman’s identity?”

Jason paused, a bag of tomatoes in hand. “So they really did kick him out then?”

Before she could answer, the door to the hall opened. They watched as Tim shuffled across the room to the open fridge. He reached inside, then pulled his hand back with a frown. He looked inside.

 Jason chuckled and grabbed an iced coffee out of one of the bags and handed it to Tim.

“Thanks.” He took a few sips and looked around. “Where are we?”

“A murder cabin in the woods,” she said.

“A safe house in the Palisades,” Jason corrected. “Those woods are an apple orchard. Have you never been out of the city?”

She flipped him off.

“Oh right, you kidnapped us,” Tim said, sounding entirely too unbothered for Stephanie’s taste.

For Jason’s too, judging by the scowl he was wearing.

Tim’s nose scrunched up. “Hold on, the Palisades? Why? You have plenty of safe houses back in civilization.”

“Yeah, and you know most of them. You won’t even tell me how many of them you know. I’m not going to bring you somewhere I know Batman probably knows about.”

Stephanie’s eyes narrowed. “Wait, you told us that the only safehouses you knew Hood had were the Jacob Street one, the Horton Avenue one, and the expressway one.”

“So why’d you bring us here?” Tim asked, peeking into one of the bags.

“TIM!”

“You didn’t tell them about my shit?” Jason asked, unconvinced.

Tim threw his free hand in the air. “If I told them, Bruce would set up surveillance. If you noticed even one, you’d get paranoid and check the others. All your safe houses suddenly being watched would point to me since I’m the only one that knows about them and then you’d be mad at me because, yeah, we both know I’ve been giving my boss -- who you’ve probably realized was Bruce -- any information I’ve gotten during the meetings I go to with you, but selling out your safe houses would have been a step too far. You wouldn’t have wanted to see me again. I mean, Dick probably would have made sure you noticed just to ensure I’d stay away from you.”

“For good reason,” Stephanie snapped, gesturing around them.

Tim rolled his eyes and took another sip of his coffee.

“HE KIDNAPPED US!”

“He’s not going to hurt us.”

Jason flicked his ear. “I attacked you!”

“I gave as good as I got,” Tim said, giving Jason’s swollen nose a pointed look. “Besides, are you going to tell me it wasn’t a test?”

Jason gave him a murderous look but didn’t argue.

Tim smiled at Stephanie. “See! He’d never actually try to hurt us. This,” he pointed at Jason’s face, “just proves my point. He was Robin.”

“Emphasis on was, kid,” Jason huffed and went back to his unpacking.

“Timmy, I love you, but you’re an absolute moron. He still kidnapped us.”

“This is probably a test too,” Tim shrugged and his eyes started analyzing the room. “I bet we’re supposed to figure out how to escape and make it back into the city.”

“Uh, no. Not happening,” Jason said, not looking at them. “This isn’t a test and you’re not allowed to escape or go back to the city.”

“Well it wouldn’t be escaping if we were allowed to leave,” Tim scoffed.

“The kidnapper doesn’t get a choice in whether we try to escape or not,” Stephanie said, flipping him off.

“I’m serious. You need to stay here,” he said to Tim. Then to Stephanie, he said, “Considering I’m the one who’s been taking care of this idiot for the past few months and your mom gave me permission, this barely counts as a kidnapping so I do get a choice.”

“My mom gave you permission?” she said, incredulous. “Why would she do that?”

“Apparently someone,” he shot a glare at Tim, “has been telling her stories.”

Tim just drank his coffee.

“So when I told her something was going down and I was getting you out of the city until it was over, she agreed not to say anything to Bruce as long as you called her and she could come visit on her days off. Speaking of which…” Jason dug a burner out of his pocket.

Tim perked up. “So this is about keeping us safe then! Ha, I knew you had a good reason.”

“Just drink your coffee!” Jason muttered, tapping at the phone.

“Does this mean your big plan is going down? Are you finally going to tell me what it is?”

“Coffee!” Jason growled as he marched up to Stephanie and held out the phone.

She stared at it blankly before realizing it was ringing and taking it. She put it to her ear just as her mom answered.

“Hello?”

“Mom?”

“Oh, Steffi! How are you doing?”

Stephanie blinked, then scowled. “How am I doing!? How do you think I’m doing!?”

“Do not take that tone with me, Stephanie Brown,” her mother warned and she deflated.

“Sorry, but did you seriously tell Hood he could kidnap me?”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” her mother sighed. “But I did agree not to involve the others after Mr. Todd came by to ensure I knew what you were up to at night and let me know things were about to go down with Black Mask so he was getting you and Tim out of the city until everything blows over.”

“You need to go tell Bruce -”

“No.”

“Mom!”

“Stephanie. Everyone on the Northside can tell something’s about to happen. We can feel it in the air. I know you know that. I don’t want you anywhere near this. If Mr. Todd wants to help keep you safe and far from it, then I’m going to support him.”

“He’s not Mr. Todd, a friendly neighbor! He’s the Red Hood! He’s a murderous crime lord! You can’t trust him!”

“And yet you went over to his house for dinner most days last week.”

She flinched. “I was keeping an eye on Tim.”

“And did he ever do anything to make you feel like Tim wasn’t safe?”

“Not until yesterday, but -”

“And did he ever do anything to make you feel like you weren’t safe?”

“Not until yesterday, but -”

“And has he hurt either of you? Has he looked at you or touched you inappropriately?”

“He attacked Tim!”

Tim’s nose scrunched up and he leaned over to say, “I’m fine, Mrs. Brown. Just a couple of scratches and bruises.”

“That boy doesn’t understand the meaning of fine,” her mom sighed as she pushed Tim away.

“See, Tim’s hurt.”

“I agree, but you two are always getting hurt. Is it any worse than that time you two tried to share a skateboard?”

She flushed, remembering the incident. And the look on Dick’s face when he found them tangled up at the bottom of the stairs. It had honestly been fine until Tim wanted to try doing a rail grind on the banister.

Alfred had banned skateboards from the manor after that.

“That-We-I-No, I guess not, but -”

“Has he threatened you since? Yes or no only.”

“No.”

“Do you feel unsafe?”

She bit her lip. She wanted to say yes, but could she honestly? The kidnapping was messed up and she would be kicking his ass for it later, but knocking them out to get them somewhere safe wasn’t entirely different than when she snuck Tim’s meds into his tea or when they had to give someone a sedative because they got dosed with something. Despite her arguments, his fight with Tim really hadn’t been much more than a spar that went a bit too hard, at least from what she’d seen of it. He’d never tried to go for his guns, even when they’d started to annoy him.

“I guess not,” she eventually muttered.

“Then, I… Okay, I’m coming!” her mom called, her voice growing quieter like she moved the phone away from her. When she spoke again, her voice was back to a normal level. “I need to get back to my shift, Steffi. Look, tomorrow’s my day off. Mr. Todd said he’d pick me up in the morning so I could see you. If he doesn’t show up, then I’ll call Bruce. If he does, then we can talk about it more when I get there. Okay?”

“Fine. Tim and I are still going to try to escape though.”

“I’m sure you will. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

“Satisfied,” Jason asked once she hung up, holding his hand out for the phone.

She smacked it as hard as she could onto his palm. “Fuck you.”

Tim and Stephanie retreated to the couch while Jason made breakfast. They bickered over what to watch before settling on The Incredibles. When breakfast was ready, they grabbed their plates and went back to the movie, ignoring Jason’s arguments.

“I almost forgot! I was watching the new episode of Sirens earlier and they totally did BG dirty,” she said out of nowhere as she was finishing her waffles and Tim turned to her, nodding.

“Right! I swear the writer’s got something against the Bats. First, they turned Oracle into an AI, then they turned Batgirl into some meek, anxious woman. Why? Just because she doesn’t talk much? And the way they talk about her family, I bet anything they’re going to portray us all as alpha male dude-bros who walk all over her. As if she wouldn’t kick all our butts to Sunday if we ever tried that.”

Stephanie smirked. “Is that how it happened in the original story?”

He knocked their shoulders together. “Shut up.”

“What are you two talking about?” Jason asked, leaning over the couch and holding out his hand for Tim’s empty plate.

He handed it over with a smile. “Sirens. It’s a crime thriller show about a group of female detectives. The new season started Wednesday. It’s pretty good, but I’m pretty sure it’s RPF fanfiction based on the Birds of Prey. Cass’s character was just introduced.”

Stephanie glared at Jason and held out her plate, but he took one look at her glare and left. She contemplated throwing the plate at him, then turned her glare on the snickering Tim. “Well, I’m pretty sure he only thinks that because he read the story that got turned into the show on one of his fanfiction sites.”

“I did not,” Tim huffed, feeling his cheeks heat up as Jason turned to look at him.

“You read fanfiction about the Birds?”

“No!”

“Yeah! And about the Titans and Bats too!” Stephanie said, and Tim kicked her off the couch. She just laughed and stayed on the ground as Jason hissed about syrup and came over to snatch her plate off the floor. “He’s a giant fanboy! It’s the only reason he even got the job! You and Dickard were his favorite!”

“You’re the worst,” Tim said.

She blew a kiss at him, then turned her head back to the tv.

He started to do the same before he spotted her sitting up to give him a Cheshire grin. “What?”

“Timmy!”

“No.”

Her grin grew. “You know, it’s probably a good thing Bruce let you be Robin.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Jason piped in over his dishwashing.

“Why?” Tim asked slowly, ignoring the older boy.

“Because otherwise you probably would have gone Syndrome on us!”

Tim put his face in his hands.

“Except your plan would have worked, which is worse.”

“No, Steph, I would not have gone Syndrome if Batman wouldn’t have let me be Robin.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes.”

“Are you willing to bet on it? I’m sure we could get someone to show us the alternate universe where Bruce actually managed to put his foot down.”

“Yes, I’m sure, and stay out of the multiverse.”

“I mean, it wouldn’t be the first supervillain version of you we’ve come across. Or the -”

“J.J. doesn’t count. I was tortured and brainwashed.”

“Fine, it wouldn’t be the first. I bet there are other ones out there,” she said, climbing back onto the couch.

“Wait, you two weren’t kidding about the Batman with guns thing?” Jason asked.

“It’s a long story, and it’s been taken care of,” Tim sighed.

“That still isn’t as reassuring as you think it is. If anything, that’s even more ominous than it was the first time because now I know you’re Robin.”

“It’s fine. It wouldn’t even matter if Steph stopped bringing it up.”

“Never.”

Chapter Text

Tim was staring at him.

Stephanie was talking with her mom in the living room so Jason and Tim had gone down to the gym.

It was the first time they’d been alone together since the Tower. 

Jason was doing bench presses while ignoring Tim’s staring.

Tim was hanging off the pullup bar by her knees, staring at Jason.

She opened her mouth.

“Shut up.”

She pouted. “I didn’t even say anything.”

“But you were going to say something.”

“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”

“Don’t care. Just shut it.”

Tim did a few crunches and dropped down, flipping midair to land on her feet. She kicked the staff lying there into her hand. As she gave it a few spins, her eyes drifted back to him.

“So -”

“No.”

“- did you know that it was me?”

He growled and put the bar on the rack. He sat up, glaring at her. “Do you think this would have happened if I’d known who you were?”

She shrugged and rested the staff across her shoulders. “Maybe. We both know you weren’t actually trying to hurt me or Steph, no matter what you told Dick and Bruce. It could have been your way of keeping an eye on me, and later pushing me out of being Robin.”

“The point was to get you off the streets, not let you tag along with me in addition to running around as Robin!”

Her lips quirked up. “It’s not like you had much of a choice on that front. Besides, you kept me out of the fights.”

“I should have done more.”

“You couldn’t stop me any more than Bruce could,” she said with a Cheshire grin, then changed the subject. “I didn’t know, by the way. About you, if that wasn’t clear. If I’d known, I would have told Dick and Steph. And Cass, when she got back from Hong Kong. You know, after I confirmed you weren’t a clone or something.”

“Not B?” he asked, more out of curiosity than disbelief.

Between hanging out with a crime lord and hiding the location of said crime lord’s safe houses, the kid clearly had no issue with keeping things from the Bat.

She rolled her eyes. “Obviously not. Bruce is… You’re a touchy subject for him. For Dick and Alfred too, but you know how Bruce gets when strong emotions come into play. If he found out you were alive, all the grief, guilt, joy, and everything else would overwhelm him so he’d start compartmentalizing, which is the exact opposite of what you need considering how mad you seem to be at the Bats. I bet he’s trying to confirm you’re you right now, if he hasn’t already, then he’ll try to talk you down from this whole crime lord thing. You don’t need to be talked down, you need to be talked with. That makes Dick the better option. He wouldn’t be happy about the crime lord thing, but he’d be willing to listen because it’s you. Bruce really should have only been brought in once you were ready to wait him out and had us as backup.”

He snorted and laid back down. “I doubt any amount of time or backup would help him get over the fact I’m a murderer.”

She walked up to stand over his head, arms crossed and staff leaning against her shoulder. “He loves you. You’re his son. He might not be acting like it because emotions are hard and Bruce sucks at dealing with them, but he would do anything to get you back. He’d even put up with a little murder.”

“A little murder, she says,” he snorted.

“It’s not like you’re blowing up random banks or schools. I wouldn’t be here if you were. We might not like killing, but we’ve worked with people who kill before. Heck, Diana doesn’t always pull her punches and she’s one of Bruce’s closest friends. Then there’s that whole thing he had with Talia back when Dick was in the cape.”

“They got married. You don’t have to be weird about it.”

“They got married? Dick only said they hooked up a few times. Wait, are they still married?”

Jason opened his mouth, then closed it. He stared at the wall for a second before pulling out his phone.

🗡️💅🏽

Are you and b still married??????

Not legally, but in all the ways that matter, yes. What is this about?

Does he know that??????

We never got a divorce so I don’t see why not.

Because your psycho dad tricked him into the marriage!!!!!

The marriage is still binding nonetheless.

Ok so he definitely doesn’t know, great

How does that work with Selina

Can’t see you just ignoring b cheating on you

Your father can have his harlot if he wishes. He is still mine at the end of the day. What is this all about? Does it have something to do with your impulsive kidnapping of the Robins and your father trying to track me down?

Kind of and he’s not my dad

Also Selina’s not a harlot

Talk to you later

You are lucky another matter is taking up my attention at this time. I expect a full explanation at some point and you best hope your father doesn’t discover what I’m doing because of your actions.

What are you up to

That is not your concern for the moment. I will call you when I have time for your explanation.

He snorted and shoved his phone back into his pocket. He looked up at Tim, who was giving him an innocuous smile as if she hadn’t just been reading over his shoulder. “Well, there’s your answer.”

“I’ve actually got more questions now, but we need to get back on track.”

“Look -”

“And this just proved my point. Talia’s an assassin. Her restrictions on killing are way looser than yours -- if she even has any -- and apparently Bruce married her. There’s no way he’d give up having you back. I bet the only reason he hasn’t tried to bring you home already is that he’s worried you’ll attack one of us or something. Despite my valid arguments that it would go against your clear moral code, someone got it in his head that you want to really hurt Steph and me.”

“Probably because I was going to really hurt you and Blondie.”

“No, you weren’t. You’re just a big softie who needs to be hugged by his dad. And probably also go to therapy, but same so let’s not talk about that part.”

“Shut up,” he grunted, returning to his presses. He didn’t need Bruce to hug him. He needed Bruce to prove he gave a shit. About Jason, about his death, about the kids he was bringing into the fight when that fight had already killed one kid. “Bruce doesn’t care about me, and he doesn’t care about you.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.”

“Kid -”

“Considering I had to pick up the shattered pieces of Bruce after you died while you got to run off and play nice with the League of Assassins, I’d say I know more about how Bruce feels about you than you do.”

“I wasn’t playing nice with the League of Assassins,” he huffed, ignoring the rest of her statement. Bruce was an amazing actor when he wanted to be. Tim could have been fooled. Jason wouldn’t know the truth until Bruce proved himself.

She cocked her head and pulled a knife out of her boot. “Really? Because even if we ignore you casually texting Talia, this would still look like a League knife.”

“I told you two to stay out of the armory.”

She put the knife back in her boot with a smile.

“Do you two ever listen?”

“We listen when it matters.”

“Like when B tells you to stay away from a very dangerous criminal,” he muttered under his breath. Then, before she could go off again about how he wasn’t dangerous, he said, “I use the League’s resources and owe Talia one, that’s it.”

She snickered. “Come on, you don’t have to be embarrassed about training with the League. I trained under Lady Shiva for a short time and she’s basically an on-and-off-again member or something.”

Jason froze, the bar against his chest.

Robin trained under Lady Shiva, who was one of the best fighters in the world. Tim trained under the woman who participated in fights to the death like they were calming morning walks. The kid trained under the woman who, during the search for Jason’s mother, very likely would have killed Bruce if Jason hadn’t intervened. Little Red trained under the woman who’d killed many of her masters and students just because she wanted to test them. His little brother trained under the mercenary who’d handed a baby off to David Cain and never looked back until she thought that child was interesting enough to fight to the death.

Frowning, Tim dropped her staff and went around to Jason’s head to grab the bar.

“I’m fine,” he muttered, but let her help him put it back on the rack. He sat up and poked her in the forehead. “What do you mean you trained under Shiva? What was Bruce thinking having you do that?”

“I mean, it wasn’t that he had me do it. It just kind of happened. It’s a long story, but I ran into her while doing some extra training in Paris and she agreed to teach me some things while we were running the same mission.”

“And where was Bruce during this?”

“Gotham.”

Of course, where else would he be? “What were you doing in Europe alone? When was this?”

“The summer I turned thirteen. And I was supposed to be staying at this martial arts school, but then there was this gang with a bioweapon and like I said, it’s a long story. Bruce didn’t even know until after it was all over and I reported back to him.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why didn’t you report back to him as soon as you found out about Shiva and the bioweapon?”

“I didn’t know who she was at the time, and I had everything under control.”

“You were running around with a bloodthirsty mercenary!”

“And I had everything under control,” she repeated.

“That…” He groaned. “What did your parents think about Bruce Wayne shipping you off to Paris for the summer?”

“Well, first of all, Bruce didn’t ship me off anywhere. I wanted to go because I thought I needed more training than just what Bruce, Dick, and Alfred had taught me. And I just told my parents I wanted to spend some time in Europe during the break and thought the school looked interesting. They think I spent the whole two months there and never found out about the trip to Hong Kong.”

“Hong Ko-Did Bruce know about the trip to Hong Kong?”

“It was in my post-mission report.”

Jason put his face in his hands. “This is like Guatemala and Ethiopia all in one. Kid, how have you survived this long? And don’t you dare say you had everything under control. You went trailing along after a criminal barely a year after I followed a criminal into a warehouse and got beaten and exploded for my troubles. And at least Sheila Fucking Haywood was my sorry excuse for an egg donor and not some mystery mercenary. What part of doing that -- without even telling B -- sounded like a good idea?”

Her shoulders hitched up and she looked away. “Well, when you put it like that it’s going to sound bad.”

“There’s no way to make it sound good!”

“Look, that was years ago. Sorry for bringing it up. Can we talk about something else now?”

“Depends. Do you want to talk about your decision to stalk a crime lord?”

“Okay, that’s not fair,” she huffed, throwing her hands in the air. “You were stalking me first!”

“Which is the point in the undercover opp when you burn the alias and lay low,” Jason snorted. “You’re not supposed to respond by aggravating the crime lord into making you his plus one at as many future meetings as you can talk yourself into.”

“You’re not just some crime lord. I had plenty of proof that you wouldn’t be a danger to me before I approached you on that roof.”

“I attacked and kidnapped you.”

“That was Robin, not Olivia.”

“Both of which are still you!” Jason laid down, done with the conversation. “B needs to put a leash on you.”

“Back at you, Hood.”

He flipped her off and she giggled.

She picked the staff back up and started working through her forms. “So how’d you get Talia to play nice anyways? Dick told me Talia doesn’t like us and gets possessive of Bruce.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, he told me the same. I’m not saying you should go anywhere near Talia because you really really shouldn’t, but it’s actually just Dick she hates. I’m betting it’s because he was the possessive jerk back then who probably Richard-blocked her and B all the time.”

“TMI,” she groaned, nose scrunching up, “and did you seriously just use Richard for…”

“Hell yeah, I did,” he chuckled. “I decided back when I first met Dick to start doing it. If he’s going to call himself a dick, then I get to use his name as a substitute for all forms of the word. As a bonus, Alfred couldn’t complain about my language and B always looked constipated.”

“Steph’s going to steal that the moment she hears about it.”

Jason looked up from the carrots he was chopping and glanced over the room. Stephanie was splayed out to take up the whole couch and Tim was sitting sideways in a rocking chair. As she had been since her mom left, Stephanie was pouting. Tim had tried to cheer her up but was now focused on the action movie that was playing while his hands fiddled with a knife.

As he watched the kid spin the knife around his fingers in a similar way to how Jason had seen Dick play with wingdings and batarangs a lifetime ago, something occurred to the crime lord. “Hey, so the Bats actually saved you from Cortés, didn’t they? They were just using the trafficking charges to scoop you up and you lied about sneaking away.”

“Yeah, mostly. The bats were there to save me and they only found evidence of the trafficking while they were there, but I did try to sneak away. I wanted to try to keep the others from finding out about Little Red, but that didn’t work out since Dick overheard some goons talking about it, causing Steph to spill the whole story.”

“Should have done it sooner,” she muttered, still watching the tv.

“Yeah, you should have,” Jason agreed, earning a glare from the blonde.

“I mean, it doesn’t matter really,” Tim said, shrugging. “Cass told me later that she’d seen me shoot at the guard and call myself your Robin so B would have -”

“You shot someone!?” Stephanie gasped as Jason shouted, “You called yourself what!?”

“Yes? Cass didn’t tell you?” Tim said to Steph, then turned to Jason to add, “And you didn’t hear? I figured Cortés would have spread the news all over Gotham out of revenge.”

“Oh man, this is your villain origin story!”

“What? No, it’s not!”

“You are not my Robin! Little Red is not Robin!”

“I know! I just said that to freak her out while I waited for one of the others to find me!”

“You shot someone!”

“I just grazed his wrist to disarm him! It’s no different than when we throw batarangs at people’s hands! I would have thrown the knife, but I needed two weapons!”

“Why would you think telling her you’re my Robin is a good idea?”

“I don’t know! It sounded good at the time! You would have agreed if you’d heard the setup!”

Stephanie threw her arm over her face as Jason gave Tim an unimpressed look.

“I’m telling Kon on you,” she muttered.

“What? No! You know how he gets!”

“You’re shooting people and calling yourself a villain’s Robin.”

“He’s barely a villain. He’s more of an anti-hero, really.”

“I’m telling Kon. KON!!! SUPERBOY! IT’S YOUR TURN TO TRY TO TALK SENSE INTO THE IDIOT!!” she screamed and both boys flinched at the noise.

Tim crossed his arms and pouted. “I already tried calling Kon. That was my first escape idea.”

Rubbing his ears, Jason said, “I’m not an idiot, you know. I chose this safe house because the perimeter is lined with anti-noise generators to keep the Supers away. I even added a few wards around the place to prevent magical detection. So stop trying to escape.”

“No,” she snapped.

Tim fully turned in his seat to look at Jason with wide, curious eyes. “You know magic.”

“I wouldn’t go that far. I just picked up a few things during my training.”

“Will you teach me?”

Jason laughed and went to put his chopped veggies in a pot. “Kid, I doubt you’d be able to meditate for five seconds, let alone the hours it takes to develop the inner power needed.”

“And you’d be right,” Stephanie snickered.

Tim flipped backward, half hanging off the chair and making it rock wildly. “I can meditate!”

“Meditating and hyper-focusing are not the same thing, Tim,” Stephanie said with the cadence of repetition.

“That’s not how Dick described it.”

“Because he can’t meditate either,” Jason said.

Stephanie nodded and gestured to him.

Tim sent them both a look. “Can you go back to fighting with each other?”

Tim looked up from his work when he heard Stephanie yell his name. He went upstairs to see she was standing in front of the couch, glaring at the tv.

He turned to see she was watching the morning news just as the reporter said, “- of unknown assailants broke into Arkham Asylum with the assistance of a guard at 2:11 a.m. this morning to free Joker. The current locations of all involved are unknown and -- as unneeded as it probably is -- the public is once again reminded that the Joker is considered extremely dangerous. Do not approach him for any reason and stay away from anything bearing his usual markings. Pictures and information on him and his current accomplices can be found on our website at GCBN dot com forward-slash Joker. Any information on their whereabouts should be reported by calling the GCPD’s hotline, texting the Watch, or posting on Oracle’s Eyes. Now back to the studio to -”

Stephanie muted the tv and the two shared a look.

“This is the first time Joker’s been out since Jason came back to town.”

“Us being missing is going to make Bruce and Dick’s paranoia over everyone being within reach while the Joker’s loose even worse.”

“Especially since Bruce knows about Jason.”

“The three of them are going to tear Gotham apart until they find Joker.”

“Shit,” they both hissed.

“Please tell me you’re almost done,” Stephanie said

“Give me an hour.”

Chapter Text

Black Mask had broken Joker out of Arkham.

Joker had broken out of Arkham last night.

Joker had been hiding out somewhere in the northside for fifteen hours.

The Robins were staring Hood down on a rooftop in Robbinsville.

The Robins were supposed to be safely tucked away in their safe house in the Palisades.

The Robins were supposed to be making Talia angry with him by playing with her weapons and watching movies and discussing whether or not Little Red was the start of Tim’s Supervillain area.

All of which were concerning, but not as concerning as them being in the same fucking city Joker was loose in.

Calling them both Robins wasn’t entirely accurate, admittedly. Stephanie was suited up as Spoiler and Tim was suited up as Little Red, though he’d added a red domino mask and a black utility belt that Red Hood was sure had been stolen from him and Nightwing respectively. It was a flimsy distinction, not that they seemed to understand that.

“You said no Robins, so we’re not Robins,” Red said, gesturing at himself.

“That was not the point and you know it.”

“Come on, Hood. Joker’s out.”

“Which is exactly why you two shouldn’t be anywhere near here,” Jason glared at him, then turned his glare on Spoiler.

She crossed her arms. “I’m not staying locked up at your murder house, no matter what Mom says.”

He pulled out a burner and hit the speed dial. He held it out, saying, “Take that up with her.”

She flipped him off, but grabbed the phone as her mom picked up and walked over to the other side of the roof to have a hushed argument.

He turned back to Red, who gave him a cajoling expression.

“Look, I get why you don’t want us near Joker, but B and Wing need us. They’re probably already freaking out because we’ve been kidnapped and Joker being out is only going to make it worse. We need to be there to help them keep their heads on straight.”

“They’ll survive without their emotional support birds,” Jason scoffed.

“They will, but will Joker?” Stephanie joked before flinching and going back to her phone conversation.

Jason rolled his eyes. Joker had a lot worse to worry about than the dynamic duo breaking a couple of his bones. At least he would once Hood got the birds back to their cage. “Don’t care. You two are going back.”

Red crossed his arms. “No. You can’t get us both to the Palisades without alerting someone. Even if you could, you know we’d just get out again, and it will be even easier this time considering all the damage.”

Jason… did not want to know what he meant by that. Talia was going to kill him.

The kid was right, though. Hood couldn’t babysit the birds this close to the endgame and he wouldn’t be able to focus if he was worried about them sneaking out and getting right in the middle of things. He also couldn’t trust any of his people to babysit, considering how well that worked out before Red was willing to go full Robin and had Spoiler as backup.

He needed a babysitter with the mind of a Robin, the skills to keep a pair of birds contained, and the right amount of clinginess to keep them distracted until everything was over.

Well, at least this will keep him out of the way too, he thought as he pulled another burner phone out of his jacket. Three birds, one stone.

“What are you doing?” Red asked, staring at the phone.

“Stay,” he said, dialing a number he’d tried to forget.

Nightwing answered during the first ring. “Who is this?”

“I’ve got your birds. I’m sending you the location. Don’t bring the Bat.”

“I swear, if you’ve hurt one hair -”

Jason hung up and snorted, “That’s Nightwing on his way.” Now he just needed to give Big Bird a good reason to keep the kids in place. Maybe a bomb threat or…

There was a glint of light to their right.

“How does giving us to Nightwing change anything?” Spoiler asked, marching over and tucking the phone into her belt. “He’ll -”

“DOWN!” Hood shouted, shoving the kids toward the edge of the roof as he saw the grenade land near them.

The bomb went off, knocking all three over the edge.

Spoiler shot her grapple off, but it missed. She hit the wall hard and was out before she landed in the dumpster below.

Hood was thrown through the neighboring building’s window, hitting a bookshelf that toppled onto him.

Little Red’s grapple caught, but didn’t hold. It only managed to slow his fall and he hit the ground bruised but conscious. Groaning, he tried to get to his feet.

All he saw was a quick glimpse of a metal bat, then everything went dark.

Jason groaned as he watched the various warnings and errors clear from his helmet display. He took a few controlled breaths as he focused on the smell of the purified air inside his helmet, the feeling of it wrapped around his head, and the subtle clicks he’d programmed it to let out at random intervals (very different from the measured beeping of a timer). Once he no longer smelt smoke, tasted dirt, or felt satin-covered walls pressing in, he pushed off the bookshelf and stood up. He staggered over to the window and stared at the smoking roof before forcing his eyes down to the alley.

He saw Spoiler in a dumpster. He saw a black and blue figure climbing around in the dumpster. He saw a red scarf near the end of the alley.

He kept his eyes on the ground as he swung out of the window and dropped into the alley. He walked up to the scarf and knelt next to it, looking around for its owner. He picked it up and something fell out of the folds.

Before he could see what it was, he was slammed into the ground. An escrima pressed against his neck as Nightwing hissed, “Where’s Robin!?”

Hood blinked and turned to see Spoiler lying next to the dumpster, her cape bunched up under her head like a pillow.

Nightwing pressed down harder on his throat. “Tell me where he is right now, you monster! I killed the first Red Hood without blinking, so if you think I won’t put you six feet under, you have another thing coming.”

Six feet under. Satin walls pressing against him. Frantic clawing. A belt buckle. His fingers. Blood. Dirt. Mud. Rain.

Nightwing. Spoiler. Smoke. Brick walls. A dumpster.

The cracked concrete floor. The pressure of my helmet. The escrima against my neck. The soft leather of my gloves.

Wing’s heavy breathing. The clicks. The sirens coming closer.

The helmet’s chemically smell. The garlic on my breath from lunch.

The coppery taste of blood from where I’d been biting my lip.

Hood shivered and grabbed Nightwing’s wrists, thinking through the rest of the older vigilante’s demand as he tried to find an opening to toss him off.

He froze.

“You ki-Joker’s still alive. He just broke out of Arkham. You didn’t kill him.”

“Only because the messed up cocktail of toxins in his bloodstream restarted his heart.” Nightwing pressed even harder. “I doubt you’ll have that kind of luck. So tell me where. Robin. Is. Now!”

“You…” Nightwing had killed him. Dick had killed the clown. “You killed him?”

“He took my brother away from me.”

Jason had thought… Joker was alive. Jason had died, but no one had done anything. Jason had known that wasn’t going to change, hadn’t even considered trying to get Bruce to put the clown down. He just wanted Bruce to watch, to be there for him as he did it himself.

He’d never considered that someone else -- that his big brother -- would do it instead.

“And I won’t let anyone take another sibling from me, especially not you.”

Jason shook his head. “I don-I never wanted to kill him, or Spoiler either.”

Nightwing’s hand tightened on the stick. “Then where is he?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted, turning to look at the scarf. His breath caught as he finally saw what had fallen out of it.

A playing card was lying innocuously next to him.

A Joker card was sitting next to Little Red’s scarf.

“Don’t lie t-”

Using a move Nightwing had taught him a lifetime ago, Hood twisted his hip and knee just right to kick the older vigilante. He couldn’t get his foot quite as high as his brother would have been able to, but his strength made up for it and Nightwing was flipped off him.

He rolled onto his feet and ran further into the alley.

“Hood!”

He slid around the corner and climbed onto his bike. He kicked it on and took off, swerving to the side to avoid a wingding.

He hit a button hidden on the neck of his helmet and said, “Locate Little Red.”

His shoe trackers were still in San Francisco and his bracelet had been left in the Palisades. His earrings had been ditched in an apartment Hood knew was a Bat safe house while his scarf was back in the alley.

However, his tattoo was still right next to the trackers sewn into his jacket and pants, en route to Mask’s hideout near Amusement Mile.

“I’m going to kill them.”

Bruce’s hands were tight around the Batwing’s yoke.

Stephanie and Tim were missing. Joker was loose. Black Mask and Red Hood’s war was hitting its peak.

Red Hood was Jason.

He hadn’t wanted to leave Gotham, but he’d finally pinned down Talia and he needed to see what she knew in hopes it would help him track down his children. She had talked around the situation as much as she could, but he had at least gotten her to confirm Red Hood was truly Jason.

His Jason.

She wouldn’t tell him how Jason had ended up with her or why she’d kept him from Bruce, though she had admitted she’d placed him in the pit before sending him off for training to protect him from her father’s anger.

She hadn’t known why he’d taken Stephanie and Tim as that hadn’t been part of the plan Jason had given her, but she wouldn’t tell Bruce where he might be hiding them either. She also wouldn’t tell Bruce what Jason’s plans were.

They’d argued, then fought.

He’d demanded she call Hood off.

“Beloved, if I had any control over your son, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” she had scoffed, pressing her sword closer to his neck.

“What do you mean by that?” he had growled, tightening his grip on her hair.

“If I had my way, his business would have been taken care of within a night. Unfortunately, he has your flair for the dramatic and distaste for collateral.” She’d traced the logo on his chest, then shoved him away. She’d swiped at his wrist, forcing him to let go before she could cut his hand off.

Then her men had attacked him while she’d fled. By the time he’d defeated the assassins, she was gone.

Angry, he’d returned to the Batwing to fly back to Gotham.

He could just see the lights of the city appearing on the horizon when Oracle connected to the plane.

“Batman.”

“Hn?”

“Red Hood has made contact.”

He sat up, staring at the growing city. “How? What did he say?”

“He called Nightwing’s civilian phone,” she said, her voice barbed even through the distorter.

When the Titans reported that Jason’s codes had been used to access the tower and put it into lockdown, Batman had reluctantly admitted that Red Hood was the most likely suspect. All the kids were furious to find out he’d known there was a chance their security was compromised and demanded to know how Hood had Jason’s codes, especially after Cyborg and Barbara realized Jason’s codes had also been used on the Tower’s zeta-tube to take Hood, Tim, and Stephanie back to Gotham.

Dick had even called in Clark and Diana to yell at him, which meant he’d been forced to admit his suspicions to the two. They’d understood why he’d wanted to protect the kids if Jason hadn’t turned out to be the real Jason, but Clark still pressed for Bruce to tell them the truth. They’d managed to reassure most of the Titans (the former members of Young Justice were barely talked down from their plan to ransack Gotham in search of Tim and Stephanie), but Barbara, Cass, and Dick were less inclined to believe Diana and Clark’s claims that Bruce had a good reason to keep what he knows hidden.

Now that he was sure of Jason’s identity, he’d planned to tell them as soon as he’d returned. Something told him it wouldn’t be that simple, though.

“What did he want?”

“To talk about Spoiler and Robin. He hung up before I could get a location, but Stephanie must have gotten a phone somehow because she just called my auto-tack number. Nightwing and Batgirl are on their way to their location.”

“Tell them not to approach until I get there.”

“Not happening.”

“Oracle.”

“I’ll update you when I know more.”

She disconnected before he could argue.

He growled and pushed the Batwing to go faster.

He’d made it to the edge of the city by the time she reconnected. “Nightwing has Spoiler. She’s taken a blow to the head, probably concussed, but otherwise okay.”

“Robin?”

“He wasn’t there. Nightwing found Little Red’s scarf, though, so we assume he was there but was moved.”

“Where?”

“An apartment complex in Robbinsville. I believe they were on the roof, but something exploded and they were knocked down into an alley. The explosion’s origins are not yet certain. Spoiler had her gear, which means the two must have previously escaped and Hood recaptured them. The bomb might have been the two attempting to escape again or it could have been an attempt from Hood to keep them in line that backfired. Nightwing was still a minute out when the bomb went off and Stephanie was unconscious on arrival and hasn’t woken up so we can’t be sure.”

“Hood?” Batman asked, opening Batwave’s tracking program. Stephanie’s and Tim’s subdermal trackers still weren’t responding, but if Little Red’s scarf was at the scene, then Tim might have been wearing the rest of that gear for some reason.

“Escaped. Nightwing tried to apprehend him after checking Spoiler, but wasn’t able to follow when the man fled without risking Spoiler since Batgirl was still a few minutes out. Did you seriously put trackers on a set of gear we were planning to get rid of?”

He grunted and redirected the Batwing towards the northside as Tim’s location came up, heading through the Narrows. “Just in case Robin stole it back. Was there any other evidence left behind?”

“It looks like Robin lost his grappling gun and his scarf was damaged, revealing a tracker inside. It must have been dormant before to allow it to slip past our scanners, but it’s live now and I’m trying to backtrace it.” She paused for a moment, then two. “There was also a Joker card.”

“Hood’s not working with the Joker,” he denied, knowing that’s exactly where the others’ minds would have gone. It would make sense. The name and the focus on the Bats -- Batman, in particular -- pointed toward Joker. And he’d tortured Jason before killing him so it wouldn’t be strange if Joker had found out a few secrets while he was at it, like Jason’s codes.

However, no matter what Jason had done or how far he had gone, Bruce just couldn’t imagine he’d ever work with the man who killed him.

No, this was painting a different picture.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. The bomb was Joker’s. He kidnapped Little Red.”

Chapter Text

Little Red woke up to the feeling of freezing cold water pouring over him.

That was never a good sign.

He held in a groan and took stock of his situation. He was still wearing most of his gear, including the mask he’d added, but his scarf, jacket, and new belt were missing. He was sitting on a metal chair with his arms tightly tied to its arms using rope. A subtle twitch of his legs proved those had been neglected.

Was it weird to be insulted by that?

Knowing his mask would hide it, he cracked his eyes open just enough to see the room he was in.

His chair was sitting in a large plastic tub, likely to catch the water that had been poured over him since the room wasn’t some makeshift dungeon, but a finely furnished office. Black Mask was leaning against a desk in front of him while one of his goons stood a few steps away with an empty bucket. Red’s jacket and belt were on the desk, alongside the Faraday band.

He hoped whoever had cut it off him had enjoyed the nasty shock it gave them.

Mask watched him for a moment, then nodded at his goon. He stepped out of sight and -- judging by the sounds -- dipped the bucket into a tub of ice water.

Then the water was poured over Red’s head.

Deciding he’d rather not do that a third time, he hissed and woke up.

“Wha’s goin’ on?” he slurred, slowly lifting his head up and looking around. He noticed Mask and flinched, curling in on himself. “B-Black Mask? What-Why am I-I here? What do you want with m-me?”

“Cut the crap,” Mask scoffed, pulling a butterfly knife out and flipping it open. “I think you know exactly why I’d bring Red Hood’s Robin here.”

Groaning, he slumped back in the chair and used the motion to test the ropes on his arms. Two different people must have tied them down. His left arm was secure, but his right had just enough give to it. “So Cortés did spread that around then?”

“No, she was smarter than that. I paid good money for all her information on you, Olivia Draper.”

“Then you should probably know you got ripped off. Draper isn’t even my real name and she had all these delusions about me being Hood’s daughter. Do you think I’d want to fake date someone old enough to be my father, let alone my actual father?” He shivered. “Gross. Also, please don’t let him hear you calling me his Robin. I am so not in the mood for another lecture. Hood seems to think calling myself his Robin was inviting trouble.”

“Doesn’t this prove his point?” the goon asked.

He must have been new. Mask hated when his guys talked to his captives when he was gearing up for a monologue.

Sure enough, Mask turned to glare at the goon and Red quickly responded before the crime lord could punish him. “It’s not an invitation. It’s a warning.” She gave a toothy grin. “When has going after Robin ever worked out for anyone? Hell, the Bats have that whole thing against killing and Joker’s still nearly met the big guy twice. Do you really think it’s smart to go after the Robin of someone who enjoys putting bullets in the heads of anyone who doesn’t follow his rules to the T?”

The goon’s face paled and Mask turned to her, fist tightening on the knife. “I’m not scared of Red Hood.”

“I mean, you should be. He’s been playing you like a fiddle so far and, really, he nearly blew you up with a rocket launcher just for the fun of it. What do you think he’s going to do to you when he finds out about this?”

Mask stomped forward, not even caring about the water that splashed over his nice loafers as he fisted a hand in Red’s hair and yanked his head back. The butterfly knife appeared at the corner of his eye. “Careful, girly. If you don’t keep that pretty mouth of yours shut, I might just cut it off.”

Red twisted his right arm and subtly yanked it towards him to earn both its freedom and a nasty rope burn.

Unaware, Mask dragged the knife down his cheek with just enough pressure to sting, but not draw blood. He poked at Red’s painted lips as he said, “Or maybe I’ll find another -”

Utilizing some well-earned flexibility and a technique Cass had taught him, Red pressed his upper back into the chair, pressed down on the chair’s arms with his own, and tightened his core to swing his legs up and wrap them around Mask’s neck. He yanked Mask forward to slam the man’s head into the chair's back.

The angle wasn’t quite right and he didn’t have the strength Cass would have had so the blow didn’t knock Mask out, but it was enough to disorient him long enough for Red to grab the gun hiding under his jacket and kick him away.

As Mask stumbled back and tripped over the edge of the tub, the teen flicked off the safety and shot the goon in the knee. Then he turned to where Mask was flopped over on the ground and shot him in the shoulder. He shoved the gun into his waistband, then grabbed the fallen knife to cut his left arm free. That done, he picked up the chair and brought it down over Mask’s head as he attempted to stand.

Unfortunately, Mask knocked it away with his good arm.

Red ducked a punch, then a grab. He feinted a punch, then kicked Mask on his injured shoulder. He flipped over the crime lord and ran for his belt. His fingers barely brushed it before Mask managed to grab his arm. He spun him around and slammed him against the desk, pinning him with his good arm and wrapping his other hand around Red’s neck.

Red’s hand wrapped around the handle of the gun as Mask growled, “You’re going to regret that, you little -”

Mask flinched and his hand tightened before releasing as the man started to shake. He slid to the floor as first chuckles, then laughter slipped past his lips.

Red pushed himself up to see a dart with overly large fletching sticking out of Mask’s shoulder.

His eyes rose to take in Joker, standing in the doorway with a cartoonish-looking pistol.

The clown gave his wide, signature grin and spun the gun on his finger. “You know, when Blackie there said my copycat had a little Robin of his own, I thought, ‘Well gosh darn, she sounds like she’d be almost as fun to play with as the actual Robin! Like a piece of candy before the real dessert!’ But this…” He gestured the gun around the room. “This is even better than promised! Watching you give Blackie the runaround! The mouthy attitude! The moves! You’re not a cheap knockoff like the other Red! No, no, no! You’re the real deal! So…” He pointed the gun at Red. “What’s a Little Red Robin like you doing in a place like this?”

Despite all of Stephanie’s jokes, Tim had absolutely no plans to follow in Jason’s footsteps and start down the shaky path of anti-heroics that could very well lead to him becoming his evil future self.

That said, when facing Joker of all rogues with nothing more to protect himself than a gun…

Well, maybe he wasn’t as careful with his aim as he’d been with Mask and the others.

He wasn’t aiming to kill or anything. He just didn’t care where he hit, really.

And it wasn’t like either of the former Robins could really judge him for it so it was probably fine.

Besides, Joker ducked into the hall fast enough that his shots only grazed anyway.

“Naughty, naughty! What would Batman say?” Joker called.

“Probably something about justice,” Red called back, jumping over the desk and slamming his hand against the large button he knew he’d find there.

He looked up just as a large metal door slammed shut in Joker’s face.

“Thank you for turning all your offices into panic rooms,” Red sighed, walking around the desk to nudge Mask’s cackling form with his foot.

He turned to Mask’s goon to see him slowly getting up.

The man looked at Red, the gun still in his hand, and the metal door.

He laid back down.

“Smart choice.”

Red put on his belt and stuck the gun in the holster that normally held his grappling gun as Joker banged on the door.

The intercom crackled to life. “Little Red! Little Red! Let me come in!”

Red rolled his eyes and put on his jacket before hitting the button for the intercom. “Wrong story, Joker.”

“Hehehehehehe! You’re right! What was I thinking!? How about this: My, Little Red, what big teeth you have!”

“Oh no.” Red grabbed his rebreather out as green gas filled the room. He pulled out the antidotes he was carrying, but the safehouse he and Steph had raided hadn’t had much to spare so he’d only grabbed two Joker Gas antidotes. He quickly jabbed Mask and the goon, tying them up with zip ties as he went. “This team-up is really paying off for you isn’t it Mask?”

Understandably, he didn’t respond.

Red started searching for a way out and had just found a hidden vent barely big enough for him to fit through when a phone started ringing. He followed the sound to Mask and dug the phone out of a hidden pocket inside his jacket. He smiled when he saw a familiar number and answered. “Sorry, Mask can’t come to the phone right now. He’s dealing with the consequences of his actions.”

Mask groaned at his feet.

“God damn it, Kid,” Red Hood sighed in relief. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, mostly,” he said, rubbing his head. “Took a little whiff of Joker Gas, but not enough to do more than make me a little light-headed.”

“You don’t have an antidote?”

“Gave mine to Mask and his goon.”

“Fuck Mask, you should have taken it!”

“I barely got hit and I’ve got my spare rebreather on while Mask got a double dose and is still sitting in the gas since I can’t exactly air out the room. If I hadn’t gotten him the antidote -”

“I don’t care what would have happened to him. You’re the priority!”

“Aw, Hood!”

“Shut up. Where are you?”

“In Mask’s office. He had me tied up here when I woke up. I managed to get free and was fighting Mask when Joker arrived and shot Mask with a dart. Thankfully Mask is predictable.”

He groaned again and Red kicked his leg.

“I engaged the panic room to lock Joker out, but he planted a canister of gas in here somewhere.”

“Alright, stay there. I’m coming for you.”

“Can’t. The gas is too thick, it would overwhelm my mask before you could get me. I found a vent I can use.”

“Fuck! Okay, you got a compass?”

“Duh.”

“Head west. That’s where I’m going to be coming in from. Keep the phone on you.”

“Got it. See you on the other side.”

“And stay away from Joker.”

“I’ll do my best,” Red chirped, then hung up before Hood could argue. He tried to call Oracle next, but the phone was locked. He crouched down and jabbed Mask. “Do you seriously not have fingerprint turned on? Rude. What’s your password? I need to call Batman and I don’t have time to hack in.”

Mask just glared at him.

“Great. Wonderful. If Hood kills you because I couldn’t get B here in time, don’t blame me.”

He groaned, but didn’t offer any help.

Red kicked him again. He stood up and put the phone in his belt before heading back to the vent. He unscrewed the cover using tools from his belt then climbed in, a glowstick in one hand and his compass in the other.

He spent the next few minutes slowly and quietly sneaking through vents, occasionally ducking out and across empty hallways.

His luck ran out just as the sounds of a fight started to reach him. The vent cover he’d just passed was ripped open and a hand grabbed his ankle. He tried to kick it off, but the hand persisted in dragging him out of the vents and throwing him to the ground. He tried to get up, but something hard and thin slammed into his back, knocking him down again.

“I know this is the part with the woodsman, but Blackie didn’t have any axes so I had to improvise!” Joker cackled over him and he turned over just in time for Joker to bring a bat down on his leg.

Red swallowed down a yelp and kicked out with his uninjured leg, knocking the bat out of the clown’s hand.

“Well that’s not nice,” Joker huffed and stomped right where the bat had hit Red’s leg, grinding it against the ground. “What would Batsy say?”

Red couldn’t hold back his scream this time and a snarled, mechanical, “KID!” echoed back at him.

Joker’s grin grew and he forced Red onto his feet and against the clown’s chest. One arm wrapped around Red, keeping his arms pinned, while the other ripped off his rebreather and pressed a large knife to his cheek just as Hood came storming into the hall.

“Hey, look at you, Mr. Hood,” Joker chuckled, waving the knife at him and shifting Red so he better covered him. “Or do you prefer Red? I used to wear an outfit a lot like that, you know, but mine was more flashy maitre d’ than motorcycle fetish. You kids today.”

Red slammed his head back into Joker’s face and he made a sound that was half hiss, half chortle before slipping the knife into the opening between Red’s jacket and pants.

“I’m sorry, could you hold on? I was just in the middle of cutting open your Little Red Riding Hood to see if Granny would fall out.”

Hood raised his guns. “Let her go!”

“I have a better idea!” He brought the knife up to the corner of Red’s mouth, tugging at it just enough that it started to sting. “How about you drop your little noise makers before I give her a grin worthy of being the classic Red Hood’s sidekick?”

Hood’s grip on his guns tightened, but before he could do anything else, a dark figure stepped out of the shadows of an adjoining hallway.

Joker perked up. “Ah, Batman! Wonderful timing!”

“Let the kid go, Joker,” Batman growled.

The clown yawned. “Come one, Batsy. We’re past that part already. Now we’re discussing whether Hood here would rather drop his guns or watch his girl get a permanent smile.”

“Don’t.” Batman started to take a step forward only to freeze when Joker tugged a little harder at Red’s mouth.

He started to taste blood.

“Nuh-uh, stay right there. This isn’t about you, Batsy! We’ll play in a bit! Now, Mr. Hood, time to make a choice.”

“You’re going to regret this,” Hood said as he flicked the safeties on and set the guns down.

“Promises, promises,” Joker giggled. He pulled the knife away from Red’s mouth to tap the wet tip against his cheek. “Speaking of your girl, though, I found out something very interesting! Would you like to hear what I found out? Hm?”

Batman and Hood just stared at him with matching fury.

Red rolled his eyes. “They already know I’m Robin.”

He felt Joker’s smile fall. “Party pooper.”

He drove the knife down, just missing Red’s neck and hitting his collarbone instead as he jerked to the side.

Batman and Hood both threw their hands out.

A previously hidden batarang flew out of Batman’s hand, knocking the knife away from Joker and cutting his arm.

A sword materialized from Hood’s hand, flying forward to bury itself in Red’s chest up to the hilt.

Chapter Text

The sword was copper with a steel-blue hilt. The blade was straight and double-edged while the guard had crescent-shaped wings that pointed toward the blade. Little Red thought it might have been a jian, maybe.

It was kind of hard to accurately identify a sword that was buried so far into your chest that it was poking out the other side and cutting through the guy behind you.

Red froze, staring at the sword and waiting for the pain to hit him.

Joker froze for half a second as well, then burst into a fit of laughter that quickly grew wet.

Batman took a step forward and paused, his hands raised like he was just barely holding himself from grabbing Red and risking hurting him more.

Red Hood had no such reservations as he quickly strode forward and grabbed Red’s arm, yanking him out of Joker’s loosening grip.

Red flinched and pinched his eyes closed, anticipating the pain of having the wrong end of a sword rip through him.

Nothing happened.

He opened his eyes as he shakily brought his hand to his chest.

“I’m fine?” he whispered when he felt no blood or torn fabric or ripped open skin. He turned his head to look back to see the hilt appeared untouched and the blood on the glowing blade was only by where it entered Joker. “I’m fine!”

Hood pulled him into a hug, pressing the cheek of his helmet against his head and rubbing his arms. “Fuck, kid. The All-Blade can only hurt the evil or soulless. You might be an obnoxious brat who never fucking listens, but you’re far from evil.”

Red remembered how the sword had suddenly appeared and gave a -- slightly hysterical -- laugh. “Just picked up a few things about magic, he says.”

Hood squeezed him, then pushed him towards Batman. Red bit back a hiss as his leg was jostled, but Batman still noticed and started patting him down.

“I’m fine. My leg’s just a little bruised.”

Batman gave him a look.

“Maybe it’s a little fractured. Maybe, probably not, though,” he muttered, looking away with hunched shoulders. As Batman helped support his weight, he watched Hood approach Joker.

The clown was somehow still on his feet despite coughing up blood between his laughter.

Hood fixed that, kicking him to the floor and ripping the sword out of his chest in the same move. “Let’s see your heart restart with a hole in it, asshole.”

“Hood,” Batman called.

Hood’s grip tightened on the All-Blade’s hilt before he dispelled the sword. He turned to Batman to see him trying to place his body between him and Red while still half-supporting the kid’s weight. “What now, B? You going to fight me in the hopes you can take me down fast enough to save the clown’s life? That’s why you’re here, right? To save everyone from the big bad Hood?”

“I’m trying to save you too, Hood. I know I failed you, but… I tried to save you. I-I’m still trying to save you.”

Hood stared at Bruce, fury and disbelief fighting inside him. “Is that what you think this is about? That you let me die? I don’t know what clouds your judgment worse: your guilt or your antiquated sense of morality.” He pulled his helmet off and threw it away. “B, I forgive you for not saving me. But why? Why on God’s earth…” He kicked Joker in the side. “Is he still alive!?”

“Superman.”

His mouth opened, then closed. His gaze drifted down to Red, as did Batman’s.

The kid looked between them before focusing on Batman with a shrug. “I read your report. You really should have put a better password on it if you didn’t want me to.”

“What?” Hood asked.

Batman moved Red a little more behind him. “We will be talking about that later.”

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll be talking about a lot of things. Wing’s going to be ticked when he finds out about Hood,” Red giggled.

Hood felt wrong-footed as Batman turned his attention back to him. What the hell did the kid mean by Superman? Was he missing something? Was there something he didn’t know? Talia’s information hadn’t included anything about Superman.

Talia’s information had been wrong about Dick and Tim, though.

But Talia was obsessed with Bruce. There was no way she’d miss something involving him.

Right?

“Hood.”

Things were spiraling out of control.

He needed that control.

He needed to get things back on track.

Hood pulled his hidden pistol out of his jacket and grabbed Joker, hauling him up with his arm around his throat and putting the gun to his temple.

“Stop.”

“Why? After all he’s done!? After the entire graveyards he’s filled, the thousands who have suffered, the friends he’s hurt!? After he attacked Red!? After he nearly killed him!? After -” Hood cut off, his hand shaking slightly. “After he took me away from you? Why should I stop!?”

Batman just stared at him.

Hood dug the gun into Joker’s head. “It’s time to make a choice.”

Batman glanced at Hood’s guns when he gestured towards them and his face hardened. “I won’t.”

“This is what it’s all been about. This. You and me and him. Now is the time you decide. If you won’t kill this psychotic piece of filth, I will. If you wanna stop me, you’re gonna have to kill me.”

“Hood,” Red called, but Batman kept him behind his cape.

“Sorry, kid. Didn’t want you to be here for this, but fate’s a bitch.”

“You know I won’t -” Batman started and Hood turned his attention back to the man.

“I’m gonna blow his deranged brains out! And if you wanna stop it, you are gonna have to shoot me. Right in my face.”

Batman stared him down for a heartbeat, two, three.

Then he turned to Red and carefully picked the boy up.

Hood bristled as the man started walking away.

“It’s him or me, you have to decide!”

“B?” Red asked softly as the man kept walking.

“Decide now! Do it!”

Hood wanted to turn the gun on Batman, would have done it if it hadn’t also meant turning the gun on Red.

This wasn’t what was supposed to happen! This wasn’t what he planned! Bruce had to make a decision! He couldn’t just walk away!

And yet he kept walking.

“Him or me!? Decide!”

Batman disappeared around a corner.

Joker fell to the ground as Hood shook.

How could he just walk away? How could he leave Jason alone with Joker? How could he just leave without choosing between Joker and Jason? How could he choose…

How could he choose to walk away?

He chose to walk away.

Batman chose to leave Joker at Jason’s mercy.

Bruce chose to not stop Jason.

His dad chose him.

Hood looked down at the Joker.

And fired two shots into his head.

The Bats were all hovering over Red when Hood reached the roof. Batman was cleaning up the cut just below his neck, Nightwing was squeezing the life out of him, and Batgirl was holding his hand and looking him over.

She was the first to spot Hood, but Red was soon after. He smiled and called out to Hood.

Wing immediately grew furious and tried to hide Red behind him, but was stopped by Batgirl and -- surprisingly -- Batman.

The kid hobbled towards Hood and he quickly moved forward to stop him from walking too much on his injured leg.

Red threw his arms around him and buried his face in his jacket. “Are you okay?”

“I’m the one who should be asking you that,” he huffed, ruffling the kid’s hair. “Hey, next time I tell you to stay at a safe house, stay at the fucking safe house.”

“I’ll take it under consideration.”

“Brat.” He flicked Red’s ear and looked back up at the Bats.

Man and Girl looked impassive as ever while Nightwing looked confused. Then he seemed to finally get a good look at Hood’s face.

He went deathly pale, then that fury rose again and he turned to Batman. “What. The. Fuck!?”

“And that’s our cue to scram,” Hood chuckled halfheartedly, scooping up Red. “You coming, Shadow?”

Batgirl cocked her head, then nodded.

“Hood,” Batman called just before they could grapple away, only giving half his attention to the murderous bird looming over him. “Alfred’s going to want to look Robin over… and he’ll want to see you too.”

Something caught in Hood’s throat and, after a beat, he gave a quick nod. He and Batgirl grappled away, Red tucked up against his chest, as the yelling started.

The kid was giggling when they landed next to the Batmobile. “Told B Wing was gonna let him have it.”

“Serves the old man right,” Hood grunted and set him down on the back seat. He frowned as studied the kid’s face. “Did you ever get an antidote?”

Red immediately stopped laughing, staring up at Hood with wide, hidden eyes.

“Antidote?” Batgirl asked.

“He said he got a whiff of Joker Gas earlier. And who knows if Joker’s knife had something on it.”

“I will remember this,” the kid hissed as Batgirl shot him a glare.

She grabbed an injector from her belt and climbed into the backseat. “Alfred’s going to be mad.”

Red’s eyes widened even further behind his mask. “Don’t tell Alfred!”

“Sorry, kid. If you think I’m willing to lie to Alfred for you, then you’ve vastly overestimated how much I care about you,” Hood snorted, then smirked as he realized the driver’s seat was open. He quickly hopped in and tore off down the road.

“You care about me?” Tim teased, pulling off his mask and resting his chin on the back of the driver’s seat.

“I didn’t say that.”

“He cares. A lot,” Batgirl said, climbing into the passenger seat and poking him on the nose.

“Hah! You can’t lie to Cass!”

“Just put your fucking seatbelts on!”

The two laughed, but did as they were told.

Batgirl took her mask off and held out her hand. “I’m Cass. Cassandra, but Cass. I’m your big sister.”

“Jaso-” Hood slammed his hand on the autopilot and turned to face her. “Excuse me, what!? No, you are not my big sister! I came first!”

“Doesn’t matter who came first. She’s older than you by a few months so that makes her your big sister,” Tim pointed out from the back.

“Both of yours,” she agreed, smiling at Tim.

“No, fuck that. Bruce doesn’t get to randomly bring in kids to outrank me. I came first so I’m the big sibling. That’s how it works with adoption.”

“Says who?” Tim snickered.

“Says me and my guns!”

Cass patted his shoulder. “I would make you cry in a fight.”

“She really would.”

The worst part is Hood already knew that was true. “This is bullshit!”

“So Hood’s just here now? And we’re all okay with that?” Stephanie huffed, glaring around the family room. She spends a week away from the manor on forced bed rest (as if she needed an entire week of bed rest for a measly concussion) and suddenly everyone’s chill with Hood?

“No,” Jason huffed, not looking up from his book. “We’re not all okay with that.”

“Bruce and Barbara just want to make sure none of your safehouses are compromised or laced with League bugs,” Tim said distractedly as she texted someone. Stephanie bet it was her former Young Justice teammates -- or at the very least just Bart -- considering how often her phone was going off.

“As if I couldn’t do that on my own. And before you say anything, I already knew about the camera in the 6th Avenue house and the listening device in the Robbinson flat. Talia had me put them up.”

“It’s really weird how well you two get along.”

“Um, hello,” Stephanie yelled, waving at Jason. “He kidnapped us! And now we’re just chilling with him.”

“I am babysitting,” Cass explained as she lifted up a bottle of lavender nail polish in a silent offer to do Stephanie’s nails. “Also, he had permission.”

“I don’t need a babysitter,” Jason hissed, tucking his nose further into his book. “I’m the one who’s babysitting. Someone needs to make sure Timmy stays off her leg and apparently none of you can keep track of her.”

Stephanie growled and marched over to sit next to Cass. She set her foot on the other girl’s lap and grabbed a bottle of Robin Red polish. “I can’t believe this. He didn’t have permission to kidnap me, no matter what Mom says. And he definitely didn’t have permission to kidnap Tim!”

“Bruce is working on that,” Cass said, twisting so Stephanie had access to her own feet while she got to work on Stephanie’s. “Dick has also been conspiracing-No, conspiring. He’s been conspiring with Babs to get custody of Tim instead, but he’s mostly joking.”

“Only mostly,” Jason chuckled and she hummed. “You know, I could speed up the process. The offer’s still on the table.”

“You’re not killing my parents,” Tim growled.

“I don’t have to kill them. Maybe just put them in a coma for a bit.”

“Jason!”

“I’m just kidding!”

“You’re not funny,” Cass said pointedly and Jason sighed.

He set his book down and looked at Tim. “Come here, kid.”

She hesitated, then pocketed her phone and hand walked over to the couch, foregoing her crutches in a way she’d definitely learned from Dick. She laid down next to him and he wrapped an arm around her.

“Sorry,” he said, rubbing her back. “You know I wouldn’t actually do anything to your parents, right? No matter how much I want to.”

“I know. I just…”

“Yeah, I get it. I’ll knock it off.” He pressed a kiss to her head. “If I bring you with me to blow up a drug lab once your cast is off, will that make it up to you?”

Stephanie’s head popped up. “I wanna blow up a drug lab!”

“I thought I was a naughty kidnapper,” Jason said as he and Tim laughed.

“You are, but you can make up for it a little by bringing me with you!”

“B will not be happy about any of you blowing up a drug lab,” Cass sighed with a smile.

“That is a good point in her favor,” Jason agreed.

“It was not meant to be.”

“And yet… Alright, fine. You can both come, as soon as you’re up for it.”

“Yes!” both cheered and Cass shook her head with a snicker.

“Um, boss,” Nico spoke up after Kay finished up what they were saying and before Hood could turn his focus to Cherry.

All eyes in the meeting turned to him, but the drug dealer ignored them to focus on the crime lord.

“What?” Hood prompted.

“Well, I just thought… There’s that rumor that’s been going around. You know, that, uh, Little Red is, um, Robin.”

Hood stared at him for a moment. “And?”

“And. Right, and I figured that… that we should deal with it. Right. Because if there’s nothing to it, then we need to shut people up. But if she is a spy, we should take care of her.”

Hood cocked his head and leaned forward. “And how, exactly, do you propose we take care of her if she is Robin?”

Nico’s mouth opened. Then audibly snapped shut as his eyes widened. “I, uh, I don’t know? I mean, she’s… Well, everyone knows Robin’s, you know, a kiddo. And we don’t hurt kids so… Don’t know, I guess. I’m not gonna hurt a kid.”

“Smooth,” a voice said from above and the group, baring Hood, looked up to see Red sitting in the rafters with her new red and black domino mask in place.

“Well lucky for you,” Hood said, gesturing for Red to come down. “She’s not a spy so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“So she’s not Robin?” Maya confirmed.

“No, she is,” Hood shrugged and Red leaned against his chair with a Cheshire grin. “But she’s not a spy. I make sure she only knows what I want the Bats to know. In return, she slips me some info the Bats have that I might want.”

“She’s… and you’ve known this whole time?” Rax gasped.

“What, you think I can’t recognize my little sister?” Hood snorted and Red giggled.

The room was quiet for a moment, then Cherry slammed her hands on the table. “I fucking knew it! I knew you were Robin, Hood!”

The group spun around to look at the prostitute and Hood thanked his helmet for hiding his slack-jawed expression. “What?”

She nodded with a fierce look. “Most of the girls have had their suspicions, but I was sure of it. You were the Robin before this one.” She nodded towards Red. “Our own home-grown, Alley-born Robin. You took off from the Bat, but now you’re back and running the show for yourself.”

The lieutenants all turned their wide eyes on him.

“I -”

“Holy shit, I can see it!”

“There’s no way!”

“Oh man, it is him!”

“What the fuck!”

“Boy got big!”

“He ain’t young enough to be Robin!”

“Fucking hell!”

Red snickered into her palm as the group fell into chaos and Hood glared at her. She held her hands up. “This is not on me!”

“None of this would have happened if not for you.”

“You started it. Maybe next time don’t stalk teenage girls.”

“Fuck you.”

“Love you too!”

In a temple hidden in the Himalayas, Talia al Ghul watched her son practice his forms until one of her men stepped forward with a folder. She accepted it, then waved him off.

She quickly flipped through the information.

Jason had finally put down the clown, which was good. The madman had placed all those who followed her beloved at risk. Grayson had only managed to survive by the skin of his teeth and Gordon would never walk again. Jason had been killed and she was sure Drake would have followed, no matter what training Shiva seemed to believe he was worthy of. The clown only grew more and more furious with every partner her beloved took so she knew she had to ensure he was dealt with before her son was ready to take his rightful place at his father’s side.

Her beloved had his son back, even if their relationship was still a bit tenuous. That was also good. It was sure to earn her some favor from him, even if he was mad about how she’d returned the boy.

Drake was even more entrenched within her beloved’s family, which was annoying. The hope she’d held that Jason’s return would remove the barriers Drake and Brown presented was small, admittedly, but she’d never considered that her beloved might take it as an invitation to adopt his fourth child. She certainly hadn’t foreseen Jason himself growing attached to Drake, given how opposed he’d been to their presence in his father’s life.

Little Red had turned out to be Drake, which was promising. If they could be pressed into being Hood’s tagalong full-time, then perhaps that barrier could be removed after all. Then it would be only Brown, who’d surely return to her other title without the need to cover for Drake.

“What are you looking at, Mother?” Damian asked as he walked up, his training complete.

“I’ve received more news on your father,” she said, pleased when he near-flawlessly hid his excitement.

“Anything worth knowing?”

“Perhaps. It appears Drake has been working with Todd.”

“They are no longer Robin?” Damian stepped closer to try and peek at the files.

“No. They are operating as both for now, like Brown, but that could change. We could make that change and open up the way for you, my baby bird.”