A Very Red Hood Christmas
Folding my pocket knife back into position, I clipped it onto my belt again. Maybe I've been a lot darker spirited now, since I have my stealth clothes and just finished putting another three thugs in jail but today is Christmas Eve which means Nightwing's invitation is in check. I know about that run on sentence but I'm in a hurry. I kept my powers secret now, which means I carry guns and explosives. But I try not to kill anyone and I try not to show that I can fly either. I pulled out a hand written letter from my belt and threw it over my shoulder.
"Red Hood, this is for you." I whispered gazing at the narrow alleyway I was in. Leaping onto the adjacent building's rooftop, I backflipped into oblivion. Of course I stuck around until I actually spotted Red Hood picking it up, before merging into the shadows.
I smiled warmly.
This would be a rocking Christmas.
...
"Hey Comet!" Nightwing replied as he opened the door, "I see you've got some...Christmas spirit." He just stared at my darkest blue tracksuit top, then down at my black and grey skirt, along with midnight colored leggings, buckled up black dress shoes, and my slender black belt strung up with a two guns.
"Let's just say it was a long day," I answered handing him a glittering red present wrapped with a dazzling green bow.
"Thanks! Um...well then," Nightwing shrugged, "Come in! I've got some pretty cool stuff in the kitchen."
"You didn't invite anyone else?" I asked looking past him at the empty and rather lonely room.
"Well, I did but everyone I contacted was busy." Nightwing brushed it off, "Super heroes saving the world, aliens saving the universe, parents who...didn't exist, it's pretty quiet."
"So...no Batman," I concluded sourly.
"Nope," Nightwing finished. We just stood there for a while. "So," Nightwing finally spoke up, "Brought anyone else with you?"
"I hope you didn't mind," I smiled as someone landed with a thump next to me, "Got Red Hood to join."
"Merry Christmas," Jason said. The look on Nightwing's face was almost too funny to laugh about.
"I mind?! T-That...you're the guy who broke my ankle last year!" Nightwing pointed at Red Hood in the most humorous manner.
"And then...we tried to kill each other," Red Hood finished, "I got it."
I facepalmed.
Jason still held up a silver wrapped present.
"Peace offering," he replied. I scooted next to him.
"Um...no bombs right?" I inquired in a hushed tone.
"No. I'm saving those for Fourth of July. Got to blow up some more drug mannequins," Red Hood answered.
"I'm so thrilled," I sighed sarcastically.
"Anyway come in!" Nightwing beckoned us inside.
"I got presents for you too," Nightwing pulled up a box and handed it to me, "I didn't know you'd bring another guy so..."
"Thanks and sorry about that," I apologized when he trailed off.
"Here, you can have this for now!" Nightwing jumped up and handed Red Hood a teddybear that was sitting on the shelf.
Squeaka.
"Uh huh," he gazed at it with a look of skepticism and irony. It was hard to tell because of that mask. In a split of a second, Jason whipped out a gun, brandished it, and shot the cotton brains out of the poor teddybear. Disbelief was plastered on both Nightwing's and my face.
"You have to do that?" I looked at Red Hood who stuffed the bear into his jacket pocket.
"Alright then, I got a batarang from Batman himself!" Nightwing grabbed the shiny black thing hanging on a Christmas tree, "See? It's a nice tool!"
Silence.
"You realize that I'm not a kid," Red Hood finally said, "And I don't need another present. Thanks."
"And you also realize that he was the previous Robin," I added, "You know, the one that got beaten to death by the Joker?"
"Oh," Nightwing scratched his head laughing, "Right. Come on let's have some dinner." He pointed at the dining table which had rows above rows of food with elaborate looking dishes.
"Did you prepare ALL of that!" I exclaimed wide eyed.
"Half of it," Nightwing shrugged, "I stood at the supermarket line for six hours." He turned to Red Hood, "Just one tiny question. Can you eat with that red mask on?" I covered my ears as Red Hood basically gunned bullets at Nightwing.
"Hey! Watch it! Ow!"
...
We sat at the table eating while Red Hood sprawled on the couch. He's been like that for almost an hour already.
"Is he sulking?" Nightwing looked past me at Jason who just lay there flipping his knife in the air. I glanced back before cutting a piece of meat in half.
"No I think he's bored," I shrugged, "Red Hood, are you sure you don't want to join us? I know you have a mask underneath that mask. You'll be fine if you're so concerned about secret identity."
"No." Red Hood said blandly. I sighed and finished the rest of my food.
"Why is he like that all the time?" Nightwing whispered, "Got Batman's sense of humor now?"
"Well," I shrugged then leaned over with a hushed voice, "Considering he's been beaten to death by Joker, thrown in Tatarus pit, finally resurrected to dig out of his own grave, planned revenge for five years only to get owned by Batman, and his mother betrayed him then got blown up, let's say he's not exactly a merry elf." We looked back at Red Hood who still was flipping his knife in the air.
"Well, for a guy like that I have no idea how to find a Christmas present before he shoots me to death," Nightwing responded as he stood up.
"Bring him the Joker's head in a black colored box and he's the happiest guy in the world," I said, "I would have given him that myself but then Batman would be after me." I helped clear out the dining table after that, and placed some cling wrap on the food we couldn't finish before Nightwing concluded it was music time. Red Hood also wanted to stay out of this.
"Alright! Let's get this started!" Nightwing cheered and turned off the lights. A disco ball appeared at the ceiling and a catchy tune blared off the speakers. We danced around for a while, but I couldn't help but notice that Red Hood was staring at me an awful lot.
"Anything wrong?" I asked as I stopped. He did a double take and looked down quickly.
"N-Nothing," he said. After a while, Nightwing asked if he could take a look at my knife so I took it out and walked to him. I tripped over some electric cords and ended up spinning around the room.
"Aah!"
And unfortunately, I accidentally slashed at Red Hood who seemed to be dozing off while leaning against the wall with folded arms thing. He snapped awake and blocked with his own knife with amazing skill. Man did he look pissed.
"You wanna dance? Let's dance," he growled and we ended up fighting in time with the music. Nightwing jumped out of the way and stood there with his jaw hanging on the ground. Knives clashed together with sparks, followed by more biffs and thwacks of limb against limb and then sparks again.
Zhing!
Clang!
Man was he good! He sidesweeped me and before I fell down he caught me by the waist, pinning the knife against my throat. We were seriously out of breath and Nightwing just literally unraveled right there. I pushed myself out of Red Hood's grasp.
"T-That is..." he blinked a couple times but then there was a knock on the door. Nightwing answered it and to everyone's astonishment, Batman stood there also carrying a bunch of presents.
"Merry Christmas," he said in a flat voice. Jason leaped into a fighting position. Me? I stood there like any surprised girl.
"Bruce! I thought you weren't coming!" Nightwing exclaimed.
"I had some time to squeeze in," he replied. I glanced at Red Hood who seemed like he really wanted to leave right about now.
"You're not busting the wall down," I glared at Jason. Batman turned to Red Hood looking quite surprised to see him. He looked like he really needed to say something but then changed his mind and choked out in a sort of strangled voice, "Merry...Christmas." We stood around in silence before Nightwing spoke up.
"Well, it's a wonderful reunion all over again."
"Is the party over?" Batman questioned.
"We still have food left," Nightwing laughed nervously, "And the presents haven't been unwrapped yet."
"I've already found out what mine is," Red Hood glared and pulled out his stuffed belonging, "A brain dead teddy bear." He threw it at Batman who caught it and then jumped out the window. He did that not before picking up a santa's hat and perching it on the top of his head.
"Wait!" I exclaimed as I ran to the side. That is a long way down considering Nightwing's nest is like, sitting right on top of a cliff and covered by humongous foliage. Batman was staring at the hole right between the bear's dead eyes.
"Be glad he regifted that," I mumbled, "If Batman got a real present, it will have already exploded."
"How can you be so sure?" Nightwing asked with curiousity. I turned to him, "Nobody likes firepower that could blow up a whole neighborhood."
Silence.
"That guy has issues," Nightwing murmured as he gazed at his broken window.
"It wasn't set but I would rather not take those chances," I shrugged, "So you can open it now." What Nightwing got from Red Hood was a pair of golden nunchucks in which the guy almost cried.
"Oh that was my very first weapon when I was Robin!" he said as he pulled them out and swung them around. He attached the two ends together and it extended into a staff. My gift from Red Hood was a ring and Nightwing caught the blush on my face. Now Batman opened the present Nightwing gave to him and his eyes widened.
"Dick..." he murmured, "That was my mother's music box."
Ooh.
Anyway, Nightwing took a peek at the box I gave to him and it turned out that he was stunned. I wrung out a picture of one very happy Starfire in her own planet with a written letter of how it was going there. Of course, I had to also give Nightwing a Tamaran dictionary translation. Apparently, Starfire wanted to give him a present too. Snooky's baby larvae. It was curled up with the note.
"Whoa," he finally managed to get his voice working again, "That was..." He simply hugged me afterward. I unwrapped Nightwing's present and uncovered a crystal ball. My jaw literally dropped to the ground.
"Where did you find the real thing?!" I exclaimed.
"An evil wizard I defeated last week had it," Nightwing answered, "It's yours now." Batman had my present to open this time and what he got was jar of mumblac beans. I handpicked them and chopped the string of black liquorice smelling things up myself.
"Thought you might need a restorative just in case you get beaten to death by some monstrous enemies," I shrugged at the rather try-to-keep-a-straight-face look on Batman. And from Batman himself? Nightwing got a new ride. I got a motorcycle. And he also promised Red Hood some psychologic help. I'm not sure what kind of gift was that was supposed to be.