Under the Hood

by TheGothamShadow

There's a new player in town, and he will stop at nothing to fulfill his twisted sense of justice, waging a one-man war against not only the Team, but the Justice League as well. The wounds of a hero's tragic death reopened, old failures revisited, and a new identity unveiled. The question is, do you know who's behind the hood?

My head is slammed into his knee. I try to keep my balance, but fail miserably; I fall. I try, but I can't move, stand, or fight. The bullet in my leg doesn't help.I need to fight, I need to win. But I know I won't. I can't. I'm finished. DONE.

My vision—or what I believe is my vision—is a jumbled mess. Millions of colors coalesce into a single mass. I'm hit with wave after wave of pain. My pulse elevates as my blood pressure increases. My brain's lighting up sections of my frontal lobe; igniting new loci of pain to my body. Just the thing I need: more pain. He grabs me by the throat. I look at him, only able to see faint red outlines. Must be the helmet.

He pulls me in close, whispers in my ear. I only faintly hear him... says something about, "finishing the job". He rams my head into something— I believe it's a table. Well, was a table. He talks again... I can hear him clearer now,

"I'm not going to kill you. I just want you to share a bit of the pain."

He's not going to kill me. I've heard that one before. I can't trust him... but anything to hang on to is good enough for me right now. He lifts me up over his head and chucks me down below, from off the balcony. As I fall, submerging into the pool below, I think about them: Bruce, Tim, Barbara... and you. The one we all let down, the one we couldn't get to in time; the little brother I wasn't able to protect. Jason... I'm sorry.