Notes: This story is in response to Toadflame's "Criminally Minded" challenge over at Young Justice Fanfiction Challenges. My prompt was: "What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is and remains immortal." -Mason Albert Pike (but it is attributed to Albert Pine).

No copyright infringements are intended.


I used to be a petty thief on the streets of Gotham. I was just a kid who was alone in the world, with nothing to do but beg, borrow, and steal. I did what I did in order to survive; I had no beef with anyone I ripped off.

Sometimes I got a little greedy though. But that's okay. Because my avarice led to meeting him.

The man who took me in. The man who took my set of skills, honed them, and made them useful in ways I had never imagined.

He gave me purpose. I wasn't a hero though, not like him or his first protégé. I was just having fun.

Beat up the bad guys, save a few damsels, and then it was back in a comfy bed come dawn. All in a night's work.

It stayed like this for a while. Everything changed when he introduced me to his covert team of operatives. They were all different, but had one trait in common: they were heroes.

I felt I didn't really fit. But y'know what? They grew on me. And I guess they rubbed off on me too, because here I am, playing hero. I could be trying to get out here; save my own skin. But then they would die—and that, that isn't acceptable.

There's no point in dragging this out any longer. The circuit is ready—I just need to complete it. Time to save my friends and ride the lightning.

Jason Todd dies a hero. He had no regrets.