Disclaimer: I do not own any of the images, characters, or settings used in this story, nor am I using them for profit. I am just a fan of them.

WARNING: Major Character Death, Some Sexual References, Language, and Blood/Gore. Rating May Change.


Jason Todd: House of Wolves

Chapter One: Heir To The Cowl


"Master Jason, are you absolutely certain this is a good idea?" Alfred muttered in a worried tone, standing not far behind Jason as he waited patiently for him to finish dressing.

Jason slung his suit jacket on and grabbed a red tie off the tie rack to wrap underneath his shirt collar, standing in the middle of the master bedroom closet.

A soft chuckle escaped his thin lips at the elderly butler's concern, "Alfred, it's been five years now since the incident. I don't think anyone will suspect Bruce's long-lived secret at this point. It's safe."

Alfred Pennyworth, professional actor, butler, and debatably an ex-member of a top secret military program in the past. Once a loyal servant to the Wayne family, now passed down into the servanthood of Jason Todd-Wayne, last remaining member of the Wayne family name to remain at the mansion since the death of Bruce Wayne.

The corners of Alfred's lips turned down into a frown, emphasizing the soft wrinkles on his cheeks and forehead, "You know full-well that Master Bruce's secret being exposed is the least of my worries right now… I just—"

Jason smiled back at Alfred in an understanding way, "—just don't want to lose me too. I get it."

Alfred nodded in confirmation, "I can't lose anymore members of my family in as a horrific way as they have been lost so far… I don't think this old heart of mine could handle another one. Not another one."

Jason secured the tie around his neck and turned around to step out of the closet and place a hand on Alfred's shoulder affectionately, "Alfred. It's been five years since Bruce died. I've kept his legacy of the Batman alive so far… it's time I put the Wayne family name back into the limelight as well. Nobody has ever lived a double life quite like he did. And now that he's gone—" he paused.

Jason brushed past Alfred and grabbed his cellphone off the nearby king-sized bed, the sheets still thrown about lazily from Jason's unusual sleep habits.

"—I simply have no logical reason not to do the same. I will make sure nobody ever forgets the Wayne name." He finished.

Alfred let out a sigh of distress, "If you follow the same path that Master Bruce walked… It just might be the last thing you do."

Jason scowled a bit, "That's the thing I need you to never forget, Alfred. I'm not Bruce, nor do I handle my problems the same way as him. I'm just keeping his memory alive and well."

"Trust me, Master Jason. It's going to be hard to forget that fact with the amount of criminal bodies piling up in Gotham's morgues in the course of the past year since you've put on the cowl…" Alfred said in a rather disappointed tone, "Please, if you're going to keep Bruce's memory alive, just don't make it a sour one."

Jason turned back to Alfred and slid his cellphone into his pocket, "I won't."

He faced away from the aging butler and went to walk away when Alfred spoke up again, "Ah, Master Jason, you mustn't forget the reason you're stepping into the limelight this evening in the first place."

Jason glanced back at him with a puzzled look, "I'm going to a protest rally outside the new Arkham City prison district, aren't I?"

Alfred gave a sly look and walked over to stick a white button on Jason's suit jacket, "Then you better take your button with you as well. You of all people should know the importance of representing, yes?"

He let out an amused chuckle at Alfred's reminder, "Well, yeah, of course. Thanks, Alfred."

Jason reached up and readjusted the button, flashing the Arkham Asylum logo circled over and crossed by a red line to signify Jason's opposition to the Arkham City movement.

"Take care, Master Jason."


...

Cameras flashed and flickered in the shadow of the great wall that sealed in every criminal of Gotham into the prison district known infamously as 'Arkham City'. The giant Arkham A-logo was stamped on the side of the wall with pride of the terrible development.

"And that is why, people of Gotham," Jason announced into the microphone in front of the Arkham City wall, "We must rally against this scourge of our once great city. We will petition, we will vote, and we will make our voices heard until Gotham tears down these walls that were meant to protect us from the evil in Gotham's underbelly, but instead has stolen our sense of security and safety for our families and our loved ones alike!"

The small crowd of civilians and news reporters clapped and cheered for Jason's bold message protesting against the building of Arkham City.

"I'll take any questions now, if you have them…" Jason said into the mic, readjusting his tie nervously. This was his first time actually giving a public speech. If it weren't for Alfred spending hours teaching him how to properly deliver a speech to a crowd, this definitely would have been a bust.

Hands shot up like wildfire, many voices calling out his name which caused his blue eyes to widen a bit in surprise.

Finally, he settled with picking out a hand toward the front, "Yeah, you." He said awkwardly.

The young, blonde woman he picked out cleared her throat as she stepped toward the stage and greeted, "Mister Todd, my name is Vicki Vale of the Gotham Gazette! Since you've made it public that you are the adopted son of Bruce Wayne, you should know by now that you are a major subject of interest in Gotham media."

Jason looked around, finding all the other raised hands and shouting voices a bit distracting, "That doesn't sound like a question to me, Vicki. What's your question?"

Vicki stepped a bit closer to the stage, a mic in her hand, "Mister Todd, if you truly have been adopted into the Wayne family name and are funding the opposition of the Arkham City movement using your family's fortune, I have to ask… where is Bruce Wayne? Does he know that you're using his family's money to fund a political agenda?!"

Jason leaned toward the mic to answer when he spotted an ominous-looking man toward the back of the crowd with a bald head and glasses, adorning a dark trench coat and a knowing smirk. He was the only one who didn't have his hand up in question.

He glared at the bald man suspiciously. Silently.

"Mister Todd!" Vicki exclaimed, "Are you really going to give no answer about the mysterious absence of your adoptive father?"

"My father, Bruce Wayne, is well aware of what I am using his money for, I can assure you. But he has asked me personally that I reveal nothing more about where he is or what he has to say about this Arkham City movement, and I kindly ask that you respect his privacy…" Jason replied calmly into the mic, "…Thank you."

Questions immediately burst through the crowd.

"Where is Bruce Wayne?!"

"Is he missing?!"

"Dead?!"

Jason growled in irritation at the questions derailing from the subject of Arkham City. But the chaos of the crowd was very quickly interrupted by the sounds of flashbang explosives being set off in every direction, the questions being replaced by screams and the raised hands replaced by nothing as the people in the crowd covered their ears and shut their eyes to duck in cover from the random explosions.

He backed up from the podium he spoke at to shut his eyes in pain, crying out with a loud, "Agh!"

Upon opening his eyes again, Jason was met with his vision being further blocked by white smoke filling the stage, "What the hell is happening?!" he shouted amidst the worsening havoc.

"You're being taken into custody, Mister Todd," a deep, calm voice answered in the fog, "Arrest him."

Jason only had enough time to glance to his right when a heavily armored soldier bearing the word 'TYGER' on his bulletproof vest stomped toward him, bringing the butt of a submachine gun down on Jason's temple.

"Oh, shi—" Jason muttered before blacking out on impact.


...

"Jason Todd." The disturbingly familiar, calm voice stated in the black that filled his vision.

"Or as you and I both know you as… The new Batman."

Jason's eyes finally opened into thin, hazy slits as he looked up at the tall, bald male speaking to him, "Strange…" he mumbled in pain at the pounding headache he had from being struck so hard in the temple.

The man let out a dark chuckle, "That's Doctor Hugo Strange to you, young man. Shall I diagnose you?"

Jason's ears rang and he was seeing double-vision of the ominous, familiar doctor who once worked at Arkham Asylum before it was shut down in favor of Arkham City.

The project that Doctor Strange also started.

"Wearing the same suit and identity as your deceased predecessor… I'd say clinical depression and disturbing levels of trauma. And instead of embracing the Batman identity fully, you take on the second role your predecessor as well. Bruce Wayne by day… Batman by night," he stated in a knowing tone of voice.

Jason glared up at him in rage, but said nothing. He wouldn't deny or accept anything that Strange said. Sometimes silence was the boldest response in a potentially lethal situation like this.

A malicious simper crossed Strange's tan lips, "Sounds like self-induced split personality disorder."

Jason glanced around him dizzily, looking for some sort of way out but there was nothing. Everything in the room besides Doctor Strange was pitch black.

Strange's glasses reflected Jason's disoriented expression back at him. His black hair hanging in his blue eyes, his pale face spattered with dirt and mud from being dragged to wherever he was now.

"Shall we go over your crimes as well? Goodness, that one is a much longer list to quote," the doctor laughed quietly.

Jason still said nothing, but listened nonetheless as he was starting to slowly pass out again from the pain in his head getting progressively worse.

"Over a dozen reports of murder, breaking and entering, countless attempts at vigilante justice?" he listed off to him from a clipboard before glancing up at Jason again, "Oh, I think you'll fit in with your fellow inmates at Arkham City just… perfect."

Jason's blue eyes rolled back into his skull as he fell back into a dull state of unconsciousness.


When Jason finally came to, he found himself standing in line with multiple criminals that had been captured in the past couple weeks, and were sent straight here for it. For all he knew, he was the one who captured them.

The loud yells and chants of thugs all around him blared against his eardrums as he studied his surroundings through blurred vision, "Ngh…"

"Come on, Mister Wayne! Get in line with the others! You're rich outside the walls, but in here, you're garbage like the rest of these sorry bastards," a prison guard mocked as he pushed Jason into a fenced off line, merely labeled: Line A.

Another guard at the front of the line looked past the two criminals in front of him and upon seeing Jason, he shouted, "Oh no, you come to the front of the line, pal. Boss says he wants you in ASAP."

The two ahead of Jason looked back at him and stepped aside so he could go ahead of them. It was obvious nobody was in a rush to get through the line.

Jason glanced at the other two in line and stepped past them, when the one who was previously at the front of the line grabbed him by the collar and shoved him back against the fence with an amused chuckle.

Jason grunted at being pinned so suddenly against the fence wall behind him. He looked down at who was holding him there and scowled at who he saw, "Floyd Lawton. Or do you prefer to be called Deadshot?"

Deadshot smirked up at him, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, "I'll prefer to be called the grim reaper after tonight. You've got a hefty price on your head, Todd, and I intend to collect."

He shoved Deadshot away from him, causing the older male to fall back against the opposite fence, causing it to rattle and shake loudly, "We'll see about that, Lawton. Keep your hopes up and maybe you'll find me."

"Break it up, ladies!" A guard shouted, stepping between them and pushing Jason toward the entrance into Arkham City where the massive gate was slowly sliding open.

Deadshot let out a deep chortle and aimed his hand out at Jason with his fingers in the shape of a gun, "I ain't in here by accident, Todd! Watch your back… and your head."

Jason glared through the shuttle-like gate as it opened to reveal yet another surprise waiting for him.

"Mister Wayne!" a short, fat man with a heavy British accent greeted as he stepped inside, "Or I guess I should call you Jason. Deadman Jason!"

It was none other than Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot. Esteemed ruler of the underground black market and infamous example of what bullying does to a kid who looks like a large bird.

Perhaps his nickname 'the Penguin' was well-earned.

Jason let out a sigh as he looked down at the abnormally short man and his lips pursed into an unamused look, "You know, I think I've met enough ugly mugs for one evening, I really hope yours is the last one. Because your face has gotta be to the grand finale of them all…" he chuckled dryly.

A couple of the armed thugs behind Penguin couldn't help but snicker a little beneath their breaths to which Penguin scowled deeply in disgust, "Shut yer traps, you idiots!" he spat.

The area fell silent again.

Jason glanced around him to find himself in some sort of alleyway. A rather convenient spot at the base between an Ace Chemicals factory and two other buildings next to it. He was cornered like a street rat.

Jason's observations were very quickly hindered by the feeling of Penguin's steel-pipe umbrella slamming against his shin, dropping him to his knees in an instant, "Rgh!" he cried out at the shooting pain in his leg.

Penguin forced his chin upward, using the tip of his umbrella so they could make eye contact, with the younger of the two now barely beneath his height.

"Now listen here… I won't take this kind of disrespect from a bloke in a fancy suit and handcuffs." Penguin deadpanned, taking the cigar out of his mouth so he could blow a puff of smoke down at Jason's face.

Jason coughed at the smoke and chuckled, "Don't like fancy suits and hand cuffs? Weird. I always took you for being into kinky shit like that."

The short, round man's face contorted with hate, "You certainly must be adopted by the Waynes, because you're the same disrespectful trash as the rest of your family!"

As Penguin lashed out in rage, he pulled his booted foot back before swinging it at Jason's face to kick him.

The mob boss's face turned pale at watching Jason lift his arms off the ground rapidly and use his handcuffs to block Penguin's attack from hitting him.

"Oh, bloody hell…" Penguin muttered just as Jason shot back up to his feet, throwing the back of his head against Penguin's jaw in an arch, smashing his skull against the man's already heavily deformed face.

Penguin spat blood all over the ground and held his mouth as he quickly limped away from Jason toward his hired thugs, "Don't just stand there, idiots! Kick his arse!"

Jason popped his neck and rolled his wrists around within his cuffs as he let the thugs approach him.

Six men. Two unarmed, two with baseball bats, one with a pair of brass knuckles, and one with a crowbar.

Jason's blue eyes narrowed as he subconsciously predicted the whole fight as it unfolded before him. One of the two unarmed thugs would come first, the other following his lead.

The unarmed ones were always cocky, leaving themselves open for a counterattack.

Once the first unarmed thug rushed in as Jason predicted, he lifted his cuffed wrists so when the thug threw a punch at him, his fists collided with the hard metal at full speed. A sickening crack echoed off his broken knuckles as he pulled back with a cry of pain.

The unarmed thug following behind him slid to a halt at seeing the initiating attack failing miserably.

Jason wasted no time in bashing his cuffed wrists against the attacking thug's face, dropping him to his knees so he could wrap his cuff links around the man's throat and yank back as hard as he could.

The only noises that filled the alleyway were the sound of the man's windpipe collapsing in on itself and Jason yanking the chain links apart as he kicked the man over to suffocate on the cold dirt.

The other thugs backed up, their faces pale in disgust at what they just witnessed.

A dark look settled over Jason's expression, "One to zero. Come and get me."

Cobblepot stumbled back and saw immediately that now was a good time to run. And he did just that, turning tail and limping away without the assistance of his umbrella because he was going to waste no time trying to retrieve it while his men were slaughtered behind him.

Loud shouts of pain and the sounds of bones breaking under ferocious impact could be heard a block away or more as the Wayne-adopted son had his way with the criminals of Arkham City.

Penguin made a mad dash for a nearby ladder, in hopes of climbing to safety at the top of the Ace Chemicals building but his hopes were soon diminished when he could no longer hear his hired minions behind him and soon after, felt Jason's grip around his ankle.

"O-Oh, bugger!" Cobblepot barked out as Jason dragged him back down the ladder.

Jason growled deeply in a furious manner, "You're all out of thugs. And I'm all out of patience, Oswald."

Penguin quickly went from fearless mob boss to terrified victim in seconds before Jason's eyes, "What do you want from me?! Money, power? You Waynes have already taken everything else from me, what more could you want—?!"

But he was sharply interrupted by Jason spinning around and slamming Penguin down on his head, effectively knocking him out.

Jason let out a small chuckle, "I don't want anything of yours, Penguin. Just remember this next time you decide to trash the Wayne family name."

The black-haired young man looked around at all the bleeding, twitching bodies around him and frowned, "I get the feeling this isn't the last fight I'll be dealing with tonight…"

He could suddenly hear the cellphone in his pocket starting to ring, playing a rather loud ringtone to which Jason quickly answered.

"Alfred?" he greeted, already knowing who it was.

"Master Jason! Where have you been, I watched what happened on the news! Are you quite alright, sir?" Alfred asked worriedly.

"Never better, Alfred." He looked around at the unconscious thugs around him. Penguin would live but the same couldn't be said for a few of the others. If he told Alfred that he had killed again, the older butler would be furious so he refrained from telling him everything.

Alfred waited for him to say more when he spoke up again, "Master Jason?"

Jason changed the subject, "Listen, Alfred, I need you to send the Batwing out with a Bat suit loaded up. It's a long story, but I'm in Arkham City now and I can't stop Hugo Strange from keeping this place running by myself, but Batman just might."

"Right away, sir, what are your coordinates?"

He looked above him to see the green, neon sign of the Ace Chemicals factory, "At the old Ace Chemicals building, in Parks Row. Just drop it right on the roof, I'll be there."

With a press of his thumb, he ended the call and started to climb to the top of the building.

The Batwing's jet engine roared across the sky as it raced away back to the Batcave across Gotham, leaving behind a large metal pod for Jason atop the Ace Chemicals building.

Clicks and snaps elicited from Jason's body as he equipped the Bat suit armor, sliding on the gloves and extending his fingers to test the armor's flexibility before looking down at the rest of his high-tech suit.

The armor was metallic and black in color, a long, red Bat logo stretching from one shoulder pad to the other, the shoulder pads extending into the long, black cape that billowed around his feet as he stepped back from the armored pod. His gloves were thick and bulky, designed to hold extra gadgets that his seemingly limitless utility belt couldn't hold on its own. The armor was slender in design so it didn't get in the way when Jason really needed to move.

Last but not least was the signature cowl, the eyes turned down in a permanent glare with eyes that glowed a deep red color. A particular difference in design that Jason chose over Bruce's original design was an extended part of the mask that covered the rest of his face like a helmet, the piece covering his mouth doubling as extra protection and a voice modulator.

He reached up with two fingers and activated the voice modulator in the Bat cowl helmet so that his voice was much deeper and more mechanical when he spoke, "Alfred, I've equipped the armor and turned on the encrypted radio frequency in my helmet, you should be able to contact me as soon as you receive this."

"I copy, Master Jason. I've done some digging and researching while you were dressing into your armor, and I found out that Selina Kyle was transferred into Arkham City no more than a couple weeks ago…"

Jason's voice bellowed as he spoke, "If anyone knows what the situation in Arkham City is, it's her."

"Precisely my thoughts, sir."

Jason nodded and walked toward the edge of the building, peering out over the skyline of Arkham City, breathing in the stink of crime and corruption across the walled-in prison district.

Swiping his cape away and causing it to wave in the cold breeze behind him, he replied, "This is Jason Todd checking out…"

He lunged off the edge of the building and allowed his cape to unfurl in the shape of massive bat wings as he glided over the buildings below.

"… and this is Batman checking in."


{A/N} Hello there, reader, my name's Noisiboi!

I've been on here a while and always been into Batman but this is my first actual Batman story I've written. ^^;

So go easy on me if there's something you didn't understand, I more than welcome any questions or comments you may have! Just direct them into the little review box below or send me a follow or favorite, or even just a PM!

The plot really kicks into gear next chapter, so keep on the watch-out for my next update. :)

Thanks for reading!

-Nb