He's My Brother
Jason had remembered watching his mother's stomach grow with a fascination of a young child he rarely got to be. Remembered as the days and months past and the bump grew larger, his mother waddling around the house; one hand on her back, as she pulled out a few of Jason baby clothes. He remembered thinking that there was just no way such small clothes would ever fit on anyone. He remembered his mother; clear eyed and glowing with happiness that Jason could never remember seeing on her face before, as she assured him that Jason hadbeen that small once and his baby brother would be too so Jason would need to protect him.
His baby brother.
His!
Jason had felt warmth in his chest as he stood a little straighter and looked up Catherine Todd as he nodded his head with as much seriousness as he could muster at seven years old. He had begun planning then. Making list after list of all the things he and his brother would do together and all the things Jason would teach him, how to fight, where to find the better food and all the good hiding places in Crime Ally.
He would tell his mother about his plans to on the nights were his father was out 'working' and it was just them. About the trips to the park and all the stories he would tell him before bed and the games they would play together. He remembered how she would sit there and smile as she ran her figures through his hair and laugh when he said how he would beat up anyone who so much as looked at his brother wrong.
Then one night the police knocked on their front door and took his farther away. He was glad; now Willis could not hurt them anymore.
The night his brother was born Jason had sat in the waiting room for over three hours before a nurse had roused him from his sleepy state and led him down the hall to his mother room. Catherine had looked tired and pale but otherwise fine when she had waved at him from her bed gesturing silently for him to come closer. In her arms rapped in a green blanket was the smallest creature thing Jason had ever seen. His brother face was flushed pink tiny face relaxed with sleep and little fingers pocking out from under the blanket. On the top of his head was a patch of bright red hair.
They named him Colin Willis Todd.
The warmth in his chest expanded from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. Jason had stayed at the hospital with them. He was even allowed in the nursery to hold his brother and that was when he was happiest. He enjoyed sitting with Colin in his arms rocking him back and forth as he spoke to him in the softest voice he could; about how much Jason loved him and how he would always be there for him.
And for a while they were happy. The three of them went home together with no fear of Willis and his drunken fist; just the three of them together in their little home. But then the bills started coming and his mother started her downwards spiral, spending days on end lost in her own head; high on her latest fix leaving Jason and Colin to fend for themselves. Jason had moved Colin to his room after the first stranger came to the house demanding the money Catherine owed him for her drugs; it had ended with his mother on the ground crying and broken glass everywhere.
Soon strangers came to the house often with their bags of white powder and lewd smiles. Jason started taking Colin out with him. He did not wanting to be there to listen to his mother sell herself for her drug but refusing to leave Colin alone. It was dangerous out there on streets at night but it was familiar. That shell of a person who had his mother face was not.
Money was scares; food even more so and the men became more violent. Jason started taking small 'jobs' in running packages from person to person for money. It was dangerous work that resulted in more than a few broken bones and many enemies on the streets but Jason learned fast. He learnt the streets and its people. He learned to run and jump and climb. He learned to take a beating and stand back up, he learned to fight back.
By the time Colin first birthday came around their mother was high more often than not and Jason had built a reputation among the other street dwellers. It was a small birthday; no cake or streamers or photos. Just him and Colin at the park together playing on the slide and feeding the birds. Jason had only managed to get Colin one present, a simple brown teddy bear with black beady eyes and a tiny little nose; he had felt like a bad brother for not been able to gift Colin with more but when Jason had presented the bear to his brother the boy had squealed in delight and latched on to the stuffed animal refusing to let go, babbling at Jason in his happy baby talk; Jason had laughed in his relief.
Jason sent five dollars he could not afford on a photo booth. The bear was named Rory.
It was only days later when it happened. Jason had come home from another job having picked up Colin from the kind old lady across the street when he found his mother slouched on the wall of their house her face bloody and bruised and her pulse almost gone. The last time he saw her the paramedics were putting her in the back of the ambulance.
They were sent to Saint Aden Orphanage. Jason packed their clothes, Rory and the photos from Colin birthday. They spent almost a year together, practical sharing a bed in their own little corner keeping mostly to themselves as they walked around the grounds. Jason was a very proud big brother; Colin first word was 'Jay', his most prized toy was still Rory. The first time Colin had taken his first steps on his own was when he spotted Jason across the room.
Colin was his whole world.
Jason stayed with Colin for as long as he could but the place was already crowded and Jason at ten was considered to be an older child, even having a brother who was barely two years old did not help much. He was sent to a foster home with a promise from the Sisters that he could visit as often as he wanted.
And he did; every day after school and all day Saturday; even when he was back on the streets sleeping in cardboard boxes and stealing food, even when he stopped going to school and spent all day 'working' he still visited. Then one day his life changed when he decided to steal the tyres off Batman car.
Batman was Bruce Wayne and Jason Todd was now Robin.
Of course Bruce found out about Colin when Jason kept patrolling around the orphanage; told him that he could not take Colin in as well because it made Colin a liability. Jason had already known this, said he would not want Colin growing up in this sort of environment anyway. They never talked about it again.
They hacked a few files, changed a few papers and Colin Willis Todd became Colin Wilkes.
Jason cried that night.
If Robin suddenly decided to stop near Saint Aden whenever he could Batman never mentioned it.
A few years went by and Jason continued to watch over Colin from a distance. Watched as he grew older and experienced new things without Jason there with him. Feeling a cold chill where the warmth once was as he watched his brother grow more and more distant from the memory that Jason knew him as, his only comfort being that brown bear Colin held onto as if it was an extension of his arms.
Then came the day he found someone he never thought he would see again.
Catherine Todd; who had been deemed an unfit mother after her near over dose and was forcefully admitted to a help centre, who had been clean for years was now working as a volunteer. Jason had not hesitated to go to her but maybe he should have.
It was a mistake when he told her about being Robin and working with Batman but he had wanted her to know, for her to be proud of him, but in the end she sold him to the Joker to save herself. Sold him just like how she sold herself years ago for her drug.
Not that it mattered in the end.
The last thing Jason remembered was not his mother cries for Jason forgiveness or the distant sound of Batman's car racing towards them but the image in his head of a small red haired green eyed toddler holding a bear smiling at him.
Dark.
Trapped.
Buried.
Air.
Don't panic.
Dig.
You have to dig.
Move.
Survive.
Food, water, shelter.
Fight, defend, protect.
Colin.
Red hair.
Green eyes.
Innocent laughter.
People. Talking.
Hands and noise.
Red blood.
Green water.
Screaming.
Rage.
The next few years Jason spent seeping in his own anger. He had not been avenged. He had been buried and forgotten, replaced by a new, better Robin. The Joker was still alive and what's worse he had crippled Barbra. Shot and crippled her but still Batman refused to do what was necessary and end the monsters existence. Fine; if Bruce refused to do it then Jason would. He would shape himself into what Gotham needed.
So he trained with people all over the world. With the League of Assassins. With the All Caste. Jason trained his body and mind. He took only one thing from his old life with him. The one thing that stayed with him on the streets and at Wayne Manor, the one thing he took with him when he went to find his mother, the one thing he was buried with; the pictures from Colin birthday.
But in the end it was not enough. Jason had failed. Batman still would not kill the Joker. Broken, defeated and empty Jason dragged himself to the one place he could think of.
Saint Aden Orphanage.
He spotted his ray of sunshine easily enough sitting under the only tree in the yard away from the other children. He was older now, still small; only reaching to Jason stomach, his bright hair falling into his eyes as he silently watched the others around him. His clothes looked old but he looked healthy and well looked after. That's all Jason really wanted for him.
Jason may not have won his fight but he still could not help but feel a small amount of contentment.
Because Colin was okay and in the end that was all Jason wanted.
Until he wasn't.
Until Colin was kidnapped by Scarecrow.
It had taken Jason less than two hours to track them to an old medicine factory in the warehouse district, arriving just a few moments before Scarecrow could inject Colin with a liquid Jason instantly identifies as Venom.
A bullet goes straight into the sickos arm.
Not the head though. No his was too close to Colin. Jason did not want to risk hitting him. He did watch in satisfaction as Scarecrow crumbles to the ground though.
He's far enough now. That is a clear shot.
Jason finger curls on the trigger when a gloved hand grabs hid wrist, forcing his aim down.
Batman.
Jason opens his mouth to yell, to scream and demand to be let go so he can kill the monster who dared go after his family when Batman speaks first.
"Get Colin out of here"
Jason has dropped his gun and at the side of the gunny before he is even aware he moved.
Colin is pale and shaking, mumbling quietly as he twitches every few seconds with his eyes tightly held shut. He releases the restraints and lifts the small body up with a care he has not used since he last laid a hand on his brother. He knew Batman was watching him; knew he was analysing Jason every move but he did not care. The only thing that mattered to him was the tiny child he held in his arms.
It was two days before Colin opened his eyes, Jason never left his side. Not when the nurses came in; startled at the sight of the anti-hero, not when the police arrived to arrest him (Jason just threw them back into the hallway), not even when Jim Gordon and the Bat himself came. Jason never spoke to anyone, hardly moved and rarely slept, his entire focus stayed on the red haired bot in the far too big bed.
Colin eyes opened slowly as his hands twitched at his sides. Jason watched as Colin took in his surrounding in confusion before realization crossed his face and the confusion was replaced with fear. Jason reached out and grabbed his hand.
Colin quickly turned to him clearly startled. Conflicting emotions swam in those bright green eyes but in the end curiosity won.
"Who are you?"
"I'm- "
Your brother.
Jason.
I love you.
"- The Red Hood."