Chapter 1
Hi, I'm Agent Brad Hall. What am I the agent of? Who knows. That's not important.
What's important is this story. Here, I'll explain the continuity a little bit. If you don't feel like reading this, you can skip all this and go straight to the story. It should be pretty easy to follow.
This story mostly follows New 52 continuity. I know I know, a lot of people don't like New 52 and that's okay. But the character designs are New 52. Pre-DC You costumes. I hate the new Red Hood costume, so he's in his Red Hood And The Outlaws costume. Barbara Gordon is still in her black armor costume from the beginning of New 52 and is Batgirl.
One big difference between New 52 continuity and this continuity is that Batman has been active more than five years. Bruce has been Batman for at least ten. He started in his early twenties, and now he's in his mid-early thirties. Also, Dick Grayson is currently Nightwing.
This is in the same universe as my story Red Hood: Requiem, although it is not at all necessary. Honestly, I was half sleep when I wrote that story and just really wanted to write Jason Todd. I was almost considering not making it canon, that's how unessential it is.
I think that's it for now. If you have any questions about continuity or anything, just tell me. I plan to do one story arc, but if this story becomes popular, I'll continue it.
Crack!
The sounds of bones breaking went through the air as Batman bent a man's arm the wrong way. It'd take time to heal, maybe enough for him to learn not to work under The Joker.
The Clown Prince of Crime had been seen in the area and had left a trap for Batman outside a warehouse. There, waiting for him, were over thirty grunts with baseball bats and knives and the occasional assault riffle. He'd made quick work of a quarter of them, but he was getting tired. He wasn't as young as he used to be, and maybe he'd gotten too comfortable. He wasn't the only hero Gotham had anymore, and lately it seemed like the city had no use for Batman anymore.
Focus, Batman sternly thought to himself. Before...
It was then he noticed a thug aiming a gun at his exposed chin and pulling the trigger. He had battles gods, psychopaths, and had saved the world countless times...
But even Batman couldn't dodge a bullet.
The Joker sat on a large throne in the middle of the warehouse, smiling. Always smiling.
"Come on Bats, where the hell are you?" He asked no one who was there. "You should've taken out those goons ages ago. Sigh. Maybe we're getting soft in our old age."
Just then, the door to the warehouse opened, showing the silhouette of the Caped Crusader.
"Aw, there you are Bats!" Joker lagged as he stood of his throne. "I was thinking you had forgot! Today's our anniversary. Today was the day we locked in battle for the first time! Clown against bat, hero against evil, psychopath vs psychopath! Ahahahaha!"
Joker held a curious face as Batman just stood there.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Attack me! Those idiots didn't beat you too hard did they?"
Then, Batman fell to the ground, and revealed two goons who were holding him up.
"Bats?" Joker asked.
"He's out Boss," one of the grunts said. "We finally got him! We finally killed The Batman!"
Joker slowly walked, no longer smiling, to the body of his old foe. He noticed the gaping hole in the bottom of his chin. Definitely dead.
"Who did this?" Joker asked, no longer in his whimsical voice, but rather a dead serious grunt.
"Uh...I...I did boss," one of the grunts said, raising his hand. "I'm sorry if you wanted to kill him yourself..."
Blam!
The goon fell as Joker shot him in the chest.
"Jesus, Joker!" The other goon exclaimed.
Blam! Blam! Blam! The gun rang off as Joker continued to shoot the downed crook multiple times.
"Give me your phone," Joker said as he never took his eyes off the corpse.
"Boss...?"
"Your phone!"
"He...here..." The crook stammered out as he handed Joker the phone.
After typing in a few numbers, he out the phone to his ear. "Hello. Yes, I saw the Joker recently by the old abandoned ACE Chemicals factory. I think he's armed. I'm scared."
Joker hung up the phone and sat down on the ground next to Batman. He didn't touch the body, or say anything. He just sat there and stared at it, no trace of a smile whatsoever.
Jason Todd, known more commonly as the Red Hood, broke the man's finger.
"Argggghhhhh!" He yelled.
"Let's try that again," Red Hood said, making sure to get closer to the face of the man he interrogated. "Isabel Ardila. Where is she?"
"I...I don't know man, I swear!" the man claimed, tears forming in his eyes. "I don't know anything!"
"You were given up, Mason," Red Hood said to the man, real name Mason Farrow. "I know you kidnap girls for some guy who makes them into sex slaves. I just want to know if you took a certain one."
"What...what does she look like?"
"Short blonde hair. Twenty-three. About five foot four."
"I...I get lots of girls like that man, I don't know...Aghhhhh!"
"Careful Mason, I'm running out of fingers. You don't wanna know what I'll break next."
"Black Mask! I work for Black Mask!"
"Mask?" Red Hood asked. "Human trafficking isn't really his MO."
"I swear, man! With the Joker out of the game, he's trying to expand his horizons! Pick up The Clown's territory!"
"The Joker...?"
Did Bruce finally see reason? Jason wondered. No...he wouldn't do that...
"What happened to the Joker?"
"What do you care?"
"Answer."
"He...he turned himself in! My brother said he lost it after..."
"After what?" Red Hood asked, before his radio in helmet came on.
"This...is the Batcave, calling to all members of the Batfamily. Come immediately. It's...it's urgent. It's Batman...it's...oh god...
That was Alfred. He sounded...sad. Broken. He'd never heard Alfred talk like that. He said it was Batman. He...
No...
"We'll finish this later," Red Hood said. "Don't leave town."
Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, and Red Robin all stood in the Batcave. They had each heard it on the streets. Alfred's message just confirmed it.
But that didn't make it any easier.
They each acted differently. Dick and Barbara hugged and comforted each other. Tim typed away on computers, trying to find any proof, any thing that could prove that this was just some rumor. Damian just sat in a corner alone.
"You know he's going to ask you to do it," Barbara said as she pulled away from the hug. "He's gonna ask you to be..."
"I know," Dick said. "I'm...I'm ready."
"Hope you all didn't start without me," Red Hood said as he walked in the cave.
"What are you doing here?!" Damian yelled as he walked right up to Red Hood, a face full of anger. "You're not one of us. You don't deserve to be here."
"Kid, I'm sorry about your dad," Jason said as he took off his red helmet, revealing his eyes, red from crying, which caused the others to be a little surprised, especially Damian. "But get the fuck away from me."
Without saying another word, Damian walked away, accepting.
"Ah, you're all here," Alfred Pennyworth said as he walked to the front of the group. He'd obviously been crying, but he was putting on a brave face for them. "Master Bruce would be...I'm sorry..."
All the bats gathered around Alfred and embraced him as he broke into tears. All except Jason. Maybe Damian was right. Maybe he didn't belong here. What right did he have to call himself a part of this family? He quickly turned around to leave.
"Master Jason," Alfred said to the leaving man. "Please. Stay."
"..." After a moments hesitation, Jason walked back into the Batcave.
"Now, as I'm sure this comes to no surprise to any of you, Master Bruce has a will. I've never seen it, but he's given me explicit instructions to make sure whatever the tape says is followed," it was then Alfred pushed a button on the BatComputer, causing a blue hologram of Batman to pop up.
"Hello. If you're watching this, it means I've failed," Bruce said. "It means I've been defeated by the disease I swore I would one day eradicate. I want to say how proud I am of all of you. You've all been great soldiers. What's more, you've been a great family."
Hearing Bruce use the word "family" caused a few tears from the assembled vigilantes.
"Of course, there's the matter of my worldly belongings. Here I state, I give Wayne Enterprises, and all of it's affiliations to Lucius Fox, until the day Damian is old enough to take over."
"Father..."
"I also leave my home, Wayne Manor, to my other son, Dick Grayson. Take care of the place in my stead. It's...special to me."
"Oh God, Bruce..."
"To Time Drake, I leave the BatComputer. The entire network and database I've collected over the years is all yours."
Sniff!
"For Barbara Gordon, I leave my entire library."
"Oh..."
"And the Bat-Cycle."
"Yes! I mean, uh, thank you."
"And lastly...I leave the legacy of Batman. I leave the BatCave, the Batmobile, my equipment, all my tools. I leave these all to my successor..."
"...Jason Todd."
"What?!" They all yelled out in surprise and alarm.
"Him?!" Damian demanded angrily. "How could he possibly give Batman to...someone like him!"
"Hey, I'm right here...," Jason mumbled out, even though he knew it was crazy. Him? Batman? How could that even work? Jason wasn't worthy of it. He's done too much.
"Um, I'm actually with the kid here," Jason said. "Can I, I don't know, refuse?"
"No. You can't," Dick said as he held up his hand for Jason to shake. "Congratulations, Jason."
"Are you even hearing yourself, Golden Boy?" Jason asked. "If they let me be Batman, they might as well let The Penguin. Or Selina."
"That might actually be kinda...," Tim started from a corner, before noticing everyone looking at him. "Uh, sorry."
Moving from the corner, Tim walked in front of Jason to the center of the room. "Look Jason, I think you should do this."
"Drake..."
"This might be good for you. You're just as qualified as anyone here, and Bruce chose you. Not me, or Dick, or Damian, but you. That's gotta mean something, right?"
"Th...thanks, Drake. I know...I know I haven't always been the nicest guy to you..."
"You were slaughtered, then brought back. I get it. And call me Tim, seriously. How would you feel if I called you Todd?"
"Point taken."
"I mean, of course Drake sounds so much cooler than Todd."
"Yeah, but Grayson sounds like some kinda super spy," Dick said as he wrapped his arms around the two. "It's suave and sexy."
"Are you hitting on us?" Jason asked.
"Just happy to be with all my brothers again. It's been...man, have we ever actually all been in the same room together?"
"It's been forever," Tim said. "Years, probably."
"Yeah, you guys wanna get a drink?" Jason asked.
"I'm sixteen," Tim stated.
"This is Gotham. I can find us a place."
"Actually, Master Todd, we'll have to talk about...some things..."
"Wait...is this for real?" Jason asked. "Am I...am I seriously going to be Batman?"
"We'll set all that up now, if you will."
After getting an encouraging smile from Dick and Tim, a sneer from Damian, and being ignored by Barbara, Jason followed Alfred down the hallway.
"Now, first things first, you'll have to be fitted for a suit. You're skinnier than Master Bruce was, so you'll have to get your own Batsuit..."
"Okay, but I wanna design it," Jason said.
"Oh?"
"Yeah. First things first, I need the mask to be a full helmet. No disrespect, but it was a bad idea to leave his chin and mouth uncovered."
"Noted, sir."
"And I wanna get some red in there."
"Red, sir?"
"Hot red."
"Consider it done."
"Thanks Butler. And maybe at some red to the top of the car too."
"I'll have Mr. Fox work on it immediately, Master Todd."
"And Butler, stop calling me that."
"Stop calling me Butler, and we'll have a deal."
Jason gave a small smirk, "Deal, Alfred."
Dick Grayson sat in the Batcave, looking at the computer. Tim had decided to leave the computer for Jason, but copied all his files into what he called The Nest. Although he was happy for Jason, he did feel a little hurt that Bruce didn't pick him.
"Master Grayson?" Alfred called to the young man.
"Hey Alfred. I was just...looking through some old files. For a case."
With a small smile, Alfred walked to the computer and pushed a button, revealing a picture of Alfred, Bruce, and Dick back when he was still Robin, that was hidden.
"You got me," Dick said "Then again, I guess you always did. Where's Jason?"
"Designing his suit," Alfred said. "How do you think he'll do?"
"I...don't know. He was the least obvious choice, that's for sure," Dick said. "I mean, I'm happy for him, and I'm sure he'll be fine but..."
"Master Grayson. There is...something I wish to show you..."
"Yeah...what is it Alfred?"
Alfred reached past Dick and pushed a couple of buttons on the computer keyboard, before another blue hologram of Batman popped up.
"Alfred, I've already seen this."
"No," the butler said. "Not this one."
"Hello Alfred. This is a private message to you, and not to be shown to the rest of The Family."
"Alfred, maybe I shouldn't..."
"Hush," Alfred said.
"I once told you that I brought Jason in to keep him from becoming part of the criminal element. And that was true. When I found him, stealing the tires of the Batmobile, I knew it was only a matter of time before he turned to a life of crime. And I would have to stop him. I know Jason has done things. I know he's killed. I know he's stolen. But I'm hoping that becoming the new Batman, by taking up this responsibility, will lead him off that path, forever. This...is my last attempt to save Jason Todd."
"Bruce..."
"But if he steps out of line, I want Dick to take him down."