After the Red Hood
Chapter One

Abigail threw the sniper rifle aside as she landed in the rubble. Her combat boots tossing up plumes of dust and debris as she scrambled towards the still figure that had once been Batman's greatest failure.

Green eyes frantically searched for injuries and wounds. She rolled him over and Jason groaned in protest, blue eyes blurred with pain.

"Jason?" She asked frantically trying to decide the state of his wounds.

"Don't let Eastside run rampart on you." Jason whispers as she helped him lean against what had once been a building.

"Eastside still belongs to you." She told him. "Give it a couple weeks, you'll be running the crime and Drug Lords again."

"Abigail," Jason's breath caught in his chest. "Stop…." He grabbed her wrist and shot a glare at his only friend. "I'm hurt…I need you. You're the only person that I trust to keep….Eastside in line."

Abigail's eyes widened. "Jason, I don't…. I can't….. Eastside only listens to the Red Hood, not Death's Mistress.

Jason's grip loosened. He used the last o hi strength to make one final command. "Do it, Abs. I need you to do this…..Please."

She heard Jason Todd, the one man that drove her crazy with worry. He had pushed, demanded, and scared his way through life actually use the word, 'please' and it broke her.

"Jason Toddy, don't you dare do this." Her eyes flashed dangerously, "I have come too far for you to let that sick Maniac win. You won't die tonight and you will control Eastside again. Do you understand me?"

Jason chuckled, grimacing. "You always were stubborn….. Just…. Let me go. Why is that so hard?"

"I am not losing you, Jason." Abigail ripped her sleeves and fastened a makeshift tourniquet on his thigh.

Jason's eyes dimmed with pain as Abigail tried to get him to respond. Her sharp ears picked up the dull rumble of an incoming plane. She was frantic, looking for a place to hide the two.

As she pulled Jason out of the open, out of all of the planes it could have been, the batwing landed between the other buildings that were still standing. Nightwing jumped out of the hatch.

Abigail froze, her body partially hidden in the shadows. Should she ask Batman or Nightwing for help? Knowing what Jason would want her to do and knowing that he'd die without help, put Abigail at war with herself.

Jason had explicitly told her not to trust anyone involved with Batman personally. As Abigail looked to her friend, realizing how pale he was, her decision was made.

Abigail headed cautionary to where the Dark Knight and the Nightwing were gathered with a bound Joker. Seeing the maniac that had hurt Jason, she instinctively lunged forward, grabbing a blade out of a sheath on her leg.

Seconds later, Joker felt an arm wrap around his throat, and a heavy weight settling on his back before a knife was stuck between his ribs. Stabbing in the heart.

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The Joker's suit was staining red with blood, his eyes gleaming as he began to chuckle. "All this time it took an unknown person to down the greatest of all…."

Batman lunged forward, knocking the girl off of Joker, when he saw the glint of the blade. Even as he did so, he knew that he wasn't quick enough.

The woman was startled as they impacted the ground but quickly regained her head. Rolling across the ground, Abby lunged upwards aiming to hit Batman. "That clown dies for what he did!" She spat, jumping forwards hitting Batman as she tried to reach the Joker.

Batman commanded, grabbing a forearm in his grip. "The Joker will pay for his crimes, but death isn't an option."

Stopped short as the much taller man held her arm, Abby glared. "He took the only person that was my family. I have wanted to kill him for years."

Nightwing, who had called reinforcements called out. "The Joker should live. It looks like our mysterious guest missed by a couple centimeters. Lucky us."

Hearing that the Joker would live, Abigail's head shot upwards. Remembering her fatal mission she tried to get out of the caped Crusader's grip. "Hood!"

Batman let go of her forearm, jaw dropping briefly. Both Nightwing and he followed as the young woman ran towards an alleyway on the edge of the explosion. She collapsed beside the blood stained figure. She covered her mouth, whimpering while hesitantly asking. "Hood?"

Seeing his adopted brother, Nightwing looked worriedly at his old mentor. Batman knelt beside the trembling gir, wrapping his arms around her. "I will help you save the Red Hood."

Abigail let the tears fall freely as the man slowly led her away. "I can't lose him…. I can't loose Red Hood. I just can't."

The words were a plea, a life line as Batman settled her in the Batmobile. Walking back to the alleyway, Batman helped his former ward carry his precious cargo to where the ambulances sat. Doctors trying to stabilize the green haired devil.

Doctor Carrie Frauline spotted them, ordering several underlies to help her. Seeing who it was, Dr. Frauline's sharp intake of was the only indication of unprofessional feelings. The rather petite doctor barked orders left and right. "Henley, I need an IV of fluids immediately. Jill, I want blood pressure and heart rate. Get a drip going if you have to. We don't want him going into shock. Tess, where's shears?" Dr. Frauline started to catalogue injuries, looking at the leg with the shard of glass. "I need his pant leg removed so that I have a better idea of his leg."

The doctor was in her element, yelling commands and asking questions. The area was complete chaos yet Frauline seemed at home as they got Jason on the hospital bed and loaded into the back of one of the ambulances.

Doctor Frauline turned around, pushing dripping strands of hair off her forehead as she took in the two protectors, "Don't worry about him, Bats. I will do all that I can to save him."

Batman lowered his head slightly, conceding to her. Carrie Frauline smiled wearily, before walking briskly to one of the response vehicles.

A caravan of flashing lights and sirens slowly wound their way through the streets of Gotham, heading towards the hospital. Nightwing asked as they left eyesight. "What about the girl, boss? She knows Hood. Pretty well from the looks of it."

Batman sighed, looking at the Batmobile. "I don't know. Hood never said anything about the girl."

Nightwing's eyes furrowed beneath the mask, "Looked to me like they were close. But how close exactly?"

Batman started to walk towards the car, leaving his protégé to leave also.