One Night with the Red Hood
By: NoctisStella20
Disclaimer: I do not own Batman or any other characters except mine. They belonged to each of their respective companies.
If hospitals offer medical supplies to its patients, then taverns is the right place for low-lives to gain the most trustworthy information from the underworld. Blue Ghost tavern is one of them. Visited by almost half of the population of Gotham, the tavern is known to keep disclosed private stories about murders, corruption and frightening stories about Gotham's own dark knight.
The dock where Blue Ghost rested its body was right next to the ominous towering monster buildings; some claimed that Batman's eyes are occasionally watching on the bar, waiting for its sins to come out. These suspicious are later ignored when the barkeeper drops its faithful customers their indulging beverages, martinis included. Tonight, the Blue Ghost served its customers once again, straight down from their snacks to drinks. The barkeeper silently wipes the dirty glass so that his ears could perk up at the numerous rumors whispered by the tavern's population. Hearing those stories is what makes himself feel so powerful; he was the one who share his advice over their confessions of their secrets. Yet, he could not help thinking that his instincts told him that tonight's different than the rest of it.
Not so much of the customer's tonight, the barkeeper tried to keep his suspicious thoughts away by observing the numbers of the customers. To make sure, his fingers worked on with the radio so that the soft music would blared out from the stereo. A little complained but they can't do anything to that. Satisfied, he served a middle-aged salary man his drink when the tavern door opened and enter a woman, no older than in her twenties, wearing a brown-colored trench coat and a hat to shield her face from unwanted eyes. Her dark blue hair pooled from the side of her hat. Like every other bartender, he immediately grabbed a small martini glass and poured in a vial of Kir Royale to welcome the new guest. His eyes met hers in a recognizable smile.
"Well, well, Miss Valerie," he greeted warmly, "What's Gotham's most beautiful model doing here out late at night? Those men have a taste for curvaceous body like yours, you know."
"Spare me the flatteries, Robert," Valerie Greensdale mused behind her hat, her brown eyes scanned the room, "I'm here for someone."
Robert smiled, offering the young model her drink, "Waiting for a date, I suppose."
"Sure thing," Valerie sipped her drink exasperatedly, "Although dates don't suppose to leave its woman a threatening note with a knife stuck on it."
Robert tilted his head in concern, "What happened?"
There was a sigh from Valerie, a sigh which anyone could identify when a woman had a workload of problems dropped on her. She took a sip of her drink again before she talked, "This morning," she mused, "We had a round-up of models for the next rehearsal at the opening of the diamond convention in the plaza."
"Sounds interesting." Robert chuckled.
"Yeah, it would be, if my window wasn't crashed by a crazy guy in a hood." She continued.
Almost immediately, the entire tavern, including Robert, was captured by the supermodel's story. Casting a quick glare at the guests, Robert managed to keep the tavern back to its quiet, whispering activity. He nodded understandingly at Valerie, but no more warmness from his eyes. Instead, it revoked into a worried condition. "This guy," he said, "Wears a hood?"
A serious expression had drawn on Valerie's face, "Yes, red one, actually. I don't know how it happened but this guy, the Red Hood, wants to meet me inside the tavern, now."
Almost an energetic rush for Robert to protect Valerie came in immediately. He whispered to her in a low hush. "Missy, you might not want to mess up with this Red Hood guy. Everyone knows him. Heck, even I know him. God bless us if he decided to blow up this place, that guy is helluva crazier than Joker."
"What did he do?" Valerie asked.
"Almost killed the Joker, almost killed Black Mask and killed hundreds on his way, including Black Mask's own goons," Robert commented dreadfully, "Batman came in to the party and all things had gone shit-down chaotic."
"Damn." Valerie muttered.
"Exactly, what I had in mind."
Valerie paused for a moment to take another drink; right now, her wine was almost a quarter full but she tried to keep herself sober for tonight; her guest was not likely the person that she would associate right now. She knew of Red Hood; his ascension as the crime-lord, his so-called justice and everything else that nearly blew Gotham out of its wits, Valerie never imagined of ever meeting a dangerous man like him privately.
Just then, the whole tavern fell silent. Died went the music as the echoes of a footsteps rang through the cemented floors. Valerie holds her breath as the man that she had waited for has arrived.
"Red Hood…" She trailed her whisper at the sight of the vigilante.
Red Hood, eyeing at Valerie, gave a quick nod before he turned towards the astonishing expressions that laid at his appearance. Robert glanced towards the sideway, not even looking back. By any chance, they feel a tremendous threat that Red Hood imposed behind his hood.
He talked, husky but dangerous, "Stare and I'll leave with your eyes gouged out," They quickly turned their gaze away from him. Red Hood mumbled inside his breath. "Worst drive in the worst part of town…"
Valerie stayed quiet, though there was an urge for her to question his appearance here tonight. A hand which belonged to Red Hood is placed on her shoulder, indicating his need to talk to her privately.
"Out, now." He ordered harshly.
She complied begrudgingly at his request, "You should know when to talk to a lady like that. I want this thing over with quickly and I mean it."
"Man's words," He answered, taking her arms to the nearest exit of the tavern. Red Hood then eyed at Robert on a manner which he used to stun his enemies. "Anything that happens, don't EVER call the police or you'll be dead." Once he reached to the door, he added his sentence again, "Not even Batman."
Once the door was closed, Robert wiped the sweat from his forehead, wishing a good luck on the young model.
There was a small alley not far from where the tavern is; this is a good location for Red Hood to have a private talk with Valerie. He let go off his grip from Valerie, placing her body in a position where she could not escape.
"Now listen here," Red Hood told her, "I am here for nothing. Whatever the information I want, you better give it."
"Well, excuse me! I'm a supermodel, not a detective!" Valerie snapped. "I don't know what kind of information I can give to you!"
"But you did have something…" Red Hood's voice went lower, "Something that has to do with Don Marcieli, isn't that right, Miss Valerie?"
A surprised gasp emitted from Valerie's mouth, "How did you know about him?"
"Apparently, your ex-boyfriend is planning a heist on Gotham's diamond convention this week, something that I would like to take care of in this little ol' Gotham," Red Hood explained, "Strong connections with you, I heard. I'm sure he's planning to steal something on purpose, care to tell me?"
"Look! I did not do anything from him!" Valerie rebuked indifferently against his restraint, "He forced me to!"
"Then you better tell." Behind his mask, Red Hood looked like as if he was smirking.
Bolts of hate crossed over her mind; Valerie picked up her Blackberry from her purse and dialed a number, "Screw this, I have got not much time with you…" She pressed the buttons one by one; unaware that Red Hood also released his gun from his leather jacket. "I'm going to call my guards to take care-"
Valerie fall in retaliation as Red Hood shot the now-useless Blackberry out of her hand. Inside the tavern, Robert winced at the gunshot noise outside the tavern but remained hope at Valerie's survival rate. Back to where she and the Red Hood were, Valerie gawked at the action he had done to her. "Are you crazy, are you OUT OF YOUR FRIGGIN' MIND?" She screeched while holding her sprained hand.
"Yeah, and I'll leave another one on your pretty head if you don't answer to what I said," Red Hood lowered his gun, pin pointing it to her forehead. "Well? Are you going to answer, or not? Your choice, Valerie. Either way, they have consequences that you can't escape."
Progressively, Valerie's brain began to digest the information that Red Hood had immersed onto her. Two choices, all can either affect her live and the people in Gotham. At what chance can she get? She was history to her boyfriend but she had never crossed her mind to let anything so demeaning and troubling happened to him. Now this… this contains her life. She still had chances, so maybe...
"Alright, I'll tell." She said coolly.
Red Hood put the gun back inside his jacket, "That's my girl."
Valerie's words formed inside her explanation, "Three days ago, I met him at the park for a slight reunion. I heard from him that he was after the rare Shiva's Crown from India. That cost him millions of bucks if he sold it to the black market. Problem is, Batman got on his back, so he hires a distraction straight from Arkham Asylum."
"Who? Penguin? The Riddler?" He spoke the last name in a dirty spat, "The JOKER?"
"Bane." She answered straight fully.
"Of course," he nodded. "Go for the big guys."
"Not only that," Valerie added, "It's a bonus, for you. That diamond that they were after? It's at the center of the plaza. High security, but they can handle it. After Bane makes a distraction, they'll go for it."
Soon, she stopped speaking, waiting for his response. He clicked around his weapon, making Valerie worried if he would shoot him straight on her head. Surprisingly, he didn't. Instead, he cocked his head at her. "You know, you're quite a mouthful."
"Uh… thanks?" Valerie said uncertainly, "Does that mean I'm released?"
Red Hood paused, and then spoke. "Yes, that'll be all, Miss Valerie. Now get your ass outta here."
Not even a second warning could stop Valerie from running back inside the tavern, leaving Red Hood and the broken Blackberry on the ground. She did glance back a little bit, only to find Red Hood gone without a trace. From there, she darted inside and let out a huge sigh. The guests couldn't help it but they feel relieved to find her safe and sound.
She approached the bar, seated back at the black chair. Robert had been waiting with a small glass of champagne to celebrate her escape from Red Hood.
"You know, Miss Valerie, maybe you should hire a bodyguard next time you meet someone like him." Robert suggested playfully.
"I should," Valerie smirked, holding the champagne on her hand. "But you know, Robert, maybe it wasn't so bad at all. It's not every day that you get to meet someone like him."
After all, she just spends that one night only with Gotham's infamous vigilante, Red Hood and made it out alive, right?
END
Author's Note:
This story is originally a plot idea of what I had in mind for my upcoming series on Batman. At first, I wanted to have Red Hood appearing on the series but that idea was scrapped and this fic was born. Also, this story is taken after 'Under the Red Hood' movie.
Read and review! I appreciate it!