Dick rubbed the tears out of his eyes as he finally stopped watching the surveillance footage. "Can't he just catch a break? Hasn't he been through enough?" He clicked out of the surveillance footage knowing it would be burned into his brain forever, he clicked into hospital files for a John Doe matching Jason's description, and read the list of injuries and the doctor's notes,"Buried and dug himself out, beaten with metal pipe of some sort, cracked skull, broken sternum, collapsed lung, various other fractures, burned, large laceration possible nerve damage if he survives. Probable brain damage. Incision that looks to be from an autopsy." Dick wanted to throw up when he finished he finished reading and seeing the photos containing what happened to his brother. He took a sharp breath and tried not to start crying in front of the kids. Dick took a shaky breath and continued reading where the file picked up, a year later, listing "John" as partially catatonic and then listing how he was released onto the streets because he had no known relatives. The last file was of Jason's autopsy, showing in detail what the joker did to him, Dick clenched his hand and continued reading, "Cause of Death is undetermined, Mr. Todd has sustained too many injuries to tell what is antemortem and what has occurred postmortem. I am currently unable to tell whether Mr. Todd died of asphyxiation due to the collapsed lung and blood in his lungs and throat, smoke inhalation, blunt force trauma or shock."
Dick couldn't help the choked noise that escaped his throat as he buried his head in his hand and his body had been wracked with shudders, his little brother was brutally murdered and then pulled himself out of his grave and then spent a year alone in a coma at Gotham Memorial Hospital,'He was so close and I didn't even know it. What kind of brother am I?'
Dick felt the couch dip to his left and felt Gar rest his head on his arm,"Nightwing is everything alright? Are you back from your leave?"
Dick took a deep breath,"No, not permanently, just something came up. Are Batman and Oracle on board?"
Jaime nodded,"Yeah I just saw them they're in the control room. Why?"
Nightwing shut the laptop and placed it back into the folder,"I think I found us a mission."
Bart went to ask more questions but was elbowed by Jaime when he say the rigid posture and heard the rattling breaths that Nightwing was taking, he might snap at them and no one's quite sure why he would, he was the most upbeat of them constantly smiling no matter how bad things get, but after Wally the smiles came less and were more strained.
The younger boys trailed after Nightwing as he made his way into the computer room and put the file down in front of Oracle and Batman. Batman picked up the file and began to flip through the papers,"Nightwing, what is this?"
"Selina had it mailed to her. She gave it to me when I saw Jason's desecrated grave." Nightwing said as Oracle began to pull up the footage,"Funny thing is that if the file is to be believed, Jason's alive and pulled himself out of his grave."
Batman sighed,"Did it occur to you-"
"That the footage is tampered with? Several times, but that isn't something you can fake. I know my brother." Nightwing replied staring Bruce down,"Oracle check the footage from 5 years ago, late October. The surveillance from Jason's grave site."
Oracle queued up the footage,"Any specific date?"
NIghtwing took a deep breathe,"October 30th, around 2 to 3 am."
Oracle ran though outdated information and found the date Nightwing asked for and began to speed through to the right time, Oracle rewinded after seeing something shift on the screen, the ground collapsing inward, and a bloody hand shoving its way out. Oracle sucked in a breath as the younger kids leaned forward to see what had Oracle and Batman tense. Nightwing wasn't staring at the screen he couldn't. He heard Oracle's sad whisper of 'Jason' and Batman's barely there growl of disapproval. Nightwing saw Oracle turn to him,"Nightwing, do we know where he is?"
Nightwing shook his head and cleared his throat, his voice hoarse,"No, but he spent a year in Gotham Memorial for a year until he woke up from his coma and was released. I don't expect to find him quite yet. He probably went back to Park Row. I'll keep looking. What are you guys doing?"
Batman's voice was his typical growl but Nightwing knew he was shaken up by the video,"Tracking this crime lord calls himself the Red Hood, kills his competition and seems to be pretty tough on the dealers in Gotham, if they sell to kids, he puts them down."
"Wasn't the Hood Joker's old moniker?" NIghtwing asked vaguely remember seeing photos of a guy in a red dome with a tuxedo and a cape.
"Yeah, so this new guy can't be good news, but he seems to sporadically appear going on a "Vigilante" spree last night. Stopping the crimes by killing them." Oracle added clicking out of the video,"Nightwing did you look in depth at the file?"
"No I watch the surveillance video and read the hospital records and autopsy report." Nightwing asked leaning over to pass the file to Oracle who began to root through the papers looking for something, she held up a flash drive triumphantly and hacked in much faster than Dick was capable of.
Oracle was muttering under her breath,"Thinks he's so smart, I taught him everything he knows, little punk."
A video came up of an older Jason, with a large streak of white in the front of his hair, scars across his face and dark bags under his eyes. He seemed like he was waiting for something to happen. He took a deep breath and started to speak,"My name is Jason Peter Todd, and if you're seeing this something went seriously wrong. Best case scenario I'm dead…. again. "Jason cracked a grin at this, before sobering back up,"Worse case I'm in the same situation as Ethiopia but way worse. Batsy ain't coming for me because he doesn't know I'm back, at least when this was recorded. WHo knows maybe I get my revenge and kill the Bat for not avenging me, for allowing him to cripple my sister, for replacing me. For allowing that death worshipping pile of garbAGE TO KEEP CARRYING ON LIKE-"
Jason's eyes seemed frenzied at this before he took a deep breath,"Breath, Jason, Breath. Anyway, where was I? Oh right Ethopia. If I'm not dead I'm going to be in over my head and Joker won't kill me for ruining his joke….. He's going to do something….. So….. much...worse."
Jason shook his head before glancing at the camera,"Dickiebird, what I'm trying to say is I know I don't deserve your help and unless you're seeing this I sure as hell don't need it. BG, I'm sorry for not helping you out. For not killing him earlier. It's my fault."
Jason leaned forward to shut off the camera when it off screen voice spoke asking about the file,"Oh right before I go, the file that Arsenal was so kind to send to Catmom has all my notes about the joke. The program I used for my trackers and the information about what happened to me after I came back. I'm not a clone, and I don't have one. Unlike some people."
That earned an indignant sound from whoever was off screen causing Jason to grin one of his famous slasher smiles as he leaned forward and shut the camera back off.
Oracle turned to Batman and Nightwing,"We have to find him."
Batman glanced down at Oracle,"Where would we start?"
"His grave, in the last week or so. And tracking down Arsenal. A 23 year old with a cybernetic hand can't be hard to track."
Batman put a hand on Nightwing's shoulder,"Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Nightwing. We'll look for more evidence and keep you updated."
Nightwing squared his jaw and nodded in understanding, before excusing himself being trailed by Gar, Bart and Jaime. Bart spoke first breaking the tense silence,"So who was that?"
"Jason, he was the second Robin, the Robin after me." Nightwing said his voice uneven.
Jaime spoke ignoring the way Gar wrapped Nightwing in a one armed hug,"What happened to him?"
"He was murdered by the Joker and I guess something brought him back to life."
"Why has he only told you about coming back now?" Gar asked looking up at Nightwing.
"That's Jason for you, he doesn't know how to ask for help like a normal person. It's just how he was raised. He's from Park Row. Batman met him after he stole the tires off of the Batmobile. Maybe seeing Batman with the new Robin proved to be too much for him and so he didn't want to contact any of us. Jason always thought he was replaceable to a certain extent." Nightwing put an arm around Gar's shoulder,"I got to get back to Earth. This isn't something the three of you should concern yourselves with, anyways."
Nightwing left the three of them standing in the hallway confused as he walked back to the zeta beam so he could head home to Blüdhaven, and track down Arsenal by himself.
