"First things first, kid. You'll need to be as streamlined as possible out there, with as little on you that sticks out as can be managed—common sense. So, no matter how impossible this is gonna sound, we've gotta get rid of that stupid-looking cape of yours."

We were sitting at Jason's kitchen table, organizing for the task ahead of us. I must admit that, childish though it may have been, I bristled a bit at Jason's remark. "Why?" I demanded.

Jason rolled his eyes. "A few reasons: one, nobody will ever take you seriously if you run around in a bad Halloween costume for the rest of your life; two, it's a hazard to your health and safety because it's easy for someone to get a hold of and pin you to the ground by and/or strangle you with; and three, it looks stupid, and I'm not working with you if you look stupid."

I licked my lips and raised my cup for another sip of coffee, scrambling to come up with a coherent comeback for that. About a minute later, I sighed, defeated, and asked, "What was your idea?"

God, teamwork sucked.

Jason pushed away from the table and disappeared into the hallway. I heard a door open and shut, and then he came back into the room. He was clutching something in his hands, and he didn't even wait until I was looking up at him fully before tossing it at me. My hands sunk into soft, cool, sleek material, and I stared at the thing in my fists with disbelief. It was a beat-up old leather jacket, the color a midnight shade of black around the edges that faded into a dark gray on the back, under the arms, and at the elbows and wrists. I glanced up at Jason, then back down at the jacket, and then back up at Jason. "You're kidding, right?"

Jason scowled at me. "Look, kid, I know this isn't really your forte, but suck it up. It's gonna keep you from getting killed out there." He shrugged. "Besides, it's not like I'm using it anymore. I outgrew it two years ago."

I sighed again and stared down at Jason's old jacket. It was…it was kind of like the one I'd had a while back. It looked about my size, anyway. And as much as I hated to admit it, Jason had a point. A jacket was a lot harder to grab onto than a cape. After a moment of pause, I nodded. "Fine, I'll take it."

Jason's smirk was almost as infuriating as the fact that he actually knew what he was talking about. "Good. I knew you'd cave." He pulled out his chair, turned it around, and sat down, crossing his arms over the back casually. "So, little bird, you know the most about these guys. What's the plan?"

I shook my head. "We can't go full-on attack, obviously. We're just two guys, and they're an entire organization. The best thing to do would be to hit at individual assets one after another, but…" I trailed off, unsure of how to say anything without it sounding like I didn't know what I was doing. "I don't really…I mean…I wasn't that far ahead yet."

"My God, for once you didn't plan every step of the way."

"But—the good news is that I think there might be a way we can figure this out. The bad news is…it puts us both right back into the line of fire."

Jason shrugged. "Lay it on me."

"I was in Los Angeles just a few days ago. There's somebody there that'll be able to help us. We'll just have to force him to do it." I took a sip of coffee, ignoring how cold it already was, and continued. "His name's Silas Cranmer. I strong-armed his boss into a business dealing with me and a League contact—"

"Hold up," Jason interrupted, holding up his hands to silence me. "Which League are we talking about here?"

"Think al Ghul."

"Damn it. Are they after you, too?"

I threw my hands up in defeat. "Yes, no, I don't know? All he said the last time he kidnapped me for a little chat session was that they'd stay mostly in the shadows of my operation but would interfere only when he deemed it necessary. Hell, for all I know, they could be waiting outside right now! I haven't really had the time to order my list of priorities, Jason!"

He rubbed his temples in exasperation. "Look, I'm not trying to be much of a jerk, kid, but you should've mentioned this beforehand."

"Well, my apologies for having been poisoned by a backstabbing, coldhearted son of a bitch."

Jason brushed it off with a roll of his eyes and a shake of his head. "Something tells me I don't want to know. But this business deal with Cranmer's boss—what happened to that?"

"The guy's dead."

If he paled at all, it was either well hidden by the lighting in the room or just a figment of my imagination. "How was I not expecting that? Hero-types always get somebody killed."

I felt my facial expression twist into a scowl. "Hey, in case you haven't been listening for the last few times we've talked about this, I'm not exactly playing the hero-type anymore."

There was a slight pause. "So, what, he didn't exactly live up to your standards anymore or something? That what it was?"

"No. The Imperium decided the world was better off without him."

"Part of their frame job, I take it."

"I'd show you the pictures, but I don't exactly have them anymore."

Jason nodded. "However you look at it, though, it's still technically your fault that he died. So, I'm guessing our guy isn't gonna be very happy to see you again."

I shrugged. "He might not even recognize me. He wasn't there when I found Macbeth the first time."

I had to fight the urge to clap my hands over my mouth the second that Jason's head whipped around and he glared hard at me. True, I semi-trusted him to help me, but there were some bits of information I'd intended to leave out of the picture. The name of Cranmer's late employer had been one of them—until I let it slip, that is. Jason might not have been a Bat at the time, but that didn't mean he didn't know his stuff. Lukas Macbeth had been somewhat of an attention addict. A name like his made it into the news more often than someone like him could really afford, simply because he loved the sparkle of the flashing cameras all around him and the way he could win the reporters over with a smile and a few meaningful words. Even if he hadn't been monitoring his activity, even if he hadn't necessarily categorized him as a potential threat, Jason would've known about the exploits of a businessman of the caliber of that man. "Did you say 'Macbeth', as in Lukas Macbeth?" Jason demanded.

I swallowed hard and sighed. "Yeah, I did. Rumor had it that he was in with the Imperium, and even if he wasn't, he was a valuable asset to have up my sleeve."

Jason scoffed and shook his head, projecting condescension. "You're in deep shit now, kid."

A deep breath calmed my nerves sufficiently to keep me from blowing up at him again. "Look, all I'm saying is that we don't need to be cautious to the extreme here. Cranmer works for the Imperium, yes, but they can't necessarily predict my every move; otherwise, they'd already be on our asses, hauling us off to God knows where to do God knows what to us. It's a high likelihood that they wouldn't have planned on me going back to L.A. or going back with help. So long as we can get there without drawing too much attention to ourselves, we can start to work on this, see what we can't accomplish on our own."

"What exactly are we hoping to learn from Cranmer?"

"Well, most specifically, we're looking for names and locations of the Imperium's big guns, as well as any information we'll need to get to them." I glanced away and back quickly to buy a second to find words that would sound like an experienced person. "He won't sell them out too easily."

Jason's expression went from dead serious and a little incredulous to a wickedly satisfied grin in a split second. "Leave that part up to me. You just worry about getting us there in one piece. How's that sound?"

It took me a few minutes to get what he was saying. He was still entirely willing to help me, despite the huge pile of trouble I'd just dragged him into. But, then again, it was Jason, so hell with logic, right? I stuck out my hand for a shake. "It sounds like we've got a deal."

Sorry for the long update time! Life got super-hectic with school and stuff, but I think I'm mostly back on track now.