CHAPTER THREE

I'm certain Bartholomew Allen had a heart attack when he saw me at his window in the middle of the night.

He sped up to it, in nothing but his boxers, and opened it.

"What the hell? What are you-"

I made my way inside.

"Tell me what you know about Red Hood."

"Couldn't there be a better time for this?"

"You're from the future, no?"

"I mean yeah, but-"

"So fucking tell me what you know about Red Hood."

Kid Flash seemed taken aback by my language, and sighed, rubbing his temples, obviously irritated from my sudden intrusion. "Red Hood… ugh, let me think. He was revived by the Ghuls in the Lazarus Pit, and was a Light-Reach soldier before being killed in battle with the League again. They didn't revive him because the pit no longer existed, I guess."

I was silent for a few moments, then frowned. "That's it? Do you know who he was outside of Red Hood? Like, his real identity?"

"Uh, no. Sorry, dude. I just remember reading it on a memorial when I was still in that era." he was about to ask a question, probably wondering how I knew who Red Hood was or why I cared, but by the time that happened, I was already gone.

Jason Todd was revived by Mother and Grandfather? I thought. Grandfather only ever had the Lazarus pit used on himself- when he was slaughtered by Black Beetle a few years ago, Mother had to revive him herself, but he was never the same. Ra's is nothing now- all he does is sit in a chair, stare blankly into the distance, and murmur the occasional word. He failed to make a full recovery like Jason Todd did, despite Jason's death arguably being far more brutal than his.

Hell, why did Mother and Grandfather revive Jason, anyways?

As I walked up to the Zeta Tube, and typed in Gotham City, New York as where I wanted to teleport to and erased Central City, Illinois from my logging history, I thought about Jason's offer.

Was it smart to take it? It appeared to be rather risky, and my common sense was screaming at me that the entire thing was idiotic.

Yet, life is one giant game of Risk, no? I've taken plenty of risks in my eleven years of life, and I've come out of all of them just fine. There's no reason as to why this should be any different.

11:24 p.m, tomorrow night.

At 11:24 p.m. tomorrow night, I'd meet Jason Todd again.

And we'd see what would do from there.

I got back home, and passed Bruce on my way to my room.

"Well?" he asked, "Did you manage to convince the Justice League to help us?"

"No, Father, you were right," I lied and pretended to sound disappointed, "It's just up to us as the protectors of Gotham."

He smiled, "You should listen to me more, Damian Wayne." I began to walk away. He then stopped me. "What happened to your face?"

I was thrown slightly off guard. "Oh, I accidentally slipped and fell onto a roof when grappling across the city." It was a half-lie. A half-lie I hoped he wouldn't detect.

"And you didn't think to clean it out?"

"It's only a matter of time before the Joker strikes again. I didn't want to take time to just go clean my face." I continued to lie.

"Mhm." he nodded, "Well, go clean it, and get to bed, Damian."

I simply nodded, went back to the bathroom to clean my face, then proceeded to go to my room, get into bed, and fall asleep within moments of laying down.

I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of thunder booming near the manner. I let out a panicked gasp, looking towards the sliding glass doors that lead out to my balcony. Lightning flashed, and through the closed curtains, I swore I could've seen the silhouette of Jason Todd standing on the rails, somehow observing me in my sleep.

Though, as quickly as it came, the lightning disappeared, and the silhouette was gone.

I turned to my side, facing away from the window, and I had one thought on my mind.

Does Father want me to do this?

Would Father appreciate me killing his worst nemesis?

Well, I honestly cannot see a reason as to why he would not want me to. I am completing a task he cannot, and logically speaking, he would be grateful for me doing such.

I am only making the world a better place, after all, aren't I?