Hi! I'm sorry for the long update. Unfortunately I haven't been able to update my stories.

On a happier note, I finally bought Injustice: Gods among Us. I'm still waiting for the Red Hood DLC (not Joker!). Apparently there was a vote for the next DLC, but I didn't know until it was over. I hope they still bring Jason.

I hope you like the chapter.

Dead and Living

Unknown Island

November 17, 11:50

It had been a lazy morning.

After three days of dismantling a human trafficking ring, which included a lot of bullets, different kinds of arrows, fire blasts, broken bones, dead bodies and lots of bruises, Jason officially announced they were taking a few days off.

It wasn't easy to evade the Justice League and the Team from finding them, but Roy had recently discovered a new-found pleasure for technology and managed to throw them off. From the newspapers Jason read the next day, all the heroes had found were the terrified, yet free slaves and bodies of their captors. Captain Atom declared that they would find and apprehend the 'brutal vigilantes before their destructive nature caused more casualties.'

Thanks for nothing, Captain.

They wouldn't lose a night's sleep mourning over those poor criminals. Not after what they had done to those people, using them as slaves, sexual objects, stealing their organs only to discard them once they were of no further use like trash. It was the ugliest face of humanity.

Jason, Roy and Kori had seen a lot of ugly, perhaps too much. They saw so much ugliness in this world that it almost made Jason lose faith in humanity.

"It's important to take a step back and stare at all the goodness there still is in the world," Alfred used to say. "We need to see the good to remember why we are fighting in the first place."

Alfie. Good, old Alfred.

Leaning against a rock by the ocean, Jason smiled fondly. Despite everything, thinking of the old butler always made him smile, even if his chest ached with longing and regret. Alfred was the one who was there for him when he needed, be it food, medical treatment of simply to hear him when no one else bothered to ask Jason how he felt. Alfred was the glue that held the Bat Family together, without him they would all be lost.

Running down the beach, Jason remembered the one time he had honestly cried in shame. Not when Bruce figured out what he had done on the streets to buy food for his mother, not when he messed up on patrol for the first time, not even when Bruce yelled at him that he should be more like Dick. No. Jason Peter Todd had burst into tears when he let Alfred down.

Gotham

December

4 years earlier

Only a few months after Jason started attending Gotham Academy and things weren't working out at all. Bruce had been inflexible on his decision to enroll him on the prestigious school, no matter how much the thirteen-year-old complained that he didn't belong on some fancy school with uniforms and filled with rich kids. After two years being home-schooled in the Manor until he reached his peers, the last thing Jason wanted was to be forced to go to a place where we would never fit in.

After a lot of yelling, cursing and punishments, Jason had no choice but put on the stupid uniform and go with Dick to that stupid school. Being the new kid was bad enough, but being Bruce Wayne's new ward and Dick's new 'brother' put him immediately under the unwelcome spotlight. It didn't take long for everyone to realize how different Jason was from the friendly and popular Dick Grayson and for the comparisons and criticism to begin. By the end of the first day, Jason had broken two noses and was sent to the Principal's Office.

There were no improvements the following weeks. Jason had a lot of enemies and no friends. All the teachers had met Dick and made Jason shake with rage as they consistently compared both boys and praised the oldest. Every time Dick tried to talk to him, it only made Jason angrier and they both ended up yelling at each other and regularly coming to blows. Bruce was furious, vehemently believing Jason was being difficult on purpose and refused to take him out of that school and enroll him in a public one. For the first time in a long time, Jason missed his freedom on the streets where he didn't continuously feel out of place and a big, fucking failure. But he knew he was being selfish and ungrateful, which only made him feel even lower.

One night, while Jason was grounded (again), Alfred entered his bedroom with a tray of fresh-baked cookies, his school uniform and some old book.

"I thought prisoners weren't allowed to eat cookies. Or did you bring them to torture me, Al?" the pre-teen asked, taking off his headphones.

"Of course not, Master Jason. You are free to eat as much as you want."

Jason jumped from his bed and walked towards the butler, grabbing one of the warm cookies. "Bruce doesn't know you brought them, does he?"

"Master Bruce didn't ask," Alfred opened the wardrobe and placed the uniform inside. "He did miss you at dinner. We all did."

"Yeah, right," Jason laughed bitterly. "I bet you guys really missed all the yelling from the 'stubborn, irascible' brat. And by the way, I do know what irascible means. I'm not as dumb as he thinks."

"He doesn't think that, Master Jason."

Jason felt his eyes burn and looked at the window. "Yes, he does."

Alfred turned to the boy with a sad gaze. "Master Bruce was angry when he said that. I know it is difficult for you to understand, but Master Bruce is only doing what he believes is best for you."

Jason lowered his head and swallowed a cookie. "But he's wrong, Alfred. He thinks he's always right, but he's wrong. He doesn't understand. I don't belong in that school… I'm not Dick."

The butler closed the wardrobe and sat next to the boy. "Master Richard is himself. Obviously, you're not going to be him. You are two different people with different backgrounds, experiences and personalities." Surprised, Jason looked up at Alfred. "Asking you to be like Master Richard would be like asking fire to be like water. Unreasonable and unfair… that's what I just told Master Bruce."

Jason couldn't believe it. Alfred had stood up for him? In front of Bruce?

"You… really did that?"

Alfred nodded and placed a warm hand around his shoulders. "Master Bruce is stubborn. Probably as stubborn as you, which is why you two argue so much. You are too alike. But that does not mean that he doesn't care for you, quite the opposite. Enrolling you on the Academy wasn't to place you under Master Richard's shadow; it was so you could have the same opportunities he did. He wouldn't have done it if he didn't believe you could do it."

Jason felt himself blush. So far, his grades had been miserable and he recognized he hadn't made that much of an effort to control his temper. He had only given the teachers and the other students more reasons to look down on him.

"Which reminds me… I believe you'll be needing this," Alfred handed the old book to Jason. It was a very old version of Oliver Twist. The pages were yellowed and used; obviously Alfred had read it thousands of times. And, on the first page, there was an autograph from some guy named Ron Moody.

"What's this?"

"That, young sir, is an autographed version of Oliver Twist by none other than Ron Moody, the actor who won the Golden Globe from the musical. It was one of the few possessions I brought from England. It reminds me of my happier days as an actor. I played the role of Artful Dodger as a boy, believe it or not," the butler explained, looking truly happy. "You know the story?"

"Oliver Twist? Sure. There are lots of movies about it."

"But you have to read the book and deliver a paper about it, don't you?"

"Yeah…" Jason didn't question Alfred's knowledge about his homework, since he always seemed to know what he had to study. Still, Jason was planning on watching the movie and use the internet for that assignment.

"Well, I would like you to read it from this book."

The boy gaped. "Wait. What? From this one? Your book?"

"Of course. I would be honored to lend it to you."

"But… this is your book. You just said it's special to you," Jason honestly didn't know what to say. Alfred couldn't lend something this important and personal. Not to him.

"Well, I know Master Bruce has a fine collection of Dickens novels in the library, but… I wanted you to read the story from my book, Master Jason. I hope you'll like it as much as I did."

Jason grabbed the book and hesitantly hugged Alfred. "I… I'll read it. I'll take good care of it, Alfred. Thank you."

The butler smiled warmly and led the boy to the kitchen so he could eat his dinner.

A few days later, Jason was working on his paper on the city's library. He had read the book and even enjoyed it, though he wished Artful Dodger had a happy ending. More importantly, Jason was determined to make Alfred proud and prove Bruce that he could be a good student. He couldn't help but wishing for a prize of his own among the trophies of the school, including Dick's.

He took the subway in the late afternoon, right after he finished the paper. He felt proud of himself and knew that he was going to get a good grade. He had worked on it for days straight, along with other homework, training and patrol. No wonder he felt so drowsy.

When he got to the station, Jason yawned, grabbed his backpack and walked towards the exit along the other passengers. Then, it all happened very fast.

He left the subway at the same time he felt someone pull his backpack. Surprised, the boy turned around and saw a man with a green bonnet pulling his backpack from his shoulder to the subway. Jason tried to go back inside, only to be knocked down by the hasty passengers.

In horror, he saw the doors close and the subway disappear inside a tunnel along with the thief, his backpack, his phone, his paper on Oliver Twist and Alfred's book.

Jason refused to go back home without Alfred's book, so he went looking for the thief and every pawn shop he could find, praying the guy didn't burn it. He looked everywhere without stop under the freezing snow. He couldn't go home without the book. He couldn't let Alfred down, not when he had trust him with something so important from his past. He wouldn't stop until he found it.

Batman and Nightwing found the boy almost 48 hours later, wet and freezing, trying to break into a pawn shop and completely inconsolable.

Jason got pneumonia and was taken to the Hospital. He almost lost two of his fingers to the cold. Still, all he could think about was Alfred's book and how he had failed him by being so useless and stupid to have let some thief take it.

The butler himself went to see him in the hospital. He told Jason not to worry about the book, that it wasn't his fault, that he shouldn't have put himself in danger over it, that it didn't matter, it was just some old book…

That was when Jason broke down into tears, shame and regret burning his insides like acid. Alfred was shocked and tried to calm him down, while the boy said he was 'sorry' over and over.

Unknown Island

Present day

Jason ran towards the fallen spaceship he now called home. Kori was sitting in a chair, under the sun. As soon as she heard Jason, she looked at him and smiled.

"Hello. Did you have a good run?" she asked joyfully.

"Yes. I missed my morning run." Kori reached out for the cooler and tossed Jason a water bottle. "Thanks, Kori. Where the hell is Harper?"

Koriand'r shrugged. "Roy said he wanted to buy new clothes since his old ones are growing too tight, though I don't see what the problem with tight clothing is. You earthlings give too much importance to those things."

Jason finished his water bottle and laughed. "I guess you're right, Kori. But you have to understand not everyone looks as great as you in any clothing."

"Thank you, Jason. You're not so bad yourself… or Roy. He smiles a lot more now, don't you agree?"

"I guess. I wasn't paying attention to his smiling patterns, but I guess he isn't as doom and gloom as he used to be."

Kori pulled her long hair away from her face. "None of us is. I'm glad. Oh! There comes Roy!"

Arsenal landed the ship and jumped to the sand. He was carrying several red bags which, with his red clothes, made him look like a long-haired Santa Claus. "Morning. I've come bearing gifts."

"It's a bit early for Christmas, Harper," Jason said, while Starfire stood up and floated towards him.

"What did you bring?" she asked.

"A bit of everything. I got us some tech and computers…"

"AKA more toys to you," Jason grinned.

Roy chuckled. "I do love my toys. I also bought more computers to aid our cause since two of them blew up on our faces last time we tried to hack into the JL computer. This time I bought Wayne Tech. You know, Jason, from Gotham. You said they had good quality."

Jason stared at the familiar logo on the computers. "Yes. Yes, they have."

Sensing his new friend's discomfort, Roy quickly placed the new tech on the bag. Like all Bat-Kids, Jason was extremely secretive when it came to his and Batman's identity. He only knew Nightwing's first name was 'Dick' (really?) because Kori had mentioned it. Aside from that, he only knew that his leader's name was Jason Todd, he was from Gotham and the second Robin, killed by the Joker about a year before Roy was found in Tibet.

Jason was cool. He understood what Roy had been through, which explained why he felt more at home with him and Kori than with Ollie and the Team. As far as Roy was concerned, these were his new teammates now, hopefully for a long, long time.

"What else did you bring, Harper?"

"I bought Kori a dress," Roy took out the white dress. "I saw you staring at it in the catalog."

Kori smiled, admired the dress and gave Roy a hug that lifted him up from the ground. "Thank you, Roy. This is a wonderful present."

"You're… welcome," Roy answered, his cheeks matching his clothes now.

"Well, it does feel like Christmas now," Jason said.

"You didn't think I'd forget you, did you, Jaybird?"

Jason smiled dangerously. "Call me 'Jaybird' again and I'll give you a nice present."

"Always so nice and caring, our beloved leader," Roy grinned mischievously and tossed Jason a new Red Hood helmet. "I have more spare parts if you want to build more. Though you really should stop blowing them up."

Jason stared at the small, yet deadly bomb inside his helmet. Pressing a bottom on his uniform was enough to make an explosion, after he removed the helmet from his head of course.

"I'll think about it. What about the rest of the bags, Harper?"

"Oh. This..." Roy bended over and took something out of the bag. "…is my new style."

Roy had bought a trucker hat. A freaking trucker hat. A freaking green, trucker hat, with 'I'm not rude. I just don't like you' written with bright red letters.

"What the hell?" Jason cried out, while Kori blinked in confusion.

"Cool, isn't it?" Roy said happily, putting on the hat. "I saw it on a store and it was love. But when asked some girl what she thought she said I looked like an idiot. So…" he picked up the bag and dumped a bunch of trucker hats on the sand. "… I bought them all."

Jason covered his eyes with his hand. "Oh, for Christ's sake."

"How many do you have there?" Kori asked, picking up a blue with 'What would Tesla do?' written.

"About twenty-five. I think I'm going to start collecting them and wear a different one each day. Isn't it cool?"

"It looks like fun, Roy," Kori said.

"Don't encourage him, Kori. All that's missing is a 'Kiss me. I fight crime' hat."

"Well, now that you mentioned it…" Roy picked up the respective trucker hat with those same words, in pink.

"For crying out loud!"

After a shower, Jason put on some clean clothes and met Kori and Roy (still wearing the damn hat!) in the kitchen. All three knew how to cook, but Roy had the decency of bringing pizza which meant a laid-back lunch in dining room, sitting on Kori's giant sofas and watching the new on their new giant plasma TV. Sometimes, life was good.

After eating, Jason began to doze off, barely listening to Roy and Kori talking about visiting Venice or Monte Carlo. It would be nice, he guessed, going on vacation, having fun. They had the money to do it.

It would be nice to forget the crimes, the League, the Team, Batman and the Joker, even if only for a short while. Damn, Jason and Roy were seventeen and Kori twenty-one, they should be living while they could.

But Jason knew why couldn't feel at ease. He would never feel at peace as long as he heard the Joker's laugh every night, his mother's cries, the pain of the crowbar on his body. It would never stop until he found that fucking clown and killed him. That was the reason he was brought back into this world while so many of Ra's warriors had perished in the labs.

He was going to find the Joker and do what Batman should have done. What he would have done for Batman, who thought so little of Jason that he had tarnished his memory with insults and let his killer run free.

Alfred had been wrong. Bruce had never cared. Just like with his father and mother, Jason had been nothing but a mistake. But he had been worst because he had allowed Jason to hope. He should have left him in the streets.

Suddenly, Jason's green-blue eyes snapped open and he stood up with a jump. Batman was fighting on the TV. He was kicking several soldiers and policemen with deathly pale skin and hollow eyes. Jason had seen those eyes. He had those eyes before.

"There are no explanations about why these people are attacking Washington DC," the reporter said, the camera angle changing from one Justice League member to another. "There have been reports of witnesses claiming to know these soldiers and police officers, however they also claim they were dead."

"Jason? Jason, are you alright?" Kori asked. "You look pale."

"I'm fine, Kori. I'm fine."

Roy stood up and stared at his leader. "What now? Are we going to do something about this?"

In response, Jason glared at the monitor.

Washington DC

November 17, 14:02

"I don't get it," Beast Boy asked. "Washington is being attacked by whom?"

The entire Team flew over the city, still trying to understand what on earth was going on. According to the news reports, several buildings, military bases and police stations were under attack. According to the images, the enemies were police officers and soldiers.

"I've identified about twenty attackers," Nightwing said, his fingers running through the ship's computer. "But… something doesn't make sense."

"What?" Batgirl asked, moving next to him and looking at the data. "Wait… Those dates… Is that what I think it is?"

"What?" Conner asked.

"All the identified attackers are listed as… deceased," Nightwing informed the shocked team.

"How can that be possible?" Bumblebee asked, frowning. "There must be a mistake with the data."

"Maybe they're spies who faked their own death!" Impulse suggested.

"Not according to the files I pulled," Nightwing added. "Most of these men and women died on the line of duty and they were autopsied. There are photos and videos of the autopsies to prove it."

"What are you saying, Nightwing?" Tim asked, as dumbfounded as the rest. "Are those people… zombies?"

"That's impossible!" Bumblebee hissed. "It's scientifically impossible to make a dead body use it's motor functions again."

Nightwing showed them the television images of the dead attackers. Their bodies were beaten and grey and their eyes were hollow. Beating or shooting them seemed to have no effect at all, like they couldn't feel pain.

Superman had already arrived at the scene and though he tossed one of the zombies against a wall, he just stood up with his broken arm and attacked him again viciously.

All in all, it was a terrible afternoon. Both the Team and the League tried not to harm the supposed zombies, while their families and loved ones cried in vain to make them stop and come to their senses. It was horrifying to see someone they loved who had died and watch helplessly as their bodies were controlled like dolls.

"Please! Please, don't hurt him!" a middle aged man begged Batman, blocking his way. "Please, he's my son. He came back to us. Please… this is a miracle."

"This is no miracle," Batman answered, pushing the grieving father away from his zombie son's attack. "This is a curse. That's not your son anymore."

Dick stared sadly at the crying father before focusing on his own fight. Nightwing and Robin managed to electrocute several zombies, which slowed them down but didn't stop them.

"I got it!" Batgirl yelled. "There an unknown magnetic field surrounding the city. That can't be a coincidence!"

"I'll find it!" Blue Beetle yelled, flying into the sky.

There, Jaime Reyes. The magnetic energy is coming from those coördinates the Scarab told him.

"Right! I'm on my way," Jaime flew across the city, landing on a roof top where he found a small machine, very similar to a radio. Guys, I think I found it. Hold on, I'm going to get rid of it.

Wait, Blue, Batgirl urged. We have no idea what that machine is doing or why.

What do you want me to do?

Can you reverse the magnetic field or stop the transmission without destroying the machine?

I don't know… I'll try, Jaime aimed both his hands to the strange machine and watched as his armor morphed and released a strange light.

At first, nothing seemed to be happening and Blue Beetle was about to ask for permission to blow the machine when he realized the readings were becoming weaker. In the city, the zombies stopped moving a stared blankly into the sky before falling to the ground like puppets whose strings had been cut.

Carefully, trying to block the zombie's father's cries of anguish as he shock his son's body, Batman checked his vital signs. There were no pulse, no breathing, no heartbeat…

They were dead.

This chapter's pace was a bit slower than I expected, but I still hope you guys liked it. What do you think of Alfred as the Artful Dodger (aka Jack Dawkins)?

Yeah, I brought Roy's trucker hat into the story. I regret nothing!

Also, the prequel to this story is called Robin Legacy. I'm writing them side simultaneously.

I hope you liked it. Feel free to leave new cool phrases for Roy's hats!