Chapter 4: The Most Dysfunctional Family in the world

Bruce and Selina were down in the cave. Bruce was pulling up the file of every known member of this alliance that Selina was aware of on the computer.

"So what's the plan?" Selina asked.

"I've called everyone back here. Dick and Tim, are bringing Barbra back here. Kathy took some convincing, but she's on her way. And Jason... I can't get a hold of him, as usual."

"What's the deal with him and all of you?"

Bruce let out a heavy sigh. "It's complicated. We've all had it rough, but he's had it very rough. There's a lot of friction between us and him."

Selina put her hand on his shoulder. "Maybe this is what you need to fix things with him. I think you should go see him in person."

Bruce looked at her and back at the computer. "Maybe..." He said softly.

Dick and Tim arrived a few minutes with Barbra. They set her down on the bed that they prepared for her, and got her set up

Bruce thought about what Selina said regarding Jason, and decided to go see him in person.

"Dick, we're heading out." He said.

"Oh come on, what now?" Dick was getting tired of being ordered around. It reminded him of why he left Gotham in the first place.

"We're going to see an old friend." Bruce answered.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Gotham.

Jason was stalking the streets. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do tonight. If he was gonna do something good, or something bad. Sometimes he helped people, but demanded they paid him for his efforts and threatened them until they did so. He would brutally execute criminals. But other times he showed innocent victims kindness, and showed criminals mercy. No one understood him. He didn't even understand himself.

His death at the hands of the joker, and resurrection at the hand of Ra's Al Ghul tore his soul in two. All he knew was that he had the power to take action. And whether it was to help others, or just himself, he had to take that action.

On this night, he walked in on a mess. He was tracking some known gang banger. He was suspected of murdering a hooker, but Jason wanted evidence before he gave this guy what he deserved. He followed him around the ghetto, sticking to the rooftops as to not be seen. He tracked him as he picked a girl up and took her back to his place.

Jason followed him to his crappy apartment, waited, and listened from the rooftop across the street. He was using some advanced sonar gear he had stolen from Batman sometime ago. It allowed him to hear anything nearby.

As he sat there, he heard what you would expect in this scenario. They were about to start getting intimate with each other and he was about to turn the sonar off. He didn't want to have to listen to that. But then, he heard what sound like the woman having trouble breathing, like he was choking her. It was followed by some sort of struggle. He readied his grappling hook and was about to burst through the window. But he heard a gunshot. He paused for a moment and shook his head.

"Dammit!" He groaned, thinking he let some innocent hooker die. He fired the grapple gun and made a dramatic entrance through the window. He drew his gun "You're gonna pay for what you..." But he paused again as he saw the man was lying dead on the floor, and the woman was standing there with a gun and a terrified look on her face.

"Please don't kill me!" She begged as she dropped the gun. "It was either me or him, i swear. I gotta clean this mess up. Can you help me? Please!"

This young woman of the night was 5' 1" and was easily 100 pounds at the most. She had long blonde hair and big blue eyes. She was very pretty. He knew a killer when he saw one, and she wasn't one. Just some poor girl, caught in a tough situation. He decided to cut her a break and help her.

"Don't worry, we'll fix this no problem." Jason said.

"Thank you!" She breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Candi." She answered.

"No, your real name."

She paused for a second. "Sarah." She answered. "What's yours?"

"Red Hood." He answered.

"No, your real name." She said with a slight grin.

Jason chuckled and nodded. He then took off his helmet and set it down on the nightstand. "My name's Jason."

Sarah smiled at him. "You have really pretty eyes, Jason." She nervously complimented him.

"You too." He replied. She blushed. "Okay Sarah, let's get to work." He gave her a reassuring smile.

He helped her clean her finger prints from the scene, clean the blood stains on the floor, and helped her dump the body in a discrete location.

"Thank you, so much for helping me." She said.

"It was no problem. I can tell you're not a murderer. Just had bad luck his all."

"Is that why you do what you do?" She asked. "Bad luck? Is that why you help people like me and kill assholes like him?"

Jason stood there silently for a second but then answered her with a slow nod.

"Well is there anyway i can repay you?" She asked in a arousing tone. "My place isn't too far from here."

Jason looked at her with a playful grin. "The last guy you took to bed ended up with a hole in his chest." He teased.

"Well that guy was a prick. And unlike him, you have very pretty eyes like i said before." They stared at each other and smiled. "So what do you say, cowboy?"

Jason nodded, took her home, and showed her a very good time. She fell asleep afterwards with a soft and satisfied smile on her face. Jason got dressed, gave her a light kiss on the forehead, and headed back to his place.

He had a cheap apartment in the inner city. It was rented under the alias David Krapenshitz. He was about to walk into the building but he saw a light was on in his apartment, and he knew he turned the lights off before he left. He knew someone was in there.

He headed in the back way. Up the fire escape to his back window with his gun in hand. When he got there, he saw a post-it note saying. "We're in the living room. Don't fucking shoot us." Jason let out a annoyed sigh and headed inside.

He walked into the living room to see his two former partners standing there. It was a small room with only One couch, a chair, and a TV.

"How'd you find me?" Jason asked.

"Well knowing you, the first alias we looked for was Dak Hardy." Dick answered. "But we couldn't find any know alias's for that. So David Kranpenshitz was our second guess, and here we are."

"You know me so well, don't you?"

"Well enough." Dick replied as he looked around the very empty room. "You're gonna be very easy to shop for, this Christmas." He quipped

"I don't celebrate Christmas." Jason replied. He pulled a bottle of whiskey out of the fridge and poured himself a drink.

"Well none of us might this year. We'll all be too dead." Dick said.

Jason took a sip, looked at Dick ,and then back at Bruce. "Can you tell me what this dipshit is going on about?"

Dick gave him a cold glare and the middle finger in response.

"There's a bounty out for us. All of the organized criminals and killers have formed an alliance to kill us all." Bruce answered.

"Aw shit." Jason groaned. "How much?"

"10 million for Bruce. Five million each for the rest of us." Dick answered.

"5 million? Shit can i turn myself in?" Jason replied.

"This is serious!" Dick Shrieked.

"Dick!" Bruce snapped. "Just give us a minute."

Frustrated, Dick did as he was told and walked out. "Fucking shithead." He mumbled under his breath. "Waist of our fucking time." He left Bruce alone with Jason.

The two sat their silently for a moment. "They almost killed Barbra." Bruce broke the silence.

Jason let out sigh. "How bad?"

"Possible paralysis, meaning she'll have to spend the rest of her life in a wheel chair."

Jason shook his head. "I'm sorry Bruce. I really am. Barbra is... She's a good fighter, and a even better person."

"Jason, we need you unite with us to survive this. We need to be a..."

"Don't even say it." Jason interrupted him.

"...Family." Bruce finished.

"God, i hate that word. It's like the f-word to me. And it's bullshit. We're not a family, and we never were. Just a bunch of depressed guys in costumes is all we ever were."

"Jason, you are my son."

"No i am not. I'm just a guy looking out for himself. And sometimes other people."

"Jason..."

"You know what, Bruce? Do me a favor and fuck off, will you? Look after the others. I'll fend for myself."

Bruce stood there for a moment and sighed. "Fine." He made his way towards the door. He placed his hand on the knob, but turned to say one last thing to Jason. "We may be the most dysfunctional family in the world. But you're my son. Dick and Tim are your brothers. And a dysfunctional family is still family. And family's never quit, they can't quit..." He turned the knob and opened the door. "...Because that's what a family's all about."

Jason didn't respond as Bruce left him alone. He sat there alone thinking of Bruce's words to him and shook his head.

"Nah, fuck all that."

He got up and headed back out, to vent his frustrations on some more low life scum.