Are we really on the sixth chapter already? That's wild! I say we because let's be honest, you guys play a mad important role. Like, thanks.
Working on keeping the A/N shorter so, yeah.
This is my first time writing any kind of action and it's mostly a filler so you guys know I still live. I just started school back up, I'm a collegiate athlete and I also work two jobs so I write snippets here and there but not all at once like during break. Bare with me.
Hope you like a few different perspectives.
Disclaimer.
Tonight, 'Rachel' was going into the underbelly of the beast that was Gotham.
She crossed her legs as the lights from the street lights flashed from the window while the car sped down the street. It was late now. After meeting at her hotel and, her finding something suitable to wear, they hailed a taxi to the meeting place.
They were being hosted by Carmine Falcone, to get some important information on the whereabouts of an item.
It was a simple task. Not outside the work she typically did. She was going to keep this simple. They were going to keep this simple.
She groaned internally.
She couldn't stop the miniscule amount of fidgeting that she did do and she knew her scowl looked like it had already been stuck to her face for years now, much to the annoyance of her secondary passenger and the suspiciously nervous driver that kept shooting glances back at her through the rearview mirror.
She could feel the exasperation of her partner more so, needling her even more, amping her already restless mind. She would rather unload on him.
"Am I bothering you?" She deadpanned, whipping her head around to face the deceivingly relaxed figure of tall, dark and handsome himself.
He quirked one dark brow, grinning with just the side of his mouth. "Is this one of those times you want me to lie to protect your delicate emotions?" At her increased glare, he rose his palms in a placating manner, "I just want you to relax, princess."
She humored him with a gag from the back of her throat, rolling her eyes to look back out the window.
Her boss must have thought it was funny to require her a bodyguard.
A hired mercenary.
A Jason Todd.
She wasn't really sure how it happened. She knew she'd get a partner hoisted upon her but she never intended to get saddled with the man, not the infamous rogue Robin, Red Hood, The Outlaw. It was a little more than a temporary situation, that was certain. Some partnerships were unavoidable, given her situation and he could be worse. Less skilled. Less familiar.
Jason was a good candidate for what she needed, besides him being a trigger happy lunatic. She preferred to take Kory's word and trust him, as much as she had to. That and her boss seemed to think she needed the additional protection, from herself really, so ditching him was out of the question.
Realistically, she only began to accept him because he knew more about people like Falcone. Her work as a Titan and anything previous to that did not prepare her for negotiations with men of questionable intentions. Now, it was an asset to have those skills and she was humble enough to realize that she may be a little lacking in that department. That was more Richard's work.
So, she accepted her lack of information regarding Gotham. She reasoned that there was no way she could make sense of how this city worked in such a short amount of time, it was such a delicate balance and she had enough of that in her own head. Plus, it was… nice to have someone familiar around.
Ultimately, working with Todd was… reasonable. She just couldn't tell Richard. It was hard enough to tell Bruce and the man was a stone wall.
She decided to keep a few more secrets. Really what was one more?
"I think we're here, your highness."
The car had stopped moving, she glanced out the window to see that the destination was just across from where they had parked. She could hear the music through the closed car doors, it was already giving her a headache. That, or it was the mural of emotions blinding her, the feel of them smudging her senses on the edges. It was like toddler fingers dipped in paint, scrubbing away at her pristine mental walls to her attention. Humans that frequented these places were so desperate, they wanted everyone to know how they felt. Lucky her that she was sensitive to it. Suffice to say, Raven hated the club.
The ring shielded her from some of it, made her control easier to wrestle with, if her powers a little weaker, muted the noise of this clusterfuck.
Still, ring or not. Hated it.
Work was work though so she braced herself with a deep breath, reached for the door handle and- it was already opened for her. Scowl back in place, she managed a thanks in the direction of Jason, sauntering ahead of him, heels clicking on the gravel of the street as she crossed. His chuckle followed her. He was so obnoxious. Or maybe the day was just wearing away at her patience.
Jason watched her walk in front of him, despite her varying moods of darkness and deadpan he had grown used to, he was worried. She had been on edge since their flight into Gotham and it looked like marking a few things off their list thus far had done even less than he'd hoped to alleviate her stress. He sighed.
The lights of the club blazed a neon fury against the asphalt, music throbbed from the walls and the hum of people chattering. There were always a few lingering out and about, dressed scantily, hair gel pulling their scalps back tight. How douchey. He saw men eyeing down his partner, catcalling her as she made her way to the door and the front of the line that wound around the corner. He almost couldn't blame them, she was wearing these thigh high boots that fit her shapely legs like velvet seran wrap, making them a mile longer and her backside rounder, perkier than usual (how that was possible, he had no idea.) then there was the short little red number she had on, baring her shoulders and the same soft (he could only imagine) material of her boots, he'd probably catch fire if she could read minds. Emotions were close enough. So, he turned his attention to glare at the men upon their entrance to the club, striding closer to her for them to get the picture.
It really was becoming second nature to become a growly ape whenever he was with her. Unlike with her Tamaranian best friend, Jason felt the need to protect Raven's personal space. Not that she couldn't protect herself, but she did not desire to garner the attention that Kory relished.
How did he get tangled with another former Titan?
The bouncer eyed Raven, and leaned to the side to get a good look up at him.
"Can I help you two to the line out here?"
Jason was not an empath, but he didn't need to be to see the way Raven clenched her fists and the breath that she allowed to rattle through her body.
He almost felt back for the old ugly man baring their path. Almost. He was more inclined to make a statement, shoot the man in a knee and keep walking. Let him howl into the night. This club has probably seen it's share of gun fire and he was of the notion that most people that worked here were criminals. Running amok.
Ugh. He could easily hate Gotham.
Besides the point. He grinned menacingly at the bouncer, name tag 'Bo' (nice) when he tuned back into the one-sided conversation. He was pretty sure it started with a demand for entry to see Falcone and ended in a very stern red eyed gaze. The man was sweating and stammering already. Pathetic. He deserved the bullet to the knee just for that. At least be a goon with some pride. This is Gotham.
A man of slighter frame came from behind everyone's favorite bouncer. Pressing a hand to the bouncer's shoulder, he broke the tension between Raven and Bo, whispering into the latter's ear. Bo quickly stepped aside and stammered an apology. The smaller one ended up leading them inside, the noise reverberated louder in the enclosed space, the doors closing behind them.
There was a mesh of people throbbing along to the pulsing beat, all pressed tightly together in the flashing lights. He could make out the top row of the club, separated from view by the dark glass that he could imagine the fat cats sitting behind. He started to walk in the direction, only to get a hand to his shoulder.
He scowled at the waif of a man (he tried to take notes from his counterpart), whose pale skin was revealed periodically with the beat of music and light. With his swallow skin and gaunt eyes, the lighting made him look like a skeleton.
"My employer would like to grant you a few moments while you enjoy the venue before he grants you audience with him. He has a few matters to settle before your business. Feel free to do as you please in the meanwhile. I will collect you once he is ready to receive you,"
He did a little dip of his head and excused himself into the dark writhe of bodies. Jason looked towards Raven to gauge how she took the news. The most he could discern was a furrowed brow.
"Something is going on tonight, you think it has anything to do with us?" Raven glanced around the room, searching. "No, there's anxiety seeping from the top level, if it was us- it would have spiked, this is lingering."
He chuckled sardonically, "Well, might as well 'enjoy the venue' until the real party starts," he waved his hands around, gesturing towards the upper level. Her lips quirked and she shook her head, heading over towards the less crowded bar area, the sea of people seeming to part in front of her. He followed after.
Damian put his cheek in his hand, looking every bit of teenage angst. Crouched at the back exit of an alleyway on an overhanging, waiting for the crook to run his way. He'd be fortunate to even engage the hooligan, if his father or Grayson did not manage to wrangle him in before this point.
Oh, there he is now, sweating son of a bitch, gunning it for this dead end in his own terror, failing to realize his imminent capture. Sometimes, being Robin was predictable. He did the job. Crouching even lower, he sprang out of his space to land in front of the man, whose feverish eyes were turned away from, looking back for either the Batman or Nightwing to be tailing him. The sound of Damian's boots hitting the pavement startled the delinquent, a choked gasp and an annoyed, "Tch". The man fell backwards, fighting his own momentum to stop from facing Robin.
If he was of a lesser upbringing, he would roll his eyes. How dull. The panting of the criminal filled the alleyway, Damian's cloak rustling in the breeze. The man didn't even have the gumption to get up. As if hearing Damian's internal monologue he started to scramble, palms grasping the wet gravel of the loose street, knees quaking under the weight of his hips. With a shaking hand he tried to pull something from his jacket, some last measure of defense. Predictable but a little more entertaining because now he could-
Damian saw him dip the tip of a finger in a pocket and moved. Lunging forward, he pressed his sword from its sheath and brought down the back end of the assailant's hand, making the man howl.
"You fucking BRAT!"
"I could have cut it off, if you preferred. After all, that would be just punishment for an attempted theft,"
"Ah, fuck you kid. You're just some demon's spit." He held his hand to his chest, cradling the shocked appendage.
Damian grit his teeth, readying a returning phrase when he heard Grayson's voice,
"You're actually really lucky he didn't cut it off, he's been known to get a little handy, if you catch my meaning"
Now he really did roll his eyes, Grayson could be the worst. It was almost embarrassing.
"Nicholas, we need information," Batman cut in.
"Well, I need a better day job if I keep getting caught by you goons, I can't take anymore one liners from that guy." The thug, Nicholas, thumbed in the direction of Nightwing, still sitting on the ground. Batman continued on, "There are whispers that Penguin and Falcone aren't getting along, what do you know about that?"
Nick grunted, shifting into a more comfortable position, disguising the discomfort in his hand by trying to casually venture into his pocket.
A batarang whizzed by and whacked the same hand again, clipping it this time. Blood slowly pooled at the cut.
"HOLY FUCK! You guys suck." He yelped, clenching and unclenching his fingers, pressing his good hand to the other.
Damian flipped the blade in his hand a few times, growing impatient as this little encounter drew out.
"This blade won't go all the way through but if you're patient, I could just do you the favor of removing the lame hand," he taunted once again.
"Robin…" Batman warned. He turned his cheek to his father. Raising his nose to the air. This was pathetic. There should be another way.
"Alright you psychos. All I know is that Penguin wants to fluff his own feathers around Gotham. Falcone doesn't like it. That's it."
"What's significant about tonight?"
"Who said anything about tonight?"
Nightwing sighed.
Damian wanted to put his sword through the weasel's chest.
Bruce picked him up with one arm. Pushed the man against the wall and pressed a well armed forearm to Nick's throat, leaning over the much shorter man, shadows encasing them both.
"We're on a pretty tight schedule tonight, Nick"
The man struggled to alleviate the pressure on his throat, legs kicking at the arm between them, limbs shaking with exertion and fear. Batman dropped him at his feet. Leaving the man gasping and shuddering on the ground.
"Talk."
"You're no better than a thug."
Batman took one step towards him,
"OkayokayOKAY! Stop. Just stop. Right there."
The alleyway was once again filled with just the ragged breathing of Nick and the crunch of the street underneath his body as he shifted.
"Okay. If you really want to be in the thick of it, go to Falcone's club tonight. It's gonna be one hell of an event." He chuckled dryly, wheezing through his abused throat, "Did you really have to get so physical? I mean, we do this like… every other week!" Nick looked up to glare at the Dark Knight.
Only he wasn't there, "Well fuck me." He really hated when he did that. Nick shook his head, gathering his wits to head back to his apartment. He'd be an idiot to stay out any later tonight with his luck. Especially the shit show that was going to be Falcone's.
He could settle with a night in and some takeout. Maybe some ace bandage wrap and ice for this hand. Fuck Batman.
Couldn't resist that last line. Chapter 6 down! The next one should be fun! I just didn't want to throw myself off a cliff trying to combine a lot of information into one chapter again.
How do you guys feel about Jason? I love his character and I always want to give him a new life. Plus, introducing him to Gotham and the Bat family again is going to be so fun to explore, especially in the time frame I'm trying to create. Also, I think Raven and Jason is an interesting dynamic and they're pretty fun to write.
Fun fact: I picked Nick's name from a forum where people were trying to figure out how likely Batman is to fight petty crime and one of the 'character A' name's referenced for being a petty thief was 'Nick'. It just made me chuckle. I like to think that Batman handles it all. I would go into gross detail why I think that but simply put, in the shows he is seen dealing with muggers often and his parents were murdered by muggers. What do you guys think?