Pawned Promises, Second Chances and an Aside
Mary's little brother pushed her forward, making sure to stay hidden behind her back. She stared up at the man in the helmet, but couldn't say anything until he took it off and smiled. "Mr. Red? Can we ask you a favour?"
Red Hood knelt down, so he wasn't so tall and scary looking. "Course you can. Anything." And he kept smiling, but not a fake smile like Aunt Ruth, who was mean when Daddy left for work, a real smile. The ones that Mum used to have before she got sick' like Daddy, before work and work and work swept it away. A good smile. Mary could work up her courage if she could see that smile again, on her parents.
"It's our parent's anniversary this weekend. And we wanted to do something nice." She nudged her brother a bit, not enough to jar him from his position behind her. "So we didn't get fries all this month, and we saved our lunch money."
"That's really nice of you. What were you thinking of getting for them?"
She could do this. Adults weren't scary. She talked to her parents all the time, and her teachers, when she had a question. "Mum's engagement ring. They sold it so Mum could get her medicine, but she cried after. It means a lot, because it's not much, but Daddy says it was all he could afford at the time, and Mum loves it anyways. She said it was a promise that things would get better."
And things did get better. But then Mum got sick and things got worse. Aunt Ruth had to look after them, because Daddy was at work all the time.
Red Hood nodded. "So do you need me to go find out which store it's at?"
"No, we know. But..." Mary looked down.
"We're scared to go alone." Jamie spoke, surprising Mary. He hadn't spoken to anyone who wasn't family in over a month. And Aunt Ruth didn't count. She wasn't family.
"Yeah, places are always scary at night. Hm." Mr. Red looked down at his clothes. "I'm dressed a little weird to go to the store with you. Meet me downstairs in twenty minutes?"
Mary nodded, pulling Jamie back towards the fire escape. Before she started down, she glared at Mr. Red. "Twenty minutes." Adults forgot a lot, so she had to remind him.
He saluted with two fingers, aiming his gun thing with the other. "Twenty minutes." He didn't say that he promised, but Mary could hear it in his words. So she nodded and headed for their window.
When she got back to their apartment, Jamie was already in their room, grabbing money from all their hiding places and sticking it in his school bag. Mary raced to help, pulling bills from between book pages and between folded clothes. Then she grabbed their coats from the closet, making sure Jamie had his zipped up all the way.
Now for the hard part. The fire escape didn't go all the way to the ground, so they had to take the stairs. But Aunt Ruth was asleep in the other room. Mary held a finger to her lips, reminding Jamie to be quiet. He nodded, clutching his backpack straps until his knuckles turned white.
They were very quiet, and got out to the hall without waking their aunt. At the same time, they sighed with relief, then smiled and headed downstairs.
By the time they got out the front door, someone who had to be Mr. Red was waiting for them. He had a red hoodie on under his jacket, and a baseball hat and sunglasses. "Ready to go?"
Mary nodded, grabbing one of his hands. Jamie grabbed the other one, and they started towards the pawn shop.
The pawn shop was just as scary as Mary remembered. Maybe more, because when she had gone with Daddy last month, it had been day. There was a man at the counter arguing with the shop guy, and he looked exactly like the villains in cartoons did, the biker ones who traveled in packs and circled people. He looked scary, was what Mary was getting at.
But Mr. Red moved towards the jewelry cases to the left of the scary guy. Mr. Red pushed them forward with one hand on each of their backs, saying, "Ok kids. Find the one you want and we'll get it."
Mary took a deep breath. They would be fine. Mr. Red was here. She and Jamie pressed both of their noses to the glass and searched. Not that one, or that one. That one there had silver braiding, but it wasn't Mum's. Neither was the one that had diamonds, or the one with little hearts on it.
Jamie jumped, pointing excitedly at the glass. There! Mary pointed it out to Mr. Red. "This one! With the blue stone!" Mum had said it was a turquoise.
Mr. Red leaned over the case so he could take a closer look. "Oh. That's a nice one." The man arguing with the shop guy shouted something bad and stormed out. "And it looks like it's our turn. Excuse me, could we get this one please?"
The shop guy shot up a finger at the scary guy and then turned to see which one they were pointing at. If Mary did that, or said the thing the scary guy did, she would be grounded for a week. "The blue one? Sure. That'll be fifty bucks."
Jamie pulled his backpack off of his back and started grabbing bills out. Mary helped him put them on the counter. The shop guy raised an eyebrow, but started counting. After a minute, he'd stacked most of their singles to one side and pushed the rest back towards them. "Twelve bucks change." He dropped the ring in a little cloth bag and handed it over.
Mary smiled wide as Mr. Red helped Jaime put the rest of their money in their bag. "Thanks mister shop guy! You're the best!"
The shop guy smiled, waving at them as they headed out the door. Mary waved back and closed the door gently behind her. "Mr. Red? Thanks for taking us to the store."
"You're welcome Mary."
Mum and Daddy loved their anniversary present. After the pawn store, Mr. Red had taken them to a flower shop, so they could get flowers. Twelve dollars didn't buy many flowers, so they added leaves from the fern in their apartment to make it prettier. Mum cried when she got her ring back, and Daddy promised not to sell it again.
A month later, Mum was out of the hospital, with all her bills paid by an anonymous source. She still needed lots of recovery, but she would be okay.
He never would have seen it if he hadn't been across the street getting a chili dog.
It had been a long, slow night. The main problem with his method of crime fighting was the fact that the longer he went on, the fewer people there were to commit crime. There would always be people who broke the law, but the repeat offenders were all dead, and the ones who were considering it were too scared to.
For the most part anyways. Clearly, the masked twelve year old holding up the convenience store across the street wasn't scared of anything. Where had she even gotten a gun?
He spared his chili dog a longing look before holding it out to the vendor. "Can you watch this for me for a few minutes? I need to go take care of that before the cops show up."
"Of course," Food Cart Guy replied cheerfully as Red Hood put his helmet back on. "Anything for my best customer!"
Red Hood waved, then shoved his hands in his pockets. He strolled across the street like he had all the time in the world, pausing slightly while the ancient automatic door acknowledged his presence and opened. The kid with the gun pointed it away from the terrified cashier (a pimply seventeen year old, in the middle of shoving cash into a plastic bag) and at him. Which was preferable, always. Within four seconds, Red Hood had the gun out of the girl's hands, the magazine ejected and chamber emptied. Then he grabbed the girl around the waist and walked out, throwing a, "Sorry about that," over his shoulder.
"Welcome back!" The hot dog vendor held out his chili dog, as well as a freshly made hot dog. "I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of making up another one for your friend there. She looks like she needs it."
Red Hood took off his helmet, using the motion to sneak a fiver into the tip jar, then grabbed both the dogs one handed. "And that's why you're my favourite." That, and the fact that Food Cart Guy rarely accepted payment from him, which meant he got to practice his reverse-pickpocketing. Also, his chili was the best in the city, hands down.
He put the girl down, handing her her food. She tried to bolt, but Jason grabbed her by the collar and pulled her back. "Hold on tater tot. You have to thank the nice man for the hot dog before you take off."
She squirmed, looking between the food in her hands to the still smiling face of Food Cart Guy. Finally, she muttered, "Thanks."
With a smile, Jason let her go. "Run off you scamp. And don't let me catch you robbing any more stores!" The last sentence he shouted at her retreating back.
Shaking his head, he turned back to his food. He had a nice long conversation with Food Cart Guy (and yes, he did know Food Cart Guy's name. But the man preferred anonymity, like any sane person in Bludhaven), which got interrupted when the police finally arrived to deal with the armed robbery.
It was about two weeks later when he saw her again. She was, despite not being anywhere old enough to drive, trying to boost a car. He landed behind her and grabbed her by the collar, picking her up. "License and registration please?"
She took a swing at him, so he held her out at arm's length. With the difference in reach, she couldn't quite make it. "Screw off you turd! I need this car!"
"Any particular reason why?" She didn't say anything, just scowled. "Look kiddo, I've held people way larger than you for way longer than you can imagine. So holding you up is going to be no problem. And," he pushed one of her arms down when she lifted them, "please don't slip out of your shirt. It's freezing out."
"Fine!" She forced the word out through her teeth, throwing a spiteful kick at his thigh. He didn't flinch when it landed. "I need to sell it so I can get Mom her medicine." The desperation in her eyes, the helplessness. It was familiar and Jason believed her.
"Alright." He set her on the ground, but didn't let go. Instead, he pulled a few hundred dollars from his belt. "As long as you can promise that this doesn't go towards street drugs or to some gang boss, you can have it."
Her eyes fixed on the wad of cash, hopeful. "I promise. I'll only use it for Mom's medicine." He relaxed his grip slightly and she whisked it out of his hand. It disappeared almost immediately.
"Hey now, I didn't say that." Jason let go of her, poking her in the ribs. "You're too skinny. Buy yourself some food. And maybe a warmer coat." The one she had was looking really ratty. "What's your name anyways?"
"Sira Morad."
"Alright then. I'll walk you home Sira." That was a lot of cash she was carrying, and if someone decided to have an issue with her, she might lose it.
But she shook her head. "I don't have a home. Mom's in the hospital, so we sold it to pay for her medical bills. I was supposed to go with Uncle Mark, but..." She winced. "He gives me the creeps. Kept touching me and saying stuff."
That stumped Jason for a minute. "I may have a safe place you can stay. Just at night time though, it's being renovated during the day. It's pretty close to where I live, so I can even bring you a meal if you want."
Sira hesitated. She didn't want to accept the help. But she also hadn't been on the streets long enough to completely distrust it. Jason guessed maybe four months, six on the outside. "Um. Sure."
So, he took her to his apartment. Once she got over being afraid of being so high up, she thoroughly enjoyed the swing. He landed her on the third floor, and started the tour. "This bathroom works, has running water and everything. There isn't any electricity yet, but I can bring you a flashlight. Over here is the stairs, and the fire escape is over here. The elevators don't work yet either."
As she got herself settled, he grappled up to the top floor. He tossed some leftovers in the microwave, then grabbed a blanket, pillow, a fork, battery-powered heater and a bar of soap. The leftovers went into a takeout container, then everything went into a backpack.
The next morning, she was gone, everything he'd given her stuffed into the bag. But she came back the next night, and the night after.
The RedKids chat room, a subsection of the website, was one of the more heavily encoded ones on the deep web. For a website made by and for children, it was very impressive. But for any kid who had the six different passwords to get in, it was simple. The first password was, of course, Red Hood's phone number. The second was user's choice, but the date the child had first met Red Hood, or their favourite food was recommended. The third was always changing, and one had to either log in once a week to get it, or text a friend who did. The fourth was the child's age. The fifth also changed, and the numbers and letters were found on the Red Hood theories board, the top left corner of the FAQ, and in the signature of 34th post in the recipes thread. The sixth password was also user chosen, and personal.
The kids didn't mind how long it took to get online. For most of them, it felt like being in a spy movie and they had to hack in using all the knowledge and clues they collected over the week. And of course, they all understood that if the chat room got leaked to anyone who didn't like Red Hood, it wouldn't be very difficult to attack or arrest him. Because the kids of Bludhaven kept tabs on their protector.
It wasn't all, "I saw Red Hood here," and, "Red Hood talked to me at this time." Most of it was just kids talking to kids. But every once in awhile, someone would write – in all caps – that they'd seen or interacted or been saved by Red Hood. And the kids didn't want anyone to take advantage of that, so they used the six passwords.
It hadn't always been that way, of course. But a number of the older kids had been there when Red had walked out of Warehouse 17, hurt badly, and CandyForAll had come online later saying her dad had found the website, and her dad was part of the gang that had been found mostly dead in Warehouse 17 and...
Well. It hadn't been hard to work out.
The new precautions had gone up when Red was in the hospital and were fully functioning. And truly, Oracle was very impressed with it all. But it wasn't quite enough to keep her from gaining access.
Barbara Gordon had opinions on the matter of Red Hood. Ones she was sure Dick and Bruce wouldn't agree with, especially now that Dick had seen Red Hood in action. As the daughter of a cop, specifically a Gotham cop, she understood that not every cop was on the side of good. As the silent partner of the Task Force X, she understood that doing bad things in the name of good wasn't always a bad thing. And as the victim of the Joker, she understood that being angry was a normal stage of grief. Her own grief at losing her legs had driven her to being an information broker and keeper of knowledge. There was nothing she didn't know or couldn't find out, which in turn helped her get over it and move on as much as she was able. She would always miss the use of her legs, but she could still be helpful, still defend herself and save lives.
Jason's grief, at his own death and possibly other things – if what the children were saying was true – had driven him to becoming the Red Hood. He hadn't yet gotten over any of it, and that was ok. Killing people wasn't and Barbara couldn't forgive it, but she could understand it.
Bruce and Dick refused to understand. Someone who had been trained by them, someone they had considered son and brother, was ruthlessly murdering people. Babs sighed at one of her screens, the one showing the interior of the Batcave where Bruce and Dick were having yet another argument about how to handle the situation. It had been like this for ages. They'd argue, stomp off in a huff, get busy with the Titans or the Outsiders or the League and then meet again a week or two later to argue again.
Neither of them were thinking clearly about this at all. In fact, both of them refused to see all the sides. Dick was much too hyper-focused on Jason's betrayal of Batman's values, and Bruce was desperately trying to cut off all emotional ties to the case. Of course, that meant staring at the same damned crime stats chart for a month, and completely ignoring Jason's effects on the children of Bludhaven, and their effect on him.
Her fingernail tapped on the desk. Unfortunately, understanding why Jason did something wasn't enough, and it excused nothing. As much as she wanted to leave Jason alone, she knew she couldn't. She understood where he was coming from, but people were still dying. She needed to know if that was going to continue. And if she was going to be the only one willing to look at all the facts in this case, so be it.
She sighed again, drank the rest of the cold tea in her mug, then wheeled herself over to the training room. "Steph? I need you to do me a favour."
Stephanie Brown, Spoiler, formerly thought dead, punched her way through one more training dummy, then wiped her face off with a towel. "Sure! What did you need?" Her left arm was out of the sling, and the stitches were out, but it was still healing.
"I need you to go to Bludhaven and make contact with Red Hood." Babs smiled as Steph's mouth dropped open, and started wheeling herself back to the computer room.
Steph followed, a too-innocent look on her face. "Isn't that the guy you and Bruce told me to avoid at all costs because he was dangerous?"
"Yes." Barbara stopped in front of her favourite keyboard and started typing. "Not that it stopped you." Not that it ever stopped her.
"What?"
Instead of answering, Barbara pulled up a picture of Steph. In Bludhaven. Fighting beside Red Hood. "You've already been. And met him." Steph groaned, dropping her head into her hands. Babs grinned, still pulling up pictures, this time just of Jason. The one picture they have of him as a child, a foster system photo, and one of him smiling in the Robin suit. "I can see why you were curious. You're both from lower Gotham."
"And we're both the failure Robins." Barbara winced as Steph pulled her head out of her hands. "We both died on the job. And we were both used as a way for Bruce to throw man-pain around."
She couldn't help it. Babs snorted. Quickly, she tried to compose herself, putting on a serious face. When she was almost sure she'd succeeded, she turned around. "Why did you go to Bludhaven?"
"Because Bruce told me not to." Steph said it with such a straight face, she had Barbara laughing again. "Because Bruce said he was dangerous, and that he had a temper. Because disobeying orders had gotten him killed. Because that's the same thing that lead to my quote-unquote 'death', and I wanted to meet him."
Barbara didn't look at Steph. She knew what she would see there. "And what did you think." It wasn't a question. Not when she knew the answer.
"I think you were wrong. About everything."
"He is dangerous you know." Babs looked up, into Steph's eyes, into the quiet condemnation there. "He told Nightwing that he would kill any of us who came to Bludhaven." Her computer beeped an alarm, but she ignored it.
But Steph just smiled. "You've heard the audio logs just as often as I have Oracle. More often. He threatened Batman, Nightwing, and Robin. Currently, I am none of them."
"So you risked your life on a technicality? On the idea that you could point that out to him before he killed you?" The computer beeped again. Stephanie opened her mouth, but Babs cut her off. "I know, you went in civvies, there was no reason for him to have known that you had been Robin, or were in the life. But on the smallest chance that he did-"
"Babs. Your computer." Steph wasn't even looking at Barbara anymore. She was staring, wide eyed and slack jawed at the screen. Curious, concerned, Babs turned around.
A special news report. Janus Cosmetics, a front for Black Mask's operations, had just had its top floor bombed. Black Mask's office, to be specific. Quickly, Oracle pulled up surveillance footage from the building from before the bombing. Like most illicit businesses in Gotham, Black Mask had learned the hard way that he should have cameras outside, and on the higher floors.
Hacking the system was child's play, getting the footage, even more so. And when she had, she leaned back. "Well Steph. Looks like you were right. You may be the only person he'll allow in Bludhaven after all."
On the screen, a grainy, pixelated, but unmistakable Red Hood signed something, then waved at the camera, rocket launcher aimed to fire.
AN: I am so sorry for how late this is! My laptop broke, but it is fixed now and I have an extra long chapter for the lot of you to make up for it!
Read and enjoy!
