Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did there would be no such thing as the New 52 except Red Hood and the Outlaws. The three of them need each other.

Chapter 7

Setting a bomb off in a space station was not the stupidest thing Jason had ever done. Though, it ranked high up there between things that were followed with "shit, I should have listened to Bruce" and "shit, I should have listened to Alfred."

The League reacted instantaneously. Bodies collided and Jason's head bashed into the very shiny metallic floor. He almost swore he saw little Dickie-birds chirping around his head as black filled his vision.

A sharp pinch stung his neck and the feeling of shitty over-the-counter drugs filled him. He almost laughed as the concussion took him under. Did they think Birdboy v.1 drugs would knock him out?

The drugs, while laughable in strength, gave him the final push towards an unfeeling, concussed sleep.

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Upon waking up, he found himself in the familiar, uncomforting darkness of the Batcave. Cuffs forgone, replaced with jail cell bars that had been unnaturally fitted to the cave's walls.

As his eyes made adjustments to the slight change in light, Jason did a body check. His utility belt disappeared once again and the knives he had shoved in his shoes, along with his shoes, were classified missing in action.

The small touches to the back of his head told him bruising, but no blood.

His left wrist touched on an "I got stung by a bee and I'm also allergic" pain level. Great.

He rolled his head and arched his body against the slightly damp cave wall. His muscles tensed in his sprawled sitting position, but quickly relaxed as he tried to keep at least the body and breathing of a sleeping man.

Jason had his Kevlar fiber shirt and pants on, but the Bat stripped him of gloves, shoes, and jacket. The man could not be fooled twice; he found the lock picking tools in the seams of his gloves.

Salvation now relied on a miracle or mistake. The only advantage Jason possessed with the lack of expected reaction from the drugs disappeared with the deficiency of an escape route. His future freedom balanced on Bats fucking up. Shit.

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A harsh beam of blue and yellow filled the lightly blue drenched cave. Through the pounding headache and queasiness of the concussion, Jason heard jumbled words and numbers. His eyes opened in slits to catch a glance at the new arrivals. His senses fussed for a few moments more before sharpening.

Launching himself to his feet quickly in a manner as silent as a bat, he set his newly thought out plan to work. The problem with a cell in a cave was the ragged edges, tall roofing, and lack of proper lighting in all corners.

Oops.

Children's voices filled the cave.

"I am not sure this is the best plan of action."

"It's not like we're doing anything wrong. Rob is just showing us the cave."

"He means, Kid Idiot, that if we get caught we're screwed."

"Bats is stabilizing the Watchtower and the prisoner should be out for at least another three hours. We should be fine."

"Should be? That sounds reassuring."

"Um, yeah, is this really a good idea?"

"We caught the guy. We should get to at least to make sure he doesn't blow up the Batcave like he did the Watchtower."

"The Watchtower did not get blown up, Artemis, it just didn't handle the dis' in disaster very well."

"Dude, they had to bring Zatanna and Rocket up to help to stop the Tower from doing an emergency crash landing on Earth."

Six brats. Grayson, West, Arrow-bitch, Martian, Aqua-brat, and Psycho-Mini-Super, this was not going to be fun.

Jason quieted his breathing and listened. His left hand clenched and unclenched. The pain from the action keeping his mind grounded.

Wait for it.

There.

"Robin!"

So predictable, West.

"He's not in there!"

An incredulous snort came from the Arrow-bitch. "This is a Bat cage, people don't just get out of them."

"Well, he's not here, Artemis. Rob, give me the key!"

"Are you joking? No!"

"I'll be in and out in a flash. If he's in there he's still drugged anyways. If he's not we've got a problem without giving him more of a head start while waiting a couple hours for Batman to be back here."

"Did something smart just come out of his mouth?"

"Don't be mean, Artemis."

"He is correct, Robin. Give him the key. In and out, Kid."

"Got it, Kal."

"Fine, but Batman is going to kill me."

He pumped the pain in his left wrist with a final hardened fist. The edges of his vision sharpened from their fuzzy state.

One chance.

Jason heard the click of the electronic key and let his body drop from its perch over the door.

The door opened. Speedyboy zipped inside the cell. His feet hit the floor. Right hand grasped the door and pulled.

West locked inside and Todd facing his next obstacle to freedom.

As the beeping told him that the cell locked once again, Red Hood pushed the ground. The kids barely registered what just occurred as the Hood barreled towards them.

Dashing full speed at Robin, the small boy readied himself to dodge. Birdboy seemed to forget that he wasn't the only one who did acrobatics.

Robin was unprepared when Jason met him mid-jump and jerked his utility belt in the opposite direction, hitting the hidden release switch as gravity did its work. Jason fell into a guarded crouch and Robin barely saved himself from a face plant with a quick duck and roll.

In Jason's hand sat the expandable disc he just stole. He pressed the yellow device to his chest and let the belt expand out.

The rest of the team had circled Jason during his interaction with Robin. The kid retreated to the edge with his teammates. His blue eye narrowed as he looked for his route out.

A beat then two, Artemis gave out a cry of frustration, as she seemed to find out the car-clicker like key for Kid Idiot was stashed in the stolen utility belt. Attention changed from him to her for just a beat, but it was enough.

Red Hood charged and so did Superboy. Jason smirked and put his hand into the lead pocket, three from the right. Superboy dropped without a touch. He let the Kryptonite fall next to the cloned boy.

With Superboy grounded, the circle disintegrated. He threw birdarangs towards the Martian and Atlantian who tried to regain the advantage. Robin and Artemis seemed to be trying to hack the cage open.

Blue eyes hit the motorcycles parked across the cave. Jason let a cocky smirk spread across his face.

The Atlantian moved in close range to engage. The water swords formed with a blue light of underwater magic. Jason arched back to barely avoid the first swipe.

He continued through his position into a backflip, distancing himself from his opponent. Aqualad followed bringing the transformed twin maces down in a vertical arch. Jason jumped back, before dashing in close to Kaldur. Red Hood grabbed the younger male's wrists as he moved to recover from the failed blow. He squeezed until the teenager dropped his weapons in pain. A knee slammed into Kaldur's stomach and Jason threw him across the cave floor.

The Martian, floating on the sidelines till now, yelled, "Enough!"

Jason followed Kaldur's path and flew across the cave. Crashing back first into the line of motorcycles, a groan left his mouth more to bemoan another huge bruise than from pain.

He rose to his feet again and chucked a multitude of bridarangs across the room pushing the other occupants back followed by a smoke bomb. Following his distraction, he quickly used an extra of the sharp projectiles to ripe open the gas tank of the motorcycle next to him.

The silver tank fell into his hand and he shook it back and forth in long horizontal throws. Jason quickly lit a match from one of the utility belt pockets and whipped it into the border of flammable gas. The cloud of smoke created by the earlier bomb dispersed with the flaming life that bordered around Jason's taken territory.

The fire wouldn't last long with its small fuel source, but long enough to get him out of there. The belt acted as a key for the bike. The engine easily started and he punched in the only code Batman would ever use into the garage door pad. The wall lifted and he gave a smirk back at the glaring teens.

Never underestimate Jason Todd.

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He left the running bike with a kid near Crime Alley for a hoodie . A pretty bad trade, seeing as how the jacket was riddled with holes and thin as hell. Strategically, though, it was perfect, the kid rode off with the helmet looking like Jason, sending the heroes after the kid, while Jason would walk away with the hood up and scotch free.

He dropped the belt in the alley as well as he watched the kid ride away, but not before stuffing birdarangs, smoke bombs, and flash bombs into his pockets.

A couple blocks in the opposite direction of the wrong side of town, the adrenaline had definitely worn off. He finally allowed his left hand to cradle into his body for protection. His shoeless feet throbbed as pieces of stones and glass dug through the thin material. His eye glazed as his mind became a haze of half thoughts.

Concussions were the worst for Jason. The lack of mental clarity reminded his too much of his time as a living corpse of needs and instinct.

His feet kept moving as his mind went in and out of focus. Jason barely had time to run into an alley before he puked. He groaned as his bodily fluids stopped heaving out of his mouth.

"Hey! What the fuck are you doing out there, you drunk motherfucker?!" A yell resounded through the alley from the side door on his right.

"T?" He grounded out. His head pounded every time he tried to right his body from his leaned over position.

"Jay? What the hell, kid? You look like shit!"

"Thanks for that you're looking pretty crappy yourself." He loosely waved his hand in a gesture towards his grease stained outfit.

"Yeah, well at least I don't have the fucking Justice League after my ass."

"Shit, they work fast."

"Your face is posted all over the news."

"Great, any other bad news you got for me."

"Naw, come on and get inside. I'll call a guy I know to get you looked at."

Jason turned his head slightly to look T in the eyes, "thanks."

"Oh, shut up and get inside."

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Nightwing was not happy. At all.

This was the last time he would ever leave Jason's safety to Batman. Any Batman. They all sucked.

"Where is he?" He grated out.

Red Robin and Oracle took over Mt. Justice's systems with the search for Jason.

Batgirl stood glaring at the teenagers that had let their brother run off like a guard dog on patrol. Nightwing paced back and forth between the two groups.

It was laughable how much these people underestimated Jason. He destroyed two bases. You would think they learned after the first one.

Barbara was disappointed, though, she wanted to see the space base. Nightwing already knew what she would be asking Bruce for during Christmas time.

"The rider is not the Red Hood," This universe's Batman's voice echoed from the computer. Red Robin might have sent the man on a wild goose chase. Oops.

"Of course, he's not. Jason's smarter than that. He was the man in the red hoodie that left after he gave the bike to some Crime Alley kid."

Nightwing could almost see the scowl and glare. The sides of his lips pulled.

"Shit," Oracle quietly cursed. Nightwing and Red Robin turned their attention towards her.

"What's up?" Tim asked.

"Jason stumbled on something he shouldn't have."

Nightwing walked over to the overly large computer. He took a second to look at the stopped video Babs projected before adding his own, "Shit."

Author's Note: Okay, so I have been gone a very long time. I am sorry! Four months is way too long, but the plot wasn't really fitting together well until it all just kind of clicked two weeks ago. Now, only another one or two chapters left plus an epilogue left. I hope you enjoyed this chapter English III AP has done a lot for my writing style and now instead of long rambling, you get short, precise, and hopefully witty.

School is a bitch right now, so I will try and update as soon as possible, but Art History is kicking my ass and I need an A in it to get into my first choice college.

There is also something that is bothering me. It's like you guys know when I'm writing because seriously I got a review and a lot of favorites during the past two weeks when I was writing. You people are psychic or just stalking me O.O.

Please, don't watch me while I sleep. I tend to kill people that act like sparkly fairies and I don't want to do that to readers.

Hope to see you soon! (Not in real life, though)

~Just Wait And See

P.S. Review or Jason will steal the wheels off your car.