To say Fury was furious was an understatement of pure fact. His footsteps thundered as he paced his office (and do you know how angry a spy like Fury has to be for you to even be able to hear his footsteps?!), and he glowered at anything and anyone that came near. Some unknown had just broken into one of SHIELD's most secure headquarters and the only reason they even knew about it was because the fucker fucking WANTED them to know he was there! Not only that, but no matter how many searches Fury made, he couldn't find any trace of who the man was! The man might've been wearing a mask that obscured part of his face and made it harder to identify him, but their computers were better than that. They'd identified criminals from their cheekbones alone before, and yet this man didn't seem to exist! Yes, they knew was that at some point the man had dyed his hair, (no one naturally had hair that godawful color,), but that didn't mean shit either! He could just as easily re-dye it! And when Fury tried to find out what the man had done while he was there? He found nothing, absolutely nothing!

It was Fury's job to know everything about everyone, and to make sure that people who could pull off acts like this were either working for him and him alone, or no longer a threat. But then this guy comes sauntering in like he owns the place and has the nerve to fucking taunt them about it!

So yes, Fury was mad, and you could be damn sure he was going to fucking do something about it if it took fucking calling in Stark!

"Who the hell is this fucker?!" He cried in an infuriated growl, and Agent Hill who had been waiting for his orders on the subject answered in controlled exasperated frustration.

"We don't know sir."

"How is that possible!?"

"We don't know sir."

Fury let out an angry cry of vexation and stormed off to go shoot something, and perhaps, to call Stark, leaving Hill to go about her other duties.

~x~

It had been a few days since Jason had broken into SHIELD, and since then he'd happily gone back to his normal hair color, patched up his arm (though it still hurt like a bitch at times), and had a chance to look at both sets of data he'd stolen. He'd been right about the first set of data he recovered being false information, which made him even more grateful for his curiosity; exploring that false wall had saved him a lot of trouble. He'd learned quite a bit from it, though what he'd learned about SHIELD did not endear him to the organization all that much. They were for the most part, on the side of good: protecting the innocent, saving the world, yada yada yada, but they had also done some pretty damn questionable stuff. He didn't trust them as far as an elephant could jump, (as he could probably throw them pretty darn far).

And, as it turned out, the Avengers did work for them as his theory had suggested; though it did seem the branch of SHIELD they worked for was slightly less dubious than some of the other divisions. The information on Black Widow was still on the vague side, and what information he did have on her did not show her best side to say the least. She, as he had already guessed, was a highly, highly trained assassin, with plenty of red on her ledger. She had worked for the Soviets before a SHIELD agent; Hunger Games in fact (i.e. Barton), brought her over to SHIELD's side. Since then she'd seemingly been attempting to atone for some of the things she had done while with the Soviets, with her latest endeavor to do so being joining the Avengers.

Legolas, on the other hand, had a slightly similar background to Goldie. The guy grew up in a circus, where he learned to shoot. The similarities ended there though, as Dicky-poo never got into the shit Hawk guy did. SHIELD was the one to get the idiot out of that shit and he'd been working for them ever since, joining the Avengers when Widow did.

Jason did his research on the recent alien invasion as well, learning about Loki and his army's attempt at taking over the world. Loki was indeed the brother of Thor, but that didn't mean much to Jason. Being related to someone doesn't automatically mean you agree with them, Jason being the case in point. From what he saw from the security tapes though, Thor was rather like Dickhead, he didn't give up on those he deemed 'family', no matter their actions. He would stand by Loki even though he would see to it that Loki's actions wouldn't go unpunished, and Jason was just fine with that.

He also researched the stone Loki used to transport his army to earth, but so far all his research had shown him was that the stone worked for transportation within the universe you were in; not necessarily between universes. There was a possibility that it could take him back, but there was no guarantee. Which was frustrating, but something that was also rather to be expected. Anything that easy was either a trap or a lie. Life was never that simple.

Jason sighed when he finished going through the data he'd taken. This shit was getting on his last nerve. He was tired of everything he tried looking into for ways home turning into a dead end. Not even a Gotham style dead end either, that came with a trap and a whole lot of moronic lackey's to beat up; no, with this dead end all he got was nothing. A whole crap ton of nothin'. At least with Gotham style dead ends he got to release some of his pent up frustration and beat the shit outa something.

He needed to get out of the shitty apartment he'd been held up in while looking over what he'd found. Patrol would be nice, but this wasn't his city. This city had it's own protectors and while he didn't give one shit about them, he wanted them to stay out of his business and to do that he'd have to keep his head down. Patrol was out of the question. A walk wasn't though, and hopefully it'd help him get his head back in the game.

Jason slung on his jacket, checked with flitting hands to make sure his weapons were hidden and safe, and exited the crumbling building.

~x~

New York was different from Gotham in many ways. The air was cleaner, fresher. Hell, that was true for more than just New York's air, all of the city fit that description. Gotham was the epitome of dirt and grime, of crooks, traitors, felons, and lunatics. Gotham's streets were used to it. New York was not. Oh yes, it was a major city, and that came with plenty of filth and crime of its own, but it was so much softer than Gotham, so much cleaner. Better in so many ways, ways that Jason noticed as he walked its streets. It would never be home though. That was Gotham. For all it's ugliness, it was where he'd been raised. It had been the city that molded him. The city that crushed him, and the city that kept dragging him back. The one he just kept going back to, no matter what it had done to him. The city that he had decided to protect, to fix, because he was the only one who could fix it like it needed to be. The only one who would do what needed to be done. New York wasn't bad though. Crowded and bustling though it was, it was nice.

As Jason wandered it's streets his thoughts drifted to his family. He hadn't given it much thought before, distracted by SHIELD, the new heroes, and not knowing where on earth he was. It had been an afterthought. Something he'd put on hold while he got a hold on everything. Now though, he found himself wondering how they were doing. Heck, he'd been shot, did they even know he was alive? God, that would kill Dick if he really thought-, but he'd be alright. Of course he'd be alright. He was Goldie. And Bats wouldn't rest till he knew all the facts, even if it was ridiculous, especially since they didn't have his body. B was just emotionally constipated like that. Bastard.

But they'd figure it out. Eventually. He couldn't rely on them to get him back, he didn't know how the timeline here worked in comparison; if time passed faster or slower. But he could trust them to be alright. Or at least, alright as they could be. Deaths affected the hero community differently. The rest of the family would probably overwork themselves, get themselves hurt trying to avoid the problem, the idiots. But once they figured it out, then- then they'd be fine. They had to be. Jason might act like he hated them still, but they had grown on him like fungus.

He had to, grudgingly, admit, he considered the dorks family. When that happened, Jason had no idea, but somewhere along the line it had.

Jason sighed, and shook those thoughts from his head. There was no use dwelling on it, he was here now and there was nothing he could do to change what was happening back home, whatever did happen.

As Jason brought his mind back to the present he noticed that he had wandered to the shadier side of the city. The place still looked like some of the nicer parts of Gotham, but they were distinctly different from the streets he'd been on just a little while ago. The buildings more run down, garbage left on the street side, filling in little nooks and crannies along the walls, broken windows repaired with duct tape and scrap wood. Yet there were still kids running up and down the street, tossing a beat up ball back and forth, playing a strange mix between hot potato, tag, and football, dodging around parked cars that sat on either side of the street as they did, their voices echoing and filling the street with sound. A few parents sat on their doorsteps, keeping an eye on the kids as they talked with one another, while of few feet over a couple of teens leaned against a nearby alley corner smoking cigarettes and chatting quietly. It was a peaceful scene, and while Jason received a suspicious glance once or twice, the people paid him no mind. It was decidedly nice; somewhere he dreamed as a kid that he and his mom might one day live. But that hadn't happened, it never would, and so Jason let his feet wander onwards and forced his mind to drift to other subjects.

~x~

His thoughts were snapped back into place by a piercing scream, and without thinking his body was already in motion, running towards the sound. He was in a different area than he remembered, darker, more beat up, with empty streets and forlorn buildings. The sun had begun to set at least an hour ago, and street lamps were beginning to flicker to life. He hadn't realized how long he'd been roaming around before, but that didn't matter now.

The cries got louder as he neared them, rounding on a narrow alley and only pausing for a split second to take in the scene. Three men surrounded a woman who was clutching one of her children, the other child standing in front of the two, trying in vain to protect them. All of the men were armed with guns, though only one was actually using the weapon, the others choosing to use a knife and their fists respectively. The men were clearly threatening the woman, though what they were trying to get from her, money or worse, Jason didn't wait long enough to hear, throwing his fist at the nearest man, who happened to be the one holding the gun. The man went down immediately with a loud thud. The other two men swung around to greet him, but Jason didn't wait for them to finish turning, already throwing the next punch and disarming the knife wielder with a kick. They were all down quickly. The kid tucked under his mother's arms let out a frightened cry and burrowed deeper into his mother's embrace, while the girl standing in front flinched and took an unsure step back, her mother trying to pull her back with a fumbling hand.

"Whoa there! I'm not gonna hurt ya," Jason said as soothingly as he could, raising his hands to show he was unarmed as he turned towards them, taking a step back to reassure them of his intent. "Just trying to help. You three okay?"

The mother let out a shaky breath that quickly turned into a trembling laugh, brushing a stray lock of ebony hair behind her ear with her free hand as she did(quite likely a nervous tic), before reaching out again for her daughter's shoulder, the other arm still wrapped tightly around her son, her dark eyes wide. " Y-yes, we're fine. Thank you."

"I could'a taken 'em!" The girl standing in front grumbled, shaking off her mother's hand as she did. The girl looked maybe eight, and had the most expressive warm brown eyes Jason had ever seen, with light caramel skin a shade paler than her mother's, and a mountain of long dark brown curls that sat on her head. The girl had dirt smudged across her cheek, and her clothes had suffered a worse fate, dirt stained into places, her sleeves haphazardly pushed up, and the start of loose threads hanging in places where the cloth had been worn thin from play. Jason gave a gentle laugh.

"I'm sure you could've kid, but I wasn't gonna risk it, for your mother's sake and all, don't want her worrying too much now do we?" Jason told her with a warm smile. The girl grumbled and gave him the stink eye, but eventually conceded a 'I guess so,'.

"At least you're better than those Avenger poo faces. They don't even keep the streets of their own city safe! " The girl continued, growing louder as she went. "They're too busy doing other stupid things that they never do their job and protect us!"

"Aubrey Mae Thompson! You know better than to say things like that! The Avengers saved New York from those creatures! Be respectful!" The girl's mother scolded her, and right then Jason decided that her daughter must've gotten her eyes from her mother as he watched as they flashed with annoyance. The girl, Aubrey apparently, just scowled up at her.

"Oh come on Mom! You were thinking it too! Everyone does! Mr. Craffin on the corner said the Avengers were the ones who started the whole thing anyway!"

"And I told you not to talk to Mr. Craffin didn't I?!" The girl pouted at her, crossing her arms petulantly. "Don't you give me that face young lady! It may be true that the Avengers don't do much to protect New York from crimes like this, but that doesn't mean they don't do anything!"

"But Momma," The little boy at the woman's side spoke up, his own chocolate brown eyes looking up imploringly at her. "I heard you talkin' to Mrs. Hillistre about how you wanted the Avengers to do more. And you called them ass-" The woman quickly clamped her hand other the boys mouth.

"Yes, I'm sure I did, but you are not allowed to say that word, even if you're just repeating it. "

"Ha! So you do think the Avengers were buttholes!" The girl cried, excited to have cornered her mother on the subject. Her mother just sighed.

"Fine, I admit, I don't like how the Avengers are doing certain things!" The woman said exasperated, and glanced at Jason apologetically. "Now, quit bothering the young man who just helped us! We need to get home before anything else happens."

"I can walk you if that'll help, or if you want to call the police about these louts I'll stay and do what I can." Jason offered. The woman looked between her two children before giving a sharp nod.

"Yes, that'd probably be for the best, thank you. Calling the police won't do too much good here though, let's just get out of here before they wake up."

"See! He's so much better than the Avengers!" The girl clamored, her steps bouncing her ahead of the little group as the family started moving out of the alley with Jason following along.

~x~

Jason opened the door of his safe house, mind still on the little family he had walked home. The little girl had never stopped bouncing around and asking him questions, completely ignoring the fact that she and her family had been attacked, and as they walked the little boy gained confidence too, coming out of his mother's shadow and joining his sister in interrogating him. If Jason were anyone else he would've called it adorable. The kids seemed set on the idea that he must be some type of superhero and that he was world's better than the Avengers. It wasn't till the kids mother spoke that he learned just how bad it was here, and just how little help people like the woman's family had.

Listening to their story, Jason had to do something. This city might not be his, but it deserved protecting too, and if the Avengers weren't going to do shit about it, then he would.

It was time Red Hood took to the streets.


A/N: So this took a while to write, but it's my longest chapter yet so hopefully that makes up for it! Hopefully you enjoyed this one as much as did and if you did, or didn't, please leave a review!