In less than half an hour all three of us stood atop Wayne Tower, waiting for conformation from Alfred as to our target. The sound and sights of police cars and ambulances lit up the sky and I felt adrenaline pump through me. Earlier Tim had surprised me with a gift from Batman himself, a Kevlar reinforced outfit similar to my own, the cape felt a little heavier but not enough to affect my balance and to my surprise he also gave me my own dark purple utility belt. When I had questioned the Batman's sudden change of heart, Tim had merely said that although he didn't like the fact that I was out in the field, he didn't want me to be more vulnerable than I needed to be. I raised my eyebrow at that but said nothing, ultimately happy to receive the gift. Jason checked his pistols again, it was clear that he was eager to join the fight like the rest of us.
Suddenly Tim stiffened and placed one finger to his communicator, listening intently. "Understood, good luck at there Batman. Red Robin out." He turned to us, "Okay so due to the fact there is so many villains on the run, we're all spread a bit thin so we have all been allocated one villain. Red Hood, Victor Fries has been located by the east harbor, Midnight, Harley Quinn has hijacked a train which will be at Central Station in about twenty minutes, Batman has assured me that the Joker is elsewhere and Nightwing and Batgirl are working on taking him down."
Jason grinned, "I've been itching to fight Fries ever since I took down that assassin from the court of owls." He took out his grappling hook and walked over to me, pulling me into a kiss, I embraced him tightly, enjoying the feel of his lips on mine. Finally he pulled back and whispered, "Be careful, I want to continue this later." He winked at me with a crooked smile on his face and then he jumped off the tower, heading towards the harbour.
I turned back towards Tim who was staring at me and in the silence I remembered to ask, "Who have you been allocated?" Tim hesitated and studied me for a moment before finally stating, "Two-Face." We both stared at each other for a moment before I reluctantly nodded; a tightness rising in my chest, knowing that after all we went through to get that bastard in jail had all been for naught made me furious. But I couldn't let myself dwell on that, I had a job to do and if I abandoned it, people would die, so I simply nodded and jumped off the building, letting myself fall for a moment before using my grappling hook to propel me towards Central Station. On my way there I spotted Huntress fighting Killer Croc, I admired her fluid movements as she dodged his on-coming blows, maybe one day I would pay her a visit and ask for some fighting tips.
Finally I arrived at Central Station, I looked up at the clock, I still had five minutes to prepare. Looking around I found a high vantage point to perch myself upon, I was fully aware that there was a possibility that the train wouldn't stop and I would have to launch myself onto the moving vehicle, not my favourite pastime, but it would have to do. I looked through my utility belt until I found a strong magnet with a handle connected to it, this would allow me to stick to the top of the train when I hit it.
Finally after five minutes exactly I heard the sound of the oncoming train and I crouched, preparing to jump, as soon as the train passed where I was I launched myself on top of the train. I grunted as I made impact with it but gave myself a mental high-five that I hadn't just slid right off. After a moment I slowly forced myself to stand, glad that the tunnel allowed that and swung myself down so that I could see inside the train but also remain in the shadows. Luckily enough the first carriage I looked in was the one with Harley in. My stomach twisted into a knot as I saw the man who lay dead on one of the seats. There was at least thirty people in the carriage and Harley stood in the centre of them all with a massive smile on her face which caused she held an AK-47, she had taken all the valuables off of the passengers, but it appeared that the reason they all remained alive was that she wanted to ransom the off for more money. Rage bubbled within myself and I noticed as I looked across in the carriage that a girl around my age was staring at me, she looked terrified. I smiled slightly, winking, trying to give her some comfort. I think I saw a spark of hope flicker in her eyes which was replaced with fear as her eyes turned back to Harley. I moved myself along the train so that Harley was directly in front of me and I pulled myself on top of the train and I took a deep breath, praying that this would work. I swung down, kicking the glass of the train window as hard as I could, relief flooded through me as it shattered and I was flung into the carriage, knocking down a very startled Harley Quinn. Without giving her a chance to recover, I grabbed the gun from her grasp and tossed it down to the other end of the train and pulled out my own pistol, pressing in hard to her forehead.
"Oh look you're the brat that ruined Mister J's fun. Go away girly, I'm workin here." She said in a whiny voice, squirming beneath me and I pressed the gun harder to her.
"Shut up or I'll put a bullet through your brain." I growled through my gritted teeth, I didn't know why I was hesitating. I should have just pulled the trigger then and there but I looked forward and the girl from earlier was standing there, staring at me again. No I couldn't kill Harley in front of all these people; they had already seen far too much blood bloodshed tonight. I hit her in the temple with the butt of my pistol, knocking her out and then tied her to a centre poll in the train carriage. Finally I wiped the sweat from my forehead, allowing myself to sigh in relief that that was over. I stood and noticed that everyone was staring at me, I wasn't used to this much attention from civilians when I was in costume, I fought in the shadows, I doubted any of them even knew who I was.
I pressed my hand to my earpiece, trying to ignore them, "Batman?" I asked, there was a short before he briefly barked back;
"Report."
"Harley's been dealt with and before you start accusing me, she's unconscious, not dead so don't get angry." I said bitterly. "Anywhere else I can help out?""
"No, we've got it under control, go home. Batman out." Came my sharp reply and I sighed, exasperated then muttered;
"Roger that, Midnight out." I turned around and walked over to the body which lay slumped on the ground, crouching down, I examined it. The man was in his late twenties; his fearful, glassy eyes stared up at me. I pulled down his eyelids so he looked like he was merely sleeping. My stomach knotted as I saw the gold wedding ring he wore on his left hand.
I stood up, glaring at Harley, "Fucking psychopath, I hope you rot in Arkham." I muttered under my breath. I turned to the crowd, "Is the driver still alive?" I asked loudly and I received a few nods. "If she wakes up, knock her out." I said, pointing to Harley before walking into the set of carriages that would lead me to the driver cabin, making a quick call to the police to let them know Harley had been taken care of. As I walked I noticed the sound of footsteps behind me, I whirled around, pulling my pistols out, aiming them at the person who was following me.
"Don't shoot!" cried the girl from earlier, her hands raised in the air. I relaxed, putting my pistols back in their holsters. I studied the girl; she was quite thin with brown hair and dark chocolate coloured eyes.
"You shouldn't sneak up on me like that." I said, continuing my walk, she followed me.
"I'm sorry, I'm just curious." She replied rather bluntly and I looked back, raising a questioning eyebrow. Noticing that I wasn't going to say anything she continued, "How does someone your age become a hero?"
I stopped suddenly and turned around, the girl almost bumped into me. "What's your name?" I asked her.
"Emily."
"Well Emily, let's get one thing straight, I am no hero. I'm far from it. As to how I became what I am, let's just say when all the hope that was in my life was stripped away from me, an opportunity occurred." I said, and she frowned, apparently not at all satisfied with my answer. I could see a form of admiration and envy within the girls expression but I ignored her and made my way to the driver's cabin opening up the door.
"Harley Quinn has been dealt with, you can stop at the next station." I said to the terrified driver who nodded and fiddled with the controls, I walked back into the next carriage and heard Jason in my ear.
"I'm done with Fries, I'll meet with you at the train stop". I smiled, glad to hear that his mission had been a success.
"Sure, see you there Red Hood." I replied, and started to walk back walking back to where Harley was.
"You know the Red Hood?" The girl asked in a surprised voice, "I thought he was just a myth."
"He's as real as they get, he's my partner, he helped train me." I muttered in reply and Emily picked up on the fact that I wasn't in the mood for a conversation. She was silent for the rest of the train ride but she stayed by my side. Finally the train stopped and all the passengers rushed to get out. We were greeted by police officers who immediately took Quinn into custody. I spotted Jason in the nearby shadows and I rushed up to meet him.
"How was Fries?" I asked briefly, He took off his red helmet so that I could see his face, all but his eyes which were hidden by his domino mask.
"Wasn't even a challenge, his suit had been damaged and so he was a little warmer than usual." He grinned and then looked over to where Harley was, "Seems like she wasn't a problem either."
I frowned, "She'd already murdered a man by the time I'd gotten there, he had a wife." I said quietly and Jason nodded, understanding.
"You saved many more in the end." He simply said and I slowly nodded. "Let's get out of here." He continued and just before we left I turned to see Emily smiling and waving at me. I grinned and then allowed Jason's strong arm to wrap around my waist as he propelled us up a nearby building. Within half an hour we were back at our apartment in crime alley.
I walked into my bedroom, pulling off my mask and cape, throwing them on my dresser, I sat down and took off my boots and by the time I had undressed to just my dark red underwear, I heard my door open and I jumped, startled to see Jason standing there, shirtless, in black boxer shorts.
I smiled, remembering his comment he had made to me earlier in the night and walked over to embrace him. His strong arms held me as my lips pressed hard onto his, his tongue entering my mouth. I pushed him onto the bed, crashing down with him and his fingers immediately moved to my bra, undoing its clasp at the back and tossing it aside. I slid my fingers down and pulled his pants down, while he did the same to me. Finally he pulled back, breathlessly and said "Do you want to do this?"
"Yes." I replied instantly and he ran from the room, returning soon after with protection. I pulled him back into the kiss, curling my fingers into his hair as he entered me. I gasped with pleasure and I could feel him smile in our kiss. He gripped me tight as he removed himself and entered again, a moan of pleasure escaping his lips. I loved him and he loved me and that was all that mattered in the world.
A while later, I lay in his arms in bed, I could hear Jason's heartbeat as he slept. This was the most at peace I had felt in such a long time, since before my parents were killed. The wound that man had given me in the alley way stung and I realised that I needed to change the dressing. Careful not to wake Jason, I tiptoed and put on my underwear, before walking to the bathroom. I was glad to see that the wound had already begun to heal and there was no sign of infection at all. Damian knew what he was doing. I walked to the kitchen and cried out as I saw a man standing there, looking in to our fridge. Jason was there beside me in a moment, his boxer shorts were thankfully on and a pistol was raised in his right hand but he soon lowered it as we both realised who the intruder was.
"Come on Roy, at least knock." The red-headed archer looked at us sheepishly and shrugged.
"I was hungry and needed a place to crash, Kori's up on the roof." He said and then he paused as his eyes landed on me. I realised that I was in only my underwear and I quickly snatched one of Jason's shirt's from a nearby pile of laundry, pulling it on.
"Wait." Roy said, looking between the two of us. "You guys had sex?"
Jason sighed putting his hand on his face, "Roy…just go get Kori…" he groaned, annoyed at his friend.
"You know what; I had enough of this for tonight." I said, to Jason, I need sleep and I walked back to my room, allowing Jason to have some privacy with his old friends.