I can't believe so many people thought the Batman-Red Hood interaction last chapter was believable (I feel whenever those two meet they should be fighting or yelling at each other, neither of which happened, so I still feel it was OOC-but thank you for enjoying it nonetheless!)


Dick wasn't sure if he was more shocked that Jason actually did have a sidekick (rumors weren't supposed to be true! His whole life felt like a lie now...) or the fact it was a young girl. He enlisted Oracle's help tracking down where they were staying, determined to speak to this 'sidekick' himself.

It was one thing for him, or Cass, or even Damian to fight crime as vigilantes, it was another altogether when street kids got into the life-even more so if their 'mentor' was a criminal (and he hated calling his brother that).

Babs got lucky three days later when a traffic cam picked up Jason in civilian clothes crossing the street with a child half his size. She was able to follow them several more blocks before they disappeared. From there she narrowed down the places they'd go from known past hideouts Jason had used and suspicious new ones that popped up: rented over the phone, never home, always paid cash through the mail, those types of things.

She located the last of them and sent the list off to Dick with a sigh. She stretched her arms over her head before turning her wheelchair towards the bedroom, she wanted to get some sleep now just in case something came up later that night and Oracle was needed.

Nightwing would just have to do all the foot work for his little mission himself.


That night Red Hood didn't patrol. Instead Jason opened the window, grabbed a beer, and waited.

Earlier that day Ryder had been eating her Cheerios when all of a sudden she just froze for a moment. Snapping out of it quickly, she rose to her feet, grabbed her bag of dice, reached in, took two, and set them on the side table next to the couch. She then went back to her cereal as if nothing had happened.

Jason followed her with his eyes the whole time, darting back to look at the colored dice sitting innocently next to the couch. One red, one blue.

Looks like he'd finally be getting rid of the brat.


Later on that night Nightwing poked his head in the open window apprehensively, "This isn't some kind of trap, is it?"

Half of him wasn't expecting an answer and the other half was expecting an untruthful one.

"Course it is, why else would I leave the window open just for you?" His brother's tone was sarcastic, untruthful then.

Nightwing enters gracefully, "You knew I was coming?"

The TV that was being used for channel surfing clicked off. Jason stayed reclined on the couch as movement and a flash of reddish-brown out of the corner of his eye caught Nightwing's attention. A closer inspection revealed it to be the sidekick-Ryder, Batman said was her name-and not reddish-brown, red and brown.

"She did."

Confusion clouded the acrobat's features as the child approached him. "Hello Ryder, my name is Nightwing. I'm Jason's brother," mentioned man snorts and Nightwing chooses to ignore it. "How did you know I was coming?"

She had reached him and he knelt down to her eye level. The young child repeated her normal routine before declaring him "...safe," then went back to her dice she had set up at the kitchen table next to her worn suitcase.

"You're blue," Jason helpfully provides, knowing Ryder wouldn't say anything.

Nightwing's confused face turns towards Jason, "Huh?"

The younger man tips his bottle towards the pair of dice next to him. "I'm red; you're blue."

"O...kay?"

"She doesn't talk, uses her dice instead."

Dick sort of understood. "And the 'safe' thing? You said she can't talk."

"Doesn't. Doesn't talk," he corrects.

"Fine, sorry. She 'doesn't talk,' but can say safe. What's with that?"

"Don't know. I'm safe so it's got nothing to do with killing or refusing to do so."

"...and what happens if someone isn't whatever 'safe' means to her?"

Jason takes a long swig of his beer, stalling. "Don't know. She shot the last two though."

"What?!" Of course the golden boy would freak out.

"Stop freaking out. I'm the one who finished them off."

"That-! That doesn't make it better! What the hell Jason! You can't go dragging children into our line of work!"

That pissed him off. Rising to his feet Jason glared down his 'brother,' silently thanking the growth spurt that gave him two inches on the older man. "You think I purposefully brought her into all this crap?! That I force her to stay around?! Hell, I can't get rid of her! And I don't even want to anymore!" Shit. Did he really think that? He's been planning to pawn the kid off on Dick since the beginning, did he change his mind somewhere along the line? Fuck, just gonna ignore it and think about this complicated shit later. "I've lost count of how many times she's save my ass!" Luckily Dick didn't seem to notice Jason's slip up with showing feelings.

The tension in the room could be cut with a knife, not that a certain brunette cared about that as she walked between the two and stopped in front of Jason. She held out a plain white die and waited for him to take it, as she knew he would.

Nightwing just looks confused, having no idea what she's doing (apparently that was his default emotion for the night), but Jason, having lived with her for nearly two months, doesn't bat an eye as he holds out his hand for the child to put the dice into.

"You saved my life five times huh? ...wait a minute. Are you counting the time a that one apartment with the faulty wiring and you hit me with a 2x4?" She only blinks at the accusation, the tiniest hint of a smile on her face. "Don't laugh at me, Brat!"

Nightwing just observes them. Batman was right, Ryder was cute...or rather, her interactions with Jason were. He let a smile settle on his face, not daring to make any sound that might ruin the moment.

Jason handed the white die back to its owner and she grabbed the red and blue ones as well before turning towards Nightwing. Offering him a piece of paper she pulled from her pocket before heading back to the kitchen.

The kevlar clad man unfolds the note and reads it out loud, "'More than I but less than You...' What is this?"

"Oh, huh, didn't know she could write."

"You know what this is, Jason?"

"Riddle-courtesy of the Riddler. He's the one that blew up that warehouse last week."

Nightwing looked a tad bit shocked at that.

"...You assumed I blew it up, didn't you?"

"Heh, heh...noooo." He couldn't meet the taller's gaze.

Jason just deadpans. "You're a terrible liar, you know that?"

Nightwing's shoulders slump a little, "I have been told that, yes."

"Whatever." He changes the subject, "She's all yours."

"...what do you mean?" And back to the confusion.

"I'm tired of playing house with the kid. The plan all along was for you to take her-so take her."

"Not that I mind, but what do you expect me to do with her?"

"Don't know. Nor do I particularity care."

"...Alright."

As they finished talking Ryder walked back in, suitcase all packed, and stood in front of Jason, "Tch." Saying 'goodbye' seemed lame, "Take care of yourself, kid." And with a final ruffle of her hair, she trotted over to Nightwing. The two exited the same way the vigilante had come-through the window.

After they left, and Jason was left alone with his thoughts in a much too quiet apartment, he remembered something that had him throwing the empty beer bottle across the room as a scowl adorned his face. "God dammit!"

He had forgotten to get Ryder Fruity Pebbles to torture Dick with.


This got to be a tad longer than I originally intended, so I cut it off earlier than I was planning (plus I need to rethink what happens next chapter because Dick lives in Bludhaven-he just visits Gotham occasionally).

And, unfortunately, there will be no new chapter next week. I caught a cold and haven't been able to find motivation to write anything. Hopefully, once I stop depleting the world of its kleenex, my motivation will return.