Title: knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend
Fandom: DCU animated/Avengers movieverse
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Donne
Warnings: Discussion of death/violence/torture – basically, everything Red Hood and Winter Soldier's respective backstories has.
Pairings: Jimmy/Jason, past-Talia al Ghul/Jason
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 720
Point of view: third
Prompt: Author's choice, author's choice, "I can't tell if I'm the monster or the fighter - or if we are one and the same."
Note: I got the mobster and gang from the DCU wiki. I know nothing about their canon storylines.
Jimmy wakes up to Jason curled around the not-arm and sleeping deeply. He does not understand the comfort Jason derives from the not-arm but he is pleased, nonetheless.
He wants to press a kiss to Jason's forehead, so he does. He then carefully extracts the not-arm from Jason's grip and goes to relieve and then bathe himself.
.
Inzerillo calls around mid-morning to ask why five of his men were executed. Jason is sprawled across the bed having a skype chat with Talia while Jimmy, sitting at the table, reads up on the United States federal laws before he narrows in on New Jersey's state laws.
"You didn't get my message?" Jason says to Inzerillo. They are on speaker, not that Jimmy needed that to hear Inzerillo's side; the asset was given superhuman hearing by Zola.
"You mean… the paper on my desk inside my locked office inside my mansion, the note about human trafficking?" Inerzillo asks. "That was from you?" He sounds frightened. Good.
"Yup, that was me," Jason says cheerfully. "And then to really drive the point home, we dealt with the men who had a shipment. Win-win all around."
"Yes, of course," Inzerillo agrees, trying to sound like he's not afraid. "I'll let my men know."
"You do that," Jason says, grinning. He hangs up and lets the phone fall.
"Jason," Talia says on the screen, "do try not to fuck up."
"I'll do my best, babe. You gonna send any of the League?" He looks over the screen at Jimmy but Jimmy stays focused on his tablet.
"No, I think not," Talia says. "The situation in Laos is quite tenuous and needs a full reckoning. You surely have everything in hand…?"
"Yeah, it's all going swimmingly so far." He smiles at Talia.
"Let me know how Wayne reacts," she requests and then cuts the connection.
"I owe her a lot," Jason says into the silence. "And she's important. But I don't trust her to have my back the way I do you."
Jimmy looks up to meet his eyes. Jason slips off the bed and walks over, pulling the tablet from Jimmy's grip to set it on the table. "I don't trust anyone the way I do you." He leans in for a kiss and then while Jimmy is distracted, lets himself fall into Jimmy's lap, settling his legs on either side.
Kissing is nice; Jimmy had never known it, and Talia taught Jason well. Jimmy rests the not-hand at the small of Jason's back, and his true hand helps Jason remove his shirt, since one of Jason's hands is cupping Jimmy's jaw. "How am I gonna start an empire with you distractin' me all the time?" Jason mumbles, staring down at Jimmy.
Jimmy shrugs. Jason shakes his head, laughing, and then goes in for Jimmy's neck, kissing his way down.
.
The three remaining gangs fall into line swiftly after the Lords of the Avenue lose half their members to a sniper. The mob families take only a few days longer.
It isn't smooth sailing, of course; but Red Hood (and his nameless, utterly terrifying partner) are known as the Joker's Killer and that is a title to fear.
It isn't long until the GCPD have the name Red Hood. It doesn't take a genius to realize, either, that the Red Hood must've been behind the spate of cop killings. Red Hood is suddenly the most wanted man in Gotham, and they don't even know what he looks like.
And Batman – oh, Batman is furious. But no one is going to give up the Red Hood to him because, as everyone knows, Batman doesn't kill.
Red Hood and his shadow do.
Just ask the Joker.
.
It takes four months to consolidate power, with a few cullings here and there. Red Hood hands down mandates – no selling to kids, no pimps taking advantage of their girls or boys, no wiping out families who can't honor deals, and no wars between the respective mobs or gangs. First offenses are fatal.
Three times, Jay and Jim have been where Bruce Wayne was, dressed like rich boys and all over each other. Violence is down, the crime rate is steady, and it might be time…
"Phase Three is a go," Jason says, watching the Batsignal light up the sky.
Time to catch Batman's attention.