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The smoke around the destroyed apartment complex clears, leaving three heroes in shock. The Red Hood statement about crime shook them to their core, seeing how he views criminals. It was simultaneously honest yet disconcerting. Because the main issue of their unease was that the words he had said were very familiar.

Batgirl: "I want to disagree with Hood but on some level, he is correct. The way he said it sounds similar to something HE would say."

Nightwing: "He called me Rachel; none of our enemies know to call me that. He could of said Boy Blunder or Bat-Fake but twice he called me that name."

Batgirl: "During the fight, I caught a glimpse of him fighting the sword ninja. She sliced one his arms and it looks like its still here."

Batman: "It seems we all have the same hunch of who he is. I just hope we're wrong. Let's go."

The Bats retrieve the one of the katanas with Red Hood's blood smeared on it and return to the Bat-cave. Catwoman, Spoiler, Robin & Black Bat meet up inside the cave and are told the events of the night with Red Hood and Black Mask's assassins. The original three Bats maintain silence of the Hood's suspected identity and waits in front of the computer as Batman places the DNA sword in front of the scanner to analyze a match.

Oracle: "Bat-cave to Watchtower. Aqualad, Superman, do you copy?"

Superman: "We read Oracle. Anything to report?"

Oracle: "After defeating the Fearsome Hand of Four, Red Hood escape but we were able to obtain a sample of his DNA. Assemble the rest of the League and the Team to the council room to see the results of the Red Hood's identity."

Aqualad: "Understood. Watchtower out!"

Catwoman: "Why do I get the feeling the three of you know who this new Hood is and your terrified to know you might be right?"

Black Bat: "Pain in your hearts?"

Meanwhile in the Watchtower, every hero in the orbiting satellite is getting impatient to finding out who this villain is. Team members who fought against the Hood are claiming to be ready for another fight while League members are ready to turn him into the authorities. However one Amazon has this distinct feeling in her heart that finding out who he is may destroy them. The results of the test-

Black Mask: "Son-of-a… are you telling me that scumbag stole my guns? Again!"

Ms. Li: "No sir; he destroyed them. Blew up the truck, the drivers."

Black Mask: "Damn it. Of all the… DAMN IT!"

Ms. Li: "Previously he was just enlisting the province to come work for him. Now he just seems to be killing them."

Black Mask: "Oh, so we got another Batman? One who doesn't mind the blood?"

Ms. Li: "No sir, he's no Batman. He's still taking huge cuts from off the streets. But now he's eliminating the competition. He seems to be coming after you."

One of his henchman coughs and Sionis flips his desk out of rage.

Black Mask: "You wanna tell me why this guy ain't dead?"

Ms. Li: "We're trying. We sent the Fearsome Hand of Four."

Black Mask: "Four? Guess the ninja turtles are gonna need a new name. Why hasn't Batman wiped this little smear off the face of the planet?"

Ms. Li: "Maybe he doesn't want to. Perhaps he's letting you and the Red Hood war it out. He could be waiting…"

Black Mask: "To take on the winner? What do you think this is: A tennis tournament?"

Ms. Li: "I'm just saying-"

Black Mask: "You're an idiot and you don't know Batman. He's not letting this lunatic just run wild; he can't catch him either. Or its something else. Can't you feel it? We're stuck in the damn crossfire."

While Roman is thinking, he glances down his white suit to see a red dot moving up to his forehead. Outside across his building, he sees the Red Hood armed with rocket launcher, waving at him.

Black Mask: "Ah hell!"

Roman starts running to the front of his office, knocking down his associates trying to escape the impending blast.

Red Hood: "Wow; he can really move fast when he wants to."

The rocket shoots straight to Roman's office and destroys most of the room with the entrance door almost hitting both Black Mask and Ms. Li. Roman decides that drastic actions calls for drastic measures: there is only one man crazy enough to handle this new Hood: the original.

Simultaneously at the Bat-cave and the Watchtower, the results of the DNA scan complete with one match: Jason Todd. The sound metal hits the ground the heroes inside the cave glance to see Alfred in shock. Both parties are shocked at this revelation. In both locations there is an ongoing outcry of this, questioning how is Jason really alive and if the results were wrong. At the same time some members such as Donna, Barbara, Dick, Tim and Bruce are not sure how to react: on one hand it is unsure to feel happy that Jason has been brought back from the dead. The other hand is concerned of how Jason has fallen from grace and turned into the very thing heroes fight. All the noise quiets down as Bruce lays his orders:

Batman: "Superboy & Red Arrow: you two rendezvous with Robin to Cadmus and find out if this is just a clone of the original."

Red Arrow: "Roger that."

One hour later Red Arrow, Superboy and Robin reported that Jim Harper, Dr. Amanda Spence and the genomorph Dubbilex confirmed that there had been no attempt to clone the once-deceased Robin. Superboy also got a confession from Lex Luthor that the Light had no involvement in Jason's transition to Red Hood but Batman was unconvinced of this. Outside Wayne Manor at the cemetery, Bruce Wayne, along with his family, uses a crane to unearth the coffin of Jason Todd. Once they remove the dirt surrounding the coffin, they spot a hole within the middle of the wooden casket. Even with the hole, Bruce opened the remainder of the casket; he was livid.

Bruce: "Lex's alibi was false. The Light did take Jason's body!"

Dick: "Bruce, you have to calm down."

Selina: "He's right; honey please-"

Bruce: "How stupid was I to-"

Barbara (slaps Bruce in the back of the head): "Bruce, listen to us! If you can rationalize your thoughts for one moment, you'll realize that the Light didn't resort to grave-robbing Jason's body. Think for a second: you placed sensors to go off if someone tried to dig into his grave. In all the six years he was gone, not a single alarm went off. Why is that?"

Tim: "Oh my god! He crawled out of his own grave."

Not wasting time, Bruce entered back into the mansion and made his way to the cave.

Alfred: "Master Bruce, you can't blame yourself."

Bruce: "In the six years he was gone, it was stupid and careless of me not to check on his grave every year for something like this."

Selina: "Bruce, remember how distraught you were; how we all were. It was the never the right time to-"

Bruce: "STUPID & CARELESS!"

Alfred: "Where are you even going?"

Batman: "Lex said the Light wasn't responsible, but I'm going to talk to the man who I know is responsible for this."

In a secret temple in Tibet, the leader of the League of Shadows is with his daughter in his study and makes his way to the window. He senses a foul presence among them and motions Talia to be ready when an arm shoots through the window and brings outside the room. The Dark Knight, in a furious manner, threatens to dislocate or remove his shoulder if he didn't get answers. Talia had called off security to entertain their "guest."

Batman: "What did you two do to Jason?"

Talia: "Actually beloved, the correct question is what did we do for Jason?"

Batman: "Start talking!"

Ra's: "Very well. Before our deal with the Reach, do you recall our last encounter? Primarily, Jason's last mission as Robin?"

Batman: "Yes; the last shred of evidence into finding the original Roy Harper."

Ra's: "Due to Talia's interference for your affection, Cheshire's tip and the resulting information Jason found had you all one step closer to finding the original Speedy in Rhelesia. At the time, the Light still needed Mr. Harper for our own agenda. So to distract you all from Speedy's relocation, we hired the Joker. It was supposed to be a simple operation but we underestimated our ability to control him. He was supposed to have coincidentally stumbled across the sidekicks in that facility; we were unaware that he switched places with the reject Shadow-turned-Clayface and went to Ethiopia. You, Jason & Miss Haywood were another fluke to happen; once we located him, we had a double agent working as a member of Joker's hired guns. Then he murdered the boy and that vile woman."

Talia: "His madness is the very reason the Light hasn't hired him in recent years."

Batman: "You two have never shied away from spilt blood."

Ra's: "True, but all that you mentioned was for a necessary purpose. Jason was an unneeded, unwanted casualty. We, as a group, decided to keep away from you or your family."

Batman: "And yet you still desecrated his grave and eluded my alarms, making as though his corpse escaped on his own."

Talia (smirking): "I don't know if this denial coursing through you, but whenever there is a topic about Jason, you are always wrong with your assumptions beloved. As my father said, we made no attempts on his body. Two years later, one of my agents found him and brought him to us. We were fascinated about his revival, though he wasn't able to provide any explanations: his mind was gone. To save the boy from his suffering, we placed him in the Lazarus Pit restoring his mind."

Ra's: "In an uncommon fashion, he wasn't subjected to temporary insanity from emerging the Pit; it actually restored his clarity. When he asked us what became of you all, he was tormented with multiple emotions of you not avenging his death and allowing the Joker to live. He asked for training and we gave him every resource possible. As of now, he is a reserve member of the League of Shadows and an honorably-discharged member of the All-Caste."

Talia: "We hear you've been having trouble with him lately. Like you before, he has accepted the Shadows notion of theatricality. We have returned your son to you, yet in his opinion you never had that right to label him that. Jason has also revealed to us the secret of his revival, one that you would find most-"

Both members turn their back away from the World's Greatest Detective for one moment and in another, in true fashion, he has disappeared. Though disappointed of his rude behavior, Talia is sure to see Bruce again soon, for there is one last secret concerning the Bat that resides among the Shadows.

In Arkham Asylum, home of many Gotham's criminally insane, the Black Mask arranges a meeting inside the Warden's office, courtesy of corrupt guards currently employed there. In the office with his assistant, the person opposite of him, is experiencing free motion in weeks. The man who is sure to eliminate the Red Hood from ruling Gotham: the Clown Prince of Crime.

Black Mask: "I hope you understand the trouble I've gone through to arrange this little get together, a lot of money, a lot of dead meat, I've got a problem and you are absolutely the man who possesses the gifts to take care of that problem, I need you to murder the Red Hood, you think you can handle that?"

Joker: [Joker is eating a packet of chips and coughs] "May I have some water?"

[One of Black Mask's agents gets him a glass of water, Joker breaks it over the end of the table and shoves it in the agent's throat, takes his gun and shoots the other agents, Black Mask stares down the barrel of the gun as Joker laughs maniacally]

Joker: "I'm gonna need something to wave and a very big truck."

Black Mask: "Sure, anything else?"

Joker: "I'll gonna need some guys, not these guys because well they're kind of dead."

The Joker continues to laugh and Roman begins to suspect that this wasn't the brightest idea to employ the services of the clown. He would regret this decision for the rest of his life.

AN: The next chapter will be the final chapter of this arc. Stay tuned.