Author's Note: Woah totally almost forgot it was Thursday! Here ya go! Reviews are always welcome and appreciated!
Red Hood followed Batman, Robin, Nightwing, and Red Robin into the hallway just outside Melody's room. Being surrounded by his estranged family raised his level of alarm. His brain was immediately going into attack and defend mode. He fixated his glare on the third Robin, the Replacement, so he wouldn't have to look at Batman. He leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms, watching the Replacement squirm under his gaze. "No Blondie?" Red Hood asked, noting the absence of Batgirl.
"We sent her home, she has exams," Red Robin explained, clearing his throat.
"Damn, I always like it when she's around. She's got a mouth on her . . . and an ass." Red Hood winked. "Not that you would notice, Little Red. Heard you couldn't even get her out of that suit, not for lack of trying on her end."
Red Robin lunged at him but Nightwing grabbed him before he could make contact. "Red, calm down! He's just trying to bait you into a fight because he's upset."
Nightwing wasn't wrong. Red Hood really, really wanted to punch something.
"Hood, stop picking a fight with Red Robin," Batman growled, the compassionate voice abandoned. "How long have you been seeing this woman?"
"What does it matter to you?" he bit back.
Batman let out an annoyed sound. "I'm just trying to piece together the events of tonight."
"Perhaps I could be of some help with that," a GCPD detective interrupted, flashing is badge. Red Hood recognized him as the detective who had been on duty when he first met Melody. "Detective Blake, pleasure to meet you, though I would've preferred better circumstances." The detective extended a hand and Batman took it.
"What do you know, Detective?"
"Well, Dr. Baker and I met after she was assaulted by a serial rapist and murderer, Chad Hart. The Red Hood and Nightwing were both at the scene that night, if you both recall. Dr. Baker and I were working on putting together a case against Mr. Hart, but I had warned her that it might be dangerous. Hart has serious mob connections and I just found out tonight that he made bail about a week ago. I offered her police protection the last time we met, but she refused." Detective Blake put his face in his hands and let out a long sigh. "I should've pushed her harder towards protection. I should've never asked for her help."
Nightwing placed a reassuring hand on the Detective's shoulder. "You did the best you could, Detective."
"When did this all begin, Detective?" Batman interrupted.
"Oh, around March? It's taking a long time to build this case and make the arrest. A lot of the girls are scared to testify because of what Hart has done to them, so I asked Dr. Baker to help rally them. Finding out she's been attacked is going to scare them off again. And if she . . . if she doesn't make it . . ." Detective Blake trailed off and rubbed his temples.
"And where do you fit into this?" Batman's gaze turned back to Red Hood.
"I've been keeping tabs on her since then. For her safety."
"Stop lying, Hood."
"What do you want me to say, Batsy!?" Red Hood swung his arms wide, opening himself up to attack. "We've been fucking! Is that what you want to hear!? You want to hear that I think I'm in love with her!? Well it's true! We've been fucking since March and I'm in love with her! And now you're going to tell me how stupid I am for getting involved with a civvie or some bullshit, but guess what? I don't give a fuck!" Red Hood pushed his hair out of his face and let out a low chuckle. "And you know what the kicker is? Golden Boy and the Demon Brat knew about it too. So three of us pulled the wool over your eyes for months and that pisses you off!" Red Hood took a challenging step forward but Dr. Kahn opened the door of Melody's room.
"She's starting to wake up, if you wanted to—"
Red Hood didn't wait for the doctor to finish, pushing past him to get to her bedside. Tina was sitting by the window, her knees tucked under her chin. Charlie and Aaron were sitting at the windowsill with Aaron leaning his head on the larger man's shoulder. Red Hood went straight to Melody's bedside, kneeling down next to her and taking her hand again. Her fingers twitched in his hand and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in.
"So you're the guy," Charlie said, staring down at Red Hood from the windowsill. "You're the mystery guy she's been seeing and this is why she couldn't tell us about you."
Red Hood nodded his head, not taking his eyes off of her. "I love her," he said again. Then, Melody's heartbeat picked up, beeping rapidly on the monitor, and her hand squeezed his. Her eyes fluttered open and the doctor rushed to her side. She started choking on the breathing tube, flailing, her hand gripping his so hard it hurt. He brought his other hand up to her head, steadying her, and brought his face into her line of sight. "Shh, Mel, it's okay. Just relax your throat. You're okay," he soothed, stroking her forehead with his thumb. Her panicked blue eyes locked on him and she relaxed, tears leaking out of her eyes.
"Melody," the doctor interrupted, drawing her gaze away from Red Hood. "You have sustained serious injuries from three gunshot wounds in various locations of your body. You can't speak right now because of your breathing tube, but I'm going to ask you a couple questions. Blink once for yes, two for no. Do you understand?"
Melody blinked her eyes once slowly.
"Excellent," the doctor wrote something down on her clipboard. "Do you know where you are?"
She blinked once.
"Okay, and do you remember what happened to you?"
She blinked once.
"Great, you're doing great, Melody. Are you in any pain?"
She blinked one, slow, languid blink.
"Okay, Melody, we're going to give you something for the pain and if you your stats don't change then we'll take out the breathing tube in the morning." The doctor went over to her fluid IV and injected something into it with a syringe.
Red Hood continued to stroke her hair. "I'm going to take care of this. I'm going to make sure no one hurts you ever again. I promise." She blinked twice. Telling him not to go. "It'll be okay. Trust me." Her eyes started to flutter, her heart slowing down, and she fell sound asleep. Red Hood leaned forward and kissed her forehead just as Roy, in his full Arsenal gear, and Starfire knocked on the ICU window. Charlie yelped at the startling sound and fell off the windowsill, taking Aaron down with him, and Red Hood went over to open it and let them in. Starfire flew into the room and released the grip she had on Arsenal. The pair dropped to their feet gracefully.
Arsenal shivered and rubbed his arms, "Damn, I should really invest in a costume with sleeves." Arsenal looked over at Starfire and her outfit with a frown. "How are you not cold?"
"My powers are sourced from pure UV Radiation."
"Right, of course, sunshine." Arsenal took note of his audience, especially Batman's menacing presence, and leaned over to Red Hood. "Dude, what the hell is going on?"
"I'll explain later, but right now I need you and Star to guard this room. Nobody goes in or out except for the people already in here, got it? I'm not risking someone coming back for another shot."
"Got it," Arsenal said with a grin and a salute. "And what are you doing?"
Red Hood grabbed his helmet and secured it into place. "Going to make sure this never happens again."
"Hood," Batman growled warningly, stepping in front of the door.
"You can't stop me," Red Hood challenged, charging up to him.
"You're too close to this case."
"I'm the only one with the right connections to take care of this. Now, move."
The two men stared at each other, wonder what their next move would be. When Batman didn't move, Red Hood reached for the door and shoved past him, leaving the room. Batman turned to look at Nightwing. "Follow him."
Meanwhile, Red Hood met up with Detective Blake out in the waiting room by the vending machine. "I have a question."
"Sure," Detective Blake said.
"I need to know what your people did with the body of the motorcyclist recovered from the crime scene tonight."
"I would imagine he's in the morgue waiting on an autopsy, why?"
"No reason." Red Hood turned and followed the signs for the morgue. As expected, the morgue was empty. He shivered when he entered, both from the cold and from the memories. Well, they weren't exactly memories so much as feelings. He knew if he looked down he would see his own autopsy scars making an upside down wishbone from his collarbone down to his navel. But then he remembered how Melody had kissed those very scars, unflinchingly and with a tenderness he'd never felt before, so he swallowed his fear and started looking for a "John Doe" amongst the drawers. After two drawers he stumbled upon the right one. He could tell that this was his guy because of the four distinct bullet holes in the man's head. He pulled the corpse out and set it on the examination table. He looked around for the tools he needed for the job. He found an abandoned sports bag in one of the open lockers and a saw in the tool case.
Sawing a head off took a lot of work, he knew that from personal experience, but the power saw made things a lot easier. Only a little blood gets on him as he does it, but he ignores it and focuses on the whirring of the saw. Red Hood dropped the severed head into the bag with a cold seriousness and slung it over his shoulder. He checked the time on his helmet. If he drove fast he would just make the end of the meeting. He reached for a cigarette but realized he'd left them in his leather jacket that had been draped around Melody went he brought her in. Damn.
"Wing, I'll let you tag along if you can find me a cigarette in this godforsaken place!" Red Hood called. Nightwing emerged from the shadows sheepishly.
"You know, Baby Bird, I understand that you're dealing with a lot right now but I'm not so sure that decapitation is a very healthy way of getting through this."
Red Hood smirked down at the headless body on the table. "Listen, Big Bird, you have no idea what this feels like right now."
"You do realize Barbara got shot, right?"
"Yeah, and all you did was avoid her afterwards because you were too busy feeling bad for yourself. And Barbie, fucking saint that she is, forgave you for it."
Nightwing glared at him. "Point made, but if you think you're going to bait me into a fight right now you're dead wrong."
"I am dead, Dickie," Red Hood laughed. "Now get out of my way."
"What are you doing with that head, Jason?"
"I have a plan, so are you going to help me or are you going to pussy out?"