Here's a little bit more for you faithful readers.

3rd POV

Jason looks around, checking if anyone is in his area. But there's nothing at this time of night. He jumps the fence and starts jogging passed stone after stone. He comes to the one he's looking for.

'Mom..' He kneels next to it. 'It's happening Mom. I'm ready. He's hurt enough people..'

The graveyard is silent.

'He's not going to make this city suffer anymore. And I'm not going to stand by and keep my toes off the line.' His attention is diverted to the base of the stone. There are pieces of white paper, dirtied over time by the wind spraying particles over it. He picks one up. 'Lucy..' She's still been coming here.

He looks up. There's a grave right next to it. He hasn't come here in the past years because he was too busy. But he sees his own grave, where his friend and family think he is.

And just like his mother's, there are letters at the base; three of them. Only his are in envelopes signed to him. He stands up and walks over to them. He picks them up. Her handwriting has gotten neater over the years, if that was even possible.

He looks at the engraving they had hid.

-In memory of a son, brother, and boyfriend who left the world too soon-

He tried to keep Lucy out of mind. He doesn't want her to get caught up in this. But seeing how she hasn't forgotten him, he's now toying with the idea of seeing her again.

He takes the letter back to his place. Unlocking his helmet, he sets it next to him. The first letter is on the bottom. He opens it up and reads:

Dear Jason,

I guess you already know about my family's tradition, so happy birthday. I miss you. I know it's been about three months, but the ache hasn't changed.

I wonder if it ever will. The school year has come to a close, and summer is upon me. The blue rose you gave me is still perfect.

I don't have too much to say here. Everyone misses you. Bruce is still more broody than usually.

..I love you Jason.

More than I had time to tell you,

-Lucy Blake

Jason puts the letter down. He picks up the second one. It's about the end of her junior school year, thinking about graduating without him, starting to get ready to go to college. He reads through the many things she wanted to tell him, and he actually laughs a tiny bit before steeling himself again.

He puts that letter down and finds the last one. This one, he reads carefully, because it was written no less than four months ago. He stops and stares at one statement though.

Since I'll be going to the University of Gotham, I wanted to get out of my parents' house. So Bruce offered to let me stay at the manor.

'She lives with Bruce?' Jason asks himself.

Lucy was working on her college assignments after Nightwing left. But after she finished the second one, she wondered when they would get back. She walked down to the Batcave and found it empty. She curls up on the chair to wait and ends up falling asleep.

The batmobile roars into the cave, followed by Nightwing's bike. Lucy wakes up and rubs her eyes. "How did it go?" She asks.

Bruce takes off his cowl and walks over to her, not making a move to reply.

"As expected," Nightwing says for him, "it's Gotham, there's mystery." Lucy moves away from the computer so Bruce can take a seat. "This bit of intel is what brought me to town," Nightwing says as he takes his place next to Bruce, "Good thing I've always had perfect timing." He plugs a flash drive into the computer console. "Take a look."

A video appears on the screen. It pauses and zooms in on someone running on the rooftops. Lucy stares at the figure in the red helmet.

"I got this shot from a snitch. He says this guy's been making some serious moves."

"Who is he?" Lucy asks, at a loss.

"The Red Hood," Bruce answers.

"Might be, he bares a resemblance to the original," Nightwing comments as Bruce types away. He brings up more pictures of past Red Hoods, including the one that Joker was for a short while.

"Several criminals have utilized this persona," Bruce states, filling Lucy in.

"One criminal of particular interest though, huh?" Nightwing asks.

"Who?" Lucy asks. But her question goes unheard.

"But he's locked up," Nightwing continues.

"Not his MO, either," Bruce adds, "there's been an uptake in heavy trafficking, but crime is down."

Alfred walks over with a tray, "Indeed it is. Master Bruce got almost three hour's sleep in the last two days." Nightwing pours some sugar into a cup. "True busman's holiday," Alfred quips.

"But he is locked up, like, a lot locked up," Nightwing reminds, stirring his cup. Alfred moves to Lucy next, who takes a cup and lets it warm her hands. It's always cold in the Cave. "Maybe we should go for a visit."

"To who?" Lucy asks.

"The Joker." Nightwing looks from Bruce's empty chair to the Batmobile. "Could you just once say 'let's get in the car'?" Nightwing asks, jogging to the Batmobile, "is that so hard?"

He leaps over Bruce's side and into the passenger seat. The Batmobile races out of the cave. Lucy stares after them. 'The Joker.'

At Arkham Asylum, down countless stairs, through hundreds of hallways, and behind fortified doors, one pale faced maniac looks back and forth between the two masked heroes.

He is the first to break the silence. "You look good, been working out?" The two don't even blink. "You could use a little sun. Then again.. Who am I to talk?" He belts out a string of laughs.

Batman waits until he calms down a little, "He's calling himself the Red Hood," he explains, placing a picture on the table. Joker looks at it a moment. "What do you know about it?"

"That he has horrible taste," Joker comments, "When I wore that number it was flashy. More materdie than motorcycle fetish. ..Ohh, these kids today."

"If you're behind this in any way," Nightwing warns, leaning forward and pointing his finger at Joker, "we will find out. You're not-"

"Oh bird boy, you're so much less fun now," Joker interrupts, "all grown up and in your big boy pants. ..Still.." he thinks aloud, looking at Batman, "better off than his replacement, right?" Batman doesn't show any emotion, but he's raging just passed the surface. "Hard to be tough in the yuks when you're worm food.." Joker continues.

Batman reaches across the table and yanks Joker by his chains. He hits the door. Batman picks him up by his neck and pins him to the wall, glaring like he could burn a hole in his head.

Joker's feet aren't even touching the floor. "You gonna do it this time?" Joker asks, smiling, "Or are you just going to put me in another body cast for six months?" He continues to smile, while trying to breathe.

Batman seriously considered squeezing hard enough. Nightwing stands behind him, ready in case he's needed. He starts to reach out when he thinks Batman was going to, but then he lets go. Joker hits the floor with a hard thud.

Joker takes a moment to regain even breathing."..So disappointing. But, back to the matter at hand." He looks up at Batman, "This new hoodie. You really think I would stir up so much trouble, and not make sure you knew it was me?" Joker starts laughing again.

Batman stares him down, realizing he was right. He walks out of the room, Nightwing on his heels. Joker stays on the floor, laughing his head off. 'It isn't Joker. It can't be Black Mask. So who on Earth is the Red Hood?'

Jason going to the cemetery might be a little OOC, I know. But it leads up to something later.

I might get another chapter out today, I might not.

~CtW