NOVEMBER 15.
Gotham.
"No ma'am—" for the seventeenth time— "I cannot bring you more than your rationed amount of food," Jason rubbed his temples.
"It's not my goddamn fault the fucking cat eats it—"
"—Ma'am please watch your language—"
"—Jason!"
He jumped when Stephanie shouted in his ear.
"Ow— Spoiler— aliases over comms, even when you're in the tower," he snapped over the old woman still talking next to him. "What?!"
"Bats wants an update on how city patrol is."
"It's fine," he muttered angrily.
There was a pause. "Ok, he wants to know if you've taken a break this week."
"I am a little busy at the moment!" He snapped again, but took a deep breath to steady himself. It wasn't easy, being the one Bruce hovered over. He wondered how Dick had done it for all these years. "Tell him to lay off, I'll be fine."
"You tell him to lay off," Spoiler muttered. "I don't need both of you snipping at me."
"Oh, well then, stop bothering me."
"You can't tell me to stop bothering you!" the old woman cried, aghast, and Jason groaned as he muted his comm for a moment.
"Not you, ma'am. But seriously, I can't help you. So stop bothering me."
"Clearly running city patrol is agreeing with you," Steph told him. "I'll relay your message, sir." She fell silent.
"Damn it Steph— Spoiler—" he groaned.
"Watch your language," the old woman muttered. Jason sighed quietly, and then turned back to her.
"Mrs. Grant. Rations are distributed at the same time and place every single day, you know that. No special cases. I can't help you. Good day ma'am." He walked off. It was stressful enough, taking on city patrol, without the rest of them hanging over him. But the new rule was comms on at all times; they didn't need a repeat of the Arkham bridge incident. Information had to travel to everyone as quickly as possible.
"Someone's grumpy," Kate observed. Jason reluctantly unmuted his comm again.
"Do I give myself away too much?" He mused.
"Nah, I like being able to read you easily. If you're unpredictable, you're dangerous. At least we can tell when something's pissing you off." She quipped.
"Yeah, well. I'm still getting used to haggling with old women about food rations." He rubbed his forehead. His hair had gotten longer, falling over the scarlet diamond mask hiding his eyes. Since he'd taken over leading patrols in the civilian side of Gotham, he found having a faceless helmet over his features all the time was off-putting to the masses. Still, he felt exposed.
"That's mostly what work is these days," Damian spoke up. He was far below Jason's feet, trudging through the muck and the dark in the sewers, his voice laced with static over the comm.
"Yeah, ever since we had to cut the rations from the depleted supply and destroyed transport trucks," Kate agreed, "a lot of crabby, hungry people. At least we don't have to deal with them on supply, even though the guys from the GCPD do their fair share of complaining."
"Well, Ivy says harvest will be soon. She keeps reminding me that what she does with plants is not in fact magic, and she can only do so much. She mostly complains that the soil acidity is shit, and it's more difficult to get large yields. After all, she's working with what little space she has at the Gotham botanical gardens and parks, and not lush acres of farmland. Funny, it never seemed to stop her from growing monstrous plants all over the city before…"
"At least City Patrol has been mostly quiet," Steph said conversationally. "I think people have relaxed again, since we haven't seen a Joker attack in months. Doesn't exactly put me at ease, but when are we ever anymore?"
"Yeah, aren't you supposed to be on your break?" Damian responded. "If you're not going to rest, you can tag in for me at any time."
"Trade places with you in the sewer?" She snorted. "Fat chance."
"What about me then, huh?" Jason cried. "Wasn't Batman all concerned if I got some rest this week? Ivy's already turned in for the night, I'd rather be with her than duking it out with old ladies over cat food."
"I'm sure you would, Red Hood," Kate snorted. "Maybe I'll go pay Ivy a visit…"
"You and Ivy would make more sense than Red Hood and Ivy," Stephanie agreed, and Jason groaned loudly.
"Professional conversation over comms," Bruce said quietly as he connected to the comm line, and they all simultaneously cried out in protest.
"Of course father swoops in to save you," Damian smirked, the expression audible in his voice.
"Only 'cause he hates that yet another one of you has fallen victim to a Gotham City Siren," Steph muttered. Bruce grunted.
"Robin, have you found the connecting tunnel yet?" he asked. Batman was never very talkative, but he'd grown even less so over the past few months. He'd been locked away in the labs day and night, tirelessly working with the haggard staff of scientists on a cure, to little avail. The family didn't see much of him anymore, the running of the city left to Selina and Jason, alongside Jim Gordon and the GCPD.
"No. We've covered most of the south side of Uptown, though; we have to be getting close," Robin told him evenly. He kept his stoic demeanor as always, but the others could tell how much his father's withdrawal had left him reeling. Not to mention Batgirl's death and Nightwing's fall from grace just before. It'd shaken all of them, the remaining members left to pick up the pieces and carry on.
"Keep us posted." Batman's comm line went dead again.
"Is it professional conversation to comment on how gross this is?" Duke asked, changing the subject. Jane walked beside him as they examined the sewer walls in the beams of their flashlights.
"Yeah, Red Hood is the one who owes us a break day. It's his fault we're back down here." Damian muttered, his mouth covered tightly by a filtered mask, the same as Jane and Duke's. It wasn't pleasant work, to say the least, and of course the rookies would get the assignment. And he was in charge of the rookies, so Damian knew he was out of luck.
"Yeah, I'll call his next one," Jane piped up. She was quiet over comms most of the time, but she was getting more conversational. It was hard to find her place in such a tightly knit team, even though every one of them had individually assured her that there was a place for her. Duke hadn't had any problem fitting in so far, and Jane envied him for it.
"Hey, I didn't want to be in charge of City Patrol, but since I am in charge, I get to delegate the grunt work. The citizens aren't safe as long as the Joker has a way in; I don't care if we haven't seen him in months. Hopefully he's rotting as a brain-dead zombie somewhere, but until we know that for sure, we'll operate as if he's planning his next move." Jason rolled his eyes and yawned, stretching his sore arms over his head. Distributing rations was more heavy lifting than anything.
"Let's make a bet. I'll trade you my next break, Robin, if you finally find that Godforsaken tunnel so I don't have to do a shift down there," Stephanie said. "But if you don't find it today, you pull a double shift. I get your break day tomorrow, so I can give my next one to Red Hood."
"You'll give me your next break day if we find the connecting tunnel?" Damian smirked down at the minicomputer on his wrist. Stephanie didn't reply for a long moment.
"You found it, didn't you?"
"Not yet, but now I have better incentive to find it than simply 'get out of this stench'." He grinned at Jane before remembering that it wasn't visible behind his mask. Then he was kind of thankful for it. Damian focused on the computer again.
"Fair enough," Jason approved. "Just don't tell Ivy I gambled a shot at another break day."
"If you lose it, you'll have to tell her anyway," Damian said darkly and then glanced at Duke. "I'm getting no signal down here, do you know where we are?"
"Yeah," Duke sighed, shining his flashlight on the paper map that they'd been using as well. "We're in the last area to search for the day, though; it's looking like we won't find it."
"Well, my patrol is about over, anyway. If I head back now, I'll get more of a break than you will this week, Robin," Jason taunted.
"Ha ha, Red Hood," Damian rolled his eyes, his flashlight beam sweeping over the tunnels. "What am I not supposed to tell Ivy again?"
"That we're swindling break days and I don't get a cut," Jason fired right back. "And the fact that Batwoman wants to be all lesbian vegetarian for her, but I think she knows that."
"And no offense but I'd pick Kate over you," Cassandra piped up on the comm line.
"I second that," Stephanie laughed.
"I'd pick Red Hood," Damian smirked.
"No offense Robin," Jason snorted, "but you're really not my type."
"See this is why you can't keep a girlfriend, you're too picky," Steph huffed.
Jane giggled softly and then stumbled, her flashlight falling into the water. "Shit." She cursed and bent to pick it up, but she froze. The tunnel was lit by Duke's flashlight now, and the beam's light caught the dim glow of animalistic eyes on the other end. "Robin," she breathed, tensing. The creature hadn't moved.
"What?" Duke glanced around before he caught sight of it too, his hand immediately going to his tranquilizer gun. Robin swept in front of them, already aiming for the Infected's head.
"Why hasn't it moved?" Jane asked hesitantly, drawing her own weapon.
"I don't know. Maybe it's dead," Robin said gravely.
"Robin, Bluejay— what's going on?" Red Hood asked, immediately on alert. He was technically the one in charge at the moment, but every time a situation arose like this, he didn't much feel like it.
"It must be dead," Robin concluded, his stance loosening a bit as they approached the creature. Duke didn't relax. He wasn't going to let his guard down until he was sure it wasn't living. They always looked dead. Robin walked forward, weapon at the ready. "God, it smells too…" Even with his mask on, the stench was overwhelming. He leaned down and shone his flashlight between its hollow eye sockets. "Yeah this one is dead. Looks starved… Infected can starve to death?"
"Yeah, they see it in Arkham and Uptown a lot," Jason sighed in relief. "Well if it's dead move on, I guess."
"Right." Robin stood, his flashlight momentarily crossing over its clothes. Jane grabbed his cape, and Damian stopped. "Robin… is that wearing…?"
"It can't be." He glanced over at her, not wanting to say anything over comms. Robin muted his comm and waited for the other two to do the same.
"Okay why the fuck is it dressed like Harley Quinn?" Jane ran a hand over her hair in her ponytail. "Oh God it's not, is it? No one's seen her— check if it's her."
Damian knelt down beside the body. "Can someone even get this bad in such a short time?" He studied the sunken face before carefully pulling the jester hood off. The head came with it.
"Oh Jesus I'm gonna be sick," Duke turned away.
"They might get this bad… If they were decaying in this much water and waste," Jane reasoned and moved her boots around in the calf deep water. "Might speed up the decomposition a bit… but It's not her, right?"
"I don't know." Damian stared at the head in his hand for a second. "Should I just… shake it out?"
"Yep. I'm gonna fuckin' throw up," Duke choked, bending over as he gagged. Damian held it away from him and shook the head out of the jester cap. He stepped aside when it rolled by his foot. Stringy clumps of brunette hair clung to the skin stretched over the skull. "Please say it's not her…" Duke looked up at the ceiling.
"Unless she dyed her hair, it's someone else." Jane glanced away from the head to shine her light around the tunnel. "Why is it down here?"
"Holy shit. Guys, look." Duke shone his flashlight up to the top of the tunnel, and ran his hand along the seam on the wall where brick met concrete. "It's the old sewer line."
"So… did we find it?" Jane shone her light into the dark. "Do we get Spoiler's break day?"
"...I think this is it," Damian breathed, and Duke whooped loudly in celebration. The sound echoed in the tunnel.
"Yes! We found it! No more smelling like wet garbage— no more dark tunnels!" He high fived Jane. "Yes, yes, fuck yes we found it…"
"We still have to seal it. So still wet garbage," Damian reasoned, smirking behind his mask. "And we have to tell everyone else." He unmuted his comm and tossed the Harley Quinn hood aside, trying not to think about Nightwing. "Red Hood, we found it."
"No way. That fast?!" Jason sighed in relief. "Okay, I'll relay the message to Bats, and we can start prep on sealing it. Think you can make your way back to Midtown from there? It'd be nice to have clear routes mapped out underground so we don't have to parade a group of civilians through zombie territory to get construction crews there."
"We'll find the nearest exit," Damian assured him. "You should know that there's a body at the tunnel opening."
"Oh. The Infected? It's dead right?" Jason asked.
"Did you double tap?" Steph chimed in.
"It was already dead. Probably before it was shoved into the Harley Quinn costume, too, or I bet that would've been a challenge," He added. The line fell totally silent.
"It's not…" Jason trailed off, swallowing hard. "Right?"
"No," Damian told him matter of factly.
Jason sighed quietly in relief.
"Okay, I'll alert the Bat, we'll get construction crews rolling in the morning." He continued to ignore what everyone else was obviously thinking. "Get rid of that body, we don't need to spook anyone else, least of all a civilian. Everyone else, back to your posts." he muted his comm against the rules and pulled his leather jacket closer around his shoulders. Someone was going to have to tell Dick, and he got the sinking feeling it wouldn't be up to Damian or Kate.
"I wouldn't want to be in his shoes," Duke muttered once they were sure he'd switched his comm off. Damian ignored him as he glanced around the tunnels, and then he tugged his gloves tighter over his hands to grab the Infected's body, dragging it down one of the dark side tunnels a ways. Jane watched him.
"Do you think there are any more Infected left down here?" She asked.
"I don't know. Doesn't Joker keep them all locked up at Arkham?" Damian turned to look over his shoulder into the dark before heading back the way they'd come.
"But there were a lot wandering around down here," Jane reasoned, falling into step beside him. "I bet they stink even worse than normal if they've been down here a long time."
"Ugh," Duke muttered. "Why did it have to be zombies? Sorry, Infected— why did it have to be zombies?!" he cried, trudging through the muck at Robin's left, and when he threw his hands in the air, his flashlight beam crossed over another pair of eyes just as it lunged. Duke cried out and stepped back, brandishing his gun, but the zombie didn't touch him; caught by something it was held back by. Someone it was held back by.
"They're not all bad, when you get used to them," the chilling voice purred, and their flashlight beams settled over the Joker's face where he leaned against the wall ahead of them.
Damian stepped ahead sharply, his cape sweeping out in front of Duke and Jane as he leveled his gun at the Joker.
"Somehow your opinion means nothing to me," Jane muttered as she unholstered her gun and trained her flashlight on him. Duke did the same, taking another step back. Jane nearly gagged when she recognized the rotten corpse as Edward Nygma.
"What are you doing down here?" Robin demanded. Joker chuckled.
"You brats are in my territory." His eyes, sunken but sharp as ever, studied the three of them hungrily. He didn't even look at Robin, instead watching the two new faces behind him.
"You were in our territory," Robin reminded him. "Very one-sided rule book." His eyes were on the Joker, but his focus was on Nygma. Joker laughed again, releasing Nygma to the end of his pole to snap at the group. Robin didn't flinch, and neither did the other two, hiding any terror they may have felt behind him.
"Sure, but I don't think that you or your family would drag me back to your side of the city to be flayed in the streets and fed to the starving masses, as I would you." he grinned darkly, cocking his head a bit to try and see around Robin, examining Jane and Duke. Robin took a step closer, cocking his gun.
"Robin, I'm finding it a little hard not to just… shoot him," Duke admitted, his tone fierce. Jane nodded in agreement, gritting her teeth. Now that the initial shock had passed, she was wondering why he hadn't attacked. Joker laughed gleefully, leveling a dark grin at them. He didn't say anything for a moment.
"Go on, git," he jerked his thumb over his shoulder, gesturing towards the dark tunnel where they'd come from. Where he'd followed them from.
"What?" Jane asked in surprise, unable to fully disguise it from her voice.
"Go." Joker said derisively. "As delighted as I am to find that the bat has taken on new proteges for me to torture, I'm in no mood or state of household to deal with you or your family at present." Robin's hand tightened on his gun. He knew better than to turn his back on him.
"Then how about you… 'git' first," He suggested sharply. Joker rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically as he pushed himself off of the wall and walked past them, Nygma still straining desperately against the dog catcher's pole, wheezing like a dog on a choke chain. They stiffly watched him pass by, and Jane hesitated.
"Wait," she turned fully and called out after him. Robin's head snapped toward her in surprise, his gun still raised, and the Joker listlessly looked over his shoulder at her. "...where's Harley Quinn? Aren't you two, like… attached at the hip?"
Joker's jaw clenched at the mention of her, and he thought for a moment, a slow grin spreading across his features, cut deeper in the flashlight beam in the dark. "My dear," he sighed softly, and Jane shuddered; "We would be, if her hips were still attached to the rest of her," he let out a low laugh that rose to a cackle as he began walking back towards Arkham, talking to Nygma like a dear pet as he faded into the dark. Jane stared after him in cold horror.
"Oh," she breathed, sorry she asked at all. "Oh no."
"Was he listening?" Duke asked quietly.
"I don't know," Robin growled, starting quickly down the tunnel. It made him uneasy to have the Joker at their backs.
"That was the weirdest exchange..." Duke muttered, following them down the dark tunnel again. "Why didn't he attack? We… we have to report that, right?"
"Obviously." Damian carefully picked his way through the muck. "We'll need protection for the people closing the tunnel too. He knows we found it."
"And I doubt that he wants it closed," Jane added softly. She watched Damian's back as he walked. He didn't seem like he was going to talk any more about it, so she steeled herself and pressed her comm.
"Umm… Batman?" She tried hopefully.
"Yeah, Bluejay; go," Red Hood answered instead. Jane glanced at Robin as he looked over his shoulder at her, his lips pressed into a thin line. He didn't stop her. She took a deep breath.
"We had a… small run in with the Joker? He knows we found the tunnel entrance."
"You— what!?" Red Hood demanded. "Why isn't— Is Robin hurt? Are you guys hurt!? What— What was said? What happened!?"
"We're all okay, and I'm not sure," Jane admitted. "He threatened us then just left. Nygma was with him. He's Infected."
"Okay—" Jason looked down and ran his hands over his face. "Yeah okay. Get the hell out of there. You'll have to do a debrief when you get back, I want to know every goddamn word that bastard said. And I want to know everything that happened."
"Alright, we'll be right in."
"Red Hood—" Damian pressed his comm suddenly. "Switch to a secure line." He waited for Jason, who quickly switched his comm line to the other channel. "He confirmed that Harley Quinn is dead," Robin said hurriedly, before Nightwing, who had a destructive habit of listening in on the comm lines even though he was benched, could follow them.
"You're sure? I mean… it's him, so he could have been lying?"
"Possibly. But… Red Hood, nobody's seen her in months. Not even the few patrols that have gone into Uptown."
Jason was quiet for a moment. "Somebody has to tell him."
"I'll do it," Robin promised, to Jason's surprise.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Yeah, just… enjoy your break, Red Hood."
"Be careful," He sighed.
Without another word they both switched back to the main comm line. Duke and Jane looked at each other behind Damian's back, exchanging silent looks of worry. It wasn't long after Jane had started her training and Batgirl had died that Duke was added to the ranks. The sudden and drastic shift in the Batfamily roster meant the two of them felt even more like outsiders, but at least they had each other.
"I'm looking forward to that break day, Spoiler," Duke quipped, lightening the mood a bit. Stephanie groaned.
"Oh whatever. You guys'll make better use of it than me, I suppose, I can't get to sleep anyway."
"Batwoman, how are you guys doing?" Red Hood cut them off. "You'd better head in, since we're not doing the whole 'until dawn' thing with supply shifts anymore. Better to be safe than sorry."
"Yeah, yeah we're working on it. Just letting Catwoman get the last of it sorted."
"Okay. Then you, my friend, are free for your break. Whenever the Cat lets you go," he added. Selina rolled her eyes as she listened to the comms.
"Whenever we get back," she muttered, tossing Kate the keys to the truck.
"Please tell me we got everything we needed," Kate begged. "Or do we have to go hunt more stuff down?"
"Nope." Selina climbed into the passenger seat of the truck. "We're good to go. Unless you didn't get Robin his CD's— please tell me you did."
"I got them," Kate promised.
"Not that demon deserves them," Jason muttered into the comms.
"Oh Jay, Don't you think he's outgrown the demon thing?" Selina chuckled. "He's really changed and you know it."
"Yeah, yeah," Jason sighed. "No one appreciates my jokes anymore."
"I appreciated it," Damian responded, smirking. "And thank you, Batwoman."
"Alright," Selina interrupted, looking at the sunset through the windshield. "Let's get the hell outta here before it turns into a horror movie, shall we?" Kate started the truck, signaling out the window at the other two vehicles to go ahead of her. One had a few refugees they'd picked up out here, and that one would go straight to the medical facilities. The rest were bound for Downtown to unload the supplies into storage.
Selina seemed happier lately. Her dark hair curled around her face from under her cowl, and she kept her bright eyes fixed on the road. Kate glanced at her.
"Someone excited about seeing a particular dark knight tonight?" She asked as she pulled her mask off.
"Probably fifty percent that, fifty percent a bath. I'm really, really looking forward to that bath. Why? Jealous?" She teased, as Kate laughed and stepped on the gas to start speeding back.
"It never gets old, does it?" She chuckled. "The bath I am jealous of." Kate glanced at her. "How are you two, huh? Do I get any bat-nieces or nephews yet?"
"No," Selina shrugged, looking out the windshield. She smiled. "I would be lying if I said I didn't want a kid, myself. But as Bats pointed out, what kind of mother would I be if I brought a baby into the messed up world we live in?" She fell quiet. "He's right, too. There's no future here."
"Morbid." Kate glanced at her. "But you know, I've seen several apocalypses before this one, and somehow the world always finds its way back. It can't do that without people to inherit it."
"This isn't a world I'd wish on any innocent child," Selina mused, examining her hands as she smiled placidly. She smiled often now, but never with her eyes. "Besides. There are enough of Batman's little black-haired, blue-eyed carbon copies fully equipped to inherit it."
"Hey, I take offense to that," Jason interjected. "I'm way better looking than the others."
"You're all good looking in different ways, honey," Selina laughed. "You all are. My pretty little boys," she cooed over the comms, and those of them listening groaned in annoyance.
"Pretty?" Jason teased. "It's a good thing I'm not self conscious. But please tell me you describe Batman like that."
"He usually just rolls his eyes and goes back to whatever he's doing," she smirked. "Which is usually me."
"Ew!" Steph cried. "Other people on comms!"
"Don't worry Spoiler, you're my pretty little girl too!" Selina laughed. "So is Blackbat. And Nightwing."
They all felt the absence, where Dick normally would have protested the descriptor, and Selina winced. Jason cleared his throat.
"How far out are you guys?"
"ETA is ten minutes," Kate answered.
"Yeah, Batwoman drives like the grandma she wishes she was," Selina commented.
"Hey," Kate glanced at her with a smirk. "If that's my only shot other than grandbats, I'll take it."
"Wait now, what about Red Hood, or Robin hmm?" Selina grinned. "I'm not the only one who can carry on the legacy. Well, maybe not Robin."
"I resent that," Damian muttered.
"...You'd actually think about having kids, Robin?" Red Hood asked curiously. Everyone on the comms had fallen silent other than their small talk, and Damian shifted uncomfortably.
"I guess. Give or take my age and the state of the world." He couldn't help a glance at Jane, and as surreptitious as it had been, she still met his eye and smiled a little. He cleared his throat. "It would be necessary. To carry on the true Wayne bloodline," he justified. Selina giggled, and Steph actually burst into laughter.
"Oh God— Robin as a dad—" Red Hood grinned.
"Forget that! Can you imagine the kids?! Imagine that sour little scowl on a baby's face—" Steph laughed. Jane giggled over Damian's shoulder, and even Duke cracked a smile.
"Yes, thank you for the vote of confidence. I'll have you all know that I'd be a great father," Damian retorted.
"As great a father as Batman was?" Jason smirked.
Selina shifted in her seat as their truck pulled up to the warehouse where they kept the food at the edge of Midtown. "Hey. He did his best," Selina scolded. "We're back, Red Hood. With about an hour to spare on shift change, no less!"
"Alright, both of you, go rest up a bit, we'll have another busy shift ahead of us," Red Hood shook his head, still chuckling.
"You go, Cat," Kate waved her away, putting her mask back on that she'd taken off for the drive. "I can handle helping unload, if you want to scurry off to your Bat."
"You sure?" she asked. She knew Kate was as tired as she was.
"Yeah, get out of here," she smiled gently. "Say hi to him for me!"
"Will do." Selina hopped out of the truck, stretching her arms above her head as she walked away towards her motorcycle. Kate slammed the heavy truck door behind her as she got out, and Selina heard her calling orders to the GCPD officers unloading their scavenged cargo.
"What about your team, Robin?" Red Hood asked, trying to make sure he had all his bases covered.
"We'll be back on the surface in a couple of minutes, I can see the manhole we came through dead ahead," he responded.
"Good. You've got about an hour; hit the showers and then head out for city patrol. I'm going to take a break tonight; I'll be on standby if you need me. Don't screw anything up so bad that I have to come fix it, or you'll have Ivy to answer to."
"We'll be fine," Duke promised.
"I'm going to go talk to Nightwing, first," Damian added.
"Good luck," Red Hood snorted, muting his comm and swinging his leg over the seat of his motorcycle. Bruce and the police were the only ones who got around by car anymore— the battery powered motorcycles were faster and more efficient anyway. The sky was just starting to darken as Jason sped back to the Gotham Botanical Gardens, where Ivy would more than likely already be ready for bed. She spent her days from dawn until dusk tending the fields around the city, growing crops and food. Every single park in Downtown had been converted in one way or another into complicated, strategically planted gardens. In Midtown where there were no citizens, Ivy basically had her run of the city now, like she always wanted. There was no one to stop her from growing trees clean through abandoned buildings, or covering deserted side streets in grass and plants. Jason parked his bike by the back door of the Botanical Garden's main building and went in. The glass walls were covered in all manner of plant life, inside and out, save for the employees kitchen and locker room, and the main office where Ivy had put together a makeshift bedroom. Jason didn't mind the plants, and all in all, it was a cozy space that he'd been retreating to more and more these past few months.
Ivy was indeed already in bed when he walked in. She was barely visible in the pale hints of light through the makeshift curtains nailed to the ceiling in front of the massive windows. Jason stood and watched her for a moment with a smile on his face, and then he tossed his red hood helmet aside and leapt onto the bed. Ivy jolted awake when he landed half on her, crying out in shock.
"What the—!? Jason—!?" she groaned, trying to cover her face. Half because she was barely awake, and might be able to cling to sleep— and half to hide her smile.
"Get up," he told her, messing up her already sleep-messed hair.
"Get out," she retorted.
"Aw, don't be like that when I haven't seen you in half a week."
"Exactly." She shoved his face away. "Go take a shower. You stink."
"Hey this is all natural," he complained. "I thought you liked that sort of thing." He sniffed distastefully at his shirt, dirted from days of sweat.
"Shut up," she whined right back, trying to shove his face away with one hand while keeping her hold on her pillow with the other.
"But then you'll go back to sleep," he persisted as he grabbed her hand and pulled it out of his way. "And I can't have that." He kissed just behind her ear. Her lips curled up, but only a little.
"Tough. I was up early today and I'm tired." Ivy curled up in the blankets again. "Seriously go get cleaned up." Jason pouted for a second before perking up.
"Will you help?"
"Jason!"
"What!? It's a reasonable question." He sat back up with a yawn. "I can't help thinking about it."
"Well you can help it, you just don't try." Ivy rolled onto her back and looked up at him with a sleepy smile. "Pig. I might be more awake when you're done with your shower." She reached a hand up to stroke his cheek. He reluctantly stood up and stretched.
"I blame you, actually. If it wasn't you, I wouldn't have to try so hard to help it."
"Oh I'll take full responsibility for every dirty thought about me in your thick skull," she sat up and stretched. Of course she wasn't wearing any clothing. Her long scarlet hair was a mess from sleep, and Ivy yawned as she looked over at him. Jason groaned as he rubbed his eyes.
"You're not helping," he gestured to her naked frame.
"What? I'm waking up like you told me to!" she retorted defensively.
"You're not and you know it," he accused with a smile. "You know exactly what you're doing."
"I do not!" she cried, throwing her hands up. "Please enlighten me, genius. I'm trying to get up, just like you said!"
"How can you lie with such a straight face?!" He mock gasped.
"Lots of practice," she smirked and stretched her hands over her head again, as if daring him to touch her.
"See now you're up and just being mean," he accused her.
"Mm, you know I am," she smiled and winked at him before yawning. Ivy flicked her hair over her shoulder with a smirk. "Get over here, hero."
"I'm getting mixed signals from you. Your body says yes," he smirked, "and now your mouth says yes. That can't be right; this feels like a trick."
"You keep being a smart ass, and pretty soon both will say no," she raised an eyebrow, gesturing with a finger for him to come to her.
"We both know that I'm going to keep being a smart ass." He obediently moved back to the side of the bed. "You just won't admit you find it adorable."
"I would never admit to that. You'd have to force it out of me," she smirked up at Jason, running a hand down his chest. He narrowed his eyes at her.
"Why do I have a feeling you're daring me to, and that it spells trouble?"
"Old habits die hard," she shrugged and undid the buckle on his belt, tugging it out of the loops. His adam's apple visibly bobbed as he swallowed hard.
"I'm really hoping the whole killing guys who fall under your spell is one of them that did." Jason gave her a cheeky grin.
"I guess you'll just have to find out, won't you?" Ivy smiled. She rose to her knees on the bed, still shorter than him by a good six inches. Her hands trailed up his chest again, smoothing over the scarlet bat there before she pushed his jacket off of his shoulders. "Besides. I never killed my favorite pets. Not right away."
"Then I guess I'll die happy." He caught her hips and pulled her against him. Ivy tried to hide a smile, but she didn't try that hard. Her arms snaked around his neck.
"You were so eager and now here I am; what are you waiting for?" She smiled, pressing a soft kiss to the pulse point on his neck.
"What? I'm not allowed to savor my time with you?" His hands trailed slowly up her back. "Besides, it's fun to watch you want me," he teased. She smacked his chest.
"Ass. I'm trying to be cute and you're being an ass." She unbuckled some of the armor off of his chest, fingers brushing over the bullet dents in the heavy metal and nylon. It was some work, trying to get this armor off; Jason had the most armor on the team, second only to Batman. She couldn't imagine how Selina did it. On the other side of the coin, Nightwing had the least; she could definitely see how Harley had gotten into the mess she did. Ivy pressed her lips to Jason's, closing her eyes with a sad smile before pushing away the thoughts of her friend. Jason grabbed her legs and pulled her up against him before kneeling on the bed. He pushed her down into the mattress, leaning over her. Ivy laughed a bit when he did.
"I don't get you, Red Hood," she purred, her hair starkly contrasting the bedsheets as she looked up at him. "I don't get this. How did we end up here? Why are you the only person I can stand? Why are you with me?"
"Mommy issues?" Jason shrugged, leaning down to kiss her neck. Ivy rolled her eyes.
"I missed you," she begrudgingly admitted, running a hand through his hair. The other pulled away the last of his armor and tugged his shirt up.
"Me too. I try not to be too annoying about it over comms," He kissed down her neck, "but I'm pretty sure they're still sick of it."
"Really? You're capable of annoying people?" She rolled her eyes and smirked, but she bit her lip when he kissed her, her eyes fluttering closed.
"I'm just full of surprises like that." He gave her a cocky grin.
"Could you give it a rest?" She laughed. "My eyes are getting tired from rolling in annoyance." Ivy grabbed his face to stop his lips with a kiss, and her knee came up around his waist to pull him down closer to her.
"And here I thought with all the signals you're sending that you wanted a good roll," he breathed into her lips and smirked as his hands grabbed her thighs, and he pressed the bulge in his pants against her. "Or was I misreading?"
"Stupid, but clever," she smiled, referring to his play on words. "You know if you'd shut up, we'd be done 'rolling' by now and you could get some rest." Ivy also tried to pretend that the pressure didn't affect her, but she rolled her hips up against him, biting her tongue to keep from moaning a little.
"I'm offended you think so little of me," he scoffed. "I'd just be getting started with you." He smirked at her before kissing down her throat.
"You think you're so clever, but it doesn't work on me," Ivy closed her eyes, running her hand through his hair. She grabbed a fistful of it and yanked his head up, kissing him hard.
"Uh huh," he chuckled. "Clearly."
She narrowed her eyes, but ignored his statement as she kissed him again, wrapping her legs tighter around his waist for a moment before relaxing just as something wrapped around Jason's ankle. He was yanked off the bed with a startled gasp.
"What the hell?" he demanded when he managed to twist over and see a vine.
"If you're just getting started your way, I figured I might as well get started mine," Ivy teased. The vine wound slowly up his leg as it dragged him across the floor over to a table of plants nearby. Ivy stood up off the bed and lazily followed him with an amused glint in her eye. Jason didn't try to struggle, looking up at her irritably.
"Is this you finally starting your hostile takeover or something?"
Ivy rolled his eyes at him and the vine suddenly jerked him into the air upside down by his leg. He bit his tongue to keep from yelping in surprise, and did his best not to flail around as Ivy smirked at him.
"Oh I get it. It's your takeover of me isn't it?" he taunted, dangling five or six feet off of the ground now. Ivy raised her eyebrow at him, and the vine snaked over to his other other leg.
"What if they tighten every time you make a smart ass remark?" She tilted her head down and ran her lips over his chest.
"You'll squeeze me to death," he assured her. She smiled against his skin before straightening up. Ivy yanked him closer by the front of his pants before undoing the button.
"Believe me when I say that it's a very pleasant way to die."
"Oh I don't doubt that…" Jason trailed off as she pushed his pants over his hips. "It's just that—"
"—Red Hood," his comm suddenly crackled to life. He'd almost forgotten he still had it on. "We've made it back to the tower," Robin informed him.
"Good," he choked, feeling a slight buzz from the blood rushing to his head. "Go talk to Nightwing, rest up, and we'll talk later—"
Damian began to respond, but Jason couldn't hear as Ivy pulled his comm out of his ear, clicking her tongue.
"No calling for backup now, Red Hood— you're all mine," she purred. Jason swallowed hard.
"Hnn. That's funny," Robin muttered when his comm went quiet. Duke looked at him quizzically, and he waved a hand dismissively. "Comm went dead. He's probably already in Poison Ivy's clutches— it's a wonder the city's still standing when everyone does so much thinking with their dicks." Jane cleared her throat irritably, and Damian blushed. "Sorry. It just seems like that's all my dear brothers have done since the apocalypse began. Father was bad enough, then Nightwing, now Red Hood— Another one bites the dust. Like lovestruck teenagers."
"I think it's sweet," Jane sniffed, smiling a bit. Damian blushed again, not that anyone would have noticed with the grime coating his cheeks. The elevator hung heavy with the stench of death and refuse clinging to their clothes from the sewers. It was Duke's turn to clear his throat now, standing between them awkwardly.
"I call the first shower," he said as the elevator doors opened on their floor. The three of them had taken over the floor below Nightwing and Spoiler's executive office suites. When they came off the elevator they stepped onto the large empty floor that used to be filled with cubicles; most of which had been removed or pushed up against the panoramic windows to the left for some shade, and the three of them had begun filling the vast space with this and that picked up from supply runs or raiding abandoned buildings in Midtown. There were bean bag chairs, a couple of plush couches, and some shelves for stacks of books, magazines, and board games for their off days. Modestly sized offices lined the far wall that they'd repurposed into their individual bedrooms, and there was a small employee locker room and break room complete with kitchen to the right. All in all, their little rookie team headquarters was coming along nicely.
"If you're gonna shower first, I'm going to make something to eat while I wait." Jane veered off to the right to head to the kitchen. "You want anything, Damian?"
"Something to drink, please," he took his mask off, tossing it down on a desk beside the door. Duke beelined for the locker room; there was only one shower, so they had to take turns. "Don't use all the hot water!" Damian shouted after him.
"I'll be fast!" he called over his shoulder.
Jane came back out of the kitchen with a glass of water and a bag of stale cheddar popcorn, and she gave the glass to Damian. He took it and eyed the popcorn.
"What?" She demanded, and he quickly shook his head.
"I don't want to get into another argument about nutrition with you," he muttered, taking a drink. Her eyes narrowed.
"It was a discussion, not an argument, as you insisted so adamantly at the time. And good, that means I won." She smirked, shoveling another handful of popcorn in her mouth.
"Tt," Damian scoffed, but didn't say anything more as he downed the rest of his water. Jane beamed. She seemed to love pressing his buttons, and he didn't hate it. "Alright. Shower up, get ready for the night's patrol, and then it's a break day for all of us. I'm going to go talk to Nightwing." he set his glass down on one of the tables beside the couch. Jane's stomach twisted and she caught his arm. His attention returned to her, and she met his eyes.
"Are you sure? Do you want… I dunno, moral support?"
He chuckled, but it was half hearted. "I'll be fine. Nobody else needs to be collateral in his emotional hurricane." He stepped toward the door, grabbing his mask on the way, and Jane frowned.
"Go easy on him, Robin."
"Sure," he replied, trying to reassure her as he stepped onto the elevator. When the doors closed he looked down at the mask in his hands, his face hardening. Dick had had plenty of time for 'easy.' Damian suspected he'd never fully recover, and he had to admit— who could after what he'd been through? It was all the more reason Dick needed to be back on his feet.
It was a short trip up the elevator, just one floor above Damian and his team's living quarters, deserted now except for Dick and Stephanie's rooms. Jason, Barbara, Tim… he walked past their doorways in the dark, feeling the absence behind the heavy wood of each. When he came to Dick's door he rapped sharply on it with his knuckles, before turning the handle and entering. It was dark in here, too, and his eyes didn't even have to adjust as he scanned the room for Dick. He was almost never in bed, and this case was no exception as he stepped out of the bathroom, looking to the bedroom door to see who'd entered.
"Oh. Damian," Dick dropped the towel from his hair, damp and falling against his chest now that it had gotten longer, leaving wet spots on his wrinkled shirt. A dark beard obscured his jaw, scruffy and lazily kempt. "Jeez, I can smell you from here. You didn't shower after being in the sewers?" He grimaced, and then his eyes narrowed. Why would Damian rush up here without cleaning up, anyway? "...So this isn't a friendly visit, then?"
"I'd say that depends on you, but continuing my utterly exhausting role as Hermes, I do come bearing a grim message."
"Hermes?" Dick repeated the name loftily, smirking a bit. He tossed his towel on the bed. "Messenger, traveler, thief… Is that how you see us all, high in the clouds of Olympus? Is Bruce the almighty Zeus, then? Which one am I?"
"Orpheus," Damian quipped. Dick frowned, and the frown deepened when he thought harder about the implication. "Harley Quinn is dead."
His blood ran cold at Damian's words. Not that he'd felt warm at all in these past four months. "We don't know that."
"You do," Damian replied. "And the Joker told me himself."
Dick sank down onto the bed, feeling sick to his stomach. She was dead, he knew, no one had seen or heard from her since the bridge. The raw scar in his chest tugged painfully and his hand instinctively went to it, pressing down as if it may rupture and spill his heart out on the floor again. Drawing a ragged breath, he shook his head. "No. No. He lies. We can't trust him."
"He might lie," Damian agreed, leaning against the door frame. "But what kind of state was she in the last time you saw her? What had he done to her then?"
Dick sucked in a breath, closing his eyes and wincing away from the memory, even though he couldn't escape it behind his eyelids. The furious tears in her eyes, the bloody streaks on her clothes... Harley had been hurt, and there was only one reason she would have been down by the bridge that day— seeking asylum. She'd needed help, and when they rushed away with Barbara… she'd had nowhere else to go. Trapped in Uptown with the Joker, there was no way she'd survived. Dick's hands tightened into fists on his knees, and he fought back the tears. God, he was so sick of crying.
Damian didn't move. Tim would have been so much better at this. Hell, even Jason would've handled it with more grace. "I'm not here to convince you, merely to relay the message," he said quietly. "You'll have plenty of time to convince yourself in the lonely hours of the night. I am here to revive you. It's time to rejoin the living."
"I'm better off dead."
"I'm sure Barbara would disagree."
Dick pinched his eyes shut tighter. "Stop."
"No."
"Don't use her against me."
"Why not? She would have." Damian stoically watched his brother, sitting stiffly on the bed. "She would be honored by the tears shed, but she would be disappointed by the time wasted on her memory. She was a woman of action, and we need to act in her stead."
Dick didn't move, but he did open his eyes to look out the window. You know he's right, a voice whispered softly at the back of his mind. It sent a chill through him. "I'm not ready," he said quietly, and his gaze moved to Damian.
"You don't have to be." he opened the bedroom door again. "You have to jump now, or you never will— and then she'll have died for nothing. You owe it to her to not let that happen."
Dick looked down at his hands, elbows resting on his knees. His hair fell in his face, shrouding his eyes and his thoughts from Damian's view. It was a debt, one that he had been putting off paying. Dick stood slowly.
The corner of Damian's lips turned up. "I'll tell Red Hood to put you on the rotation. And Grayson—" he paused halfway out the door to meet Dick's eyes. "You still have a safety net. You still have us. You're not doing this alone."