TW for the whole fic: Blood, trauma, past torture, fear, mentions of vivisection and experimentation (non-graphic).

In Gotham City, every night held something unexpected. Between muggers, crime lords, and Batman's horde of rogues, something was bound to happen. Jason had no idea what he was expecting tonight, but he could have never predicted it to be the pit bubbling under his skin. He absent-mindedly scratched his forearms. It felt odd. It wasn't painful, per se, but it was very uncomfortable. A feeling that was urging him somewhere, most likely a trap. But the feeling would not leave him no matter what he tried.

Jason narrowed his eyes under his helmet as he scanned over the dim lights of Crime Alley. The pit rearing its head was never a good sign. All it ever caused was problems, and unfortunately, they usually festered into even larger problems if he didn't get rid of them.

Jason sighed and allowed himself to be guided by the invisible pull. He was careful to keep close track of where he was going, not willing to leave things to chance, especially if they involved the pit.

It was.. strange. This time seemed different. It wasn't a surge of emotion or a field of green clouding his thoughts, telling him to take what he wants- this wasn't even started by an emotion that Jason could have had! It felt almost like… A plea?

Whatever it was, it was plea-ding him over in that direction. Might as well find out what's happening, it wasn't as if Jason had anything else important to do tonight.

As he searched, he felt the pit tugging harsher, the goal coming closer. It made Jason feel more jumpy and protective; a feeling that the pit had never been connected to before. Jason bit his lip, apprehension building in his gut.

As Jason continued he briefly thought of calling Dickwing or someone else in for backup, but that thought was dismissed as quickly as it came. He was The Red Hood, a vigilante ex-crime boss for Pete's sake, he could handle this type of stuff on his own. And he definitely didn't need any bats breathing down his neck while he does it.

Right then suddenly something caught his eye, pulling him from his thoughts. A flash of white light. He turned his head to face it so his sensors could pick it up. Using the enhanced brightness in his helmet, he found a green glow coming from an alleyway. He narrowed his eyes and grappled down to the ground.

Jason was surprised when he found a green substance dripping in small puddles all the way into the alley. He crouched near the mouth of the alley, closely inspecting this.. goop? It was the same toxic color as the Lazarus waters, but it clearly had a different consistency. Jason voted against touching it, for now.

Jason's eyes widened when he heard a whimper coming from the back of the alley in the darkness — so dark that not even his helmet could see into.

Jason's heart fell. It sounded like a kid.

"Hey," he tried calling out, slowly rising up, only to wince at the sound of his heavily modulated voice through the helmet. He flicked his palms up in a show of peace.

Another whimper. Great, now he was scaring the kid. Jason quickly reached up to the release and pulled off his helmet, hooking it onto a clip on his belt. He still wore a domino underneath at all times, even though Dick would always poke fun at him for it. But it still helped calm down kids.

"Hey, it's okay." Jason reassured, trying to keep his voice as level as possible. He cautiously stepped forward into the alleyway, taking slow, deliberate steps around the trash littering the sides. He heard the sound of the kid moving, probably to hide as far away from Jason as he could. "I don't want to hurt you."

He got no response.

Following the green flecks plastered along the asphalt, his path of splatters turned darker. Jason's face tightened.

As if Christmas itself decorated the dirty alley, the Pit green faded into crimson red. And there was a lot of it.

This was bad.

Jason's breath hitched slightly. That was a lot of blood. He needed to get this kid out of here, and fast.

"Hey, come on, you need help," Jason said, more insistently than before, reaching his hand forward. For the first time, he saw a bit of the kid. "I can help you," he tried to reassure. Glowing green eyes locked onto him.

Jason almost stepped back. He knew what happened when his eyes looked like that, usually leaving behind more crimson than this.

But he couldn't just leave the kid. And Jason was probably strong enough to defend himself anyway.

Jason sighed, coming to a conclusion. Whatever has happened, he's just a scared kid, and he deserves some help. Even if the kid is amped up on pit energy.

Jason tentatively stepped closer. He didn't want to make the kid feel trapped but he needed to get him out of here. A brutally injured kid who can't defend himself in Crime Alley? He wouldn't survive the hour. That is unless he bleeds out from his wounds.

He could now see the kid's form crumpled in on itself, trying to hide as far away from Jason as he could. His arms were probably putting pressure on his wounds. Jason slowly reached forward and grabbed onto the kid's wrist to try and gently guide him out.

But that got him definitely the wrong reaction. The kid stood up with a strangled scream as he tried to pull away. His chest was heaving in panic. Jason immediately let go and stood back again. But it was too late. The kid swayed on his feet. And Jason could see more blood dripping down onto the grimy ground.

Jason only had a moment to reach out before the kid crumpled into his now open arms. Unconscious. And soon to be dead if Jason didn't get out of there soon. He had to think quickly. An ambulance is out of the question. Any normal hospital will obviously screw him over, especially if he is a meta like Jason is expecting. Which would also mean he would have big 'ol Brucie breathing down his neck.

Lessie's clinic it is then. Jason looked up to gather his surroundings. It was only a block away, Jason could make it if he was quick enough. Jason took off, hoping that he wasn't going to be too late for the kid.

)-(

"What the hell happened to him!?" Leslie demanded when she stormed out of her emergency room over to the anti-hero. "I have never seen that many scars and burns in my life! It's a miracle he isn't dead already. More than a miracle actually. Downright imposable!" She was shorter than Jason and stared up at him with a scowl on her face.

Jason had been sitting in the waiting room for Leslie to come out for just over an hour. Jason could have just left, but he didn't want to leave the kid. And of course, Leslie downright refused to let him stay in the emergency room. "I have no idea… I just found him bleeding out in an alleyway."

"Was there anyone else there?" She crossed her arms. "Someone that would have done this to him?" She looked mad, infuriated even.

"No one. But someone would have if I didn't get him out of there." Jason paused. "Leslie, will he be okay?"

The doctor looked up at him, staring Jason in the eyes. "No." She breathed deeply. "No one will be okay after that. But he will live." Something in Jason relaxed a bit. Just a bit. "He's definitely a meta of some kind," She started before Jason could say anything.

"I kinda figured." Jason nodded.

"Probably the only reason he isn't dead right now. His body is way below a safe temperature, and I found green flecks inside his blood that were giving off energy. It also burned little holes into my gloves. I had to replace them twice." She sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I still couldn't get the collar off."

"Collar?" Jason asked his eyes widening.

Leslie raised her eyebrow, "You didn't notice it?"

Jason sighed, "I was kinda preoccupied." If he was wearing a metahuman collar, this was so much worse than he could have imagined. "Can I see him?"

Leslie bit her lip. "It's bad, Hood. Really bad."

"I can handle it." She looked like she wasn't sure she believed him but led him to the room anyway.

The moment Jason had full sight of the kid he faltered. There were bandages all over him and Jason could clearly see old bruises and burns on his arms and face that have been there for a while. He had on a T-shirt and pants, courtesy of Dr. Leslie. She always keeps them for patients who come in without clothing on, which was a surprisingly often occurrence.

In the corner of the room, he could see some kind of hazmat suit coated in the green he saw from before. Red blood was starting to mix with it. It was riddled with holes. It was clearly cut off from the boy by the Doctor. Jason's mind finally caught up with itself before he walked forward, standing at the foot of the hospital bed.

His eyes were immediately drawn towards the collar around his neck, He wasn't sure how he missed it before. It looked very similar to a normal metahuman collar. Only this one had green light from the power source instead of the normal blue. Jason narrowed his eyes and clenched his fist so hard he thought he would fracture a bone in his hand. How could anyone do this to a kid?

Lesslie spoke up, pulling him out of his immediate anger. "I think he has a healing factor of some kind." Hood looked up at her and wanted for her to continue. "I could see part of him healing when I was fixing up his major wounds. But it seems to be drastically dampened by the collar. If we could get it off he should heal much faster."

Jason hmmed. He knows a lot of people that could help him get the thing off. He would have to call one of them up as soon as possible. And then once the kid is feeling better- "You need to take him." Jason looked up at Leslie.

She put her hands on her hips. "You know I can't keep him here, Jason." She waited until Jason looked her in the eyes. "And for the love of god, don't let Bruce dress this one up too."

He looked back down at the kid. "I wasn't planning on asking the old man for help anyway." Jason crossed his arms. Especially if this kid was a meta. "I'll figure something out."

"And Jason, whoever did this to him…" Jason nodded at her. "Put them in the ground"

Authors notes

Beta read by: Minty, BrokenBlueHeart, and ScarletteFoxx

Here we go! I'm so excited about this fic. I haven't seen that many Batfam rescues someone from GIW yet. So I am excited to write this!

Just a warning. The updates for this fic will probably be sporadic. I have a lot of other stuff I am working on right now but I will get updates out when I can :)

Please tell me what you thought of this chapter! I love to hear your options they always help keep me writing and inspired. And is there anything you want to see for this fic in the future? How do you think Jason is going to work with this?