Enjoy my new insanity! Based on a tumblr post.

Chapter 1: Match made in Heaven (aka a hostage situation)

Honestly Jazz was lowkey worried about how little the situation bothered her. Really. She tried really hard to play the part of a scared civilian, to run away screaming, to wait for a costumed individual to rescue her.

She had never been a good actress anyway.

Also her repertoire was too used up by the third hostage situation kinda thing.

"You should hide," she told a kid that looked lost in the hallway. Couldn't be older than fifteen. "There's an emergency exit down to the left."

The teen glanced at the bat in her hands, and then looked her in the eye.

"Are you a hero?"

Jazz made a face. She had never been a 'hero', but she was always ready to kick ass. She shook her head no, just to be safe.

"You should hide with me, then."

In the distance, there were gunshots. Where were these Gotham heroes? The hostage situation had started about twenty minutes ago, and Jazz needed to be in places already.

"I'll be fine."

The girl must be a native Gothamite, because she eyed her one last time, shrugged and turned around to get out of there.

What a day to be a hostage in the mall, huh? Jazz just wanted a new outfit, something formal for job hunting, and now she was in her sixth life or death situation.

With a sigh, she walked around the floor one more time and deemed it free from scared people that needed help, so she went back to the main area. She wasn't going to fight - she was no hero, as she stated before; and she wasn't brave (or stupid) enough to think that she could win against a organized gang with automatic riffles and bulletproof vests.

But she could watch and look over the few hostages the goons actually managed to capture and keep close to the main group. Let the fighting and the breaking of bones to the experts, she knew how to disappear and help sneak the civilians out.

Well, not literally disappear, like a ghost, but between her liminality and Team Phantom's training, she knew her way around stealth.

Soon, the glass ceilings were shattered by the group of bats and birds finally making an appearance, and the onslaught of bullets started. With everyone occupied with the fight, it was her moment to act.

Her steps were quiet as she made her way back to the main floor, her body close to the walls and tensed, ready to make a run for it. Her hands were hurting a little from how hard she was gripping her borrowed baseball bat she took in the confusion - she forced them to relax. She didn't need to break a finger because she was rusty from not training with others since she moved to Gotham for her studies.

The hostages were a bit far from the stairs she took. To get from here to there, she had to either do a really big circle around the main area or go straight and run for it in the middle of people shooting guns and throwing punches.

Uh.

She looked at her watch.

If she really rushed this she would make it in time for the interview.

As the chaos of the fight between Batman, Robin and Red Hood with the goons continued worryingly close to her position, she considered her options.

She really needed a job.

Okay.

She took a deep breath, braced herself and waited for an opportunity to make her run. She got this. She just needed to-

There!

Red Hood took a nasty hit and in retaliation launched himself at the guys trying to shoot him, knocking their guns away, then doing a backflip and square up to continue fighting.

She wanted to stay and watch the fight, it really was the only perk of punching her loyalty kidnapee card, but it was time to go.

She ran without looking back. Jazz didn't even stop to make sure she wasn't seen - she just needed to free the hostages and then escape herself and make a detour to her apartment and have a shower and change into the only good blouse she had because, apparently, she wasn't allowed to have fun and buy cute things in this goddamn city.

"Are you a hero, miss?" An elderly woman asked her. She resisted the urge to groan.

"Not a hero," Jazz simply said, taking out the knife she kept on her boot after the first mugging attempt one week into moving to Gotham. "Once you guys are free, run to the nearest stairs and get to the emergency exit."

"What about you?" A young man eyed her as she cut the ropes tying their hands together.

"I'll be right behind you."

More gunshots, making the hostages jump and duck, forcing her knife out of her hands. She stopped for a moment, contemplating the option to scream in frustration. Instead, she leaned down, picked up the knife and kept cutting the damn rope. Also, she needed a new knife or get this one sharpened.

Once they were free, she quickly took the ropes and ushered them all in the right direction, watching in case someone made enough noise to alert the fighters that their hostages weren't there anymore.

Jazz was bracing for disaster, but everything was fine and the last hostage was finally on the second floor. She breathed out in relief.

That's when a very pissed off vigilante slammed on her side, making both of them take a tumble to the floor and get briefly tangled in the ropes. Jazz was still a bit disoriented when she registered that she was being screamed at.

"- the fuck are you doing here!?" Red Hood was breathing heavily. "Go! Run away!"

All the screaming and the gunshots was starting a headache. Maybe it was the actual hit she took to her head when the tank of a man crashed into her.

In any case, the vigilante was too worried trying to convince her to run away from danger that he didn't see the goon he had previously taken down reach for his gun.

Jazz's head was full of cotton, but her body knew how to act. She saw the man had a gun strapped to his leg, so she quickly reached for the holster, opened it and took the gun, ignoring his screams in protest.

The goon was trying to lift the rifle when she took her shot, hitting the man's shoulder.

Finally, Red Hood looked at what she had shot at.

"The fuck?"

Jazz shook her head a few times, clearing the fuzz away and managing to get back to the present. The hand that wasn't gripping the gun was on the vigilante's chest, she found, since their fall to the ground made them roll over the floor for a bit.

She took a breath, finding that her ribs hurt.

Fantastic.

The goon was recovering from her shot (no blood? Since when did Red Hood use non lethal rounds?) and standing up again.

She ventured a look at the vigilante, who was looking at her like she was crazy - or at least, that's the feeling she got from the way his eyebrows were so high under the domino mask. She couldn't even read his lips since he had this red mouthpiece covering half his face.

"We should move," Jazz told him, trying to detangle her hand from the ropes she had been holding, and that now were around his chest and one of his hands.

"Uhh."

She rolled her eyes, glancing back at the goon. She shot him as he leaned down to pick up his weapon, hitting the injured shoulder again. The man screamed. She was going to shoot at his foot when she felt this weird sensation in her stomach, just like when in Amity-

Ghost.

She looked around, but couldn't see anything - duh, the ghost could be invisible anyway. But she had to try.

Grumbling, Jazz gave up and tugged her tangled hand a few times, finally getting free and using the man's chest as a support to stand up. Once she was on her feet, she looked down at him in confusion.

"Everything okay?" She asked, because maybe he had gotten really injured in the fall.

The goon groaned. She shot him again, this time on the leg.

"Are you injured?" Jazz looked him over, but apart from scratches he was alright. He shook his head. "Then let's move."

This made him snap out of it and jump to his feet. He looked at the man she had shot down, then at his gun in her hands, then at her face.

"Give me that," it was an order, "and then run out of here."

She agreed with him, wholeheartedly. Jazz didn't want to be part of this in any way, she really wanted to go home and shower and be in time for her interview.

She lifted the gun, pointing in Hood's direction.

"Miss," he growled in warning.

Jazz ignored him and pulled the trigger, taking down another goon that was walking around the ornate plant decoration in the middle of the open area. She ran towards the man, barely having time to reach him before he was on his feet again, managing to grab his head and slam him against her knee.

She clicked her tongue. This was going to bruise and she wanted to wear a knee length pencil skirt for the interview.

As if on cue, a group of five men rushed to where they were, probably alerted by the gunshots.

She groaned. Now she couldn't leave until they were taken care of!

Hood had seen them as well, and turned to look at her with defeat written all over him. "I assume you can fight?" His modulator did little to hide his annoyance.

She nodded. "When I have to."

"You can keep the gun, for now." The words were slow and grumbled, as if he didn't like her having his toys. He nodded at her and jumped towards the closest guy that had a gun in his hands without looking at her.

She rolled her eyes, but assumed she got to take care of the furthest ones. Sure, why not.

Jazz made a run for it, hiding somewhere the men wouldn't hit her, and waited until they had used up their clips. As they stopped to reload, she jumped out from her hiding spot, barely dodging Hood as he landed after a kick, picking up her abandoned bat and knife from the ground.

Now she was close enough to make some damage with the non lethal rounds. She shot once, twice, thrice - one missed and the other two hit the men in their hands, making them drop the guns. She went to shoot the third one, but instead all that happened was a click. Dammit, out of ammo.

Her knife throwing skills weren't the best, but when she saw the man smirk at her and get ready to shoot, she just threw her knife. For a second she feared she hit him in the heart or something, but it struck on his left shoulder. That must hurt, but he would live.

Jazz ran back to where Hood was fighting another goon.

"Reload this!"

"A bit busy here!" He was blocking a kick. "Can it wait?"

She looked at the approaching men. No, it couldn't wait. Her hand to hand combat skills weren't enough for a three against one.

"Let's switch!"

"What?"

Jazz threw her empty gun at his face, forcing him to stop and catch it. The man he was fighting with saw the chance to lunge at him, but he got a face full of baseball bat and a pissed off psychiatrist in training.

"Reload that for me!"

Finally he just did as she asked, probably noticing the approaching men. Just as he was finishing, one of the men she had shot jumped at him, but was quickly knocked out by an impressive flying kick.

Jazz knew the bats were trained and saw them fight in other kidnap/hostage situations, but she had never seen Hood fight this close. He was a big man, heavy, and looked like he could crush a watermelon between his thighs - but there was a lightness in his moves, the way he jumped and backflipped behind the men, they way his feet didn't make a sound, like a-

She shook her head. She needed to be present.

Bat in hand, she jumped in after Hood and swung it at the ones he sent her way with a powerful kick. Who would have thought she'd ever tag team with one of the city's heroes like this? Despite her reticence to jumping into action, she was having the time of her life.

"Here!"

She barely caught the gun, thanking the Ancients for her heightened reflexes via her liminality.

"Thanks!" She sent his way, turning just in time to shoot at two more guys coming from the other side of the plant decoration.

Her shots struck them in their hands or their shoulders, giving her enough time to run towards them and bonk them with her bat, first behind the knees and then their heads. She shot their legs just in case, kicking their assault rifles far from their reach.

She looked up when she felt a presence close to her, almost too late to register the hand that pulled her into a muscular chest. She looked up at Hood's face, but he was focused on shooting something behind them, some guys she didn't see in time and were about to make a jump on her.

Movement on her peripheral vision caught her attention. She twisted in the loose grab he had on her body, extended her arm and shot the two men in quick succession, missing one but hitting the other in his knee. Before she could steady her hand to aim for the still standing goon, she was lifted from the floor by an arm around her middle and carried to cover.

Hood looked at her. "You fight well." He finally said, briefly looking at her eyes, or she guessed so since he had whiteout lenses, before looking down to reload his gun.

She lifted an eyebrow, not knowing what to say. Instead, she looked up from their cover - some giant potted plants that did an amazing job at covering their crouching forms - and clicked her tongue when she saw the goon that she missed help up a few of his friends.

"Didn't know you didn't kill anymore." Curiosity got the best of her. If she was never going to be this close to the man, she wanted to ask her question while she could.

"Huh?"

Jazz looked at him and lifted the hand that still had one of his guns. "Non-lethal rounds." She smiled her neutral smile. The one she practiced in front of the mirror. "Batman's moral code got to you?"

It had been only rumors at this point. Red Hood started wearing the bat symbol but stayed within his territory. The common folk couldn't know if he kept his crime lord activities or if he had given up crime altogether, or if he stopped killing in general. This was her chance to know.

He scoffed, shaking his head. "The old man can shove his moral code where the sun doesn't shine." He extended his hand. "Gimme that."

He even waited for her to put the gun in his hand. Growth. "How chivalrous. I thought chivalry was dead."

"Maybe it was forcibly brought back to life." He chuckled as if it was an inside joke.

If she were someone else, she would have brushed off the comment as another extra thing the heroes of this city said to look cool. But her little brother was dead and resurrected and made the exact same shitty jokes every time he could.

Again, she felt something like a ghost early on…

"Here." She focused back when he put the reloaded gun on her hands, his fingers brushing her palm briefly, making goosebumps raise on her arms.

Her breath hitched for a second, suddenly very aware of his presence at her side.

Focus, she told herself. There were still goons coming for them.

"Do you have anything that can make a distraction in that utility belt of yours?" Jazz pointed at his waist with her chin.

"Baby, I have everything I need in this belt." She couldn't see it, but she was sure he was grinning under the face mask.

"Call me baby again and I will shoot you," she wasn't serious, she wouldn't really shoot him. But he didn't need to know it. "And we need that distraction soon."

Jazz didn't see where he got the grenade looking thing from, but he tilted his head back a little in triumph.

"I was being sarcastic, darling." She hit him softly with the bat, trying to make her point. "Also these are flashbangs so maybe cover your eyes."

She did. The flash was intense, even with her arm over her eyes, but it was the distraction they needed. Without really making a plan, both jumped out from cover and divided the remaining men between the two like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Jazz swung her bat at the closest goons, knocking out one of them and kicking the other behind his knees. She thought she heard a crack, but didn't stop to check if she broke any bones. The other two were still recovering from the flash, so she took her time to aim at their feet and pulled the trigger - this close, the bullets would do some real damage, non-lethal or not. Just in case, she swung the bat at their heads and watched them fall to the floor.

Jazz heard a boot scruff against the floor. She turned, gun already aiming at the man's chest-

It was Hood, pointing a gun at her.

Both jumped for a second, as if realizing who they were going to shoot, and relaxed when they saw it wasn't a threat.

The sound of the safety locks clicking on filled the silence.

Silence-

The other fight was over as well, and that meant that Batman was going to make an appearance sooner or later. And that was something she didn't want to deal with. She was supposed to lay low and finish her degree, get the internship at Arkham and get the hell out of this city. Not get in the bats' shit list.

Looking at the gun, Red Hood's gun, in her hands, she thought that she had been suspicious enough in this fight to warrant her to be at least investigated.

She couldn't let that happen.

"Here, catch." Was her only warning as she threw the gun at its original owner.

The moment he looked away from her she made a run for it, ignoring the swish of a cape and the screams asking her to stop.