GOTHAM CITY

OCTOBER 3rD 2010 01: 11 EST

Betty landed on the ground, pulling her lasso back down towards her from where it was hooked on a fire escape. Her Honeybee suit felt suffocating, she didn't want to be wearing it. She wanted to search for Jason as Betty, but her Honeybee suit would explain her being found swinging through alleys and searching fire escapes for any sign of Jason. People were less likely to question one of their vigilantes than they were a girl in a butterfly patterned sun dress.

"Jason?" she asked, walking deeper into the alley. "Jason Todd?" Betty checked behind the dumpster in the back corner, but there was no sign of life other than a meowing tabby cut on top of a box.

Betty wiped at her face and leaned back against the brick wall. She had only been searching for a few hours, and yet it felt like an eternity. Jason needed to be somewhere safe and warm, not out here on cold, damp ground and smelly garbage. Every second that he was out of her reach felt like hours, and she was itching to get her hands on him again.

"Have y'all found anything?" Betty asked into the mindlike. Conner had been able to get M'gann to come. M'gann had been concerned when he told her they were looking for a missing child, never mind who he was and what his connection to Betty/Honeybee was. Betty had just enough sense to get a domino mask on before she saw M'gann, but Betty knew the young girl had questions. Who was Jason? And why did Honeybee care so much about what happened to him?

Maybe when all this was over, she would tell M'gann. She wasn't sure. It was no time to thinking about that anyway. She had much bigger fish to fry.

"Not yet," M'gann said. "Sorry Honeybee."

Betty sighed and pulled her lasso back out, reeling back to throw it back onto the fire escape to leave.

"It's not your fault, M'gann," Betty comforted. Betty swung the rope and it caught onto the railing of the top fire escape. She began to climb up, and she was glad for her gloves that kept her hands from burning on the rope. She reached the railing and jumped over the top of it, landing shakily on the metal and took the lasso off the metal.

From above her, she heard a rustling, and she looked up to see Robin standing at the edge of the roof. He had a sympathetic smile her way and held out a hand to help her on the roof, which Betty took. Betty stepped onto the roof, her balance shifting as she stepped up.

"It's been less than a day, HB," Robin tried. Betty squinted at him through the dark light of night, crossing her arms. "We'll find him."

"Still far too long," Betty said. Betty felt a small seed of doubt plant itself in her. Could she have been wrong? Could Jason really just be at a friend's house? He had four superheroes after him, and nothing had been turned up about him yet. Surely there must be a clue? Somewhere there must be something that could lead them to Jason.

Betty had already checked their old apartments and made routine checks by his new one to see if he made a return. Nothing. M'gann and Conner had been checking youth shelters and other centers for hours, and Robin had been scouring from the rooftops for any kind of lead. Betty knew most likely that Batman was in it, Robin told him everything, but Betty had no way of knowing for sure.

"I'm gonna check by his school," Betty decided. "Maybe he –"

"I already did that," Robin said. "Also hacked into their servers. He hasn't been in school for about a week."

"A week?!" Jason had possibly been missing for a whole week, and she knew nothing about it. Had she been so wrapped up in herself she hadn't noticed Jason was missing? She knew she should have been spending more time with him. Maybe this wouldn't have happened.

M'gann appeared from nothingness above them, and she landed next to Betty. She had an uncharacteristic frown about her, and she looked between her two teammates sadly.

"I can't find a trace on him anywhere," M'gann said. "And Conner hasn't had much luck either."

How could a little boy just vanish like this? Betty had worked missing persons cases before, but none felt as tedious and unsolvable. Catherine refused to give her any information, and she had nothing else to go on. The Narrows had to be housing Jason somewhere, she just knew it.

"Let's just keep looking," Betty decided. "He has to be here somewhere."

M'gann put a hand on Betty's shoulder to keep her from leaving, her sympathetic but stern.

"I know you're worried about your friend Honeybee," M'gann said. "But it's getting late. You should head home, get some rest." Betty blinked and yanked her self out of her friend's grasp, incredulous.

"Go home?" Betty scathed. "I can't go home, he's still missing! And I've stayed up way later than this before."

Robin stepped forward now, and Betty looked up at him, hoping he would talk some sense into M'gann. Jason was missing, and she had to find him. She had to. She couldn't just stop when her friend was still out here, God knows where doing who knows what.

"She's right," Robin said simply. Betty turned to him aghast. Of all people, surely, he must understand. He always understood. Always.

"I am not going home," Betty sternly seethed. "I have work to do."

Robin reached out to her, but Betty stepped far enough way that she was out of his reach.

"Don't." Betty pulled at her sleeves and felt bile rise in her throat. "That'-that's my – Jason is like my brother. I can't just leave my brother out here, alone."

M'gann furrowed her brow and opened her mouth to say something, but the words were lost on her lips as she shut it and looked away.

"You're really upset right now, Bee," Robin defended. "Maybe if you get some rest –"

"I don't need rest!" Betty yelled. "I need to find Jason!"

Her insides were on fire. She could not just rest or stop. Jason had to be found, it wasn't a matter of needing time to see more clearly. She knew what her mission was, what she was after and what was at stake here. She could not sit idly by while her – her brother was out there. He needed help, not her.

"Robin," Betty pleaded. "You know how broken Gotham's police system is. Jason will just get lost in the shuffle. If we don't find him –"

"We will find him," Robin said. "But-but before you can find him, you have to take care of yourself."

Betty narrowed her eyes at him and did not speak for a long, pregnant moment. She was tired, she wouldn't deny that. But she had gone on for much longer with much less reason than this. She also knew that M'gann and Robin were unlikely to give this up. They were going to ask her to stop, at least for a little bit.

"Conner," Betty thought into the mindlink. M'gann and Robin both blinked in surprise. "Where are you? I'm going to meet you."

"Honeybee –"

"Corner of South Bend and Hillcrest," Conner replied easily, heedless of the fight on the roof. Betty nodded and turned away from M'gann and Robin.

"Honeybee, please," Robin said, griping her hand to pull her back. She looked over her shoulder to see his begging face looking at her. "You have to –"

"I have to find Jason," Betty cut him off. "I don't have to do anything else."

She broke herself of his grasp, turned away for the final time, and jumped back down into the alley below, off to meet with Conner and her eyes peeled for Jason.

Maybe I should've seen the signs, should've read the writing on the wall
And realized by the distance in your eyes that I would be the one to fall
No matter what you say I still can't believe
That you would walk away
It don't make sense to me but

GOTHAM CITY

OCTOBER 3RD 02:11 EST

Jason was awoken by a rustling at the end of the alleyway. He turned over in his box, away from the noise, but it happened again. Jason curled himself deeper into his box, trying to remain out of sight, and shut his eyes even tighter. He may be able to take care of himself, but he was no fool. If there was some kind of mugger twice his size, he could maybe get a few punches in to get away at most. Better to stay out of sight.

"Bee, your city smells terrible, by the way," a deep most likely masculine voice said. Jason's breath hitched for just a second. The voice was deep and had a boom to it, but it was not threatening. If anything, it sounded friendly.

"Noted," another, more familiar female voice replied. "Let's stay focused here, okay?"

"Just saying," the male voice said. Jason opened his eyes but did not uncurl. Where had he heard that female voice before? He felt a funny turn in his stomach, but not an unpleasant one. It was one that made him feel safe, warm, and it seemed to have been triggered by the sound of the woman. Woman? Girl? It was impossible to tell the age.

He heard them walking closer to his box, and he stayed as still as possible. Why were they in his alley? They should have just passed by, not come in deeper.

"Jason?" the female voice said kindly, a bit of worry mixed in. "Jason Todd? Are you here?"

Jason's breath caught again. They…they were looking for him? Why? H-had Mom noticed? Had she sent someone to find him? His heart swelled at the possibility. But he did not dare move. He lived in Gotham. He knew better than to just strangers on the street.

Two pairs of feet stopped in front of his box, and in the darkness, he could make two pairs of combat boots. One pair was brown and large, the other black and much more petite.

"We're not here to hurt you," the woman cried. "Please, Jason, if you're here, say something."

Jason moved slowly in the box so that he was sitting on his legs, perching on his toes in case he needed to run. The top of his box shook, most likely from some kind of pressure being added onto it from one of the pairs of boots.

"Jason? Are you –" A face appeared in the opening of his box. Jason did not have time to stop and see what the face looked like, even if it were the man or woman, instead he acted on instinct. His hand pushed forward and punched the face, sending them back and away and out of sight.

Jason used this as an opening to run. He shot out like a bullet. He ran out in the alley, and the male voice let out a 'hey!'. He heard running behind him, and he managed to avoid them long enough to get to the edge of the alleyway. A hand reached for the nape of his neck and pulled him back by his collar, and then he was wrapped in someone's arms and squished to a hard chest.

"Hey, let me go!" Jason yelled. He couldn't see who was holding him, but he presumed he was a man from the gruff grunt he gave as Jason started to squirm.

"Kid, you can try all you want, but you're not getting free," the male voice said. Jason paid no attention to their warning and kept moving, trying to wriggle his way free from the mystery person. He sent an elbow flying upwards to try and elbow him, but the man seemed to be made of brick as it did no good. The man didn't even say anything or give a yelp.

The man turned, Jason still in his arms, and Jason glowered at the girl walking towards him. He stopped squirming and his mouth dropped open as he realized who the person was in front of him. She was dressed in a yellow and black bodysuit, a half black and yellow domino mask covering her eyes. Her hair was cropped short like Jason's, and she was rubbing at her jaw, which was most likely where Jason had hit her.

This was Honeybee. Hero of Gotham, the second vigilante to take to the streets of their city, and total badass.

Why was she here? Looking for him?

"You pack quite a punch, you know that Jason?" Honeybee said and stopped rubbing her jaw. "Especially for a kid."

Jason frowned. "Why are you looking for me?"

"Because you're a missing kid," Honeybee said simply. There was something else in her voice, an almost hint of relief that threatened to peek it's way through her words. "And people were worried about you."

Jason did not say anything, but he doubted that was true. Mom most likely hadn't noticed, and Betty was busy with her own schoolwork and life, that she most likely didn't know either. No one was looking for him, he knew that.

"If my friend puts you down, do you promise not to try and run off again?" Honeybee asked. Jason hesitated, but then nodded. Not like they would let him run off anyway. "Let'em go."

Jason fell the foot to the ground when the man let go, and Jason turned to get a good look at the person who was holding him. It was not a man, despite their strength, instead it was a boy who looked just a little older than Honeybee. He had hair just a few inches shorter than Honeybee and the same shade too, with uncovered blue eyes and a black Superman t-shirt. He reminded him vaguely of what he had seen of Superman on the news, but Jason could not place them, which was strange. Wouldn't a friend of Honeybee's be a hero like her? Or she wouldn't have risked brining him out here in the open like this.

"I got it from here," Honeybee said to the boy. The boy raised a curious brow, a question in his face. Honeybee nodded surely and put her hands on her hips. "Really, go. Tell the others."

The boy hesitated but then shrugged, giving her a meaningful look but jumped up into the sky, disappearing into the buildings above.

"Others?" Jason said. Honeybee took a step closer to him.

"The people searching for you," Honeybee answered. "Like I said, people were worried."

Jason scoffed and turned away from her. "Yeah, right."

Honeybee furrowed her brow and leaned down to his height, resting on her knees.

"I talked to your friend. Betty, right?" Honeybee said. "Sh-she begged me to look for you once she found out you were gone."

Betty? Betty had begged a superhero to find him? An image of Betty on the roof of her apartment appeared, waiting and hoping one of Gotham's heroes might show up. Begging and pleading for help, to find him.

"H-have you talked to my mom?" Jason softly asked. Honeybee's face fell.

"She – she wouldn't tell me anything," Honeybee admitted, and Jason did not feel surprise. Mom had noticed. It just seemed she didn't care. "But don't worry about her. I can-can take you to your friend, Bet-Betty. She's missed you."

"No!" Jason put his hands on Honeybee's shoulders. "You can't!"

"Why?" Honeybee inquired. "Sh-she asked me to. Said she would take care of you."

"She-she can't." Jason looked away from her, staring down at his shoes. "Her and her aunt – they – they can't take care of me. They – they - I can't ask them to do that." He swallowed thickly. "Tell them I'm safe somewhere. Don't let them worry about me."

Honeybee frowned and put one of her hands on top of his.

"Jason, I can't do that," Honeybee gently told him. "I can't let a kid live on the streets, knowing I can do something about it." Honeybee reached a hand out to his face, but pulled back, retracted by some unknown force within herself. "Let me help you, Jason. Please."

Jason shook his head. "I can take care of myself."

"I'm sure you can." Honeybee laughed softly, gently, familiarly. Jason frowned. He knew that laugh, he just couldn't place it. "But that doesn't mean you should. Please, Jason, let me take you somewhere safe."

"I'll just run off again," Jason said bluntly. "I won't be a burden. I won't stay where I'm not wanted."

"But you wouldn't –" Honeybee cut herself off, and then she looked down and away. She was silent for a long moment, and Jason stared at her, a quiet sense of vulnerability overtaking the two of them. She then looked back up at him. "You're not a burden, Jason. You're a kid. Let someone take care of you."

Jason pulled his arms away from the hero and felt a stubborn sense of frustration. Why did Honeybee care so much what happened to him? It's not like she had any reason to. Jason was just another kid on the street, someone else's problem.

"I'm not your problem lady," Jason said defiantly. "So just leave me alone."

"You are my business, Jason," Honeybee said. "This city is my business." Honeybee was quiet again and then she sighed. She looked at him, seeming to have a wordless conversation with herself. She looked around the alley, as if making sure no one else was around, and then back at him. A decision seemed to have been made, he could tell from her face, the way the lines around her mask crinkled and her mouth formed a thin line.

"Jason, I know you can keep secrets," Honeybee whispered. "I need to you keep another one." Jason bit his lip, confused, and then he watched in equal parts horror and surprise as Honeybee reached to peel off her mask. And then there it was – Betty's eyes staring into his eyes. A brown color, filled with determination and worry, and Jason's bottom fell out from under him.

Betty was Honeybee.

"I care about you Jason," Honeybee – Betty – said. "And I want you to come home with me."

Jason was frozen, unable to say anything, unable to do anything but stare at the girl in front of him. How was Betty Honeybee? Betty was just a normal girl, not a hero. And Betty – Betty would not take care of him, no matter what she said. If she was Honeybee, then having him around would only give her another person to protect. Someone else to worry about, making him a burden all over again.

"I'll keep yo-your secret," Jason stammered. "But I'm-I'm not going to go home with you."

"Jason, please –"

"No!" Jason ripped away from her. "I'm not going to be a burden. You can take me home, but I'm just going to leave again."

"Jason," she sighed, rising back to full height. "I will just keep searching for you. Over and over again." She reached down and caressed his face, smiling gently. "You're not a burden to me, Jason. Please."

Jason felt the beginning pinpricks of tears in his eyes, but he refused to let them shed.

"Please. Come with me." She held out a hand to him, and Jason hesitated to take it. "Please."

Jason wanted to go. He wanted to be loved and cared for and to matter to someone. To be a kid in a house that wanted him to be there, not an afterthought of a mother that did not care. But he – he – he wanted to be sure that he wouldn't get burned again. Betty was Honeybee, which meant she had kept secrets from him. What if this secret or any others burned him to?

He looked up into Betty's eyes, and he saw the ever familiar compassion from Betty. She wanted him with her, wanted him to be safe. This wasn't a trick, wasn't an attempt to hurt him.

Maybe a few days wouldn't hurt. Just to give her a piece of mind for awhile.

"Okay."

Why would you wanna make the very first scar
Why would you wanna break a perfectly good heart

It's not unbroken anymore
How do I get it back the way it was before

Chapter Bible Verse:

"Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." - Romans 13:10

This chapter is shorter because it was more interpersonal than mission based. This plot thread is not over, and it will continue even if Jason is no longer on the street for now.

Chapter Reviews:

MsRosePetal: Catherine is infuriating! I dislike her but at the same time love to write her because there's some complication in her we've only begun to touch on. And M'gann was going to find out her identity this chapter, but it felt more like excluding the other members of the Team to have M'gann and Conner learn voluntarily in quick succession, especially since she's known Kaldur and Wally for longer and is closer to them than M'gann. M'gann will find out, just with the others, as I have plans for that, especially since Ivo returns soon. Thanks for leaving a review, and have a blessed day!

Questions, comments, or concerns? Let me know! Have a blessed day!

-PrincessChess