Judas
Blaze and the Red Hood arrived on a simple rooftop miles away, Jason stared into her eyes for a long moment lost in them, then he shook his head and stepped back, but didn't release her.
"Sorry" he breathed out, not looking at her .
"Whatever" Blaze growled, "You have some questions to answer."
She pushed him away, then started to pace as thoughts filled her up, along with anger soon after. Her steps became harder and faster as Jason continued to watch her. He wasn't sure if he was suppose to wait for her or just start talking. Seconds ago he would have ripped off his helmet and kissed her so passionately, but now he was actually being patient. Why did that bird brain have to interrupt them! He still wanted to tell her, but now that they were alone, for sure this time, questions were popping up in his head as well. Like why he waited so long, he wasn't even sure he knew that answer himself. Blaze took a glance at him, and anger grew as it looked like to her he was just staring off in space. Not a care in the world that he was messing with her, no one was allowed to mess with her. She stormed at him and pushed him back. Jason stumbled close to the edge caught off guard, then looked over at his lover, she looked more confused now then determined. Sure she still held some anger, but he saw pain and sadness trying to take over.
"Are you alright?" he asked, reaching for her face.
"Don't touch me!" she yelled, slapping away his hand.
Somewhere in between all her thoughts she had answered her questions for herself. It all connected and made sense, all she needed was the how. But as she stood there staring she wondered if she was truly ready for it all. Her life was so different now then five years ago, she held more malice, but she was also lost. Drifting so deep that she couldn't even complete a simple heist on her own. Her nights out had turned from adventure, to murder, to endless wandering. She had spent so many nights intent on stealing, or even thinking about going after the Joker again, but just ended up staring at the sky. What would her life turn into once the truth came out, that was the question that shook her body now. Then there was part that thought she was going crazy.
"Are you gonna ask me or just stare?" Jason asked, hoping that if he added a little impatience to his voice it would break the trance, it did.
"You think you can just come into this city and take over everything!" Blaze yelled. "I'm not just some simple plaything you can mess with! What am I to you?"
Jason took a couple steps forward, ready to answer but Blaze only backed away. His hand fell away from his hood and he pushed out a sigh. He stared deep into her face then shook his head,
"Do you really wanna know?"
Blaze nodded her head but she was starting to break.
"Are you sure, cause..."
"Shut up! You don't know me! I'm asking the questions here."
The Red Hood pushed out another sigh, she was to confused to actually ask or listen. All he wanted to do was comfort her, tell her everything, but every move he made she rejected. Silence wrung between them now as Jason waited for her to ask the questions he knew she would never truly muster, but she wouldn't let him do anymore. Blaze let out a long breath and anger left her completely, she started to shake as it all came clear, but still something bothered her.
"I can't...I don't..." She started to stutter, then it hit her. "I need to leave."
She turned fast before Jason could even process her sentence, and when it came through she was already jumping off the roof. He ran after her but it was to late.
"Mari Wait!" he yelled, as he saw the lightening flash of her telport between the gap of the building and the ground. She was already gone. He screamed at the sky, why didn't he push through her cold shoulder and force himself on her. In all this time he had changed into a fierce man, but with her he was still that cocky kid with a lovestruck crush. When it came down to it he was gentle. Sure he pushed her against that wall, but then again so did she, drunk in the moment. He took a long deep breath trying to think of where she would go and the fast way to get there, then a beep sounded. He looked down at the watch around his wrist, and glared at it's message for the first time, not actually wanting to follow through with his plans. He took a deep breath, thinking.
"Fuck!" he yelled then ran off.
"Son of a Bitch! You're telling me that scum bag stole some of my guns again!" Black Mask yelled, back at his hideout.
"No sir, he destroyed them. Blew up the truck, the drivers" the women spoke.
"Dammit. Of all the...Dammit!"
"Previously he was just enlisting anyone under our province to come work for him, now he just seems to be killing them."
"O so now we got another Batman, one who doesn't mind the blood."
"No sir, he's no Batman. He's still taking huge cuts from off the streets, but now he's eliminating the competition. He's coming after you."
Black Mask lifted his head back surprised, then one of his lackeys let out a cough. Without warning he threw his desk across the room, and stormed past his adviser, punching the goon in the face.
"You wanna tell me why this guy ain't dead" he asked at the same time.
"We're trying, we sent the fearsome hand of four" the women answered.
"Four! Guess they're gonna need a new name."
Black mask went down the line punching out another man. "Why hasn't Batman whipped this little smear off the face of the planet."
"Maybe he doesn't want to, perhaps he's letting you and Red Hood war it out. He could be waiting..."
"To take on the winner." he knocked down a third lackey. "What does he think this is, a tennis tournament!"
He knocked out the last guy then walked back past the women to the window.
"I'm just saying" she started.
"You're an idiot and you don't know Batman. He's not letting this lunatic just run wild, he can't catch him either. Or it's something else...Can't you feel it, were stuck in the dame cross fire."
A red dot shinned through the glass then and Black Mask looked down seeing it laying on his neck. He then looked back up to see the Red Hood across the way holding a rocket launcher and waving.
"Ah hell."
He turned around fast, pushing one of his men back down and running out of the room with all of them slowly behind him.
"Wow, he sure can move when he really wants to" Jason mocked, then fired the explosive.
It raced through the window blowing up the room, and going into the fire escape stairwell door, blasting it into the wall right above Black Mask's head.
"You ok sir" the women asked, she was only one left standing besides him.
"I'm not dead, so that's something" he answered, rubbing his neck. "Ok time to change up the ground war."
"How so sir?"
"I'm being forced into negotiating with a psychotic."
"That doesn't sound good."
"No, its going to be a nightmare."
Two guards sat watching the security camera at Arkham Asylum, when a third one showed up unaccounted for, then he was shot in the back of the head as five men in all black appeared.
"Sorry, schedule to keep" the leader said.
"You didn't have to kill him" said a guard, coming out to meet him.
"One, yes I did. Two, we're paying you a ton, so three, shut your gob and open the dame door."
The man glared but turned, and nodded his head to his coworker to unlock the gate.
"Does he know whats going on?" the leader asked.
"He knows he's leaving" the guard answered.
"Gonna be a sleepover right, I packed my tooth brush" Joker grinned inside his cell.
Blaze arrived outside the cemetery of the Wayne manor, and wrapped her hands around the bars as she stared at Jason's grave far away. She started to shake harder as thoughts like it wasn't possible came leaking in. He couldn't be alive, she was just imagining it all. She thought she was done mourning him, seeing him at every turn, wishing he was still with her. He was gone, he was dead, and she had to face that. This fascination with the Red Hood, these connections, they had to all be things she made up to make herself fell better. She had to realize that, she had understand that he was gone.
Bruce came out of manor unaware of her presence, and stepped inside a bulldozer. Blaze was to frozen now to think. Suddenly her face struck with confusion as the detective moved the vehicle to where her eyes were glued, then she watched in horror as Bruce dug up the grave of the man she loved. He jumped down and picked up the body, and Blaze turned pale as the wig slipped off the fake body of Jason Todd.
"What just..." she staggered, tears breaking through the facade.
Minutes passed by as she didn't move, totally oblivious to Bruce heading back inside the mansion and down to Batcave. It was only when the roar of the bat plane came zooming into her ears that she was free. She looked above to she it zooming off, then adrenaline filled her. She took once last look at the ...hole, then telported inside the passenger seat behind Batman.
"I think you have some explaining to do Bruce" she seethed, resting her feet on the back of his chair.
"Get out!" Bats yelled not even looking at her.
"I don't think so, unless you want me to fill your body with more electricity then the chair till you explain what you did down there." (the death penalty electric chair, encase your confused but I know your smart just didn't wanna reuse the word electric.)
Her voice turned into a growl at that sentence, and her face shifted to a dark demeanor the Batman knew to well back when he had first "met" the joker. (watch year one movie batman, or play Arkham origins game if you wanna see a better description)
"You saw that?" he spoke low.
Blaze lowered her feet, and took a deep breath, then nodded her head, "Where are you headed?" she asked, her voice different, but still filled with spite.
"Rahul Al Ghul's" Batman answered simply.
Blaze let out another breath, it all made sense now. When they arrived she would take out all that hatred on that immortal. He was the reason she was being toyed with, and he was gonna tell her everything.
Batman and Blaze arrived at Rahul Al Ghul's castle jumping out of the jet, and taking down his security with ease. Bats slammed through a window pinning down the scientist.
"What did you do to Jason? Act like you don't know what I'm talking about, and I'll dislocate this shoulder. And that's just the start" he said, jerking his head to Blaze as she walked in behind him a lightening bolt rattling in her hand.
Rahul looked at her, "If you haven't disabled the roof senors my guards will be here in under a minute."
Batman pushed down on him, "Answer me."
"I'm willing to but it will be more expedient if you hand me my communicator in my pocket, and I'll call off my men."
"I can take care of them easily" Blaze grinned, another bolt lighting up in her other hand.
Batman looked at her face, it was the same as the night on the roof top six years ago when she almost killed the Joker. Surely she would do the same to these men, and he still wasn't willing to let blood shed. The Dark knight reached over grabbing the walkie- talkie and put it in front of Rahul's mouth.
"Commander this is Rahul Al Ghul, stand down. I will be entertaining guests in my study."
"You're no fun Bats" Blaze pouted, her powers distinguishing.
Bruce let the old man up and he began to explain to the two what happened.
"You remember when we last became in battle?" he asked Batman.
"You were planning to blow up banks." the Dark knight answered.
"Accurate, inelegant. I was in the midst of topping the economy of Europe, but you were onto me. I sought a distraction. So I hired the Joker. When your paths crossed in Bosnia it was to appear that you had stumbled upon him."
Blaze sunk her head as she listened remembering that night all to well. She was taking down Harvey and his men with much struggle, but stalling in hope that her bird boy would find her, just like he had many times before. Always listening in on Two-faces activities, she knew just how to get hold of him. But the heroes weren't even the same continent that night, and she ended up getting beat up pretty badly before escaping on a whim without her prize or her pride.
Bruce recalled the night as well, Robin and him showing up and taking down the Joker's men as he laughed on.
"He was paid extremely well for what was intended to be a wild goose chase." Rahul continued.
Batman watched as Jason ran ahead of him after the Joker, but he was pulled back and knocked down.
"Then he murdered the boy. That was not my design, I'm afraid I over estimated my ability to control the Joker just as I underestimated his madness."
Blaze flung up then, slamming Rahul into his desk, "Underestimated my ass!" she growled. "Did you actually think that you could control that mad man? He works on his own terms."
She grinned, her hand engulfing in flames again, but Batman stepped forward grabbing her wrist. He shook his head at her, and she let the old man go, spitting in his face. "Like it matters anyway" she said slowly walking back to her chair.
"Continue" Bruce said as he watched her for a moment curious at what her words meant, did she already know the truth as well?
"It grieved me sir, to be a party to something so brutal."
"You've never shied away from drawing blood."
"True, but always with purpose. Always with greater goals. This was simply an unnecessary casualty. As penance I chose to never make war with you again. And attempt to rectify this disservice."
"Rectify?"
Blaze leaned forward in her chair, her heart itching at her chest as the so called god began to explain the wonders of his fountain of youth.
"Yes. I had hoped to return to you what you had lost. I have walked this world for nearly six centuries. As you know I achieve this by bathing in the rejuvenating waters of the Lazarus pit. Along with its healing abilities it has long been rumored that it is capable of an even greater feat, to raise the dead."
"Procuring the remains of your partner was not difficult. You had come to Bosnia under the guise of Bruce Wayne and you chose to depart as such. You even concocted the cover story that young Jason had died in a bombing in Sarajevo. This made it easy for me, all it took was a few payoffs to replace his body. I felt confident that you would not preform an autopsy, even if you had, we still would have brought enough time. But my plan... Well detective. It had unfortunate results."
Flashback: Rahul, his daughter Talia and his men watched as Jason's body was lowered into the pit, once under the substance, the surface started to bubble. In a couple of minutes Jason flung out of the liquid screaming in agony, surprising them all.
"He returned to this world, but returned damaged."
Jason ran out of the pit yelling and attacking Rahul's men, Talia aimed to kill, but he stopped her as Jason climbed up the wall, through the cave, into the mansion, and jumped out the window. They were so high up that they all questioned if he could survive the fall, even if he did manage to land in the water below.
"My army searched for months, but we were never able to find a body or pick up a trail. I thought him dead yet again. But I hear you have been having trouble at home. I have returned your son to you as a blight on you house."
