Little Bird's Vengeance Chapter 48 Patrol Time
A pair of motorbikes cut through the night, trailed from above by a human spider. The younger rider followed the older, until they skidded to a halt in one of the worst areas of New York.
"You do know this place is called Hell's Kitchen?" Spiderman asked.
"Yup," Red Hood said, sounding distinctly like he was smirking under his helmet. "Sounds like the funnest place to be."
"Well, if you want to be attacked by bored, drunk hired murders…" Spiderman said doubtfully.
"Sorry, Spidey, but that does sound fun," Red Robin replied. It did. There are only so many thefts you can interrupt before you start to long for something a little more…violent. "Any other problems you should be aware of?"
"Not sure I want to get on the wrong side of Daredevil, and he's supposedly rather territorial," Spiderman said shortly.
"So not only do we get fun stuff, but we get to piss off the locals?" Red Hood said eagerly.
Red Robin rolled his eyes. "We're trying to avoid homicidal impulses, Hood," he chided.
"Whatever."
Red Robin suppressed a sigh. No matter how violent Hood could be, there was something refreshingly forthright about his lack of repentance. "So what's the plan?"
"Hit the roofs, you head north, I head south. Although, if there's three, I could go east-south-east, and Spiderman west-south-west. Radius of eight blocks, moving clockwise," Red Hood rattled off.
"Fine by me," Red Robin shrugged. "Anything to watch for?"
"Kingpin practically runs the place, so expect organization," Red Hood informed him. "And yeah, watch for this Daredevil."
"What does he look like?" Red Robin asked. He'd meant to research it, but hadn't had time for more than a quick note in his files.
"I'm sure we'll find out," Red Hood shrugged.
"You haven't tried to find out, have you?"
"How many devil-inspired vigilantes can be running around one town?"
"How many bat-stroke-bird inspired vigilantes can be running around one town? Twelve last count, wasn't it?"
"Uh…" Spiderman interrupted hesitantly. "He's red, has these two overlapping D's on his chest, little horns…" He made a gesture with both index fingers at his temples as the Gothamites turned to look at him.
Red Hood turned back to Red Robin. "Well you didn't look him up either."
"I was busy," Red Robin sniped back. "Are we going to get going, or are we going to argue all night?"
Instead of answering, Red Hood grappled to the roof.
Clint headed to the living room, their make-shift monitor room, at three a.m. It was his shift to relieve Tasha at watching Red Hood wherever Jarvis could get a camera. "All clear?"
Tasha rose from the chair she'd been curled in, and stretched. "Yes," she answered. "Not much happened, other than another argument."
"Have you worked out what language they use yet?"
"No, but they used English this time. I don't think it helped, though." She shrugged. "The argument seemed to be about Red Hood failing to adequately research Daredevil before selecting Hell's Kitchen as the location for their patrol."
"Anything else?"
"Red Hood hasn't shot anyone. I think he's broken two limbs and cracked four ribs on three different people, but he's using nonlethal bullets."
"Progress, I suppose," Clint shrugged. "Get some sleep, Tasha. See you at breakfast."
"I hope," she murmured, before heading to her place of repose.
Clint sat down in front of the screen. Pictures kept flickering as Red Hood kept going in and out of view of the various cameras in the area. Here he was kicking someone holding a length of leg piping between the legs. There he was grappling up the side of a building. After nearly half an hour of this, he paused after pistol-whipping an incipient carjacker around the head. He cocked his head to the side slightly, and turned and shot straight up back to the roofs. For a time, all that was visible was him zipping across the range of the cameras. Then, his destination came into view.
Red Robin was fighting with an unknown assailant in red. The teen was clearly holding back, refraining from some of his more vicious moves even when he had the perfect openings. The unknown was hard to decipher; he didn't show any apparent intention of doing serious harm, but Clint didn't know how good he may be at hiding his intentions. He was meeting Red's staff with a billy club, and then split it to from two with a cable between them. Red produced one of his batarang things, and snarled up the cable, as a hail of rubber bullets announced Red Hood's arrival.
The unknown recoiled, and his jaw moved. Unfortunately the angle was wrong for lip reading. Red Robin replied, again at the wrong angle, and it appeared there was a conversation. A few minutes later, all three holstered their weapons. Another few minutes and the unknown left. The two teens remained, and Clint was able to see Red Robin's lips move, but it seemed they were back to their strange language. They'd really have to work out what it was.
They split up, and Red Hood at least resumed his patrol.
Clint checked the clock. They'd been out for a good four hours now.
Clint was finishing off his third cup of coffee when the two teens returned. He intercepted them outside the bedroom they'd ended up sharing. "How was it?" he asked.
"Hood still hasn't learnt not to antagonize people who are on our side, but other than that, it was moderately successful," Red Robin shrugged.
"It worked out," Red Hood shrugged.
"Daredevil, wasn't it?" Clint asked, before they could resume bickering.
"It was, yes," Red Robin nodded.
"How did it go?"
"Well, after he berated us at length for being out on a school night," Red Robin said sardonically. "And told us we didn't understand the dangers of what we're up to, and we should really leave it for the adults, he agreed to help us if we ever find trouble in Hell's Kitchen, and possibly elsewhere if he's not busy."
"Sounds good," Clint commented.
"Yeah," Red Robin yawned.
"He didn't need to talk down to us like we're a pair of petulant two-year-olds," Red Hood grumbled.
"No, but can you please drop it now?" Red Robin answered, slightly irritated. "It's been a busy day. Goodnight."
He disappeared into his room, Red Hood following shortly after.
AN: Late. Sorry. Will try to do better.
This week: Flashback and Trek of the Avengers.
Next week: Flashback, Black and Red, Love and Mayhem.
Please review.
Katara