Jason was surprisingly cool with hiding a known murderer from Batman. The only thing he demanded in return was one of my knives.

I laid out my knives (six to be exact) on the bed and let Jason pick one. Honestly, a small price for what I was asking.

Jason picked them up one by one and studied them closer. Nothing seemed to spike his interest until he picked up a thin throwing knife.

The blade was sharp, could probably cut through bone if I tried, and was so polished it basically substituted as a mirror.

The handle was nothing fancy, really. It was just a dark red leather grip.

"This one!" Jason decided, balancing the knife on his finger, well, attempting to anyway.

"Good choice!" I commented, pocketing the rest of the knives again, "though if I find out you've accidentally cut off your finger or something while using it I'll find you and scold you into oblivion"

Jason nodded, though I could tell his attention was completely on the knife. I doubted he even heard what I said.

I suddenly felt a buzz in one of the pockets in my belt.

My phone!

I thought for sure it had been completely destroyed by the water, but apparently not. Honestly, I wasn't even aware it was waterproof.

Anyway, I fished it out and answered the call, not really checking who it was.

"Sup"

It was dad's voice that greeted me on the other end.

"Hi, kiddo! It's getting pretty late. Where are you?" dad asked.

"Yeah, sorry for not calling. It's kinda a long story, but I had to jump off a bridge to escape Batman and I forgot my phone was waterproof so I didn't think to call" I explained.

Dad wasn't mad. He knew I could handle myself. After all, he trained me for years. He was just worried.

"Where are you now? Do you want me to come pick you up?" he asked.

I glanced over to Jason. I didn't really want him to meet dad. He had enough shit going on in his life as it was.

Maybe if I waited for dad outside, a bit further away from Jason? Yes! That would work!

"Yeah, if it's not too much trouble. I'll text you the address. Bye!" I hung up.

"Who was that?" Jason asked.

"Just dad. He's going to pick me up, and I'm going to wait a bit away from here. I don't really want him near you, in case he's being weird" I explained.

"Oh. Well, nice meeting you, despite the whole murderer-on-the-run thing" Jason said.

"Uh, yeah, you too. And thanks for, you know, not calling the cops" oh god, that sounded awkward.

"Do you want a bag for that?" Jason asked, nodding his head toward my probably still soaked suit.

"Yes, please"

"By the way, I don't really need those clothes back, they're too big anyway, so you can keep them," Jason said.

"You sure?" I asked.

Jason nodded.

He then went to get a bag for my suit.

~~~

Just as I planned I hurried to the next block and texted dad the address. It only took him about seven minutes to arrive, having most likely broken several traffic laws on the way.

"What's with the outfit?" dad asked as I climbed into the passenger seat.

"My suit got soaked so I broke into some random house who'd left their window open and stole some dry clothes," I said, you know, like a liar.

Dad accepted my explanation and started driving.

"So how was it being so close to the Bat?" dad asked after a minute.

"Well", I tried to recall everything that happened, "at first I was just impressed by his fighting. I mean, he took out the whole room in no time. But then the Penguin ratted me out and I had to come out of hiding. That was really scary. Honestly, I think it's the cape, Batman really knows how to be dramatic"

"The Penguin did WHAT?" dad shouted, making me flinch.

"Dad, don't do anything stupid!" I begged.

He was going to do something impulsive and idiotic. I just knew it!

Dad didn't seem to listen. I knew he was already planning at least seventeen different ways to kill the Penguin.

"Dad! I can take care of myself" I snapped.

The car came to a stop at a red light.

Dad turned to me.

"Ren, the Penguin is the reason you got hurt! I'm going to kill him!"

Dad's voice cracked.

He took a shaky breath, calming himself.

"I-I just want you to be safe" he almost whispered.

~~~

Nothing else was said the rest of the way. What was there to be said? Was I supposed to apologize? Hell no! Was dad supposed to apologize? I don't know. Maybe?

When we arrived home it was a relief to leave the suffocating silence in the car.

Dad unlocked the front door and held it open for me. I mumbled a 'thanks' and moved past him.

~~~

After dinner, and mom scolding me for not calling, I retreated to my room.

Seeing as it was quite late, and I honestly was exhausted (jumping off a bridge and running for half an hour usually does that) I didn't really feel like doing anything but go to sleep. So that's what I did.

~~~

Everything was dark. The only light source was, weirdly enough, me, as a faint glow seemed to be surrounding my form.

If I looked closely on the ground I could make out some sort of texture, maybe tile.

I started walking.

As I walked I realized nothing seemed to change about my surroundings. Everything was just black.

I decided to run a bit, maybe get some change in the scenery, but soon reverted back to walking, having accomplished absolutely nothing.

"Well, this is just fucking boring" I muttered.

If I was going to be trapped in some black void, at least make it an interesting black void.

Suddenly I felt like I was being watched.

I twirled around, but there was no one there. Only more black void.

I stayed still for a moment, listening, but the only thing I could hear was my own breathing.

I concluded it must've been all in my head.

I turned around to continue walking when I suddenly bumped into something.

I took a step back, and I fucking swear to god, I might as well had had a heart attack right then and there, for who was stood in front of me if not the Dark Knight himself.

He reached out a hand towards me. I stumbled back and tried to run away, but barely five feet later I slipped and fell to the ground.

A hand harshly grabbed my hair and forced me to my feet.

Batman was staring me down. He didn't say anything, he just stared.

His glowing white eyes were the definition of 'if looks could kill'. It felt as if they were drilling a hole through my soul.

I struggled against Batman's grip, but he just stood there, effortlessly, not even seeming to notice I was trying to get away.

"Let me go!" I screamed in frustration.

To no one's surprise, Batman kept his grip.

Suddenly a batarang materialized in Batman's other hand.

Before I could even react, the batarang came flying towards my face.