Patrol. Something Jason hasn't done in over two weeks. Just walking up the stairs to his apartment was already killing him, he didn't want to think about actually going out on patrol. When Jason agreed to do this he was basically signing his death sentence. He wondered if maybe that wasn't the real reason he said yes in the first place. You know, so he could die as a hero on the field rather than die on a hospital bed as something that wasn't him. Every time he looked at the mirror he recognized even less the guy he sees on the other side. And that was just the beginning, his hair still had to fall out, he was going to get as thin as a stick, he would become a vegetable on top of a bed, and then it would finally be over. People would write on his gravestone that he was a 'warrior' and that he 'never gave up' and all that nice crap people only say to each other once one of them is dead.

Right now, though, all he had to do was kill some time while shooting Ramona's guys (and maybe even Ramona himself if he is lucky). He was glad Dick had warned him beforehand about this patrol, that gave Jason plenty of time to tamper with his gear so that he didn't give out that he was dying.

"Maybe tonight's the last time I see you, pal." He whispered to himself as he touched his reflection. All the padding he sewed on his jacket and the hood made him look like he used to. It was hard to stare at himself and not cringe. He shook his head and lifted the bag with the sniper rifle and walked out the window.

Okay, so maybe he should've arranged a meeting time with the replacement so he didn't die of boredom in this roof. He kept on swiping across the area with his rifle to make sure there was no one else there.

"Hood." Red Robin's voice came out on his comm. piece.

"Yeah?"

"Where are you?"

"Pier 19. Can't you see me on the radar?"

"No. Only your vitals show." Oh. Maybe he messed up with it a little. Jason blushed a little at the thought, but acted cool about it

"Well, you know where I am so get your ass here." Tim sighed

"And where exactly in pier 19 are you?"

"The furthest crane to the south. I'm on top of it."

"Are you sure that's the best place for you to choose as a sniping point? You'd get a whole wider vision field from warehouse fifteen."

'But then I couldn't get up there, genius.' "Yeah, I'm goddamn sure this is the best place for me. Now get your feathery ass down here."

"My suit doesn't have feathers on it."

"Shut up condom head!"

"Make me, pimple head!" Jason shut the call on Tim and seethed as he went back to sniping out the place. A few minutes later he could see the tiny guy dressed in red and black jumping up the rooftops. He touched the comm. piece twice to signal he had Tim on his scope, and Tim swirled his bo-staff once to show he got the message.

"Something on your area, Reds?" Nightwing's voice came on both Tim and Jason's comm. pieces, and Jason groaned

"Please tell me that's not why you split us up like this."

"Maybe. So? Anything?"

"Still nothing." Jason saw movement on the furthest point on the left and held his breath. He zoomed in and saw a sniper aiming at Red Robin's head "Sniper!" He shouted and Tim jerked up and got in position. Jason took the sniper's startling as a chance to shoot a round on his head. The bastard fell unconscious to his knees "It's pier 19!"

"We'll be there in three minutes." Batman informed them and Jason wanted to point out how the hell would he get there in such a short time, but leave it to the Bat to break the laws of physics

"Hood! Get down here and help me!" Jason shot a few more thugs unconscious before pulling out his grapple gun and grappling to where Red Robin was. He almost let go of the gun from the force of the pull but managed to hold on to it. Jason and Tim fought with a decent synchrony and could hold their own until Batman and Nightwing got to where they were. In a bit over fifteen minutes they stood in a circle formation, waiting for the next horde of underpaid thugs they had to beat up.

Out of the corner of his eye, Tim saw a shadow moving and took off after it. Sure enough his suspicions paid off as it was Ramona and his new right hand man. He was almost catching up with them when he heard two guns going off and Ramona and his thug fell to the ground. Red Hood jogged to where he was

"Give us a heads up next time, you stupid bastard." He said whacking Tim on the head

"You give me a heads up the next time you shoot from behind me, asshole." He retorted, whacking Red Hood on the head and then massaging his hand as it stung from the hard helmet. Jason chucked and was about to say something when he saw movement and aimed his gun at Ramona

"You fucker better not move an inch, you hear me?"

"Why? You'll shoot me with rubber bullets?" Ramona's tough guy front would work if he wasn't trembling like a newborn fawn

"Mona, Mona, Mona. It seems that losing your pinky wasn't enough to teach you to respect me, was it?" Jason cocked his gun on Ramona's forehead

"You bats don't kill." The other thug said, a cocky smile on his face

"You're Mona's new guy, right?" Red Hood said turning to face him "Okay, greenhorn, once you're out of jail, google my name and you'll know what I'm capable of. You'll see what I'll do to you the next time you think about screwing with this town again." He shot both criminals on the head, knocking both unconscious

"I hope they won't forget it once they wake up." Jason straightened up and turned to face Bruce "You guys can wrap things up without me, right?" Batman nodded and Jason called his bike

"Hood, hold on." Nightwing said putting his hand on Jason's shoulder "Are you alright?"

"Why're you asking that?" Dick looked Jason up and down and shook his head. He didn't have any reason to be worried about Jason, but somehow when he's around him he gets a weird prick in his gut. Maybe he should write it off as the fear that might not ever go away that Jason might go on a rampage again

"No, it's… it's nothing. Thank you for today."

"Just stop breaking into my apartment and we'll be even." Dick could see the grin on Jason's face even with the helmet covering it

"Nah. Pissing you off is too good to give up just like that." Jason flipped him off and mounted his bike, speeding off without giving them a second glance

"I wonder if it will go away." Dick said to Bruce as they watched Red Robin talk to the police officers that answered their call. Even without Dick saying what 'it' was, Bruce knew. He looked at the moon, searching for the answer himself

"I'm not sure."