The sky was dark. No moon tonight. Perfect for hunting. Joker had broken out a week ago. Nobody, including Jason, could track the monster. Not yet.

The young man sneered at the dark from his position on one of Gotham's roofs. His helmet rested on the ledge next to him. He was going to find that clown.

That monsters heinous laugh still rang in his ears. His taunts. His smile. . . that bloody devils smile. Haunted Jason still.

That's why he was here. That's what he was waiting to destroy. And he would destroy it.

That evil laugh was the first thing that ripped through his mind when Al Ghul had mercilessly brought him back from the dead. That monsters smile is what nearly tore his soul into pieces.

After that . . . all he could think of was murdering that monster. Then Talia fed him lies. Jason knew they were lies. He smirked viciously to himself. He thought they were all lies. But, figures, Bats needed another child to take his place. It had hurt like hell at first. Then rage simmered into the urge for revenge. He sucked up everything Talia taught him. She never saw it when he broke out of her grip and left.

Old Ghul was probably mad with worry. If those assassins that he'd sent to try and kill him, and failed too, were anything to go by.

Jason almost laughed, everyone was trying to manipulate him in some way.

And Dick. Oh man, how much he wanted to shoot the guy dead when he dared find him. But then . .. the moron had asked, begged, practically bawled for Jason to 'come home'

Whatever that was.

He figured Dickie would be the same. But when Jason noticed something in his eyes . . . something that didn't seem like Dick. It unnerved him to think that of all the things that changed, he never thought Dick would.

No matter how stupid the older hero had been.

But there was something different. Jason refused to figure out what it was. So he ran away. Since he couldn't shoot him.

The moron had followed him all over the freakin' planet!

But that didn't change his mind. There was a plan in Jason's mind, a twisted road map that always calculated and went back to one thing. Destroy Joker.

He never thought about what would come after. Huh, maybe he could just kill off Dick for not saving his sorry ass in time. Or Bruce for making him Robin . . .

Even though it was his own fault for going after Joker alone . . . and he had begged to be Robin, it was the most incredible thing he'd ever done...

Nah, he could just leave and never see them again. There had to be other cities out there that needed a vigilante that wasn't afraid to kill and besides-

A rustle stopped his musing. He whipped around, gun in hand and shot, purposely missing his target.

He knew who it was.

"Gee . .. that's great, all I wanted to do was say Hi." A low voice snapped.

Ok . . . so maybe he didn't know who it was. Or at least didn't expect it to be anyone besides Dick.

"You?" He narrowed his eyes behind his mask, glaring at the little sorry excuse for a replacement.

Tim fought the urge to shiver, "Um, Yeah . . . Me?"

"Get lost twerp. I'm busy." He decided the kid wasn't worth his bullets after all. The rage and jealousy he'd felt the first time he found out about his replacement was dull now. He just settled for hating the kid, just because he hated everyone.

So what if this runt was deemed worthy enough to replace and take his Robin. Who cared. Not him. Nope, not even one damn atom of a-

"Yah. I can see that. Sooo busy brooding over Gotham like a wannabe Batman."

Oh ho, so that's what he wanted. Jason was so done with this, "Listen twerp, You might not realize it but I am showing an incredible amount of restraint from shooting you into Swiss cheese right now. So I suggest you don't push it and get the hell out of my face."

Tim blinked back at him. His face unreadable.

This actually confused the seething ex-Robin.

"I don't get it." He said finally, catching Jason off guard.

"Get what?" The older boy couldn't help asking. He'd shoot him later.

"How . .. why were you so important to them? Literally to the point where they both tore themselves up and abandoned us . .. because you weren't there anymore. Why where you so special?" He said this so flatly and honestly, Jason almost reeled off the roof as if the words had punched him.

"I don't get what you had that I couldn't replace." These words where a whisper, but Jason heard them, clear as if they'd been shouted.

"You little - Get. Lost. I swear, I'll kill you if you-"

"My name's Tim. And if you wanna know, I never replaced you."

"Wh-"

"I won't lie, they brought me into this to fill in that hole you left behind. But I failed in that. So now I'm Just Tim."

Jason almost laughed. He literally almost keeled over and laughed. This runt was serious! He really thought he hadn't replaced Jason. He really thought . . . oh god. This was hilarious. But Jason knew better.

"Whatever kid." He turned away, now, because of the little twerps miserly honesty, Jason almost didn't have the heart to shoot him.

"Yah. Whatever." Tim muttered next to him.

Jason bit back a smirk. This dork was so gonna get it.

Somebody screamed.

Both boys whirled around in the direction. It was a sharp, high screech of blood curdling terror. It was almost enough to give even Jason chills. Tim was shaking.

"That was the s-south ally." Robin stuttered.

Jason rolled his eyes behind his mask and reached for his helmet, "No shit Sherlock, get outta my way." He placed the helmet on his head and turned to jump on the nearest fire escape.

"Hey!"

Jason heard the dweeb call. He smirked under the helmet. No time for that.

Time to see what just died.

By the time he'd stopped, Tim was out of breath from following. Dang, that guy could move. You'd never know he'd been dead before.

The present Boy wonder didn't know why he did it. But for some reason he just had the urge to get out of his room, through the window of course, and just find something to do, or beat up. He found Jason instead.

And instead of the pure despicable jealousy he planned to feel. Tim felt nothing but submission. He wasn't ever going to be Jason, wasn't ever going to be that Robin. He was only Tim, he was only this Robin. Maybe that was ok.

Maybe that Robin felt the same when he saw Tim.

So he decided to talk to him. The crazy that had Gotham's people scared stiff. The nut that killed criminals mercilessly. The psycho to see if he had a half normal personality... he had to if Dick wanted him home so badly.

Then he followed him.

That scream said a lot of things to Tim. Horrible things. He knew before they even found it, that it would be a murder victim. Tim hated murder crimes. They just piled up on his nightmare basket.

He came to a screeching halt, staying in the shadows he heard heavy breathing.

Jason had frozen, standing over a stretched out body. Tim swallowed, the tension thick. The air cold and biting his face.

Who was dead?

"I can't believe. . . this." Jason's words reached Tim's cold ears.

?

"After everything . .." Jason let out a growl, ripped his helmet off his head and threw it against the dirty brick wall so hard Tim was sure it was broken as it rolled down the alleyway and stopped at the Robins boots.

He carefully picked it up and walked towards the hunched man.

Jason was shaking his head, his hands clutching either side. Mumbling, cursing, unable to comprehend . . . something.

Tim came closer, fear pricked up his spine as he walked closer, "He-hey . . ."

The older boy didn't answer, he seemed lost in an abyss of disbelief.

Then Tim saw it. He almost screamed in shock. His heart choked his throat, his eyes widened. Cold sweat broke out on his face.

No. Freakin. Way.

On the floor, in a puddle of blood, with a nasty, cold dead grin on his face . . . was the Joker.

As lifeless as the cold ground he was stretched out on . . .

"A Jinx? Wally looked at the girl confused.

"Yep." She said simply, "That's what they called me. Jinx. That's my name. Not Mallory Johnson. I never had a real name. Nobody cared enough to give me one. Everywhere I went, I hurt or broke someone or something. Everyone was afraid of me. They kicked me out of every children's home. I was out on the streets by age ten. Forced to be a criminal."

Wally didn't like how she sounded so casual about it, "So how did you ended up here?"

Her eyes flickered, "I nearly got caught in Jump City for a robbery, which I didn't actually commit. But who's gonna believe a bad luck witch?" She huffed irritably, "So that's why I wanted to start over here. Without anyone knowing about my powers. But you messed any chance of that up." She muttered.

Wally understood, for the most part. This girl had way more to her then she was saying. He wanted to know more. But right now he had enough to realize she was one broken soul. That needed a new light.

He wanted to be that light. As sappy as that sounded, "I'm sorry Mal . . .do I call you Mal?"

She gave him a tight lipped smile, "That would be good in order to keep this a secret."

"Right. If it makes any difference, " His eyes connected to hers, "I don't think your a bad luck witch." And he meant it.

The pink haired girl bi her lip, refusing to let any form of smile attach to her face, "Whatever West. Now hurry up and get better, so you can leave."

Wally grinned, "You're welcome."

Dick watched in what could only be described as shocked amazement.

That kid, Damian, was currently sparring with a robot in the Batcave with nothing but his black P.J. thingies and a very sharp sword. But what really shocked the older hero was how expertly the kid handled the weapon, and how advance his movements were.

Seriously, who the heck was this kid?

"If you're going to stand there with your mouth open like a fool Grayson, the least you could do is stand somewhere else. Your presence is irritating me."

Dick let out a small chuckle that earned him a dark glare as the kid stabbed the robot through it's mid circuits. Dick grimaced.

"Hey, don't do that. It takes forever to tune them up." He changed the subject deftly, walking towards the Bat-computer to check on his tracer he had on Jason.

"I could care less about your house keeping issues." Another slice, the arm fell off.

Dick snorted, no kidding kid.

He decided against answering and turned towards the computer and tapped a few keys.

Jason's coordinates appeared instantly.

Dick's eyes narrowed, Gotham Back ally? That's Interesting. I wonder who Jay killed this time.

A loud smash behind him prevented Dick from going full detective mode as he turned in the chair and took in the destruction.

Damian was seething, sword gripped tightly in his hand, his glare directed at a young girl with a somewhat fearful look on her face.

Dick stood up, "What just happened?"

The girl turned big brown innocent eyes at him, she was afraid of him.

"I-I though T-Tim was down here so I came . . . to see and accidentally . . .-"

"Destroyed My droid! Get this abomination out of my sight immediately!" Damian pointed accusingly at the skinny girl.

Dick cast a disapproving look at the shrimpy boy, then looked at the girl, she turned to leave.

"Hey, wait. Don't let this little dork scare you-"

"What did you call me you-"

"He's not a people person, obviously. Your Ann? Right?"

"Annie."

Dick blushed, "Right, Annie. I feel bad for asking, But how long have you been here?" He really couldn't remember the girl. Even though she looked familiar.

"Ever since you blew up Santa Prisca . . ." She said quietly.

Damian's face hardened, "That was you!" He shouted, pointing his sword at Dicks neck.

"So? What's it to you?" Dick spoke as if he wasn't being threatened by a sword.

"I used to live there you idiot!"

That was news to Dick, "We'll discuss this later." He shoved the sword away, getting a vicious growl from it's wielder, "What can you do Annie?"

She didn't look at him, "Morph into anything I want."

Dick felt like he'd seen those kind of powers before.

Actually, he was surprised that Batman let an obvious meta human live in his house. One look at the small framed girl told him that she must have looked pretty helpless for Bats to take her in.

Suddenly he got an idea.

"Say . . . Damian, I don't suppose you'd like to battle a real opponent?"

Damian scoffed, "Don't be ridiculous Grayson, if you're referring to this child as an opponent you are blind. She's not worth my skill."

Dick smirked, "What's the matter kid? Scared to get you butt beat by a girl?" If this kid was Bruce son, no way he'd turn down a challenge.

"You are a fool. But very well. I will prove you wrong." He looked at Annie, who looked back innocently, "Prepare to meet your demise abomination!"

Dick stepped back, curiosity played on his face as he watched the little monster lung at the seemingly defenseless girl.

Damian stabbed her right in her gut.

Dick winced.

Damian stared.

Annie gave him a small smile and melted to the floor.

Well . . . that was dramatic.

Damian stared at the puddle, actually confused. Until it started to move and crawled with a squelching sound towards him. The ninja boy started slicing at the goo in vain, his sword had no effect, no matter where he stabbed it, the goo always formed back. It crawled up his leg, then enveloped his body. The boy started fighting frantically, cursing loudly.

Dick just watched, one eye brow raised.

The glob enveloped Damian almost completely. Only his head was out, he couldn't move. The boy turned red in anger.

"Get off me you monster! Get. OFF!" He shrieked in rage.

Annie's head reformed next to his from the glop that surrounded him. Dick almost laughed at the kids stricken face before he covered it up with a curse.

"You're not very nice." Annie spoke calmly, as if she wasn't covering the boy with her body technically.

"Nice? I'll show you nice!"

"Ok. That's enough. Annie, you can let him go now."

The girl melted off the angered shrimp. The blob slowly morphed back into her pretty self. Damian paled.

"You're disgusting." He spat.

"And you're pretty rude for being only ten years old." She countered simply, her eyes innocent.

The boy grimaced and picked up his sword, "Stay away form me." And he stomped away with an attempt to look regal.

Dick actual laughed this time, "Not bad Annie. Your powers are pretty cool."

She gave him a small smile, "Thanks. By the way . . . you haven't seen Timmy around?"

"Timmy?" Dick raised an eye brow.

She blushed lightly, "Tim. You haven't seen Tim. Have you?"

Dick sagged a little, boy do I wish I have, "No. Sorry."

"Ok." She turned to leave him in the cave alone, "By the way." She called suddenly, "You should probably try to talk to him. He was crushed to pieces when you left. . . they all were." She left him with that.

Dick let out a sigh that only the sleeping bats in the cave could hear.

I wish it were that easy to fix . . .