When Brothers Rise - Chapter 1

Neal Caffrey was going to die. It was the first time he had that thought as clearly as he did now. He was staring down the barrel of a gun, his vision flooded with red.

Why was the Red Hood in New York?

"Aren't you a Gotham guy?" Neal spat at him.

"Neal!" Peter scolded in his ear. "Don't antagonise him! We're on our way."

Neal Caffrey was still alive. Why was he still alive?

He didn't care why the Red Hood was hesitating, just that he was. And he knew that this Red Hood wasn't the Joker, everyone knew that, but that didn't mean he didn't think of-

Neal shot up and slammed his body into Hood's chest. He reached for the gun and found himself on the ground moments later.

"At least I tried," he huffed.

"You're an idiot," Hood huffed back. "I had to ask Dick where you were. You're extremely lucky he kept track of you."

His voice was familiar but Neal couldn't figure out why. There's also a bat on Red Hood's chest. Why was he allied with Batman?

"You know Dick?"

Hood pulled off his hood, revealing black hair with a white streak and a very familiar face.

"Jason!" Neal gasped. He scrambled out from under the crime lord - Jason, a crime lord! They all thought he was the least likely to do crime! - and stared at his lost brother.

"Hey Danny," Jason said with a crooked smile. Tears sprang to Neal's eyes and he grabbed his brother in a tight hug.

"You're alive," he sobbed into Jason's shoulder.

"Yeah. We have a lot to catch up on." Jason pulled out of the hug and put his mask back on. "I really should get out of here though. I only jumped in because the guys had figured out you were an FBI plant and were going to kill you."

"Sounds about right," Neal shrugged.

Jason paused for a moment before sighing. "Okay, a lot to unpack there. But I need to get going before the FBI gets here. I'll see you where you're staying?"

"Sure. But visit as Jason please. Peter will fear for everyone's lives if he springs a surprise inspection on me and the Red Hood is in my apartment."

"No promises," Jason said as he dashed towards the window. He was gone moments before the FBI came blasting through the place.

Peter was hesitant to leave Neal at June's after he faced down the Red Hood and lived to tell the tale. They weren't sure what the Red Hood was doing outside of Gotham and Peter didn't want to leave Neal where he might be murdered to keep Hood's secrets.

"That's not how Red Hood works, Peter. He would confirm whether I know anything and then kill me. And since I don't know anything, I'll be fine."

Peter sighed and let him out of the car. "Understand that if you're not here tomorrow morning, I'm going to go out of my mind with worry."

Neal laughed. It was rare for Peter to express emotion like that. "Don't worry, Peter. I'll be upstairs having my Italian Roast in the morning."

That helped his handler relax and finally drive off.

Neal waited until Peter was out of sight and then pulled out the burner phone he had Mozzie pick up and dialled a memorised number.

"'lo?" A sleepy Dick Grayson answered.

"Why didn't you tell me Jason was alive?"

"Danny, you told me to leave you alone-"

"Don't give me that. You know you would be furious if you were in my shoes. Why didn't anyone tell me?"

There was silence on the other end for a moment while Dick considered his response. "Jason's return was messy. He came back and almost killed Tim and had plans to back Bruce into a corner-"

Neal sighed. "I'm guessing things got crazy and you didn't think to inform me?"

"You are on a 2 mile radius and you were in prison before that. I wasn't going to risk you getting hurt because you ran."

"Because I wasn't running from the FBI for years," Neal scoffed, face flush. He hung up on Dick as he opened his apartment door.

The first thing he noticed was the smell. His apartment smelled mouth-wateringly good. The second was the large form of his brother standing by the stove.

Jason turned and gave him a shy smile. It was the one where only half his mouth turned up.

"Jason," Neal said, still unable to believe his brother was alive.

"I'm here," he said, holding his arms out. Neither of them were big huggers but that wouldn't stop Neal from confirming that his brother was solid, real.

"You were dead."

"Yeah, sorry. I didn't mean to leave my twin alone." It was an old joke, that he and Jason were twins because they had been adopted on the same day. Neal hadn't thought someone would ever make that joke again.

"It was suffocating after you left. Bruce was going to get himself or someone else killed and I had no idea what to do."

Jason held him tighter. "I'm sorry. I left without telling you and got killed. When I returned and saw someone else in the Robin outfit, I actually thought it was you for a moment."

Neal laughed and pulled away from his brother. "No way. I wouldn't be caught dead in that outfit. At least Tim added pants."

Jason nodded in agreement. "We can agree on that I guess. I do need to ask though, why don't any of the others know you?"

"The others?"

"Tim, Steph, Cass? Damian? Did you realise that Bruce fathered a bio-kid?"

Dick had been keeping Neal in the loop. Especially during the year Bruce had been believed deceased. "None of them know about me because I walked out on Bruce before Tim came."

"And you didn't visit?"

Neal raised an eyebrow. "I made my way as the kind of person Bruce spent putting behind bars. Why would I return?"

Jason laughed. "Another thing we have in common. Look, kid, if he didn't put me behind bars, he won't put you there."

Neal wasn't convinced but he guessed he was alright trying to make amends. Batman couldn't charge him, if he had already been charged.

"Is this your way of asking me to go back with you?" he asked.

Jason sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "That complicates things." He pointed a spoon at the anklet. "What did you even do?"

"Bond forgery for the first 4 years in prison and escaping prison for the anklet and FBI gig."

Jason shook his head fondly. "How high did you get on their wanted list?"

"Does it matter?"

A smirk. "Yes. Because I'm on there."

"I know. But the best crimes are the ones they don't know about. My crimes are also just, more elegant."

"Wow. Rude."

"You've been hanging around Tim, haven't you?"

"Wrong. Roy Harper."

Neal winced. He remembered Roy. A bit too much of a rich, party boy; despite being adopted like them.

"Roy's okay. Especially now that he has a loving daughter to take care of and is out from under Ollie's roof."

"If you're sure."

A timer went off and Jason pulled the pasta sauce off the heat and drained the pasta that had been cooking on the other hotplate.

"Pasta's done," he mused as he dropped the pasta into the sauce and mixed the two together. "Now get me two plates and tell me how Daniel Brooks-Wayne became Neal Caffrey."

Danny Brooks had a dead 'twin', an absent older brother and an adoptive father that was intent on digging himself an early grave.

It was during this time he decided to reach back out to one of the first adults he could remember caring for him. Ellen told him about WITSEC and how Danny Brooks had not been his real name.

Alfred confirmed and showed Danny the papers Batman had managed to scavenge regarding his case. Danny's biological father had turned state's evidence against the people he had been working for. Danny's birth name had been Neal Caffrey; Caffrey being his mother's maiden name.

Danny didn't feel like a 'Neal Caffrey'. But, in light of recent events, he didn't even feel like a Daniel Wayne.

Alfred had been understanding when Danny decided to leave.

"I'll go to New York, meet up with Dick. Get some distance from Bruce and-" he stopped before finishing with 'Jason's Grave'.

Neal Caffrey arrived in New York, ready to start over. He didn't end up meeting Dick; he ran into a short-con artist in the park and started on a life of crime.