Jason coughed violently as his vision returned. He could barely make out the form of Black Mask standing above him. Jason wanted to move, but as soon as he did, he felt a sharp pain on his back, and was pressed even harder into the floor.

"Yeah I wouldn't move Hood. Not unless you'd like to meet the downstairs neighbor." The joke was odd, coming from Sionis. Hood growled through his helmet, and Mask chuckled. "Not so fun on the other side of this equation, is it Hood?" Mask asked, as he knelt down next to Jason.

"What the fuck did you do to me?" Jason asks, his anger overriding his fear. Mask laughs, a full body laughter that has him throwing his head back. It reminds Jason of Joker. He hates Mask even more. "Let- Let him up." There's a slight pause, and Jason finds himself a few feet above the ground, his neck suddenly being held by-

- By a fucking Amazo robot.

"Well I'll be. Whose dick did you have to suck to get this Roman?" The robot punches Jason in the chest, the triple-layer of armor doing nothing to defend him against the robot's immense strength. "Hits about as hard as Wonder Broad. Couldn't afford Superman sadly. Not yet."

Jason is worried now. Not just about his life, but if Mask was able to get a ahold of an Amazo, then just who else could? Strange? Penguin? Joker? "So who decided to mass produce Amazo Sionis, or did they not mention details like that to a customer?" Amazo bitch slaps him, and Jason has to fight to keep his neck from breaking.

He hates that he has to do this, but he looks in the top right corner of his vision. His helmet's HUD comes on. He immediately zeroes in on the emergency signal. Seconds later, someone's voice is inside his helmet. "Hood? Little Wing are you ok!?" It's Dick. Huh, go figure, he thought his brother was still in Blud.

"So what now Sionis? Gonna have your little pet Amazo kill me?" Dick sucks in a breath. "Oracle track his coordinates right now, Nightwing en route." Jason doesn't have the heart to tell him he's probably going to be too late. "Hmm, well you see Hood, I do want to kill you. But I don't want it to be fast." Amazo punches his stomach again, and Hood feels the armor trying to give way.

His ribs are cracked, he knows.

("Forehand or backhand? A little of column A and B?")

Mask laughs as Jason coughs. "Wing, no members of the JLU are in range. Superman, Flash, Martian Manhunter and Batman are still in space." Barbara's words echo throughout the helmet, and Jason's head pounds. No wait, that was Amazo. "I don't care! We need to do something!" Dick's voice has a slight modification to it.

He's wearing his motorcycle helmet. His older brother is coming. He'll be too late. Everyone is always too late..

Jason laughs softly as he's thrown on the floor, his cracked ribs now definitely broken.

("Forehand or backhand? A little of column A and B?")

He won't go down like last time. He won't. He will. He will and he's scared and he just wants his dad. He's kicked harshly, and flung against the nearest wall. His broken ribs pierce his skin-

("Forehand or backhand? A little of column A and B?")

- And he's fairly certain some bone in his back is close to breaking. He can't stand this pain. He can't stand it. He watches as Amazo gets closer, and closer. Jason takes a deep breath, looking at his HUD again. The emergency signal goes off again, and Dick's voice comes back to him.

"Hold on Jay, hold on, I'm five minutes out." Jason doesn't even have a minute left. He chuckles softly. "I... Fuck. I love you man. Tell dad I love him too." Jason knows he'll never get another chance to say it. Amazo puts one of its robotic legs on Jason's head, and slowly starts to press down.

"I'll be there soon Jay, just-" Dick's voice is cut off by the helmet being slowly crushed. Jason takes a deep breath - his last one. "Took far too long, but at least you're finally out of my hair." Mask says. There's a loud gunshot, followed by a thud.

"Funny, my thoughts exactly Skeletor." A young voice says. The pressure off of Jason's head releases, and he turns his head slowly. It's hard to make out with the cracked vision, but he thinks he sees Nero there...

...

Nero aims Blue Rose at the giant robot and grins. "Hey man, pretty sure you have like, no more master pulling your strings. Be free Pinocchio! You're a real boy now!" He jests, and side steps the robot's punch. Amazo makes a large hole in the wall instead.

"Hope this place has better insurance than I do!" Nero says, before pulling the trigger twice. Four bullets hit Amazo, but fall to the floor. There's barely a dent in the robot. Nero huffs in annoyance. "Knew I shoulda brought my second favorite lady." He says, as he rushes the machine. Nero easily avoids the attacks by Amazo, but his own punches don't do much damage.

It's clear that Nero is going to be here a while.

Nero jumps back, avoiding another punch from Amazo, and then does a dropkick on the robot. It sends the machine back a few feet, and Nero starts punching and kicking at a high rate of speed. The robot is stunned - at first - but after a few solid attacks, Amazo manages to grab Nero's arm, and flings him through the wall.

Several walls actually. It seems that without a master to hold itself back for, Amazo is fighting at full capacity. All of Wonder Woman's strength. The mighty Amazon Demigod. Nero stood, and rubbed his cheek. The scratches and pains he got healed right up. Amazo walked forward, and then using its processors, truly looked at the man before him.

"SCANNING. SCANNING. SCANNING. ERROR IN THE COPYING PROCESS, REPEAT, ERROR IN THE COPYING PROCESS, NOT ALL POWERS COULD BE IDENTIFIED."

A small devil appeared for a very brief moment on Amazo's chest, before it disappeared. Nero narrowed his eyes at the machine, before charging. Suddenly, Amazo was able to match his speed. Before, Nero clearly was faster, but now they were on equal terms. Except, they weren't, because this thing was obviously physically stronger.

So now, Nero is fighting something that, while not as durable, is just as fast and a good amount stronger than him. He punches Amazo in the head, and then jumps up, twirling in the air and kicking the robot in the head - his foot is grabbed, and Nero is slammed into the ground. The floor gives away, and Nero is slammed again.

Each time he goes down a floor, until finally the basement is right below his back. Amazo starts to punch Nero's chest repeatedly. The half-devil grunts in pain, and his anger raises. As Amazo winds up another punch, Nero catches the arm, his eyes a bright red.

"Fuck you, you son of a bitch."

A bright light explodes around them, and suddenly Nero has the upper hand. In his devil form, his speed is once again faster, and his strength is now on an even playing field with the machine. Amazo tries to throw a punch, but Nero easily deflects it with his wings.

The half-devil punches Amazo right across the robot's chin, and grins. "Not so tough now, are ya big guy?" Nero taunts, as he begins a relentless assault. Amazo's chest and legs take the brunt of the attack, and Nero uppercuts the machine. Amazo is sent up into the air, and Nero quickly jumps up, intercepting it.

"Hey, need a hand?" Nero asks, as his wings grab ahold of its arms. Nero kicks the robot down hard, sending it into the ground. Its arms are still in Nero's grasp. "Well shit, if you didn't need one before, you need one now." Nero jokes.

The half-devil lands back on the ground, and starts to infuse Blue Rose with as much demonic energy as he can muster. He walks over to Amazo, and smiles as points the gun at its head. "Sorry pal, but you fucked up. You pulled my devil trigger." Nero shoots the machine in the head, the demonic energy causing it to explode.

As Nero turns back into a human, he facepalms. "Alright, ok that was just stupid." He says, and sighs. "Just glad Nico wasn't around to hear that line. She'd never let me live it down." Nero huffs, and jumps up past the holes, climbing the floors one by one. When he finally makes it to the top floor, he takes a deep sniff.

Huh... Red Hood is gone.

...

Jason watches as Nero goes blow for blow with a damn Amazo robot. One that is just as strong as fucking Wonder Woman. And not only is Nero able to tank the damage, but he's also insanely fast. Jason would be more impressed and way more curious if he wasn't currently halfway dead next to Sionis's rotting corpse.

Which, you know, totally awesome. Jason can take dying if he brings that piece of shit with him. There's a small explosion of wood and debris that brings him out of his thoughts. He can't see well, but he thinks there's a hole in the floor near where Nero was duking it out with Amazo.

They might tear this whole building apart. Jason really does need to get the fuck outta here. He tries to move his legs, but his body screams as he does so. Oh wait, no that's him. He screamed. "Son of a bitch... Either get up or die again already." He says to himself. There's a small gasp, and he wishes he could turn his head.

A second later, Dick and Cass are at his side. "Hood, what the hell is-" Jason coughs. "Consoli is fighting... Fighting the Amazo. We need to get... The fuck outta here." Dick and Cass look at each other for a moment, before Dick touches his ear. "Wing to Agent A, prep the medbay. Hood's severely injured." Dick doesn't waste a second as he and Cass carefully pick Jason up.

"Not to... Rain on anyone's parade, but... I ain't riding a motorcycle for a bit." He stops himself from yelling or screaming as the two walk to the nearest stairwell. "Batmobile. I drove." Cass says quietly. Jason snorts, and then winches when the action hurts his chest.

"Can I drive?" He jokes. Dick doesn't even laugh. Which really, should be all the indication that Jason needs to know he's really upset. "Did you kill Mask?" He's absolutely surprised that Dick is even asking that; when did he turn into the old man?

"Yeah I fucking... Fucking did. Would do it again too." Dick sighs. "Good." Cass has an arm around Jason's bicep, and gives it a small squeeze. "Don't like killing. Hate family hurt more." Cass is also really shook if she's having such a hard time talking. What happened? Did someone almost die or something?

...

Oh. Wait.

...

Nero really doesn't know where Hood went, but he picked up new scents and he assumed it was a few of the Bats who came and saved him. If not, well, the man wasn't Nero's priority. His priority was in fact, safe at home if the call from Kyrie was anything to go by.

"He just got here. I'm about to look over his wounds and get him something to eat. Would you like anything when you return?" The world's greatest woman asks him. Nero chuckles. "I'm pretty sure what I want isn't on the menu." He says, his voice low. Kyrie giggles.

"We'll see. I have to take care of the kids right now." Nero fakes a sigh. "They are the most important thing so I don't blame you. I'd do the same." He says, and then yawns. "I'm getting tired anyway. Heading straight back home and then I'm out for the night. See ya soon babe."

"See you in a while. I love you."

"Love you too." Nero says, as he hangs up his phone. He starts the long walk back to the orphanage when his phone dings. He sighs as he reads the text from Nico.

Nico:

Yo I'll be heading back to the States in a few. Got all the business taken care of over in London.

Nero:

Oh good. About time your lazy ass finished that job. Been a month, what the fuck Nico?"

Nero:

Oh, oh don't you even start on me little bro, I will beat your fucking ass when I get back; do you realize just what I had to do over here? No? Didn't think so. Fuck you, my flight's almost ready.

Well damn, that was fast. Nero just shook his head and laughed. With Nico back, at least he had the van. Which meant less walking around Gotham and and that meant more time being able to keep his kids safe.

Because at the end of the day, fuck everything else. The kids come first. Always.