Life is as tedious as twice-told tale, vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.
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Batman Beyond Season 4Episode 67: Morals
Author James the Lesser
I do no own the Characters, names, villains, so forth
A/N This takes place after Batman Beyond Return of the Joker so yes that movie happens in this timeline/series
Melanie's body is left on the steps of the police station. When it is found a note is next to her bloodied head.
The Royal Flush Gang is in prison except for her and her brother. While the brother eludes me I got this card shuffled out of the deck.
Sincerely,
Redhood
Barbara Gordon calls Bruce as soon as she learned of Melanie's body being found. "She was killed by Redhood."
"What? He, he knew she was one of us."
"Maybe he didn't care about her present and only her past. His note mentioned she was a member of the Royal Flush Gang."
"But he had to know she wasn't any more. This doesn't make sense why would Redhood kill her? Are you sure it is her?"
"Yes. We ran finger prints since her face was badly damaged."
"I'll tell the others."
"Bruce, what will he do?"
"If I knew what Redhood would do I would have stopped him by now."
"No, Terri. What will he do? You always had that line in the sand. Even after so many people were killed you never once killed. What will Terri do? His friend was hurt badly by Redhood and now Melanie has been killed." Barbara only hears silence. "Did he love her?"
"Does it matter?"
"It always hurts more if it is some one you love." Barbara thinks of her time as Batgirl. She first dated Robin but when she was older... "Make sure he stays in control Bruce. If he kills Redhood in any thing but self defense it will be murder." Barbara hangs up before she would say any thing more revealing.
Terri is walking over to Bruce. "Did you ever leave that chair?"
"Did you talk with Melanie last night?"
"No. Why?"
"Did you see her?"
"No. Why? Is she ok?"
"No." Bruce tells Terri about what happened.
Terri pulls the cowl over his head and walks away silently. "Terri what are you going to do?" Terri doesn't respond. "Terri if you are going to kill him I won't allow it."
"You couldn't stop me."
"Yes I could."
"Not any more. I had Max make it so you couldn't disable the suit." Terri gets in the Batwing and takes off.
"I can disable the Batwing." Bruce types in a code and hears the sound of metal slamming in to the pathway.
Terri climbs out of the Batwing. "You've got to be kidding me." Terri walks towards the end of the path to the exit. "I can still fly just not as fast."
Max is getting a new set of bandages put on when Redhood appears. "Very good! The injections are working wonders." He holds up a needle. "Are you ready for another?" Max says nothing but looks at him. "I'll take that as a yes." He sticks the needle in her arm.
Terri sits on the roof of the police building. "They found her body on those steps. What else did they find?" He swings down through a window and uses his camouflage to sneak to Commissioner Gordon's office.
Barbara hears the door open. "Only two people would ever enter my office with out knocking." Terri becomes visible.
"Who is the other?"
"Myself." She turns around in her chair. "I'm sorry about your friend."
"Maybe you are or you aren't it doesn't really matter does it?" Terri walks over to her. "What did you find?"
"A body, a note, and little else."
"I heard there was some thing carved on her arm." Barbara nods. "What was it?"
"Round em up for me old friend." It makes as little sense to Terri as it did Barbara.
"He doesn't go after the ones in Arkham or Blackgate. So why would he care if I caught them? He'd just leave them in there." Terri and Barbara turn just a second before the large glass window shatters.
Barbara is pulling out her sidearm as Terri gets two batarangs out but both are too slow as Redhood lands in the office with two pistols raised. "Hello. Did I miss any thing?"
"You bastard!" Terri starts to raise his arm when Redhood shoots the batarang out of his hand.
"I'd be pissed too except I didn't kill her." Redhood sees Barbara start to move a hand and shakes his left hand holding a pistol. "Don't press that. I'd be out of here before any one got up here."
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Setting the record straight on what happened with Melanie."
"Did she fight back? Is that why you shot her?" Terri is trying to think of a way to attack Redhood with out getting Barbara shot.
"I didn't shoot her. I toyed with her and left a message for our old friend the Joker but I didn't shoot her."
"What message?" Terri knows he was fast but he wasn't faster than a bullet.
"I left it on her arm."
"You put that on her arm? And you think we'd believe you didn't kill her?" Terri wants to attack but Redhood had them trapped.
"How would she get the message to Joker if I shot her? Come on Terri you're smart enough to figure that out."
"He's right Terri." Barbara stands up. "Why would she take this message to Joker?" She looks back and forth between Terri and Redhood.
"She was our spy. She found out what the Joker was up to and told us so we could try and stop him." Barbara shakes her head.
"If Joker found out she was doing that he'd kill her with out a second thought." Barbara walks towards Redhood. "But you have killed in my city."
"I've killed before Batgirl and you never stopped me then."
"I was no longer Batgirl then." She stops in front of Redhood. "And you are not Jason."
"And what makes you feel so sure of that?"
"Jason died from cancer."
"I did. But Cadmus fixed all that when they brought me back."
"We found Jason's body in the casket."
"You found nothing. I'm sure Bruce sent," Redhood motions towards Terri. "Wonder boy here to do that."
"It was still Jason's body." Redhood shakes his head.
"It was a failed experiment. They tried making a copy but that failed." Redhood taps on the side of his helmet. "If you don't believe me Barb take my helmet off." She reaches up slowly and finds the latches. She undoes them and the helmet comes off in to her hands. She raises it off of Redhood's head.
"Jason?" Redhood smiles.
"Long time no see Barb."
"Die!" Terri takes his chance and tackles Redhood. "I don't care what lies you spew I won't let you get away with it!" Terri punches Redhood, Jason, hard in the face. "Why did you kill her!?" He punches Redhood again.
"I didn't!" Redhood raises his legs and wraps the ankles around Terri's neck and pulls throwing him off of Redhood.
Redhood springs to his feet faster than Terri and has a gun out pointed right between Terri's eyes. "I left the message on her arm and maybe tortured her a little but I didn't kill her. She was fine when I let her go." He looks over to Barbara. "Sorry I made such a mess but I am no monster. I kill the monsters who haunt our great city. Melanie may have been a monster but she grew in to some thing more. She may have been the one I picked but Max, well, she has some thing more."
"Don't you dare touch Max again!" Redhood places a finger on the trigger before Terri could attack.
"If it weren't for me she'd be in the hospital for months."
"If it weren't for you she'd never be in there!" Redhood places the barrel against Terri's forehead.
"She was good. If she had been Batgirl she would have been faster." Redhood motions towards his helmet. "We have about three minutes before it explodes. If Barb could put it back on my head it would stop the countdown."
"Jason if what you say is true I'm sorry. You've died twice. First Ra's AlGhul and then Cadmus brought you back." Barbara picks up the helmet.
"How? How did they do that? You said they made a clone but it didn't work." Terri doesn't take his eyes off of Redhood's trigger finger.
"Bruce took a trip on his birthday didn't he? Invited by Talia to use the Lazarus Pit. Cadmus followed him out and found it." Redhood presses the barrel harder against Terri's head. "He wanted to be younger and it meant I got to come back, again."
"Why did they bring you back Jason?" She places the helmet on Jason's head and connects the latches. "Why didn't the clone work?"
"The clone was made in a lab from decayed DNA. It also hadn't been beaten to death with a crowbar by Joker." Jason laughs. "Some things you can only learn from first hand experience." He walks backwards towards the broken glass. "You two have a good night and tell Bruce I'll see him later." Redhood leaps backwards through the broken window.
Terri gets off the floor and runs for the window. When he looks down he sees... "Where did he go?" Redhood had disappeared in the few seconds it took Terri to make it to the window.
"Go to Max. I'll call Bruce." Barbara walks over to her desk and grabs the phone. "If Cadmus brought him back there must be some thing we can do."
"We? What can the police do?"
"I wasn't always a Commissioner." Terri nods and leaps out the window as Barbara calls Bruce.
Terri makes it to the hospital and goes in using the stealth on his suit. He finds Max sitting up in bed and watching television. "Max? How are you?"
"Better." She smiles a little through the bandages. "More skin peeled off today so I might actually get to ditch the mummy look here soon."
"That's good." Terri sits down in a chair next to Max's bed. "Have you seen Redhood?"
"No, why?"
"He, I just talked with him and he mentioned you."
"Only talked?"
"He had Barbara as a hostage." And kicked my ass even after I got the jump on him. "He, I, he says he didn't kill Melanie. He said Joker did it."
"He did save my life."
"After he almost took it."
"If I had been faster I could have been out of range of the blast." Terri stands up fast enough that the the chair tips over backwards.
"He still almost killed you. It isn't your fault but his." Terri goes to the window. "He said he sent Melanie to Joker with a message. The Joker killed her and tried to make it look like he did it. She was caught between their sick game."
"Then maybe we should stay out of it? Let them kill each other." Terri sees images flash in his mind. He knew what it was now. It was Bruce's DNA trying to come through.
"The Joker is insane. It is why Bruce never, could never, would never kill him. Would you kill a mentally handicapped child who didn't know when he pulled the trigger it would kill his sister?"
"No but the Joker,"
"The Joker is the same. He isn't like Blight. Blight was a monster even before he started glowing. He isn't crazy he is just evil. The Joker? He was sane until his accident and then he snapped. If we could bring out the man he was before the accident do you really think he would have done all of this? He'd be horrified." Terri picks up the chair and sits back down. "That's why he could never do it." Terri had been ready to kill Jason and when he believed it was Joker who had murdered Melanie he was ready to kill him instead. But Bruce was right. The man the Joker was before the accident would never have done what the Joker had done.
"So will you kill Redhood?"
"No. I don't know if Jason is crazy or not. He's died twice and been brought back twice. If death doesn't make you crazy I don't know what would." He looks out the window wondering what Redhood was doing. What he was thinking.
Redhood follows two Joker gang members out of the city. "He wants to trap me but I'm no mosquito." He watches the gang members disappear through a hidden door. "I bet that is the only way in and out." Redhood runs up to the door. "Not that strong." He pulls out several small packages. "This is almost too easy." He places the packages around the door and on it.
He takes a few steps back and pulls out a detonator. "Knock knock." He pushes the button and the bombs explode.
Flash was taking some time off after digging up a dead body twice and hearing about Melanie. But when he hears the explosion he takes off for it.
Redhood hears Flash before he sees him. "Hello Billy."
"Don't say that like you know me."
"I knew you. Sure when you and the others disappeared I was pissed and wanted to do some thing about it but there was nothing to do." Redhood shrugs his shoulders. "At least not that I could do. I looked for Mystic since she could do magic but she said this was beyond her abilities."
"Don't sound like you are Jason! I dug his body up twice."
"Not mine but the clone. Did Terri not tell you guys yet?"
"Tell us what?"
"I visited him and Barb earlier. It turns out the Joker tried to frame me." Flash glares at Redhood. "No really it wasn't me." He holds his hands up.
"Don't do any thing. I'm faster."
"You always were. Of course Artemis never complained about it did she?" Flash takes a step back like he had been hit.
"Only Titans knew about that."
"Told you I was Jason." Redhood puts his hands on the back of his helmet.
"Stop!"
"I'm just taking my helmet off to show you old buddy." He undoes the latches and takes the helmet off. "Like I said to Barb long time no see."
"How?"
"Cadmus ring a bell? They made Terri and that other Joker and they brought me back, again." Jason puts the helmet back on.
"I don't know who is worse some times." Flash looks towards the destroyed door. "What did you do here?"
"I think the Joker is in there. If I'm right this is the only exit."
"So what? You'll wait for them to dig their way out?" Redhood shakes his head.
"If I did the math right it would take them about eight hours to dig out. I'll be in bed by then."
"And where do you sleep?"
"That's for me to know and you to never find out unless you decide to join me."
"Join you?"
"I already have one recruit I'm working on why not have another?" Redhood walks over to Flash. "Join me old friend. Last two members of the Titans left still in fighting condition." Redhood puts a hand on Flash's shoulder. "What do you say old friend?"
"When you were a member of the Titans you didn't kill." Flash knocks Redhood's hand from his shoulder. "We are heroes we don't kill. If we kill we're no better than they are."
"We break and enter, we assault, we blow shit up causing millions of dollars in damage but we don't kill." Redhood laughs sarcastically. "We don't get warrants we just bust in and beat em up leaving them for the police. We don't follow the law when we interrogate. How many times did Bruce leave some one hanging upside down letting the blood rush to their head until they pass out? Only to wake them up and continue questioning them?"
"That, that's different. We don't kill."
"So they can kill again? If he had just killed the Joker years ago I never would have died!" Redhood pounds a fist in to his other hand. "Well, the first time." Now he laughs. "I don't kill the innocent. I don't kill some kid stealing a candy bar. I kill monsters."
"They're still people."
"Ask the parent's or the children of all of his victims if he's a person or a monster. How many children must leave flowers at their parent's grave because of the Joker? How many parent's cry themselves to sleep because their son or daughter was buried by them? I demand you to look in to the eyes of one of his victims," Redhood grabs Flash by the front of his suit. "And tell me he isn't a monster." Redhood's helmet touches Flash's forehead as he stares deep in to Flash's eyes. "Tell me I deserved what I got."
"You didn't. Man I'm sorry. When you died, the first time, we all went."
"Even Dick and Starfire?" Flash nods. "I guess death can make you forgive even the worst of betrayals."
"You were still a member of the Titans. No matter what happened with you and Star." Flash tenses up as Redhood pushes him away.
"I'm sorry Jason but I won't kill."
"Every one has their limits. I knew mine until death changed them." Redhood starts walking away. "You have a good night old friend. Just know I didn't kill your new friend Melanie and Max will be fine."
"What are you doing with Max?" I already have one recruit I'm working on. "Leave her alone!" Flash disappears as he runs for the city.
Terri is about to leave Max's room when Flash shows up out of breath. "Is she here?"
"Max? Of course she is." Terri is confused as Flash rushes in to the room.
"Max? Are you ok?"
"As ok as a mummy can be." She laughs then winces. "Why all the concern suddenly?"
"Redhood." Terri and Flash say it at the same time.
"Well as soon as I see him I'll let you know." She leans back on her bed. "I'm tired. I sleep a dozen hours a day and it still isn't enough." She rests her head on her pillow. "Thanks for the concern guys."
As Flash and Terri leave Flash stops him. "What happened? I found Redhood and he said he didn't kill Melanie."
"He didn't. At least I don't think he did. He said Joker did it after he sent Melanie with a message to Joker."
"And Jason, it is Jason, isn't it? I saw his face and it looks like him. But a clone,"
"It isn't a clone. Barbara said the same thing. He is Jason Todd and the one you dug up was the clone. Why it didn't show any signs of chemotherapy." Terri had plenty of time on the flight over to the hospital to think. "You two used to be friends didn't you?"
"Yeah. We were pretty close when he was a Titan."
"Why did he leave?"
"Dick and another Titan were dating seriously. Jason decided a little thing like an engagement ring didn't matter and may have slept with her a few times. When Dick found out about it Jason quit before Dick could kick him out."
"Ouch." Terri looks back at the hospital. "Why did you come here?"
"Redhood said he has a recruit he's working on. He mentioned Max would be fine. I'm not the greatest detective but even I can put two and two together."
"He made a few references to her when he was in Commissioner Gordon's office."
"Do you think he's going to do some thing to her?"
"He might but she's Max. My friend. She wouldn't join him." Terri was sure of that but he had to worry. Max was his friend and had been badly hurt. Another had been killed. "How was it talking with an old friend?"
"He's changed. I never saw him when he came back the first time. We all heard the news from Gotham about Redhood but none of us went to see him. And then..." His words trail off as the feeling of dread fills him.
Redhood comes in through the window of the hospital room. "Hello Max are you feeling better?"
"I'm tired." She turns so her back is to Redhood.
"That's fine you are healing." He walks over to her. "You remind me so much of her."
"I don't care."
"If you don't care then why did you lie to them?" She says nothing. "Well it is almost three in the morning how about another injection?" She stays silent. He gets the needle out and injects her.
A/N A lot of back story going on here. And only one time of the DNA overwrite affecting Terri but it helps him understand why Bruce would never and could never kill the Joker. If you've read any of the comics you know that Joker can break the fourth wall. He knows he is in a comic and those he kills aren't real.(In some of the comics any ways) He is clearly insane and not responsible for his actions. Why Terri pointed out that the person Joker was before his accident wouldn't have done any of the things Joker had done. As for Jason? Is he insane from being brought back twice? Or was Terri just looking for an excuse for Jason's actions. Jason was once a son to Bruce and Bruce's DNA overwrite in my series is affecting him making him think/feel/act like Bruce some times. Anyways I restarted my Code Xana series! So now will be going back and forth between that and this.