Jason was wandering through the streets of Gotham in the same clothes he wore the day his mom died. Not that he really had a choice considering he couldn't buy any clothes anyways.
The day his mom died he was sent to an orphanage, which he escaped from (like he wanted to be stuck in a house full of snott nosed brats where he would be kicked onto the streets when he turned 18 anyway), after the EMTs and cops left. He would have to survive on his own now, it's not like it would be any different to how it was when his mom was"sick".
So he was living on the streets in crime alley for the past few months, with only the clothes on his back, some lock picks, and a tire iron he found, along with the few thngs he was able to recover from his old apartment. There wasn't much though. The place was ransacked by looters by the time he got back. They evem found the money from the convenience store robery. The only thing he was able to find though, was very special to him. It was an old walkmam his mom gave to him back when she was healthy, along with his Johny Cash, Metallica, and Jimi Hendricks tapes. He didn't care how much money he'd get from selling them, he waz keeping them no matter what. Bssides, he got by just fine by stealing and jacking tires though. The people he stole from probably had it coming anyway, because as far as he was concerned no one in this city was honest.
He just stole some money and jewelry from some loser's apartment and was going to sell the jewelry when four thugs came up to him.'Great random douchebags that I can beat the shit out of. They probably deserve it to.'
The apparent leader of the four morons came up to Jason and said, "Hey there little boy, why don't you put down your hood down so we can see your pretty face."
Jason just smirked and responded, "Wow you could not sound any creepier if you tried. Why don't you and your group of morons run along so I don't have to beat you guys half to death."
The leader snarled, "Watch your mouth boy."
"Really you're threatening me, cause it seems I'm the one with the tire iron so you seem to be at a disadvantage here."
The leader then pulled out a knife, "Oh yeah, well I gotta knife, punk."
"Ooh, scary." Then Jason swung hard with the tire iron and hit the leader right where it hurts the most for a man and proclaimed, "Nut shot", and then round house kicked the guy coming up behind him knocking him to the ground. The third thug then swung at him but Jason ducked under his arm and then hit him in the spine with the tire iron making him go down in pain as well. He was about to hit the last guy but he noticed he pulled out a gun and yelled, "Oh shit", before ducking out of the way of the shot. Jason then swung up with his tire iron successfully knocking the gun out of his hand before hitting over the head with it.
Jason not one for missing a chance to make fun of random street thugs said, "Not that I'm complaining, but, you dumbass, why didn't you pull that out in the first place. It sure as hell would've saved you and your buddies a lot of time, and pain."
Then he noticed that they were starting to get up and deciding not to draw this out any longer started to run and said, "Well I would love to stay and chat I gotta go."
Once he was at a safe distance away he decided to slow down. 'Heh, morons', he thought to himself jokingly. He then decided to go sell the jewelry he stole, like he was gonna do before being so rudely interrupted, and go get some food.
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Jason left the diner he ate at with his stolen money and picked up his trusty tire iron from where he left it.
'What to do what to do. I guess I could just head back to that abandoned apartment building I left my stuff at, or I could jack some tires.' Jason then yawned loudly. 'You know what; I'll just go back to the apartment.'
Jason was walking down some random alley (which admittedly wasn't one of his greatest ideas, but who cares) when he saw it. He saw the goddamn batmobile, just sitting there. 'Holy shit this is a sweet ride, although the wings on the back are little weird, but still it's awesome.' Jason then looked at the tires and remembered his tire iron and got the greatest idea ever. Well, it was great in his opinion. 'He's probably some rich bastard that has a bunch of tires to spare anyway.' Then Jason proceeded to go to work on the tires.
When Jason was on the last the last tire when he heard something but when he looked up there was nothing. Jason stupidly thought nothing of it and went back to work on the last tire when he heard a gruff, deep voice behind him say, "What in the hell do you think you're doing."
Jason then yelped, jumped 10 feet in the air, and spun around and what he saw scared him a little. 'Holy shit its Batman and… is he glaring at me?'
Jason then gulped, smiled and hid his tire iron behind his back before saying, "Uhh… just admiring your car, what's it to you?"
The boy's response impressed and annoyed Bruce a little, most kids would've ran off by now, or at the very least be showing some fear. Not this kid though, he seemed to be standing his ground, so he was either very stupid, or very brave. "Really, because it seems to me that you're trying to steal my tires."
"What makes you say that?"
"What else is the tire iron for?"
"For this", Jason said before hitting Batman extremely hard in the stomach and running. He went through a bunch of different alleys and pathways to make sure to lose the Bat before arriving at the abandoned apartment he called home.
Meanwhile Bruce followed silently watching from the rooftops. The boy was obviously skilled, how else could he have gotten most of the tires off the Batmobile, well either that or he was insanely lucky. He was also very brave, most street-punks cower in fear against the bat-glare, but he didn't so much as flinch. He had to know more about the kid.
He then sat on the mattress that was on the floor and took out a smoke before lighting it. He then looked at the only picture of his mom he had left and thought back to when she was alive, and healthy. A tear ran down his cheak before he wiped it away.
He took a long drag from his cigarette when he heard Batman's voice say, "Those things will stunt your growth kid." He then turned around and sure enough there Batman was standing by the doorway. 'Well shit', he thought.
"What the hell do you want", he replied stubbornly.
Batman just stared down at him thinking of what to do with him. He could just turn him into the police like he usually did, but he could sense potential in him. There was just something about him. But he couldn't just take him on a hunch, he had to be sure about this kid. Then he rembered Ma Gunn's school for troubled youths. He had been meaning to investigate it and this would be the perfect test for the kid. "Well first, I want you to come and help me put my tires back on my car and then, I want to help you get a better life."
Jason's voice softened before replying, "Why do you care."
Batman rested a hand on Jason's shoulder and he tensed a bit before relaxing and said, "Because you deserve better than to live the rest of your life on the streets, and I see potential in you, and I believe you are destined to do great things."
Jason thought this over a bit before replying, "Fine, I'll do things your way as long as you don't turn me into the cops."
"Wasn't in the plan anyways."
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After getting the tires back on the both got in the car before Jason asked, "So, where are we going?"
"You'll see", Batman replied, and then took off.
They arrived at some run down small school, with a sign that said, "Ma Gunn's School For Troubled Youths".
Jason looked at the sign with initial surprise, then at Batman with anger, "What the hell is the meaning of this, you can't leave me here man. I heard bad things about this place, I thought you were supposed to be the good guy."
Batman just responded calmly, "I am the good guy here. Don't worry, this is only temporary. I'll come back for you later."
Jason looked away and contemplated his words, then said, "Fine, just don't leave me here for to long."
"If everything goes according to plan, you won't have to worry about that at all."
Jason just raised an eyebrow at his words, but decided it was nothing and left the car with Batman.
Batman knocked on the door, then turned his head to look down at Jason. For the first time that night Jason had a look of nervouseness on his face, so Batman put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Jason looked up at him in surprise, but quickly gave the door a hard stare.
The door was opened by an elderly woman in a old looking pink and white dress and roung glasses with a chain so they wouldn't fall to ground. When she saw Batman a look of surprise came to her face, then she gave a kind smile that looked extremely fake to Jason. She said, "Well hello there Batman, it's so nice to see you", she then gestured to Jason and asked, "Who is this lovely young lad you have here."
Jason, somewhat creeped out by the old hag said, somewhat nervously, "My name's Jason Todd."
She continued to smile, "What a lovely name. So what is it you are doing here."
Batman simply responded, "I was hoping that you could take him in and help teach him."
"Oh, of course, of course. It would be my pleasure", she then turned to Jason and beckoned him in. Once he got inside she turned to Batman and said, "Well it was nice to meet you, I'll take the lad off your hands, Goodnight, Batman."
"Goodnight", Batman responded once the door was shut he walked back to the Batmobile and then returned to the Batcave.
Once Jason got to the bottom of the stairs he was surrounded by teens with knives, chains, and blunt weapons. He then looked back upstairs with surprise on his face. Ma Gunn walked down with a smirk, smoking a cigar, said, "We've got a new pupil luvs. The Batman sent 'im... Now, who wants to snuff the little stoolie for old Ma?"
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Meanwhile in the Batcave, Batman was staring at the the Batcomputor. Alfred came down, looked at the screen and asked, "What seems to be so important about this Jason Todd, Master Bruce."
Continuing to stare at the screen he said, "I think this boy might be destined for greatness, and I wanna give him the chance to reach for it."
"If you don't mind me asking, but, what makes him so special, sir?"
"Well for one, he was able to get three of the tires off the Batmobile", Bruce stated bluntly.Alfred just raised an eyebrow in response. "The boy is also extremely brave, when I confronted him he didn't back down for a second."
"Well what do we know of him."
"For starters he has quite the record, unsurprisingly, considering he lives on the streets. His dad was sent to prison and then killed by Two-Face about a year ago. His mom died of a drug overdose about a year ago and the kid's been on his own since."
"The boy certainly sounds capable sir, but to be perfectly honest, I don't fully understand why you've taken such an interest in him."
"I know that sounds normal for a teen that grew up on Crime Alley, but you have to meet him. He's... different. He has spirit and great potential, I can sense it. Besides I'll know if I'm wrong about him soon enough."
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Okay this was bad. He was surrounded by goons with dangerous weapons and a crazy old lady. This situation seemed oddly familiar to Jason and also, did she really just say that, seems grandma might need better one-liners.
"I want that brat as quiet as a little baby, do you understand?", Ma Gunn ordered.
"Last time I check babies aren't all that quiet, with all the crying they do, so that doesn't make any sense", he muttered. The three teens surrounded him ready to attack. Which if he was honest wasn't that bad, he's gotten out of worse situations than this.
"Leave him to us Ma", the big blonde guy said, "We'll handle his schooling."
"Yeah! We'll walk him over to the river for anin-depthswimmin' lesson."
"We'lllearnhim how to hold his breath under water for anexpensiveamount of time."
Okay, he's seen some pretty stupid thugs in his life, but these morons are a special type of stupid. And man, they're really taking this while school of crime gimmick seriously, then again, this is Gotham. Whatever, he'll just knock these bozos out, then escape. He quickly kicked the one in front of him in the balls and elbowed the one behind him in the face. He then dodged the third one's swing with a bat and punched him him the face, knocking him to the ground.
He heard Ma Gunn yelling at them, and was about to just ram through the old hag and escape when one of the teens was able to wrap his chain around Jason's leg and trip him. He was about to get back up when another grabbed his head and smashed it against the floor. While he was dazed the blonde picked him up and put him in a head-lock.
Ma Gunn walked up to him and slapped the blonde on the back of the head and yelled, "It'swe'll teach himnotlearn him, and it'sextensive amount of timenotexpensive!"
Jason still dazed said, "Is now really the time to correct this dumbasse's grammar, lady?"
She glared at him, then smiled evilly, "You're a brave one aren't you boy. Too bad your one of Batman's friends."
Jason glared at her and said, "Batman isn't my friend, I just came here cause he said he wouldn't turn me into the cops for trying to steal his tires if I did."
Ma Gunn just sneered at him, "Oh really? Find him a bed luvs, we have a new model student now."
Two of her thugs dragged him into a room and locked him in there. Unfortunately he had no way to escape this crazy place that Batman left him at yet. He'd have to wait for now.
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Some of you may be wondering why ths hell is this story updated if there are no new chapters. Here's the thing, I finally decided to start writing again, and I saw this thing. My first story. I cringed a little, because when I see this, it's painfully obvious that I wrote this in highschool. So I went back and decided to change a few things. I didn't chnage much like I did the first time I rewrote this cause I'm not doing a full rewrite like last time, but you'll know what's been changed if you're familiar with this story. I might make a real update to this or finish This Is The End eventually, but I'm gonna be honest a lotta things have changed since I've been gone. For one just about everything tagged with Jason is either slash or uninteresting to me, kinda why I went to reading RWBY fics instead. There are a few stand out fics, but most of it just doesn't interest me. So nothing here really inspires me to continue. Then again, maybe if I do some decent work here I can inspire some change.