Chapter 12: Getting Settled. Talisman.
Damien stood outside of the school while Jason sat in the El Camino. Damien turned his nose up at Gorge City Preparatory School and turned back to Jason. Jason glared at Damien who stopped mid-step and did a pained expression.
"Go." Jason pointed.
"This place is no better then a third world prison!" Damien nearly shouted. "I'm smarter then half of these teachers anyways."
"Good." Jason smiled. "Then your report cards will be nothing but fucking 'A's. Now go! I'm starting my new job and cant sit here all day and debate with you, you little shit!"
"Are you picking me up at least?" Damien asked as two school buses drove past the El Camino. "Or do I have to ride one of," Damien shivered, "THOSE?"
Jason looked at the buses and his eyes widened and he looked back at Damien. "I'm not that damn cruel kid! I'll pick you up."
"Yippee for me." Damien turned back to the school and walked up the steps to his first day of his new school.
Damien stood in front of the class with his arms crossed over the silk of the green blazer he was forced to wear. His black backpack that held his school books, and his Red Bird costume in a secret compartment was strapped tightly to his back.
"Everyone say hello to Damien Wayne." The teacher introduced him. The teacher was old and hardened by the years of un-listening students. Damien looked at his clothes and gathered he lived alone and from the light discoloring on his left ring finger, was once married. "Introduce yourself child."
"You just did." Damien said sternly keeping his arms crossed. The students all giggled and the teacher looked up causing them all to quiet.
"Show some respect in my classroom boy!" The teacher demanded. "Now tell us something about yourself."
"I'm Bruce Wayne's son." Damien said shortly. Some students gasped and the teacher paled considerably.
"Oh..." The teacher hadnt made the connection and began to sweat as Damien smiled. "Well that's interesting... Why not take your seat. There by Jenni will do."
Damien went to a small desk at the back of the class by a small asian girl who's face was stuffed into a massive book. Damien read the cover and saw that it was in french.
"Vous apprecierez la lecture Edgar Allen Poe en francais?" (You enjoy reading Edgar Allen Poe in french?) Damien asked in french.
"Vous aimez parler auz jolies filles vous venez de renconter?" (You like talking to pretty girls you just met?) Jenni shot back, also in perfect french, never moving her head from the book.
"Dare ga watashi wa anata ga kanari omote ita to nobemashita ka?" (Who said I thought you were pretty?) Damien asked switching to japanesse.
"Skefteite tin allagi glossas tha me entyposiasei?" (Think changing languages will impress me?) Jenni asked in Greek.
Damien smiled and crossed his arms as Jenni barely looked at him from the corner of her eyes. "Mwinamwake akungokuyesani mmene anzeru ndinu." Damien smiled as confusion past over the young girl's face. "Sindikudziwa Chichewa?"
"Not fair." Jenni spoke with a slight accent of the east coast. "How many people speak chichewa?"
"I do." Damien smirked. Jenni smirked back and the two ten year olds stared at each other.
Jason pulled himself out from under the new lambo and whipped his hands clean. The auto shop he was hired at worked on exports and imports but only for the right price. Jason was hired on as a new grease monkey. He did oil changes and small engine repairs.
"How is it?" The finely dressed man asked as he played on his phone never looking at Jason.
"You only wanted an oil change right?" Jason asked somewhat confused.
"Yeah that's not to bad." The man said distracted. "Can I drive it?"
"Yes?" Jason leaned on the door frame of the passanger side and stared blankly at the rich man as he approached his car.
"Good I've got to be somewhere like five minutes ago." The man got in his car and looked at Jason. "Thanks I paid already. You can go now." The man motioned for Jason to step back and drove off at break neck speeds.
"Hope you crash into a sewage truck!" Jason nearly shouted after the man.
"Todd!" The owner of the shop, a thick short man yelled from the office to the right. "Keep the insults to yourself. Even if they are deserved." Jason smiled and the thick man winked before stepping back into the office. Jason walked over to the next car in line and stared at Captain Patty Blair flipping through a file as her Volkswagen Bug was pulled into Jason's work station.
"What is it today?" Jason asked never looking at the Captain.
"A simple check up." Patty answered him looking over his frame. She was impressed with the young man before her and whistled in her mind at the way the jumpsuit clung to muscles of the man. "Names Patty."
Jason pointed to his name stitched to his overalls and popped the hood of the bug and started checking everything. Seeing he wasnt interested Patty shrugged and sat back down looking through the files. Jason took this opportunity to place a tracking device on the bottom side of the bug's carburetor and smiled.
"Get a lot of cops around here?" Patty asked as Jason flipped his engine tester on and attached the cables to the corresponding parts.
"Dont know its my first day." Jason answered shortly as he read the screen.
"Well congrats on the job." Patty said. "New to town?"
"Been here a few months." Jason answered again. "Am I suspect of anything cause it feels like an interrogation." Patty laughed and closed her files. Jason smiled at her and went back to his work.
"I'm not use to flirting." Patty admitted.
"Dont feel bad." Jason unhooked his machine to the engine and closed the hood of the bug. "I'm not good at being flirted with. My old lady keeps me in line about that."
"Well lucky girl." Patty laughed. "Everything good?"
"You're cadillac converter isnt running at full power so thats reason the check engine light is on. We can charge it for you if you dont mind being car less in this city for a few hours?"
"I'll risk it thanks." Patty nodded her head and handed Jason a twenty. "For the help. I pay in there?" Patty pointed to the door where the thick short man had been standing. Jason nodded and Patty walked away.
"Hmm." Jason wheeled his tester back against the wall and sat down grabbing a water bottle. 'This was perfect place to work like I thought.' Jason thought back to the five other police cars he had inspected that day already and smiled.
"Excuse me?" Jason turned his head to see Detective Alexander Zane walking towards him holding a box off what Jason guessed was donuts and two coffee cups in a cup holder. "Have you seen a short woman with wild black hair anywhere?"
Jason nodded his head to where Patty was coming back from paying her bill. Zane lifted the coffee and donuts over his head to show Patty he had gotten them. Jason watched as Patty took the one with a red bird drawn on it while Zane took one with a black bird drawn on it.
"Interesting." Jason said aloud causing Patty and Zane to look at him. "Thought I was only one who noticed all that graffiti on the walls of crime scenes."
"You know of him?" Zane and Patty looked at each other and walked up to Jason. "I'm Captain Patunia Blair, head of Special Investigation Homeland Gang Task-force, this is Detective Alexander Zane, my second. We have questions about the vigilante duo leaving these in their wake."
"Duo?" Jason laughed in shock. "Yeah right. Two nut-jobs? Its gotta be one right? Our own personal Batman, with out the partner." Jason avoided the word sidekick just in case these two were as smart as he feared.
Zane looked at Patty who nodded her head in response. "You're right." Patty smiled and put her badge away. "Excuse me. You know anything about him though?"
"Just that he's a hell of an artist apparently."
"Got that background check for you Captain." Zane tossed a file onto Patty's cluttered desk. Zane had helped his new Captain rearrange the basement office of S.I.G.H.T. and had even brought a few old desk down from storage and made it look like a real office down there. Zane's desk sat to the right of Patty's.
Where Patty's desk was cluttered and full of files like its owner's mind, Zane's desk was clean except for a few files and his desktop. Patty had no personal effects of her own on the desk except for a novelte large coffee mug that read 'IF IT AINT BIG ITS NOT GOING IN!' written across the white porcelain in bold black print. Zane had one picture of himself and his daughter cheek to cheek.
"Jason Peter Todd." Zane read from his own copy of the file. "Why are we looking at this guy again?"
"He had a nice ass." Patty answered. "Plus his eyes were so damn sexy. Baby blue and deep."
"Captain?" Zane looked at Patty with serious eyes.
"He moved to town nearly two weeks after these crime fighters came around. He's living with Bruce Wayne's son." Patty answered. "Coincidence? Maybe. I just wanna check. So go on."
"Jason Peter Todd-Wayne," Zane held the file before him, "Age twenty-one. Son of Willis and Catherine Todd. Willis his biological father, Catherine his step mother. Willis was killed during a prison riot at Blackgate while he sat out a four month stint for petty theft. Catherine Todd died nearly a year later when the boy was only five of a drug overdose. Not much is known about what happened to him between Catherine Todd's death and him being adopted by Bruce Wayne when he was nine."
"He spent three years living on the streets of Gotham alone?" Patty asked both horrified and impressed. "What's that about Bruce Wayne?"
"Bruce Wayne," Zane read on, "No introductions needed of course. Found Jason who was get this," Zane laughed, "Trying to steel the rims of his porche! Kid has taste." Patty glared at Zane who coughed and went back to the file. "Lived a pretty normal life under Wayne's eye. Attended and did pretty well grade wise at Gotham Prep until he was fifteen."
"What happened then?"
"Apparently his biological mother," Zane whistled,"Was in deep to some bad people. She was killed but not before she tried to sell her son off. He was involved in a bombing in Ethiopia. He spent nearly a year in a coma." Patty shook her head. "He woke up. Went back to his normal life for about six months, then vanished again."
"Vanished?" Patty asked confused.
"Like legit vanished from the face of the earth." Zane laughed. "No files on where he was until he got off an air plane in Gotham about three months ago. Spent few days in Gotham before driving down here."
"What about the time skip?" Patty asked looking over the files.
"According to Bruce Wayne," Zane rubbed his ear, "Who does not like being interrupted during meetings so thanks for letting me do that. He wanted to go out like Bruce did around that same age. Bruce gave him some places to go and that's that."
"That's that?" Patty asked laughing. "This was a dead end." Patty closed the file and looked up at the ceiling. "Who is this Crimson?"
"I dont know but I'm glad he's with us." A voice came from the door. Patty and Zane looked up to see a tall man with his long black hair tied in a ponytail. "Sorry to interrupt but I'm Detective Quintell. I was told to report to you Captain Blair."
"Quintell?" Patty shuffled through her papers looking confused. Zane coughed and pulled a file from the mess and handed it Patty, who snatched it away staring daggers into Zane. "Any relation?"
"Yes ma'am." Quintell nodded his head. "Oliver Quintell is my father. He told me to transfer to you and I couldnt help but agree with him."
"Well Howard," Patty read the file over and was impressed.
"Howie." Howie laughed. "I dont like Howard."
"But you like Howie?" Zane smiled. "I like him already."
"Detective Zane." Howie shook Zane's hand. "So what do you say Captain Blair? There's alot of bad in this department and I'm not looking for hand outs. I turned down spots on both Homicide and Vice for this position. I want to clean up Gorge City, and me and my father both believe S.I.G.H.T. is the best place to do that."
"Your father is retiring in a few months?" Blair asked. Howie shook his head and held his arms behind his back military style. "You did a tour in Iraq." Blair read. "Worked the streets for four years after coming home. Made detective same day Zane here did. You just now getting assigned?"
"I took time off to have my son." Quintell smiled. "With dad retiring my wife and I've got a live in babysitter now." Zane smiled and walked behind Howie nodding his head yes. Patty smiled and leaned back in her chair.
"We work long hours with no real progress ever being made." Patty said sternly. "But if you want in you got it. Welcome to the Special Investigation Homeland Gang Task-force."
Crimson stood atop of the building with his arms crossed. He heard the footsteps from the stairway and turned around to face the doorway that was the roof access. Red Bird stood atop of the doorway entrance and smiled at Crimson while tapping his feet to unheard music.
"Special Investigation Homeland Gang Task-force! We're coming through!" A woman's voice sounded. The door bust open and Patty Blair stepped out with her gun drawn followed by Alexander Zane and a new detective that Crimson hadnt seen before.
"Anything on new guy?" Crimson whispered.
"Howard Quintell." Oracle's voice sounded in his cowl. "He goes by Howie. Not much for you to know right now except he's a good cop and they made the right choice bringing him in."
"Thanks Barbie." Crimson smiled under his enclosed helmet and cut the connection between him and Oracle.
"What the hell man!" Patty yelled as Crimson stood cross from the three armed police officers and leaned against the edge of the building.
"I dont have the funds for a Crimson Signal." Crimson shrugged, his mechanical voice making Howie shudder as he stared over the vigilante. "Besides a note on the desk is way more personal dont you think?"
"You're..." Howie tried to speak as Patty and Zane holstered their weapons. "You are... You're really real.. Are you..."
"Not very bright is he this one?" Red Bird asked causing the three detectives to look up at the young sidekick.
"Red Bird," Crimson scolded, "What did I say about being nice."
"Tt." Red Bird kept his arms crossed and turned his head.
Patty looked back at Crimson and stepped towards him stopping crossing her arms. She was almost intimidated by the vigilante. Zane stood behind his Captain, one hand on the baton he had hidden under his dress jacket. Howie kept an eye on Red Bird as he stood on the other side of Patty.
"Mind explaining this?" Patty held up the black piece of paper with the red crow drawn on it with words 'ROOFTOP 10 PM' written under it.
"Like I said," Crimson said pushing from the wall making Zane and Howie tense up, "I dont have the funds for a Crimson Signal." Patty didnt look amused and Crimson rolled his eyes under the helmet. "I heard you added a new member. Wanted to meet him myself."
"Ourselves." Red Bird said loudly.
"Shush." Crimson said looking past the three officers at his sidekick. "How come you never gave big man this much shit?"
"Explain Crimson!" Patty nearly yelled.
Crimson smiled under his helmet and Red Bird stepped from his perch and walked to stand by his new mentor. Howie never took his eyes off the young super hero while Zane never turned from Crimson.
"We're going to start making a move on Capolino." Crimson informed the detectives. "I know you've got a case file for him for gang connections. Simply put, we need help. You give us information we give you information."
"No one can touch the Capolinos." Howie said scoffing. "Even if they could they own nearly all of the higher ups. No one will let us even touch this case."
"That's why we're going to touch it." Crimson slammed his fist into his open palm. "We've got this Detective Quintell no worries."
"How do..."
"Woman in his head." Zane answered before Howie could finish.
"Oh." Howie looked at the vigilante like he was crazy. "Ok?"
"Get the information." Crimson looked at Red Bird who nodded his head. "We'll be in touch." With that Crimson dropped a pallet on the rooftop causing a thick blast of smoke to surround them all.
Jason pulled his helmet off over his head and rubbed his eyes through his domino mask. Damien sat cross legged as he readjusted his armor and own domino mask. The vigilantes pulled sandwiches from their hiding spot atop of the roof of the apartment building three blocks from their own home.
"How was school?" Jason asked nonchalantly.
"Fine." Damien said quickly taking a bite from his sandwich. Jason noticed the hurried tone in Damien's voice and snorted. "What?"
"What exactly." Jason snorted again. "What did you do? Punch out a teacher? Stab a student? Decapitate the principal?"
"Where's the trust?" Damien shook his head.
"Trust?" Jason smirked.
"Tt." Damien sealed the rest of his sandwich and turned his back on his new mentor. "I didnt hurt anyone. Even if I had they would have called you before hand."
"Unless you decapitated the principal." Jason smarted off making Damien smirk against his will. "Who is she?"
"What?!" Damien nearly fell from the vent cover and looked at Jason baffled. "How did you... I mean..." Damien scowled towards his adopted brother.
Jason laughed hard and pulled his helmet back over his head. "I may not know a whole hell of a lot." Jason admitted as he checked the rest of his equipment. "But I know women. And I know how men," Jason looked over Damien, "Or Demon Spawns, taking present company," Damien scowled at Jason once more, turning a beet red color that nearly matched his Red Bird cowl, "React towards women." Jason concluded.
Damien went to say something but stopped as sirens came from the distance. Jason shrugged and touched the button on the side of his helmet closing his mouth and chin from view.
"We'll continue this conversation later Red Bird." Jason spoke with the mechanical voice.
"This discussion is over Crimson."
Crimson and Red Bird sat atop of the warehouse watching as a few beat cops radioed in their latest bust. The criminals were beaten to a pulp, like many others, and a strange red crow was graffiti on the wall behind them.
"You always have to paint that?" Red Bird asked.
"Gotham has Bat Signal." Crimson defended his art. "Gorge City has the Crimson Crow."
"Tt." Damien rolled his eyes and coughed.
Crimson coughed as well as he crossed his arms. The two looked at the other then turned to see a sickly skinny man standing before them. He was no taller then Crimson and looked as though he was suffering in great amount of pain. Across his chest sat a large dial with different animal faces upon it. His mouth was covered by a gas mask and his head was clean shaven and had a stich wound that went across the very top.
"Who," Red Bird coughed again and clutched his head, "Is that?" Red Bird fell to one knee as Crimson held onto the railing of the warehouse's roof to stay standing.
"Hello." The man spoke through the gas mask. The voice was pained and shallow.
"Another," Crimson tried to speak but words escaped him as his mind went from thought to thought, "Assassin?"
"No no." The man spoke again. He followed up his speech with a pained and faint chuckle. "I'm not going to kill my new favorite friends. We're going to play a game from now on. And as of now," The man's eyebrows lowered as he glared over Crimson and Red Bird, "Talisman is winning." The man turned the dial on his chest from a snake face to that of a bull face.
As the man inhaled his body convulsed and he soon began to increase in size. Gone were the skinny sickly arms and in their place took massive forearms and biceps. Crimson looked on in horror as the sickly man transformed into a massive muscle bound maniac.
"Great." Crimson laughed, as Red Bird fell to the ground unconscience. "Another Bane." As the massive man walked towards him Crimson reached for his left pistol and aimed at Talisman.
"No rubber bullets will hurt me while the magic of the Bull runs through me!" Talisman taunted as he ran forward picking up momentum.
"Good... thing..." Crimson fired the pistol and the 9mm slugs tore their way through Talisman's shoulder and leg causing the man to fall and scream in pain. "They're... real... real..." Crimson fell forward and passed out before his head hit the ground.
