Part 10 – Hanging out with Roy

"I must have given her the wrong idea at some point…"

"She started acting like we were dating…"

"I messed up."

"It was me and her."

"She didn't stop even when I..."

Dick's words on the flight back continued to bother Jason. He had heard variations of it all before. On the street, as Robin and as Red Hood.

As soon as he could, Jason went to get the information on Catalina. That Dick had said she didn't stop made him hope she was just a stalker.

"Please let her just be a stalker," Jason muttered as Roy placed the file on Catalina back on the table.

"What?"

Jason shook his head. Not yet. He couldn't voice this just yet. He was terrified. This was bringing up all his worst fears; could he even help or would he just make things worse? He had already wasted so much time with his obliviousness.

"Catalina wanted to be a hero and I turned her into a killer." Contrary to Dick's words, the files suggested that Catalina had been heading that way from the beginning. On her hunt for revenge, she had killed even before joining up with Nightwing.

"I can't believe Wing broke up with Oracle for this woman," Roy commented.

"He didn't," Jason automatically responded.

Roy's head snapped up. "What?"

"Or he didn't intend to," Jason continued. "She orchestrated it."

Roy stared at the file in disbelief. "She did?" Jason nodded. "But, how?"

"How do you think?" Jason responded in a snide tone.

Roy seemed baffled by that. He thought and thought and then shrugged. "I'd have to ask Oracle."

Before he could think about the consequences of his words, Jason snorted, "why don't we do that then?"

Roy's eyes widened behind his mask. "Who are you?" he questioned. "Oracle seems to have some kind of personal knowledge of you, she didn't want me to arrest you after all and is good at predicting your next move."

Jason didn't like the implication that he was predictable. Predicable was dangerous and would get him arrested.

"Are you asking because you're curious?" Jason questioned.

Roy nodded with a frown on his face like he was trying to rival Batman. Jason sighed and reached up, pulling off his hood. He didn't have to worry about the mask underneath it, if Roy couldn't guess who he was with it on then the archer didn't deserve to know.

Roy stared for a few moments, eyes squinting as he tried to put the pieces together. "...No way. You really are! Right?"

"I'm really what?" Jason grinned.

"Robin two-point-oh? Jay?"

"Yes." Jason leaned back smugly as Roy exploded in denials, claims that he was dead, stuff about how messed up Dick had been after hearing about said death, questions about how he came back, when he came back, why didn't he contact him, and so on.

Jason waited patiently. Roy's reaction and flood of language was a welcome distraction from the other thoughts floating around in his brain.

"Does Dick know?" Roy demanded. Jason nodded. "Oracle?" Jason shrugged, although it sounded like she might. "What about Batman?"

"Oh, yeah," Jason hummed, pleased.

Roy was still glaring. "That's so not fair. What are you doing with Dick anyway?"

"I told you, he put himself out there. He was both trying to get at the society of super villains or whatever they're calling themselves and trying to make Nightwing's role in Bludhaven completely redundant."

Roy was baffled. "Why would he do that? Dick loved being Nightwing. There's nothing else he-"

Jason tapped the file. "Why indeed."

Roy looked down then up at Jason. "You think she had something to do with it?"

"I think she didn't intend for it to happen, but she-" could he say it? Jason's mouth stalled for a moment. "-hurt him. Real bad."

"Real bad? But how?"

"I don't have all the facts. But, tell me what comes to mind when someone tells you that their partner didn't stop?"

"Did she beat him up?"

"Maybe," Jason sighed. It was almost a better scenario than the one his mind was concocting. He pulled out a statement he had written about everything Dick had let spill during the flight. Dick would probably be annoyed that Jason wrote it all out and was letting other people read it but, Jason couldn't do this by himself, as much as he wanted to.

An image of a body swinging from a looped rope haunted him as a warning of what could happen to Dick if there was a single misstep. If Jason's suspicions were right, he was going to put Catalina where she could never hurt his brother again.

Roy paled considerably as he read. "No way... not to him. This isn't... there has to be an explanation."

"No one was around when his life fell to pieces," Jason mused, "and I think Catalina is the reason why."It seemed he had convinced Roy to join his side for investigating this. "How about we ask Oracle for her side? A full account rather than pieces of news about their break-up?" Jason suggested.

Roy looked terrified. "How can I take this to her? Never mind that it's behind Dick's back; how am I supposed to tell her that this other woman probably used her to hurt him?"

Dick looked surprised to see Jason push the door open with his foot while he carried another body into the safe-house.

"What did you do?" he questioned as Jason waddled over to the couch and deposited Roy's limp body onto the couch.

Jason muttered something about Roy being a 'heavy' guy before he answered, "Harper can't hold his liquor."

The shocked look Dick gave him made sense to Jason. Jason could hardly believe it himself. It seemed Harper was an alright guy once you got him out of costume and a couple of drinks into him.

"I feel like I should ask but at the same time, I don't want to know." Dick brought Jason a glass of water. "How bad was he?"

Jason thought about that for a moment. "He wasn't that bad actually." Dick looked down at Roy with a sad expression. "Did you want to come drink with us, Dick?"

"Would have been nice," Dick muttered. Louder he said, "you could have invited me."

"I don't have your mobile number-"

"I don't have one. My last burned up."

"Then that's why I didn't invite you." At the sad and wistful expression on Dick's face, Jason found himself relenting his attitude just a little. "Maybe next time. After Roy wakes up."

"You really want to go drinking with him again?" Dick questioned in surprise.

Jason shrugged. "Why not?" Dick seemed baffled but didn't say anything. Jason stepped towards him. "Why not?" he repeated, determined to get a response. Did Dick think Jason was too bad or criminal to hang around his old friends?

"It's just... shouldn't we do what we're doing by ourselves?" Dick said nervously.

Jason had to think about what Dick was saying. "I'm not recruiting Roy." Not for Dick's plans with the society. "No way. No Arrow family members in this little pairing."

Dick glanced over at the snoozing red head. "But, you were with him."

"For drinks. Not work."

"And you're okay with me coming?"

"Of course. Why not?"

"Well, Catalina-" The name felt like a stab of clarity. Dick expected Jason to keep him away from his friends like Catalina had. As if Dick could sense Jason's sudden rush of anger towards the woman he mentioned, Dick clammed up. "You know what, drinks sounds alright."

Roy woke in a strange place he didn't recognise with voices he did recognise chatting in the background.

"Give me my cereal box, Dick," Jason was hissing. There was the rustling of something being moved. "Stop eating out of it like some kind of neanderthal! What would Alfred say if he could see you?"

"He can't see me," Dick responded. "I'm a grown adult, Jay, and I'll eat my breakfast however I want."

Roy groaned as the pounding of his head reminded him of why he was here, wherever 'here' was. That's when Jason realised he was awake.

"Dick," Roy groaned, his voice grating throughout the room. "Just give Jason the cereal and both of you, just let me sleep!"

"Wow, grumpy," Jason commented like the hypocrite he was. "Did you sleep well, drunken prince?"

"What?" Roy grumbled. "I'm not a prince."

Jason sighed and waved him off. "Don't worry about it."

"Cereal?" Dick asked, holding out the box to Roy.

"Sleep," Roy countered in a moan as his ears rang.

"Should we keep him awake?" Dick asked Jason and Roy moaned as pots clattered from the kitchenette where the two were standing.

"Let him sleep a little longer," Jason said.

Roy closed his eyes, only to be woken by the banging of pots and pans around two hours later.