Hi. I live. I think.

So to top my life off, NaNoWriMo started a few weeks ago, so I haven't been writing anything but my NaNo story. I only finished this chapter yesterday. I'm so sorry!

Guest reviews:

Kim: So sorry that it took so long! This chapter is kind of Jason centric. Actually, not kind of. It really just is. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it! I've never thought that Jason wanted to become Robin per say. I feel like he wanted to help Batman and Dick fight, but not . . . take Dick's place.
I'm excited to bring Roy in, but I haven't gotten to that yet :) *rubs hands together* I have lots of fun things planned.

Well . . . . .

Disclaimer: If I owned Young Justice, we would be having WEEKLY episodes, not sporadic fanfiction updates. :) :) :)

Chapter 5

Mount Justice

April 25, 18:00 EDT

He'd been doing fine until the lights came back on. He'd just lounged around napping and waiting for Batman to get him out, after trying to help as best he could from his end.

But when the lights came on, Jason wasn't alone. "Well hello, it looks like the boy wonder has a double," Cheshire said smoothly, flipping one of her sai into the air and catching it again. "I was told to deliver a present to my baby sister and her friends, but I didn't expect there to just be one little sidekick in the whole place. Where are your friends?"

Jason growled, having gotten to his feet the second the lights came on. "Safe from you," he answered sharply. "What kind of present has Talia told you to deliver?"

The assassin laughed, and tossed him a small box. "How would I know? It wasn't a gift for me, so I didn't open it. Besides, don't you know that curiosity killed the cat? Enjoy it. Oh, and I'll tell your brother you said hello if you tell my sister I gave her a gift."

And with that, Cheshire turned and ran away. Immediately Jason chased after her. If she knew a way out of there, he needed to find it as well. As he rounded the corner, he saw her disappear in a flash of red light, and Jason cursed. He was still trapped in the cave, although it was reassuring to have the lights back on. Besides the fact that an assassin had managed to get into the cave while Batman, the League, and the Team were all trying and failing to do the same.

He glanced down at the little package in his hand, and frowned. Why would Talia have sent him a present? What could be in it? Did he even want to know? After a moment of hesitation, he shrugged, and sat down indian style. He figured that life would be boring if he never took any risks. He carefully opened the package, lifting the lid, and staring down at the contents.

After a heartbeat, he tossed the box away from him, scrambling backwards. Had he really just seen what he thought he'd seen?

Jason took a few minutes to compose himself, and then crept towards the box, peeking inside. It was Dick's shirt, torn, singed, and bloodstained, with a note written and pinned to it. "Piece number one" it read. Jason shuddered, pulling the shirt out. As he did, something else fell out of the folds of cloth. For a moment it just looked like threads that differed in color, rusty red to black. Then Jason paled as he realized what it actually was, and snatched the lock of hair up. Half of it was coated in dried blood. Just one look at the shade of black, and Jason knew that it was Dick's hair. And the shirt . . . Exactly how badly had Talia injured him? Jason shuddered, pulling the shirt closer to him and hugging it without even thinking about what he was doing. He suddenly remembered something that had happened about a year and a half before, a couple of weeks before he'd turned twelve.

He'd just been snooping around in the worst area of Gotham, which was where he lived. He hadn't had his parents around for about three years, and he was surviving well enough- if being half starved and having to fight for his life every other night counted as surviving. He might not have been the best kid, but even he liked the stories of Batman and Robin. So when the Dynamic duo took down a gang with the (possibly unwanted) help of Kid Flash, he watched with bated breath.

Jason had known it before, but Batman and Robin were awesome. It took them only four minutes to take down the bad guys, with Kid Flash tying them up faster than they could drop. Robin was small, almost Jason's size, which surprised him slightly. He'd expected both Robin and Batman to be larger than life, but although Batman was not a small person, Robin seemed to just be built small.

Robin laughed as Kid Flash finished tying the last of the gang members of. "Well KF, you saved us five minutes. Thanks."

Kid Flash skidded to a stop, looking at Robin in indignation. "Hey! Batman didn't want me to help fight, so I did the best I could!"

Batman sighed. "You did fine. Now we should head home. You came to stay the night with Robin, and instead you've been running around with us all night. I doubt Flash is going to be happy about that." as he said that, Batman leveled a frightening glare at the red haired boy, who flinched slightly and chuckled nervously, vibrating in place.

"Ah . . . Yeah. I'd forgotten about that," the speedster said reluctantly. "Fine. I'll meet you there then. I get the first of Agent A's cookies!" and with that Kid Flash zoomed away in a streak of yellow.

Batman sighed in exasperation. "Come on Robin. We'll do one last sweep, then meet at the Batmobile."

"You sent him off to get rid of him, didn't you?" Robin asked, sounding incredibly amused.

Batman grunted in reply, and the two of them swung away, leaving Jason staring after them. Then, slowly, the small boy took off through the alley. He had a suspicion about where they might have parked the Batmobile, and even as he ran, he realized he knew just what to do when he found it.

He wasn't surprised to find the Batmobile in the shadows of Crime alley. He'd seen it parked there a couple of times before, back when he and his parents- but that was not something he liked to think about. He took out the small pocketknife he kept in his back pocket, and hurriedly started to work on disconnecting the tires from the Batmobile. By his calculations it wouldn't be much longer before Batman and Robin showed up, and he wanted to get at least one tire. He could get a fortune for expensive tires like these. Whoever Batman was in his secret identity, he had to have been a billionaire.

He'd gotten three of the tires off and was working on the fourth when a batarang hit the ground next to his hand. "Oh man, Batman's not going to be happy to admit Agent A. and I have been right," Robin said cheerfully.

Jason froze. I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, he thought. Surely Robin and Batman would kill him. There was no way he was going to survive this night. "Hey, kid, you alright? You must be in some deep trouble if you've resorted to stealing the tires off of the Batmobile." Jason turned, surprised to see Robin leaning against the car. He seemed pretty relaxed for someone who'd just caught a kid stealing from him.

"I'm fine," Jason growled. "I'm not desperate."

"You were watching Batman and I earlier, and I'm guessing you heard us say we were doing one last sweep. I'm usually quicker than Batman. He should be here in a few minutes. Or seconds. You should stay and explain to him what happened. He'll be more lenient that way."

Jason couldn't believe what he was hearing. He stood up, facing the other boy. He was surprised to find that he was only a few inches shorter than the hero. "You want me to stay here and tell the Batman that I tried to steal from him? Are you insane?" he demanded.

Robin laughed. "Nope, I'm pretty sane. Of course I dress up in a cape and a mask and run around on the rooftops with a guy who dresses up as a bat to beat up criminals, some of which are actually insane. Then again, said Batman is the one you stole from, and I probably know him better than most people. Besides, have you ever heard of either of us killing people?"

Jason hesitated. True, he'd never actually heard of Batman killing anyone, and looking at the boy in front of him, he was pretty sure this guy wasn't even capable of killing someone. Still, he didn't know if he should trust the word of this boy who'd just basically admitted that his mind was probably not all the way there.

Unfortunately Jason had hesitated too long. "Robin, who is this?"

Jason whirled around and stumbled backwards in shock. Batman was right behind him! "Oh my gosh," he breathed. Batman was even more intimidating up close. He wasn't overly tall, but neither was he short. His shoulders were broad and muscular, and his eyes were narrowed into slits as he peered down at Jason.

Robin moved to stand next to Jason. "No idea. He was stealing the tires off of the Batmobile. Alfred told you not to park here," he added cheekily.

Jason winced, sure the Batman was going to strike at one of them, react angrily in some way. Instead, and to Jason's shock, a faint smile seemed to ghost over the hero's face briefly. "I see. I suppose I should listen to Alfred a bit more," he said quietly. "Now, what is your name?" he added, looking down at Jason.

"Jason Todd," he said without hesitation. He knew without a doubt that Batman would be able to track him down somehow even if he didn't tell him his name. It was better to get this over with. Batman's eyes narrowed slightly, and he nodded. He and Robin exchanged a long glance, and Jason got the feeling that they were having a silent conversation which was quickly turning into an argument.

Finally Batman sighed and turned to Jason. "Robin has suggested that we take you to the Batcave and discuss what to do with you there. However, we do not usually take strangers to the Batcave," as he said this he leveled a light glare at his partner, who grinned at him.

"Come on Batman, he obviously doesn't have a family, and it's so quiet at the cave! Would one more really hurt?"

"You painted the car bright yellow last week and told Wally your secret identity a few months ago. It has not been quiet," Batman said sternly. Once again, Jason detected a faint hint of amusement.

He snorted, causing both heroes to look at him. "Who says I even want to go to the Batcave?" he demanded. "You aren't even asking me! I've survived on my own for this long, and I can keep doing it. I don't need help, or a guardian. I've avoided social services on purpose you know."

Robin smiled even wider. "See Batman? He'll fit right in!" the boy sounded like he was having a wonderful time, and didn't seem worried about what Batman would to do to Jason, but Jason had his doubts. There was no way that the Batman would just let him off scott free.

"Robin, we will not reveal our identities to a complete stranger," Batman lectured.

"Well, then why don't we at least get to know him. We could play two truths and a lie, and other get to know you games," Robin suggested.

Jason stared at the other boy. He couldn't tell if the hero was serious or joking. He was pushing this pretty far. It was almost as if he was lonely. Of course, if he was crazy enough to run around in the middle of the night with a guy dressed like a bat and fight some of the craziest and most dangerous people in Gotham, then it was possible that he didn't spend a lot of time around people, and if he was an only child . . . Well, Batman pretty much had to be rich to have all of the tools that he did, so Jason guessed that Robin would be alone a great majority of the time, maybe with a couple of servants or something.

Batman sighed. "Robin, it's not happening. I'm not going to punish this boy, he was obviously just trying to survive. Although if he ever tries anything like this again, I'm afraid I'll have to turn him in."

Jason felt his eyes widen. Batman was letting him off? No punishment at all? "You'd just . . . Let me go?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady.

Batman and Robin exchanged glances. "We'll be monitoring you, but on a whole, we will leave you alone," Batman finally said. "If you would like, you can work for us."

"Work for you?" Jason said. "What do you mean?"

"You could be our eyes on the streets," Robin said before his mentor could answer. "No one knows the crime scene of Gotham better than someone who lives on the streets."

Jason had to admit that that was true. He could definitely see how he could help the two heroes, but all the same . . . "Why would you want me to help you?" he asked.

Batman sighed. "If it stops you from turning to a life of crime, and helps us to clean these streets, then I think working with you will be worth it."

Jason nodded, and had to admit to himself that the offer was pretty tempting. Being paid for something was a lot better than having to steal, especially when being paid meant he had much less of a chance of going to jail. "I'll take you up on the offer if you promise me that you won't turn me over to social services," he said finally. "I've stayed away from them this long, and I plan on keeping it that way."

Robin nodded at the same time as Batman, and Jason could tell that they'd both expected him to say that. He sighed. "Fine. I'll help you. Sorry about the tires," he added unconvincingly.

Robin grinned at that, but Batman just shook his head. "We'll be watching you Jason Todd," he growled, and then Jason turned and ran the other way as fast as he could.

Here enters a personal headcanon. I don't know exactly how Jason became a member of the batfamily in the comics, but in my head I feel like it wouldn't happen immediately. Although I think it would only be a few weeks before Batman gives in, partially because of another scene that shall be written and will enter later on in this story.

Anyways. Like I said, pretty much this chapter was all Jason. The next one will have more variety, although I don't know when it will be put up.

REVIEW!