Yes, I put a reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I think Jazz is the kind of young-old person than laughs at those movies. It drives Danny insane.

Jason was honestly very done with this fight. Batman and the Golden Boy already got this and he had only been called because the plant bitch had decided to attack very close to his territory.

He appreciated that he had been called. He would have appreciated more if it wasn't Dick who did the actual calling, as if he were the messenger boy between Bruce and his estranged child.

Whatever.

He informed the ex-dynamic duo that he was leaving them to wrap things up and turned to leave, when a loud scream alerted him that something was going on. It was high pitched and very close to his position. Soon, another scream followed, this time lower and in pain, almost inaudible with the thunder. He wouldn't have heard it if he wasn't listening.

He rushed down the street on his bike, surprised when he found a group of people in the now completely empty street. Children, a man on the floor and on top of him-

That stupid girl! He told her to go home! What was she doing!?

Just as he was going to call out to her and tell her to go home, a man jumped from a corner with a gun in his hands. Jason froze in place, barely hearing the children whimpering as they hid behind the - behind Jasmine.

"You don't want to shoot," Jason heard her voice, his body getting on the move without him thinking about it. His steps were silent as he walked behind the man with the gun. "I'm defenseless and these children won't get too far anyway."

"Defenseless?" The man scoffed. Jason took the distraction she offered to walk closer. "You broke Greg's arm! And I saw Winston in the alley. If he doesn't wake up we are going to fucking kill you."

Jasmine winced. What the hell was going on? What did she do?

"I didn't hit that hard, don't blow it out of proportion." Jasmine's eyes found his, or at least she looked directly at the helmet's eyes, giving him a slight nod. "Also think. If you shoot, someone is going to hear you."

"Who? Batman?" The man chuckled, not flinching when the first droplets started falling. "No one will hear you, girlie. Batman has better stuff to focus on today."

"But I will." Jason lunged at the man, quickly twisting the gun out of his hand and flipping them both to get his arms behind his back. With one knee he hit the air out of the man's lungs and he went down without much resistance.

A few seconds passed. As the rain picked up in intensity, Jason took a moment to breathe in and out so as not to blow up at the - at Jazz.

"Thank you." She said when he didn't make the first step.

He turned and there she was, hair formerly tied in a low ponytail now free from the hair tie and plastered against her cheeks. Her pink hoodie was drenched, as well as the rest of her clothes, and her left arm had a red stain. Blood. She was injured.

"I told you to go home." He said, grateful that the voice modulator revealed nothing about how worried he was.

"The kids were being chased." She stepped away and five kids, the youngest around five and the oldest couldn't be more than eleven, were huddled together behind her.

Children were scared of Red Hood, but trusted him to keep the streets safe. Still, he was used to them running away from him as soon as they spotted his red helmet. These five were still here and watched the exchange with wide eyes. The oldest of the bunch had a plastic bag on her hands - he recognized the store logo, and remembered Jasmine had that bag before he went to help Batman.

"You could have called."

This annoyed her. "You wouldn't hear me with all the noise and I don't have another way to contact you. Besides, we are all fine." Jazz shrugged, wincing at the pain from the injured shoulder. "Mostly."

"Still, that was reckless and irresponsible. What if these men decided to kill you? Or worse, pick you instead of the children?"

Jazz lifted her head and gave him a defiant stare, ignoring the pouring rain. It must be cold, so either she was still too high on adrenaline to feel the cold or she was trying hard not to shiver.

"Then better me than the kids." There was no hesitation. "Not that I would go down without a fight, and seeing that you came back anyway, you would have found me in time. No harm done."

He didn't know if he should be impressed or angry at her, so he settled for neither. Jason sighed and pulled out the zip ties he had for situations like this, turning to the man he took care of when he arrived. The dude was still out cold, and he took the moment to check his pockets for any identification - no one tried to kidnap children in his turf, period.

Huh. He didn't know this man, but his jacket seemed familiar… and he had a tattoo on his wrist that-

"You bitch!" He jumped to his feet at the scream, fists ready, freezing when he saw the other man that was on the floor before now trying to strangle Jazz with one arm, as the other hung useless and out of its socket. When did that happen?

Before he could get close and try to help the young woman, she took a breath and elbowed the man on the injured arm, causing him to lose the grip he had on her. Then, she grabbed the hand around her throat and pulled, taking advantage of the man's distraction, planting her feet firmly on the ground and flipping him over her body in a clearly practiced move he was familiar with.

The man screamed when his bad shoulder hit the concrete, barely having air left when Jazz kicked his side so she could roll him into a face down position.

"Give me." She said, one hand stretched towards Jason. "The zip ties! Please."

The man struggled for a moment, but between the injured shoulder and the grip she had on the good arm, she couldn't really move anywhere. Stunned, Jason gave her some of his zip ties, which she quickly used to tie the man's hands and feet together.

Jazz knew what she was doing and she was completely fine when she stood back up. She was shivering now, the cold rain completely drenching her clothes. It looked uncomfortable.

"Thanks." She said, giving him back the ones she didn't use. "There's another dude in the alley. I don't know if he woke up yet, though."

With this, she ignored him and turned towards the kids, who for some reason were still there and didn't run away to get shelter from the rain. Jasmine crouched and exchanged some words with the eldest kid, still shivering from the cold, but projecting calm for the children.

Well. He knew when he wasn't needed anymore. After he checked that the dude that had a gun didn't have any more hidden guns and was completely immobilized, Jason went towards the closest alley. There was a body there indeed. The same jacket, he noticed as well.

As he quickly worked the zip ties around the man's wrists and ankles, he noticed the same clover tattoo that the gun guy had. Okay. Perfect. Just perfect.

Jason had been chasing these guys for a few long months, unable to get a clear picture of the reach the prostitution ring had, who was involved, and if they were working for someone else. Also, they were very slippery and when he captured one of the thugs, they said they didn't know anything, spewing some bullshit about no one talking to the non-initiated.

How on Earth did this girl stumble onto three of these guys? Did she have rotten luck? … Or was she involved in this mess somehow?

And she held her own against two of them as well. These didn't look very high in hierarchy, but still, Gotham thugs weren't your usual crime-doers. She was an outsider, and yet, she seemed comfortable in the role of protector, having the skills to back her up.

"Are you done yet?"

She was still there, waiting for him under the rain. She was shivering and tried to hug herself to keep some body heat in, but she was smiling at him despite it. The kids were nowhere to be seen and they had taken the plastic bag with them. Good.

"Do you have an aversion to going home?"

"What?" Her teeth were clattering a little.

"Why aren't you home already? The fight is finished, I'll take care of these guys." He went back to drag the body from the alley back to the main street, to tie him together with the other two.

"You are hurt." She said.

Ivy got a real close shot at killing him with a vine straight to the heart, but he dodged just in time and his arm had a nasty cut now. It was probably infected since who knows what those vines were covered with, knowing Ivy. He wasn't dead yet so it wasn't poison; and so, it could wait.

"Yeah?"

Jazz tilted her head. Was she aware that she did that?

"Let me help you. As thanks."

Jason stopped dragging the body, turning towards the young woman as she moved aside to let him pass.

"It's just a flesh wound." His mouth moved before he could stop himself. Embarrassed, he kept walking towards the other two tied bodies, dropping Alley Guy next to them.

Behind him, Jasmine giggled. "I love that movie. My brother doesn't get it, but the silliness always makes me laugh." She giggled again and he turned to face her again. "Still, it doesn't feel right to leave you here and wounded when you saved me. My apartment is close, let me help."

She extended her hand as if she expected him to take it. After a few seconds she jumped and withdrew it quickly, her pale cheeks turning pink. Her face was very emotive, everything she thought was reflected in the way her smile wobbled a little and her eyes darted away from him. He would think it was the intimidation effect of the helmet, but earlier she looked at him directly in the eyes without flinching.

She was embarrassed. Probably realizing the absurdity of the situation. People didn't usually offer the bats help just because - random people on the street just took shelter and hid while they fought villains, not stayed and fought with them, only to offer medical help after that.

He considered for a moment if he should accept. Jasmine was a mystery and he was more suspicious of her than when he thought she was just an outsider going to be devoured by the city. First an intern at Arkham and now she has training? And she just dealt with thugs from one of the gangs trying to get a hold on his territory?

Nah. He didn't believe in coincidences.

"Yeah. Sure."

He quickly sent a text to Dick telling him to personally deliver the thugs to one of his secret warehouses (he knew which one) and that he was "the best big brother ever" if he did. The trick always worked. He pocketed the phone without checking if he saw the message.

The rain was pouring heavily as the two walked the familiar streets towards the apartment building, and Jason had to physically stop himself from taking his keys out of the jacket pocket to open the door. If Jazz noticed how he knew where the elevator was, she didn't say anything. At least he stopped himself in time to not push the correct floor button.

The situation was so similar to that day he introduced himself to his neighbor that he almost chuckled at the thought.

Once on her door, she opened the door quickly and let him pass, closing it back and locking the three bolts. Good. She at least had the foresight to install extra security on her door.

If only she didn't just let in an unknown man into her apartment, a place where she clearly lived alone.

"My older brother is working." She suddenly said, probably because she caught him looking around. "He will be back soon."

It was a lie, obviously. Her brother was younger than her and he didn't live in Gotham, but cookie points for lying so convincingly.

As she left for the bathroom, probably to fetch the first aid kit or something, he decided to sit down at one of the four chairs surrounding the small kitchen table. He had installed an island instead, and this was the first difference from many between their apartments.

She didn't have a TV, for starters; instead, the walls were filled with shelves upon shelves to the brim with books, notebooks and other writing paraphernalia. While he recognized some of the titles of the books, others were clearly work related or academic in nature and he wasn't familiar with them.

Another clear difference was that she had a way nicer couch than him - the kind you take amazing naps in, with a giant soft looking blanket and everything. She also had a fancy glass coffee table, and a laptop opened on it, as if she just left it in the middle of something before going out.

"Okay! Jacket off and let me see."

He couldn't resist. "You sure know how to order a guy around."

"Hm." She said, pursing her lips, cheeks turning red again. She blushed easily, it seems. "I had to learn in med school. Sometimes, patients just won't listen."

Especially the ones at Arkham, he didn't say out loud. Red Hood wasn't supposed to know that about her.

He obeyed and shed the drenched jacket, lamenting the new gash he had to fix. He wore them because he looked good in them, but it was turning out to be an expensive accessory.

Without commenting anything further, Jasmine… Jazz got to work and cleaned the wound, inspecting it in case there was any debris stuck that could cause an infection in the future. She hummed a few times, nodded, went back to her med kit and withdrew an unlabeled jar. When she opened it, an inconspicuous white green-ish cream was stored inside, and it looked like it was used a lot. It looked like antibiotic cream, and since she spread some over the cut he assumed it was okay. It tingled a little.

"You don't need stitches or anything."

"Yeah. Told you it was but a scratch."

She chuckled again, briefly looking back at his covered face, lips curved in a smile. She wasn't scared of him, he was sure now, as her expressive eyes only showed laughter and openness at him. She should not trust strangers so easily. Much less masked people.

"Superman or Wonder Woman?" She asked.

"Huh?"

"I have Superman themed band aids and Women Woman themed ones. Which do you prefer?" She presented the boxes and, indeed, those were the only variety she possessed. Not even the normal ones.

What the heck. "Wonder Woman."

Bruce will never know about this.

"Yeah, I like her better too."

"No Batman ones?"

Jazz did the tilting her head thing again, one corner of her lip trying not to curve in a smile. "I'm not a Batman fan."

"Ha."

"I mean, would I like to study his case? Yeah, a lot. But own Batman merch? Nah."

Suspiciousness about her aside, he was starting to like this woman if only for that answer. He smiled, but she couldn't see it with the helmet in the way.

"And the others? Do you have a favorite?" The question was out before he could second guess it.

Jazz considered her answer for a moment. "Not really? I did some research before coming here, but apart from news articles and such, there's not much information about you guys. Aesthetically I would say Spoiler, and by fighting style I like Red Robin, but it's not enough to say that any of you is my 'favorite'". She talked as she opened the band aid and put it over the clean and disinfected wound.

"But you'd like to meet them." It wasn't a question. Also, he wanted to know if she was targeting any of them. Just in case.

"If I have to be on the wrong end of a gun again to meet any more of you, then I really don't want to." She laughed. As if she wasn't thinking about it, she kissed her fingers and placed them softly on the band aid, smoothing it one last time on his skin. "Alright, all finished!"

He stood up and quickly signaled her to sit down. "Your turn."

"Huh?"

"Sit down. You were hurt as well."

She blushed, but it wasn't as much as before. "Oh! Um, you don't have to, really. I can do it myself."

She reminded him of Dick and how he thought that because he was the eldest, he had to do everything himself. It was really uncomfortable watching him try to act as a buffer between the old man and himself, filling in the conversation, being the delivery boy all the time. He had told him once that it would get him killed one day. He didn't find it funny.

"That you can doesn't mean that you have to." He finally said, the words coming way easier than if he were talking with his brother. Huh.

This made her smile a little, but it wasn't a happy smile. Her eyes glazed over, probably lost in a memory. "I tell that to my brother all the time."

Still, she pulled the soaked pink hoodie over her head, the wet fabric dragging her shirt with it and revealing her stomach and the lower part of her black sports bra. She quickly realized what was going on and pulled down her drenched shirt, struggling to completely get rid of the hoodie when it got tangled in her long red hair.

"Help." She groaned, making him chuckle.

Between the both of them she was soon free from her pink prison, her hair sticking everywhere but down, her face almost as red as an apple.

She sat down without looking at him. She was still glaring at the table when she offered him her injured shoulder.

"Don't say a word."

He hummed, amused, but didn't make a comment as he shed the gloves and got to work.

The silence was comfortable as he went through the motions - clean, disinfect, cover the wound. He also applied the cream she put on him, assuming he had guessed correctly and it that it was an antibiotic cream when she nodded at the silent question of if he should put it on her or not.

"Wonder Woman band aids please." She spoke at last when he made a move towards the boxes.

"Why have the Superman ones if you don't use them?"

She smiled that warm smile again, and her mind seemed to go back to another memory. "My brother is a Superman fan. And a Martian Manhunter fan. But there weren't any themed band aids for that hero."

"So… specific." Weird. People usually liked Flash or Green Lantern or any of the more social ones.

She sighed, but the smile was still in place. "Danny loves space. When he learned that the Justice League base was in space, and that some members were actual aliens, he lost his mind."

Jason let her get lost in the memory for a moment, not really wanting to make her stop smiling. It was… nice. To simply be there sitting in silence for a moment. He found that he liked it.

Finally, Jazz stood up and started cleaning up the table and storing the things back to the med kit, separating the trash to throw it out later.

"Well, Mr Hood, I'm sure you have a lot to do in this fine afternoon so I'll let you be on your way."

He nodded, picking up his gloves and checking that he still had everything in place. "Thank you for the help." He said despite both of them knowing that he had had worse before and he didn't really need her assistance. "I hope we don't have to meet again."

"Yeah, I kind of agree." Jazz smiled (was that her default facial expression?) and nodded, walking towards the door.

"Don't bother," he stopped her, "it's easier by the window."

She lifted an eyebrow, but surprisingly enough, she was completely fine with it.

"Also invest in a window lock. Who knows what kind of scoundrel could sneak in at night."

Just after he said it he realized how flirty it sounded, which wasn't his intention at all. Really. He just wanted to let her know that the door locks weren't enough and that vigilantes weren't the only people that used windows to enter homes around this part of the city.

But he couldn't take it back now.

Jazz giggled once again. "I can take care of myself," she said, "but thanks for the advice."

And just like that he remembered that this sweet girl could flip a grown man over her head and dislocate his arm with ease. The warm feeling that was growing in his gut suddenly turned into lead as he remembered that he was suspicious of her, sobering him up. He realized he had been smiling when his expression froze. He was thankful that she couldn't see his face at that moment.

Jason nodded without any further comment and marched towards the window, opened it and prepared the grappling gun to shoot it at the building rooftop in front of him. He had chosen his safehouse in this apartment because of how easy it was to get to and from the window; and because said windows overlooked an alley, which was easier to defend if the circumstance came to it. Jasmine's apartment had the same advantages.

"Mr Hood." She stopped him just as he was going to shoot. "We match."

He turned, finding her closer than he would like to. Her smile was still in place as she pointed at her shoulder, now with a band aid with Wonder Woman's symbol on it.

"We are band aid buddies now."

He couldn't help it. He snorted at the silliness. "We sure are."

Jason shot the grapple and launched himself to the rooftop, rolled when he landed and then started running in the direction of where he had parked the bike, so he could get to his reserved warehouse for interrogations. He pulled his phone to check that Dick indeed did as he asked, but his mind was going back to Jasmine and his suspicions about her.

He didn't mean to look when the hoodie incident happened, but he couldn't move his head when he noticed the scars on her stomach. She had a big one on her side, looked like a nasty burn, and various cuts and burns that were healed already. Some were old, some were new.

She wasn't like the bats, who had seen from broken backs to lost organs, and of course his own death, but she did know pain, more than the regular civilian. Also she hid toned muscles under hoodies and loose clothes. Her arm, he noticed when he was cleaning the cut, was firm and strong. It didn't surprise him that she could knock out the Alley Dude with one hit.

Jasmine. What a mystery. He had to keep an eye on her, he decided.

Just in case.