WELCOME TO (HELL) GOTHAM
Wulf's portal spat the group out in a narrow alley sandwiched between two skyscrapers. The alley was dark despite the midday hour, having fallen victim to the long shadows cast by its neighbors. The stench of rotting garbage was pervasive, wafting downwind from the unsecured dumpsters at the mouth of the alley. The noise of Gotham traffic and harried passerby was a distant hum for the odd group, deep in the bowels of the passageway. Most of the Amity Parkers wrinkled their noses in disgust, unused to the stench and grime of a big city. Jason snickered at their perturbed expressions, concealing his own disgust at the miasma.
"Welcome to hell, or as everyone calls it, Gotham!" Jason jerked his head at the distant street with a flourish, arms piled high with boxes.
"If there's a Hell, I'd imagine that it smells like this." Sam said with a deadpan expression on her face as she balanced two boxes.
"Surely, there's parts of Gotham that smell better than this…why'd you ask Wulf to drop us here?" Danny complained.
"One, it's discreet enough that no one will notice a bunch of ghosts and humans bursting out of a portal at six PM with a dozen cardboard boxes, and two, it's close enough to my place." Jason counted off as he went. "Johnny, Kitty, Shadow, you might want to be invisible…this isn't New York, there's plenty of nosey fuckers in this city that want to investigate anything that looks 'supernatural'."
"Nosey fuckers, really?" Valerie asked sarcastically.
"Valerie, we literally have at least fifteen vigilantes in spandex and kevlar running around here at any given time."
Valerie's mouth opened, then shut again. "Okay, I'll give you that."
Jason turned on his heel and strode out of the alley with confidence, pulling his hood up as he emerged onto the main sidewalk as the Amity Parkers scrambled to catch up."C'mon, my place is this way."
85 Parker Lane was one of the few safehouses that Jason had that was completely off of Babs and Tim's radars. Deep in the heart of the Bowery, it was far enough from his usual stomping grounds in Crime Alley that even Tim would never think to check. The safehouse was an apartment in a crumbling, but well-cared for garden complex on the outskirts of a tiny park, with dozens of looming skyscrapers at its back. One of the neighbors had installed a window box filled with petunias in full bloom, which arched towards the sun. The small square of lawn was lush and green, with a multitude of neatly trimmed hedges, one or two healthy cherry trees, and a small patch of planted flowers. The apartment was both well-hidden and wildly different from most of its contemporaries in Gotham.
Jason strode up the driveway with confidence, despite having been away from the safehouse for more than a year.
Tentatively, Jazz spoke up. "Uhh…I don't want to be a wet blanket, but if you've been stuck in the Ghost Zone for so long, how do you know that they haven't declared you missing or dead and rented out your apartment already?"
Jason stopped in his tracks as he burst into laughter. "Declared dead?" he let out another loud guffaw. He wiped small tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes. "You don't know it, but that's the funniest thing someone's said to me in years. But no, don't worry about it. I usually travel from Gotham for long work trips, I've got an arrangement. What's left of my 'family' wouldn't've bothered to report me missing anyway."
Jazz's mouth dropped into an 'O'. "I'm sorry." she said softly.
Jason snorted. "I'm not."
On the inside, the building was quiet, with walls painted a cheery pastel yellow and well-worn wooden flooring. The stairs barely creaked as the large group silently made their way to the back apartment. Jason placed his boxes on the ground and turned to the group after jimmying the lock open.
"Can you wait here for a second? I need to disable the security system."
"Seriously? You couldn't disable it from here?" Valerie asked, unimpressed.
"Sorry princess, I can't. This is Gotham, everybody has a fancy security system." Jason shrugged as he slipped into the apartment, shutting the door behind him.
The air in the hallway was stale and hushed with his departure. Sam was the one to break the silence. "Oookay, am I the only one who thinks Red has to be involved in some seriously shady shit?"
Valerie snorted. "No, I agree with you."
"Maybe he never did the dishes before he left and he wants to make sure that something moldy hasn't come to life in his apartment first?" Danny suggested.
Jazz, Sam, and Valerie turned to look at him with expressions of disbelief.
"Danny, be serious for once in your life, please."
"Erm, that's half-life, big sister." Danny said cheekily, earning nothing but an eye roll from Jazz.
"I don't know, Danny has a point, if Red wasn't planning to take a year-long forced vacation, maybe he is checking to see if it's been taken over by mold or not." Tucker chipped in.
"You can come in, if you want to see the 'mold monster' for yourselves." Jason said from the now-open doorway.
"Took you long enough." Valerie said as she brushed past him.
Aside from the obviously hasty last minute clean up, Jason's safehouse was rather spartan, with basic furniture and minimal seating. The kitchen table had two chairs, and the lone coffee table was surrounded by two deflated looking armchairs. A thick gray layer of dust coated areas that the halfa hadn't gotten to. Tucker immediately started sneezing.
"Can you–" ACHOO "-open a window please?" The man said between sneezes.
"Yeah sure. No one's really been here in more than a year. Johnny, Kitty, you here?"
"Yes. Honestly Red, how does the frozen tundra of the Far Frozen look more welcoming than your apartment?"
Jason clicked his tongue. "Tch. Get off my ass about it Kitty, I told you I was in San Francisco when I got thrown through that portal. Everything else is in storage."
"Language, Red. There's kids here." Johnny said with a touch of reproach.
"Sorry," Jason pivoted to the coffee table in the center of the living room. "Here's some equipment that I left lying around in the apartment from last year. Tasers, comms, a couple of other toys, and whatnot. Have at it, we have 15 hours left till our appointment."
They've arrived in Gotham! The next chapter is going to be longer than usual, and a lot will be happening! It's also the chapter where suzukiblu's art first fits in, which I'm really excited about Thanks again for all of your lovely comments, they always make my day 💚
