"We have to go."
"Do we?"
Jazz giggled against her better judgment. Jason's breath tickled her cheeks.
"Bruce said—"
"He can wait." His chest rumbled as he spoke. She could feel it through his suit and hers. "They all can wait."
She opened her mouth to protest, but the touch of his cold lips on her throat ripped a sigh from her lips instead. Her hand squeezed his bicep and didn't move to push him away as she knew she should.
It felt weirdly exposed to be doing this in a random alley, but at least they weren't out in the open. She'd seen worse things happen in the dark alleys of Gotham, and it was somewhat exhilarating to be part of that mystery herself.
Jason's hand grabbed her face, pulling her back to the present.
"We have to— Mhmp!"
Jason hummed against her mouth, kissing her with enthusiasm. Jazz rolled her eyes, but responded to his kiss and very obvious attempt at shutting her up.
They were supposed to be on their way back to the Cave and meet with the others to discuss the whole "Lazarus Pits in Gotham" conversation they had to have.
Once they were alone, Jason had other ideas. It was in his eyes, in the way they were bright with concern that turned into something else once he made sure that she was completely fine after her encounter with the Spirit of Gotham.
He had always been a little hesitant before, even after she came clean about her secrets and her fangs. She thought he maybe wanted to make clear he wasn't pressuring her into something she'd regret, which was nice but completely unnecessary. She wasn't afraid to stop things if she didn't want to do something.
Jason bit her lower lip. She did want this, she discovered. Oh yeah, she did. It was maybe not the best moment or the best place; but it was so enticing having this tank of a man so desperately seeking her lips like his life depended on it.
Jazz grabbed the back of his head, reveling on how soft the curls were and being thankful once more that he chose to forgo the helmet for tonight. She felt more than heard him moan in the kiss when she pulled the hair she managed to blindly grab there.
Loud beeping interrupted them, making her jump. He groaned, pulling away from the kiss slowly and with all the intention to ignore the phone asking for attention.
He had already disconnected his comms but they didn't check that his phone was not on silent.
"Answer the phone." She whispered against his lips, fighting against the impulse to lean in and continue kissing him like she wanted to.
The whine that came out of him was unbecoming of the demon of Crime Alley.
"Don't wanna." He turned it off and put it back in his pocket. "Where were we?"
She rolled her eyes. "Someone is excited."
He hummed against her lips before kissing her again, carefully grabbing her face with his gloved hands.
"The fight did something for you, huh."
He chuckled. "What can I say? I love my women strong and independent."
She playfully slapped his chest. "You silly man." Her nonchalance was betrayed by her red cheeks.
When she confronted the Gotham Spirit she wasn't sure what she was thinking. Her thoughts were set on staying in Gotham no matter what, and how frustrated it made her to deal with the Spirit. She had dealt with stubborn people in her life, but the Spirit was its own kind of thickheaded nightmare.
She didn't like pulling rank and doing shows of power to threaten people, that was more in Danny's and his friends' wheelhouse, but she knew how to do it when the situation required it.
Apparently, Jason did like her display.
Not that she was complaining.
They did have to go meet the others back at the Cave, though.
Their impromptu make out session got interrupted by her phone this time, the ringtone being a guitar riff that she set as Danny's personal ringtone. It was a song he enjoyed and joked should be his theme song.
"Don't." Jason took her phone from her hands and hung up.
Jazz knew Danny would call again, as many times as it took. Also she knew he would hold it against her if she continued ignoring him like this.
With a tired sigh that channeled all her older sister woes, she made an attempt at getting her phone back. Jason extended his arm away from her.
She raised an eyebrow. So that's how he wanted to play.
Jazz spared a thought and felt her arms grow stronger under her command over her armor, giving her enough juice to quickly grab her boyfriend by the shoulders and switch their positions, slamming him against the brick wall with maybe a little bit more force than she intended. She quickly checked he was okay, but scoffed when she saw his red cheeks and how a choked "huh" filled the dark alley.
She kissed him one last time, deep and intense, playfully biting his lip before pulling away, her phone in her hand.
Just in time, Danny was calling again.
"I'm no longer asking." Was the first thing she heard when she took the call. She bit her lip, glancing at Jason recovering from what just happened. "Move your ass to the damn Cave and let's get this done tonight. Some of us need our beauty sleep."
"What happened to 'I can go weeks without sleep, Jazzy', huh?"
Danny grumbled on the other side of the call. "Just stop having kinky sex with your boyfriend."
A chorus of "oooohh" could be heard in the background. She closed her eyes, embarrassed and mortified that this was probably happening on speakers.
"I am not—"
"Didn't ask, don't care, lalalalala~!" Her brother sang until she stopped trying to explain. "You have fifteen minutes before I go out there and drag you here. See ya!"
Jazz did a few deep breaths to prevent her from crushing her phone in her hand. Because that was the third phone she destroyed in her time in the Living World, and she didn't want to spend the money on another one.
When she opened her eyes, Jason was looking at her.
"Mood is ruined, huh?"
She could tell he rolled his eyes under the mask. "Told you not to answer the phone." He still leaned in for a quick peck on her lips. "Let's go."
They grappled back to their apartment in comfortable silence, just listening to wind in their ears and the city noises even so late at night. Jazz enjoyed the trip more than she let on, even if it was weird compared to flying with her siblings. Jason didn't defy gravity but fought against it, and she could feel it in her gut every time he swung up and down. It was different and new and not at all how she imagined it.
He landed them on the roof of the building next to theirs, right at the alley where the bikes were stored.
Bikes. Because Danny had finally given back her modified ecto-motorbike since his own was finally done. He brought it over when he arrived, expecting to find her in her apartment to show her his gift, but that was when he panicked and went on a hunt to find her. With the excitement he forgot about it, but the shiny black and teal machine was parked in front of the apartment building when they arrived on Saturday afternoon.
She decided to keep it next to Jason's in the alley and out of the way, but hadn't had a chance to drive it yet.
"Wanna drive tonight?" Jason asked her, pointing at the bike with his chin.
She nodded. "Actually, yeah. Barely had time to try it when I got it." And could be a good chance to re-learn what all the functions were.
After a quick debate, they decided to each drive their own bike, and she'd follow Jason to the hidden entrance of the cave. He watched her get on the seat, waiting for her to turn it on. She just twisted the accelerator handle, the motor roaring to life as green fire was expelled from the exhaust.
"Oops." Jazz giggled.
She focused a bit and recalibrated how much power she directed to the engine, satisfied when it went back to a soft purr that was within normal performance and there wasn't more fire coming out.
"That's pretty rad."
She hummed in agreement at Jason, watching as he got into his vehicle and turned it on. "It doesn't work on gasoline, just ambient ectoplasm and the driver's power." She tested the accelerator, keeping the gear neutral, nodding when everything sounded right. "Only people with enough ectoplasm can even get it to work." She tested the brakes. They were good. "I think you could do it, actually."
He walked the bike to the alley opening, considering. She watched carefully in case she said something wrong — Jason was still a bit touchy about not being fully human, and after Danny's confirmation they haven't addressed it. She definitely made it worse when she fed him pure ectoplasm, even if it saved his life. She knew they had to talk about it, but the moment simply never came up.
"Maybe." Was all he said. "Let's go."
Jazz swallowed the discomfort and got ready to make the drive to the Cave.
Gotham that night was tamer, and as they got out of the Narrows and into the nicer parts of the city it was quieter and quieter. She was still mesmerized at how beautiful the city could be from up high, it didn't matter how many times she would make this trip or climb the tall buildings — it was just so different from what she was used to, be it Amity Park or the Infinite Realms.
They quickly made it to the secret entrance for vehicles and into the Batcave, the temperature rising slightly now that they were away from the chilly fall night.
"Finally!"
Danny, still in ghost form, didn't look pleased as he floated closer to the parking area of the cave. He had his arms crossed and one eyebrow raised, as if he was the parent catching a child doing something they shouldn't.
"Oh, shut up." She rolled her eyes, turning off the bike with a thought. "Like you haven't been late for a meeting because you are too busy making out with—"
"Nuh-uh," Danny interrupted her, cheeks slightly green. "We don't talk about that."
"Then you can't talk about me and Jason." Jazz smirked, looking down at her brother, knowing she had won.
Danny scoffed, glanced at Jason, who was biting back a smile, and floated back to the others with an eye roll.
Jazz hummed when her boyfriend looped his arms around her waist. "That was pretty hot too." He softly whispered against her ear.
"Ancients, stop!" Danny's voice echoed from the other side of the cave.
Right, the couple remembered. Superhuman hearing.
They held hands as they walked closer to the Batcomputer, where the Bats plus an annoyed Danny were waiting.
On the screen there were multiple recordings playing — Jazz was mortified when she saw her own face from multiple angles as she got the beating of her life by the Spirit of Gotham. She froze, watching herself fending against the colony of bats that bit her and carried her towards the sky, remembering the feeling of getting shocked by her own weapon.
She rubbed her arm, not really liking how it felt.
Jason pulled her hand and made them walk closer towards the table with a hologram map of Gotham, where Bruce was mumbling under his breath, typing something on his wrist computer.
"So," Jason started, "what's this about a Pit under Gotham?"
Jazz looked away from Bruce as he looked up. She knew she was supposed to pay attention — this was her mission, after all — but she got distracted watching the video of herself facing the Spirit and releasing her power. Ancients, it felt so ridiculous now, making a huge speech about her titles and her accomplishments. She had tried to aim for what Fright Knight would say, channeling how the ghost always felt so sure about himself; but all she could see was how scared she had been in her eyes, how desperate she felt about staying in Gotham, and staying with—
"Earth to Jasmine."
She blinked back to reality, looking back to the table. Everyone was looking at her.
Her cheeks felt like they were on fire. "Sorry."
A few smiled, knowing what she had been distracted with.
"That was a pretty cool thing you did there."
"So you did end up fistfighting the city for Jason's hand in marriage." Stephanie nodded in agreement at Duke, crossing her arms. "I would have liked to see it from up close."
Jason didn't acknowledge the comment, just rolling his eyes. Jazz's cheeks got warmer.
"I didn't—"
"I am Crown Princess Jasmine. I've protected the Keep against invading forces for seven days and seven nights straight." Now it was Dick who chimed in, fists on his waist, striking a pose. His eyes glowed and his smile was blinding. "You kind of reminded me of Starfire for a moment there."
"I know right?" Jason chimed in, nodding enthusiastically.
Jazz tilted her head. The name was familiar, but she didn't know who this person was. Probably a hero, given how familiar they seemed to be with her.
Dick saw her confusion and opened his mouth to comment.
"Focus," Bruce interrupted the conversation, finally stopping typing in his computer, "we have a task at hand."
Jazz giggled, but didn't say anything about Dick sticking his tongue and imitating the older man's expression behind his back.
"I have investigated the Lazarus Pits in the past—" he barely paused when he said it, but they all noticed some kind of hesitation — "and I got readings inside Gotham. I know the general location and have a few guesses on where to start looking, but I never had enough time to actually do it."
Or, Jazz considered, he abandoned the project when something related to Jason happened. She squeezed his hand, but didn't turn to look at him.
"Ok. Where do I start?"
Bruce nodded, his tense shoulders slightly relaxing. Jazz didn't miss how he tried hard to not be too obvious that he was glad she kept on topic and didn't ask what they were all thinking.
The hologram of Gotham in front of them moved around and separated into layers like some kind of an exploded view showing the underground levels. She marveled at the tunnels that could only be the subway system, and what she guessed was the sewers.
Before she could ask more about the amazing and detailed show of technology, the hologram focused on a part of Old Gotham she wasn't familiar with, down and down, way under the first subway lines that had been abandoned when the city grew in a different direction.
"My readings concentrated somewhere deep under Old Gotham, and I have a few ideas of using the old metro station and starting from there." He paused, looking up at her. "I'm… not sure what could be down there. Are you sure you want to do this?"
Somehow she understood that Bruce not being sure of something meant really bad news. Fortunately for everyone, Jazz was used to bad news and even worse odds.
She smiled. "Sure! What could go wr—"
"Don't jinx it." Danny slapped a hand on her mouth. "Remember our curse."
"Curse?" Damian perked up, interested.
"We are not cursed, Danny," Jazz groaned, removing the hand. She was half tempted to lick it, but she didn't think it was proper for the situation. "It's a silly family joke."
"It's no joke. We are cursed. Who knows, maybe our great great great grandpa pissed off the wrong witch."
That raised a few eyebrows and a pair of chuckles. Jazz sighed, exasperated.
She wanted to agree so badly with her brother. The Fentons sometimes felt like they were cursed. She spent so long trying to find a logical answer to why things seemed to always happen to them; but even after she discarded bad luck, meddling ghosts, hubris and clumsiness, she had to agree there were unexplained situations. Specially when the words "what could go wrong?" were uttered.
She remembered thinking that before her first date with Jason.
Huh.
Maybe Danny was onto something.
Bruce cleared his throat and decided to pin the conversation for another time. "You should wait before venturing down the tunnels."
"Why?" She asked.
"You need to be prepared."
Jazz waited for a moment, trying to understand what the man probably meant to say. She had already gathered he was not very good at communicating his thoughts, but she thought she was owed an elaboration.
Of course, that never came.
"Prepared for what."
"Gotham is not— You are clearly trained, but you don't understand what you are up against."
She frowned, trying to follow.
Besides her, Jason sighed. "What Bruce is trying to say," he rolled his eyes, like he couldn't believe he was acting as the other man's translator, "is that Gotham is its own kind of weird, and you should get used to moving around before facing the unknown."
"But I've lived here for months…" She trailed off, seeing almost everyone around the table shake their heads or purse their lips. "Okay. Okay." She sighed, pulling back her loose hair. "You are the locals. I made a deal. Gotham's rules, Gotham's way."
She clearly wasn't excited about it, but she knew that if she wanted to stay, she had to be on her best behavior. Making the Spirit mad was the best way to get banished from the city forever.
Jazz felt Jason squeeze her hand in solidarity. He understood the city, he had talked about it plenty of times. She always thought it was kinda cute how he went on rants about the people, the flow of the city, the way things worked around. He loved it, but he also respected its dangers.
In a way, Jazz wondered how much of Jason she'd understand once she got to understand the city.
"Very well. Your training will start tomorrow."
"Training?"
"Training!" It was Stephanie who jumped to hold her other hand, practically shaking with excitement. "Welcome to Batfam 101: speedrun edition!"
Some of the others chuckled, but by the way their smiles hid their secrets, she wasn't sure if this "training" would be anything like she had known before.
