Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Jason Todd/Red Hood
Red Hood crouched on a gargoyle high above Gotham City as rain pelted the building. His patrol was almost over and he had just finished putting the fear of the dark into a couple of dealers who still thought it was okay to sell to kids in his part of the city. They just can’t take a hint can they.
There was no way anyone could see him all the way up here hundreds of feet in the air, so he took off his helmet and lit up a cigarette. What can he say he was more of a do as I say not as I do kinda guy. Besides there was worse ways to die than smoking, he would know. He exhaled the smoke and close his eyes enjoying the feeling of the cool rain on his face. His helmet didn’t really have much in the way of ventilation and that motherfucker was stifling sometimes. He paused as he heard shuffling down below his feet. Looking down expecting to see a pigeon, read: flying rat, taking shelter in the gargoyles wings. Hoo boy was he wrong. A round face with wide green eyes started up at him from below.
“Jesus mother fuck!” he yelled as he startled so badly that he lost his footing on the head of the statue and fell through the air.
He launched his grappling hook to halt his descent and hung there taking a few bracing breathes. He hadn’t fallen off a building since he was in those ridiculous short shorts he’d worn as Robin; but jesus could you blame him? What the fuck was a civilian girl doing hundreds of feet in the air in the middle of a goddamn rain storm? She didn’t even seem surprised to see him or scared to be up that high, it’s like she was waiting for him. How did she even get up there? There weren’t any windows that high up!
Those fucking owl eyes were gonna haunt his dreams if he didn’t get her down from there stat. As he started rappelling up the side of the skyscraper he realized the rain was hitting him in the face. Fuck he left his helmet up there when he fell. Whelp there goes his secret identity. Bats was gonna have an aneurysm.
***
Genevieve jerked awake as someone pounded on the front door of her apartment. She threw on a robe and hurried to the door before whoever it was woke Miriam. She so rarely got a full nights sleep without her power interfering. Genevieve yanked open the front door ready to rip whoever it was a new one only to see a drenched man in an overly detailed red helmet with an arm around her younger cousin’s waist.
“What the fuck!” Genevieve lunged for the baseball bat she kept near the door.
“Easy! Easy! Damn woman!” the man released Miriam’s waist but she just smiled at him and took his hand instead, “ My name is Red Hood, I’m from Gotham. Do you know this girl? This address was on her bracelet.”
“I know who you are! You’re a vigilante with a penchant for shooting first and asking questions later.” She brandished the bat higher, “Miriam come here!”
“Look some stuff happened and I made a few irrational decisions but that's beside the goddamn point we’re not here to talk about me. Do you know where I found her? At the top of a fucking skyscraper in the damn rain, now I don’t know how she got all the way to Gotham from Central City but you need to put a bell on her or something before she gets hurt!
Red Hood stalked away gesticulating wildly and muttering to himself about ungrateful civilians and owl eyes. Genevieve scoffed and went to shut the door, Miriam already inside. She paused, if what Hood was saying is true then he saved Miriam big time.
She took a deep breath and called out, “Thank you!”
“You’re fucking welcome!”
Genevieve rolled her eyes and went back into her apartment. She had family to check on.