Chapter Text
Jason’s night had gone to shit with a couple of Latin sounding words.
It had begun like any normal patrol for Jason. He was in the Narrows, at the end of his first round and he had foiled a couple of assaults, a mugging in process, filmed a cop taking bribes from a street-side hotel and sent it to the Commish, punched a drunken father trying to beat a little girl as she tried to keep him from her already bleeding brother, made a note to drop in every night for the next week; all this even as he continued looking for one of his informants for one of his ongoing cases.
If he hadn’t been looking up at the abandoned row of council flats, he would have totally missed it. Missed Him. Golden Boy. What was he doing flying around the Narrows? The Narrows belonged to Jason. Its filth sat on his tongue like rotten rage. But this was his city, he was born to its filth, he had embraced it and he would try to muck the filth as long as he lived. Why was Nightwing flying around here? Jason’s rage burned hot for a second before his reason sifted and asked him to examine his emotion further. Was it really rage? Jason had been back for years now and he had claimed the Narrows for himself; but he had learnt to accept that half his informants were also Nightwing’s. Especially when it came to Black Mask who had risen to power even as Nightwing had spread his wings. Which half, he had never got any to spill. Jason had used intimidation, bribery, temptation, but there was a reek to their fear of Nightwing that even Red Hood couldn’t seem to raise.
Whatever. Time to rein in Goldie. He took to the roof and gave chase.
Jason had gone four blocks before he saw the shadow swing across the roofs of a set of low houses to his right. He followed and promptly lost him again. Jason knew catching up to Nightwing if he didn’t want to get caught was a lost cause. He had a sneaking suspicion he had been spotted. Jason was awesome on the grapple, thank you, but Goldie literally flew. And bastard never looked winded after flying over rooftops for a whole night. Fuck him then, but Jason needed to catch his breath. Jason didn’t want to catch up to him, he had given that longing long ago, didn’t he. Jason stood there gripping the balustrade – overcome with emotions that he didn’t want to examine right now.
“Hood.”
Jason jumped. “What the ever loving fuck is the matter with you, Goldie!”
Dick had laughed. “That easy, huh?”
“Get lost, man!”
Dick had stood there, easy and calm, and Jason stood there, bathed in hate –how dare he not be afraid of me! -his mind screamed, but what came out was “What you doing in my city, Goldie?”
Wrong. Jason saw the lines of his body tense and those arms flex through the Nightwing black. Jason saw those square jaws clench and then, unclench. Whatever, his mind screamed again.
The laugh had gone out of the voice “Just here to meet an old friend, Hood. Getting out of your hair now.”
“Look-”
“I should go now if I’m to reach New York before light. Have an early shift today.”
“There is no chatter about you being here.”
“I didn’t tell anyone. Look, Jay, I’m here for a case, I’m done now, and I’m leaving.”
“Not even Oracle? She worries for you.”
“Why?”
The question took Jason off-guard. Why? What did he mean “why”? “Because Oracle and you are always tight and you are in Gotham.”
Dick had cocked his head in that way he had. Jason had seen that when he was new at the manor and Dick and Bruce had gone at each other like two growling wild dogs tearing each other apart. Jason’s 13 year old self had often wondered why they did it. No one else was hurt, except each biting retort seemed to fray something more between the two. When he had returned, Jason was startled to see them working together. At the time, his Pit-crazed mind whispered into him “you were dead. that’s what Dick wanted, didn’t he?” Since being folded back into the family, since Bruce returned from wherever he was chilling, since Dick hung up his cowl, since seeing the subtle push and pull between Dick and Bruce for Damian, Jason had revised his estimation of those two. Bruce, for all his learnt sophistication, and Dick, for all his innate niceness, had a deeply primal reaction to each other. It was the weight of history, Alfred had once told a droopy shouldered, wet eyed Jason as he sat tensely in the kitchen as a battle raged in the second floor study. It was a rare loose moment from Alfred, who let his fondness of Jason override his loyalty to Bruce and love for Dick. Jason had never found a good enough time to ask Alfred to say more or even question Bruce or Dick about it. And then, he had died.
Jason remembered all that and braced. Yep, there was the jaw clench.
“Did B –”
That was when everything went to shit.
There was a blinding light, a woooosh, the crackle of electricity, an explosion of sound – both Jason and Dick had instinctively crouched down, but 2 seconds later, Jason was standing up with his guns cocked and aimed. It appeared to be a portal of some kind, and it was still open. Beyond the portal’s entrance, it was all dark and they could hear shrieks and wails echoing away. Jason looked to his left, where Dick was fiddling with his mask, and walking towards the bent figure with a sharp “Hey, what’s going on?” The figure was pushing and pulling at a tiny clock-like device in their hand. “He asked you a question, asshole!” and Jason had taken a step ahead, when the figure looked up, his eyes black as tar, a sneer on his mouth, spat something in a foreign tongue with “humans!” somewhere in the middle of it and flung a hand towards him. Everything happened at once. Jason saw the spark fly from the hands of the figure, fired his own guns, and watched in horror as Dick flew into the middle. Both the spark and Jason’s bullets hit Dick straight on, the figure jumped into the circle of light and its darkness beyond but Jason saw those black eyes pulse and its mouth open in a gape as the figure looked back as Dick fell onto the roof floor. Jason’s eyes blazed green with hate, but before he could think of stepping into that portal himself and giving chase, Dick let out a bloodcurdling scream, and Jason felt ice creep into his blood.