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“Stay inside, ok? It’s not safe to be out tonight.” Jason waited for the nods of confirmation before closing the door, leaning his full weight against it to make sure it was sealed tight. He paused a moment to close his eyes, the back of his helmet clicking against the wall. A shiver tore through his body and he pushed off the wall, moving slower than usual. It was wearing him down, fighting through the screaming wind that turned the snow into bullets. But he couldn’t stop. He had found all the kids he could and gotten them to a warehouse he had supplied with heaters and blankets -- there would always be more, always a small body to find in the morning, and it made a wild rage rise in his chest even as guilt coiled in his stomach -- and it was time to move on to the girls. Jason pulled out his grapple. The trigger clicked and Jason scowled at it, shaking the machine. Rattling confirmed his suspicion; ice had gotten into it. Jason cursed and barely resisted the urge to throw the grapple against the wall. He clipped it onto his belt and hauled himself up the fire escape. His fingers slipped a little but he forced the stiff joints to close further and rolled onto the roof. He had a warm place to head back to, but the girls? Not so much. He could handle a little discomfort in exchange for their lives.
Up on the rooftop the wind screamed louder, as if an army of furious ghosts were raining vengeance on a world that never mourned. Jason shook his head. The cold must have been messing with him more than he thought, if he was thinking about ghosts. He tucked his hands under his armpits for a few seconds -- the gloves Talia had sent him were incredible, but even they were struggling in the frigid temperatures. Jason shook his arms and legs out and ran for the edge of the roof. The one good thing the wind did was scouring the roof mostly free from snow. His shadow flickered over empty alleys and street corners and Jason let a bit of optimism rise in his chest. He turned deeper into the maze of streets, barely managing to stop himself from falling off the roof when a patch of ice caught him by surprise. He paused for a few ragged breaths before pushing on. He finally stopped outside a window covered by a ragged curtain. It looked no different than every other window and apartment in the area, but he would never forget busting through this very window to rip Sasha’s dirtbag of a husband off of her. Jason made sure he was balanced on the fire escape before rapping gently on the glass. The curtain was pushed out of the way and Jason’s shoulders relaxed a little when he saw Honey and Violet standing behind Sasha. The window slid open a tiny crack and Sasha frowned at him.
“What you doin’ out in this Hood?”
Jason made sure his teeth weren’t chattering, forcing the smooth, cocky tone they expected from him. “Checkin’ on you, you’re welcome.”
Her frown darkened. Maybe he chattered just a little. Cut him some slack, it was literally three degrees out here. “Go getchyaself somewhere warm, ya hear?”
“Yes ma’am,” Jason said. “Soon as you take this.” He held out a vacuum-sealed bag. Sasha sighed and edged the window open just enough for Jason to slide the bag through.
“What is it?”
“‘S a curtain. It’ll keep the heat in. There’re two in there. One can go on the door.”
Sasha’s face softened. “Thank you, Hood.”
Jason shrugged, grateful for the helmet which hid the way he still got flustered by gratitude. “You know somethin’ about the other girls?”
Sasha handed the package to Honey and folded her arms against the cold. “I started sendin’ them all back this mornin’. No johns in this cold. Most of ‘em are home.”
“Thanks, Sasha.”
She nodded -- maybe the aversion to saying “you’re welcome” was a Gotham thing? -- and the stern look came back. “Now get on out of this weather.”
Jason saluted and slid down a drainpipe. Half of the brick in this damn city might be crumbling but he had to give it to them: they didn’t fuck around with fire escapes and drain pipes. His boots squeaked on the ground, the snow so cold and dry it didn’t stick, just skipped over every surface. He’d take one last look around, see if he could spot any stragglers, and then he’d head to one of his safehouses, preferably the one with the book he was in the middle of reading. Jason switched the feed in his helmet to thermal and almost went blind from all the blue. He ran across roofs and jumped over alleys, watching his step carefully. As he had learned with his near-miss, black ice was not a joke. A flicker of yellow near a corner caught his attention and he skidded to a stop. Was it a dog? Please don’t let it be a dog.
It wasn’t a dog.
“Shit, shit, shit,” Jason muttered, running the few steps to the girl huddled up against the wall. Her face was as white as the snow skidding across the ground and her lips were blue. “Fuck, come on.” He felt for a pulse. Nothing. Cursing, he dragged off his glove and immediately cursed harder as the cold and biting wind lashed at his exposed skin. The girl’s neck was as cold as everything else and he growled as he tried to force his fingers to stay still enough to find a pulse. “Come on, come on, don’t be dead.”
There! A tiny flutter of a pulse. Way, way too faint, but at least it was there. Jason pulled his glove back on and tried to ignore the stinging as he gathered her into his arms. Shit, she was light. He didn’t recognize her, she must have been new. The skin-tight leggings and tiny shirt were no help against the freezing temperatures and her fingers were already tinged a dangerous color. Jason held her tight to his chest and ducked into an alley, out of the freezing wind. He scraped an area clear of snow before shrugging out of the big jacket Talia had sent him. The white was so not his color, but practicality -- and the fact that Talia would know if he ignored her implicit order -- won out over fashion. He still had his helmet, there’s no way anyone wouldn’t recognize him, even with the rest of his uniform switched out for arctic gear. Now, even with his thermally-regulated suit and underarmor, the wind felt like knives tearing into his back. He couldn’t even imagine how the girl felt. Jason bundled her up, covering as much of her body as possible while keeping her flat. With how small she was, it wasn’t hard. Jason reached into his belt and pulled out some heating packs, breaking them and laying them on her chest, neck, and lower torso. He watched her for a second, leaning in to listen to her breathing.
“Come on, girl, you can do this.” He dug into his belt again, fingers fumbling to grab and rip open the same type of bag he had given Sasha earlier. He finally got it and put one blanket underneath and the other over top of the girl. “Shoulda done that first,” he scolded himself. He went to gather her up in his arms but stopped, biting his lip hard. He couldn’t take her to the warehouse or Sasha’s, they wouldn’t be able to care for her properly, and he couldn’t take her to his place. He growled and grabbed a burner, pulling off his helmet. He couldn’t route it through, that was just asking the bats to find him. His ears quickly began to feel like they were going to fall off. His fingers tapped nervously on his thigh as the burner rang. “91-, wha- -r em- cy?” Jason frowned at the phone, trying not to shiver. “H-l-o? Wh- -ur -gen-y”
“I need a pickup on 6th and Park,” he barked, trying to sound like a vigilante who did this every night.
“Co-d r-p-t tha-”
“Hello?” The static got worse until the line went dead. “Hello?” Jason stared at the phone. Nothing. He threw it against the wall. “Fuck!” He looked at the girl. She wouldn’t survive if she didn’t get the help she needed, help he couldn’t give her. Jason grabbed his hair and pulled hard. “Fuck fuck fuck.” She couldn’t be more than fifteen. Jason knelt over her for a second, blocking the wind with his back. “Fuck,” he breathed, almost like a prayer. He pulled the helmet back on, raising his hand to the comm. His stomach felt like it had been filled with concrete. He stared at the girl’s blue lips and pushed the button before he could think about it.
“-itch out, guys. Second shift is starting.” Oracle’s voice was clear and sharp, no hint of static.
Jason swallowed hard. “Oracle.”
The line went dead silent.
“I- there’s-,” Jason slammed his fist into his thigh. “There’s a girl. She needs an ambulance. I can’t get through.”
Silence.
Jason closed his eyes and prayed to a God he didn’t believe in. “Oracle? Can you hear me?”
“Red Hood.” Jason flinched at her tone despite himself. “What are you doing?”
“I have a civilian here.” Jason didn’t care that he sounded desperate. “She needs help.”
“What did you do to her?”
“I didn’t do anything to her!” Okay, maybe he deserved that for what he did to the replacement. Jason paused to shove down the pointless hurt, trying to keep his teeth from chattering. He had accepted this a long time ago, being on the outside forever. He couldn’t exactly expect them to welcome him back after everything. Not that he wanted them to, he was perfectly happy keeping his chunk of the city safe without their interference. “I found her. She’s got a pulse but she needs a hospital.”
“So take her to one.”
Jason took a calming breath. “You know I can’t do that.”
“Right. Because you’re a murderous crime lord.”
Jason gritted his teeth. “Yes.” Now was not the time to argue semantics, a girl was dying.
“I’m surprised you care.”
“Dammit, Oracle!” Rage shot through him, green and tasting of acid. “I don’t kill innocents and from what I remember you don’t let them die.” His jaw ached but all the fight went out of him as the girl spasmed. “Oracle, I know we hate each other but she’s dying.” He bit his tongue and forced the word out. “Please.”
Silence. Jason closed his eyes. Knowing her, Oracle was already working on tracking his location. The only question was whether they'd trust him enough to let him know they were coming or if he'd find out with a fist to the skull.
“Where are you?”
“Sixth and Park.” Looked like trust it was. Jason sat back on his heels. “I’ve got her covered with thermal packs but she needs a hospital.
“ETA seven minutes.”
“Thank you, Oracle.”
The comm clicked off.
Jason tucked the girl’s hand further under the blanket. “You’ll be okay.” He stood up, ready to disappear before the cavalry arrived, but stopped. He had a horrible feeling that if he left, the girl would give up. He hesitated, shoulders hunched against the freezing wind, before sighing and crouching back down, arms wrapped around his knees. “You’ll be just fine,” he promised.
He was still there seven minutes later when tires screeched at the mouth of the alley. Jason stood up, every joint stiff. He didn’t turn around, lifting his hands above his shoulders. “I don’t want to fight.” Not tonight, not with a girl’s life on the line. “She doesn’t have time for that.”
“Step away,” Nightwing’s voice called. Jason did, movements stiff from more than just the cold. He kept his hands visible, staring at the little girl as two pairs of footsteps squeaked towards them. He even managed to hide the flinch when that cape came into his field of vision. Batman knelt by the girl, looking her over for a minute before scooping her up into his arms, cape draped to protect her from the wind. Jason allowed his head to turn, following their progress to the batmobile, and locked eyes with Nightwing. He tensed but didn’t lower his hands. This wasn’t the time to start something; that girl needed speed.
Nightwing studied him for a second, the stupid hood of his winter gear pulled low over his domino. “Thank you,” he finally said.
Jason jerked a little in surprise. “What.”
Nightwing’s stance shifted a little and he tapped one escrima against his leg. It was still in the correct grip for a quick attack and Jason didn’t move even as Nightwing huffed, sounding annoyed. “For calling us, for saving that girl.” His grip tightened around his escrima and he opened his mouth before shaking his head and turning away. Jason slowly let his hands drop. Nightwing paused at the mouth of the alley, not looking back even as he called over his shoulder, “We’ll make sure she’s taken care of.” He jumped in the car and they were gone.
Jason stared after them for a long moment before wrapping his arms around himself and heading for his closest safehouse. He didn’t have the energy to get to his favorite one. It didn’t matter; he wouldn’t be able to concentrate even if he did have his book.