Chapter Text
Jason looked down at the body at his feet. He thought it could be a man, but the body was so mutilated that he couldn’t tell. Bending down he took a closer look thanking anything that was listening for the filters in his helmet. Most of the damage seemed to be centralized to the neck but the face and torso had taken a nasty beating. The sight left a dark feeling in the pit of his stomach.
“What do you think?” A voice asked from behind him.
Jason half turned to look back at Red Robin from where he was looking at another body a few feet away. There was a total of three, all of them in similar states, scattered around the alley they were in.
“It kind of looks like his throat was slashed. Can’t tell much with all of the damage,” Jason replied as he turned back to the body in front of him. “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of blood both on the body and on the ground around him. It seems like only enough for the initial cut.”
“I couldn’t find a possible murder weapon and what blood there is, is centralized around the bodies. We should take samples from all of them,” Red Robin commented, halfway through his task already.
Jason grunted an affirmative as he started the methodical task. He tried not to think about how these could be kids. He really didn’t need those thoughts circling around in his head. If some sick bastard did this to kids it was going to be next to impossible to stick to the no killing rule. Hell, if he broke it, he was sure Tim would forgive. For better or for worse right? It wouldn’t hurt to use a more permanent solution to make sure this bastard couldn’t hurt anyone else again.
Jason was pulled from his thoughts as Red Robin stepped up next to him to check his progress. Silently he handed the samples he had collected up to the other man who tucked them into one of his many, many pockets.
Slowly Jason stood up and followed Red Robin as he grappled up to the roof, his feeling of unease increasing. As Jason’s feet touched down, he watched as Red Robin took big gulps of air. A snicker forced its way up his throat. Red Robin shot him a dirty look and Jason raised his hands in surrender. Red Robin turned away, reaching for his comm.
“Hey Oracle,” Red Robin greeted.
Jason wandered back towards the edge of the roof. Red Robin’s half of the conversation slipping to the background. He glanced around the street in front of the alley, taking note of any cameras they could use. None of them seemed to be at a good angle but they should have been able to see if anyone walked towards or away from the alley. The alley was a dead end so they couldn’t have slipped out the other way. If they pulled the footage they should be able to start a list of suspects. Jason heard Red Robin tell Oracle goodnight and turned back to him.
“O is going to pull all the camera footage for us and will get the coroner’s and police report when they’re done,” Red Robin told him. “I’m going to run the samples we collected and see what we get.”
“You heading back now?” Jason asked.
“Yeah,” Red Robin nodded. “I’ll keep an eye out for anything on my way back, but I want to get started on these samples.”
“Alright. I’ll be home in an hour or so. Oh, and Red?” Jason called out as the other man started to move away. “When I do get home you better be in bed sleeping.”
Jason smirked as he could practically feel Red Robin’s eye roll. He waved a hand in the air dismissively and continued towards the other edge of the roof.
“I’m serious Red!” Jason warned.
“See you when you get home,” was the only response he got as Red Robin launched himself off the roof.
Jason shook his head fondly. If he knew Tim at all, which he liked to think he did, he knew that he would probably have to drag Tim out of the lab when he got home. Resigning himself to his fate, Jason launched himself off of the roof. He could get the need to get this case solved as quickly as possible. Those bodies hadn’t been a pretty sight and who knew how many more there were out there that they hadn’t found. He could only hope that most of that damage had happened after the victims had already died. Jason forced thoughts about the murders out of his head for the time being and focused on his patrol. It wouldn’t do him any good to be distracted.
Overall the rest of his patrol was quiet. He stopped a mugging and broke up a couple of drug deals but nothing too exciting. It left just enough room for the unease to creep back in. With a sigh Jason called it a night just over an hour later and turned for home. He hoped trying to convince Tim to act like a human for a few hours would distract him enough to fall asleep. Or at least that Tim would have gotten some of the results back on those samples.
He had seen numerous homicides over the years, caused quite a few of those, but this one was different. Jason didn’t know how or why but it left a dark feeling in the pit of his stomach. He brushed it off as dreading a new cult of psychos or someone copying Hush. People got killed. It wasn’t the first homicide and it wouldn’t be the last. They did live in Gotham after all.
Roughly Jason pushed those thoughts aside again. If he started obsessing than he would be no better than Bruce. The thought made Jason shudder in disgust as he finally reached home. Quickly he slipped in through a back entrance that lead straight to the Nest as if moving fast enough would leave that comparison far behind him.
Once he got inside he could see Tim hunched over his computer on the far side of the main room. From his vantage point he could see at least four coffee cups scattered around Tim, whose hair was already sticking up in various directions. Parts of the Red Robin suit were left sitting on the surrounding tables. With a quiet chuckle Jason made his way over to Tim, his unease slipping to the back of his mind.