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Jason couldn’t believe his luck, he had recently learned from some of the older boys that there were plenty of people who would pay good money for a fresh set of tires, which beat out anything else he could do for money in the Alley. He had stolen a tire iron- a harrowing activity, sneaking it from the shop right under the owner’s nose. And right in front of his own building was a relatively nice rental car, one with shiny new tires. He got to work immediately.
Sandra was aggravated, she had come a great distance to check up on an old acquaintance and a possible student, her own son, only to find one dead in prison and the other disappeared into the underbelly of Gotham’s Crime Alley. She had sent out her men to see if they could find the boy though she wasn’t willing to waste too much time on the endeavor. His twin sister’s progress with David Cain had made her curious about the boy and his potential, that’s all. To wrap up an annoying trip she came out of the dingy apartment building to find a dirty little miscreant stealing her tires.
“What do you think you’re doing?” She asked, sneaking up on the child. He spun around, shocked, with wide eyes, very familiar eyes at that, she may have found the child she was looking for much more easily than expected. His surprise quickly morphed into determination.
“Sorry lady, I’d normally never do this but…” he trailed off and before she could dodge, he slammed the tire iron into her gut and ran. She breathed through the pain, a little impressed that he got the jump on her, before following at a sedate pace, her men would have him surrounded before he got too far.
What had been such a good day for him was turning shitty rather quickly. The owner of the car had come out when he was on the last tire, and he had hit a lady, something his mother would have never forgiven him for had she still been around to witness it. But he panicked. He had cut through a darkened alleyway making for a more populated road where he could disappear into the crowd when someone dropped from the sky right in front of him. He tried to dodge but another fell down beside him, and when he tried to back track there was another, dressed in the same strange black clothes, they almost looked like ninjas from the movies.
“There you are,” it was the lady from before, she looked unhurt, he was glad for that at least, hopefully she wouldn’t have him beaten too badly if she wasn’t hurt. Jason was scared and wary but straightened his back and bared his teeth, he’d take his punishment without being a punk about it.
“Like I said I’m sorry, I wouldn’t normally hit a lady.” He explained trying to edge around the ‘ninjas’ who were closing ranks around him, only leaving a sliver of space for the lady to fill. He knew he’d never make it out that way without being grabbed though. The lady waved her hand as if to wave away his apology.
“I am unconcerned with that. What is your name, boy?” She asked, walking within touching distance.
“Jason,” he answered honestly, her gaze was piercing to say the least and she looked more than capable to tell if he was lying. She reached out to him, lifting his face upwards to better see his eyes.
“And your parents Jason?”
“Dead.” He responded flatly.
“Their names?”
“Willis and Catherine Todd.”
“Jason Todd then, just what I was looking for I believe. Would you like to come with me Jason? We’ll get some food, you must be hungry, and talk about your future.” She offered, holding out a hand for his.
“Do I really have an option?” he asked in return, the lady laughed.
“No, I suppose you don’t.” He shrugged and placed his dirty hand in her clean, elegant one, at least he’d get some food out of this. And even if she took him to the police and they sent him back to his terrible foster home he could always escape again, like he had the first time.
“What should I call you?” Jason asked curious of his new temporary benefactor.
“My name is Lady Shiva.”
Jason stretched out his sore, protesting limbs. It was a long voyage down the Yangtze River in a very small boat to get to the remote village where Shiva had made her base this year. He had recently been in England training under the world’s foremost ‘demolitions expert’. While he had a good and growing reputation as a top-notch assassin, he never felt too established to learn something new.
Shiva lived by that motto as well, always having something new to teach him whenever he came back from an excursion. After nine years under her tutelage he was beginning to think he’d never be declared finished. Not that he minded, while Shiva always treated him with a professional distance, she couldn’t hide the fact that he was treated differently (though not always better) than her other followers and students. He was trained in things others would never even hear about and trained harder than any other, he lived always in the hut or house nearest hers, his actions under constant surveillance, she found him the best (strictest) teachers and always made arrangements for his further training. He was her star protégé, though that label did come with more downsides than up.
But he was excited, for lack of a better word, to be ‘home’, home being wherever Shiva was at the time. The only home he’d had in a very long time. He knew Shiva would test him tonight, probably attacking as soon as he stepped foot in the village, either herself or sending a group of her followers after him. He preferred Shiva personally, she would hurt him, break bones if needed but her followers were jealous and if they got the chance to end him, they would, with no hesitation.
Surprisingly he made it all the way to the main square with his bag without encountering a soul. Then he noticed that was because everyone was in the square in a loose circle surrounding Shiva and another, younger woman. The woman was clearly of Asian descent, with short black hair cut in a sharp bob, she wore simple dark clothing and hiking boots. He could tell she was dangerous, her stance, the way her head was on a swivel, body language didn’t lie. He could read it pretty well, sometimes going into what he called ‘The Zone’ where he could glean nearly everything from body language. A fight when he was in the Zone was hardly a fight at all, he could see his opponents moves coming from miles away.
“If you haven’t come here to do your duty to me, then why are you here girl?” He heard Shiva asking the newcomer, he noticed the sneer on the word girl and idly wondered what duty she was supposedly not doing.
“Here for my brother,” the woman responded. Jason was surprised, acolytes that came to Shiva for training or to serve her were here willingly, and rarely had family to leave behind much less come demanding their return. That’s when he noticed Shiva’s eye flick up briefly to his, a look he couldn’t interpret flashing so quickly over her face he wasn’t even sure it happened.
The woman however must have caught Shiva’s flicker and turned, dangerously leaving her back to Lady Shiva, a mistake many didn’t get the chance to make twice. He met the woman’s eyes, noticing she was more girl than woman really, and she breathed a sigh of relief and her face lit up with a smile.
“Brother,” she said to him, Jason looked around for her brother, but he was the only one in the vicinity.
“I think you have the wrong guy, I don’t have any siblings.” Jason told her. The girl’s brow creased.
“You haven’t told him about me,” she asked, turning back to Shiva. Shiva looked incensed.
“Why would I have bothered to do that, weapons don’t have family.” The girl turned statue still for a second a look of scorn crossed her face. Jason at that moment honestly didn’t know if he was the weapon or if Shiva was referring to the girl as a weapon, that bothered him either way for some reason.
“We are not weapons” the girl responded with disdain.
“You might not be, a weapon does its job, if anything you are a failure,” Shiva spat, “your brother however is my perfect weapon. One day he’ll do what you will not.” Well that definitely made him feel some sort of way, both proud and distraught, it was a confusing and uncomfortable feeling for sure.
“Doesn’t have to,” the girl said. “Brother,” she continued turning towards Jason, “you don’t have to follow her, don’t have to be her weapon, come with me, show you a better way.” she entreated him. Jason continued to be confused. He took a step back away from both of them.
“I’m nobody’s brother, you have the wrong person, lady.”
“She’s not wrong,” Shiva said quietly, looking as if the words were being pulled from her like teeth. “I gave birth to twins, one, Cassandra,” she said nodding to the girl, “went to her father like we agreed. I had no need for the spare so I passed him along to an acquaintance who placed him with Willis Todd and his new wife.” Jason felt the ground fall out from beneath him. It was too much but she continued to talk. “I came to Gotham to check on you, Cassandra was showing such potential under her father I felt assured that I could make an even better weapon of my own. I wasn’t expecting to find you where I did, or to decide so easily to take you with me.” Shiva sounded introspective, almost fond, something she had never shown before.
“You’re my mother,” he choked out, still in shock.
He could feel rage fanning at the edges of his mind. His mother had never had a soft hand or encouraging word for him, always pushing him further and harder than anyone else. His mother only wanted him to make him into a weapon, to one up her baby daddy on who could build a better killer.
“Brother,” Cassandra called, reaching for him again, this time he stayed still, her hand was calloused but warm when it slipped into his. “You have our father’s eyes.”
“No!” Shiva bellowed, “you can’t have him, not now, not when he’s so close to being finished.” Jason couldn’t even begin to understand what she meant or why she cared. She never saw him as a son, and he knew she never would. She wasn’t afraid of losing a child, but of losing a thing, a possession, like a greedy child and a favorite toy.
“You can’t stop us.” Cassandra said, a glint of something dangerous in her eyes.
“I think you’ll find that I can,” Shiva practically purred, the assembled followers moving closer on her silent command.
“But I can be reasonable, fight me, you win and you can take him.”
“I won’t kill you,” Cassandra tells her firmly. It fell into place for Jason then, he hadn’t learned until he left for other training about Lady Shiva and her deepest desire- to die, to join her sister, his aunt. Cassandra refused to kill her. Jason had been trained from the moment he was taken under Shiva’s wing to fulfill her fondest dream. He was a killer, and she wanted him to be her killer.
“As you say and I said win, not kill.” Cassandra went to let go of his hand but he clenched it hard.
“It’s not worth it, I’m not worth it, don’t kill yourself, not over me.” Jason begged not wanting to lose his sister, his twin, when he just found her. Shiva would kill her, and she would make a show of it. A lesson to them both. Nobody beat Shiva, especially someone not willing to use lethal force.
“Worth it to me, won’t leave you alone here,” was all she said before extracting her hand and walking forward to meet Shiva.
“I win and neither you nor your followers stop us from leaving.” Cass specified.
“If he’ll go with you willingly, and you win, no one will stop you.” Shiva told her, the glint in her eye spoke of her belief that no one would be leaving today. Jason wondered if he’d actually go, Shiva was his home, the only one he’d known for nearly a decade.
What would the world be like without her? Could he survive it? What did his sister want from him? He had no answers to any of his questions. A profound sense of loneliness washed over him, something he normally spent his long nights staving off. Loneliness was a constant companion, he had no friends, no family, only Shiva’s distance and the constant competition with her acolyte’s. He imagined that life with his sister would at least not be lonely. He longed for that.
Cassandra spared one last glance back at him, before throwing off her jacket and kicking off her boots. Neither woman waited, as soon as the second boot hit the ground Shiva was on her. The fight that proceeded was the most graceful and deadly thing Jason had ever seen. Jason watched carefully, fading completely into the Zone, seeing moves before they were made. Cassandra was nearly unreadable, she gave nothing away, as if she wasn’t even thinking of moves before she made them.
No one spoke, Shiva would normally taunt her opponent, but in this fight she was focusing all of her energy on beating her adversary. Cassandra moved like a shadow, silent and nearly impossible to pin down, flowing like water. Shiva was a whirlwind, quickly delivering punches and kicks, a lightning-fast open palm strike to Cassandra’s face stunned his sister and made her stumble backwards a few feet.
Shiva pushed her advantage, sending a barrage of strikes at the girl who lagged just slightly in blocking them. Jason’s stomach turned and in that moment he knew who he wanted to win. He’d go with Cassandra, learn a new way of living, learn to be a brother, somehow.
He swallowed thickly, Cass was losing, he could see the inevitable conclusion long before it came. Shiva was aiming lethal blows, and Cass wasn’t, aiming to disable, it was slowing her down, leaving her open for more damage, her restraint would get her killed.
“A pity,” Shiva said, “a failure indeed.” Jason saw the blow, Shiva’s famous Leopard blow, coming, 100 percent lethal, and he couldn’t stand back anymore. Right before the blow could land, he made it, striking out and knocking Shiva’s hand to the side so that the blow glanced off Cass’s shoulder, merely numbing the arm instead of killing his sister. Combined with her other injuries he knew she was too battered to continue the fight.
“Well, isn’t this a surprise,” Shiva said as she recovered her balance, “leave Jason, you have no part in this.” He merely shook his head.
“I won’t let you kill her,” he said quietly, he’d never stood up to Shiva before, well only a few times as a child, that had quickly been trained (beaten) out of him.
“You would take her place? After all I’ve done for you, you would choose her over me?”
“All you’ve done for me is turn me into a weapon, stripped me of my humanity, made me a monster.” By the end Jason was nearly screaming. Shiva looked unimpressed.
“I made you the best you can be, I created a Master.”
“A lapdog maybe, another follower for your throng, what have I mastered? What is truly mine? I have nothing, no freedom, no life, no home, and no family.”
“Then finish this, take her place.” Jason knew this was it, the true end of his training, he wins and he’ll finally be ‘finished’, he loses and he’ll be dead. But he wasn’t thinking about that, he was thinking of the beaten down girl behind him, and her promise of a new life.
He took up a stance and waited, he would show no restraint, that was the only way to make it out alive. Shiva struck quickly and without a shred of mercy, a blow aimed to break his collarbone, he bent fluidly, dodging. Jason could move like water too, though maybe not as well as his sister. But Jason at his core was not flowing water, he was a hurricane. Heavy blows, able to deal out and withstand damage that would leave others broken.
He connected a strong blow, a knee to the ribs, followed up with a powerful left hook. Shiva shook it off and came back fiercely. She might have been tired and bruised from her bout with Cass but she showed little sign of it. Neither was holding back. Shiva got several good hits in a row, leaving Jason panting on the ground, he sprung to his feet before Shiva could make it to him. They had been going at it for a while now, his muscles burned, his ribs on the right side were most likely broken, as was his nose, his left thigh was bruised to hell and back. Shiva was patiently wearing him down.
But he had gotten in his fair share of damage, her left arm was mostly limp, barely up to protect her own broken ribs, he couldn’t tell but he was willing to bet she had a fracture in her right foot from how she was placing her weight.
As the fight went on Jason got more and more angry, she was his mother, a mother he’d longed for most of his life, and she’d treated him like a toy, like a clever dog. Something to be brought out and taught tricks. His anger fueled his hits, but more power left him overreaching, anger clouded his Zone making him sloppy.
“Once again letting your anger control you, you are as much of a disappointment as your sister, I would do well to get rid of you.” Shiva said with disdain. Those words cleared Jason’s mind, Shiva was no mother to him, she was nothing to him.
The problem was that she had trained him, she knew his moves, as he flipped her over his hip he came up with a strategy. He’d have to use moves he’d learned in another life, a dirtier way of fighting. She flipped up quickly from the throw, and went on the offensive. Jason feinted once, twice, then bull rushed with his shoulder down to catch her in the sternum, stunning her and leaving them both on the ground. He straddled her, pinning her arms and legs and started laying out blows before she could escape.
There was a murmuring growing in the crowd. And he could hear Cass yelling for him to stop. He couldn't, they'd never be free if he stopped. Shiva smiled up at him beatifically, so close to everything she wanted.
“Do it son, do what you were born for,” she coughed out around her broken nose and bloodied mouth.
He felt a hand yanking his arm back but he threw it off, paying the interloper no mind. He drew his arm back curling his fingers in but not in a fist, ready to strike with his fore knuckles. A move he’d never been taught but had seen multiple times, and had practiced in secret, Lady Shiva’s Leopard Blow.
“No! Jason please,” he heard his sister screaming from somewhere to his right but he couldn’t, why didn’t she understand? Shiva might let them leave now but she’d hunt them to the ends of the Earth later, they’d never be free of her. They’d have no life like that, always watching over their shoulders.
He struck quickly and true, felt her sternum crack and her ribs splinter, felt the bones penetrate her heart.
“I’m sorry,” he told the body beneath him, gently closing her eyes before wearily stumbling off of her and to his feet. He met his sister’s eyes, she looked forlorn, devastated even, how could she feel so much grief over Shiva he didn’t know, she would have killed his sister in an instant but she still grieved.
“You grieve for her, why?” he asked as he moved to stand in front of her.
“I don’t, I grieve for you brother, she was your mother.” At those words he collapsed to his knees, no one had ever cared enough to feel for him. He ignored the mother comment, he’d deal with all of that later.
“You don’t kill,” he said, nearly tucked into her stomach getting blood on her clothes, she raised her hands to run them through his sweat-soaked hair. “Take me with you, be my family, and I promise I won’t kill again, I’ll be like you.”
“All you ever have to be is my brother, we’ll figure everything else out later.” Cass tells him softly. Jason couldn’t help the tears that welled up but he refused to let them fall. He stood up, wrapping his arms around her, his first hug since his real mom, Catherine, died.
He turns to the assembled crowd, who were looking stunned and at a loss.
“Lord Shiva,” one daring follower addressed him, his whole body flinching.
“No.” He said firmly. “We won, we’re leaving, don’t fucking follow us, I swear you won’t like the consequences.”
He took Cass’s hand, grabbing his bag as they passed it, and headed back towards the small boat, it was time to find a new home.