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Jason sat on the rooftop when he saw a small figure running through the alley below. He squints his eyes. The person, the kid, was definitely too small to be running around at half two in the morning.
The red hood quickly and silently made his way down to the street. He stepped right in front of the kid, who wide eyed stopped in his tracks, out of breath, and watched him.
“What are you doing here in the middle of the night?” He tried to not sound too threatening, but he was used to ruthlessly deal with thugs and criminals, not with kids.
Jason took a good look at the kid and he didn’t like what he saw. The kid’s face was covered in bruises. He saw the fear and the boy’s thoughts racing behind his eyes.
An extremely nervous and quiet “Uhm…” came from the boy after a few seconds. He made no attempt to turn around or run away.
Jason didn’t like this. At all. Because this means, whatever this kid was running from was scarier than the Red Hood.
The boy was clearly extremely agitated and Jason could see the sudden realisation who he was in the boy’s eyes. But instead of the expected fearful escape of the kid, there was a sudden spark of hope in the kid’s eyes.
The boy spoke with a trembling voice. “Hello... Someone said you help kids…?”
Jason scoffed, shaking his head slightly. Not sure what to make of this. It was a well known rumour in the underworld that he would not harm kids. That this rumour suddenly evolved into him helping kids… Well, it wasn’t entirely wrong. He did save a few kids who wandered for god knows what reasons into the alleys. But he didn’t like how this rumour was spreading.
“What ya need? And why are you here in the first place?” Jason kept his voice even. He didn’t want to sound to interrogating but he wanted to know why the fuck the kid running around in the middle of the night.
The boy clutched the hem of his hoodie. And looked to the ground, shaking. “I just ran away from home... I kinda don't have a place to stay.”
Did Jason already say he didn’t like this. The “What!?” came out before he could stop it. But everything made sense. The kids fear, his bruises, why running around in crime ally in the middle of night was better than being at home.
“Please I don't want to go back.” The boy’s voice was barely audible.
“Son of a… , they beat you?” Jason already knew. But he wanted confirmation. Wanted to know whether there is yet another kid with parents that shouldn’t be parents, on the odd chance that his deduction was wrong.
“Ye... Yes.” The boy was still trembling. A tear rolled down over a purple bruised cheek. “Today my dad … was even worse than usual. I thought he wouldn't stop. So I ran away…”
Jason gritted his teeth. Thankful for his helmet to cover his face. After a short moment of tempting down his anger he let out a sight. “Look… I ain’t an angel, but I can’t leave you here. Come with me, I know somewhere you can stay.”
The boy nods hopefully. For the first time in a long time, it wasn’t just anger in general, but rather he felt this anger for the kid. Jason stored his anger deep inside him, first things first he would need to get the kid off the street, lest he ends up as just another victim.
Jason takes the kid’s hand, and takes off down the street. Almost scared of how the child trust him so easily, following him just like that.
“So... what’s your name?” Jason needed to fill the silence. To distract him from his own thoughts that seem to trickle back to his own past.
“My name's Johan. I'm almost twelve.” The answer came back after a few moments of silence.
“Johan…” Jason trails off, nodding to himself. “Nice name…”
Jason stopped in front of a building and opened the door, stepping in first and beckoning the kid inside. He saw how Johan hesitated.
“Come on, it’s safe.” Jason looked into Johan’s eyes again. He saw the despair. Shit, I could as well be leading the kid to his doom and the boy would still follow me. He thinks everything would be better than going back. That fucking piece of shit father.
“Is this your place?” Johan seemed to be a bit braver.
“Oh, uh, close enough. Let me find a place for you to rest real quick.” The building did indeed belong to him. Best not to tell the kid what it had been usually used for. But there wouldn’t be anyone here who would harm the kid.
After a few minutes and a handful of turns, Jason stops in front of a door and opens it, revealing a small room with a bed. Then he goes to the wardrobe and pulls out a backpack. It contains a sweatshirt and sweatpants and some other clothes and necessities.
“Change into something warm. You can keep this stuff. In the meantime, I gotta talk to the boss.”
Jason exited the room. The building was once used by sexworkers for business, now it was a shelter for them to escape from the street and avoid the traffickers. No business was allowed in here. Not since he took over. This entire thing was more out of necessity rather than out of the goodness of his heart, although it did stir something in him. The adults here knew how bad life could be and were compassionate with each other. Jason keeps such rooms available because he knows, knows that there are people who would need them. The kid would be safe here, the people here would keep an eye on him until things got better. He told a few of the oldest members of this place about Johan.
A few minutes later, Jason re-entered the small room, with a small bag of chips in his hand.
“Here, kiddo. You eat these, yeah? You can stay here for a few nights.” He tosses the chips to Johan, who catches them by reflex.
“Whoa thanks! You even give me food? I didn't get to eat anything the past two days.”
The kid is way too happy about a simple pack of chips…
“Heh, no problem. Say, you do know who I am, right? You seem really young to know who Red Hood is.” Jason needed to know more about this. How did this kid come to know about him? … and not just scarry stories about the ruthless underworld overlord that he was supposed to be.
“Yeah. My father's friends talked a lot about you. They said their business has become difficult because of you.” Johan was happily munching his chips.
“Who’s your dad, if you don’t mind me asking?” That piece of shit and his friends? That can’t be anyone good.
As expected, Johan gave him the name and description of a local drug dealer.
Haha- I’ve given these guys headaches before. Now it looks like it was high time to put them out of business for good.
“Yep, I know who he is…and I’ll be paying him a visit soon enough.” That was a promise as it was a threat. “Get some sleep, okay?”
“Okay.” Johan snuggleed into the blanket. He bit his lips and his voice was higher than before, “My father can't find me here, right?
Jason looks at Johan, and then looks down at the floor, sighing. The hot rage boiling inside him again before it makes place for other emotions.
“You can stay here for now. Just don’t do anything dumb in the meantime, okay?”
“Yes. I promise!”
“Good good. Now get some rest kid, alright?” Jason walked out, closing the door behind him. He took in a breath, and slumped down against the wall, looking up at the ceiling.
“Heh..I’d forgotten I have a heart somewhere in me, until today…”