Chapter Text
This wasn't supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to become a prisoner to the Justice League, and he definitely wasn't supposed to be the catalyst for Batman's growing detachment to the team. Just his luck, I guess.
It started a day ago. He had just taken down a couple goons and gained important info about a drug ring. It was his first mission after his reinstatement into the family. After his death and rebirth. The problem was that most of the operation was happening outside Gotham, in Metropolis - Superman's city. Now, it wouldn't be very smart for him to leave Gotham since he was still technically on the League's wanted list. But a terrible idea was a terrific idea to him. It'd be fun. It'd be exciting. It'd be a chance to prove himself. That, and he didn't want the thugs over there to hear about one of their properties being broken into and move sites.
And so, Jason got on his bike and drove off towards where his terrible terrific mission would go down. Timmy would get angry, but hey, if he did a good enough job maybe he wouldn't get flamed. Not that bad anyways.
…Why did he even care? He never cared about what others thought, much less his replacement.
Jason shook his head free of straying thoughts as he pulled up to an extremely sketchy run-down building. Well, wasn't that odd - there was no one standing guard outside. Hood hid his bike behind a large container and grappled to the roof, looking down into the smashed skylight. Okay, why the hell was Superman there??? He was supposed to be off-world.
The Kryptonian turned his head, looking up at the vigilante as he hovered near a group of restrained men. "Red Hood." His booming voice resonated, filling the derelict factory with an authoritative presence.
Oh fuckity fuck.
The alien rose, hovering over to where Hood was crouched. "Hello to you too, Supes," he replied, a little on edge. "Aren't you supposed to be fighting off a horde of aliens or something?"
"That doesn't concern you. What does, however, is that your drug ring's been brought down." Oh Shit. The big man in blue thought the operation was his. "I'll need to bring you in for questioning." And obviously, it got worse. It always did.
"Hold on, Boy Scout," Hood backed up a little. "Why don't you contact Batman? I'm his problem after all."
The meta's gaze flitted over him, "Batman's off-world at the moment. You'll have to come with me till he gets back." Hood blinked. Right. Dick had told him about B going to space in place of Supes. He really should've listened better.
"Sorry man, but we'll have to reschedule our lil date for another day." Hood apologised as he threw a smoke bomb at the alien's face and jumped off, landing on his motorcycle. "No hard feelings," he called out from below, his voice carrying a mix of sarcasm and bravado.
His smirk melted off his face and his heart began to thrum in his ears. Could he even outrun the Man of Steel?? the literal bona fide Superman??? This was the time to find out.
His internal monologue was cut short as something rammed into his back, knocking him off his vehicle. Hood grimaced as he skidded on the rocky terrain. At least he had gotten his answer -he couldn't outrun Superman.
Obviously. What was he thinking?
He pushed himself up on his elbows, glancing up at the towering hovering figure. "I guess we're doing this date after all". The alien, very unimpressed, raised a dark eyebrow before slapping a pair of power-disabling cuffs on the vigilantes wrists. Hood snickered- he found it quite amusing how so many thought he was a meta. "don't worry big boy, I won't be trying anything". He didn't get a response and instead was picked up by the scruff of his jacket like a damn cat. Thankfully, he was placed down on his feet before he thrashed out and did something stupid.
After their little skirmish, the two very civilly made their way to the League headquarters, with Hood trying his best to be as annoying as possible. The demon brat would get jealous when he found out that he made the superhero frown thrice and sigh a dozen or so times.
later, at the headquarters...
Clark was exhausted-he hadn't been this frustrated in a long, long time. After apprehending Red Hood and brining him here, he had started the interrogation, but oh how frustratingly snarky the man was. He had managed to take off the helmet ( to the criminals very apparent dismay) but was promised that if he took off the domino mask (really, who does that??) he would regret it for the rest of his damn life and yeah, superman was scared shitless, which was honestly much weirder after realising the "man" was much younger than what he had initially thought- probably around his early twenties, which Clark thought was a little young to start on the criminal evil mastermind path but oh well, to each their own.
(At least he wasn't the only victim, as both Hal and Barry were curious about the young criminal and decided to have a go at interrogating him. It ended badly to say the least, with the duo seething and muttering promises of revenge under their breath.)
Since Batman wasn't on earth, Clark had decided to contact Red Robin, who he knew was Spooky's little partner and could probably take care of whatever Red Hood had going on. he received a reply that said he would be arriving to "pick up" the criminal and Clark eased up; he couldn't deal with another minute of the constant yapping and profanity.
However, He was not expecting him to be accompanied by three others: Nightwing-who he knew was a vigilante that operated in Bludhaven, a miniature walking street-light with a bad attitude and lastly, a silent lady-bat that seemed to be made of shadows. Clark, Hal and Barry glanced between themselves, obviously intrigued by whoever the mysterious kids were.
Hal was the first to speak. Or well, whisper. "Did Batsy clone himself or something?". Flash glanced at him before returning his gaze to Red Robin, obviously harbouring the same question. Clark however, cleared his throat and smiled weakly, ignoring the two men by his side. "Well, uhm, Red Robin," he began. "We've been trying to get information out of the criminal but he's not cracking. And I know that you're batman's... associate, but I don't think we can hand him over to you until we know his motives". For some reason, Clark was extremely nervous and intimidated. Perhaps it was because he subconsciously linked the boy and batman; who was one of the only people that actually scared him despite his invulnerability( the other was Lois).
Clark's smile faltered a little and he shivered as the smallest one smirked up at him. What the hell? "Pardon me, alien", the boy started, spitting the last word as thought it was poisonous. "But I'm quite positive Batman made it clear that the Red Hood was Gotham's problem. Hand him over. Right now would be preferable". Clark gulped. It really didn't seem like he was asking.
The tall boy in black and blue stepped forward, putting a hand out as if to stop the small boy from trying anything. "What he's trying to say" he grinned," is that we appreciate the concern, but we really can extract the info out of him ourselves."
The three JL members glanced at each other nervously but turned back as Red Robin began to speak now. "You wouldn't want B to go apeshit on you now, would you? you know how territorial he is"
"Don't worry. If he gets angry you can put the blame on us" Nightwing chipped in, winking at the trio.
"Yeah, blame it on him. B can't kill him"
"hey! Why only me? You're like, the main part in this"
"And you're the oldest. Set an example"
"Way to throw me under the bus baby bird"
Before they could go any further, the Flash interrupted. "So uh, we can give him to you and Bats won't try to murder us? "
Nightwing smiled even harder. "Yeah, pretty much-"
He was interrupted by a sudden eruption at the door that shook the entire room. Everyone present put their guard up; switching to their battle positions as the smoke began to dissipate, and within it, a silhouette could just barely be made out...