Chapter Text
"Okay, but why do we have to work with him?" Cassie asked, pointing at Jason, who leant on a wall in the Teen Titan's Tower. Tim sighed, wondering if she heard any of what he had just said.
"Because this mission requires people with his skills."
"So why not ask Batman or Nightwing. Heck, ask the new Robin," Cassie asked. Superboy behind nodded slightly. Tim sighed once again.
"Batman and Robin are both on the other half of the planet and Nightwing is busy in Gotham. Red Hood is the only one who could help us."
"Can't we do this on our own though?" Cassie asked, making her want to not work with Jason blatantly clear.
"No," Tim almost growled.
"Yeah Blondie, ya need me to help," Jason drawled, pushing off the wall to saunter closer to them. Cassie glared at the nickname.
"Robin, this man is a murder! He's a psychopath, he'll betray us. We're better off working without this crazy man," Cassie complained. Tim sighed once again and tried to pacify her.
"You're Wondergirl, ain'tcha?" Jason began.
"Jay shut up," Tim murmured.
"Yes I am. What's it to you?" Cassie glared at him. Jason smirked though it couldn't be seen under his helmet.
"I've slept with Wonder Woman before," Jason grinned as rage spread across Cassie's face. She launched herself at him, about to punch him with all her strength. Jason ducked it, laughing as she swung at him again. He danced out of reach, riling her up even more.
"Cassie, stand down!" Tim yelled at her, trying to stop her. Jason grin grew as he continued to dodge her. Growing bored, he grabbed her outstretched wrist and jerked her forward, spinning past her as she flew forward. Once he was behind her, he punched her in the middle of her back. The force wasn't enough to put her down, but Cassie stumbled forward, eyes wide in shock.
"But how? That is an Amazonian technique," Cassie gaped at Jason, surprised at how he knew an Amazonian technique.
"I slept with Wonder," Jason told her as if that explained everything. Cassie clenched her fists, wanting so badly to punch his face in.
"Cassie, enough," Tim told her. "Like it or not, Red Hood is working with us." Tim turned and walked to the plane, not leaving any time for her to argue. She glared at Red Hood then followed Tim. Jason watched the rest of the Titans follow their leader, all glaring at him and giving him untrusting looks.
"I don't know why we have to work with him, he's a murderer," Superboy muttered, looking at Tim.
"You know I can hear you, right?" Red Hood asked through the comms. Superboy turned to look out the window to see Red Hood waving at him from his plane. Superboy glared at him, wondering if he should shoot lasers at his plane. Red Hood killed villains, people wouldn't care if he died too.
The plane landed before he could go through with his plan. They ambled out into the dockyards.
"Remember this is a stealth mission. Superboy and I will be one team, Impulse, Cassie and Red Hood will be the other team." The group grumbled, Cassie looking murderous. "Cassie please don't try and kill him."
They split up and began working their ways through the warehouses that littered the docks. Eventually, Cassie and Jason found the boxes of Fear Toxin that they were after. Before they could take them off the dealers, a guard spotted them. Immediately, they were fired on with guns.
"What's going on in there?" Tim asked over the comms, in the warehouse next to them.
"Just being fired on Replacement, nothing to worry about," Jason told him, jumping behind some crates for safety as Wonder Girl deflected the bullet with her armbands and Impulse ran away from the bullets. His hands reached for his guns strapped on his thighs, returning fire, his bullets flew straight and striking the heads and necks of the people firing upon him.
"What are you doing? You're killing them," Cassie barked, hitting the guns out of his hands.
"What do you want me to do, let them kill us?" Red Hood snarled back at her.
"Take them out without killing them!" She yelled back. Before he could reply, they were ambushed by more men. The three took them down pretty quickly, Wonder Girl's strength, Impulse's speed and Red Hood's skills too much for the thugs to handle. It was only after they had finished the group that Jason noticed the bomb placed next to the crates.
"BOMB!" He yelled, running to Wonder Girl and throwing her over his shoulders. He ran towards the door of the warehouse whilst she yelled at him to unhand her, Impulse sprinting past him to safety almost instantly. As he got out of the warehouse, he threw her forward just as the bomb exploded, taking the warehouse down. Wonder Girl rolled to a stop, unharmed from the blast. Red Robin and Superboy ran up to her, yelling is she was okay.
"Yeah I'm fine," she told them, rubbing her arms as they surveyed the burning wreckage in front of them.
"Where's Red Hood?" Red Robin asked, eyes already scanning the debris.
"Does it matter? He's a killer, not a hero. He deserved to die," Cassie told him. Red Robin growled at her.
"Shut up!" Tim yelled at her, beginning to push the burning chunks of the roof away, desperately trying to find evidence that Jason was still alive. At the back of his mind, he wondered if this was what batman saw and felt the day Jason had died. Cassie flinched at his tone.
"Why do you stand up for him? He's a killer! He tried to kill you!" Superboy asked.
"Because he's my brother! Because he's already died before," that shocked the Titans. They looked at each other in surprise but Tim continued. "Becuase his father left him to look after his drug addict step-mother. Becuase when he finally found his real mother after years of living on his own on the streets, she sold him out to the Joker. Because he was beaten up by the Joker with a crowbar. Because he was killed in an explosion in a warehouse just like this. Because he died when he was fifteen years old. Because he was revived and for a year, walked the streets of Gotham without his higher brain functions. Because he was dipped into the Lazarus Pit and while it healed him, it turned him mad. Because when he was the only one there for me after Batman's son came and I was kicked out.
"Our relationship isn't the best, but he's trying. The Pit changed him, made him mad but I know he's trying. He can't help it damnit. He didn't deserve his life but he's trying his hardest. He's had so many bad things happen to him, so stop talking bad about him! He's trying his best, giving his all and you're too busy seeing the bad that you can't see the good in him. He's saved people, stopped drug dealers and human traffickers. He's turned one of the worst parts of Gotham almost safe. Without him, we would be stretched too thin to protect all of Gotham. He deals with the worst of them, gets the most injuries so we don't!"
Tim punched the block of granite he was trying to move, biting his lips as he tried not to cry. His older brother was trapped under the rubble, maybe dead, definitely injured. cassie stepped forward, lifting the boulder away. Beneath it was a metal door. Tim scrambled off it, pushing it up, not caring that the hot metal burnt through his gloves. Beneath the metal sheet laid Jason. The man groaned and looked up at Tim. His helmet was cracked and his suit was burned but still he managed to croak a sentence out.
"Sing ma praises a lil' more Baby Bats." Tim sighed in relief at his wit, understanding him even when his Crime Alley accent slipped in. He wasn't too badly hurt. Superboy moved to lift him out, Jason's body slumping, a sign of his unconsciousness.
When Jason woke up, he was in the medibay in the Teen Titans Tower. Turning his head to left to survey his surroundings, a lesson he was taught from Bruce and the League of Assassins. To his surprise, the figure to his left wasn't Tim's. Cassie sat by his side, hands folded in her lap. She had a distant look on her face as she stared at the opposite wall.
"Wha' you doin' here?" Jason asked, words blurring into each other. Cassie startled to alertness, looking over to him.
"I.. I came to apologise.. I shouldn't have," she trailed off, trying to find the right words.
"It's fine Wonder." Jason closed his eyes.
"No! No, it's not. I treated you like dirt. While you kill, and I do not agree with that, I shouldn't have immediately acted like you were beneath me. What you've been through is awful, but I didn't even stop to think what you must have gone through, too busy thinking you were a monster. You didn't deserve that to happen to you. That was unhonourable and not what an Amazon Warrior should have done... I am sorry Red Hood."
"Lemme guess, Red Rob told ya about my death." Cassie looked away, telling him everything. "It's fine really. Just, don't pity me, okay."
Cassie nodded and Jason smiled at her, closing his eyes and beginning to sleep again. His eyes opened as he thought of something.
"Wake me up in two hours 'kay. I need to get back to Roy in Star City before Batman gets back from wherever he is." Cassie nodded and remained sitting by his bedside, guarding him, and letting him rest.