Chapter Text
Tim had been officially forbidden from the Red Hood case. That being said, what Bruce didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.
So, yeah, Tim was watching Spoiler and Red Hood, though not in person. He actually hadn’t gone near Crime Alley in a while. Frankly, it was a miracle he was allowed to patrol at all. He had been planning to stop by Crime Alley, but with the sudden appearance of Spoiler he decided to delay his plans and assess the new situation first.
Not much had really changed aside from another person patrolling there. It would make it harder for him to sneak in unnoticed, but other than that... nothing new. If he was being honest, Tim was a little disappointed.
Still, Tim thought as he drummed his fingertips on his desk, looking at the security footage of Red Hood and Spoiler working together, this could be turn out to be interesting.
They were a good team, but anyone could tell that Spoiler wasn’t nearly as well trained as Hood was. But, for what limited experience Tim assumed she had, she was good.
Maybe he should ask Cass to take a look at the footage, Tim thought idly, she would undoubtably be able to see things he couldn’t.
He dismissed the idea quickly, it was unlikely he would be able to get Cass involved without getting Barbara involved, and then she would get Dick involved, and when Tim inevitably resisted his attempts to convince him to stay away from Red Hood, then Dick would get Bruce involved.
No, Tim would have to figure this out by himself.
He started compiling a list of everything he knew about Spoiler.
She wore purple.
New to being a vigilante.
She had an (hopefully fairly new) alliance with Red Hood.
They did not know how loyal she was to him.
She had not killed anyone yet (that they know of).
She had been getting better at fighting since her alliance with Hood. He was probably teaching her.
With every new note he made Tim became less and less hopeful that they would be able to undermine her and Hood’s alliance. From the looks of things, it seemed that her and Hood were becoming a better and stronger team by the day, with no signs of manipulation or distrust from either side. Tim missed the days when Gotham’s Crime Lords were backstabbing pieces of shit. It made everything a lot easier.
But they would find a way. Even if they had to put both of them in jail Tim was confident that they would be able to handle this new threat.
✮
When Steph had first heard Hood’s ‘no talking/co-operating with Batman' rule she thought it was about the principal of the matter. Y’know the whole ‘I’m a Crime Lord and you’re trying to arrest me’ thing.
She now knew that this was decidedly not about the principal.
She had watched as Red Ho- as Jason shot at Robin, who only just managed to get out of the way in time. Steph knew Jason well enough by now to know where he was aiming. She knew that he wasn’t aiming to kill but he certainly wasn’t trying to miss. It seemed like a predator playing with its prey before going in for the kill and it made Steph sick just thinking about it.
Robin wasn't Batman. He’s Batman-adjacent, she tried to reason with herself, but she knew it wasn’t the same.
He had to be about the same age as Steph.
She watched this version of Jason, all burning anger and pinpoint precision with a gun, and tried to reconcile it with that Jason she knew, the one who always helped Steph (complaining all the way but a refused to leave), the one who made the best brownies ever, the one who never ever told Steph she should be quiet or that she was being too much.
She watched this Jason and wondered how they could be the same person.
Before she had time to come up with an answer she left, sliding down the fire escape, and dropping into the street below, wasting no time in running through the streets to leave her thoughts behind.
That night Steph stopped two muggings, a robbery, and helped a very nice old lady home.
That night all she could think about was Jason shooting at Robin.
Now, sitting on a roof, watching as the morning light slid through the clouds and warmed the city below she kept on replaying the moment in her mind, trying to find some way to make it okay.
But despite the reasons she came up with, each one more outlandish than the last, a single question kept on ringing in her head: if things had gone differently, would it have been me he was shooting at?
✮
The observation of Crime Alley had not exactly gone to plan. In fact, Tim had narrowed down what had gone wrong to three points.
Number one: Tim did not do a lot of observing.
Number two: Red Hood found out he was there.
Number three: Tim did not get to talk to Spoiler.
So, yeah. The mission was basically a complete failure.
On the plus side: Tim had seen Red Hood and Spoiler in action. He had also seen how Hood shooting at him had freaked Spoiler out. That boded well for the “convince her to switch over to their side" plan.
But the other shoe had not taken long to drop, and Bruce had found out very very quickly. And now Tim was benched for the foreseeable future.
And because he had nothing better to do, he had been spinning around on the chair in his room for the past half an hour, seeing how long it would take for him to get so dizzy that it made him want to throw up.
Tim was stuck. Both metaphorically and literally. He couldn’t leave the Manor without Bruce keeping tabs on him (he knows the man means well, but really, Tim can handle himself never mind the fact that he almost just died via angry Crime Lord), and he couldn’t come up with a plan to rid Gotham of Red Hood.
He couldn’t go out to Crime Alley as Robin. He couldn't go as Timothy Drake.
Buuuuut....... he could go as Caroline Hill.
Tim brought the lazily spinning chair to a sudden stop by slamming his foot (perhaps a little too loudly) on the floor.
It was perfect.
Bruce and Dick didn’t know about Caroline Hill. Babs might know (he was half convinced that she knew everything) but he trusted that she wouldn’t immediately rat him out. And Cass would know something was up if she saw him, but she might not tell Bruce and Dick until she thought he was in danger. Which he almost certainly would be. He’d make sure to avoid her.
Tim's mind immediately started whirring, coming up with a plan, then another and another until he had all the possibilities worked out.
Red Hood wouldn’t know what hit him.
✮
Jason may freaked Steph out a bit.
He probably should have been more honest about his relationship with the Bats. He wasn’t even really that sure about what she knew about them.
Various rumours and conspiracy theories about the Bats circled through Gotham, the more popular ones had eventually morphed themselves into urban legends him and Dick used to read them and laugh.
It would probably be best if she knew that they were human so she doesn’t start carrying around salt or whatever other “demon proof” method she might decide to employ. But she doesn’t really have reason to fear them yet, Jason supposed. They were bound to run into each other fairly frequently if recent events were any indication (how hard could it possibly be to follow the rule “don’t come into Crime Alley”?), and knowing the truth would be best for everyone when that happened.
But maybe it would be easier to deal with the aftermath if she believed that the Bats were demons. He could say that he was doing it for the greater good or that they had no place in Gotham.
Or he could just tell her the truth.
But...
Guilt bubbled up.
But if he told her his plan, she would try to stop him. Jason couldn’t risk it.
But maybe he didn’t have to tell her everything. Maybe he could just... let her fill in some details herself.
How much could she really care about Robin?
How much could she resent him for fighting him?
He was a Crime Lord. Stephanie knew that. Fighting, killing, injuring people to the point of no return... it was what he had built his operation on. She couldn’t care that much.
Jason made up his mind.
He would tell her enough to make her understand. But he would keep the details to himself. She didn’t need to know everything. It was dangerous. It was none of her business.
Jason texted a short message to Steph.
we need to talk
✮
“I died.”
Steph froze. To be fair to her, that was probably not what she was expecting. Jason gave her a moment to process that before powering on.
“And I came back. I don’t know how, so don’t ask.”
There was a beat of silence while Stephanie processed that, frankly ridiculous, information Jason had just given her.
“Okay.” She said slowly. “If I find out this is a joke later I’m gonna be so mad.”
“It’s not a joke.”
“Right. Okay, so you died and just... what? Decided to commit to the bit and become a Crime Lord?”
Jason paused. Stephanie would probably find out about the League of Assassins eventually, so there was no real harm in telling her now.
“I... did some other stuff before that. With the League of Assassins. They trained me. Sort of.”
Steph looked very sceptical.
“That sounds like a cult.”
“It’s not a cult.”
“You know, most people in a cult don’t know they’re in a cult.”
“I was not in a cult.”
She shrugged, “If you say so.”
A beat of silence passed, before Stephanie asked, “How did they “sort of” train you?”
Jason cleared his throat before answering. This was getting dangerously close to questions he did not want to answer.
“I wasn’t there for very long while I was conscious, but my, uh, superior officer sent me to other people who would train me.” Jason tried to anticipate her next question: “I wasn’t fully... there when I first came back. So, they put me into a Lazurus Pit and now I’m...” he gestured vaguely at himself, “the way I am.”
Stephanie nodded.
“And why does going into a... Lazarus Pit mean you have to shoot at Robin?”
“The Lazarus Pit...” What was the best way to phrase this? “...heightens emotions.”
“So you shoot at Robin because you’re angry.” Stephanie’s voice had gone quiet and cold.
“Yes.”
Stephanie looked like she was biting the inside of her cheek. She told Jason once that she did it when she was on the brink of saying something she knew she really shouldn’t. A physical reminder to keep her mouth shut. Jason hated it. He knew the circumstances were a bit different surrounding Steph, not a lot of people liked a woman who ran her mouth. He had heard it plenty of times, she was too loud, she was too outspoken, she didn’t know her place, on and on it went. It was bullshit, but that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be consequences. Getting noticed too much was rarely led to good things.
He hated that she was doing it around him.
“Say it.”
Her eyes snapped to his.
“Whatever you want to say. Say it.”
“That’s not a good excuse.”
Jason said nothing.
Stephanie did not continue.
“It’s more complicated than that,” he defended himself, “you wouldn’t understand.”
And this, this, was exactly what Jason wanted to avoid.
“Don’t talk down to me.” She snapped.
“I don’t need a sixteen year old questioning my choices.”
“Why? Because nineteen is such a mature age?” Stephanie hissed back.
“It’s not about how old I am!” Jason was yelling now, “It’s about what they did to me!”
“What did they do to you?” Stephanie yelled back, “You died and you came back and that was not Robin’s fault!”
“I know!”
“Then why do you care?!”
“Because he never protected me like that!”
The words surprised Jason almost as much as they surprised Stephanie. There was no reason for him to care about how Bruce treated the new Robin.
Except for that fact that he cared more. He protected him more than he ever protected Jason. Was Jason even worth protecting to him? Was he ever worth protection?
There was a black hole opening up in his chest, swallowing everything around him until it was just Jason and the echo of this own thoughts, a million voices telling him he was never good enough, that he was never loved, that he would never be enough.
Steph hesitantly moved a hand towards him, the movement bringing him back to reality, his survival instinct kicking in, not allowing him to be unaware of what was happening for even a second.
“Get out.” Jason’s voice was quiet.
“Jason-”
“No.”
After another beat of silence, she left.
Jason knew it was his fault, but a sour taste still filled his mouth.
✮
Cass knew about Red Hood.
She didn’t know about the purple one.
Bruce called her Spoiler.
Tim called her a coward.
Barbara called her a hero in her own right.
Alfred said nothing but Cass could tell he hated it. Another person in a suit.
Cass didn’t call her anything yet. She will eventually.
She swung her legs back and forth from where she was sitting on the ledge, and started to listen to the people below her.
“We have to find out what her agenda is.”
The tapping of Dick’s foot created an echo.
“I doubt either of us will be able to get close to her,” Dick responded, “I mean, you’ve seen how territorial Red Hood is about Crime Alley, how do you think he’ll be about his allies?”
It was rare the three of them met in here.
Barbara, Bruce, Richard.
Richard, Barbara, Bruce.
They didn’t know she was here. Cass didn’t see a reason to make her presence known.
“The smartest move at the moment seems to be to wait, find out everything we can, and plan. There’s been no indication that Spoiler is unwilling to work with us other than her supposed alliance with Red Hood.”
The other’s agreed with Barbara.
Cass did not.
She did not have to wait. She was quiet, she was quick, she was better than Red Hood.
She would meet up with Spoiler, and find out what Cass would call her.
She hoped it would be a friend.
✮
The hallway was silent except for Jason’s footsteps and the pained, panicked breathing of the only other person here.
A single goal had taken over Jason’s mind: make him see.
Make him see the dangers of Robin. Make him see that putting another kid in the costume was just adding insult to injury.
Find out how far he would go for this new Robin. See how much Jason had really mattered to the man.
A small voice in the back of his mind piped up, that’s a stupid reason. There are other ways to find that out. Jason shut it down. He didn’t need distractions. He didn’t want a reason to stop.
Jason reached the end of the hallway, effectively cornering his prey.
Robin was simply collateral damage. It was necessary for him to get hurt, this was the only way. Jason had to find out. He had to know.
The kid vigilante was half collapsed on the floor, legs splayed out beneath him, shoulders hunched forward, his shaking arms barely managing to prop his upper half against the wall. He was completely at Jason’s mercy.
Robin wasn’t wearing a mask. A distant part of Jason’s brain recognised that as strange.
He was bleeding more than Jason remembered.
Then his face flickered, wide eyes turning a lighter shade of blue. His hair lightened with his eyes, turning blonde, cascading down his shoulders. His uniform peeled away to reveal purple.
Jason took a step back.
“What-”
“Jason?” Stephanie whispered, horror filling her voice.
Jason’s breaths stuck to the inside of his throat, and he took another step back. What- What had he done?
He reached a hand towards Steph’s face, intending to wipe away the blood tricking down her face from below her hairline, only to jerk to a stop when she flinched.
“Steph-” Jason- he had to make this right, he had to fix this, he hurt Stephanie, he wouldn’t- he never wanted to hurt her.
Panic set in deep in his chest, the inability to breathe overwhelming him.
He- he needed to fix this. He needed to-
Jason shot up, gasping as he registered the change in surroundings. It- It wasn’t real.
Jason fisted his hands in blanket spooled around his waist, the cold bite of the midnight air causing goosebumps to spread across his arms.
He was in a bedroom. It was his. He was not in Titan’s Tower. No one was hurt.
He breathed shakily.
It wasn’t real.
He hadn’t hurt Steph.
But... But he could. Couldn’t he? He seemed to do it easily enough in the dream. He remembered how the blood matted in her hair, her face screwed up in pain.
Jason forced himself to clear his mind. It wasn’t real. It was not real.
Taking a deep breath, he felt his resolve solidify.
He could not let it go. He could not back away from this fight he had started with the Bats. But he would not let it hurt Stephanie. She was not a part of this.
Jason would do everything he could to ensure she never would be.