Part 2 of Come Home with Me
It was weeks before they found anything on Tim. Jason had left no stone unturned. He finally found some scumbag with a bad attitude and a lead on Joker.
He wasn't going to hurt the guy. He just needed Jokers location. But there he was dangling the man over the side of a bridge because he didn't want to cooperate.
"Whatcha doin?" Jason hated cocky, quippy superheroes with too much time on their hands.
"What do you want Nightwing?"
"For you not to kill my informant, preferably" Dick jumped down from above him.
"Well that all depends on if he talks." Jason loosened his grip on the guy's jacket, "So what do you think? Do you know where Joker is now?"
"I- I don't know where he is but I did hear somethin'," the man squirmed clutching Jason's fist. "He's always talkin' crazy! bout a week ago he came by yappin' bout The Bat and h-how he's plannin' som'in Big. A whole family endeavor! or whatever.
We thought it was all just talk 'cause the guy only bought one gun! One gun! For a big stunt! Th-That just didn't seem right. But that's all I know, I swear it!"
Jason and Dick shared a look before Jason pushed the guy off the bridge.
"Calm down," He shot off a bolas that was already grappled to the side of the bridge, "Gordon will be here soon. Can't have another crazed weapons dealer running around."
"One gun?" Barbara had been hard to please since Tim's disappearance, but right now serving her absolutely nothing on a shitty saucer she looked downright defeated, "that doesn't make any sense..."
"I've torn this entire town completely apart, that was my only lead." Jason tossed his helmet down onto Barbara's dinning room table.
"I hate to say it but we might just have to wait and prepare." She turned back to her computer. Dick put his hand on her shoulder. "He's probably going to use Tim as leverage. Or a prize. Or hell... A punishment."
"It's okay." His voice was soft, "we'll get him back." Dick looked back at Jason, his eyes were just as gentle as his words. He offered Jason a small smile.
Is he really trying to comfort me?, he didn't know but he got out of there before Dick attempted to hug or comfort him in anyway about the replacement. Jason is only making sure that time doesn't repeat itself.
He was driving through Crime Alley when he found a group of people huddled at the back of an alley. He stopped his bike at the entrance determining if he should get involved. It looked like about four individuals flanking one kid in a hoodie. Bullying, most likely. But it could also be a drug deal and Jason really hated when people dealt to minors.
He dismounted and started walking down the alley when Hoodie grabbed the tallest guy and landed a solid punch to his face. Jason stopped for a moment to reassess.
The other three guys booked it out the alley leaving the tall one to fend for himself. Hoodie boy stomped on Mr. Tall ass, previously suspected drug dealer. Now Jason had to intervene.
"Please! Please don't hurt me! I don't know her, we were just passing by!" Tall ass pleaded. Jason lunged forward, pushing Hoodie, now suspected thug, into the wall behind him.
"Get up." The guy scrambled to his feet, "Haven't you kids ever heard that friendship is magic?"
"This guy is not my friend! He's just some fucking cosplay freak!"
Jason turned back but he didn't find the boy in the hoodie. hos eyes trailed up to the fire escape.
"Get out of here." He didn't need to be told twice before he ran out of the alley.
Jason hadn't even heard the kid but he knew that he must have climbed up there so Jason followed.
The ice cold winds of Gotham's air would slow anyone down from up here. Jason knew he couldn't have gotten far. And there he was standing on the edge of the roof preparing to jump to the next.
"Hey!" Jason called, "Don't be stupid. You'll fall."
The boy jerked his head around like he hadn't heard Jason approach. And then he jumped. He landed on the next roof flawlessly and started running. There was something familiar about it. He almost looked like a younger version of Dick taking those leaps in one bound being completely too showy about it. Jason followed again. Now they were in a full-on roof chase he wasn't prepared for.
This kid jumped from the roof to a fire escape climbing up like fucking spider monkey. Jason was faster and he was gaining ground on the kid. They finally reached the edge of this set of buildings and there was nowhere else to go.
"Will you quit running I'm not going to hurt you!" He knew that wasn't going to do much given the fact that he had chased the kid for about three blocks now. Then cornered him where his only options were to jump down into traffic or come face to face with The Red Hood.
The boy took off the hood of his jacket revealing bright green hair. That's all Jason saw for a moment. Long bright green hair.
He had hoped for just a moment while they were running but after seeing what was under the hood... That all changed. He really hoped he wasn't right.
It was Tim. There was no mistaking it. He tilted his head and looked at Jason like he had never seen him before. He tilted his head to the other side questioning Jason with his eyes again.
"Umm, hello... Tim?" It was Tim's voice but somehow it wasn't Tim's voice, "No time for friends. I must go."
And Jason let him. He was so shocked he just let the boy disappear into the Gotham night. He may not look like Tim but he was still a bat deep down inside. If you wanted to get away he could. And he would.
"Hood?" Barbara's voice was grounding. He felt like he almost lost it there for a moment.
"I found the kid... But he's not-" What does he say? How does he say it? "He's not our kid."
He can't hear Barbara but he knows she and Dick can hear him.
"But he's not Jokers either. I'll get him back... I promise."
Thank you for reading Part 2
I will be posting this on AO3. I will link it below once I get that done. I'm thinking the first three parts will be chapter one So after part 3 that will be up.
I don't want to keep you on suspense forever so I'm keeping it to six parts and I'm trying to upload quickly but I also want to make sure my content has the quality readers deserve.
Thank you again for reading and all of the support! Your comments are my motivation, thank you :)