11 Chapter 10

My hands were still raised, Alfred was frozen in shock. The range of emotions going through the man must have been a lot.

"Master Jason…," He uttered, clear disbelief in his tone. I mean I would probably be pretty disbelieving too if someone dead for plenty of years just showed up in your cave. Sounds fucking nuts, or it would if I handn't been through all of this crazy shit myself.

Turns out coming back from the dead with another soul tagging along can be pretty eye opening of an experience.

"Yeah, it's me. The most badass robin," I joked, pointing my thumbs at myself.

"Language young man." His response was automatic, years of having corrected teenagers coming to the front. Yet, I could still see the doubt heavily evident by the tight grip still held on the rifle.

Before I could come up with a solution to prove who I really am, I could hear the sound of something sharp flying through the air.

Using Alfred's stumped moment, I launched myself towards him. He was about to raise the gun, thinking I was going to attack him.

First knocking the gun out of his hands, I turned around raising my hands. Out of the dark came shurikens flying towards me since I was in front of Alfred. Years of training with shit thrown at me in the dark with a blindfold prepared me for this, thanks Talia and Shiva.

My hands caught the shurikens between each finger, raising them to my face to look them over. I knew these types of shuriken…

Fucking Damian, forgot about him. That little shit is ruining my heartfelt reunion.

"Damian, get your ass down here right now or I'm telling your mom!" I shouted out, looking behind me at a very confused Alfred, "Wait till you get your eyes on this brat."

While I was collecting the shurikens into a single hand, the sound of a grappling hook digging into stone, followed shortly by the dropping in of a tiny demon disguised as a child.

"You can't tell mother because I did nothing wrong," Damian argued, tearing off his goggles now that we stood in the light.

"I didn't give you any signals that said attack the harmless old man."

"Harmless, he was pointing a gun at you!" He brought his sword out, pointing at the wide eyed butler.

"Alfred didn't know who I was at first, it's all fine now."

"I say we give this senile old fool mercy and put him down before he makes another mistake." Damian's eyes gained a dangerous glint in them, narrowing at Alfred who stood behind me.

What am I going to do with this kid? Wait what am I talking about, I'm dumping him on Bruce. Let him deal with this psychopath.

"Nobody is putting anybody down, seriously relax kid. And Alfred I would like you to meet Damian the son of-" I was cut off by Alfred.

"Master Bruce."

Well he figured it out pretty fast, probably because the kid looked like a carbon copy of the younger Bruce.

I remember the older portraits of Bruce and his parents littered around the mansion, Damian looked a lot like that. Just a darker skin tone and different colored eyes.

"Well Alfred how about we-oh shit." I turned around to finally prove I'm the real deal when the man just passed out.

Quickly I got him before he could hit the hard metal floor," Must have been the shock."

"Do you still believe we shouldn't put him out of his misery, the old servant obviously has a weak mental fortitude." Drawing his blade once more.

"Damian just shut the fuck up for a moment." My tone was final, giving Damian a hard glare that stopped any more defiance. Picking up Alfred I brought him to the medical area, setting him down on a bed to rest.

Going to find Bruce is priority one, but that can wait until Alfred is awake. For now, I should look through the Computer's database for any information regarding Gotham's situation.

Taking myself to the main area again, I started to access the files. The result was not something I wanted to see, but had expected from what Talia had told me.

Gotham had effectively been split into three factions that controlled each of the three sections of Gotham.

Northern Gotham was effectively mostly under the control of Bane, not a surprise considering what type of area he came from.

Bane came from the worst so it only made sense that he would control the worst part of Gotham, shaping it into his own little area.

Ironically it was also the safest place because while Bane was an oversized douchebag he still took care of the children, even if that meant involving them inside of his army as little eyes and ears to him.

Central Gotham was under the control of the mafias, who all served under one man. Black mask, the guy that took black face a little too literally.

He governed the area with a cutthroat method, killing those that didn't follow or disappointed. Along with civilians who raised their voices too much.

The civilians probably had it the worst under him, the guy knew how to do only one thing. That was extorting the innocent for whatever they were worth.

Lastly came Southern Gotham, which seemed to be fairing the best amongst the three. Probably because the more normal villain types of Gotham all banded together who didn't want to work for Bane or Black Mask.

Which meant people like Penguin, Riddler, Two-Face and whatever other psycho. That didn't mean the people had it good, but just better than the other two sections since Penguin did want to have a profitable business economy

Bruce had collected data concerning everything in detail, my own thoughts were just a summed up version.

There looked to be a lot more going on underneath the surface, but that didn't concern me immediately.

My eyes scanned over folders and folders of information until I came to the one I wanted, Joker. With a green coming slightly into my vision, I opened the folder only to be heavily disappointed.

'Whereabouts Unknown'

Those words pissed me off more than anything has in a while because it meant I had to waste more time here in Gotham looking for the clown.

The last bits of information in the file said he disappeared around the same time Batman did.

Nothing since, no stupid elaborate pranks that led to the deaths of dozens, no peep or word threatening to do something, the Joker had completely vanished from the eyes of everybody in Gotham.

I could feel the lazarus bubbling up again, but stepped back from the computer to take a couple of deep breaths.

This was a setback, I'll find that son of a bitch eventually. Having finally gotten the data I wanted, I decided to take a walk around the cave, needing to make sure Damian isn't messing with anything he shouldn't.

It didn't take long to find him, the kid was standing near the cases of suits, looking directly at the batsuit. He didn't turn to me when I stood next to him.

"Sure is something ain't it?" I asked, knowing how I felt when I saw the real thing in person. I also remembered how I responded to it, with violence.

"It's not just something, it's my birthright."

"Want to fill in the shoes for the bat, guess there could be worse things in life."

"No one else is worthy of it, the only contender is dead, another isn't worthy, and you would never even think about it. It's safe to assume it is guaranteed to be mine."

"Not with the way you are currently, killing people is a big no within the Batfamily."

"Then I'll just force them to accept my ways."

This kid was a brick wall, perfect for Bruce. Letting my eyes stray to the right, I saw a familiar suit in its case all alone. Giving the brat one last look, I ditched him to go check it out.

My eyes stared into the empty domino mask, the glass reflecting the green lazarus tinted color. Another memory cropping itself up from the depths of my mind.

________________________________________________

(The Past)

A domino mask was loosely thrown on a table, Jason coming to sit down as Aflred checked over his knuckles for bruises.

"Can you believe it, he's going to fucking bench me," Jason grumbled, his free hand gripping tightly onto the bed rests edge. Rage and betrayal brewing within the young man's heart.

"Language Master Jason and he is only doing so to teach you a lesson," Alfred replies, applying an ointment that causes Jason to make a small hiss.

He never did like the medicines that Alfred used, but knew that it would hasten the progress of healing.

"What lesson, I didn't do anything wrong! I'm only doing what he taught me."

"He may have given you the tools, but you must be the one to show that you know restraint when using them."

"Restraint, are you kidding me. Why should I show restraint to a bunch of gang bangers who've probably murdered for drugs and cash?"

"You'll have to figure that out yourself, now if you'll excuse me I need to prepare the ingredients for tomorrow's breakfast."

Jason watched on as Alfred left him to his own devices, then he grabbed his domino mask. Staring at it for a moment, he then crumpled it in his hand.

Restraint? He has been restraining himself from doing worse to those scumbags, respect for Bruce and Robin stopping him.

But that respect was slowly waning, not when he was being punished for doing the right thing.

Jason threw the mask on the ground, marching out of the Batcave and into the mansion with his suit on.

Entering his room, he grabbed a suitcase and started to pack his clothes into them. Grabbing a pair and throwing it over the suit.

He didn't belong here, not with these hypocrites who only went on about serving justice to the innocent people of Gotham. And what was justice, throwing nut jobs into Arkham so they could walk out the next day?

Giving criminals slaps on the wrist then they deserved so much worse? No, Jason needed to leave. Go back where he really belonged, on the streets of Gotham.

His home, maybe he could even check on the old Todd residence for old times sake.

Not like there were many good memories, but he should for his late deceased mother, Catherine, the only person who loved him for who he was.

Without any further ado, the young man left the mansion without a word to anyone, leaving under the darkness of the night.

___________________________________________________

(Present)

Eyes straying away from looking at the suit, I instead set my attention on the plaque resting below.

'In Memory Of Robin, A Good Soldier'

My hand clenched into a fist, but then I remembered what Talia told me about Bruce's attitude after my death.

He acted like a man without any reason to keep going, throwing himself into dangerous situations he shouldn't have been in the first place.

A man acted like that because he was mourning the loss of someone he viewed as more than just a soldier, more than just a partner.

The mourning of a son.

Breathing out deeply, I walked away from the case meant to memorize the old Jason. A Jason that for all purposes stayed dead, because what came out of that grave was not the same.

And I could never go back to being that again, not when I had people waiting for the current me.

The mental image of a woman with flowing white hair came to mind.

I had a job to do, getting the kid to Bruce, and popping a couple heads open of a few different people in Gotham.

And to do that I need the help of Alfred, not because I couldn't find Bruce in the mansions without help.

But I needed to be updated on Bruce's status before meeting him, who better to give that information than the man who's been watching him this whole time.

The next ten minutes were spent waiting in the medical section for Alfred to wake up, most of that time was wasted through keeping Damian from grabbing and touching things he shouldn't.

For example, trying to burn any of the suits that weren't Batman's because he didn't see the point in keeping any of them around when he would be taking the place of a partner.

I swear this kid has so many screws loose, what the hell did Talia tell him. So Damian got to spend the time waiting unconscious and tied up, only after removing a shit ton of his hidden knives.

Though I did have the feeling there may have been one or two I missed, the brat had too many.

My attention turned to the table when I could Alfred stirring awake, guess it was time to work things out.

Switch to Alfred's POV

I was plagued with the strangest dream. When going to the cave to do the daily routine check, I came across an intruder with a reflective red mask.

Except it wasn't just an intruder, when the stranger took the mask off it was…Master Jason.

But that couldn't be, he had died years ago. This had to have been an imposter, possibly a trick.

Then the dream took a turn when the appearance of a little boy resembling Master Bruce came out of the darkness.

It all faded to black after that, except now I was waking up in the medical section. When did I take a nap here?

Taking a look around myself, I saw a pair of green eyes belonging to a very familiar face.

"Did you get enough beauty sleep?" Master Jaso-no the man with his face asked. Because this couldn't be him, the grave in Gotham would prove that.

I wasn't sure how to react, I needed to find something to protect myself with. Master Bruce needs to be alerted, not that he could be of much help considering how he is.

"If the look on your face says anything, you still don't believe it's really me, do you?" He sighed, combing a hand through his raven hair, except there were strands of white in the front section, "How about this, ask me something only Jason Todd can know."

He was still going for this charade, but I would humor him. But also prove in my heart that Jason really is dead, he would never come back.

Both him and Master Dick were both gone from this cruel world.

"The night that you met Batman, what did you do?" I asked, there were only four people that knew of that event. Two of them were dead, Master Bruce and I being the only ones.

"I swung a lug wrench at him, I also remember what he asked me right after that." He swayed his head at the confession, then set his face into a brooding expression, "Are you hungry?"

The way he tried to imitate how Batman talked painfully reminded me of the mocking nature of a young Master Jason.

But it couldn't be him, maybe someone had taken the memories of Jason Todd because this man wasn't him.

I didn't want to believe…didn't want to let myself hope for a miracle after so many tragedies. The Waynes, Jason, and Dick.

I felt lost, not sure what I was supposed to do or react. Looking maybe for an answer or hint I looked around me for maybe a sign, then made eye contact once more with those green eyes.

Master Jason never had green eyes, maybe teal in the right light. Even telling myself so, it almost was like I was staring into the same young man's eyes that we had brought into our home years ago.

I knew this because there was only one set of eyes similar to Master Bruce's eyes, one's filled with righteous anger.

"Is it really you?" The words came out whispered.

"Alfred, it really is me. The same street rat that one man gave a chance to do something more than just steal and sling drugs." His tone wasn't humorous or playful, it was the most serious I've ever heard Master Jason. I get off the bed to approach him with hesitant steps.

Stepping up to him, I reached a hand out, cupping the side of his face. I shouldn't have let myself be so easily led to believe, years of watching Master Bruce being paranoid let me know that extreme caution was always needed.

But…I was too tired. Tired of receiving horrific news about the boys that I help raise, I just wanted to let myself hope for this one time.

I opened my heart to the possibility of one of my boys coming home.

I brought him into a hug, squeezing for everything I had, grasping onto this miracle tightly. Warm tears building steadily within my eyes.

"Welcome home."

Author's note: Okay, here you folks go. Was a little later than expected because I wrote up three different draft versions of this chapter.

I'm happy with this one and I hope you peeps are too.

Let me know if there are any grammar or spelling errors, I'll fix them right up.

Comment and review to your heart's content, I like to read everybody's stuff.

Thank you for reading and see you in the next chapter. =)