Chapter 41

While Terry went out as Batman, Barbara and Alfred were in the batcave monitoring his situation through the batcomputer. They can see and hear everything he does.

"Do you think it would be that easy?" Alfred asked her.

"....No..." Barbara said as he glanced at Alfred. "...But it's at least worth a try rather than doing nothing."

On the screen, Terry suddenly flew away.

Barbara pushed a button to communicate with him. "What happened, Terry?"

-They attacked Arkham asylum. I'm going there right now.

Barbara and Alfred looked at each other with curious facial expressions.

"What do you think he wants there?" Alfred asked.

"...!!" Barbara widened her eyes. "...Harley Quinn..." then she smiled.

"Why are you smiling? Isn't that bad?"

She chuckled. "Harley hates his guts now. There's no need to worry." She made a confident smile.

Suddenly...

"Woof! woof! woof! Grrr" Ace barked in the direction of the stairs leading to the manor.

"What is it, Ace?" Alfred asked the dog.

Then, Ace ran away towards the stairs up to the mansion.

"Ace!!" Alfred ran after him.

Barbara followed and clicked her tongue. "This is bad.." she muttered.

Just as she said that...

Clink. Clank. Clonk. Poofffffffft

A smoke bomb was thrown from the stairs to their direction and it released a green smoke.

"Back away, Alfred!" Barbara said as she grabbed Alfred and pulled him backwards.

Both of them instantly knew it was Joker toxin because of the peculiar color of the smoke and so they covered their mouths as they backed away from it.

"I always thought every rich man had skeletons in their closet," Emerging from the smoke was the man with pale skin and the widest grin you will ever see. The Joker. "...or in this case, a basement."

Before Barbara and Alfred could react, Joker had pointed a gun at Alfred.

"No!" Barbara shouted.

Bang!

"Nggg! Arrgh!" Barbara took the bullet for Alfred and got shot in the back. She clutched her aching back as she fell down.

"Barbara!!!" Alfred caught her and laid her down slowly. Barbara was squirming because of the very intense pain she's feeling from her back. She couldn't hold back her tears.

The Joker went over to them. He scratched his head with the nozzle of his gun. "If you only told me you wanted to be first...I'd probably still shoot him first anyway. Hahahahaha..." Flipping over the chairs and tables as he walked over.

Crash!

The chemistry set that was on table fell along with the table and pieces of glass scattered on the floor. Laughing as he did so.

Alfred looked at Barbara, who he thought of as a daughter, convulsing in pain. He felt hurt, anxious, but most of all, he felt rage. He stood up and glared at the Joker as he clutched his cane.

"Ooh...what are you going to do, old timer?" The Joker taunted him.

As Alfred was about to unsheathe the hidden blade in his cane, he felt a stabbing pain in his chest.

"Urk!"

He held his chest as the pain began to throb and made him fall down. Soon, he lost consciousness. Even though he is a healthy man courtesy of the wonder drug, he's still over eighty-years old, after all. Stress like that is bad for his heart.

"Alfred!...Gugh!..." Barbara shouted but she couldn't do anything right now.

The Joker put his palm to his face in disappointment. He heaved out a sigh as he looked at Alfred. "What a bummer...you just took out the fun in killing you....this feels like a whoopee cushion with no fart noises..."

Then, he looked at Barbara and stood over her. "You don't look so well..." He said with a menacing grin.

"Fuck you!..." Barbara defied him.

"Awww, honey.." Joker reached for her face. Barbara turned her head to try and evade his hand but she couldn't. He gently caressed her. "...don't worry....I'll make the pain go away...hahahahaha..." He said with an ominous laugh and pointed his gun at her forehead.

Schwing!

Something sharp flew towards the Joker.

Clink!

"Urgh!"

It flew to his hand and made him drop his gun.

The Joker clutched his hand and immediately ran away for cover.

Step step step

The sound of footsteps drew near towards Barbara and Alfred.

Barbara opened her eyes and found a man wearing a brown trench coat and a red helmet standing next to her.

The man looked at her and said, "It's going to be okay now, Barbara..."

In response, she found comfort in his words and let herself pass out.

The man ran towards the direction where the Joker ran to. He pulled out his gun and cocked it.

"Where are you, Joker?"

-Hahahahaha

The Joker's laugh echoed out.

Thud.

Something hit a table.

Bang!

The man in the trench coat immediately shot at it.

"Hahahahaha!"

He turned around to find the source of the laugh. Joker was already on the stairs waving at him.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He couldn't hit him. The Joker got away.

The man in the red helmet didn't give chase and decided to stay and tend to the victims of the incident.

The video paused there.

Batman looked at the man in the red helmet. "You still didn't answer my question..." Instead of answering his question earlier, the man in the red helmet insisted Batman to play the footage of what happened in the batcave while he was away to prove he's innocent of the matter. "...so, who are you?" he asked again.

"I'm...the Red Hood..." His hand reached for the back of his head.

Click.

His helmet started contracting until it became a red iron mask that only covers his face. When he removed it, there was another mask underneath but it only covered the area around his eyes. It was something familiar to Terry, the new Batman. It was a robin mask.

Batman's eyes widened.

"...you'll probably know me better as the second robin." He smirked.

It left Batman's mouth agape. "Jason Todd...!!"

"That's right."

"You're supposed to be..." He covered his mouth before he finished what he was about to say.

"Dead? I'm here, aren't I?"

"How?"

"...I don't want to answer that. I'm leaving. I don't want Luke to catch me here when he arrives." He said before putting back his helmet on. "I don't like cheesy reunions. That's not what I came back for."

"Then...what did you come back for?"

"...Justice." He said after pondering for a while then walked over to the stairs. "And by the way, your dog is also injured up there. He just has some trauma, but he'll be okay." He turned around and faced Batman again. "...scan him for nanochips." He peculiarly added before turning heel and resumed his exit.

Batman furrowed his brows in confusion about his last statement, but he decided to take note of it.

Just like that, the former Robin, Jason Todd, now calling himself the Red Hood, left.

Terry finally deactivated his suit and went back to the infirmary where Barbara and Alfred were staying.

Jason Todd had already given them first aid.

Alfred was connected to a heart monitor. He just passed out because of the stress and will be able to recover after he rests.

Barbara is also connected to a heart monitor and a blood bag. She had a pack on her back for her bullet wound. It's something Bruce Wayne made for bullet wounds. It helps with alleviating the pain and stopping the blood.

They have to wait for Luke Fox to arrive and deal with the removal of the bullet. He isn't a doctor, but with his knowledge, he can probably pass as one.

Why can't they just go to a hospital? It will cause a frenzy in the media that the Joker got to the police commissioner. Plus, being investigated about it might jeopardize the location of the batcave and their secrets.

"I'm here!" Luke Fox finally arrived in the batcave's infirmary.

"Mr. Luke.." Terry turned around and faced him with a worried expression.

Luke Fox walked up to the patients with his jaw dropped. "Thank God...they're still alive..."

"They were properly aided right after what happened, that's why."

"...It's a good thing you got here just in time."

"No...I wasn't the one who treated them..."

"What? Who else could it be?"

Terry looked at Luke Fox's eyes and observed him for his reaction once he reveals the answer to his question. "It was Jason Todd."

And he got the reaction that he was expecting. Luke was in disbelief. Angry even.

Terry should have already heard the tragic story of Jason Todd from Alfred or Barbara. It's something hard to talk about, let alone joke about.

"It's the truth...you can review the footage later..." Terry added.

Luke looked at Terry and scanned his face. His face says that he believes what he's saying is the truth.

In the end, Luke chose to believe him "...I will, after this." He brought out something to tend to Barbara's bullet wound. It's an invention of his that extracts the bullet from the wound while initiating regeneration with nanotechnology.

He looked at Barbara's back and removed the pack that was used for first aid. "...She was hit on her lower back near the spinal cord." He sighed. "This kind of injury can paralyze her from the waist down for the rest of her life."

Terry widened his eyes. "What?!" His face contorted in worry.

"Dont worry..." Luke glanced at him. "...that used to be the case before I invented the treatment for this because I had the same problem. Back then, the treatment used to last for months and the patient will be paralyzed for that time period as they get better. Now, with the help of nano tech..." He injected Barbara's wound with something to clean it.

Then, Luke Fox embedded a device that looked like a crab on her back. It looked like an exoskeleton that covered the part of her spine that was wounded. "...she'll be fully healed in three days."

Clink.

The bullet that was lodged in her spine got out on its own. It looked like it was sucked from the wound and got spat out by the device.

Terry was astonished. "That's amazing!"

"Well, it became my passion ever since that mishap happened to me...Just like how you decided to become Batman." Luke smiled at Terry. "Now...show me that footage you were talking about." He got up and lead the way out of the infirmary towards the batcomputer. "That punk. He came back from the dead and didn't even went out of his way to see me. I can already imagine his face when he sees me walking." He chuckled.

When Jason Todd was Robin, Luke Fox was still paralyzed from the neck down. Despite that, they became good friends.

Terry made a wry smile. "You go on ahead. I'll check on the dog upstairs." He said as he ran towards the stairs leading to the mansion.

But Terry has a tight feeling in his chest. There's something wrong about Jason Todd when he met him. And Terry has already learned to trust his gut because of his past experiences.

He decided to keep this to himself until he finds basis for it.