A/N: THESE ARE THE EVENTS THAT HAPPEN JUST AFTER THE CHAPTER 14. IT IS TO EXPLAIN WHY JASON WAS OUT FOR BLOOD. ALSO SOON THE GOTHAM ARC IS GONNA COME TO AN END ARROUND CHAPTER 25 OR 27 ( YES IT MEANS REGULAR UPDATES NOT DAILY BUT WEEKLY AS CHAPTERS ARE GOONA BE LONG ATLEAST 4K WORDS EACH AND WILL TRY TO DO ATLEAST 2 A WEEK.
ALSO A HUGE THANKS TO T_A_O WHO REMINDED ME.
AND ALSO A FUN FACT THAT THIS CHAPTER WAS SUPPOSED TO COME OUT ON JANUARY 21 AS A GIFT TO MY SISTER ON HER BIRTHDAY.
I UPLOADED IT HERE AND PUT IT ON THE CLOCK BUT GUESS WHAT WEBNOVEL DUE TO SOME REASON DIDN'T UPLOADED IT. AND SO WHEN I GOT NO RESPONSE LIKE NO CMNT OR ANYTHING I WAS GENUIELY SAD AND THOUGHT OF DROPPING IT. AND SO I JUST WRITE THE DRAFTS AND ALL THAT NOTHING ELSE. BUT THEN JUST WHEN T A O ASKED ME TO UPDATE I STARTED TO WORK AGAIN. AND WHEN I GOT TO KNOW THAT THIS CHAPTER WAS NEVER UPDATED HERE.
AND THOSE WHO THINKS THAT I AM JUST MAKING AN EXCUSE. I UOLOADED THIS CHAPTER ON MY PATR. _EON IN SEPTEMBER 2022.
SO YEAH IT WAS A GENUINE MISTAKE.
AND I AM NOT GONNA GIVE TO QUICK RECAP, YOU CAN READ AGAIN AND WHEN YOU WILL BE HERE ON THIS CHAPTER THERE WILL ANOTHER CHAPTER WAITING FOR YOU.
And yes there are a lot of mistakes i will soon rectify them.
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Previous Night
(after Carl killed those goons)
Red Hood just finished the task that he was given by Rudra. He was now watching the news and saw all the drama unfold and his blood boiled.
Red Hood understood what Rudra had done. He put innocent people's lives at stake. There was no way that bastard didn't know about all of this. Was this the reason he sent him to hunt these guys? So that he could not patrol the streets and make sure things like this don't happen.
' He is dead.' Red hood thought to himself and with anger present in his eyes, he took off to Rudra's hiding place.
The Red Glider ( Name given to the glider ) landed on the roof of an abandoned warehouse. If someone from outside were to see even from thermal energy or X-Ray even then the warehouse would have been seen empty.
Red Hood took off his mask, eyes burning with hatred and anger, he didn't bother to hide his expression. He took the stairs and started to go down from the roof. He reached inside and heard rats cutting polythene and cables, he then moved to the center of the warehouse, a zeta tube opened there and he was then teleported to the real hideout. Rudra could have just teleported him from anywhere, but he wanted to throw off any eyes that were on him or he just wanted to play with the Batman, no one knew.
When Jason came out of the Zeta tube, he saw a very futuristic lab, a very big and spacious lab. In one corner of the lab was a very big screen that was showing what was transpiring in Gotham live.
Jason saw people on streets and roads.
" Nice work there, Jason. Couldn't have done any better. " Rudra said without even moving his neck, he was still watching the big screen.
" why? " Jason asked, grinding his teeth.
" Why what ?? You have to be specific about what you want to know? " Rudra said this time looking right at Jason.
Jason took out his gun and fired the bullet. The bullet stops exactly one millimeter away from Rudra's eye and then falls to the ground. In this whole ordeal, Rudra didn't even flinch.
Rudra smirked and said " Fists are a man's true love, swords are his companions for life, and Guns are like prostitutes sexy but not trustworthy. "
Jason threw the guns away and pulled out his katana's.
" As you wish. "
Jason's Katana's clashed with Rudra's bare arms, and a sound of *tang* came instead of blood.
Jason didn't even react to it; he knew that Rudra would have powers and Transfiguration was not off the list.
Jason kept attacking Rudra and he kept toying with Jason with a mocking smile on his face that only fuels Jason's anger.
It went on for half an hour. The lab was destroyed, now Rudra got bored and thought of adding fuel to fire.
" Come on, you have to do much better than this, Jasi. '' Rudra said while catching Jason's sword in his fingers.
Only one word goes through Jason's head, Jasi. Some flashbacks of his past come to his mind. In his mind a scene kept playing: A girl was there feeding him in those streets.
" What did you say? Say it again. I will kill you in a way that you wouldn't even have thought. "
It was like a volcano erupted inside Jason. His strength exploded, and he cut one of Rudra's hands that Rudra had transfigured in normal steel.
Rudra smiled seeing this, this is what he wanted.
Jason was in a rage and in his head there was only one voice echoing ' HOW DARE HE SAY THAT NAME '
Jason's swings have the strength and speed that was never seen, not even when he tried to fight Joker for his revenge.
Rudra knew that it was the time, all this buildup and making Jason angry was for this moment.
Jason still holds some of Batman's teaching to heart and If he keeps doing it he will never reach his true potential and will never be a part of the revolution that Rudra is going to start.
What now is gonna happen will either release a menace more dangerous than Joker on Gotham or a real Hero will rise from the ashes of his past.
' I am sorry Jason, I am truly sorry for what I am going to do to you, my child.' Rudra thought because what is now gonna happen will destroy Jason Todd and Rudra doesn't want to hurt Jason.
Jason was swinging his sword on Rudra for quite some time, this time when he swung the sword Rudra broke it, and then kicked Jason's kneecap, the kneecap was shattered and Jason was in a lot of pain and was kneeling on the ground in a second.
Rudra stomps on the second kneecap too, making Jason practically a cripple.
" Now listen boy, and listen well.
This is not a game that you are playing. You will kill the goddamn Villains, gosh I hate this world.
This is real life, you think by killing some people and leveling your hero score, you can save anyone? You are saving no one, the guy that you saved will again be in trouble just in the next alley, and you will not be there to save him. And the guy will do everything that these evil bastards will say to him. So tell me who you saved, why? Did it make any difference?
Let me tell you what will happen, the guy that saved will just brag in front of his friends and family " that I was saved by Batman or anyone " and they would be like " Oh man so cool " and then the next day he will be targeted by goons again.
Did you do any good, I don't think so, he was fucked yesterday and he is fucked today. There was no difference in his life, he was scared yesterday and he is scared today. He wanted someone to save him yesterday and he still wanted someone to save him today.
He can easily protect him but he will not because a hero will save him and when they don't come he blames them and then he does two things, he either commits suicide or he takes his anger on innocent people. And the cycle continues.
I want to break this cycle.
This society has been infected by diseases and someone needs to operate on it. It will hurt, they will cry the tears of blood, they would want to go back to their chaotic lives and would rather sacrifice their children to the evil than to fight against it.
But Mark my words I will not stop. "
Jason was still wailing and he finds himself agreeing with every word that Rudra said but
" She was a little child. "
" And? "
Jason was shocked at seeing his nonchalant expression.
" So what if she was a child? Freedom comes with a price and if the price is killing my soul then so be it. Her death would have burned Gotham's mafia.
Let me tell you a story. ( A/N: made up the story not canon )
In Chicago, there is a club, a club made for rich people to do whatever the atrocities they want to do.
So in there, Human flesh is also a dish, pedophilia is common and sometimes they would even give them newborns if they asked.
Her death would have been less painful than that. And her death would have ensured a million children's future. "
" You… Are… A… Monster… " Jason said and Rudra smirked.
" I am a monster? Okay, I believe you but I am a monster because of a need not to make a choice. I have seen you and other so-called heroes doing what you do and you all fail miserably. Superman is as fast as flash and can even go further, can hear everything but does he help someone who is in France, he would need less than 5 minutes to go there and he would be able to save that person, but he never leaves the metropolis. And even in a metropolis he never helps people in the true sense, Lex does experiments in Metropolis and Superman does nothing.
Batman arrests people and then they are either hired by the government or are released back. What do you think will be that easy to get out of any prison, if the government really wanted to imprison them? "
" This is not a personal vendetta boy, This is a revolution that will kill this Superhero and supervillain thing, Which will make people realize that they have to help themselves, they need to know the dark truth. "
Rudra manifested some documents in his hands and laid them in front of Jason.
" Look here, personal interviews, reports, crime charts, everything. I have researched everything. I didn't decide that this society needs to change on a whim.
Read here, most of the people in the world believe that superheroes will save them one day. A boy in Afghanistan believed that superheroes will save his father from the Taliban, the father that has been dead for 3 years. But can Superman save those people no, cause Government issues, bro.
So let me say it, I am prepared to be a monster, I am ready to shoulder the sins. No crime, No sin that people who were working on me did is on them, that is on me. And I accept it. "
Jason doesn't know what to say, He just stopped thinking, Rudra's way of thinking was not wrong instead was correct but still, it was wrong. Jason knows what will happen now but he can't agree. So he stopped thinking.
" Did you harm her? " Jason asked.
" Harm me? How could I harm someone dead? Rudra said in a voice that seemed nonchalant, but if someone were to see Rudra's eyes they were expressing a different expression, there was a hidden worry in his eyes.
Rudra was still contemplating That he should just erase this conversation from Jason's mind and tell him the truth that they were all safe. But in the end, he made his decision to go through with this.
" D..De...Dead? " Jason's mind took a minute to register what Rudra said.
" Oh, Boy. Did Batman not tell you about her death? Did he really not tell you what happened to her?
You wanted to know how I know about this name "Jassie". Let me show you some monsters that gave me a tough competition, " Rudra said with a grin.
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" Tell me when was the last time you met her, Your sister in all but blood? It was, I think, 7 years ago. The day that Bruce took you under his wings was the last that you saw her. Wasn't it? " Rudra asked Jason, who was already shaken by the news of his sister's death.
" Monica, That was her name wasn't it? "
Jason's eyes widened, he was still thinking that what Rudra was saying was not true. He cut all of his ties with her when he was adopted by Bruce. He didn't want to endanger her. There was no way for anyone to know about her, he covered all of his tracks.
" She died at the age of 16 when you were running on Gotham's roofs dressed in a ridiculous green costume. "
Jason has tears in his eyes but if he thinks that this was all then he was wrong, very very wrong.
" Well, that's unfortunate? But do you know what is more unfortunate? It is the way she died. " Rudra said without any emotions.
" What do you mean? " Jason asked with anger.
" she just didn't die, she committed suicide. Understandable, with what she went through, anyone would have taken that step. " Rudra said with a sly smile.
" what? " Jason's eyes widened.
" Well, you see Jason, you call me a monster so It's time I show you some real monsters in human skin." With that Rudra walked out of the lab and shut the door. Inside the lab, computer screens lit up.
" Was it necessary? " Garuda asked.
" Yes, He needs to fight his demons," Rudra replied but his voice was sympathetic.
" He is a strong Kid, He will rise again with new values, and if for that I will have to break him then so be it. '' Garuda understood what Rudra was going through.
Garuda or Talon as he was known before tonight was also misguided. He thought that he would save people by serving the Court of OWL. His guilt is immeasurable but tonight he let go of all that guilt and started redemption. But Jason is different.
Whereas his redemption was because of his negligence and the wrongdoings he committed even while knowing full well that what he did was wrong, the only saving grace of his was that the people he killed were also not that innocent but Jason was a hero, he saved people as a superhero. He hasn't done anything wrong and hasn't committed a crime. What will come out of this will not be redemption but vengeance. Pure vengeance.
And Garuda was right, on that night Jason experienced the most pain he could ever, He cried blood tears as he decided to completely abandon Batman's Ideology and the whole of Gotham would feel the effect of This transformation the next day
A/N: Guess what College.