Techna

Chapter Four

Techna frowned, she had arrived too late to this secret meeting she heard about. There were people dead with gunshot wounds and a bag of severed heads. She hacked the security footage from outside and saw a man in a red helmet who left the scene.

"This is a mess." She muttered to herself.

She had attempted to track this advisory on the traffic cameras but he was good. Knew where the cameras were and how to avoid them, so with a deep sigh, she called in the find to GCPD. She didn't stay for the cops, they didn't quite know much about her yet, she managed to stay pretty under the radar.

She arrived home and changed out of her suit, hiding it in a case under the sofa. She heard noise from her neighboring apartment, confused, she went to the door of it. She knocked gently and heard shuffling towards the door and a gun cock.

"Not fond of visitors I see, just wanted to know if your the new neighbor or a thief." She called through the door.

"New neighbor, now go away" a gruff voice called back.

"Do you like muffins?" She asked hesitantly.

After a few moments of silence, she heard a deep chuckle "blueberry muffins"

She smiled and headed back into her home. She had blueberry muffins to make, and she knew a recipe that she used to make for Jason. Jason loved her blueberry muffins, she made them soft and moist and used a bit of salt to counter the sweet, Jason wasn't much of a sweet tooth.

She made the muffins whenever she missed him, and she was going to share Jason's muffins with her new neighbor. Sarah however didn't realize the man in the apartment next to her was her dead brother. Jason chuckled to himself as he finished putting on his gear.

"She sounded young, asking if I liked muffins. What a strange girl" Jason muttered to himself before he put on his hood.

It was time for him to face Bruce, and anger him. Jason thought about his sister, Sarah, he missed her, growing up she acted tough but she was a scared child. She had been locked in a car for 2 days with her dead parents before authorities found her. Dick and Jason were there for every nightmare while Bruce was being Batman, they loved Sarah and she made them feel at home.

Jason shook the memory from his head, he saw the obituary, Sarah died 2 years ago. So Jason took his own revenge on the thug responsible, no one beats his sister to death and lives. Jason left his apartment and headed into Gotham to provoke Bruce, and maybe run into that new hero, Techna.

Sarah finished baking the muffins, she put one aside for herself and put the remaining 5 in a basket with a cover. She set the muffins outside of her neighbor's door, then turned on her police scanner. She cleaned up her mess when she heard it.

"Multiple explosions across town, Batman in pursuit of Red Hood," the scanner said.

"That's him, oh no Bruce, this one is mine," Sarah said, taking out her suit.

Techna found Batman and Red Hood fighting on a rooftop. She watched for a moment, looking for an opening to dive in. She didn't want to hit Batman with her attack, she may not like him but she didn't want to hurt him.

"I know all your moves Bruce" Red Hood taunted "shame you let your tech girl die"

Batman growled at the mention of Sarah, and this was Techna's opening. She dove in kicking Red Hood with all her momentum. He rolled away when the impact hit his shoulder and disconnected it.

"Gotta say, I didn't expect the wings." Red hood said, sneering inside his helmet.

"No one ever does" she retorted with a smirk "you look a little tired there Bats, let me take over while you rest up old man," Techna said, smirking as his scowl deepened.

Techna pulled out her staff and lunged at Red Hood. As they fought, Techna had to admit, he was good. She was in pain, but she never showed it, these past two years taught her that pain could be ignored. They had taken too a chase leaving Batman behind as they too did their deadly dance across the rooftops.

"You're persistent," Red Hood said when he stopped at the edge of a rooftop.

"You're a good fighter," she said to him panting as her injuries were taking their toll on her body.

"Shame I'm gonna have to end your life here," Red hood said detonating bombs set throughout the building below them both.

Techna couldn't react in time as her wings shielded her body from the fall and debris. Nothing could shield her from the claustrophobia that set in when she became buried under the rubble. She blacked out from her panic attack as Red Hood made his way home.

Jason took off his gear when the smell hit his nose, muffins. He opened his front door to the basket and brought them inside, there was a handwritten note attached to them.

"Hope you like these muffins, they were my brother's favorite. - your neighbor Sarah." He read it out loud.

He didn't think much of the familiar name, Sarah was a common name after all. He opened the basket and bit into the muffin. He knew this recipe, this exact recipe... Sarah. Before Jason knew it he was crying and eating the muffin, it tasted like love, it tasted like home.

He remembered the nights he came back from patrol in pain from a fight and standing in the kitchen was Sarah with her freshly made Blueberry muffins. Her kind smile and loving hug, the nights she would wake him up crying from a nightmare. His protective arms around her small frame, he promised to always protect her and she promised to stay strong for him.

He needed to ask this neighbor, Sarah who she was, the recipe was not widely known. There is no way it could be, his sister spent weeks perfecting it just for him. So logically he broke into her apartment and waited for her to come home.