Raye Vance
"You sure you want to do this?" I asked him, the car was outside the gates of Wayne Manor. I knew this would get him answers but I didn't know if he could handle the influx of information and unlocking of memories. The man was an incredible ninja and had proved himself a very gifted mercenary over the past month but I didn't know how his brain would cope with all the potential triggers.
"If my brain starts to melt then we know I was right," he told me and that wasn't exactly the answer I wanted to hear, "yes, Raye, I'm sure and if it gets too much then I'll walk away for today," he assured me and got out the car to enter an access code. He was convinced he could do it on muscle memory and to his credit, he did do it on muscle memory. It probably set off an alarm in the house so they knew we were coming.
I pulled up out front and I got out the car first to an awaiting Bruce Wayne. "How do you have my dead son's access codes, AdVance?" He asked me.
"God I hate that name," I muttered, "and it's not me that has your codes, Batman," I told him and he didn't react but I knew I was right, we were right. "He has them," I said and Red got out the car.
"Where did you find that?" He asked me. I knew he was implying Red was a clone but strings had been pulled with a doctor I know at STAR labs who had needed some less than legal things escorted into the country for very important work.
"He's not a clone, he took a dip in a Lazarus pit courtesy of a mutual friend," I told Mr Wayne.
"He can hear you both," Red said, sounding understandable irritated that we were talking about him like he wasn't here.
"Ra's Al Ghul? He revived you?" Mr Wayne asked Red.
"I lost pretty much all my memories from whoever it was who split my skull and spilled my brain on the concrete," Red told him.
"The Joker," he told us and that did make sense. "How sure are you that you're not a clone?" He asked Red.
"Raye got me tested, off the books at STAR New York," Red told him.
"As active mercenaries and given the conversation we're having, maybe we should take this inside?" I suggested to them both.
"I suppose," Mr Wayne agreed and let us into the manor. It was as big as I remembered it from the last time I was here, many years ago for Tim's sixteenth birthday party.
"So you're working as a mercenaries?" Mr Wayne asked us, acting all surprised when he clearly knew the truth.
"We both know Diana already told you about me years ago and I've definitely done off the book jobs on your orders or how else would you know that shitty nickname," I told him bluntly.
"She's really good at it," Red complimented.
"And you've taken to it really well," I told him and I was really impressed with his skills, which were clearly a combination of his training with Batman and the Sensei.
"How long have you been back in Gotham?" Bruce asked Red.
"A couple months, Raye's been helping me recover memories," Red told him, "I started getting them back after Grayson showed up on Infinity Island with Geo-Force," he added, "but it stalled until she brought me back to Gotham," he said, "knowing anything about who I was is because she was willing to take a chance on me," he informed Bruce.
"Could I have some time alone with my son?" Mr Wayne asked me.
"I'm going to go find sharp pointy things," I said and awkwardly walked off in the direction of the kitchen.
"Why are you in my kitchen?" A half asleep Tim asked me as I was making coffee.
"Because I decided to show up with Red," I told him and poured him one too.
