Soldiers Playground

Chapter 1

Jason pov-

I stared at my Red Hood suit in a calm silence, feeling satisfied at my decision.

After a few years of being a crime boss that's protected Crime Alley for so long, the narrows have finally started defending itself from crime that rarely happened anymore due to my reign over the poor part of Gotham. My old home didn't need me to protect it anymore, and I personally felt that it was time to retire my alter ego. 

I felt like there was more that I could do with my life, and Red Hood wasn't all of it anymore. Something else was calling me, urging me to go explore it and own it. I just had to find out what it was. 

I was in my room at Wayne manor, cleaning my old suit and getting ready to put it in a special case that I'd had custom made for my suit. My grandfather, Alfred Pennyworth, aka my true father figure, and I had been talking about it late into the night last night, and he agreed with my decision to let The Red Hood down, but was curious as to what I was going to do now that Hood was retired. 

Honestly? I had a strong idea as to what I wanted to do. I had, from the time I was 12 and first came to the manor, followed Alfred around like his shadow, listening to all of his stories from being in the British Armed Forces, learning everything he knew, wanting to be just like him when I grew up and not like Bruce. I've heard all of his war stories a million times, memorized every one of them, and decided that I wanted to go in the British Armed Forces the moment I was old enough to go, that way I could honor his legacy and be like him. 

The man was my hero. He taught me everything he knew, fathered me the way Bruce should have and still didn't, and was the father that I've always wanted. Alfred Pennyworth was my favorite Wayne family member, and I would not hesitate to hunt down and kill anyone who dared to insult him or put shade on his name. I was also Alfred's favorite grandchild out of all 7 of my siblings, and everyone in the manor knew that I was the favorite, nor did they try to argue or fight to be the favorite. My place was carved into Alfred's heart, and there was no replacing it, no matter how hard one could ever dream of trying. 

I smiled softly as I thought about Grandpa Alfie. If I had the ability to choose who I wanted my father to be, you had better bet your life that I would choose Alfred in less than a heartbeat. No one else could ever compare to him in the parent roll for me, since he is the only good parental influence I've ever had. Nothing I could dream of doing would ever be able to show him how grateful to him I was, though I tried to show it every damn day. 

Finishing up the last spot on my blood red helmet, I gently put my neatly folded suit in the case with all of the perfectly cleaned and polished guns, knives, and other weapons that I had used as The Red Hood, all fitting perfectly into their places once more as I put my suit away. However, instead of putting my well worn and beat up black leather jacket that I loved and favored over most of my jackets, I replaced my black one with a new brown version of my black one, which I kept out and shrugged on over my dark red hoodie, and I closed the case and locked it, then put the case away to be in the bottom of my closet, hidden from view, before putting my headphones in with my music and flopping onto my bed, my room scarily spotless so that Bruce wouldn't have another reason to start another fight with me over, or let him have the excuse of using me as a punching bag again. 

Yes, Bruce is abusive, but negligent of me as well. The man made Willis Todd, my abusive biological father, look like an irritated man, and that was when Bruce didn't come back from a gala drunk. After galas was always the worst, and I was afraid of Bruce because of how he was. Of course, I didn't tell any of my other family members any of this. I used to lie to them and say that it was from patrol and fighting a few gang members, but last time, 2 days ago, my older brother and sister confronted me with proof that I had been lying to them. Dick was hurt that I wouldn't tell him, and Barbra was suspicious of the whole thing. I had just told them to drop it and leave it alone, and left it at that, despite wanting to cry and tell them everything and have them help me get Bruce to leave me alone, but I didn't want to include them on the drama between Bruce and I. I was trying to protect all of my siblings and continue having a relationship with them, closely following all of the strict rules that Bruce was forcing me to follow. Not even Alfred knew that Bruce was abusing me. He would lose his shit if he found out what's been going on for years that only got dreadfully worse after I came back from the dead.