Hell's Sniper | J. Todd

XV - Duality

You're left with me
Cause you left me no choice
- Slipknot

Diana's question wasn't a ridiculous one, but the best answer I could give was that I was in the Green Berets. Chief huffed loudly when I said that, but when I asked him to elaborate he just looked at me with a blank stare.

My dogs aren't my biggest problem right now either, because as I sit in my car on my way to Jason's 'safe house', I've still got to do something about that piece of tech I stole from Lex.

"Did you really have no idea they were hellhounds?" said dogs- no, hellhounds- sit in the back seat or the boot, with Chief half-standing on the centre console.

"No," I reply, "But I probably should have told you about the telepathy."

"Yeah," Jason says, a single sharp word.

"I'm a sergeant now," I say after a long silence.

"Congrats," he genuinely says, his half-anger left aside for now.

"On one of the night teams, and I'll have one day on and two days off."

"Well, that's a lot better than the last arrangement," Jason admits, his hand moving over the centre console to rest on my thigh. Chief looks down at his hand, almost like he's offended.

"Where'd Max learn to throw knives? You?"

"Yeah," I reply, the awkward air returning and making the car stuffy despite it almost being New Years. New Years. I'll have to ask Jay about that later. "She was... kind of lost at some point two years ago," I say hesitantly. Flashes of Max's best friend's body sprawled and spattered across asphalt. Chief whines in my ear, almost like he knows what I'm thinking. He probably does. "I taught her some knife skills that I learned in the Green Berets as a way to cope."

Jason senses there's something more going on, but smartly decides not to push on it.

***

When we arrive at the safe house, I'm almost surprised to see it's a small place in the middle of the forest with no neighbours for a good while. 

"My best friend's here too. It's probably time you met him."

I lead the dogs out of the car and onto the front porch, where they yap about something with low growls coming in response.

Jason pauses, glancing at the dogs and then me. Hesitantly, he asks, "What are they talking about?"

"Petrova's hungry. Corvus told her that they just ate four hours ago. They're split in half on whether Petrova should be hungry or not." Chief yaps, on Petrova's side. Ruby makes a garbling, yappy sound that sounds a lot like her rudely dismissing his statement. "They'll probably fight for ten minutes until they realise they're all hungry and then beg me for food. That's usually how it goes."

Jason doesn't laugh or make a single sound or movement to show he's heard what I said. Something tugs at my heart and the dogs stop fighting mentally, watching me with keen eyes.

Jason opens the door after inputting the code for the security lock, not even noticing that the dogs have stopped bickering. I attempt to step inside after him, but Chief and Natayla push through the doorway first. They stay ahead of me, Corvus and Ruby on either side and Simo and Petrova trailing after. The standard protection formation.

The safe house has a bland interior, the only thing make the place interesting is the overbearing amount of security measures all around the house, but they don't make me feel safe at all.

"Hey Jay," an unfamiliar voice says from the kitchen counter. A red-head eating a sandwich, judging me from his spot in the room. Then his gaze flicks to the dogs and something shifts in the air. "Who's that?"

Jason gives me a side glance before replying. "She's my girlfriend." His girlfriend since this morning and maybe for not much longer. "Her dogs are hellhounds." he spits the word hellhounds out as if it tasted like bile.

"What?" Roy and I both shout at him, but for two different reasons. Roy because he's staring at my dogs a lot more cautiously than he was before. And me because I've only known Roy for a minute.

"She's also the one who killed the Joker and just recently the Black Mask." Jason then replies to my question after he answers Roy's. "He's a vigilante too. You can trust him."

I don't even know if I can trust you right now. Then I immediately leave the thought.

 "Is there a spare room I can sleep in?" I ask, the moment of awkward silence being one of many so far and to come. 

"There's the couch or my room," Jason suggests, but he doesn't meet my eyes. I have to nudge Chief with my foot to stop him from growling.

"And my room," Roy adds to try and clear the air. "But that's probably not going to... never mind."

Jason's glaring at him until I answer, "Couch is fine." Jason has the audacity to be surprised at this, glancing at me again but subtly flinching when he meets my glare.

A loud slurp comes from Roy as he audibly drinks from his cup, switching back and forth between looking at me and Jason like he's watching a TV show.

"Knock it off, dickhead," Jason snaps, and I don't think he knows how much I want him to do the exact same thing.

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ily 🫶