Children Of The Bat

Chapter 3: It Had to be You!

Mary's P.O.V
03:00 EST Gotham City

"Aw come on! Of all gangs I could've helped, it had to be yours!? Of course!" I wined to the real gang leader.

"Now, is that anyway to talk to someone who just saved your life?" He said mockingly.

I glared at the man, wanting more than anything to punch him right in the nose, like I should have a few months ago, "DON'T YOU HAVE TO GO KILL SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE ELSE, RED HOOD!?"

"Surprisingly no," he said. "He was actually my only problem tonight," he pointed at the dead man he shot. "So, thanks for distracting him, I guess."

"Ek, whatever!" I shouted, and kneeled down to the man I thought -at first- was the gang leader. I started reapplying pressure to the man's bullet wound, the bleeding was slow but wasn't stopping.

"Here, let me help you," Red Hood said kneeling down next to the man, opposite of me. He was about to put his hands on top of mine to help add pressure, but I yanked my hands away before he touched me. "Yeesh Batgirl, whats wrong? Afraid you're gonna get cooties from lil' ol' me?" He mocked, with a small chuckle following the sentence.

"Yeah! Your murderous stupidity might be contagious," I sassed.

"HA! Good one!" He responded, "but it's not stupidity... it's my style." He said this part in a steriotypical new yorker accent.

There was an unsettling silence in the air, despite this I glared at the hooded man wanting more than anything to punch him in the face. I was going to walk away and leave things the way they were before I decided to get the society into a gang war, when he said, "You shouldn't have done that."

"Done what?" I asked defensively.

"Gotten into this fight," he replied casually. "You could've gotten seriously hurt."

"...and what's it to you!" I crossed my arms with anger. There was something about Red Hood I couldn't figure out, he seemed to care about me. I've seen him with people in his gang, while spying on them, he would put a bullet through each and every one of them if he didn't need them to work his plans. The only time he gave mercy to someone was when they begged him, but strangely it was only with the one man. I thought back to that night.
______
"No! Please!" Yelled the man, his voice filled with terror as Red Hood had him by the throat.

"Why!? After what you did! Give me one good reason, not to kill you." growled the furious Red Hood.

"I don't know if this is a good reason in your opinion..."

Red Hood slammed the man into the wall, "STOP DRAGGING IT OUT AND SAY IT!"

"Please, m-my niece, sh-she needs me!" After this sentence Red Hood's eye softened a little, "I-I'm all she has. Please don't make a little girl suffer for what I did."

Red Hood let go of the man and let him fall to the floor, "Good reason..."

"Th-thank you," The man said still scared.

"You're dismissed," Red Hood said so softly, that I almost didn't hear him. The man ran out of the building as his boss was lost in thought.

"Batgirl..." I heard someone say.
~~~

"BATGIRL!" Red Hood yelled, snapping his fingers in my face.

"Huh, what?" I asked, being surprised out of my flashback. There was no one around except Red Hood, it looked like the fight never even happened. "What did you say?"

"I said, it's late and you probably have to be somewhere in the morning, you should head home," he said handing me some of my bat-a-rangs he must've rounded up.

"Oh, right. Thanks," I said taking the weapons from his hand as I stood up.

"No problem."

I started to jump the buildings, I was one building away from him when I heard him call, hands cupped over where his mouth would be under his mask, "Be careful, would cha'?"

Did Red Hood, the man I see a lot on the news due to police reports of him murdering people, the man I watched take three bullets to the chest at once, the man I witnessed take on Black Mask one-on-one, just tell me to be careful? Who the heck is this Guy?

Jason's P.O.V
03:45 EST Gotham City

"...and what's it to you!" Batgirl said in anger. I rolled my eyes and continued to apply pressure to the bullet hole in Charlie's shoulder.

There was a long silence as my men started picking themselves up and cleaning up the mess from the fight. I finally got the bleeding to stop. I looked next to me as Charlie stood up, a shining black piece of metal on the street caught my eye, I picked it up and realized it was a bat-a-rang, a few of my men came over and handed me a few bat-a-rangs they had found themselves. As I was given the last of the high tech boomerangs I looked at my watch and realized it was three forty-five.

"Hey, Batgirl," I said, not looking at the fifteen year old girl. "It's pretty late, you might want to head home, I'm not sure if you have anything in the morning or what, but..." I trailed off as I looked at the girl lost in thought. Her eyes were glassy and she had a strange face, it looked like a combination of confusion, anger, and I'm guessing a little fear.

"Batgirl..." I said still not getting an answer out of the kid. Now, I was worried. What is she thinking about? Is she scared of what could've happened in the fight if I wasn't there? Is she thinking about someone, me, Alfred, Bruce maybe?

"BATGIRL!" I yelled snapping my fingers in front of her eyes.

"Huh, what?" She said surprised, "What did you say?"

"I said, it's late and you probably have to be somewhere in the morning, you should head home," I said holding out her bat-a-rangs.

"Oh, right. Thanks," she said standing up and taking the weapons.

"No problem," I grunted trying to hide my worried voice.

I watched as she climbed a building with ease. Yup, she's his daughter alright. As she started running away I couldn't help myself and I cupped my hands around my mouth so my voice would project to her, "Be careful, would cha'?" I shouted, but I doubt she heard me, she didn't even slowdown. "Please, be careful, I don't want to find out my niece is dead because I wasn't there," I whispered to myself.

******
05:00 EST Jason's Apartment, Gotham City

I trudged into my apartment and slammed the door, I flopped onto the couch and laid face down until I had to turn over to breathe. "Ow!" I gasped as I turned to face the ceiling. "I guess I took more than a punch, hehe."

I stood up and walked into the kitchen, I opened the fridge and looked inside, "Bleh, I gotta go to the store." I muttered to myself.

I went into my bedroom and grabbed my first aid kit, I looked through it for disinfectants and stitchings. When I found that stuff I pulled my black t-shirt with a red bat across the chest, off and started stitching up my bullet holes.

When I was done with that, I laid in bed and tried to fall asleep, but my thoughts about someone, were keeping me from doing so. Did she get home alright? Is she even home? What if something happened to her?

I pushed the thoughts out of my head the best I could, I turned over to face my nightstand, because of my stupid idea to do that, I came face-to-face with a pair of bright blue eyes. I knew the eyes well. I reached my arm over and grabbed the picture of me and my brother sitting on the stone bench in the park. He had his right arm around my neck, trying to give me a noogy with his left hand, while laughing at the camera. I was scowling, with my hands around his left arm trying to pull him off me. Strangely, despite the annoyance caused by my older brother, that was one of my favorite memories with him. I remember that day vividly, even though it was nearly twenty-one years ago. I was twelve and he was fourteen. I smiled at the picture and put it back on the nightstand, "Don't worry Dickie-bird, I'm keeping an eye on her." And with those last words, I dozed off into the most peaceful sleep I've ever had.