Hatred Never Looked This Good (Young Justice) [1/3]

3 | Rift

And when you ask them
"How much should we give?"
Ooh, they only answer more

Team Year Four
GOTHAM CITY
Oct 31, 23:11

"Jet, stop!"

A muffled yell tried to grab my attention but all I could afford to focus on was the sound of my pounding heart, the curve of the trigger, and the bloodied white face I held the gun to.

"JET!"

A hard hit to my side sent me to the ground and my head began to clear.

Jason had gone missing. We had been in this situation before and knew that the more time that passed, the less of a chance we had of finding Jason. Hours turned into days and days turned into weeks. I became hostile towards everyone but naively hopeful Jason was still okay.

Then Bruce received a Joker playing card with Jason's blood on it. We traced it and found our way to a warehouse. Batman and I were the first to arrive but I was the first to attack when I heard their laughing, Jason's screams, and then--his silence.

I could actually hear my heart break--or maybe it was only my mind snapping. I only remember a blur of reactions but Batman's hit woke me up enough to find him wrestling a gun from my hand.

A laughing psycho spat blood and teeth, Harley coughed as she unwrapped a cable from around her neck, and a lifeless body of Robin laid only feet away. Sadness overwhelmed me and until anger consumed me.

"Get off of me, Batman!" I growled to my former partner who only roughly pinned me back to the ground.

"Stand down!"

"I don't answer to you anymore!" I kicked him off and lunged at Joker who thought the whole thing was a gas. Batman tackled me again.

"You need to leave," he growled.

"I'm not going anywhere until they are dead." I growled back.

"And what will you tell the police--the police that are minutes away?"

Nightwing and Batgirl walked in, throwing off our argument. They looked at us and at Jason. Batgirl took off her cape and covered him as Nightwing handcuffed the two psychos. My former partner got off of me and I stood up.

"They'll be charged with Robin's murder. I promise we'll have justice, Jet," he said quietly but it only stoked the fire inside of me again.

"And he'll just escape and kill someone else. They are monsters, Batman. They deserve to die."

"If you kill him, you'll be just like them."

"Would that be such a bad thing?!" My temper got the better of me again. "Someone should start getting rid of them. We lost Jason and you're going to do nothing! AGAIN! You don't care about him, you never did!"

Batman grabbed my suit and yanked me to him, bringing my slightly off the ground.

"Batman, don't!" Batgirl yelled.

"He won't hit me," I challenged. "He uses fear to get his way, not violence. But when criminals cross a line, he won't follow."

He growled and tightened his grip, struggling with the urge to fight me.

"You don't scare me, Batman. I know what fear is, remember? You are a cheap knock off and they know it. They know they can kill us, and you will do nothing. Robin is dead and this is your fau--"

"Choose your next words carefully, Jet," he whispered menacingly.

"Joker would be dead right now if we did it my way. Your code killed Robin."