Lost Stars

Chapter Forty Six

-Athena's POV-

I sat in the basement of one of Jason's safe houses. I blasted classic 80's hits as I did some research on his computer. Because of the fire Jason started in my house, the heat had damaged my computer's circuits. I was able to salvage my data, but my computer was completely trashed.

Jason had felt so guilty about destroying my relatively cheap set up that he promised he would buy me a newer, better computer and allow me to use his until then. Despite the closeness that had developed between Jace and I, I was still cautious when researching on his computer. I covered my tracks and made sure that nothing could ever be found. It was a habit of mine, I guess, never trusting anyone or anything all the way.

As far as I had discovered, all the drug cartels were blowing up over Black Mask's incompetence. Everyone was pissed off that Red Hood had threatened them and that Black Mask still hadn't done anything about it. Mr. Mask, of course, wouldn't ever admit to the fact that he couldn't do anything about it. Actually, according to a Deep Web Gotham blog, Black Mask informed one of the Mafia Godfathers that he had a plan to handle Red Hood and his, quote, "mother fucking bitch of a wife."

I leaned back in Jason's chair, holding my chin in my hands. What could Black Mask be planning? It wasn't anything we couldn't handle. So far, Blackie was only sending us small inconveniences. I could fight every single adversary he sent after us with my eyes closed. At first, most of the goons that chased after us targeted Jason and ignored me. Now, I had become just as big of a target.

That made me smile.

While I did more research, I found I became a very popular subject among drug dealers. Even the ones that worked under Red Hood gossiped about me. In fact, they gossiped about me more than Black Mask's people did. All the people did was talk trash about me. They didn't like Red Hood to begin with, but they really didn't like me. Some of the criminals that now worked for Jason actually had grown pretty attached to him. The ones that had been forced to work for Black Mask -- and therefore, hated him even more than Red Hood -- respected Jason and saw him as their leader. So, when I was brought into the mix, I was instantly accused of being a traitor.

Because of my past involving the Bat Family, the Red Hood worshipers were convinced that I was working with Batman as an undercover agent. As far as I knew, Jason hadn't heard any of these accusations. And if he did, he didn't seem to listen to them or bring them up to me. He didn't seem to think I was traitorous and seemed to be putting his trust into me.

But, we were two birds of the same feather. I didn't trust Jason completely and if he was smart, he didn't trust me completely either.

Just as an image of Jason's bright smile popped into my mind, I heard a knock at the garage door. Puzzled, I chuckled and flipped a switch that opened it. I looked outside to see that it was pitch black outside and raining. I hadn't even noticed the sun go down. Or how long Jason had been out on a "interrogation" mission.

As the garage opened, there seemed to be no one standing there. The soft pitter patter of the rain made the mood of the room shift into something ominous. BOOM! A strike of lightning. The bolt struck a building about a mile away, illuminating the entire night sky. The bluish white flash behind the opened garage revealed that there in fact was a person standing there. Their entire body was thrust into a sudden spotlight, every detail of them fleshed out broadly.

Jason met my eyes right before the darkness took over again. In that second, a smirk crossed his face. His lip was bleeding. Again. With another strike, Jason winked. I rolled my eyes. "Get your ass in here, lover boy," I groaned. He swaggered in.

Coming towards me, his eyes locked on my form, he reached out and pulled me into him. I could feel his muscles as they squeezed against me. "Off, off, off!" I squealed like a school girl. The rain had soaked him all the way through his clothes. And now his sopping body was being pressed against me.