Blurred Lines.

safety is a privilege, jason

Barking demands has always been something that I left to Bruce. I never really wanted to be in charge. Well, at least, not in that point of my life. I could hear Bruce's voice in my head from the moment that I put on that suit. He'd always be coaching me on how to improve and how to make sure that when I am out on patrol that I'm being as safe as I could possibly be.

But we all know that I was a wreckless. We all know that I threw caution to the wind. Being a dare devil and doing what I thought was best, was two of the most thrilling things that I have ever experienced. After all, I had survived quite a bit in my life and I had decided that the universe wanted me around for a very long time.

But that's not always the story. We can spend months or even years living life on the edge. We can ignore ever warning sign and the cautions that we're given, but eventually, everything catches back up to us. For me, the danger that I provoked and ignored came crashing down on me the evening in the desert.

For someone else, it wouldn't necessarily be death. Most people, or none, come back from the dead. For the average Joe, it would be a car crash or an accident at work or something more. Something to put our pathetic lives in perspective.

I tried to preach safety to Jett from the moment that I met him. He was some bad ass on a motorcycle, weaving in and out of traffic with no helmet on. He would pull up, intimidate bullies, and then ride off into the sunset without ever having to throw a single punch.

And that worked for him. It worked for a while anyway, until someone figured out that the best way to put someone down, is to put a bullet in them. And that's what happened. Someone baited him into an alley and fired a shot. It went through his leg. It shattered bones and made his leg useless. When I found him on the street, he was angry, drunk and desperately alone. He was young teenager me, but in a grown man's body.

Jett and I spent many nights talking and just getting to know one another. I didn't expose who I was to him until a month later. He caught me climbing out of the window in my RedHood gear. He didn't tell me that he seen me until I came back home. Then he calmly asked me. I told him that I was from somewhere else and that I never chose this life. Because I don't think I did.

Bruce chose this life for me. He chose to take in the young, juvenile delinquent into his home and gave him hope. He gave this poor, homeless boy, a future. But what kind of future was it really? It was times like this when everything seems to be crashing in on me that I can't figure out what kind of future I actually have.

I love what I do. I love taking out bad guys and saving just one more life. I love the thrill of the chase and more than anything, I love that I am free to do as I please.

Something that I would have never been able to do without dying.

As I sped through the streets, trying my hardest to push my bike to the max, I kept thinking about the night that I found Jett. He was so mad that his life had thrown him a curve ball and had side lined him.

He was so upset that everything that he had faced that it was some coward that took him out of action. He had never hurt anybody. He'd never put his hands on anyone, but someone wanted him out of the picture.

But that's the way it is, isn't it? You try to do good by people by being the good in a flood of bad, only to get crapped on. If Gotham City has taught me anything, it's that people cannot be trusted. Not even for a second, not even for a minute.

That city has chewed up some of the best people I have ever met and made them into something more sinister and now, I'm afraid that it has done the same. I tried to run and escape Gotham, but there would never be an escape, because Gotham finds you.

I should have no ties to Gotham this far away, but here I am, faced with the criminal underworlds daughter who is pulling knives out on my friend and causing havoc.

When I left the mansion, I just kept thinking about how I would kill her if she hurt Jett. But the problem is, that I don't think I would. I understand the demons that she's fighting. I understand that she's trying to discover who this new person is.

Because in five years that I was gone, the world moved on. I was no apart of the world anymore than the world was apart of me. Five years of my life was gone. Five years of a present and history would never happen for me.

The world kept turning and it felt like there was no room for me anymore. Where did I fit into my old life? It was evident that there was still a place for me with Bruce, but the hole that my death caused, was filled by something else. A deep burning guilt.

A guilt that Bruce will not allow himself to let go of. A guilt that is eating him alive and pushing me away.

Finally, I arrive to the building that we've been staying in. The penthouse was me just being a rich spoiled boy. I didn't want to live in anything less than what Bruce had allowed me to grow used to.

I pushed the up button on the elevator. It seemed like it was taking forever. With floor that the elevator slowly passed, my heart started pounding harder and harder until the anticipation was killing me.

Finally, the door dings and opens. An elder couple, stared at me, snubbed me and walked into the lobby. I'm sure I look a sight, but if Bruce was beside me, they'd be tripping over themselves to impress Bruce Wayne. But for the moment, I was glad that I was a nobody. I was glad that rich jerks could look over me without so much double taking.

I entered the elevator and it seemed to take even longer to get to the top than it took to get to the bottom. I impatiently tapped my foot.

Finally, I was there. I ran out of the elevator and stopped at my door. I braced myself for what was on the other side. Was it nothing? Or was I going to walk into a murder scene where I would find one of my house mates dead.

I used my key and pushed open the door. All was quiet.. all was calm. It was too quiet and it was too calm.

"Jett." I yelled out.

Nothing.

"Jett, let me know where you are."

I stood silent, listening, but nothing. There was not a sound to come out of the penthouse.

My heart was pounding. I walked slowly to his room and knocked on the door. But nothing, I used my gun and pushed it open.

"Jett.."

What my eyes seen, made me quickly get out of the room and make a straight run to my room.

What the hell happened while I was away?

- I know.. I slacked all week... BUT BUT .. wait .. before you hang me out to die .. I'm going to post a chapter each day this week to make up for my lack of posting. YAY! Can we just agree to accept my apology?