Behind a Broken Heart - a Red Hood love story

Chapter 11

"This bit of intel is what brought me to town. Good thing I've always had perfect timing." I roll my eyes as I lean on the computer. It was the next night, and before we went out patrolling, Bruce had asked why Dick was in town. Dick held up a jump drive and smirked. "Take a look."

I glance at Dick and Bruce, noticing that both are pretty handsome guys. It made me smile, then I thought the only thing that would make this better is if Jason was here.

Dick plugged in the jump drive and a video of the guy from last night popped up, running across the rooftops.

"I got this shot from a snitch. He says this guy's been making some serious moves." Dick informs us.

"The Red Hood." Batman says. A slight shiver went up my spine, which Batman noticed.

"Might be. He bears a resemblance to the original." I shake my head.

"No he doesn't, this one is smart and calculating." I say.

"Several criminals have utilized this persona." Batman brings up several news articles showing lots of different Red Hoods. I shake my head.

"But only one gives us problems. Well two, if you count this new one."

"But he's locked up." Dick says.

"He better be." I mumble out. Bruce reaches over and squeezes my arm.

"Not his M.O. either." Bruce says, mainly looking at me. "There's been an uptick in heavy tracking, but crime is down."

"Indeed it is." I look over and see Alfred with a tray of mugs. He offers one to me and I shake my head. "Master Bruce and Ms Victoria got almost three hours of sleep in the last two days. True busman's holiday." I chuckle and roll my eyes, while Dick takes a mug.

"But he is locked up." I noticed Batman stand up and head toward the Batmobile. I quickly follow him and sit in the passenger seat. "Like a lot locked up. Maybe we should go for a visit." Dick looks over and noticed both of us were gone. I giggle when he looks back toward the car. "Could you just say 'Let's get in the car'? Is that so hard?" He quickly runs over to us and jumps in.

"I knew he wanted to go." I tell him as we take off. Dick rolls his eyes at me as he slips his mask on.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever." I giggle and finally slip my mask on. The rest of the ride there, I could feel myself getting tense. I knew we were going to Arkham Asylum and who we were talking to. I could feel Batman's eyes on me almost the whole ride there.

When we get there, Batman doesn't open the door right away. He turns and looks at me with concern in his eyes.

"V, are you going to be ok, being near him?" I took a deep breath and nod my head.

"You and Dick will be there so I should be ok. I won't put him in a body cast this time." Dick gives me a really confused look.

"What happened?"

"I'll tell you later." I tell him. We finally decided to head inside.

With each step that brought us closer to his cell, I felt myself get more and more tense. It has been awhile since I have been in front of him, and I was worried. The Joker likes to talk about what happened with Jason every time he sees me.

When we get there, he instantly starts laughing. A shiver shoots down my spine and I want to run. I hide behind Batman, hoping that will avoid him from talking to me.

"You look good. Been working out?" Joker asks, not sure to you though. I was also glad to see he was in a straight jacket. "You could probably use a little sun. Then again, who am I to talk?" He starts cackling, which makes my skin crawl. I grab onto Batman's cape, trying to calm myself down.

"He is calling himself the Red Hood." Batman says, tossing a photo of the guy down in front of him. "What do you know about it?"

"That he has horrible taste. When I wore that number, it was classy. More flashy maitre d' than motorcycle fetish. Oh, these kids today. Kinda like you, huh shockie." Damn, he knew I was here. I step out from behind Batman, which makes Joker smile.

"If you're behind this in any way, we will find out." Nightwing says.

"Oh, bird boy, you're so much less fun now. All grown up and in your big-boy pants. Still, better off than his replacement, right shockie?" I growl as I clench my fist. "Even tougher making with the yuks when you're worm food. If only shockie could have saved him, then he would be here now."

I couldn't take it anymore, I rushed toward Joker, grabbed one of the chains and through him into the door. I then walk over to him and grab his throat and hold him to the door. Joker looks at me and smiles.

"You gonna do it this time? Even though the big bat is here? Or are you going to put me in another body suit for six months?" I growl.

"The only bone I didn't break is your neck, how about we fix that?" I growl out, which makes him cackle again.

"Night Shock." I feel Batman's hand on my shoulder. I glare at Joker than drop him to the ground.

"So disappointing. But back to the matter at hand...this new hoody. You really think I would stir up so much trouble and not make sure you knew it was me?" Joker says, looking up at us. He starts cackling again which is when we decided to take our leave, ready to get out of this place.