Cold Love

Red Hood

"Woh! Bat's you really let the city go in flames," Hal joked into the coms as he stopped the sixth robbery tonight. He had only been out for an hour. An hour! The police looked dead. Not even giving him a second glance.

"No offense Batman, but I have to agree," Clark added. "You really let this city go."

"Focus!" he huffed in response. Batman and the boys had been too busy trying to find Jane. The girls could only do so much with Cass out on a soul searching mission. They had their own patrols plus their own lives plus a new gang. Power was shifting in Gotham. Someone was making their way up the chains but that could be dealt with. Later.

"I scanned the city five times now, there's still no sign of her. We're sorry Bruce but we need to stop this," Clark explained. The Justice League needed to take care of the world. He knew this woman meant a lot to Bruce but there was no sign of her in Gotham. He landed on the roof of Wayne manor but to his surprise, he wasn't alone.

"Dick?"

"She's our mom. If someone took your mother, would you stop looking?" For the second time Superman saw Nightwing so broken. The first time was when Jason died.

"No. No I wouldn't," he placed a hand on Nightwing's shoulder as the boy gave him a small smile. "Never." With that Superman returned to look, maybe a thousand times more. Though he did have many questions for his dear friend Bruce Wayne but for now, he would help the family with all he had to offer.

The Justice league searched the city for two days, yet they found nothing. They found nothing. Their target moved her two more times with the same note; 'Try harder'. She was in Gotham for sure but where, no one knew.

"We can conclude whoever this is, knows us. All of us," Nightwing put his head on the table. They had the help of Superman, Aquaman, Flash, Wonder woman, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter yet they found nothing. Nothing but failure.

"I think they're trying to kill two birds with one stone," Tim suddenly ran to the Bat computer. Bruce watched the boy with interest, while Dick didn't bother. "There's a new gang in town. While we were busy searching for her, they were able to take over. A distraction. But not just any distraction -"

"A personal one," Bruce finished for him as he too began looking more into this gang.

"That would mean they know us but that's impossible......" Dick trailed off.

"Red Hood," Batman read the name out loud with bitterness. He clenched his fits as he put down his cowl. Dick instantly got up while Tim looked confused at the two's reaction. "Joker."

Meanwhile:

Not knowing how long it had been, she expected the day to go as usual. Eat, sleep, wakeup in a new place and repeat. But to her surprise it wasn't. Her captor allowed her the gift of seeing his face or at least his red helmet. He sat there watching her as she observed his every move. They stayed like that for hours until he pulled out a phone. He dialed a number before putting it on speaker.

"Hello Jay, It's me. Jane. I don't know if you can hear me.......but I want you to know that I'm so sorry for breaking your heart. I'm sorry Jay but I don't want you to find your biological mother. Call me selfish if you must but you don't need her. You have us. Your Family. ....... I love you Jay. Please come back home."

She cried as the message finished. She begged him to stop.

"Hello Jay. It's me, Jane. I know you will never hear this but I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry that I couldn't give you the love that you needed. I couldn't be the mother you needed. I'm sorry I didn't attend your funeral but I just couldn't bring myself to ........ I love you and there's not a day that I don't miss you. I hope no matter where you are......you're happy. You deserve all the happiness in the world."

But he continued playing them. He watched her every move, every tear. It was as if he was feeling something he hadn't felt for a long time. A feeling he didn't enjoy but still wanted.

"Hey Jay. It's been a while. Bruce has your number reserved so no one can have it. .......I haven't....I haven't seen them for a while now and I don't think I'm going to be seeing them any time soon. But I'm doing good. I met a man. Cliché right? Anyways, Happy Birthday. Miss you."

He left it on repeat. The message kept reminding her of everything. Of the boy she raised as her son. Of the boy she couldn't bring herself to attend the funeral of. The boy she failed. Bruce's words. Maybe if she had loved him more, he wouldn't have gone to find his mother. If she could have been a better mother, maybe it wouldn't have happened. Maybe.....

A/N:

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