The Veil Between

Chapter Four | A Hero's Work Is Never Done

Chapter Four | A Hero's Work Is Never Done

"What are we supposed to do now?"

Jason wasn't the type to stand down easily, and he knew that in some way, Tobias was connected to the person he was hunting down. Even if he wasn't the one who was guilty, he was still at the end of the trail and was their only lead.

He was sitting on the couch in Anna's apartment, hands in his lap, leaned forward looking thoughtful, his brow knitted together. The bartender sighed and walked over to him, setting down a drink on the coffee table in front of him, before dropping to sit at his side, looking into the deep amber color of her own drink with a thoughtful expression.

"...I'm sorry, Jason, but you know it wasn't him. There's no way it was him. He was just too sweet, there was no way he was acting, and I wouldn't let your hot-headedness let you kill him for something he didn't do."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, don't worry, I'm not mad at you for defending him, you were totally right, and I just feel bad for making him cry. I was just..." Jason sighed heavily, leaning back against the couch and closing his eyes. "I finally got a lead after so long, and it just crumbled through into nothing. I thought I had finally caught the killer and it was just a 'wrong place, wrong time' sort of thing! It was really disappointing!"

"I know, Jason, I know..." Anna reached out to pat him on the shoulder, but the other moved, standing up before she could touch him, making her sigh and look up as he began to pace. "I know you'll find the killer, okay? You just have to be patient-"

"Be patient?! How can I be patient- what do you want me to do? Sit and wait and hope that clues line up in my lap so I can solve this?! The longer it takes me to solve the more people end up dead! Which will be my fault!"

Anna didn't flinch when the other shouted at her, only staring at him with a mild look of annoyance, not happy that the other was being so melodramatic.

"You know it's not your fault, and I know you're doing the best that you can, which is good enough... you just need to focus. Blame the killer, let it help encourage you to find them, the need to find the man responsible should be the reason behind your work, not to stop things you don't have any control over."

The vigilante exhaled through his nose with a frown, a long silence hovering between them as Jason leaned his jaw on his hand.

"I think I ought to be heading home now, I have a lot to think about," Jason pushed himself up from the couch, and Anna looked annoyed. "Why are you looking at me like that? I had a bad day, okay? I'm allowed to be upset."

"Yes, you're allowed to be upset, but it seems like the main reason you're throwing such a fit is because you were wrong about Tobias. Not because the trail went cold."

"Whatever," He huffed, rolling his eyes but not denying her accusations because, well, she was right, he was mostly upset that he had been so quick to judge and, as a result, zeroed in on the wrong man while possibly letting the right one get away. "I'm going home. Send me a message if any new leads come up on the case."

"Sure thing, boss," Anna huffed with an unpleasant expression, picking up his empty glass and taking it to the kitchen as she watched Jason quite literally jump out of her living room window and vanish. "Tsk. Men."

The vigilante had landed on the next roof, not looking back at the apartment over the bar, but instead moving on his way, heading back to the site of the last crime, that last dead body that he thought was his ticket to solve the mystery. Instead of finding a looted corpse as he expected, he found no corpse at all,

He frowned, approaching the spot with the stain of still mostly fresh blood, and found a slate, sitting in front of it, just out of reach of the sticky red pool, but not far enough that it would have been missed by the vigilante.