[OPEN/CLOSED] We've gotta hooold on~ To what we've got~

[robintohood]

Who: Jason Todd robintohood and you! And special closed prompts with Jason Todd (reneger), Sleeper (solo_sleeper), Bucky Barnes (deadthenred), and Tim Drake (overlyprecocious).
What: Various antics Jason’s gotten into. Some are more legal than others and might be related to pod people.
When: Second half of April
Where: Central City
Content Warnings: PG13-level violence in the closed prompts. Will add more warnings if needed.

Descendant:

[It’s early evening and the Descendant Bar and Lounge is open as usual. However, compared to most nights, this night and this entire month has been kind of quiet. There aren’t as many customers and the ones who do show up sometimes leave early. Jason knows it’s because of the alien worms but business still needs to continue somehow.

He’s still doing what he can whenever he’s working as the bar’s owner. He’s attending to customers (especially the VIP ones), serving drinks and food, checking on the reading room, and sometimes has to step in as part of security to throw out a rowdy customer. Sometimes, he’s literally throwing them out. It’s good exercise.

Coincidentally, songs like “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Livin’ On A Prayer,” and brave attempts at “Bohemian Rhapsody” can sometimes be heard from the second floor’s stage]

This shit better not be prophetic.

[Regardless of what Jason’s doing, come talk to him. He could probably use the break]

Warehouse raid (Closed to the other Jason Todd, Bucky Barnes, and Sleeper):

[Ever since his other self told him he successfully robbed the D’Amicos, Jason sought out more of their bases with his gang. After all, it’s not often he gets a chance to further weaken a mob that was still recovering. After many nights and a lot of hard work, Jason soon enough found the perfect base to rob. He’s even going to have backup for tonight.

It’s nearly midnight and Jason’s at the edge of Central City, perched on the rooftop of an old brick building and fully dressed in his Red Hood gear. He has a plan and he trusts the rest of the party enough to not screw up the raid.

But as Jason stares at the warehouse a block away from him, he can’t help but frown under his helmet]

Another Productive Night (Closed to Young Justice!Tim Drake):

[It's another Central City evening and Jason's deep in his gang's territory as the Red Hood once again.

There are three motorcycles parked outside of an auto repair shop and the building’s lights are still on. Suddenly, there’s a loud commotion as Jason drags out a man and then slams him against the wall. He then pins his victim by having his forearm pressed hard against the man’s neck]

You were warned, Benny.

[As Benny struggles to breathe, two more men come out of the building. Both are in motorcycle helmets with the visors down to cover their faces and wearing gloves. One man has hands as large as a gorilla’s. Neither of these two men seem disturbed as they watch Jason begin to pistol whip Benny across the face]

Wildcard:

((OOC: Got something else in mind? Hit me up! I always welcome new CRs as well. My contact information is on this journal's profile and I'm in the game's Discord server. Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns as well. I also have a feedback post.))

Comments

[overlyprecocious]

[Surveilling Red Hood hasn't exactly been as much fun as trailing Batman and Robin was in his younger days. It's good practice using his new power to keep from getting caught, but it's also enlightening in an unpleasant way to watch his semi-older brother/predecessor/one of his personal heroes run around playing crime boss. And yeah, he's not an idiot, he can put together the pieces and realize that Jason's taking a Lesser of Two Evils approach to crime prevention, but he doesn't have to like it.

He doesn't have to want to stand by idly and watch, either. He doesn't jump into this directly because odds are not great that it would end well for anyone, but he sends a birdarang flying into the wall nearby, finally letting Red Hood know that there's a stray Robin watching if he cares to trace it back to its origin.]

[robintohood]

[The birdarang lands a few inches away from Jason and into the wall. Benny had flinched while Jason's men immediately spin around and look in the direction where they think the birdarang came from. The gorilla-handed man looks ready to charge while the other gang member ignites his hands, ready to throw fireballs.

Jason however, remains calm and hasn't moved from his spot. He has a good guess who threw it. Damian so far hasn't shown any interest in interacting with the rest of the BatFamily. The birdarang isn't in the right shape to be Dick's. Steph uses batarangs instead and would let him know ahead of time if she was going to be in his territory. The Tim he's known for a year also knows not to interfere too much in his territory.

Which leaves the newest addition to the family. Jason hadn't met him in-person yet but he's aware the kid's been around and that it sounds like he hasn't been beaten into being a cynic yet. Even older Tim has had to make certain dark decisions at this point.

Jason pistol whips his victim two more times before dropping him]

Disrespect me again and you'll see what this "wuss" will do.

[Benny whimpers and nods before he scrambles to get up and flees. Jason then turns to his men and turns on his helmet's infrared vision to search for the newest Robin to come to this version of Earth]

[overlyprecocious]

[Once the birdarang’s hit its target, Robin retreats a short ways to avoid the attention of Jason’s associates, but he doesn’t disappear entirely. He ends up on a rooftop just far enough away for privacy but close enough that it’s a clear invitation to follow and talk, if Jason’s so inclined.]

[robintohood]

[Jason spots Tim but pretends that he's still scanning as he addresses his henchmen]

They don't seem to be around. Back to base but use separate routes. Don't make it easy for whoever threw that thing.

[The duo nod and get back on their motorcycles. Jason also gets on his. As ordered, his henchmen zoom off and split away while Jason pretends to also go back to their base.

Once the henchmen were out of sight though, Jason makes a U-turn and heads towards Tim instead. He parks his motorcycle a few buildings away and then uses his grappling gun to get up to a rooftop. Once at that level, he parkours his way to where Tim is]

Nice to see family dramatics are a multiverse thing.

[overlyprecocious]

[He’s waiting more or less patiently, suit set to stealth mode, when Red Hood finally arrives. Honestly, it’s not like he planned out what he wants to say for this conversation. It’s not like he can ask what Jason thinks he’s doing, because Jason knows what he’s doing. Tim just threw the birdarang because he didn’t want to watch any more, and he wasn’t sure how bad it was going to get.]

Would any of us be in the family if we couldn’t do dramatic?

[robintohood]

Ha. Doubtful. Starts at the top with the old man after all.

[Really, every single BatFamily member has been dramatic at least several times]

Couldn't wait to just do a coffee talk or is this work talk now?

[overlyprecocious]

I don’t know.

[He really didn’t plan for this, after all. He was just watching the Robin who wore the colors before him pistol whip someone for not toeing the line of his rules correctly, and something in him said hey, fuck this, actually. It’s not like he planned a lecture or anything.]

[robintohood]

Oh? Surprised the others haven't warned you before you decided to tail me.

[They're deep in the Backbreakers' territory. Tim would have seen him working for a while now]

As you can see, I don't subscribe to the old man's bullshit anymore.

[overlyprecocious]

Which part is the bullshit?

[He didn't come here to fight, really. Just to keep an eye on Jason, find out what's happening with him. Follow up on the hint the other Tim gave him. If this is what the other Tim wanted out of setting him o this path, he's not sure what the point was.]

[robintohood]

That you can stop crime. That it's okay to trust a revolving door system to handle psychopaths who'll never feel remorse.

[It's an old argument for Jason at this point but it's one he'll never give up on. He's seen the system fail him and too many others too many times long before he died]

[overlyprecocious]

That people are capable of changing?

[It`s possible he glances pointedly at Jason to punctuate that question, but he's not yelling or anything. Just talking.]

If you don't think crime can be stopped then what are you doing?

[robintohood]

Controlling it.

[He doesn't want to yell at this version of Tim. He's young and Jason doesn't blame him for fully buying into Bruce's code. He used to be like that too until he saw too many failures in the justice system. But he won't mince words either]

Not everyone can change. You honestly think the Joker ever will?

[overlyprecocious]

I don’t know.

[He doesn’t want to get into a conversation about the Joker, not now, not with Jason. He could point out that the Joker wouldn’t ever have a chance to change if he’s dead, but that’s an incredibly cruel thing to say to someone the Joker killed.]

I think that there’s effects on everyone else that our identities have, and how we handle the bad guys changes that.

[robintohood]

At some point you get tired of the same monsters sauntering out of their cages and committing the same crimes over and over again without giving a damn for anyone else.

Some of us got tired of feeling like Sisyphus and went for something new.

[It's a cold anger in Jason's tone. This isn't like talking with Bruce but he wants to make his feelings and points clear to Tim]

[overlyprecocious]

[The thing is -

He wouldn't be Robin if he couldn't handle an angry adult, okay. That's like 80% of the job. It's not just that Jason is an angry adult. It's that despite never having really met this Jason before now, Tim thinks of him as family. And he's pissed off, and maybe he's pissed off at Tim specifically and maybe he's not, but Tim is the one who's here, and it does something to him, flips a switch in his brain.

At home, he would probably handle this by trying to be quiet and small until the anger's passed, but here, his brain knows a new trick, one that makes people stop noticing him. Except Jason's already noticing him, they're talking, so he can't just slip unnoticed through the gaps in his attention. It just makes him harder to pay attention to instead, and it's an outcome Tim might've predicted if he'd triggered the ability intentionally instead of unconsciously.]

[robintohood]

[Jason was about to keep talking when he stops and frowns. Something feels... off. It's hard to describe. It's like when someone gets up from the couch to grab a snack but has a brief glitch and forgets why they got up in the first place.

Jason looks in Tim's direction again and there's a sudden headache. He winces and instinctively looks away again]

What...?

[overlyprecocious]

[He's never used this power without intending to, so it takes him a moment to realize what's happening, that something's gone wrong. That the urge to hide away manifested in his ability activating without him meaning to, except no one's ever acted like this when he was using his power before. This isn't right, it's not - no one's ever acted hurt by it.

He takes a few steps back.] I'm sorry, I didn't mean to - [The apology would probably be more meaningful if he'd turn off the power, but it's difficult to do that when a large part of him still wants to hide.]

[robintohood]

[That headache is still going. Part of Jason keeps tugging at him to look away but another part of him is trying to tug him in the opposite direction]

What's happening?

[He forces himself to glance at Tim again. Something's wrong but Jason doesn't think it's something the teenager's doing on purpose]

[overlyprecocious]

[Has he been hurting people this whole time? He can't have been. No one's acted like they were visibly in pain before. It has to be because he's never used it while someone was actively talking to him before; maybe it doesn't work right if someone's already engaged with him.]

Sorry, I'll just - I'll go.

[Since he's not even sure how to deactivate it at this point (and it conveniently moves him out of the way if Jason decides to get pissed off about this, too), he just turns and runs, putting as much space between himself and Jason as he can as quickly as he can.]

[robintohood]

[Jason's too distracted by the headache to stop Tim from fleeing. As the boy runs, the pain begins to fade. By the time Tim's out of sight, the headache is gone.

Jason frowns as he looks around. What was he doing before? He was up here for a reason. Scouting? No, he was done with that for tonight. In the middle of going somewhere else? No. Meeting someone? Ah yes. That was it.

Wait. Tim. Or younger Tim. Something is Up and Jason knows there's been a serious misunderstanding. He takes out one of his burner phones and calls]