metalogs | [OPEN/CLOSED] A Bird, came down the Walk

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[OPEN/CLOSED] A Bird, came down the Walk

Who: Jason Todd

robintohood and you!
What: Catch-all for May
When: April 28th to May 31st
Where: Central City
Content Warnings: Potential mention of death, PG-13 level violence, child neglect, and abandonment. Will add more warnings if needed.

Jason:

[It's a new month but unfortunately for Jason, he's wrung out already. The fight he had with his doppelganger on April 27th has left him feeling raw. He and the other Jason confessed and screamed at each other several very ugly things to each other, some of it was heard by both Tim Drakes.

Now there are questions swimming in his head. They're questions he doesn't know if he should be asking or even wants answers to. He doesn't know what to do with the emotional shrapnel the fight left behind. He's feeling incredibly uncomfortable in his own skin.

He knows he's too distracted to do all of his usual work so he decides to take a weeklong break from Descendant. People can still call and text him for any Descendant-related issues but otherwise, he won't be in the building. It's also because he doesn't know if he wants to deal with his brothers yet.

However, a lightened workload also means more time to think about the things he doesn't know if he wants to think about. This leaves him restless. Kind of literally too as his sleep schedule has worsened.

But he has to keep trucking along somehow. So during the day, you might catch Jason browsing at a library or a thrift bookstore. He keeps hovering at the classic literature sections and near the self-help books, unsure about what to pick]

Red Hood:

[The Society gave Jason a hit job and a deadline. He intends to build good favor with them so he and his gang can’t dawdle for long.

It's twisted but compared to other recent events, Jason finds the work almost a breath of fresh air. As far as he's concerned, the lines are clear and he knows exactly what to do. And after confirming the accuracy of the Society's intel, he now just needs to get a clear shot of the targeted serial killer.

It's evening and Jason's dressed in his Red Hood gear and perched up on a rooftop with a sniper rifle. He's staking out a seedy pool hall across the street from him. Meanwhile, a handful of his lackeys have taken their positions in nearby dark alleyways or are on standby with their motorcycles. They're all waiting for the serial killer and his crew to walk out of the pool hall.

Jason can't risk taking a shot yet as he and his gang are trying to avoid civilian casualties. Plus, the Society wants proof of his kill so he can't just shoot and run. He'll just have to be patient and wait. Hopefully nothing tries to thwart his plan]

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.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Guy is no ninja but he is someone that's hunted animals with infinitely better hearing than humans - or had to try to escape them. And those skills were refined even more by the arenas.]

[He's also intensely observant, with sharper eyesight than some modern humans. And prone to not understanding the concept of personal property. It's for this reason that he's taken to climbing up fire escapes - or even just the walls themselves - to get up on top of some of the buildings, the same way he might climb up a particularly tall tree to peer out and get the lay of the land below.]

[It's from a nearby building he'd climbed up to get a vantage point that he sees a strange sight, very easy to nearly miss. Someone laying down on a roof on his stomach holding some kind of metal tubes.]

[Is that a gun? He's seen other types of guns. Hand guns. The rifles of the Peacekeepers. Revolvers like the ones favored by one of his old friends. This one is long and thin and strange but it still looks like a gun. Maybe just a very long one. It probably does something special.]

[He hates guns after that one arena where he was shot. And he's gathered that people don't just randomly carry them here. Nor do they bring friends with guns like the one he spots below.]

[Ooh, maybe this is one of those crime things he's supposed to stop.]

[The hard part is all the stupid guns but at least he knows he has powers now and how they work. More than that, he's more used to sneaking around than many. His life has depended on it so often. While he may not be used to sneaking around the Bat clan he's had to sneak around owlbears before. Death cats.]

[He's also not stupid enough to approach from the ground. But he doesn't need to. Instead he pulls out a pocket knife he bought for himself and quietly breaks the flimsy lock on the the door at the top of the building he's on, jamming it in the lock and experimentally giving the hilt a hard tap. He goes down the stairs until he finds a hallway with a window that opens to the other building and gently prises it open, moving it slowly inch by inch. Then he climbs out the window, kicking off the sill so he can cover the distance to a window sill on the next building over, dynoing there and hooking his fingertips into it enough to support his weight. He digs his shoes into more cracks.]

[Like many other buildings in the area, the brickwork is an easy climb compared to some trees he's scrambled up before. The building is shorter than many of them, too. And it's not so much exertion he can't control his breathing to be as quiet as possible.]

[Of all possible ways for someone to sneak up on Jason, his goons were probably expecting a noisy hero's entrance on the street below, or an obvious flight of a superhero in from above. Or even a surprise attack by someone grappling over and beating the snot out of them. Not someone slinking across the alley in the shadows when one of them was turned away, and free soloing up the brickwork in near silence.]

[No grappling hook, no utility belt, no whisper of a cape, just the quiet digging of fingers and tips of his shoes in the brickwork.]

[But his goons are one thing. Some of them are better than others and some of his best are on the target. Jason himself is another.]

[The sounds are ever so subtle. The tiniest scrape of gravel under a shoe as his first foot is set down on the roof. The tiniest swish of cloth fabric against itself. The hush of a breath in the dark that might just be a breeze but perhaps isn't.]

[The sounds are so very faint and barely audible. If Jason wasn't as well trained as he is to be on high alert for sneak attacks, he would've easily missed the signs. He's not surprised that his lackeys missed it. They weren't trained the same way he was and their priority is on the serial killer and his gang tonight. No matter. He can take care of this himself.

Without turning around, Jason calmly answers]

I'm gonna give you 'til of count of five for you to explain why you're interrupting my job before I give my gun a warmup on you.

Edited 2023-05-05 02:53 (UTC)

[Guy immediately takes cover behind some kind of spinning vent...thingy.]

Technically, as an Alliance person, I think I'm supposed to stop you.

[A pause.]

But it depends on why you've got a gun pointed at somebody.

[Then he says something most heroes in the Alliance wouldn't.]

Because if they deserve it, I won't get in your way. So why do you want to kill them?

[Well that's unexpected. With the sniper rifle still in his hands, Jason turns around to look at him]

Like I said before, it's a job.

[He's not ready to give more details for now. This could be a trap to try and capture him]

Yeah, but a job that has the end result of doing a bad thing, or one that lets you put down an animal that needs to be put down?

[There is something in his tone that changes with the end of the last sentence. Like there is something raw underneath. Something bitter.]

If they're that bad that you're parked up here just waiting for a chance at them, I want to know.

[A pause.]

I might even help. It wouldn't be the first time.

Edited 2023-05-05 03:30 (UTC)

[Jason stands up as he continues to study Guy. The rifle is still in his hands and he's also got two handguns holstered at his hips as backup weapons. He's ready if this conversation turns into a fight. But it's a very unusual conversation and he wants to see where it goes]

That's not very Alliance of you, is it? Not very heroic.

[It's a sneering tone and a test to see how he reacts.]

I only signed up to make sure they guarantee my trips home. I happened on you by freak chance. So they won't know if I let you do whatever you're doing or if I help you.

[He thinks about what to say and opts for honesty.]

I think it's good they want to do good, I really do. I like that they're asking us to save people and I'll follow their rules if I don't have much choice. But before I fell into this world, I was in another future world for close to a year. One that took me from my home. They told me I was better off for it because my world was so primitive.

[He edges just slightly around the weird vent thing. His appearance is...striking. There is something distinctly un-modern about his features. They're impossible to place ethnically because the kind of person he is doesn't exist anymore, long since evolved into many other peoples. His skin is a lot more weathered for his age from sun and wind and sand. Some kind of stained designs are on a visible bicep, primitive-looking tiger stripes. Even despite his more modern clothes, leather wraps are on his wrists. He's still rocking the Bam Bam ponytail look, his course hair finally allowed to fall into disarray now that Capitol stylists aren't heckling him day in and day out.]

[Then there's the bracelet on one wrist, made of a lattice of leather strips wound around a piece of flint with two primitive figures smeared there, like ones from a cave wall. One that's clearly meant to be him based on the hair. The other is clearly a cavegirl with massive hair in a fan around her head. There is no other explanation. It's a cave drawing. Symbols as people.]

They were so civilized to me there. And to the other people from other worlds they kidnapped. And to the people from their own world they saw as less than themselves.

People that do the kinds of things they do don't change. They don't get better. [He repeats again.] So why are you here? Are you one of the people who's doing something awful or one of the ones trying to stop them?

[He honestly can't tell. The mask thing could be a hero (ish) thing. Or someone causing harm.]

Edited 2023-05-05 04:15 (UTC)

[Guy's story is too absurd and too detailed to be made up. Then there's the young man's features. Something about them reminds Jason of something he would see in a natural history museum. Accidental time travel isn't unheard of on this Earth but if Guy is from where Jason suspects he's from, then it's the biggest jump he's heard of so far.

He decides to continue to talk to get a clearer read on him]

The latter. Though if what you're telling me is true, you gotta be careful with the Alliance. You don't know if they like to spy on their members.

Oh, they probably do. That's nothing new for me, though. What you get away with is usually down to luck.

[If anything, so far it's still seemed like they're less controlling and observant than the Capitol.]

But like I said. It was freak chance I found you. They don't know I'm here.

[He shakes his head.]

Look, I just need to know whether I have to fight you or whoever you're targeting. If it's the latter...

[He pauses, trying to formulate the thought. There's too much awfulness behind it. Futility. Any good he'd done was usually wiped clean by the end of each arena. And outside the arena, no one was ever any freer.]

[He eventually finds the words, letting out a little puff of air beforehand, almost but not quite a sigh.]

It'd just be nice to stop someone bad for once and actually have it stick.

[He tilts his head slightly, expression shrewd.]

Considering you've been talking this whole time instead of trying to take my head off, that has me thinking you're probably not the biggest problem here.

Yeah, I'm far from the worst guy you could meet.

[He could name dozens of other criminals that are so much worse than him]

Sounds like this other place you were in gave you a hell of an experience. I make it a point to make sure they stay down.

[Guy considers this, tries to judge the tone. His instincts about people have gotten sharper over time.]

[Necessity.]

[It was very easy to trust the wrong people in the arenas and vital to risk trusting the right ones.]

[He believes him. Maybe this guy isn't Alliance but he knows some people aren't. That doesn't change that some might still be trying to do good outside the system. Especially if they use methods that are a bit more...permanent. And it's a system Guy certainly distrusts himself. If it weren't for wanting to sometimes go home...]

What did the person you're targeting do? And do you have some kind of proof? [A pause]. Preferably proof that's video or a picture or something. I kinda can't read. Writing hasn't been invented back home.

[That sure cements the prehistory thing. Gotta have writing to have a history.]

[Earning Guy's trust over the target may waste a little time but it can also prevent him from interrupting this entire affair. As of right now, he hasn't made enough of a disturbance to tip anyone off in the bar below. Or even to tip off Jason's men. He's kept his volume well controlled and largely stuck to the shadows. A super fight would blow this thing wide open.]

If you do, and it's bad enough, I'll help you.

[Which is much better than him ruining Jason's chance like a lot of heroes would.]

[Jason lightly scoffs. It seems almost too good to be true that an Alliance member would willingly help him on an assignment like this while knowing full well it's supposed to end with a murder. But again, there are also details Guy's mentioning that are too good or too specific to be lies. Why mention being illiterate if he's not? That further confirms what time period he's from]

You're really that good of a person then? Not everyone's got the stomach to permanently take someone down.

[Suddenly there's a loud ruckus and Jason snaps his head at attention and back at the pool hall across the street.

Jason's target is holding up an older man up by his collar with one hand. The target's other hand is on fire.

Jason quickly turns on his comms to his lackeys]

Not yet. Hold your positions but be ready soon.

[Jason then turns back to Guy, takes out a burner phone and pulls up security footage he found weeks ago when he was confirming the Society's intel. The video shows Jason's target murdering another man with his pyrokinetic powers. There's no audio but it's not necessary given how graphic it is.

Jason knows he's getting more pressed for time now and can't dawdle with someone he's unsure about. So instead he opts for a faster route and pushes Guy's threshold to see how he reacts to something that gruesome. The man doesn't need to know the Society's connection to this. That's all]

He's got a body count. I'm here to stop that.

[Guy doesn't react with the revulsion many people would, or at at least it doesn't show on his face. He watches the video with an expression that gets stonier the longer he watches. Colder. The victim clearly wasn't attacking and looks terrified, so it isn't self defense on the attacker's part. It's horrible and gruesome. Soulless. Inhuman. Sadistic.]

[The hardness and coldness that slowly comes into Guy's eyes speaks volumes about whether or not he can do this. About what he's seen.]

[So does the disgust. It isn't the kind of disgust that makes someone lose their lunch, though. It's the kind of disgust that lives side by side with contempt.]

[It did not used to be there. From the beginning he was willing to deal with some of the monsters in the arena like the predators they were, but hatred, contempt, reviling people like this hadn't been second nature- because he knew no people like this. His entire world had been people that were a little rough around the edges but who had become loving and nurturing and kind.]

[But then he met people that deserved to be hated.]

[Loathing hasn't made a home in his heart, but nowadays it at least knows how to temporarily rent out a space.]

[Guy quietly reaches into his pocket for a bandana he's been using off and on to tie his hair out of his face. He ties it over the lower part of his face instead. He cinches up the hood of his sleeveless hoodie to hide his hair. Even thinks to reach down and smear his hands over some of the grime of the roof to smear over the stained stripes on his bicep. He doesn't want to have to change the design so it helps cover it up. He smears his hand against his jeans to clean it off somewhat.]

[He knows about the existence of cameras and is smart enough to be paranoid about them. Is smart enough to hide identifying features. And also knows he has to trash these clothes later. A shame, really, he does like them.]

[He kneels and crawls closer to the edge of the roof, sinking down low.]

I've stopped people like this before. It would've been permanent if they hadn't been revived. What's your plan?

[Jason was studying Guy's reactions closely as the man watched the video. This is much better than he had anticipated. Guy didn't flinch from the gore but he took no joy out of it either. What Jason saw instead was conviction. As he watches Guy prepare his own disguise, Jason's finally sure about where Guy's moral compass points. Maybe this could be a valuable alliance after all.]

I need to get a clear shot of him without getting innocent people hurt. He's got his own crew too. They have to be taken out as well. They're just as guilty as he is. I got my own people down there too to back me up. This might get ugly quick.

[Jason points out which goons are part of the target's gang and where his own lackeys are]

What're your abilities? What should I call you?

[The Alliance had helped him figure this out. It took some doing - and accidentally summoning them when telling a story about Grug - for him to realize he had to tell a story about the person or animal to make them appear.]

[And it definitely takes some concentration to do. The story can't just be him dictating what he wants them to do. It has an be an actual story, something meaningful. Or something true but from the past. There has to be a flourish. While he also focuses on making them move the way he wants.]

[But he's at least been practicing in his room. And he can split his attention well at this point.]

I can create these...living paintings? Of things. Is the best way to describe them. People I've known. Or animals from home. They're solid. Strong. I can control them and make them guard, fight, or bite like an animal. And they can at least lift a small boulder. The Alliance also had someone shoot at them with a gun and the bullets don't go through unless there are a lot of them.

[Like a Green Lantern's constructs. They can eventually break but it takes some doing.]

I can only do one at a time, though. But it can be at least as big as a girelephant.

[It's at least a solid energy projection power.]

And you can call me... [There's a glint of mischief in his eyes as he remembers something one of the Alliance members said, that he spoke into his phone to look up later. It'd pulled up some kind of TV show, that looked like moving paintings, that he found amusing.]

Bamm-Bamm. [He absolutely isn't using it as a permanent name, but it'll pass for this little situation.] Shorten that however you like.

[He'd suggest "BB" but he can't spell.]

[(Never let it be said that he doesn't have a sense of humor about himself.)]

[Jason barks out a laugh at the code name. It's humorously appropriate at least, maybe more than Guy knows]

How long can you hold up these pictures?

I have to tell a story to make them. But I can do it under my breath. And pause to breathe or talk. Briefly.

So each one lasts as long as I can keep the story going. But if I finish a story I can always start a new one and it makes a new painting almost instantly.

[He adds, so Jason knows he won't be strapped for creativity.]

I'm good at telling stories. Back home, I told them all the time to my family.

[No TV where he comes from. No books. They have to entertain themselves.]

[Jason nods as he listens to the explanation. It'll have to do for now and he doesn't plan to make this attack too drawn out. Hopefully Guy can keep up]

Hope you got a decent story tonight, Bamm-Bamm.

[Jason gives his sniper rifle one last lookover before turning his attention back to the pool hall. His target is still threatening to burn someone alive]

We're gonna lure out the targets. Can you make sure no one innocent gets caught up? I'm not looking to make my body count for tonight higher than it needs to be.

[Guy nods.]

[That he wants to protect innocents is good. He wonders how a man like this would've done in the arenas, if he's willing to take these kinds of actions to kill the kind of person he's trying to kill, and also to save who should be saved.]

[The Capitolites would have probably loved him for those priorities, if he could've managed to keep them up in the arenas. With a shallow, ugly love for the brutal practicality, and an even sicker, more twisted love for a protectiveness they weren't willing to extend to innocents themselves.]

[But more importantly, he thinks some of the other Tributes would've loved him more for it. In a much purer way. A realer way. And that was what kept you alive. That was what kept you sane. That was what kept you whole in that place. At least inside, where it counted most.]

[Guy knows that from experience.]

[He would've protected them anyway but it helps give Guy some of the measure of the man, and it earns his respect.]

I was already planning to. But I'll focus on it most. Do what you need to do. I'll keep everyone else clear.

[He adds.]

And call me in if you need more from me.

[If things go wrong, he won't hesitate to jump in and do whatever needs to be done.]

[Whatever needs to be done.]

[Jason nods]

Keep your eyes and ears open. Name's Red Hood by the way.

[He turns on his comms to address his crew again]

We're luring them to the east.

[He also gestures which way is east for Guy's sake]

Act on my signal.

[He then looks back at Guy]

If everything goes right tonight, I want us to talk again.

[Maybe he'll come useful for future endeavors]

[Guy nods.]

So do I.

[He knows he can't toe the cliff's edge too much when it comes to making the Alliance angry.]

[And he's known people that others might see as deserving of death, who he didn't. He saw the good in them, saw how present desperation and past suffering had made them what they were. And how they didn't always have to be that. That there was room to grow. Some of them he'd seen grow before his eyes, with enough support and care. Or had started to open up to those who were kind to them.]

[But there are others, like this man who revels in burning the world, who he agrees need to be gone. If he's supposed to do good as part of this Alliance but they don't agree with actions like this...]

[That sure feels an awful lot like the traction the Capitol kept society in.]

[He needs to decide if he wants to try to do good in ways that wouldn't meet with their approval. At least sometimes. In secret. Because he has to make his time stuck in this world mean something.]

[At least there's maybe room to here. It's different than Panem. There's enough freedom in day to day choice for your actions to matter, and enough freedom from observation to do some things in genuinely clandestine ways. He's starting to think, if there are people worth protecting that can actually be protected, and people that need to be gone that can be stopped for good, that maybe actual good can be done. Maybe some things can change instead of being endlessly cyclical stories of suffering flashing on every screen. ]

[Because this world seems to have stories of suffering. They're just different ones. But they don't have to repeat.]

[It's worth it to talk to someone that apparently is making a habit of this. That's organized. That seems to know what he's doing. That can gain the kind of proof of genuine monstrosity Guy would have no chance of finding on his own.]

Good luck.

[He'd never taken to saying it the other way. "May the odds be ever in your favor" had such a pretentious Capitol lilt to it that he was delighted to learn the word "pretentious" just to be able to describe it.]

Edited 2023-05-06 05:40 (UTC)

[With that, Jason turns back on the comms]

Do it.

[Two of Jason's masked lackeys emerge from the dark. One man with very large hands starts smashing a motorcycle parked in front of the pool hall. Another slashes a parked car's tires with a knife before smashing the windows with a metal baseball bat.

As soon as the targeted and now enraged crew start to come out to see who's wrecking their vehicles, Jason's men run east. They're loudly taunting and goading them to follow.

Meanwhile, Jason runs and jumps several rooftops over. With Guy now around and apparently cooperating, Jason needs to put some distance between them before anyone thinks he's working with an Alliance member.

The targets angrily follow the two vandals on foot. Then four more of Jason's men emerge from their hiding spots. Some of the targets are firing guns while others, including the serial killer, are using their abilities for projectiles. Jason's gang fire in return while ducking for cover.

They're in a seedy area of Central and much of it is closed for the night. Jason's ordered his gang to try to avoid civilian areas if they can help it but there are still some around, including in the pool hall . Some with too much curiosity than sense might stick their heads out to see the action from a distance.]

Edited 2023-05-06 13:51 (UTC)

[He whispers.]

Once upon a time there was a girl who was born with a star inside her...

[Guy is right about his ability to tell stories. His intelligence benefits him here. He's able to tell the stories under his breath and track where his constructs are needed at the same time, ordering them to move the right way in his mind.]

[He has a good vantage point.]

[As the fight goes on, different figures form out of nothing, one after the other, as if painted by crude outlines before they take a more concrete shape. A black woman with a baseball bat knocks a straggling goon unconscious when he gets too close to a bystander on the street. A man in a blue uniform that looks futuristic, like an officer on a spaceship would wear, helps said bystander up from the ground and blocks him from any bullets as he runs away. A large creature that looks like a mix of bear and owl shields the pool hall from a stray spray of bullets.]

[The innocent are protected, as promised.]

[Jason is free to finish the job.]

[Jason can't afford to split his attention too much but he steals a glance and sees the figures Guy has created. Well, well. This is reassuring to know. They somewhat remind Jason of Lantern constructs. Perched at a new rooftop, he turns back to the gang fight below, aims, and waits to get a clear shot the killer.

His own crew have been told to take out the goons however they can. The Society wants them all gone. That's fine by Jason's people. They've come to agree with Jason's morals.

Finally, the serial killer has no one around him. Before he could approach another one of Jason's men, Jason fires two shots at his head. The serial killer drops. With all the fighting still going around, the killer's gang haven't realized their leader's down yet.

Jason then addresses his crew through the comms]

Time for clean up.

[The henchmen acknowledge and try to finish the fights now. Some of the targets are sniped by Jason. Others are quickly finished by fatal blows. Neck snaps, gunshot wounds for quick bleed outs. Jason's gang isn't looking to torture tonight, only efficiency.

Several minutes later, silence finally starts to fall over the block.

Jason stands back up and looks back at Guy from a distance, waiting to see how he reacts next]

[Guy doesn't notice at first. His head is just barely peeping up now that it seems the fight is over. His lips are quietly moving. Down at the pool hall, he's gone so far having a construct of a woman dressed a bit like a cowboy gently urge people down a side street that leads away from the fight, using her body to block them from any potential attacks.]

[Finally, they're safe, escaping the area altogether and Guy quickly casts his gaze over the left over carnage. He'd been dividing his attention back and forth. He'd seen parts of the violence.]

[...And also the fact the goons of the killer didn't care at all about potentially killing bystanders. He'd seen Jason and his men use brutal efficiency. No gloating, no dragging it out. Just ending it.]

[His brows furrow slightly at the waste of life, but the set of his jaw makes it clear that whatever feelings he has, he's perhaps still sure about it.]

[The bloodshed hasn't thrown or horrified him. Unlike some Tributes, he'd gone into the arenas used to a little blood and gore. He lived in a time where he had to butcher and field dress animals as an natural part of life. He'd had to prepare hides for use. He'd even figured out how to brain tan skins. The farm also had animals to sometimes butcher.]

[And after the arenas, he'd grown used to the deaths of people too. He'd even seen his own deaths, on the endlessly repeating arena footage that showed on so many screens around the Capitol in recaps. He'd seen himself die several times over.]

[But being used to it doesn't mean he's taking gratification from it either. There is no gloating expression, no sadistic pleasure. Just a thoughtfulness and solemnity.]

[He spots Jason looking up at him and gives him a little nod of acknowledgement to show he sees him.]

[Then he points to himself and points downward at the roof, raising his eyebrows. Miming a question of "do you want me to stay here for a bit." Jason had said he wanted to talk.]

Red Hood

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