Archive of Our Own ^beta

Jazz was pretty sure that she was going to either go bald or completely gray before she was thirty thanks to her little brother.

Case in point, she was attending school out of state but was currently beginning a road trip home to surprise him for his birthday only to get an urgent call from his (incredibly frantic) best friend. 

“Tucker, I need you to slow down and explain what happened,” Jazz told the teenager, forcing a sense of calm into her voice for him. She’s found that if one person can appear collected in a high stress situation, it helps ground the one who is panicking. Grunting, she swerved her car into an illegal u-turn in her rush to hurry towards the opposite direction she had been heading in. Driving around this city was a nightmare on a good day and she often missed the simplicity of small town living.

Tucker only sobbed into the phone, his ragged breathing tearing at her heart. She wished that she could be there in Amity Park for the teenager right now, to hug him and assure everything would be fine. He and Danny had been friends for so long now that Tucker was part of her family, a bonus little brother. To hear him so upset was painful for her, but she needed to know what was happening so getting his attention was necessary.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Jazz kept repeating his name until Tucker sniffled pitifully but stopped all out sobbing. Taking a shaky inhale at her instructions (in for one breath, hold for two and release), he managed to hiccup out: “Danny is gone.”

Jazz’s tires screeched as she pulled off the side of the road, half on top of a sidewalk with pedestrians flipping her off, and threw the car into park absentmindedly. “What do you mean that Danny is gone , Tuck? Where is he?” She really hoped that the fear clutching her heart didn't come through in her voice.

Did her parents finally catch Danny when he was transforming? He didn’t always pick the best location to “go ghost” and sometimes he was even lazy enough to do it downstairs in the lab. If he was anywhere near her right now, she’s pretty sure she’d wring his little neck for always being so reckless–half ghost or not.

Tucker whimpered, “Vlad sold him out to the GIW Jazz…they came and took him away! Sam and I, we couldn't do anything to stop them!” 

Her heart froze in her chest. Jazz felt her mind drift as Tucker began rambling about what went down, but she hardly listened. She felt her proto-core buzzing in her chest as her vision tunneled, green covering the edges until it was all she could see in front of her. 

Jazz heaved air into her lungs, desperately trying to control her emotions and reign in the vibrant green currently marring her vision. First step, how can she calm down? She took a deep breath and held it in for a beat, slowly releasing it in a whistle as she rubbed her chest above her proto-core. After a minute of doing so, she could see a little better but knew from experience her eyes must still be glowing. 

“Jazz? Are you still there?” She heard Tucker ask quietly, his tinny voice sounding broken and unsure. She took a second to clear her throat before picking up the phone from where it had fallen between the seat and console in her shock. She ran a shaky hand through her long hair, letting it get stuck in the tangles and smiled sadly at the cell phone despite Tucker not being able to see her. Though, maybe that was for the best right now , she thought bitterly .

Step two, reassure Tucker so he could look after Sam in Amity Park and she could be sure the teenagers didn't do anything reckless. The co-dependency Danny and his friends had with each other was sweet when they were little but now that they are almost adults, Jazz has been worried that with their ghost fighting it will get them in trouble one day.

“I'm still here Tuck, I just needed a second,” she told him, letting out a puff of air and twisting her lips into a sardonic smile. “Danny got his anger issues from somewhere after all, and I need a clear head right now.”

Tucker snorted at her comment and Jazz pumped her fist in the air for managing to make him laugh. Now, she just had to come up with a plan on finding her little brother. Jazz may know how to fight a little and have enhanced durability from being a liminal, but there's only so much she can do. Involving the emotionally distraught teenagers turning to her for guidance was out of the question for Jazz. Danny would be heartbroken if anything happened to those two trying to save him.

Alarms began blaring in the streets around her and Jazz was pulled from her thoughts as people began running down the sidewalk, some even climbing over her car instead of going around it. She opened the door, ignoring Tucker's yelling, and took a look at the city ahead of her. Colored smoke filled the streets ahead, creeping towards where she was and Jazz flinched as she began hearing people’s screams echo throughout the night. She dropped her phone again, paying no mind as it smashed on the road at her feet, and grabbed her sensitive ears to block some of the screaming. 

Why right now? This is the worst time to get sucked into a rogue attack!

Jazz had been living in Gotham for months now, but thankfully had managed to avoid any rogue attacks since moving. Until tonight, it seemed. She grunted as she fell into the side of her car, grasping at the door frame as she sucked fresh air and held it in her lungs, eyes never leaving the colored smoke filling the streets. 

But then she heard a scuffling above her. Jazz glanced up, spotting a lithe form in blue hopping across rooftops. She was impressed that a normal human was able to fly almost as gracefully as a ghost. She watched as Nightwing headed straight into the smog ahead to fight Scarecrow--because who else would have done this? 

Jazz pulled herself into her car, yanking a respirator designed by Danny out of the glovebox and strapping it on her face just in case. She was about to start her car and get the hell out there, but she paused instead. Jazz tilted her head as her chest began buzzing, mind whirring with a hair brained idea as she turned to watch more of the vigilantes arrive and jump into the fray.

The bats always arrived to stop crime, there were a lot of them around compared to Danny who worked on his own. No matter where someone was in Gotham, there would be a bat or bird to find them if they caused trouble. No one but the police commissioner knew how to find the bats or call them…

Step three…what would Danny do?

Jazz smirked, small fangs poking out over her lip as she settled into her seat and ripped the respirator off once she was in. Shoving the car into drive, she peeled out of the area with the finesse of a Fenton. 

Her little brother would cause trouble. So she would too.

****************

Jason prided himself on being an intimidating leader as Red Hood. His men and the people around Crime Alley knew they could rely on him to keep them safe, but that they could never predict how he would act if they messed up or betrayed him. He toed the line generally, but less so with his own employees so that he knew they had a healthy amount of fear instilled in them to know not to cross the Red Hood.

So, he had been really annoyed when at a recent meeting they were all distracted the whole time he went over their poor performances as of late. He noticed that for the last few days, his men repeatedly didn’t react if he pulled a Batman and popped out of the shadows on them. Or some of them reacted a little too defensively, actually shrieking in surprise and fear if someone snuck up on them. Even if it wasn't Jason himself. They were jittery and nervous at all times, which was not a good combination when carrying firearms and working under his name.

The thing that made it even worse? How could he re-establish that boundary with his men when he was stuck in the Bat Cave or on patrol with his idiotic family more than he was at work? Jason wanted to beat his head against a brick wall more often than not the last few days, but Bruce was on a league mission and an actual brick wall would hurt a lot.

“Hood? Are you paying attention under that thing?” Duke waved a hand in front of Jason’s face, smirking even as he smacked the teenager’s hand away. “Oof, someone woke up cranky from his nap!”

“Fuck off,” Jason grunted, rolling his neck and feeling the satisfying clicks as it cracked. Leveling a stare at Duke, he pointed a finger at the teenager. “You’re lucky you have immunity as the sibling with the most common sense or I would beat your ass.”

“I take full advantage of it, thank you.” Duke smiled winningly and wandered off.

Jason rolled his eyes, mildly irritated but no one could see it, before getting out of his chair by the BatComputer. He had been forced back for a debrief after he helped some of his siblings on a drug bust earlier in the night that was near his territory. Normally, he would have found a way out of it and gone home, but because no one was injured there was a promise of Alfred’s baked goods if he came peacefully. So he did, but he made it clear he wasn't happy about it and he got the first pick of snacks.

No one messed with him and some of Alfred's raspberry thumbprints.

“Are you heading out Jaybird?” Dick questioned him, looking hurt that Jason was leaving. He’d been with the idiot on a stake-out for almost two days now and he was going to guilt Jason into staying? Seriously? Damn bleeding heart hated it whenever any of them left the manor after patrol, as though he didn’t have his own apartment to go to as well. 

Jason didn’t bother even stopping to respond, taking long strides across the cave to where his bike was parked instead. Checking his pockets to make sure the Demon Brat didn’t steal any of his knives and he had enough magazines of rubber bullets, he was almost to his bike when he was assaulted. Thinking he had escaped the conversation (he could be an idiot when he was tired) Jason was unprepared for his older brother. His feet stuttered and he almost toppled over with the sudden two-hundred pounds of lithe muscle that just landed on his back.

Twisting his head to glance over his shoulder, he saw the man grinning brightly as his arms snaked around Jason’s chest. “Dick…” Jason growled threateningly, shifting his weight in an attempt to knock the man off of him.

“Jaybird let me go with you! We haven’t spent time together in forever!” Dick whined, shifting his weight to match Jason’s changes so he didn’t fall. Forget having jelly bones, that man was a fucking spider monkey. He was not giving an almost thirty-year-old a damn piggy back ride.

“I’m heading to work ,” he grunted. Grabbing Dick’s arm, he pushed all of his strength into shoving his older brother away to the side. Dick yelped as his center of gravity shifted and Jason smiled as he heard a satisfying thunk hit the ground. He turned as the other kids began laughing at their older brother's fate. 

“Little Wing!” Dick whined, sitting on the floor pouting up at him. Jason smirked and flipped off his brother, moving to walk away. 

“Later Dickiebird, I've got shit to do and I've been stuck with your annoying ass too-- agh !” Jason didn't get far, yelling when he felt a vice grip on his ankle before he went tumbling to the ground. He grunted as he landed, helmet digging into his face from his new and unwelcome position on his stomach. He ignored the kids’ renewed snickering as he reached up and pressed the hidden latches for his helmet, yanking it off and tossing it to the side.

“What the FUCK?” He growled, twisting onto his ass and glaring at his brother who looked like the cat who ate the canary. “Do you want me to kick your ass Big Bird? Think it'll be funny then?” He tried pulling his foot out of Dick's grip as he threatened him, but the man wouldn't let go. “Shit, I've got a meeting to get to dumbass! Let go of me!”

“Let me come to your meeting with you and I will.”

Jason stopped struggling, staring at Dick with a look of disbelief on his face. He waited for a punchline, but after a moment he realized there wasn't one. With a snort, he reached for his helmet and palmed it. “Hell fucking no, this ain't no field trip.”

“Come on Little Wing, I've been to your meetings before!” Dick pleaded, crawling across the floor to wrap his arms around Jason's shoulders in a hug. 

Squinting his eyes at the man, he quietly wondered how far his audacity could reach. “Once, officially. Any other times you may have snuck in were to spy and you got your ass handed to you afterwards when I hunted you down.”

“Now, doesn't that just sound like a lot of work Jay? How about we just take it easy on you and make this official invite number two?” Dick sent him a winning smile, eyes crinkling at the edges like he just offered Jason free reign to eat his share of Alfred's sweets.

This is why he hated coming around his siblings. 

“No, you can't come.”

The last thing Jason needed at this meeting was his older brother getting distracted and being embarrassing. He needed to reassert his authority and find out more about why his men were acting strange. Dick would just ruin it.

**************************

“Please, please! Spare me!” 

Jazz tilted her head as she pretended to consider it. The man before her was emanating an intense amount of fear in her presence, and it was energizing her to the level she felt like she'd drank twelve coffees.

“I'm not going to hurt you sir, I'd really rather not actually,” she told him bluntly. Jazz held her creep stick loosely at her side to appear relaxed, though her grip was tight on the handle in case she needed to act fast. “I honestly just–”

“No! You crazy bitch, I've heard of the shit you've been doing ‘round here!” The man's eyes were bloodshot, his pupils almost vibrating as his eyes darted around the alleyway they were in for an exit. 

Jazz made a displeased face. It's not like she was going around purposefully attacking everyone she met! She wasn't trying to put a spotlight on herself as a new up-and-coming rogue after all. She just…had a not so great plan to get the bats and birds’ attention. They seemed pretty territorial, so she figured a good way to draw one of them out was to stop petty crimes in their preferred parts of the city. It was like when she needed Danny to come out of his room, so she messed with his astronomy nook downstairs until he came out to protect it. From what she could tell, any suspicious activity in Gotham (whether it had the undertones of being good or bad) caused the vigilantes’ hackles to rise, leading them into pursuing any leads they could to find the reason. 

Her plan was to make a lot of noise and be out in the open when they eventually came looking for her. Was it the best plan she could have come up with? No, but she was desperate enough to try it.

“All I want to know is if you work for Red Hood sir,” Jazz told him, sighing in frustration at his dramatics. 

People in Crime Alley were insanely protective of their self-appointed vigilante/crime lord, but she was able to learn from the corner girls that he was the type to protect kids above anyone else. She was sure that if she told him about Danny, a teenage boy being carted away from his family and probably being experimented on by a pathetic branch of the government? Jazz was sure that Red Hood would help her…and he would be the bat most likely to physically destroy the GIW in retaliation most likely. Selfishly, Jazz wanted his help if only to fulfill that desire her proto-core had to destroy-maim-kill towards the GIW for taking her baby brother from her.

“I ain't telling you nothing, you crazy bruja !” The man cursed her, shifting his weight against the brick wall behind him. Jazz watched as he tried to subtly reach towards some old construction materials that someone tossed by the trash, but failed. She sighed again, shoulders dropping, as he seemed to ready himself for a fight. 

“Okay, so I guess we're doing it the hard way again,” she swung her creep stick up in a twirl, letting it land on her shoulder. She was just plain tired at this point, not getting any sleep the last couple of days and wishing one of those damn paranoid bats would come out of hiding already so she could hit the next step of her plan. “I would assume you don't work for Hood if you're this rude towards women, so I'll work on the assumption that you're a criminal.”

“Fuck you!” The man yelled, hands grasping a rotten looking two-by-four that he'd been reaching towards and lifting it above his shoulder like a bat. Jazz shifted her stance, putting more weight on her right side in anticipation for his first swing. 

“You're really very rude,” she commented idly. Turning slightly after her comment, Jazz avoided the man's first attempt at knocking her out and quickly kicked out her left leg at his ankles. Hitting him in his achilles’ heel before he could shift his feet apart caused him to yelp and collapse to the ground. Jazz yanked the wood from his hands and threw it away, watching the fear in his eyes grow exponentially. “Tell me, that man you beat up earlier? What did he do to deserve that treatment? I'm assuming, I know it's rude but this is a one sided conversation really, that you did that out of enjoyment or because of a personal vendetta. Am I close?”

The man's only response was throwing crude obscenities towards her as he attempted to escape the narrow alley they were in. Jazz blinked in surprise, not realizing their surroundings before now, and he took it as his chance to sprint past her. He knocked into her shoulder, pushing Jazz into stumbling briefly and she huffed angrily at his back.

Loosening the grip on her creep stick, the wooden handle slid quickly through her hand until the side of the flat base was pressed to her palm and in turn, extending her reach. Putting her weight onto her left side, she allowed her right foot to lift off the ground as she shifted to push some of her weight into the bat. Jazz smirked as she spun, the bat following her direction before slamming into the back of the man's exposed neck with the force driven by most of her weight. He cried out as he crumpled to the ground, blinking furiously and groaning in pain.

Impressive he's still conscious , she thought to herself, detached from the guilt she should probably be feeling at her actions. Shrugging, Jazz stepped over his legs to stand towering over his prone figure. She felt a sort of satisfaction seeing him on the ground, fear and anxiety pouring off of him in waves despite the struggle to seem defiant in the face of his attacker. In the distant part of her mind, Jazz knew she should be worried about how violent she was acting with little remorse towards those who suffered at her hands…but the little more ghostly part of her thrilled at the opportunity to hurt-avenge-maim in her mission to save her brother.

Although, after she found Danny, she definitely needed to find a therapist for both of them.

Ignoring those thoughts, Jazz leaned forward and her hair fell around her in a fiery curtain that revealed an unhinged grin half hidden in shadow. Chuckling at the man's despair, she flashed her baby fangs and enjoyed the moment he began screaming.

*************************

“So, your men said that she has been acting on her own--no affiliation to any known gangs or individuals--for the last week or two?” Dick questioned over comms. Jason grunted in response, grabbing the lip of a roof to hop across the next one over. “Don't start turning into B, use your words Hood.” 

Jason flipped off the general direction his older brother was in. “Yes Dickolas, they didn't offer up much information besides that she is a tall woman who has been going after anyone slightly suspicious every night. You know this.” 

What he couldn't figure out was why? Out of nowhere some strange woman suddenly appears in the streets of Gotham, no real rhyme or reason for what she was doing beating people up with no MO to account for who she'd go after. Based off of her attacks, they couldn't tell if she was going after criminals like a wannabe vigilante or if she had a personal vendetta against some of the men who were a bit seedier. 

“Didn't Bud mention how she was using a bat as her weapon?” Dick pointed out, huffing as he swung through the sky. Big Bird may be in good shape, but even he was getting too old to be on the streets sometimes these days. Jason made a mental reminder to make fun of him later. “Maybe she's an admirer of Harley? She's out testing her fighting skills on anyone she comes across to emulate her?”

Jason hummed, settling himself on a roof and leaning on the head of a gargoyle to view the streets ahead of him. “It's one theory we could look into. Maybe she's taking it too far, a fanatic possibly, and that's what has the men freaked out.” 

More like they were close to pissing themselves when they finally fessed up about the woman . Jason rolled his eyes at the thought. Dick had forced his way into the meeting with Jason's lieutenants and managed to get the spineless fuckers to admit the reason they had been so jumpy. So he forced his older brother onto the streets with him that night to look for her, since the woman seemed to be most active around the time all of them were. Though he had asked Duke to keep an eye out during the day, just in case even if it didn’t prove any results.

Jason shook his head and pointed his grapple at a taller building nearby. Feeling the hook catch, he let his shoulder be jostled as the line began feeding back and pulling him away from his current position. Turning on his HUD, he scanned the area below as Dick babbled in his ears. Why was this woman acting in Crime Alley specifically? From what they gathered off CCTV (thanks Timbers) she had operated a few times in the Bowery or Old Gotham at first, but moved into Crime Alley eventually. They also found that the footage was distorted when she was on screen. It wasn't completely corrupted, but it gave a very creepy feel to see it glitch with every step she took and was frustrating as hell that they couldn't get a clear look at her face.

“Hood! I need you at my position, the unknown is--oh shit!” Dick yelped over comms before going silent, only static feeding through the device. Jason hissed and shut it off, the noise too much to focus on staying airborne. 

“Fuck Dickiebird!” Jason groaned, grabbing tight to the fire escape on the building he grappled towards, retracting the line and switching to the main comms channel. “Oracle? I need a position on Nightwing. He encountered the unknown and contact was lost.”

“Understood Hood, sending approximate coordinates now,” Barbara responded quickly, furious typing could be heard as she worked. Jason's heart jackhammered in his chest as he waited before he heard a small beep, a blue light popping up on his helmet’s screen. “Alright, the same distortion she had on cameras is happening again. Hurry to Nightwing before I lose track of them Hood.”

“On it.”

Jason mentally checked where he was and figured he'd get to Dick in a few minutes, max. Vaulting off of the fire escape, Jason landed heavily on the sidewalk and quickly shook off the lingering vibrations from the impact pulsing up his legs to start running. But as he neared the area Babs sent him, he felt his vision turning green on the edges out of nowhere. Cursing, he leaned against a brick wall as a tidal wave of emotions he couldn't name at first rolled over him.

“What the fuck?” He mumbled, stumbling away from the wall to move towards where he could faintly hear his brother fighting briefly before speaking to someone. 

This wasn't like the other times the Pit Rage had taken him over. Normally it felt all-encompassing, rage simmering under his skin as fire boiled his blood. The green would fill and distort his sight until there was nothing but Lazarus. He wouldn't have any sense of himself until it faded, even after years of training his impulses. This was different somehow though, he still had some sense of his mind and it was being filled with more emotions than just rage.

“Ma'am, miss? Could you please just let this nice man go?” Dick pleaded, putting on the nice guy act to probably try and disarm her.

Another wave of emotions hit him from that direction, but this time Jason could pick out annoyance-anger and had to bite his lip from either laughing or barfing. A female voice sounded mildly offended as she responded to his brother. “Excuse me? I thought it was your job to stop criminals and not let them escape?”

Jason snorted. Dick paused before asking calmly, “It is what we do…so, do you feel it's your responsibility too? Is that why you're out here tonight?”

The woman scoffed, “No way, it was fun for a bit as a teenager but I'm too busy now to do this shit full time or anything. I'll leave vigilante work to those in skin tight suits, thank you.”

Jason turned the corner and his eyes widened at the scene. His brother was crouched on the ground a few feet away from the woman, his escrima sticks knocked far out of reach and hands outstretched in a welcoming gesture to garner trust. A man he belatedly recognized as a younger brother to one of his lieutenants laying on the ground in front of him, a dainty foot all that was keeping him pinned down to the asphalt as he flailed his arms futilely. 

The green tinted his vision even more, coloring the woman in an unnatural tint as he observed herthat…somehow felt normal to view her in? His head hurt a lot more now, so he wasn't sure, but being this close Jason felt his chest constrict as some invisible force bombarded him. Anger-sadness-confusion swirled around him, the meanings constantly changing form. He stumbled his way into the street they were gathered in, shooting a rubber bullet at the ground near the woman's feet (internally grateful that he didn't shoot her with how unbalanced he felt) to get her attention on him instead of Dick. 

She shrieked in surprise and whipped around to glare at him, a little wrinkle forming between her eyebrows. “That was incredibly irresponsible! I would assume that you would know more about gun safety than the rest of the bats! What were you thinking?” A pang of surprise-fear-pissed appeared as she frowned at him. 

Was he being lectured right now? Seriously?

Jason was getting really irritated by these random emotions filling his mind, his veins on fire with each invasion. He rubbed his chest absently, gun still pointed at the woman as he surveyed her. She was actually pretty weak in appearance, despite how much his men and others she'd attacked protested otherwise. She was taller than the average woman, taller than Dick even and maybe just barely Jason's height. But her looks? She seemed like almost a carbon copy of Barbara except her hair was a lighter shade of ginger and incredibly straight. 

“Miss, how about we–” Dick started, reaching for his escrima while Jason had her attention. But the man at her feet took it as his chance to run, kicking out to knock her off balance and scrabble away. He only managed a few feet before she shifted her attention from Jason to the guy, swinging her bat out of her hand with deadly accuracy towards his chest. He sagged inwards from the impact, letting out a loud “oof” as the bat met his chest before his eyes rolled in the back of his head and he fell down like a ragdoll. Jason winced in a sympathy that was short lived before returning his attention to the unknown. 

“Now, it's about time one of you guys showed up! I've only been out here every night waiting, Ancients!” The woman exclaimed, shaking her head at them both while she retrieved her weapon. Jason felt his ears burn as she bent over, tucking loose strands behind her ear and he felt the insane urge to do it for her and see how soft her hair looked. What the fuck? “I was starting to think I'd have to hunt down a rogue like Dr. Qinzell for help finding one of you! I thought this would have been a lot easier, I'm not gonna lie.”

“What–?” Dick just needed to stop trying at this point. She totally ignored his attempt to begin questioning, simply smiling as she checked her bat over for any splintering. 

Satisfaction-pleased-determined rolled over the area, the pressure in his chest angering him again. Jason growled in response to the feeling, digging his thumb into his chest with more pressure than before in an attempt to remove it.

The woman didn't move from her calm stance, but her eyes hardened as they drifted over to Jason in an intense stare. He was used to scrutiny, people assessing his moods or thoughts and predicting his actions from a single glance. His family was a dysfunctional mess, but they were all very good at their nighttime jobs. She was studying him, but what she saw he had no clue.

Her eyes flashed green briefly, for a few seconds as though mentally testing something, and Jason's eyes responded in kind. The unwelcome green overtaking his field of vision completely rattled him, especially being so close to people--his brother-- who could get hurt made him take a step back. A low rumbling started up in his chest and he raised his gun up to aim at the woman's head when she took a step towards him, matching each step that he took away from her.

He didn't care how strong she seemed or how capable she was at protecting herself so far. There was a quivering in his chest, like a small flame about to be blown out, that was terrified of hurting her. Jason gazed into her teal eyes, glinting green in the dim street light and felt fear at the same time he felt an overwhelming need to be close to her. She was drawing him towards her by doing nothing, but he held his feet firm to the ground and gun raised to eye level despite his heart or god knows what screaming at him to protect her instead. 

Unstable-fear-anger-stay away filled the air between them. Jason frowned when the woman paused midstep, cocking her head as though she had heard something. Her eyes traveled up and down his tense body, plush lips pursed as she thought hard enough for the wrinkle to deepen. Jason felt his body flush hot with embarrassment-confusion-stay away . She only smiled, some kind of understanding lighting up her eyes as they began to glow brighter and crinkled adorably at the corners. 

Understand-calm-friend was directed towards him, he could feel it. Jason stood there in shock as the green suddenly receded from the edges of his vision, faster than it ever had before without a sedative. The woman held her bat loosely by her side, almost forgotten, as her other hand carefully reached out towards Jason. “It's okay, I won't hurt you, I promise.”

Strangely he believed her. But he still fought to keep his voice even, grateful for the modulator in his mask to hide the slight tremble. “What is fucking happening?”

She cocked her head again, almost drooping in sudden sadness before straightening up and retracting her outstretched hand. Jason quietly mourned the missed chance to touch her, which he really fucking didn't understand, gritting his teeth at the pressure in his chest at the conflict between his mind and the solid pressure. 

“Well,” she started, biting her lower lip as she looked between them both. “To answer your question in the broadest sense? I've been trying to get your attention, any of you really but particularly you Red Hood, because I need your help.” She nodded sharply, her head held high and chin tilted up. 

Dick raised his hand like a fucking child. “Um, could you elaborate on the why?”

“Yes, of course, but first I think Hood needs some help,” she answered Dick, but never took her eyes off of Jason. He squirmed under the attention and looked away, lowering his arm a bit and feeling his face flush from the bright smile she sent him. God am I fucking glad I've got a helmet, Dickface would never stop teasing me for this , he thought to himself. 

“Mr. Red Hood? I won't ask the specifics, I know how rude that comes across,” she started wringing her hands nervously. Again, Jason felt the urge to reach out and calm her and it was frustrating he couldn't do anything. He felt his chest rumble again before she smiled at him sweetly, a low hum of calm-kind-relax floated between the two. It took a moment to realize it came from him and he startled, hand reaching up to grasp the fabric of his shirt. Jason tilted his head so he could stare her down with the white-outs of his helmet, hoping his fear came across the blank slits to her.

“It's okay! I didn't mean to scare you!” The woman frantically waved her hands around, uncaringly dropping her bat at her feet. She started to rush towards Jason only to abort her movements after a step or two, eyes tracking the gun in his hand. Clearing her throat, she addressed them both. “I apologize, it seems that we have started off on the wrong foot only to get sidetracked.” 

He and Dick shared an incredulous look with each other while she picked up her weapon once more, twisting it around in her hands like a fidget toy. Taking a deep breath and holding it for a few seconds, she released it to the opening of her eyes glowing Lazarus green. Speaking carefully, she somehow managed to tower over the brothers with her presence. 

“Let me start over,” she smiled serenely, but the fangs poking out from her lips had a slight chill jumping over his skin. “My name is Jasmine Fenton, I'm a student at Gotham University with a little brother who is considered non-sentient by the government.” Her bright eyes turned dark, an age old danger lurking in their jeweled depths as she leaned on her bat like a cane. “I need some help destroying their bases, preferably en masse with as much damage as possible, so that I can rescue my brother before they torture him to a second death.”

He heard Dick gasp and stumble from the crouching position he'd been in, falling on his ass in shock or awe he wasn't really sure. But Jason knew that he was mesmerized by the sight before him, unable to look away as Jasmine became more than human for a moment. Her pin straight hair was swirling around her head in a fiery wheel, Lazaraus green eyes glowing bright enough to flood the street as she seemed to float just an inch off the ground before them.

Jason swallowed hard as Jasmine smiled toothily at him, fangs glinting off the street lamp's light as she projected vengeance-anger-determined at him. “So, Hood, I ask this of you as a member of The Realms. Will you assist me in rescuing your King, Lord Phantom?”

He had no idea what she was talking about with Kings. Wait, she wanted to rescue her brother didn't she? Was her brother royalty? What or who was this woman?

It took Jason a solid three seconds of thinking before he stopped trying to wrap his head around what was happening. 

Fucking sue him, his chest was so full of different emotions and despite the green tinting everything, his mind was the clearest it felt for the first time in years . Whatever filter that had been blocking him inside was just gone in the presence of Jasmine Fenton. Her words resonated within him and Jason found himself nodding without realizing it, gun hanging limp at his side while Dick scurried over to his side with worried wrinkling his face.

Lifting his spare hand up to release his helmet from its locked position, secure in the knowledge he was still wearing a domino, Jason removed the metal casing from his head. He threw a smirk at Jasmine once it was off, feeling a small tickle in the center of his chest when her scary mode disappeared and she was left a normal woman again in the street. A blushing one at that, eyes darting from the white shock of hair on his head to his lips and back. 

Stuffing his gun in its holster, he lifted the arm to run a hand through his hair (flexing his bicep a bit as he did so) and felt a small rumble of success-interested-excited come off of him. 

She only seemed to blush harder at his projection (whatever this was), a hand reaching up to rest on her cheek and smush her face adorably as she quickly looked away from him. Jason only chuckled, shoving Dick's frantic hands away from him and stepping closer to Jasmine until they were toe to toe. He smiled at her bashful duck, head bowed and facing his boots.

“Fuck yeah, I'm always down to blow up goverment property!” He shoved a worried Dick away from his shoulder when he crept closer, feeling lighter than he had in years right now and not wanting to waste it. Crossing his arms he nudged her shoe. Jasmine glanced back up at his grinning face with an eyebrow raised. “Where do we start first, Beautiful?”