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Half-Lives Chapter 5

Read the full chapter here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48120073

Jason stayed nearby until he was sure the police had the aftermath of the robbery handled, and then got back to his patrol. Within a few minutes he was back on one of his familiar routes through Crime Alley. He wasn’t sure how long he was going to be out tonight though. Jason felt tired. Woryingly so. It wasn’t unusual for him to thoroughly wear himself out on night-time excursions, but he hadn’t done enough today to warrant this level of fatigue. The robbery had been the only thing he’d had to deal with in days, and it hadn’t exactly taken long. He wasn’t finding much else either.  A while into his circuit, Jason had to stop and take a break. He paused on a roof he was relatively confident in the security and privacy of, and partially opened his helmet to take a drink. He took a long pull from the drink flask he carried on his belt, and spent a few minutes watching the sun set over the Gotham skyline. And while he sat, he thought things over. There had been someone, or something, in the CVS. Something invisible. Something that he could… sense? The sensation he had gotten in the store was unlike anything he’d ever felt. He wasn’t quite sure what to compare it to. But, at the same time, it had seemed eerily familiar.

He needed more info. After a few minutes of internal debate, he reluctantly turned on his coms, and keyed into Babs’ line. “Oracle.”  <“Hood?” She sounded surprised. “You aren't usually on coms. What do you need?” “I need some security footage. Robbery at the CVS pharmacy on the corner of Academy and Cross. Not too long ago. About 7:20” <“No problem, one moment.”  Jason finished his bottle of water. <“Found it. Are you looking for anything in particular?” He hesitated. If he made a big deal out of this, Bats would almost definitely stick his nose in it. Especially if he thought there was a meta involved. “Not necessarily. I noticed something odd, and I want to do some followup.” <“Yeah, all right. I’ll send the files over in a bit” The break had helped a bit. Reluctantly, Jason dragged himself back upright and got back to his route. A few minutes later though, Babs contacted him again. <“Hood, there might be a problem.” “What is it?” <“The video’s corrupted.” “What? How? How much? What times does it cover?” <“There’s some static and interference starting about half an hour before the robbery, but most of it’s still viable. But everything from a few seconds after you entered until the Cops started getting the perps into the cars is heavily corrupted. I might be able to recover some of it, but a few parts look like they’re beyond saving. Jason swore quietly under his breath. “Try processing it and send me whatever you can.” <“Will do. It’ll be a while though.” “Thanks.” Jason sighed off the line, but kept his coms on. Babs would call him if she got something. Read the rest on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48120073

Half Lives, Chapter 6

Read here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48120073/chapters/122356090

Jason took them to the closest safehouse. It was one of his most basic places. Just an abandoned warehouse he’d gotten the paperwork for. He’d installed security around it and stocked it with some supplies, but it was minimal, for emergencies only really. But it was private, and secure, and closer than any other place he could be sure of. Danny knew who he was. How, Jason had no idea, but he did. And Danny was the presence he’d felt during the robbery. The one that had somehow made a bullet pass right through his chest without touching him. And Danny was in some sort of trouble. He had no idea what kind of trouble that was, but he was sure of it. It sounded like it wasn’t just him either. Jason had watched him suppress a panic attack right there at the table in the cafe when he’d mentioned his sisters. He hated the idea of a kid in danger. So Jason needed more information. He needed to know what Danny was hiding from, and how he could help, and if Danny knowing his identity might be a threat. And he needed to know what the hell Danny’s connection to the Lazarus pits was. Because there was some sort of connection there. Whatever Danny had done in the store, Jason had felt it. Felt it with a sense that seemed to rumble up from the same deep well of pain and emotion and acidic green light that the pit rage came from, but that felt distinct from it. 

Jason hadn’t ever felt anything from the pits that wasn’t the rage. It was strange to be feeling something else now. Alien. Whatever this was, there was still rage and emotion tangled with it, but it wasn’t the same thing. 

It worried him. Even now, he could feel it, though it had taken a bit for him to pick up on it. It was so subtle compared to the roaring rush of feeling he’d gotten before. But now that he knew to look for it, there was something there. Danny… hummed. There was a faint feeling of static and chill, like a distant storm or frost on a cold morning, sitting in his chest. So light Jason could almost be imagining it. Back in the cafe, he definitely hadn’t been imagining it. Because Danny had looked like he was on the edge of breaking down right there at the table, when Jason had offered to help. Jason had almost found it funny, for a second, that Danny was worried it might not be safe for him to get involved with his problems. Him. The Red Hood. Not safe. But then Danny had said something about kidnappings. And a few of the bits he’d been letting slip had started to make way too much sense, and Jason’s vision had gone green for a moment. And while he’d been trying to fight down the spike of anger, he’d felt the pit stir again, faintly. And something had answered it.  And that was terrible. If Danny was connected to the lazarus pits, he might be in serious trouble indeed. If the League of Assassins was after him, Jason needed to know now. And if Danny was an agent of the League, then Jason needed to figure out how to deal with him.  Read the rest on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48120073/chapters/122356090

Half-Lives, Chapter 7

Half-Lives Chapter 9

Half-Lives chapter 10

Half-Lives, Chapter 11

Jason felt great. Better than he had in a long time actually. He’d started patrol early again, and made stops to check on some of his people in the area. Street level crime seemed to have picked back up a bit with the cooling weather, but the gangs were still laying relatively low, and he hadn’t encountered any major trouble so far. He’d managed to stop a few muggings, checked in on a gang of street kids he’d been keeping an eye on, and gotten a report from one of his lieutenants. The operations he’d been overseeing were all running smoothly, and the Black mask idiots hadn’t shown their faces on his turf in a while. There had apparently been a few sightings of Signal close to Crime Alley in the last few days though. Duke had been hanging around more than usual. That irritated him, but it was better than having Bruce breathing down his neck. He might have to go loom intimidatingly on a nice, visible rooftop somewhere though. 

Duke would be able to see him from halfway across the city. Jason was sure he’d get the message. 

Chapter 12 Preview.

I'm writing up chapter 12 of Half-lives, but it's taken a completely unplanned tangent that was not in my outline, and I'm having and adventure trying to keep up with it. I also have a ton of work to do this week, so I have no idea if I'll get it uploaded anytime soon. So you all get a brief preview snippet.

I hope I'm as funny as I think I am. -----------------------------------

To be fair to Red Hood, (which he wasn’t sure he wanted to be right now) Steve didn’t think the boss had intended to make him work overtime. It wasn’t his style. He’d just been distracted by something lately, and Signal being close to the alley made him territorial or some shit. If he lodged a note of complaint, he’d definitely get an apology and overtime pay for his trouble. But right now he was feeling tired, and grumpy, and maybe, just maybe, a little bit petty. 

Which was why, when his big bad boss ate shit on the roof directly below his balcony, in full view of Steve’s security cameras, he immediately saved the video for blackmail purposes.  He’d been standing on his tiny balcony, having a smoke and trying to remember not to lean on the rusted part of the railing, when he’d heard voices coming from the rooftops to his south. He’d warily pulled back into the shadows of his curtains just slightly, but stayed where he could see what was going on. He heard two voices. One he couldn’t identify, which sounded young and male, and one which had the metallic buzz of the boss’s helmet. The swearing was also familiar. A dark, fast moving shadow flicked by on the roof above Steve’s apartment, cackling like he was juiced up on Joker toxin. (Steve reflexively reached for his gas mask) And Red Hood, (who sounded extremely pissed off) came hurtling in behind him on a slightly lower rooftop. He had to clear a gap to get to the roof of the neighbor’s building, and took a flying leap over the narrow space, cursing the entire time.

“--back here you punk-ass pasty-white son-of-a-aah!!!!” And apparently, Hood misjudged his jump. Because he sailed cleanly over the gap between roofs, overshot, and caught his boot on a bit of H-vac equipment. And then The Red Hood, crime lord and undisputed ruler of Park Row, the only vigilante in the city to openly defy Batman, Intimidating 6 foot tall brick of a man, and Steve’s boss, face-planted in Ms. Gracia’s flowerpots.  __________________ https://archiveofourown.org/works/48120073

Half lives, chapter 12

Half-Lives, chapter 13

For all its flaws, and there were many, many flaws, Gotham actually had decent road maintenance. 

Oh there were plenty of areas of the city where the roads were shit. The areas where the rich people lived were always given first priority, and nobody in city planning really gave a fuck about Crime alley or the Bowery, but large sections of the city road network were reasonably well maintained. Bludhaven’s were not. So Jason always had to be careful when he brought his bike over this way, lest he ram into one of the bottomless potholes that littered the cracked pavement. It was even worse with a passenger, and he didn’t want to rattle Danny around too much. The actual road to the Zoo itself was halfway decent, mainly because it was on the outskirts of Gotham rather than in Bludhaven proper. But the side trip he had planned for later would be rough. 

Still, he managed to get to the Zoo’s parking lot without rattling himself or his passenger halfway back to death, and found a decent parking spot that wasn’t too far from the entrance. It was also close enough to the toll-booth that no one should be tempted to try stealing it. Not that they could, his baby’s security was way too good for that. “So, where should we head first?” Jason asked as they walked towards the entrance. 

“Eh, I don’t have a preference. I would like to tour the walk-in aviary at some point though.” Danny replied. “That’s about halfway through the main loop. Let’s just pick a direction and walk.” 

“Sounds good.”

Jason paid for admittance as they went through the check-in. Almost immediately, something seemed to catch Danny’s eye. There was a big, open enclosure full of flamingos near the entry, and Jason saw Danny perk up when he noticed them. Looked like they’d be going that way to start. “You like birds, huh?” “Eh, sort of? I haven't gotten the chance to see many of the ones the pamphlet says they have here.” He leaned on the railing, and watched as a pair of the enormous birds wandered by. “Amity actually did have a zoo, but they had a lot of temporary exhibits. For some reason they never had many birds.” “I thought Amity was a smallish town? How’d they get a zoo?” Danny chuckled. “I, uh, think that might have been Sam’s fault.” “Your friend? How does that work?”  “Sam’s parent’s were kinda rich, and Sam was big into conservation and endangered species. I think her parents funded the place.” He scoffed. “Not that she really liked it. She wasn’t a fan of keeping animals in captivity, and kept complaining about their living conditions.” “Huh.” Jason watched as a flamingo wandered close to Danny, eyeing him over the top of the fence. Jason had stayed a healthy distance back from the enclosure. 

Animals didn’t tend to like him much. He’d wondered briefly on the way here if that was because of the ghost thing, but Danny seemed to be doing fine. It was probably because of the pits. “Wait a minute.” Jason thought back to something he’d heard from Babs the other day. “Wasn’t there something about Amity Park and endangered Gorillas?” To his surprise, Danny… groaned. Loudly. “God, don’t remind me.” He rubbed a hand down his face, seeming to forget about the bird for a moment as it wandered off. “Why? What’s the matter?” “Uhg. Bad memories. Amity hosted one of the two Purple-backed gorillas that was alive at the time for a bit. There was… a thing. That happened.” Oh, Oh yeah, Jason was remembering more of the conversation now. “Don’t you have your name on a research paper about them? It was like the only bit of scientific literature the family could find.” Danny’s head thumped into the wooden rail on the fence. “Yeah, yeah. Figures that would make it out.” “Hmm.” Jason wondered if he should have picked another destination for the day. “I think there’s currently a Purple-back gorilla exhibit here, at this zoo. Should we avoid that?” He asked. “You're kidding.” Danny looked flatly at Jason out of the corner of his eye. “Oh, you’re not kidding. Damn.” He sighed. “It’s fine. We may as well go see them, and we just got here, I’m not about to leave now.” He began to walk down the path towards the next exhibit. “Just so long as I don’t end up spending the whole night watching them, or getting attacked by a ghost who wants to skin me.” Jason stood staring after him for a second, trying to process that. “Skin you? Danny? Danny?! What?” He chased after him, determined to get an explanation for that. Read the rest on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48120073/chapters/123852799

Half-Lives Chapter 14

Jason was going to get him arrested. 

“WHAT’S GOING ON?!” a voice crackled out from the car’s loudspeaker. Danny could see a head of dark, curly hair over a pair of sunglasses as the window rolled down. Jason, concerningly, had frozen where he’d stood, one hand raised and poised to throw an egg. As Danny watched with mounting dread, he turned, slowly, to face the police car. 

“Hello Dick!” He called out in a mocking voice.

The egg was still being held threateningly in the air.

“THAT’S OFFICER GRAYSON TO YOU!”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. Officer Dick!”

Half-Lives, Chapter 15

This is so hilarious to me and I don't know why. Maybe the sleep deprivation delulu is catching up on me

literally the first thing that popped into my head after reading this post by @im-totally-not-an-alien-2