Archive of Our Own ^beta

Jason found his first target. A small human trafficking ring being run by one of Black Mask’s lieutenants. It was the perfect target, he could rescue some people, hurt one of Black Mask’s source of income, and both sides can spread the word that Robin, no that Jason Todd is back.

He crashes through the window and quickly throws a smoke bomb. He uses the element of surprises to quickly knock out all the thugs with his tire iron. The lieutenant pulls out a gun but can’t see him in the smoke and is just blindly firing. Jason crouches low and uses his grapple to disarm the lieutenant and then charges him and smashes him against the wall.

Grabbing him by the throat he growls “Listen you piece of shit I need you to pass on a message to Black Mask, can you do that.” the lieutenant frantically nods “Great, tell him that Jason Todd is out of his grave, and that Crime Alley is under Robin’s protection again.” Jason knocks him out with his tire iron.

He enters the next room and quickly cuts the restraints of the captives. He asks them “Do you all have a safe place to go?”

They all nod but one of them, a young man asks “Who are you?”

“The names Robin, although you all know me as Jason Peter Todd nowadays.”

A young woman responds “But you died, how are you here?”

He smirks “Turns out the devil has very thin skin, all I had to do is swear at the fucker and he brought me back to avoiding having to deal with me. But I’m not wasting my second chance. So once again, Crime Alley and her people are under my protection.”

A boy way too young to be involved in this mess asks, “So you’re working with Batman again?”

Jason smiles “No, I’ve outgrown both Batman and Bruce Wayne. The crusade I fight for now is my own, and I’ll fight for the people of Crime Alley for as long as I need to.” He approaches all of them and hands them $20 each. “Use this to get yourselves home.”

“Is there anything you’d like us to say?” The young man asks.

“Feel free to spread word along the Alley that I’m back, use my name as well, I’m done hiding who I am from my own brothers and sisters. But I’d appreciate if you kept everything offline. I’d like to avoid the bats for as long as possible.”

The young woman replies “Of course Robin, thank you, thank you so much.”

“Don’t thank me for doing my job, and please, it’s Jason.”

They all leave, thankfully the boy had family to take him home, so Jason made a phone call.

Jim Gordon was not having a good day. The public learning that Jason Todd was Robin had caused a massive mess. Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson were being asked constantly if they knew Jason was Robin, if they were connected to Batman. At least the rest of that family had been left alone, since they became part of it after Jason’s death.

Some of the police have also been harassed by the media wondering if they knew about Jason, so when he gets a call from an unknown number he isn’t eager to answer “Police commissioner Jim Gordon speaking.”

“Hello commissioner, I have something you’d be interested in, and I only need one simple thing in return.” The voice on the other side replied.

“I’m the commissioner of police, I don’t make deals with criminals.” Were there still people out there who didn’t know how strongly he fought against corruption?

“No, of course you don't. But you’ve made deals with vigilantes in the past, and in the present as well. See I’m working on cleaning up the Alley, and I know cops aren’t allowed to patrol the Alley anymore, mayor’s orders and all that shit. So all I need from you is when I send a location, you take in the tied up bad guys and leave without disrupting anyone else. Just make sure your people don’t harass the locals. That’s all I need.”

That was a really good offer, too good. He was pretty much offering the police a significant part of Black Mask’s operation, not to mention other criminals as well. “I’m not agreeing to everything, but if I did, what would you want in return?”

“Simple really, I figure you’d like to know who you’re working with, and there are some bats who I really wouldn’t like you to pass that information to.”

Is that it, he’s willing to give the police criminals on a silver platter and reveal who he is, in return for Batman not finding out. “Why are you willing to offer all this?”

“Look, I can’t clean up the Alley if I don’t have anywhere to send the criminals I take down, my only other option would be to kill them all, and half these people are just trying to make money to survive. I ain’t killing them for that. Besides, you always told me smoking was gonna stunt my growth commish.”

There’s only one person he said that to, a young boy with a heart full of fire and had seen too much in too short of a life. “Jason?” He asks, so shocked he forgot about his own plausible deniable.

“Yeah it’s me commish.”

“How, you … you died, I was at your funeral?” Jason’s death hurt him badly, and it hurt Barbara even more. He was such a sweet kid who wanted to help the innocent, no matter what. His life was taken so cruelly by the Joker. God if Batman let him kill the Joker after what he did to Barbara, Jason’s death wouldn’t have happened. He swore at the kid’s funeral that if Batman ever messed up, let him near enough to the Joker before he was in custody, he’d put three bullets through that monster's head. One for his daughter, one for the boy who was basically his nephew, and one as it is his job. Yet Jason was apparently alive again.

“I dunno commish, woke up in my grave one day, basically brain dead, running on instinct. Some people helped me recover mentally and tried to find out how I came back. No one could figure it out.”

God, he can imagine how terrified the boy must have been, waking up like that. He doesn’t trust that the ‘some people’ that helped Jason had good intentions either. He knows the answer to what he’s about to ask “Why don’t you want the bats to know you’re alive?”

“Where do you want me to start commish? Do you want me to start with how quickly Batman replaced me, and not only that but with some fucking rich kid from Bristol? Do you want me to start with how I was buried next to the bitch that sold me out to the Joker, not with the Wayne family or hell even with the parents who raised me? That my grave says ‘Jason Peter Todd-Wayne, beloved Son and Brother’, like that is my entire fucking legacy?”

The worst part of hearing that is that he knows that that’s not what his grave originally said. When Batman buried his son, the grave was only inscribed with ‘Jason Todd, Ally and Friend’. Nightwing went behind Batman’s back to change it as soon as he saw it, and he used his position as the police commissioner to help. It was a misuse of his power but Jason deserved that much.

“Because the worst part is that my murderer is still out there, treating Arkham like a revolving door. You know as well as I do what is expected of a parent in Gotham if someone hurts their child. If they were still alive, I know Catherine and Willis would have done everything they could to kill the Joker. I know Batman has been keeping you as far away from the Joker since what happened to Barbie. But he couldn’t even do that, not kill him, not paralyse him so he doesn’t hurt anyone else. He didn’t even throw the bastard into a more secure facility. So no, I’m not eager for the bats to know I’m alive.”

Well, if he had any doubt he was talking to Jason, it was gone now. “You know Barbara misses you kid.” He pretends not to know, plausible deniability and all, but Barbara was the one who taught Jason math, science and helped him read and write. She was an older sister to him, and he was, and still is, so proud of her for helping the young boy adjust and learn what he couldn’t before.

“I know.” He can hear his voice shake slightly on the other side “But I’m not ready to face her.”

“I understand, kid. But your issues with Bruce are with Bruce alone. Robin has nothing to do with it, he’s just another kid caught up in this.”

Jason hesitates before responding “Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say commish.” Jason doesn’t seem to agree. But he knows Jason, he’s a good kid and despite everything he’s been through, he would never hurt an innocent person. Especially a kid.

Very well, I accept your terms. If you’re still like your father, I imagine you already have some criminals tied up.”

He hears Jason laugh on the other side “Careful commish, if people find out you know us that well, your plausible deniability isn’t going to be so plausible. I took down a group of human traffickers ran by one of Mask’s lieutenants. I’ll send the location over. I need to get going”

“Hey kid, feel free to keep in touch.”

There’s a long silence before Jason answers.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” The line goes dead.

He reviews what he’s learned today. His nephew was back from the dead. His nephew had taken it upon himself to protect Park Row again. His nephew wasn’t interested in working with the Bats. But, despite his distrust of the police due to his past as a street kid, he was willing to work with him.

He takes it all back, today is a really good day.

Jason was walking along with a duffel bag full of money. It was clear that his information on the Alley and Gotham as a whole. So he decided to go to the second best form of information in Gotham, the street kids.

He could go to the working girls, god know they pick up a lot of information in their line of work. Very little happens in the Alley without one of them learning about it. But he’s the one that suggested that Barbara should work with the working girls as Oracle before his death. If he goes to them they’d probably tell her he’s alive, mostly since they know how close the two of them once were. But he can’t have that happen, leaving the street kids as the best option.

It wasn’t hard to find the street kids if you know how. There was a cant made by street kids a long time ago. Symbols to show safe places, businesses that feed the kids, businesses that are mob fronts and will probably try to traffic the kids and more. It was taught by the older kids to the younger kids for as long as he can remember. It kept them alive, or at least it kept some of them alive.

He finds the symbol he was looking for, information. He walks into the building and sits down next to the kids. He hears them say “Holy shit, that’s Robin.” “But this isn’t the pansy rich Robin.” “But Jason Todd is dead, how are you here?”

He puts his hand up to interrupt the kids and says “Yes I’m Robin, no I’m not the rich brat, and I died but I’m no longer dead. I insulted the grim reaper and he got so sick of me that he brought me back to life. I’m not up to date with the happenings of Gotham anymore, so I’m hoping you could fill me in on what I missed.” He opens the duffel bag and throws it on the table.

The kids’ eyes gleamed “What do you want to know?” One of them asks.

“Everything really, the crime lords, the rogues and the bats.”

“Well shortly after you died, Harley Quinn left the Joker’s crew.”

Jason was shocked “Quinn’s not running with the Joker anymore.?”

“Nah, after your death she went on about how she couldn't believe her ‘darling Mister J’ would do something like that. She ended up bashing the skulls in of a lot of Joker’s goons before Batman tracked him down. She’s running her own crew alongside Poison Ivy now, fucking with Joker and those who pollute the earth or whatever Ivy’s deal is.”

Jason knew that Harley cared about the Robins in her own fucked up way, but still she was working for Joker of all people, what the Joker did to him is not even top ten on most horrific things that monster has done. But it seems that Harley wants the Joker dead too now, so he should try to reach out to her.

The kids tell him more and more, new rogues and players in the game, the new weapons and drugs being smuggled. They let him know the various lieutenants and mob fronts they’ve identified. But one piece of information stuck out to him.

“There’s a warehouse down the docks where Black Mask has been stockpiling weapons for something. He even has something stored there that he got from fucking Lex Luthor, at least it looked like Luthor’s people, but we don’t know what.”

Kryptonite, it had to be fucking kryptonite. Luthor was swimming in the so-called rare stone. Black Mask must be preparing to take over Gotham fully and if he kills the Bats, he’ll have the Justice League on his ass. It’s funny to think a crime lord as feared as Mask is just a pawn in Luthor’s game.

“What’s been going on with the bats while I’ve been gone?” He knows the answer, he’s just curious how the streets view the bats, specifically the new ones.

“Well a big thing is that Doctor Thompkins ain’t playing nice with the Bats no more.”

What, Leslie was basically Bruce’s grandmother “How the fuck did that happen?”

“No one knows, but she kicks out the Bats now if they aren’t injured, and if they show up injured she berates them for taking up the Alley’s only form of medical care when they have other options.”

He should visit the good doc soon. It’s possible Bruce isn’t funding her anymore if they aren’t on friendly terms. If that’s the case he has enough money to take over. “What about the rest?”

“Well, we’ve already said but the new Robin is just some arrogant rich kid. Pretty much everyone from the Bowery to the Amusement Mile is pissed our Robin got replaced by someone from money. He thinks he’s so smart, that he can save the north with his plans and his money, bastard. Apart from that there are three new Bats, Spoiler, Orphan and Signal. Spoiler and Orphan usually stick to the Narrows, but they patrol the rest of the north sometimes, even the outskirts of the Alley. Signal is the only Bat out at day, when he’s not following cases he also patrols across the north. They’re good people, they want to help, they’re trying to help. But they don’t know how ya know.”

“Thank you for the information, take care of yourselves.” He says as he leaves the building.

His research on the new kids was correct then, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown and Duke Thomas actually cared about the north. Street kids don’t trust easily so saying they want to help is about as much of an endorsement as they could get. He should try to work with them at some point, he can point them in the right direction and being close to some of the Bats might help him when Bruce comes knocking.

Not to mention he has common ground with all of them. The One Who Is All, or Cassandra Cain and him both escaped their past as assassins, even if he only left it behind a few days ago. Duke Thomas and him both have shared trauma with the Joker, even if Jason feels guilty. If he came back sooner and put that monster down, then Duke’s parents never would have lost their sanity. Stephanie Bown is apparently a rather chaotic person and was a victim of Black Mask. He could imagine the fun they’d have together fucking with Mask while burning his empire to the ground.

But that’s something for future him to think about. Black Mask has left him a warehouse full of goodies, and it would be rude not to pick it up.

Across the Alley the word has spread that their Robin has returned. He’s a lot bigger now, he has a white streak in his hair, not to mention he’s angrier now. But that doesn’t matter to them, because to them, Robin has returned from the grave to help them, to protect them once more.