Chapter Text
For the fourth time during the short drive from Bristol to Crime Alley, Bruce Wayne has to smack the radio when it shorts out and starts crooning some random country station. It’s an old, beat up thing, with more rust than paint at this point. Hopefully just the kind of vehicle Matches Malone would drive if he was down on his luck and in Gotham and looking for work.
Looking in the permanently crooked rear-view mirror as he pulls into a spot near his personas’ new apartment, Bruce double checks that his mustache remains secure and grabs the briefcase on the seat next to him. The apartment, he has been assured by an overly amused Nightwing when their paths crossed that morning, has been set up and made ready. Bruce is afraid to see what choices Nightwing made for Matches to wear, and hopes he stuck to the theme and style Bruce had outlined with at least a few choices.
While Nightwing and Alfred may have raised questioning eyebrows at so drastic a decision to find more on the budding crime lord with this method, Bruce couldn’t shake his encounter with the man as ‘Brucie’ Wayne. He needed to see the man outside the element of crime lord/vigilant again. Luckily it hadn’t taken too long to gain at least reluctance support, because despite being new to town Red Hood was already a troubling development since his arrival. Though, Bruce suspects it is partly because Alfred had been insisting on deep cleaning the cave and knew it would be easier with Bruce away for a few days.
At first the alarm bells rang loud due to the name that the crime lord had chosen. Any time the Joker was involved with anything, even by name alone, was enough to need a trip to the dentist for Bruce to check his molars. Nightwing had nearly been suspended from his job the last time Joker had escaped, leaving mid-shift to meet the clown with viciousness that would have worried Batman had he been bothering to pull his own punches. All he could think at the time, was that the last thing Jason had likely heard was that manic laughter. Even now, Bruce fears that the only thing that saved the Joker last time was that the shifting of his broken bones beneath Batman had reminded him of carrying Jason that final time, leaving him stumbling away abruptly while Nightwing cuffed him.
However, news had spread early that trying to equate this new iteration of Red Hood as an associate of the Joker was met with brutal violence. As a result, that particular rumor had quickly died down, muffled by the wired jaws that had attempted to spread it in the first place. So, Bruce had also written off that angle, the guy obviously held nothing but animosity for the Joker. Maybe taking his name was meant as an insult? Perhaps he was a victim of the Joker?
For awhile after the association to the Clown had been ruled out, the new fledgling of the seedy Gotham underworld had been pushed down the list of people for Batman to worry about. His methods were brutal, and his blatant and nearly gleeful use of firearms and explosives were worrisome, but his targets were only other criminals so far. There had been zero reports of civilian injuries caused by the crime lord, and Leslie Thompkins had even said he had personally brought in victims of other crimes a few times. So despite the reported killings by Red Hood’s hands, there were too many other criminals that did not share the same regard for civilian lives. So it was deemed that if Batman or Nightwing came across an opportunity to take him down, they would, but to actively search Red Hood out would hurt other cases, such as the new toxin being rumored to be in development by Scarecrow.
Then came the masquerade themed gala, a set-up by the Justice League involving Lex Luthor, and when Bruce and Clark had been playing their parts and trying to bait Luthor they’d instead reeled in Red Hood. Sort of, at least. Their ruse of openly ‘drugging’ Brucie Wayne had been noticed, just not as the pair had planned for. This was made obvious when Red Hood had shot Clark, who had been in disguise, from behind with no hesitation. Not the expected outcome for their mission, Bruce had needed to hiss in Clark’s ear he should be deadbefore the Kryptonian actually went boneless and played the part. Theninstead of killing Bruce Wayne,or kidnapping him for his own purposes, Red Hood had … gotten him to safety.
It was perplexing, and it didn’t help when Clark had teased him after regarding his newest Rogue. Clark wasn’t wrong though, when he had said that perhaps Red Hood was not all bad. Surely there was some goal nefarious goal Red Hood had in mind when he had shown up to the party in a red domino mask and wrinkled suit. Whatever it had been though, the crime lord had given it up to help someone else he had perceived to be in danger. Then after Red Hood had done his good deed, he’d simply left, nothing asked in return from the billionaire.
It had Bruce looking at Red Hood’s activities with a new light, but there was still the most pressing concern.
Red Hood had deliberately gone for and pressed the emergency beacon hidden on Bruce’s belt. It could simply be that Red Hood had observed one of them using it while they were patrolling, or learned of the device because of a few others who had one issued to be carried on their persons – hopefully at all times – such as Commissioner Gordon, Dick, and Alfred. After Jason, Bruce refuses to be too late ever again.
Bruce would love to think that Red Hood had learned of this, and the newest criminal to Gotham simplyguessed that Bruce Wayne would have one, that Batman was partial to the billionaire as some rumors suggested. Instead, Bruce worried there was more to it. That perhaps Red Hood new Bruce Wayne’s secret.
It has led to Nightwing returning to Gotham for an extended stay, and Matches Malone getting dusted off. Thankfully, Red Hood is apparently hiring and Bruce has already managed to make contact with some of Red Hood’s men looking for a position. They had been surprisingly thorough in vetting who would amount to a ‘goon’ that Bruce had been worried they’d ask for references.
Dragging the coffee table closer to the couch, Bruce settles down and pulls out what they have so far on Red Hood’s operation, studying up before the meeting tomorrow. Bruce’s first day in his ‘new job’.
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Jason gapes from beneath the helmet when he sees the line-up of the newest recruits. One of his most loyal and level-headed men that had the misfortune to go by, Bob (still, better than Dick),has so far done a pretty decent job at picking them out. Their aim is to find those who don’t mind getting their hands dirty but aren’t sadists, who wouldn’t be trigger happy and get the wrong people killed. It a slow process, but admittedly it’s also a hard niche to fill in Gotham but so far, and Bob has pulled through admirably.
Until Bob went and pulled in Bruce fucking Wayne … oh, sorry, Matches Malone. Should he fire Bob? Is this a fire-able offense? Except now Jason kinda relies on Bob a little too much, gets more time to read with him around.
Fuck.
Jason thinks back to the gala and curses internally, then reflexively apologizes to Alfred internally as well. The only way this, and Bruce’s curious fucking face, makes any sense is that he knows. Bruce had obviously somehow figured out from their encounter at the gala who Red Hood really is, and has decided to… what? Taunt him? Anger flaring, Jason refuses to react to the persona that Jason himself had once helped Bruce to dress up as. Whatever this is, if Bruce wants to play dress up and look like a fool, who is Jason to stop him.
If that is the case, then what is even the point of all this? Jason should have left Bruce to be groped by Clark, not that he knew that was who had ‘roofied’ dear old dad at the time. Now Jason has spent these last few weeks building up his men, ammunition, cash, and a huge sleep deficit for it all to mean nothing now. At least where his big reveal and plan as far as his plans for Bruce.
If Jason is honest with himself, he has let himself get slightly distracted with the actual running of Crime Alley and getting his forces built up, chipping away at the territories of assholes like Black Mask. He would be further along in his plans for Joker and Batman if he hadn’t started giving some of that cash they steal to the local shelters in Crime Alley. If Jason didn’t spare some of his men to keep an eye on the working girls who used to give him cigarettes and showed him how to use concealer after Jason had gotten in the way of Willis’s fist. They knew a group home could be worse then a black eye, but the school wouldn’t care about that. It would probably have helped things too, if Jason didn’t hire the street kids for unnecessary tasks like food runs when he could just order delivery, or taking non-urgent messages across town that really could have been a text message.
Even if Bruce has ruined everything by showing up in the ridiculous hat and worse mustache, he can’t take away what Red Hood has accomplished so far in Crime Alley. Batman can glower at he wants at Jason from behind the cowl later, but it doesn’t change the fact that Jason gets results. Crime is down, the junkies have an actual needle exchange program instead of the one that is just a front for – who would have guessed – selling drugs outside rehabs. Even the shelters are better stocked with food than before Jason came back. People are already learning that if they call for Red Hood, word will get to at least some of his men if not Jason himself.
The room seems to sense the tension that radiates off of Jason, if not the actual cause, with the audible sound of shuffling feet and the rustle of fabric making it obvious that the side-chatter had died off. At least the helmet kept it from being obvious where he is looking. Bruce was subtly studying him, not quite like a detective eyeing down but genuine fucking curiosity. At what? Is the old man trying to bait him? Jason takes on a persona to hide who he is, Bruce finds out somehow, then shows up in the one he has had since Dickie’s days as Robin? Or did he think Jason’s brain so addled by that crowbar that he wouldn’t immediately recognize Bruce?
Unable to contain himself any longer Jason marches up to Bruce, who seems to genuinely startle at the sudden and openly hostile approach. The outfit and makeup are good, the only thing giving him away are his eyes. Blue, almost the same shade Jason’s used to be before the pit, before green creeped into the edges. The rest of Bruce is distorted by thickprosthetic pieces and that ridiculous chin, hell, he is even standing different. Not a hint ‘Brucie’s’ cocky swagger or Batman’s looming presence.
“You think this is a joke?” Jason growls, the modulator only aiding the effect, then side eyes the other men around them. Some of the more daring or stupid openly staring, and Jason clenches his fists. Control. Their boss is tactical, doesn’t blow up on his own men. Breathe, he tells himself, breathe. Jason knows, Bruce knows, but he’ll be damned if he lets the rest know he used to be a Bat before it all blew up in his face. “You think I wouldn’t recognize you, Matches?”
“Wh- what are you on about, boss?” Bruce’s New Jersey drawl is perfect and nasally, any hint of his Bristol accent erased. Jason’s laugh is mechanical through the helmet, and the men who have been around for awhile tense. They know what his actual laugh sounds like, have seen him with the kids. Jason has more than half a mind to toss him in the Gotham harbor, and Bruce will have to let him or blow his cover.
“Right. So, you think I’m an idiot then. That I don’t recognize my own fucking fa -” Jason pauses, feeling the heavy gaze of every eye in the room was on them. Whatever. Let the rest be confused, wouldn’t be the weirdest thing their boss has done. Hell, they were planning on whose heads to take for a grand and official entrance into the big boy scene only three hours ago. So far, Jason has only worked within Crime Alley and no one, not even the known crime lords, give any real shit about the place. About Jason’s first home.
“You walk in here, after all these years of obviously not giving a shit about me, and what? What do you expect to happen here? What do you want?” Jason feels the fabric in his hands before he even knows what he is doing, dragging Bruce close. Bruce’s eyes go wide and Jason wants to poke them out of his skull, because if he had only put half as much effort into being a fucking dad that he did this acting, then maybe…
“Oh god.” Bruce breathes, and Jason’s stomach clenches at the sound of Bruce’s voice, at the unknown emotion there. Cause whatever it is, it almost looks like guilt. “I-I’m sorry, uh, son. I didn’t … I had to know it was you, before I ...”
Jason shoves away, sending Bruce stumbling backwards. What the fuck. Bob moves in then, and grips Matches Malone by a bicep while one of his other men takes the other side wordlessly. Both look confused, but eye ‘Matches’ dangerously and Jason is glad for the mask then. He also decides to forgive Bob. ‘Cause they don’t know what is happening, but they look worried for their boss. That is the same look Bob gives the assholes they find beating on their wives, like he knows he wants to bash the guys head in, but maybe not in front of their spouse. That can get tricky, sometimes. The men look protective, and Jason pushes away the swelling emotion that brings and instead replaces it with the realization that throwing Bruce in the harbor looks even more feasible now, even if Bruce decided to fight back.
“I’m sorry.” Bruce whispers, and fuck it all that almost sounds real. “I didn’t know. I would have… I would have done something sooner. You shouldn’t have been alone for all this time.”
Jason makes a low, pained noise that luckily doesn’t make it through the helmet’s voice modulator.
“Want us to get rid of him, boss?” Bob’s voice is level, no hint of his normally pretty relaxed personality. Jason tries to take deep breaths without being too obvious, mind spinning. What angle is Batman pulling here, what ruse? ‘Matches’ looks genuinely concerned, and normally the only role he is good at playing is the bumbling billionaire playboy.
This couldn’t be… was Bruce actually reaching out? Meeting Jason on his own turf, giving up so many of Batman’s normal advantages? Squinting from behind the mask like it would reveal anything different, Jason looks for the disgust he expected on Bruce’s face. Studying Bruce, Jason tries to find the apathy that was surely there after Jason was so easily replaced, with Joker alive and not rotting in an unmarked grave. Jason hasn’t done his head trick yet, but he hasn’t exactly been tidy in how he handles the criminals in Crime Alley. So add breaking Batman’s Golden Rule to the list of offenses.
Jason still only sees concern, and without thinking waves his hand dismissively, decision made.
“Whatever. Let him go, we have shit to plan. He wants to be here for it? Get his hands dirty? Fine, let’s see how long till you get sick of me this time.”