I think Iâve got fireflies where my caution should be.
Bet youâve never had a Friday night like this, Rose Wilson thought to herself as she hurled herself off the jersey bridge directly into the Gotham Bay. Â Her skin stung as she submerged into the ice cold water but she pushed forward and swam towards the pier anyways. Rose hadnât been to Gotham in a while, she had spent a lot of time on the road working for N.O.W.H.E.R.E. but since a final confrontation with her father and family sheâd been flying low under the radar. Â Until now, that is.
A Teen Titan no more, nor a mercenary, Rose decided she had some spare time to do what she did best, trouble making. Okay that wasnât exactly her six month plan, but she had been incredibly bored for a while and Gotham was just the cure for it. She really, really just wanted to get in a proper brawl like in the old days, and then maybe settle down into something more long term. She still had a few of Willâs contacts to track down in Gotham since her time in Alaska busting his sex ring, and there was still plenty of fresh hell for them to pay.
But for now Rose just concerned herself with getting dry as she pulled herself up out of the water onto the pier. There were a few fishermen out but it was relatively dead corresponding with the lateness of the night, Rose wasted no time breaking into a sprint down the pier. As she exited the pier and entered the street she looked around the buildings for a moment before locating a fire escape. She ran and jumped to catch the elevated ladder, pulling it down in the process before climbing the rest of the way up and onto the rooftop.
Rose looked out over the city, she wasnât very high up and there were dozens of skyscrapers in the distance, but she has a decent view of her surroundings. She stood on the ledge letting the wind dry her off, sheâd enough adrenaline in her system that she barely noticed the cold as she admired the city lights. It certainly had been a long time, Rose didnât recognize where she was in town anymore with so much construction having been done, but Rose was certain she could find some thugs anywhere she wanted.
There was a time when enough was enough, when you had to accept that the reality of things were that they werenât going to go your way. For Jason Todd that time was now. Heâd helped clear olâ Gordonâs name and stopped Gotham tearing itself apart. But it was time for him to part ways with the rest of the Bat Family. Barbara had tried to convince him to stay, for her; but he couldnât. It was like Barbara had said the first time she had met him, Jason would never be the man that Dick Grayson was. He was never going to be good enough for her and as much as that killed him, he wasnât gong to be the one to hold Batgirl back.Â
But his work in Gotham was far from done. The city still needed saving. After saying his final farewells to Roy and Kori, he found himself back in his old apartment in Gotham. After all this time, he was still benefiting from knowing Talia Al Ghul. It was a good setup. Talia always had a taste for grandeur and efficiency at the same time, hence the penthouse with secret rooms used for training and working cases.
Putting on his gear, he made his way to the rooftop and activated his helmetâs digital HUD. If there was any trouble in the city, his scanner would be able to pick it up. What it picked up though, was something far more interesting. Â Two rooftops away, there was a figure perched on the ledge. Making his way over there, the scanner finally identified who it was, one of the last people Jason expected to see around here.
âWell, well. If it isnât the Ravager herself. Whatâs Deathstrokeâs daughter doing around here?â
The maleâs voice caught Rose off guard and instinctively she reached for her swords as she turned around out of her gaze. She stopped mid reach when she saw who it was and instead rolled her shoulders back, relaxing. âDamn Hood watch who youâre sneaking up on around here, thatâs a good way to lose an eye.â Rose smirked winking one of her (two!) crystal blue eyes. She shrugged her shoulders trying to think up a good answer to his question, Rose gathered he probably wouldnât have a problem with her hanging around Gotham; though the thought of a duel with the Red Hood certainly seemed interesting, it would be rather pointless.
âJust here to see the sights, maybe get into a little bit of trouble, nothing too elaborate.â Rose replied, turning back to the city and walking along the ledge of the roof. âBesides, my muscles are just aching to be stretched, whatâs a girl gotta do to get a proper brawl around here?â Rose inquired before turning back to Jason and studying him carefully, his helmet blocked his face but there was still a lot to be told from body language.
It was entirely possible he could be willing to provide Rose some assistance or intel in her quest, or he could tell her to get lost, both seemed to be in character of him anyways.
Rose was in good humour. This was good news for Jason. She was one of the last people heâd like to be encountering when she was pissed. He could take her in a fight but nursing the injuries heâd be left with afterwards would not be at the top of his to do list. âWhy do you think I wear a helmet unlike the rest of the bats in this city? Protects me from getting shanked by psychopaths and pretty mercenaries. Have fun figuring out which one you areâ Jason said, smirking under his helmet. In all honesty there were a lot worse people he could have run into tonight than Rose Wilson.Â
Maybe they could help each other out. Much as Jason loved taking entire gangs out solo, it would be nice to have someone watching his back tonight. âTell you what, Wilson. Both of us are obviously looking to blow off steam. I can find a number of thugs for us to beat down on and then a bar that does great whiskey. That something that would interest the Ravager?â
Rose hopped off the ledge back onto the main part of the roof closer to Jason. She pretended to weigh the two options of âpsychopathâ and 'pretty mercenaryâ using her hands as pantomimed scales, âIâm both thank you very muchâ Rose declared with a playful grin. She didnât pay much attention to him possibly insinuating she was pretty and smiled along for the joke but the smile lingered a second longer than sheâd expected.
Thankful for the subject change and eager to remove her thoughts from that lingering smile Rose reached back to one of her swords running her finger against it for a moment. The idea of running around Gotham with Red Hood not only sounded appealing it sounded straight up badass. But of course Rose wasnât going to let that excitement show, other wise it might go straight to Jasonâs head and she couldnât have that. âHmm I think I could live with that, but I donât want you to get too attached to me.â Ravager turned back to face the city once more this time anticipating the adrenaline that would soon be making its way through her system once again very soon. âAnd you better be buying my first drinkâ She added jokingly making the mental decision that Jason might make a very nice distraction after all.
âSo what part of town are we heading to, and daddy bats isnât going to get mad at you for bringing a play date along, right?â
âThatâs what I like to hearâ Jason said, doing his best to suppress his satisfaction. Only five minutes into the conversation and he was already having fun. Everyone heard the stories about the Ravager. Deathstrokeâs daughter was known to be fucking terrifying but no one gave her credit on how much fun she was at times.
âYouâre talking to someone who came back from the dead. If I couldnât stay attached to my coffin, I donât think youâre in any danger. As for the drink, thatâll depend on exactly how good you are in the field.â Running ahead of Rose, he leapt across to the next rooftop and called back to her. Â âDo try to keep up. Weâre heading to the Narrows. If thereâs trouble anywhere, weâll find it there. And for the record, I donât work for the Bat. He stays out of my way and I stay out of his.â Not to mention he didnât tell the entire city that the Cluemaster was the one who had Batman going round in circles trying to get Gordonâs name cleared. Sometimeâs Bruce thought so hard about stuff, he missed what was right in front of him. That was probably why he occasionally got Jason to help him out. Unlike the rest of the Baat Family Jason only focused what was important. Leave the fine combing and analysing to the rest of them.
