The Outlaw.

Meme | Accepting and answering every Friday.

Meme | Accepting and answering every Friday.

Meme | Accepting and answering every Friday.

Meme | Accepting and answering every Friday.

"It's not polite to just watch people and not say hello."

"Did you miss me?"

"I'll fucking cut that son of a bitch!"

"I won't ever forgive you!"

"I'm so glad you're here."

"You really trying to piss me off?"

"What are you so scared of?"

"A DEAD PERSON IS ON THE GROUND."

"I tend to assume people can't stand the sight of me."

"Geez, you look like you've seen a ghost."

"You thought I wouldn't notice?"

"Everyone dies."

"Strawberry or chocolate?"

"I can't believe this is happening!"

"Don't you realize how serious this is?"

"People will believe just about anything these days."

"Where's the thrill in that?"

"We have the advantage of looking small and harmless."

"You really DO look awful."

"You look like you're about to cry."

"You have to kill me."

"He's a senseless #@$%#@!# piece of #$%!**&*%##$* who $#%&*!@ so don't talk to him."

"You won't make a good husband..."

"You think I'm cute?"

"Shit happens."

"I said sorry, didn't I?"

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"If the world's got you down, I'll pick you up."

"Are you joking? I honestly cannot tell."

"You, Sir, are an idiot!"

     Elijah lifts his gaze as commanded, steely blues sizing up the others form, completely unblinking. he has no reason to disobey. at the very least, the other man will get to see the deep darkness that lurked within his half-lidded eyes.

     “I’m looking,” he starts, crossing his legs and squaring his shoulders. “and yet all I see is a boy uncertain as to whether he’s a hero or a villain.”

tagged by: @tcnaciious

tagging: anyone who wants to!

   His boots made not even a whisper of sound as Damian took a few steps into the alley proper, becoming less of a back-lit silhouette and more of a flesh and blood boy. He barely gave the woman a glance as she fled, and deigned the man sprawled on the ground even less attention, merely stepping on his fingers as he passed. The action elicited a small groan from the thug’s mouth, however, and Damian half-turned to nonchalantly kick him in the head as well; not with as much force as his brother, but with just as much intention.

   Only a few steps away now, Damian had to tilt his head back to stare up at Jason, his arms crossed and eyes narrowed. ❝ I wouldn’t call your pathetic attempts at rebellion a competition. More like a cry for my father’s attention. ❞ His tone was dismissive, a hand waved vaguely to punctuate the point. ❝ And let’s not forget who the superior Robin is here, Todd. ❞ The sneer that had twisted his mouth before had slid into a thin-lipped and unamused line. Damian would not have Jason thinking his arrival was anything more than a nuisance to him.

   At his question, however, Robin tilted his head ever so slightly, eyes slipping to the side for a moment. It was not an easy one to answer. His time in the Hive had seemed to stretch almost endlessly, a year piling on top of another and forming the building blocks for yet another. And though he had not been in Radiale long, it did not erase the many months he had been trapped in a different city. He had been away from Gotham long enough that he sometimes strained to remember the view from the top of Wayne Tower, or the way the city’s polluted smog had made the rain taste.

   ❝ Long enough, ❞ came his eventual answer, tone biting. ❝ And I’ll warn you once: these are my streets, not yours. Don’t get in my way. ❞ His masked eyes glowered behind their lenses, and the stubborn set of his mouth was nearly identical to his father’s when Bruce was giving an order.

And of course, Damian just had to go and open his mouth and ruin the whole almost-happy reunion. His whole ‘I’m better than you ever were and ever will be’ attitude really made Jason just want to knock him silly. He wanted to be understanding. Wanted to think that maybe this Damian was different from the one back home. Maybe he didn’t know what Jason was going through. But then, why would he care if he did? It was only because they were brothers that Jason didn’t send a fist flying straight for Damian’s face. “whatever, enjoy your stupid tights and cape, but remember that batman doesn’t care about you, or any of us. he just wants the job done.” Harsh, and untrue, but like Hell was Jason gonna keep trying to place nice if this was what he had to expect from the night. Superior Robin. “he left me to die, don’t forget. and when i came back, even after i tried to redeem myself and play by his stupid rules, he tracked me down after kicking me out of my own city just to tell me my best friend was murdered. that my getting involved would only complicate things and get in his way. don’t get it twisted, ‘robin’ isn’t a badge of pride. it’s the first tick of a bomb. my explosion killed me. can’t wait to see what yours does, o’ superior robin.”

The last thing Jason wanted right now was to fight with family, especially after losing the family he’d worked so hard to build. After being kicked out of his home and all but disowned for one lousy mistake. But he wasn’t going to hang his head and let this punk tug on a leash. Family or not. “funny, i don’t see your name on these streets anywhere.” For added measure, Jason glanced around, as though he actually cared enough to search. “looks like all that money can’t buy everything, huh? but since i left a nice stain on the concrete here, guess that means i can do whatever i want. on my streets.” He tucked the crowbar he’d nicked off the thug into one of the two empty holsters at his back. It fit snugly, and thus, he’d be keeping it. “you rely so much on batman, but you can’t be daddy’s favorite sidekick when he’s m.i.a. huh? must be tough.” 

Funny how thugs had a tendency to run scared when faced with someone even remotely skilled. All it had taken to scare off a pare of jerks from tormenting a poor fox was for Red Hood to point his gun at them.

   Damian had, for nearly all his time in the Hive, been mostly alone; one or two of his family members had sometimes appeared, but never for long. By extension, he expected it to be no different here. He had become almost too used to being the only bat to prowl the streets, to come home to a mostly silent house, to bandage his wounds himself and fall asleep with only Titus and Lucius for company. This reality had become only more stark upon his arrival to Radiale, a place where he was yet unsure if Rey even lived and existed. And yet, despite the solidarity, Damian continued as he always had: occupying his days in preparation for night patrols. He was a soldier, after all.

   It was for this reason, perhaps, that Damian was so unprepared to suddenly come face-to-face with one of his brothers. The terrified scream that had brought Robin to the back alley suddenly seemed insignificant compared to the scene before him: a young woman, clutching desperately to her purse, frightened eyes fixed on the thug who had just tried to tear it from her. Or, more specifically, at the boot pressed to his neck, and the man the boot was attached to. That man being the Red Hood, outlaw extreme.

   Or, at least, it looked like the Red Hood. The crimson bat symbol still blazed across his chest, but the hooded vest, the half-mask, the crowbar, the buzzed head: those were new. The outfit was more raw than the old one (edgy, Beast Boy would have called it), all sharp edges and attitude. And yet, it was still clearly the Red Hood. Jason Todd. Damian’s so-called brother. Here, in Radiale. Something like relief, or comfort, twinged in Damian’s chest. But, he was Damian, and so the warm feeling lost its shape somewhere on the way to his face, curling his mouth into a condescending sneer instead of a smile.

   ❝ I can’t tell which one looks more foolish anymore—you, or Red Robin. ❞

Jason on the other hand, preferred working alone, at least these days. He’d grown tired of having partner after partner die or get sucked into some alternate dimension or cross-galaxy endeavor. He was tired of being left behind. At least on his own, he only had himself to lose. Jason had already lost himself once, what was one more time?

Maybe that’s why the people he tried to help always ended up screaming in terror. Maybe they could tell he was living his life dangerously and rebelliously and it frightened them. Not that Jason would blame them, but he wasn’t suicidal. He’d call it boldness, even if the people close to him would call it stupidity. Oh well, at least he’d always have the feeling of being able to punch some thugs around whenever he was in a bad mood. There was definitely no shortage of those.

Red Hood looked up at the voice, eyebrows twitching at the familiarity. “i didn’t know we were competing. adding my two cents, though, a pint-sized punk prowling the streets isn’t something you see every night, either.” Behind his mask, he met that sneer with a smug grin of his own. But before he could turn his full attention to his brother, Red Hood had something else to take care of. 

He leaned down closer to the thug and spoke in a hushed tone, one of many scare tactics he’d picked up from his dear old dad. “mess around on my streets again, and next time it’ll be more than just your ego that i shatter.” After kicking the guy hard enough in the face to knock him out, Red Hood tossed the woman her purse and watched as she ran off, still whimpering. “yeah, you’re welcome!” Calling off after her wouldn’t do any good, but Jason always had to have the last word.

     Milo hadn’t been approached yet by the owner and was prepared to see if she could find out who it might belong to when the man approached her. She glanced up at him, listening to closely to his voice to determine if his was the one she’d heard earlier. It would’ve been easier if she had her enhanced abilities but they were nullified when she was dropped here. 

          “You sound like the guy I heard earlier but I don’t know,” she glanced around briefly. No one appeared to be searching for the thief nor the phone so it was safe to assume he was the rightful owner. “I heard someone yellin’ and saw him runnin’ so I tripped him and he dropped the phone. It’s a bit scratched up but the screen doesn’t look broken or anythin’. Though, just to be sure, you got a way to prove it’s yours? If you can then obviously I’ll hand it over no ifs, ands, or buts.”

She was sensible, and right to be cautious, but damn was it annoying. He didn’t want anyone snooping through his phone. The last thing he wanted was for some stranger to figure out just what a sentimental idiot Jason was. He sighed heavily, reaching up to run a hand through his hair. Guess there was only one easy way out of this.

I’ll buy you a whole steak if you just come here!

She wasn’t sure if that was directed at her. Didn’t even think to think ‘but why would it be directed at me about steak?’ Kachina just loves food and any mention of it would catch her interest! So of course, Kachina turns around only to be greeted by an incoming dog. With a mask still in their mouth, their tail wags like crazy. When the dog is close enough,  With much ease, Kachina scoops up the precious furbaby and grins, “Hey, what do you have there?” And as to not startle the baby, she’s pulling the mask right out of their mouth. Perfect. “Where’s the steak?”

And in reply that dog barks. Eyes lifting from the dog to land on the a male her head tilts. “HEY! Is this your’s?” She’s lifted the mask up in questioning. 

Double ah shit. Some girl had caught the dog faster than he had, and now she had her hands on his mask. Well... no one knew Red Hood in this city yet, maybe he was fine... maybe he could play it off as like... cosplay or something, that was still a thing here, right?

     “Maybe,” she said, accompanied with a condescending tilt of her head as though she were addressing a child. From what she could discern from his voice, compared to her long life, he would be what she considered to be a child. “But there is a little thing called being inconspicuous.” 

      Instead of invoking ire, his comment about her little dollar store toy brought a smirk to her lips, flashing the sharp whites of her teeth. Gadgets and gear were all well and good, but they had been taught to not only survive but to win, even when stripped of everything but their own bodies. Natasha powered down her gauntlet and took in his stance. She loved a challenge, and this was going to be fun. 

    “I’m not helping you with anything. Not yet, at least.” She surged forward, always having been stronger than she looked, to press him up against the wall of the alley, her forearm against his throat. “I haven’t had my ass kicked in a while.”

“if you couldn’t tell by the getup, inconspicuous isn’t really my thing.” He shrugged casually, as though he were talking to an old work buddy rather than a potential foe. His tone was definitely a challenge if he’d ever given one, especially after she’d taken that tone of voice with him. It reminded him of how Bruce talked to him. Like he was still a kid, still a Robin. 

But then she gave him a look and turned off the light show, throwing him off guard. She wasn’t going to fight? She started her next sentence, and Red Hood’s guard dropped just enough that when she pinned him, he felt it. She’d gotten him good, even if he had just come out of a fight, giving her an innate upper hand.