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September 3rd (22:03)
It was supposed to be a simple recon mission, but we all know how those always end. Nightwing, Kid Flash and Aqualad were fighting under a bridge on train tracks. The moon was low in the sky, letting moonlight shine under the bridge. KF and Aqualad were fighting off the professionally trained goons, so it was a bit complicated for them and Nightwing was going toe to toe with Red Hood. “Having trouble?” Hood said with a playful tone while dodging Nightwing’s punch. “Not even a little bit.” N went to attack again, but left his chest exposed for a second too long. Red Hood noticed, taking the chance to kick him square in the chest, knocking him down on the ground. Before Nightwing even had a chance to stand up, Red was already crouched in front of him. He tensed and glared at the eyes on the red mask facing him. Hood grabbed his chin and traced the line of his jaw with his thumb and leant close to his ear “I wish I could take you with me Golden Boy.” he stood back up and turned his back, leaving a very confused and flustered Nightwing behind.
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“You’re asking for permission to kidnap on of the young justice member, one of their leader figures nonetheless?” Slade looked at Red incredulously “Yes, I want to make sure it won’t foil any of your plans.” Deathstroke pondered for a moment “I suppose you can, but only if it doesn’t involve any of the locations nor people from the operation.”. Hood grinned under his mask and nodded “Got it.”.
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Back at the Young League’s HQ, Wally was laughing at Dick who was clearly confused and pacing around. “He called me Golden Boy, Wal! I mean what?!” Wally took off his mask, setting it down. He went to stop Dick in his never-ending pacing, putting a hand on his shoulder and squeezing reassuringly “Dick if you don’t feel up to fight him next time, tell me and Kaldur, we’ll be there.” he took a breath, getting all the stress out “Yeah, thanks man.”. He gave him a warm smile going to his room, leaving the raven-haired man in the main room alone. Dick eventually went to his room after checking reports and looking for clues to pin together not-so-successfully.
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September 16th (00:46)
The fight was getting long now, and Dick has been purposely avoiding fighting Red Hood, leaving the criminal for the League members that were there. It’s been almost two hours since the fight started and the heroes along with the enemies were growing fatigued the more they fought. Nightwing put down the last goon that was attacking him, pausing for a second, catching his breath. “Not too tired I hope?” Red said with a weird sweet-ish tone, like he was trying to fake above a real concern. Dick straightened up and grabbed his batons, telling Wally and Kaldur via telepathic link that he’d need back-up. He glanced around, not trusting Red Hood was the last standing in his area. Hood lunged at him, Nightwing blocked with the small energy he still has. “Seems like you have some energy left after all.” He acrobatically flipped away and was now pacing around him like a predator around a prey. ‘What’s taking you guys so long?!’ Nightwing asked Kid Flash and Aqualad via the telepathic link. The response he got was not satisfactory ‘Getting held back, you’re on your own N…’ “Great…” He muttered. Red smirked knowing he was alone in this fight. “Problem Little Bird?” Nightwing was now playing defensive, keeping a close eye on Hood following his steps with glances, and not giving him the satisfaction of an answer. Red eventually ran at him, his own weapons out. Nightwing was dodging around, making sure to watch his steps to not stumble. Hood was forcing him to back away until he hit the wall and put his forearm on Nightwing’s collar bone with force “I win.” he said with an unseen smirk. Dick tried to get him off, but Red had more force than him. “Now what? You’re gonna kill me?” Red Hood chuckled and shook his head slowly “You got me wrong Birdie.” he closed the distance between them and whispered in his ear “I meant what I said last time.” Nightwing tensed more and felt his heart drop. He understood what that meant and was not looking forward to that. Red got a cloth of chloroform, putting it on the lower half of his face. Nightwing tried to fight back, but Hood was stronger at that moment, last thing he saw was the white eyes surrounded by red looking back at him, it all went black for him. The criminal tied his hands together, put a blindfold and gag, put him over his shoulder, leaving the battle grounds on his motorcycle. The only person that saw them leave was M’gann, who was invisible at the time.
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Dick woke up groggily, he couldn’t really open his eyes because of the blindfold. He tried to protest, only to realize he had also been gagged, he took note of his wrists and ankles that were tied, luckily for him his hands were not behind his back, and he reached to pry at the gag first because it was too uncomfortable. Dick didn’t pay close enough attention to what he could feel or hear until he heard a door open on the far left. He froze, listening to the person walking, 100% his captor. His head followed the sound, feeling like a frightened animal in a cage. The person—Dick’s brain was still foggy trying to remember who his captor was—approached and removed the gag and blindfold, it was almost gentle, like Dick was a fragile thing. He blinked away the fogginess and looked at his kidnapper—right, it’s Red Hood—he proceeded to take in his surroundings, a 3 stars hotel room or something, not cheap with how big the room was, nor too rich either from the looks of it. Dick also noticed he comfy couch he was seated on, odd, this wasn’t his first time taken hostage and his experience isn’t what was going on, he was practically treated like a guest, minus the tied up & kidnapped part. Red Hood was now seated across from him, on a sofa chair made with the same material as the couch. Hood was, observing? That’s the only word Dick could think of to describe the current situation he was in. Nightwing became hyper-aware of the fact he still had his mask on, and his weapons were close by, practically arm’s reach. “Confused little birdie?” he asked softly, Dick looked at him with a questioning look “A bit...?”. Jason stood up slowly and strolled over to the couch, Dick pushed back in the couch, wanting to keep the distance between them. Hood only sat next to him and took his wrists, cutting the ropes and proceeding with his ankles next. “Better?” Jay asked quietly, Dick only nodded with his confusion growing more. “Guess I need to do some explaining...” Dick nodded again, more thoroughly this time. Jason took off his mask. “Seems like it’ll be easier this way Grayson.” Dick looked at him with surprise “Jay...?”
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Jason had supposedly died, or so Batman told Dick when he was 13 years old. The reality was Jason had somehow disappointed Batman because of his violent fighting style, he was only 10, but he had to ‘be perfect’. Bruce had let him get taken by Joker when they fought, he didn’t want to keep him as his protege, and he thought it would be easier to get rid of him this way instead of telling him he wouldn’t teach nor train him anymore, he thought it would be easier on Richard to tell him Jason died. He was wrong, it had been unarguably horrible for him, Dick thought he was responsible for his ‘death’ and blamed himself, being overprotective over the next proteges Bruce took under his wing, Tim and Damian, blaming himself if anything happened to them it became unhealthy, Jason knew about that since he had been keeping tabs on the Robins—Robin, Red Robin and Nightwing— he wanted to protect them, but only could under his vigilante name from afar. He planned to get all three of them to go with him, but he had to convince the oldest one first to convince easier the two young ones. He explained briefly to Dick his last years in the crime world and what he planned to do next needing his help with the two little Robins.
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Dick lunged at Jay, trapping him in a hug. Jason was startled a bit but returned the hug, “Can I continue flirting with you now?” He said with a smirk and teasing tone. Dick huffed and grinned, pulling away from the hug, giving him a jab on the shoulder.
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September 16th (12:50)
The twelve-hour mark had hit. Wally was walking in circles, muttering about how it was his fault, Tim was, more or less, frantically looking through database knowledge on Red Hood, Kaldur was silent, thinking in his corner, most of the team was investigating the abduction location. M’gann was sitting on the floor, pondering whether she should tell them what she saw in Red Hood, well Jason Todd’s head. Apart from his identity.
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‘I’ll take care of you little bird...’ images and memories appeared in his head, including his real identity and moments spent with Dick when he was still the first Robin. Miss Martian was being allowed to see all of it. Red Hood had let her see and know him, probably knowing she would hesitate to go after him following the peek she had in his mind. (I’ll let you imagine whatever childhood memories and experiences/trauma she saw)
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Conner sat next to her and held her hands in his “M’gann, are you okay?” he asked with concern laced in his tone. “I don’t know, I just hope Dick’s alright.” They stayed silent for a moment seeking comfort in each other's company.