New Crisis, Chapter 10- Dark Hero

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Rated M for Mature

Appropriate for readers 18 and over. May contain extreme violence, sexual themes, nudity, or profanity.

New Crisis, Chapter 10- Dark Hero

San Francisco

Jason Todd had been an outlaw for so long that he couldn’t stop thinking of what he might do to other people. Innocent lives were at stake and they proved to be a risk. The vigilante may not able to focus on the mission at hand, but he knew what it could mean to him, even though they get killed in the process.

The young man, Jason had just entered an abandoned shop, looking for clues in finding the Black Weapon. Unfortunately, his Red Hood persona might make the people fear him the most, even more than the masked killer, who was behind the death of Lex Luthor. He had Intel from an unknown source, telling him that the Black Weapon had just left for Los Angeles. It was unknown at the time, as to where the masked avenger could go. There was no reason as well.

As the former Robin scanned the entire shop, he stepped on a newspaper. He stopped and noticed it under his feet. He backed away and took out the torn paper. The news indicated that a group of new superheroes, who had lived in San Francisco, were killed by a group of super villains called the “Frighteners.” By reading the newspaper and staring at the photos of the dead heroes, he had a hunch that this masked killer went out to get some revenge. It was too good to be true, that he wasn’t the only one, who goes on a quest of vengeance as he did the last time with the Joker. Jason recalled that he was captured, tortured and then left for dead. By the time Batman arrived, he was completely gone from this world. But then, he came back to life due to the effects of the Lazarus Pit. His mind was shattered as he tried to remember who he was. Ra’s al Ghul trained him to become a fierce warrior. He even gave the title of the Demon’s Head to him. But Jason rejected it. Later on, he escaped from the League of Assassins, focusing on getting the Joker for himself.

Jason threw the paper away, went further investigating the shop. He came to the backroom and noticed a pile of clothes lying everywhere on the floor. It wasn’t his first time coming here.

For the first time, he came to the shop looking for the best tailor in town, who can fix his Red Hood mask. He had a big fight against a villain called Knockout. He tried to remember the previous fight, since he was hit out by a gas. The gas rendered him unconsciousness, which allowed the villain to knock him down so many times until his mask cracked. However, Jason had managed to fight the villain back after he became conscious. Then he shot him.

He had no extra masks to replace his current, broken one. It was the only mask, which he could wear at all times. So he heard about a tailor who makes superhero costumes, and even repairs them. The dark alleyway that led him to this tailor shop indicated some robbers might have come inside and stole whatever they could find. But the tailor had probably has someone’s back. He had friends in the high places, not to mention the inside.

Jason looked around the shop and found that there was no one present. For a while though, he thought this shop could be closed anytime soon. But the sign had read “OPEN” on the front. He waited for the tailor to arrive, while looking at a bunch of clothes, which so many customers wanted to wear. At first, he doubts that the tailor’s shop wasn’t intended for ordinary customers. Because he knew what the shop was actually intended for. But it seemed that he was wrong about it, when a young woman had just come out of the women’s room. She tried her pink dress on, so that she could go out on a date. She felt this shop was cheap enough for her to buy the dress, since the other clothing stores were very expensive. The tailor finally arrived from the other side of the room. He was black, almost young-looking for a tailor. He wore specs that made him looked like a geek. His mother had taught him, how to stitch clothes. At one time, he was bullied by some kids in school, calling him “Sissy” because he had been the only boy taking a Clothing Design class. The girls also laughed at him, yet he only ignored them, as he concentrated on developing his skills.

The woman paid the tailor some cash for the pink dress. She thanked the man and passed Jason. She didn’t recognize him, since he had hidden the mask behind his back. He wouldn’t allow a woman screaming in the store, yet alone that the tailor here would tell him to get out.

“Can I help you?” The tailor waited for Jason to see what he wanted. He had a measurement tape, wrapped around his neck. He used it to measure the exact size of the clothes, which his customers imagined. Some of them even told him to repair their clothes rather than buying new ones. In the fashion trend, buying clothes were becoming expensive nowadays.

“I came here for this,” Jason handed his mask over to the counter. The tailor looked at it. Jason hoped that he wouldn’t call the police, just because he was the Red Hood.

“Sorry, I can’t help you,” the tailor was about to enter the backroom.

“Why not?” Jason wondered about his rejection. He knew that this was going to happen.

“Why not?” The tailor turned back. “You’re a killer. That’s why.”

“I suppose it wouldn’t matter to me,” Jason tries to find a way to get him fix it. “But I’ll give you a fair amount of cash for it.”

The tailor looked back at the former Robin. His young features reminded him the time, he tried to fight a bully. But the bully had beaten him so badly that he went to the hospital.

“What makes you think I can help you?” The tailor didn’t want to waste time with some vigilante, who came to fix his damn mask. He only wanted to focus on his other tasks.

“Because I was a superhero once,” Jason admitted it. “I don’t know if you knew this...” He hesitated. He wasn’t sure if telling him the truth about him would be a good idea. But he had to try it, just to fix his mask. “But I was Robin the Boy Wonder.”

The tailor had a surprising look on his face. He didn’t expect that a vigilante could be so cruel after his former days of a good superhero. He heard the news that he and Batman had taken down villains, time and again. He even stitched their costumes.

“You...” The tailor realized whom he was talking to. “You were Robin?”

Jason nodded, confirming the truth. He was supposed to keep it a secret, but he had no other choice.

“Hmm...” The tailor thought for a moment. He took off his specs, wiping them with a soft cloth and put them back on. He took the mask from the counter and told Jason to follow him. It didn’t occur to him, why he would help the vigilante to fix his mask. Was it because there was something good inside the former Robin? He had heard stories coming from Batman, when he and Robin were fighting crime. But he didn’t know which Robin. There had been three of them.

The tailor had wanted to ask Jason why he became the Red Hood. But that was out of the question, since heroes had their own private lives. He gave the mask a good look, identifying the crack that went straight across it. The mask looked it was about to break in half.

“Your enemy had done quite a lot of damage,” the tailor said. “Let me guess...that killer on the news, who was behind the death of Lex Luthor.”

The Red Hood had heard the news. But the tailor was wrong of the fact that the killer didn’t do this.

“No,” Jason looked around the backroom. “It was some phony villain. I had a few knockouts.”

“I see,” the tailor didn’t look at the vigilante as he tried to figure out, how to fix his mask. “Give me two days at the least. Are you okay with it?”

Jason didn’t know what to think of this idea. He actually wanted to get his mask fixed as soon as possible, so that he could continue fighting crime. But then, he realized how much work the tailor needs to get it done. Two days may not sound bad to him.

“Yeah. I’m okay with it, just about anything.”

“Good,” the tailor smiled. “Just give me your phone number and I’ll contact you once the job is done.”

Jason wrote down his number on a piece of paper and gave it to the tailor. He said goodbye to him, leaving the shop. He thought of doing nothing for two days. But then he thought of wanting to speak with his fellow friend, Roy Harper.

His memory got interrupted, when a group of police sirens have arrived at the shop. It looked like someone had given them the tip of locating the Red Hood. He was on the long run from the police, no matter how much damage he had done to the criminals. Killing them wasn’t Batman’s option that he had learned from him, when he was Robin.

“Come out, Red Hood!” An old cop cried out through his microphone. “We know you’re in there!” The S.W.A.T. team had just come out from behind the back of the police truck. They armed their guns at full ready to apprehend the masked vigilante. Then they waited outside the shop.

$h!t! Jason looked for other shortcuts in the backroom, so that he could escape from the police. It wasn’t easy being a vigilante. The only thing he could do was to shoot them on sight, and this time, not killing them.

“Come out!” The cop shouted again. He waited for several minutes, sighing a bit. He told the SWAT to get inside the shop. There were five of them. The cop wondered if the Red Hood can get out of this situation easily.

The SWAT pointed their red lasers everywhere inside the shop. It looked small and though that the masked vigilante could be anywhere. After all, he was on the run for at least a month or two.

One of the SWAT members came to the backroom. The Red Hood immediately holds him and then knocked him with a gun. He took out a tear gas out from the unconscious officer, dropped it on the floor. The four members looked at the smoke coming towards them. Out of the smoke, the Red Hood went flying at them, hitting their arms and legs. He even shot the officer on his shoulder. Better to disarm them than to kill. His only intention was to kill the villains, not the officers of the law.

The officers who were hit by the Red Hood couldn’t get up. They saw him escaping from the shop. The other cops were outside, shooting at him. Jason had other tricks up his sleeve. He used his Robin skills to hit them like an acrobat. The shots tore his body, yet he felt the slight pain. He broke their arms and then faced the old one, who shouted at him. He hit the cop before he could raise his gun and shoot him. Jason finally escaped.

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The news was heard from TV at Roy Harper’s home, indicating the lookout for the Red Hood. He thought of how Jason could become such a killer after he was brought back to life. He was Jason’s best friend.

Roy switched off the TV and went back to his room. He opened the closet, filled with casual clothes. One of them was his red outfit. He took the moniker of Arsenal or the Red Arrow after he was trained by Oliver Queen.

He took his suit, wore it within a few seconds. Then he lay down on the floor, pulled the box under his bed. He opened it, staring at his quiver along with the red arrows. He wore the quiver at his back, ready to fight the Red Hood.

Caribbean Islands

Oliver Queen’s beautiful assistant kept typing her reports so fast that she had to get it done before the meeting. She had been his secretary for three years. But she didn’t expect that the CEO of Queen Industries didn’t show up, without an explanation. She sometimes wondered where Oliver could go at this most important time. She tried to contact him several times, yet there was still no response. Either Oliver ignored her calls or something wrongfully happened to him.

She sat across an important man, who used to be Robert Queen’s best friend. At times, he acted as a mentor to Oliver and most likewise, a father. Oliver may be young, bashful, and handsome-looking, but it was his character traits coming from the late, big man himself.

The man whose name was Terry MacDowell, a security advisor, who handles top privacy of the company, not to mention securing it. Nowadays, the hackers from around the globe wanted to steal important resources behind their back door. It could happen any time soon, which he would no longer doubt necessary. He sipped a glass of champagne, right through his taste buds. It had been a long time he had this kind of drink. Luckily for him, he had the time to relax for a bit until his next meeting with the rest of the board. It was an important meeting, not be missed. However, there was only one person on the plane, who was not present at the moment.

“Miss Goodman,” the advisor looked at her, while gulping the drink. “Do you know where Oliver is?”

The beautiful Alice Goodman couldn’t answer that question. She looked at the window, viewing the beautiful sky, filled with clouds and at the top of that, the shining sun.

“No idea, Terry,” she sighed. “He’s not answering my calls.”

“Hmm...That’s strange. I do recall that he mentioned he was busy on some other project.”

“What kind of project?” The woman looked surprised. She didn’t know this information.

“Beats me,” Terry finished his drink. The flight attendant asked him if he wanted more champagne. He nodded. The attendant left.

“I hate to tell you this, Terry,” Alice looked at the window again. “That man has so many...”

A large thud hit the top of the plane, which interrupted her. The passengers looked up, including Terry and Alice. There were two bodyguards with them. One of them told the rest of the passengers to stay calm.

“What the hell was that?” Terry thought it could be some kind of turbulence. But he knew it wasn’t.

The bodyguard raised his gun, looking at the entrance of the plane. He had trained himself to fight certain terrorists, just to be cautious. After all, Terry MacDowell was the top head of security for Queen Industries.

Then a door blasted open, which slammed the bodyguard at his back. A masked figure came inside the plane. The other bodyguard shot him. The shots just braced through the masked figure’s armour. He kicked the gun away from the bodyguard and used a nerve pinch on his neck. The bodyguard had trouble breathing and fell down on the floor. The flight attendant screamed, who just came to give the champagne to Terry. The masked figure, who turned out to be the Black Weapon shot her head. Alice jumped up, to warn the pilots in the cockpit. But he stabbed her on the back with a sharp knife. The other two passengers, who were new employees of Queen Industries, shivered. They were truly scared that this could happen to them, right after they got hired a month ago. The Black Weapon shot them on their heads without hesitation. One of the pilots heard the racketing outside the cockpit, took off his seat and opened the door. He noticed full of dead bodies lying around the floor. He froze.

“Go back to your cockpit!” The Black Weapon aimed the gun at the pilot. “Or else I’ll shoot your head and the other pilot’s. Got it?” The pilot nodded slowly and went back to his job.

The masked vigilante turned facing towards the security advisor. He felt the strong wind blowing through him, since the door got blown in.

“Mr. MacDowell,” the vigilante stared at him. He only came here to get the information that the advisor had.

“What...What do you want?” The advisor wanted to get away from the masked lunatic. The parachute was located at the back, and he felt there wasn’t a way to get out of the plane, since he arrived.

“I want the information,” the vigilante gripped his collars. “Where is it?”

“What...What are you talking about?” The advisor lied. He had certain information, which no one in the company knows about it, not even Oliver Queen.

“The information,” the vigilante repeated. “I know you have it. Tell me!”

“No...I...”

“If you tell me, I’ll let you live.”

“Okay...Okay...I’ll tell you everything. Please...Don’t hurt me.”

“Likewise,” the vigilante wanted to torture him, just to get the information out of the old advisor’s mouth. But doing so would render him unconsciousness. He also didn’t intend to capture him. He had no time for that.

“I...” The advisor felt so bad that he was going to tell the secret information to him. “I don’t have it.”

“What?!” The Black Weapon almost choked the advisor with his hands. “What do you mean?!”

“I gave...I gave it to Lex Luthor. I gave it to him! Please! Don’t hurt me!”

The Black Weapon froze for a moment. It all happened too quickly. He didn’t even begin to think that this man could do such a thing.

“Do you realize what you have just done?” The Black Weapon stared closer to the old man’s eyes. “You have caused so many heroes to fall on their knees. Why did you do it?”

The advisor thought of his reason. He felt by giving Lex the information, he can have all the power in the world to secure private information, which a computer can store vast amounts of it and tightly secured, so that no one could bypass its security. That was the whole reason; he worked with Lex to work on his new project. He even insisted Oliver Queen to do it. But the project was rejected due to the fact that it proved too much of a risk. He even knew Oliver's secret identity.

“I thought...I did the right thing,” Terry almost felt like he was going to die. “But I guess...I was wrong.”

“How wrong you are,” the Black Weapon agreed to his point. “Not to mention you made a big mistake working with a powerful man under everyone’s noses.” He took him away to the entrance of the plane. The old man looked from behind, shouting for help.

“Mr. MacDowell,” the Black Weapon ignored his cries. He wanted to shoot him right away. But he had almost wasted so many bullets. “Do you have any last words?”

“Please! I’ve told you! Please! Let me go! LET ME GO!”

“If you insist...” the Black Weapon let go of the man. He fell down screaming below, until his voice faded away. The Black Weapon activated his communication device, so that he could be picked up by his unknown friend.

To be continued in New Crisis, Chapter 11- Super World.

What’s this? The Red Hood is looking for the Black Weapon. Why? Who is this tailor that the Red Hood had just met? Does he have a name? Then, the Black Weapon found out that Oliver’s security advisor had sold his deepest secret to Lex Luthor. What will happen from there? You’ll find out in the later chapter of New Crisis.

Next, Clark Kent visits Super World, an amusement theme park dedicated to Superman. But he learns that his former enemy, Toyman knows the secrets behind Lex Luthor’s death. What will he find out? Then Batman continued investigating Luthor’s death in the Batcave. During the investigation, he found something unexpected that could change every superhero’s life upside down. In planet Oa, Sinestro was sent for medical help after he became insane, fearing for his life. Is this an attempt to escape? Find out in the next chapter of New Crisis.

Edited.