"Hey, Dick," I called out without hesitation, turning to Nightwing. The moment he heard my voice, his expression immediately dropped.
"You do realize you're breathing my air, right?" I teased. "Okay, calm down, forget I said that… but remember this!"
Taking a deep breath, Grayson exhaled the carbon dioxide, which seemed to help the night hero come back to his senses just enough to deign an answer. "I'm glad to see you too, Alex. You know I don't have any plans after the holidays, so maybe we should continue our training? What do you think?"
"That's actually a great idea! Keep it in your head—don't lose it. I'll be back for it sometime later," I replied with a smile.
"Is our fearless boy really scared?" Dick teased, clearly mocking. "I thought the word 'fear' wasn't in your vocabulary."
"I'm only brave when I have to be. Being brave doesn't mean you have to go looking for trouble," I said.
You might wonder why I was scared of some Nightwing, especially when I'm basically a walking machine, filled with all sorts of elixirs and enhancements. The thing is, I agreed to give Batman's protégé Erskine's serum. After becoming a supersoldier thanks to my generosity, he immediately rushed to test his increased strength on me.
I'm inclined to believe that Dick, harboring a long-standing grudge against me, was taking subtle revenge. But to his great misfortune, he couldn't fully carry out his plan.
After bathing in the Lazarus Pit elixir, my physical stats nearly doubled, depriving Grayson of any real chance to seriously harm me, but thanks to his considerable experience—the young hero has been honing his skills since he was nearly twelve years old—he still managed to cause me quite a few problems. Especially since, like me, he has had to learn to control his newfound powers, and sometimes he completely lost his temper during our sparring sessions. But thanks to my enhanced resilience and accelerated regeneration, everything ended well.
And although Grayson can sometimes overdo it during training, he remains an excellent trainer and an ideal sparring partner.
"Alex, why do you keep pestering Dick?" Barbara, who had been quietly observing our banter, asked with an amused raise of her eyebrow.
"The thing is, it's nice to be able to tease a good person every now and then," I laughed, clapping Nightwing on the shoulder. "But seriously… it's because he's my friend. Just like Bruce."
I glanced over at the Dark Knight with a sly smile. "Mister Wayne, how are you these days?"
"With your prayers," Batman answered succinctly, his voice carrying the weight of recent struggles.
"True, it has been better…" I murmured sympathetically. "No wonder I can see all of you wearing sour faces. Wasn't the Joker involved in this?" I asked cautiously.
"…In a sense, yes," Batgirl replied, her shoulders drooping slightly. "Bruce managed to find Jason."
Jason Todd—the second Robin—had tragically died at the hands of a deranged Gotham psychopath, only to be resurrected in the Lazarus Pit by Ra's al Ghul. The journey to the other side had a deeply adverse effect on him. Under the influence of those mystical waters, he lost his mind, turned dark, donned the Red Hood mantle, and set out on a brutal crusade against criminals on his own terms.
I informed Bruce about Jason's survival about five months ago. It shocked him deeply. That's when he started searching for his former student, but the search proved futile. Jason had clearly taken Bruce's instructions about concealment seriously, mastering the art of hiding from detection. But it's not easy to hide from the world's greatest detective. The fact that Jason managed to evade Batman for so long deserves some respect. Kudos to the Red Hood!
"You sure took a long time finding him," I whistled, stunned by the news.
"You think it's easy to find a trained fighter without any clues?" Grayson said defensively. "It's like searching for a needle in a haystack."
"A needle in a haystack? Easy!" I quipped, leaning forward with a mischievous grin. "You just jump on that haystack with your bare ass, and you'll find it."
Everyone facepalmed simultaneously.
"Alex will never improve," Nightwing said resignedly.
"It's time to get used to it," Barbara chimed in, supporting him.
"Don't you think it's about time you grew up? Stop acting like a child and become a little more serious?" Batman said gloomily, his voice so stern it could make even Gotham's most fearless villains shudder.
"That's it… I've made my decision. From the New Year, I'm starting a new life. I'll be more mature, wiser, and more serious. And now… well, I can't quite start yet. I still have a letter to Santa Claus to finish!" I admitted with a wry grin.
"Just forget it," Bruce said through clenched teeth, clearly recognizing how irrational that sounded coming from me."As Barbara said, I found Jason. But he's not the same person he used to be. Something changed within him—or perhaps the Lazarus Pit itself changed him. He wouldn't even listen to me. It's my fault that what happened, happened. And I want to fix everything. But Jason…"
"Let me guess," I interrupted, "he told you to kill the Joker, didn't he?"
"Yes. Revenge is the only thing consuming him now. He won't stop until he does something he'll regret for the rest of his life. I can't let that happen. No matter what, I will stop him and bring back the Jason we lost on that fateful night."
"Hope dies last, right? Oh, if only you'd take me with you—I'd definitely be able to convince this schizophrenic to get back on the right path. Shouldn't you know that?"
"Damn," Grayson blurted out regretfully. "He's right as always! Why didn't I think of that before? Alex somehow mystically influenced Harley and Poison Ivy's worldview. And he has a close relationship with the Joker—that's just pure madness! How? How does he do it?!"
"I'm afraid we'll never understand," Barbara said softly, echoing Dick's bewilderment
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.
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Thanks for waiting, hope you all are good.
I was busy sketching out some plans for a project that I'm currently working on.
I have a question for you all, and it's related to an upcoming work.
Suppose you have a are a girl and you have a sister, or if you are a boy, then you have a brother. Younger in both cases, and he/she gets murdered.
What will you do? Or what can you possibly do?
Please do not give the typical protagonist answer, like;
I will chop the murderer into pieces, I will gouge his eyes out. I want genuine answer, something which you can really do.