Tenterhooks

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Rus hesitantly took Jason's hand and shook it firmly. "You can stay here as long as you need. I'm probably going to head back to my apartment eventually or my roommate will raid the fridge. I also need to find another job." While Rus didn't show it, the comment about him being nervous only fueled his anxiety. The entire situation wasn't something Rus was used to and he didn't know what kind of person Jason was.

"How's your bike? It looks pretty bad, but I think it'll still work." Rus didn't know too much about motorcycles, but he knew enough about cars to understand how they worked. Feeling somewhat awkward, Rus stared into the distance. He wasn't sure if eye contact was the best way to interact with a vigilante, so he opted not to. Instead, Rus breathed slowly and felt his energy swell. There was something about the thrill of yesterday that made him restless. Rus wanted that rush again, to let his powers run lose for a change instead of hiding. As these thoughts raced through his mind, Rus allowed his hands to glide over the walls of the small building. Part of him wondered what the extent of his powers were since he never tested them. Maybe with Jason he'd get a chance.

Turning to Jason, Rus asked, "Are you going to stay in Star City for long? I mean, after you recover?"
 
Jason quirked a brow. He was a little surprised Rus didn't live here. He thought of asking to go to this apartment, but quickly pushed that thought aside, realizing he didn't want to deal with any more people than he had to in his current condition.

He instead stared at Rus's hands, which were still trembling. "Eh, you're right, it will work," he answered, his eyes making their way back to Rus's face. "It just looks like shit." he kicked a small rock on the sidewalk, trying to hide his disappointment at the situation.

At the Star City question, he walked back to the store's window and let his back fall against it, his arms crossing over his abdomen loosely, each hanf holding an elbow.
"Probably not," he sighed, looking down the street. "I don't want to be in the middle of some drama with another Leaguer."

How long had it been? A few months? His ass had been handed to him by Batman. He'd sulked for a while over it but was trying to get into his groove again. He didn't realize Star City had a Leaguer... Hopefully the whole Green Arrow thing would blow over. If one well-placed arrow had taken him off his bike, then he almost feared what would happen if Green Arrow actually hunted him down. It wasn't a fight he wanted to deal with.

The plan was to move back up, not come down running right back into the thick of things again. He didn't have any of that fancy technology Batman or really any of the Leaguers did. He was running on a handicap. Not to mention his money issues. Or rather, his ethical dillema about his money issues.

Maybe he should just spend it all on a new batcave-esque thing and be done with it. But if he bought it from Wayne Enterprises, he wondered if Bruce would hunt him down...

He wondered if Bruce was even gonna bother looking for him.
Pft. He probably doesn't care, he told himself. Bruce was done with him. He had that bastard Tim now.

Jason outwardly scowled and pulled himself out of his thoughts.
"What's wrong with you, anyway? You said you weren't scared, but clearly," he waved his hand up and down, motioning to Rus. "Something's going on."

Not that I care, he told himself.
He was just making some conversation to feel like he was getting the heat off himself.
 
Rus wasn't sure what to say when addressed. It wasn't that he was sacred, rather he was nervous and a bit anxious. This was his first time meeting someone...well like him. "I'm not scared. It's just...you're the first vigilante I've met. I just don't know what I'm supposed to do," Rus had to admit, Jason had a rather intimidating presence about himself. There was something almost unnatural about the man. Despite this, Rus wanted to be around Jason. Being close made Rus feel normal.

Rus felt really uncomfortable as he continued, "I don't like showing my powers. It's not something that's for people to see, exactly." This was partially true. He definitely didn't want his parents to know, especially his father who'd probably be very angry. Nevertheless, Rus knew that he had to tread carefully. Last night wasn't exactly a good situation for him to be in.

"So how did you become a vigilante?" Rus asked, trying to make small talk. He wasn't sure if this was a good question, but it prompted conversation. "Y-you don't have to answer if you don't want. I didn't mean to get personal or whatever."
 
Jason gave out a single loud laugh at Rus: "Ha!"
Smirking, he took a moment to himself to recover. "Treat us like any other normal person," he elaborated. "Nothing special about us, really."

Rus went on about his powers and how he didn't like showing them. Maybe it was some sort of X-man thing. He didn't really agree. Or maybe he did. He supposed if people saw Rus's powers, while Rus was Rus, then he'd never have the protection provided by a secret identity... That made sense. As Robin, it had always been a nice getaway to pretend to be normal once in a while.

"You could use your powers under another identity. I don't have any special powers, but I can only assume keeping something pent up like that and never using it is bad for you." Jason shrugged, looking off into the distance, noticing a lone car drive down a street a couple blocks away.
This place was pretty deserted, which made any movement all the more noticeable.

"Funny story," he grinned, remembering. I'd tried to steal tires off the batmobile...
"I got picked up by Batman," he sanitized it. Sure, he was technically dead, but leaving too many breadcrumbs would compromise Bruce, and it was only respectable to allow Batman to continue to be batman without issue. Despite Jason's current problems with the man.
"I used to be a Robin."

His grin faded, his face pulling to a frown. "Let's just say he and I don't get along anymore. I ran into some, uh, trouble... I guess. Made some mistakes. Now I'm just trying to get by my own, you know? Like how Nightwing used to be a Robin, but now he's doing his own thing."

It occurred to him then that this kid might not actually know anything about Robins. But, he assumed, Batman was sort of a worldwide thing, so hopefully Rus at least knew enough of the story to get the jist of it.
 
Rus listened and actually gasped. He didn't realize that Nightwing was a Robin...Actually, he didn't really think about how often Batman switched out Robins. It was strange thinking that Batman was always Batman, but Robin changed. "I never thought about that." Just as Rus finished that thought, he got a text from his father.

"Hey, Rus. Something happened. Can you come home?" Rus wasn't sure what was up, so he turned to Jason and replied, "Hey, I need to go, but if you need anything here's my number. I'll be back as soon as possible." Rus smiled as he turned to leave. He walked out to the street and then down the road. Before long he disappeared into the distance.

Rus caught a bus back to his parents' house instead of his apartment. When he arrived, he found his father sitting in the living room. "Son, I need to talk to you about this," Lawrence stated as he flicked on the TV, showing the footage from the warehouse. It was security film, but it clearly showed Rus using his powers. Immediately, Rus's face went pale. At that moment his father continued, "I knew something was up the day after the Big Bang." With that statement, Rus knew that something was up. Before he could do anything he felt something pinch the back of his shoulder and the world started to fade within seconds.

When Rus awoke he was in a white room with an obvious one way mirror. He was in a straight jacket. Looking at the mirror, Rus felt his body go limp. A voice over an intercom addressed Rus, "You are in a secure facility that will monitor your condition. Please cooperate and we can help you." With that statement, Rus grit his teeth and opened his hands within the straight jacket. Feeling the fabric beneath his palms, Rus started transferring energy. The jacket started to hum as the molecules within the fabric charged. Rus then forced the jacket to expand, freeing himself for a moment. He rushed the window, but felt a powerful surge of electricity course through his body until he fell to the ground. All he knew was that he needed to escape.
 
Did he misspeak? Was Nightwing being a Robin previously not common knowledge? Jason mentally kicked himself. Idiot.
It was too late to take it back now, though, so he'd just have to roll with it and dodge any questions if they came up later. But, thankfully, Rus got distracted by his phone.

Jason stepped forward and took the paper Rus had scribbled his number on, putting it in his pants pocket. He gave a voiceless wave goodbye to the kis as he went off.

I should probably get one of those, he thought to himself. Yeah, a phone. He used to have one. They were pretty mandatory these days. But when he left Gotham, all he had was the bike. Not only had he assumed Bruce would track all his other equipment, but most of it was lost in the explosion he'd (now he realized, stupidly) initiated.

He certainly was kicking himself for a lot of things today. But his past shouldn't be one of them. He'd taken a long time to just roadtrip and look at the stars, contemplate life, and all that good soul searching shit. He felt like he'd calmed down and was ready to become a better person, anyway.

Back to the phone. While he was out, he could grab some real clothes and stuff, too, he surmised. So, without further ado, he went back inside, checked his bike for tracers, found none, rolled it outside, and went off to run some errands. It took a few hours. He bought a burner smartphone, some toiletries, and of course some clothes. He'd also taken breaks to eat out for some real food.

It was evening time when he'd finished the last of his shopping. He had parked on the sidewalk outside a small convenience store. Deodorant was his last purchase, something he'd forgotten at the other big box stores. Jason was tossing it in his saddlebag when he overheard one of the televisions in the window of the pawn shop next door say something about some employees from last night's warehouse raid being questioned.

"Still, two figures remain a mystery. One vigilante wanted for multiple murders is rumored to be The Red Hood, a criminal active just months ago in Gotham..."


A Criminal?!? Jason spun around to glare at the TV, gritting his teeth. That is not what happened in Gotham at all!

"... The other is an employee whose coworkers admitted that they did not know was metahuman before this incident..."


The footage the news showed was at an angle which didn't reveal their entrance or exit (thankfully), but also did not show the Green Arrows. Interestingly, the news made no mention of the Green Arrows at all. But what it did clearly show was Red Hood shooting a criminal while Rus flung up some forcefield made of aluminium flashing.

It was all a little too weird for Jason. Something didn't sit right about the broadcast, so he pulled out his new phone and the piece of paper and tried to call Rus. It went straight to voicemail. Jason hung up without leaving a message.

He narrowed his eyes in annoyed contemplation and shoved his (normal) bike helmet on before pulling his bike to the road and riding off back to the hideout.

It was turning to dusk, and Jason would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't a little worried about one of the Green Arrows coming after him. What if there were more than two, even?
He needed to go back, to see if Rus had turned up. He also needed to collect whatever he may have left there and move to a different location. Because now, with the news blasting footage of Red Hood, it would only be so long until far more talented detectives than himself figured out where he'd been carried off to last night. He doubted Rus knew how to make sure he wasn't followed.
 
Rus didn't know how many days he was in the facility. The scientists ran tests on him for what seemed like 24/7. His mind was exhausted and his body weak from the exertion. When the scientists finally let Rus rest, they monitored his brain waves which made Rus paranoid, preventing him from getting proper sleep. While they did give Rus decent food, Rus was afraid to eat it in fear that they'd put stuff into it. At some points, Rus pushed his powers to the limit trying to escape but only gave the scientists more information about how to keep him hostage.

Rus awoke from a nap when he heard commands being yelled over the intercom. Supposedly the scientists wanted to study Rus's ability to incite movement in molecules. Exhausted, Rus complied. He placed his hands on the object provided by the scientists. Taking a deep breath, Rus allowed his energy to flow into the object, but he excellerated the particles too fast and the object almost immediadtely exploded. This sent Rus flying backwards and unconscious.

In the outside world, the news aired footage of Red Hood and Rus allowing Oliver Queen to gather more information. His son was still in a coma, but on the bright side Rus was now in a secure facility. Unknown to most, Queen Consolidated financed the research at the facility holding Rus. This way Oliver could keep an eye on the metahuman. Oliver was meaning to interrogate Rus about Red Hood since the footage showed Rus helping Red Hood out of the building, but other matters sprung up. As he typed away at his computer a phone call came:

"Mr. Queen, sorry to bother you, but subject 1 has become incapacitated and has been moved to a medical facility. His location is secure and we will resume research when the subject wakes." Oliver thanked the man on the other end and went back to typing. He was close to Red Hood. Going through traffic cams and interrogating people who saw the pair that night, Oliver knew he was close to finding their 'hideout'.
 
After arriving at the hideout, it was evident Rus had never returned. Jason gave the kid another call on the cellphone. Still nothing. He decided something was probably wrong, and trusted his gut.

He picked everything that could have possibly identified that Red Hood was at the hideout and shoved it in his saddlebags, later finding an overpass he could hang out under for the night, just outside of town.

If the hideout was found, he wouldn't be there, and hopefully he was out of touch enough that Green Arrow wouldn't happen upon him. He spent several hours of the night staring at his smartphone attempting to make some likely bad decisions concerning the darknet.

He stayed put for the night, sleeping near his bike under a bridge. It was only a few spotty hours at best as he was on edge. But luckily nothing of note occurred and he was off to do his due dilligence the next morning- meeting with some unsavory people who dealt with high tech products.

See, that's where Batman and all these other vigilantes had it wrong. Criminals were just as active during the day. Batman claimed the cops protected others under the sun, but so many are overlooked. And it wasn't as if Superman cared for the low deals. Nobody could be everywhere at once. But why draw an arbitrary line like only working during the day or not?
Just because his motif was a nocturnal animal? Then what was Green Arrow's excuse?

Regardless, soon his helmet had been refitted with LexCorp tech. Not his preferred operating system, but Jason couldn't risk using WayneTech for now. Along with the helmet came some new advanced toys and a huge dent in that bank account he was paranoid the world's greatest detective would stumble on.

Jason wasn't quite sure what he was doing with his ill begotten riches now, but he delayed his inner strife in lieu of concentrating on the issue at hand: finding out whatever the hell happened to Rus.

And it took quite a few errands, questions, and lying to a roommate about being an old friend. But he'd eventually gotten the leads, and the following evening, Red Hood found himself outside some secret underground facility, new chestpiece, jacket, and utility belt because... When you're spending a large sum, what's a few more zeroes tacked on the end?

Of course, as he hacked into the keypad of the outer door, there was a fairly loud voice saying this was all some sort of trap, but, fuck it.
He was Red Hood, he was gonna do what he felt like. And what he felt like now was blowing shit up and saving this wrongly imprisoned metahuman named Rus.
 
Green Arrow had tracked down the 'hideout', but found no traces of Red Hood, only traces of a young adult's living space. Deciding to leave, Green Arrow placed a small camera in the corner of the room, where it wouldn't be seen by the average guy and maybe someone trained as well. Green Arrow left the hideout and went back to the Quiver trying to locate Red Hood. He considered calling Batman, but decided to leave him out of this unless things got out of hand. Gotham was falling apart already with politics and the criminals that terrorized the streets. Thankfully, Star City was relatively peaceful for now. Exhausted Green Arrow grabbed a quick meal before heading to the hospital where his son was. Since the doctors respected their secret identities, Oliver couldn't visit his son lest he wanted to draw suspicion. So Green Arrow had to be the one to visit. Once in the hospital room with the beeping monitors, Green Arrow sat in silence as he contemplated his next move.

"Lawrence, please come home. Mom and Dad are worried," Rus said as he followed after a taller, leaner man. "Come on, stop this nonsense. You know it's not going to get you anywhere. What about getting out of here? You always said that you'd get out of here."

"Rus!" Lawrence yelled in a hushed voice before turning around. The man's face was young, but held an aura that showed years of hardship. "You don't get it. There's no getting out of here for me," his face softened slightly as he got closer so he wouldn't be heard. "I don't have smarts or b-ball skills. I'm not getting out of here. You can. You're getting good grades and you have a future. I can't do that. Go home before you get in trouble. I can't have my kid brother following me around, especially tonight." Lawrence turned around and walked through the streets.

Rus stood alone for a while before yelling out, "You always said it was us against the world!" As he stood there anger welled up within himself.

Rus found himself tied to a hospital bed with several monitors beeping around him. His head hurt and the left side of his body felt numb. Since he was restrained, Rus had a hard time moving his head to see where he was. By glancing around, Rus took in as much detail as possible. He was in a small white room with several large mirrors, which he assumed were one way. Looking down at his left arm, he found it wrapped in white bandages up to his shoulder, maybe beyond. Rus was wearing a simple blue polka-dotted hospital gown. Rus closed his eyes and took a deep breath. For the first time in a while, Rus found himself refreshed. Maybe it was because he actually slept for a time instead of just dozed.
 
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