Gotham City

January 2nd, 2012

22:26 EST

Team Year One

Jason pulled as hard as he could on the crowbar, bracing his feet against the very wheel that he was trying to pull the hubcap off of. "Come on, come on, come on." He muttered under his breath. He pulled on that crowbar harder than he'd ever pulled on it before and- nothing. Despite his best efforts, the hubcap didn't even budge.

He growled in frustration, though he wasn't surprised, especially given the fact that the car he was trying to break into was the batmobile. He'd seen news footage of the car taking anti-tank rockets and driving away unscathed. What hope did his measly little crowbar have?

Jason had spent the better part of half an hour trying to break into the high-tech car, only to be stymied at every turn. Smacking his crowbar against the windows in an attempt to break them hadn't left any appreciable marks on the reinforced glass, and trying to pry open the armored canopy had only left dull scratches on the bodywork.

Despite the fact that it was near freezing, and his red hoodie didn't do much to insulate him from the chill, Jason was sweating hard as a result of his efforts. He was determined to grab something, anything, from the batmobile. None of his "friends", two or three other homeless denizens that lived underground as well, would ever believe that he'd gotten this close to the batmobile unless he showed up with proof.

Since it was winter, he'd been living in one of the undergrounds tunnels in Gotham City in order to keep warm. The smell down there was terrible, but several of the pipes contained hot steam that was pumped throughout Gotham City in an effort to keep buildings heated, which made the tunnels one of the few places that a homeless citizen of Gotham could sleep without freezing to death.

Absent the ability to steal anything else, Jason was working on the hubcap.

Out of frustration, Jason swung the crowbar sideways and brought it crashing against the hubcap, where it impacted with a metallic clang. It didn't have any noticeable effect beyond denting it slightly, and making him feel better. After an hour of failure, the sight of the pathetic dent he'd made in the hubcap gave Jason a burst of new energy.

Figuring that he would get more leverage if he wedged his crowbar into the small dent that he'd made between the hubcap and the tire, Jason took a calming breath and tried again.

"Something's gonna give…" Jason muttered through gritted teeth as he pulled on the crowbar again, "And it isn't gonna be me. So come on, you stupid piece of-" The hubcap popped off without warning, knocking him back onto his ass. He sat still for a moment of stunned silence before he let out a triumphant whoop at his success.

There was just enough light in the alley for him to see that the nuts holding the wheel in place were standard sized. The thought of stealing the batmobile's tires entered his mind. After all, he had a car jack and a tire iron. He'd been planning to steal the tires off of regular cars before he'd caught sight of the batmobile parked in the alley. A hubcap would be a nice souvenir, but actual tires from the batmobile? Someone might be willing to pay a pretty penny for those.

He turned around to reach for duffel bag that he stored his tools in, and turned back to face the car just in time to catch a hint of movement. Almost imperceptibly, the front left end of the batmobile dipped ever so slightly, as if shifting in response to a weight that hadn't been there before.

Jason froze, the hairs on his body standing on end.

He lifted his head and found himself looking at Robin, the boy wonder. Jason recognized him instantly; what Gothamite wouldn't? Batman's longtime partner was legendary, though from what Jason could see, inaccurately named. From his size and build, Robin looked to be in his mid teens. Definitely not a boy, but not quite a full grown man either.

In comparison, Jason looked exactly like what he was: a 12 year old kid made lean but agile from four years of living on the streets.

Robin was seated comfortably on the hood of the Batmobile, feet settled on the wheel well of the big car, looking down at Jason with an unbelievably amused expression on his face. In response, Jason gawked up at him, too shocked to react. They observed each other in silence for a long moment.

"You do realize that's the Batmobile, right?" Robin asked, voice full of amusement as he broke the silence.

Jason blinked. "Duh." He replied as he stood up slowly. Truth be told, even he was surprised at how his voice didn't waver. "You do realize you left it parked in Crime Alley, right?"

Robin shrugged and laughed, the sound echoing through the alley. "What can I say? We were in a hurry."

Jason's eyes widened. The boy wonder had said "We". Jason spun quickly-

And came face to face with a giant black bat symbol, barely an inch from his nose. Almost unconsciously, his eyes trailed upward, and he found himself staring upon Batman's impassive features. It was impossible to see Batman's eyes, but the vigilante's head tilted as he examined the partially vandalized bat mobile before returning their gaze. That eyeless stare unnerved him.

Jason couldn't really explain what, if any, decision making process prompted his next move. He took pride in the fact that he'd been able to take care of himself in more than a few scrapes that he'd gotten into on Gotham's streets for the past four years, but any Gotham street kid who didn't recognize that there were fights that he simply couldn't win usually ended up a corpse. His finely honed senses told him that this was one of those fights.

At the same time, those same instincts told him that if he ran straightaway, he'd only be caught tired. Which meant that if he wanted to escape, Jason was going to have to come up with some new options real quick.

Faster than he'd ever moved before, Jason lunged and scooped up the hubcap that had been lying on the floor in one hand and grabbed his tire iron with the other. As he spun around, he tossed the hubcap at Batman like a frisbee while using the momentum of his turn to swing his crowbar in an overhand blow directed at where Robin was sitting on the car. He was hoping to break the bone and escape while his opponent was distracted by the agonizing pain. It was a tactic that had served Jason well before, on the occasions that he'd encountered some of the other street gangs that called Gotham home.

The blow connected, not with flesh and bone, but with bare metal. In the time it had taken Jason to launch his pre-emptive attack, Robin had flipped backwards, directly away from the arc of the strike, and now stood on the other side of the car, still looking amused by the situation.

Jason threw the tire iron at him.

Robin snatched it neatly out of the air with a gauntleted hand.

Jason ran.

As he sprinted down towards the far end of the alley, where he'd be able to dive into the underground tunnels and escape, he spared a glance back towards Batman, hoping that the other half of his impromptu attack had fared better.

It hadn't.

Batman's eyes were still on him as he ran. The only difference was that he now held a hubcap within both of his hands. A chill that had nothing to do with the cold winter air ran down Jason's spine, and he pushed his legs to carry him as fast as they could.

He didn't get more than a few feet before a neatly thrown bolas wrapped around his legs, tangling them up with a length of rope. With his legs restrained, Jason pitched forward as he fell.

He worked frantically, but it was too little, too late. Batman's shadow loomed over him, looking down at him. Robin stood behind him, mirroring his partner's proud stance.

"What's your name?" Batman asked him.

Jason met his eyes unflinchingly despite the peril he found himself in. "Jason."

"You're fast." Batman stated. Jason didn't reply. What was he supposed to say to that? He'd expected them to scold him, turn him over to the authorities so that he could be put back into foster care. He'd expected them to beat him for daring to try and steal their car.

He certainly didn't expect what happened next.

In the time it took him to blink, Batman tossed a batarang that sliced through the ropes wrapped around his ankles. "Listen to me very carefully, because I'm only going to ask this once."

Batman stepped closer, extending a gauntleted hand for Jason to take. "Are you hungry?"

Jason was too bewildered by the abrupt question to respond as he was pulled up to his feet, though the rumbling in his stomach answered for him. Batman interpreted the silence for him, turning to face his young partner. "Robin, I think there's a diner around the corner. Would you mind getting us something to eat?"

Robin was already moving towards the street. "Sure thing." He called back.

It took a moment for Jason to give voice to the confusion that he felt. "Huh?"

—

Of all the ways Jason expected to spend the night, sitting on the hood of the Batmobile on a hill overlooking Gotham City eating cheeseburgers with Batman and Robin wasn't one of them. Not that he was complaining about the food. Or the company.

Batman and Robin sat on either side of him, and he had a survival blanket pilfered from the bat mobiles emergency supplies wrapped around himself to protect him from the cold.

"Slow down Jason." Robin said, watching as 12 year old gnawed his way through another deluxe bacon cheeseburger. "Otherwise, you're going to lose a finger."

"Sorry." Jason mumbled around a mouthful of food. "I haven't eaten in a while."

"I can see that.

Busy as he was stuffing his face, Jason missed the softness in Robin's tone. He reached for his french fries without looking, and was shocked to discover that he'd eaten them all. He still felt hungry. The cold had numbed the pangs of hunger slightly, but now that he'd thawed out by riding in the batmobile, they were back in full force.

"Here." Robin said, offering his own carton of french fries. "Take mine."

Jason looked at them, then glanced over at Robin suspiciously. Robin shrugged. "I ate before we started our patrol tonight." There was a moment of hesitation before Jason took the offered carton with a nod of thanks and returned to his meal.

"Where are your parents?" Batman asked him.

Jason paused. "They died when I was four. CPS stuck me with my uncle, but he was killed a couple of years ago in a gang war."

"Who takes care of you now?"

"I do." He said matter of factly.

The truth was, Jason had been taking care of himself pretty much since his uncle had died. The foster family that Gotham's CPS Department had left him with had laughably inept caregivers, beating him and starving him repeatedly, stopping only when CPS were conducting their routine check ups. He'd run away from them before the first month had been out.

Jason stopped eating and looked over at Batman. "I'm sorry I tried to steal your car."

Both Batman and Robin glanced at each other. Despite the masks that obscured their eyes, a silent conversation consisting entirely of nuanced facial expressions and head tilts took place.

Robin was the one who ended up responding. "It's alright. We know where you're coming from, and all you managed to get was the hubcap, so we don't mind. It's the bigger picture you want to look at, Jason."

"What do you mean?"

"You know how Gotham has a lot of criminals, right?"

Jason gave him a flat look.

"Well, a lot of those guys end up becoming criminals because they were what you are now. Kids with nothing to lose. Always in trouble, but nothing serious. And then one day, when they get older, they do something really stupid. Shoot someone, get caught selling drugs, armed robbery, something like that. And then they're stuck as criminals, cause no one else is willing to give them a chance." Robin gave Jason a sad pat on the shoulder.

Jason nodded in understanding and acknowledgement. "I get it. But it's not like there are a lot of choices for people like me."

Robin sighed. "I know."

—

They stayed out there for another hour, even after Jason had eaten his fill. Robin did most of the talking, with Batman jumping in every now and then. It had been months, maybe even years, since Jason had last had a long conversation with someone, and he was surprised by how much he had missed it.

Even better, he didn't feel like Batman and Robin were judging or pitying him. He felt like they understood where he was coming from.

Rather than drive him back into the city and dropping him off, as Jason was expecting them to, Batman drove them even further out into the countryside. At the speed that the Batmobile was going, Jason wasn't able to catch any landmarks. By the time the car finally stopped, he didn't have a clue where he was.

"Where are we?" Jason asked as the batmobile's cockpit opened up with a hiss of displaced air. It was dark, but Jason could make out enough details to see that they were parked in front of a large turn-of -the-century building that was about two or three stories tall. There were similar buildings scattered across the spacious grounds in front of him, all connected by well maintained paths.

Batman looked back at him. "This is the Catherine Hershey School. They take in orphans and street kids who don't have anywhere else to go and give them everything they need to live normal lives. School isn't in session right now, but there are still more than a few kids staying here for the holidays. The headmistress owes me a favor. Go inside and show her this," Batman removed a metal card that had a stylized bat symbol cut into it from his utility belt and passed it over to Jason, "and she'll take care of you."

Jason held the card with an expression of awe and disbelief. "Really?"

"Really." Robin said kindly. He put a reassuring hand on the younger boy's shoulder. "Look, Jason, you seem like a good kid. You said that you were only out there because you didn't have any other choice. This is us giving you one."

Robin gestured out at the school grounds.

"This is a good place Jason. It's actually a good school too. A lot of kids like you who come here end up living a normal life, going to college, making something of themselves. This is a chance for you to put your past behind you."

Batman spoke next. "That's the deal. We're not gonna force you to stay here. Say the word and we'll drive you back to Gotham and drop you off wherever you want. But if you walk in through those doors, you stay until you can make something good of yourself."

He held out his hand for Jason to shake, looking down at him expectantly. "Deal?"

Jason stood, weighing his options carefully. Did he like living on the streets? No, he didn't. He hated having to sleep in the underground tunnels to survive. He hated being hungry, having to dive through dumpsters and steal in order to find his next meal. But he did like being independent.

He supposed that he was afraid of ending up with another terrible foster family, like the one he'd been left with before. But if Batman and and Robin were telling him that this place was a place where he could make something of himself, he would be an idiot not give it a try. After all, he'd been taking care of himself on the streets of Gotham for just over four years. How bad could a boarding school be?

Jason reached out and took the elder vigilante's hand, shaking it vigorously. "Deal."

Batman and Robin smiled. Jason took a breath to steel himself as he looked at the large double doors that led into the school. From where he stood, they seemed impossibly large and imposing. He clutched the metal card Batman had given him in his hand and took several hesitant steps forward.

Suddenly, Jason remembered something, and he stopped. He turned around and looked at the crimefighting duo. "Uh, before I go…" Jason said, running his hand through his hair sheepishly. "I left some of my stuff back in the tunnels. It's not much, but it's all I have left of my mom."

"You tell me where it is, and I promise I'll bring you your stuff before classes start in two weeks. Sound good?"

"Yeah, that sounds good." Jason agreed. "Uh, also…" He pointed at the hubcap that he'd pried off the batmobile earlier in the night. It was still in the back seat of the car, where Batman had tossed it when they had first set out. "Do you think I could keep that?"

Robin looked at Batman, who gave an imperceptible nod. "Sure." Robin said with a laugh as he passed it over to Jason. "You earned it."

"Thanks."

Jason tucked the hubcap under his arm as he made his way to the doors. As he opened them, he gave one last wave at Batman and Robin. Robin waved back. Jason entered the school and shut the doors behind him.

Robin turned and cast a look back at Batman. "Doesn't it make you feel warm and fuzzy inside when you get to do something for homeless orphans?"

"Come on." Batman said, prompting Robin to flip back into his seat in the Batmobile. The caped crusader kept his eyes on the road as he stepped on the accelerator and guided the batmobile back towards Gotham City, but there was no mistaking the faint smirk on his face. "One last sweep of the city, then we can call it a night."

For both seasoned crime-fighters, there had nights where being a vigilante was a trial, and nights where it felt like they were really making a difference. The look of profound disbelief on Jason's face, which had turned into one of gratitude when he realized the enormity of what they were giving him, made Robin pretty sure that this day was one of the good ones.

He settled back into his seat and smiled the whole car ride back into Gotham.