"So, I was thinking we should throw a surprise party for Dick's birthday..."

Conner Kent's voice trailed off when a scream assaulted his ears. Who is that? He looked around but saw nothing happening on the streets below. His brow knit into a pensive frown. I know I heard someone scream. He searched the rooftops and buildings or signs of someone in distress but saw nothing amiss.

Was it a television up too loud? No, definitely not. There hadn't been a television quality to the sound. Another, higher pitched shriek sounded then. However, the sound was distorted this time. No, he mentally corrected as he frowned. It was muted. As if a hand was covering the mouth of the woman in trouble.

Worry and concern flickered as he recognized who the woman screaming was: Barbara Gordon's cousin, Raya.

Could Raya's biological father have sent goons to Gotham University to catch her as she was leaving her last class? He discarded that thought almost immediately. Raya could stop anyone her father hired. Batman made sure...

The thought caused his belly to tighten. Where are you? He tried to listen, to see if he could hear other voices, but there were so many that he couldn't locate the one that belonged to the person causing Raya so much distress. As he worked on narrowing down what was going on and who the likely suspects were, he tried to recall if Tim told him she was working that evening, at the campus studying or working on her thesis paper.

He was on the verge of asking Tim when she issued another cry.

Anger surged and much like a rocket, the man known around the world as Superboy blasted into the air, zeroing in on the direction from where he felt Raya's high, keening wail had originated from. He blocked out every other sound so her voice became the only thing he heard. Tim called up to him, his eyes wide with surprise over his rather rude exit from their conversation.

"Kon? What is it? What's wrong?"

"Raya's in trouble!" he yelled right before he blasted away. He wasn't completely alone on his mission of rescue, however. Oh no, his faithful sidekick and canine best friend, the Kryptonian wonder dog, Krypto flew right by his side, his bright red tongue lolling out the side of his mouth as they streaked towards their destination.

He barrelled around a building at the same time Tim let out a string of curses that had his lips twitching despite the seriousness of the situation. Then he heard a schwoo and knew his best friend had fired a line from his grapnel gun to follow after him.

Not that it mattered.

Robin wasn't gonna get to the petite woman as quickly as Superboy could.

Conner zipped around another corner, heading for a building which sat smack dab in the middle of 250th E. Gotham Boulevard. He flew around a gleaming skyscraper and was immediately caught up in an up-current of air that caressed his overheated flesh with icy fingers. Normally, flying offered him a sense of freedom, of being in control of his own destiny and his own life. Up here, he was responsible for the direction that he took, what path he wanted to choose.

Tonight, though, his flight course was chosen so he could save a woman in trouble.

Conner crested the roof of a building and pulled up when he spied two people struggling on a penthouse balcony. The larger of the pair, a man with dark hair and wearing a tan leather jacket over his black body armor, had her cornered between himself and the balcony railing.

"I want you to leave, Jason!"

Her simple words held ripples of authority, sang with sweet compulsion. Conner felt his lips twitch. If anybody could match Batman's autocratic tone, it was her. However, that low, velvety tone was lacking its usual strength and intensity. She was nervous.

Considering how her terrorizer was Jason Todd — former Robin, Titan and all around asshole in Conner's opinion — he could completely understand her anxiety.

"Why should I go when we're having so much fun getting to know one another?"

"This isn't a game, you horse's ass!"

"Oh." Jason's slow smile caused a shiver to dance along Conner's spine. "I find I have to disagree with you about this not being a game. I," he stated in a moist hiss, "Am quite enjoying myself."

Conner's hands bunched into fists at his sides. He would consider terrorizong a woman a game, he silently fumed. Not that that should have surprised him any. On a good day, Jason Todd was a loose cannon waiting for the slightest provocation in order to blow.

On a bad day, he was an unpredictable maelstrom that couldn't be controlled, no matter how much Batman tried. His ambiguous view about using a violent modus operandi against the criminal sect as a solution to solving the problem of crime in the city kept him perpetually at odds with the members of his adoptive family.

It was his repeated attacks upon his family that concerned Conner the most. Jason had nearly killed Tim twice already and challenged Batman and Dick dozens of times over the past few months. Each time ended disastrously. Jason had never directly attacked any of the female members of the family. Not until tonight, anyway.

Cassandra and Barbara would cream the twerp if he tried attacking them. Jason was a far different threat, however. Even for a guy who didn't have "relatives" of his own, Conner was well aware that family was the most dangerous enemy one could face.

He also knew words could be an even more powerful weapon than fists. With Raya there came baggage. Some as dark and as twisted as the emotional bullshit rolling around inside Jason's own head. Jason didn't know about that, he realized, hissing out one long, low, and violent curse.

He knew absolutely nothing about the woman he was down there terrorizing, in fact.

When Bruce brought him in as Robin, it had been after Raya went away. He released a frustrated breath even as he heard Raya shout: "Just go!"

There was such a raw chord of fear in her voice; on her face that it punched a hole in Conner's gut. He glanced over at Krypto, saw that his ears were perked forward and his lip curled into a silent snarl.

"Ready to go and save the damsel in distress?"

A low growl was his only reply.

A/N: Hello, all! Welcome! Getting the legal side of things outta the way, I own nothing beyond that which is definitely my own creation (characters and plot). Everything else belongs to DC (sadly).

This story loosely (meaning there's no one comic I am pulling this from) takes place after Jason returns to Gotham following his awakening by Superboy Prime.

Please, if you like this story, fav/follow. Any and all feedback is also deeply appreciated!