Random Wren and Young Justice 3
Author here: I've had this part written for *days# but real life kept me from writing it. That's OK though. It made me think more on Jason's character and figure out what is going on. I actually have part of a back story written out!
She held his onto his jacket as they wandered down the street. When they had to take to the roofs, she followed him like she had been doing this all her life. That pissed Jason off. No kid, nobody this young should be in a cape. Once Robin or Tim or whatever he was got out of the hospital, Red Hood was going to kick his ass six ways to Sunday for doing this to the child.
He went on a circuitous route back to his place. It wasn't that late but the girl needed rest. He'd originally taken several different paths on his route back, just to see what the girl could do but it was quickly apparent that she was tired and hurt. He'd tried assessing her injuries a couple blocks from the fight with the thugs. The girl wasn't responsive enough to tell him what hurt and fought him taking off the costume. She fought like a cornered, feral animal. All scratches and bites and throwing her whole body around. After seeing her beat the crap out of the 'bangers earlier, Jason knew she could do better. But whatever. Looks like the Robin Tim had kept her from the worst of it. She'd live.
They entered a window on the 5th floor of an office building he was 'renting.' Technically they were all squatting. Him and several families. He and a Mexican family shared the top floor. Rosie was a single mother, her husband missing for years. He'd left to find work and they had heard from him a time or two before he just stopped sending word. The oldest daughter was 17 and had a baby a few months ago. She'd gotten pregnant hooking, trying to scrape up enough money together to get the family food. The rest were scrawny, rawboned things, similar to Wren, who came and went. Pooling their money to get necessities.
Upon entering the office/apartment, Jason went straight to a microwave where he found his usual dinner of beans and rice and tortillas and scraps that Rosie had made him. He offered it to Wren but she wasn't paying attention. The girl was holding his jacket, the one he had taken off and thrown onto the mattress on the floor by route action. She was standing in the middle of the bed, circling around it, kicking at the blankets and clothes that had accumulated there. She looked like a cat making a nest. Which was exactly what she was doing, apparently. Once things were kicked around to her liking, she'd curled up in the void she'd made, his jacket tucked in around her. The wide, white lenses of her mask stared at him, following as he approached.
"Comfie there, kitty?" He'd joked but it fell flat in the room. She was making weird, distressing noises. Little twitches running through her body occasionally. Jason sat down next to her, setting the food on the floor. He tried to pull her into him but she pulled away. Instead, he just sat next to her, her back pressed against his leg as he leaned against a wall. "The replacement.. er.. Tim's going to be alright. The local Justice League has him. They're idiots but they won't let him die."
He ate the food, offering it to her again and again but she wouldn't take any. He'd get Rosie to cook the child something in the morning. Maybe the old motherly Mexican would have better luck then him. The parts of the child's hair that wasn't stiff with blood was quite soft. Very fine. Like spider webs. He stroked her head as he talked between bites.
The morning woke him to screams. Before he could even shake himself fully awake, he was already in the hall way. Rosie was there, babbling prayers in Spanish. Wren was in the middle, still covered in blood, eating something with her fingers out of a mangled can. She was just standing there, like a flamingo, her left leg held up. Damn. She'd probably really injured it.
"Dear Mother Mary, the poor child!" Rosie said, approaching the caped girl. Wren froze. Jason held Rosie back, guessing that Wren could be pretty dangerous when cornered.
"Rosie, what is it? What's wrong?" The one armed veteran that lived on the 4th floor banged into the hallway. Wren burst into action, flipping away from the threat. The can went flying as she tossed it and hit him in the head. The caped girl took a defensive position with two nightsticks in hand but quickly crouched. Her left knee had pretty much folded under her.
"Nobody move," he ordered. Jason wasn't sure how spooked the child was. He held his hands away from his body, showing that he wasn't a threat as he took cautious steps forwards, getting between her and his friends. "These are my friends. Abuilita Rosie and John Carter (Author: just saw the JC movie. AWESOME! I'd read the books years ago and was excited to see the movie.) They live here with me. They're good people. Just worried a bit about you. I don't know how aware you are but you look a fright. You're covered in blood and look like you wrestled an alligator. Your leg's hurt. You're safe here. I just want to get you cleaned up and take a look at your leg."
To the untrained eye, she still looked feral and ready to fight but Jason could see the tension in her body drain away. Rosie was reciting a blessing to Mother Mary to watch over and help the child. After a few lines, the child started saying them with her. Her voice melodic as she followed along.
"Come on, lets get you cleaned up," Jason said as Wren did something to the nightstick handles. The bars slid down with a click-clack till there was just the handles which she put onto her belt. Huh, pretty nifty. He was going to lead the caped girl into the restroom on this floor when Rosie pushed him aside.
"I'll take care of this," she said in Spanish. "She needs a mother's touch. Not some big olf like you."
"Be careful. No sudden movements or anything. Let her see what you're doing. She's pretty dangerous."
Rosie tutted him. The elderly woman probably knew better then anyone how to help a cornered human. A couple months back he'd gotten rolled by a mob from another city. They had thought that Bludhaven would be an easy target. He'd cured them of that. And cured them of their heads too. He'd spent the day after that, half out of his mind from the injuries in his 'apartment.' One of the kids had found him like that when they'd been playing hide and seek. Rosie had cleaned him up, bandaged his wounds, spoon fed him, and other motherly things for the next couple of days while he recovered.
She had also been there to hold him after his various nightmares. Holding him and rocking him and singing in her scratchy but beautiful voice. Holding and comforting like a parent with a child that was afraid of the dark. Rosie did the same for John Carter and a couple other residence of the building. All of them with their own problems and demons. Either with drink or tainted drugs or wars so long past that they were just shadows.
The bathroom was a one seater with a bucket shower hooked up. There was no hot water, as there was no gas in the building. No electricity either but they made due. The water was running and there was a roof over their head. That was all they really cared about.
They had co-opted the building one blistery winter when the cold was so biting, it seeped into the bones and you never, ever thought you'd get warm again. Jason had discovered two teens, huddled together for warmth under an overpass. The older, bigger one curled around the younger, smaller one. Both frozen solid. He'd broken into another building, leading his fellow homeless inside the abandoned structure like a pied piper. They'd nearly burned it down as they lit small fires in cans to get some warmth. He'd found this office building in his scouting for another place. There were several of them set up this way. Families living in corners of unused buildings. The owners or caretakers tried to put on better and better locks but Jason kept on breaking them. Finally, he'd taken a money run into Gotham. One of the few times he'd risked the unfamiliar Batman's wrath. This Batman was younger and sometimes used JL members on the heavies. People like him.
Red Hood had robbed the Maroni mob family of 3.7 million in cash, jewels, and drugs. He' used it to bribe the beat cops of the area. Depending on the owners of the buildings that his people were squatting in, they were bribed, extorted, or blackmailed. He moved between them all and several other places. Never in one place too long. Too many enemies. Too many who wanted him dead. He'd have to give this one up soon. But he'd be back in a couple of months, blending back in like he never left.
Several hours later, Jason found Wren chatting with Rosie's family in Spanish. When the old woman had taken the girl into the restroom to get cleaned up, he'd gone back to his room to sleep for another hour, knowing that it could take a while. He'd thought she'd send over someone to get him once Wren was taken care of but apparently had just kept the girl.
One of Rosie's young daughters was playing with Wren's hair, braiding it into dual braids with ribbons. Small, young hands quick and agile. The other young ones were acting out scenes from the bible, jabbering in Spanish so fast Jason had a hard time keeping up. Wren was jabbering right back, just as quick with a thick Mexican accent. The domino mask still on her face but she was now wearing an over large dress that probably belonged to one of the girls.
Rosie shoved a pan of food into his hands and made him sit to eat. The family had a few dishes and those were probably soaking in a bucket in the bathroom. The soup pan was large and doubled as a frying pan, since Rosie only had the one. He ate with the spachala spoon thing the woman used to cook with. He sat at the aged desk on the decaying office chair. Both abandoned along with the building. The food was still hot, which Jason was thankful for. Most of his meals were tepid. The microwave in his room didn't work, even if there had been electricity. The box pretty much kept the vermin and bugs out of the food so it still had some uses. Most days there was even a loaf of bread kept protected inside.
Wren was pretty silent. Only speaking when spoken to. When one of the children asked a question or something. Sometimes giving him quick glances as if checking if this was OK. Rosie's kids were in seventh heaven with the new girl, showing off their things and telling her stories. At one point the girls had dragged Wren away and had a fashion show with their meager selections of clothes. Jason and Rosie 'Oowing' and 'Ahhaing at the different outfits. They had tried to get Wren into makeup but she wouldn't take off her mask and when they tried to force the issue, Jason had to step in.
The whole time he watched her. There was something off and not just the problems with their night life activities. She pulled away whenever any of the kids tried to touch her. The children, having known many damaged friends who pulled away because their drunken fathers hit them, quickly spotted this and didn't touch her. She also spoke in an odd cadence, almost disjointed with her words. He could write it off as her trying to think up of a back story or how much she can say about being a costume. But it was something more. And she moved differently. Her hands giving twitches and she kept her gaze seemed off. Though that was hard to tell with the lenses but Jason had much experience reading the gaze a mask makes.
Wren was ninja quick too. At one point she slipped from the room without anyone noticing. Jason himself hadn't noticed her disappearance. He had only just noticed it himself before one of the kids turned around to ask Wren something and she was gone. They thought she'd gone to the bathroom but eventually it was too long to write off. He found her back in his place, curled under his jacket. When he pulled up to check, the kid gave a whine and quickly tugged it back. Rosie was willing to talk and entertain him until Wren had her moments to break down in peace.
It was getting towards evening, the sun leaving streaks of color in the sky when he returned to find her in costume and doing yoga poses. He silently put on his own. Or rather assembled. Everything checked twice because it was going to be a night. He was going to have to hijack a car to get to Gotham and one of the portals to League HQ. Being from a future time frame in this dimension, he had access to their computers and equipment. The various training he received allowing him to slip in and out when needed. Jason was looking forwards to rattling those sanctimonious twits by going to see Robin with Wren without them knowing.
"You're not the right Uncle Bluejay. How did you get into this dimension?"
"You changed dimensions, not me."
"But you told Red Robin last night that you came from an alternet dimension yourself. You come from a time frame before him and you smell funny. Tell me, is there a Batman and is he good and which Robin is he on?"
He ignored the stinker-ness comment, but her throwing it in there like that tugged at something in his mind. "The prick is here too. In his more idealistic, early days. Goldie, er, Grayson is the current Robin." She nods. "We should get our stories straight," he says.
"We both come from another dimension. Red Robin is a billionaire playboy that fights crime while you were a former member of the league of assassins that he's redeeming. The league sent you here, as punishment or to get you back. We fought the league until we got to the device that sent you here but were injured in the fight."
"And he has a bird-named sidekick." He snorted. "What's the truth?"
"Cleanup from a Alpha event. Several of our league members; Ultraman, The Amazon, Quicksilver, MerKing and the others had already swept the area. Red Robin was showing my team, Junior Justice, the battle when we were attacked. (Author: I have this idea for a character. Dean Winchester and Castiel have a girl angel who later joins the team as their magic user. I imagine her a stocky with HUGE wings that she can fold into a pocket dimension but they itch when she does so she prefers to have them out.) Winchester did a spell to get us out of there after he was hurt."
Jason didn't know how much of that story was true or fake. He knew it was a fabrication mess of truths blended to fit the situation. The fudging of the names was good, it meant he could mess with them as well. It was one of Batman's rules about dealing with time lines and dimensions. Wait... Rules. There was something that the alternate Robin had said last night. Something about, "You're retarded!"
The girl was against him like a flash, nightstick in hand, pressing against his throat. "Not retarded. Very smart. Autistic Savant."
It was easy to push her back but not easy to catch her. She was small and wiry and quick. She'd also received quite a bit of training. It was obvious in the way she moved.
"You're good, kid. But you shouldn't be in that cape and wearing that mask. You should be out living your life, not becoming a pawn in his twisted mission." Jason spat the words out, disgusted at his mentor for doing this to her.
"I needed to learn how to fight, how to defend myself. I never wanted to be a superhero," she said. But before he could say anything, she continued. "I did something extra ordinary, something amazing. She came for me in the night, to take me away." Wren said it all in a slow, stilted way with extra care. Not like she was reading from a script but more like the truth was being dragged from her. Like it was all important and needed to be emphasized. He asked who 'She' was, hearing the anger and disgust in the word. "Tah-lee-ah aah Gool. She wanted to take me but Batman made a deal. They would train me, they would make me ready and when I was of age, I would go to Her."
Jason snorted. "But you won't. By then it'll be too late."
"No. I may have to go soon. She has something I need. I will go. I will learn. I will be Her's for a some time. I hope that I will become strong enough to leave."
He didn't have anything to say to this. He, too, had been caught in her web once. Only leaving when he could be a weapon against Batman and his mission. It was only through luck and circumstance that he escaped. Mainly that portal that left him stuck here, away from her sticky webs of lies, manipulation, and deceit.
On the way to the tube, they played a little game with league members, making up crossover names. Some of them were just names the hero may have gone under at one point in their careers. Like Red Arrow and Arsenal. Or at least that it was that way in his time line. HE didn't believe her when she told him that he went by Buejay in the future. That he'd reformed himself and only killed when necessary. She told him other things about his future, alternate self. How he was part of the family and close to them all. How he mentored Junior Justice and was accepted by the Justice League again.
He didn't think the Bluejay thing was real.
She held his onto his jacket as they wandered down the street. When they had to take to the roofs, she followed him like she had been doing this all her life. That pissed Jason off. No kid, nobody this young should be in a cape. Once Robin or Tim or whatever he was got out of the hospital, Red Hood was going to kick his ass six ways to Sunday for doing this to the child.
He went on a circuitous route back to his place. It wasn't that late but the girl needed rest. He'd originally taken several different paths on his route back, just to see what the girl could do but it was quickly apparent that she was tired and hurt. He'd tried assessing her injuries a couple blocks from the fight with the thugs. The girl wasn't responsive enough to tell him what hurt and fought him taking off the costume. She fought like a cornered, feral animal. All scratches and bites and throwing her whole body around. After seeing her beat the crap out of the 'bangers earlier, Jason knew she could do better. But whatever. Looks like the Robin Tim had kept her from the worst of it. She'd live.
They entered a window on the 5th floor of an office building he was 'renting.' Technically they were all squatting. Him and several families. He and a Mexican family shared the top floor. Rosie was a single mother, her husband missing for years. He'd left to find work and they had heard from him a time or two before he just stopped sending word. The oldest daughter was 17 and had a baby a few months ago. She'd gotten pregnant hooking, trying to scrape up enough money together to get the family food. The rest were scrawny, rawboned things, similar to Wren, who came and went. Pooling their money to get necessities.
Upon entering the office/apartment, Jason went straight to a microwave where he found his usual dinner of beans and rice and tortillas and scraps that Rosie had made him. He offered it to Wren but she wasn't paying attention. The girl was holding his jacket, the one he had taken off and thrown onto the mattress on the floor by route action. She was standing in the middle of the bed, circling around it, kicking at the blankets and clothes that had accumulated there. She looked like a cat making a nest. Which was exactly what she was doing, apparently. Once things were kicked around to her liking, she'd curled up in the void she'd made, his jacket tucked in around her. The wide, white lenses of her mask stared at him, following as he approached.
"Comfie there, kitty?" He'd joked but it fell flat in the room. She was making weird, distressing noises. Little twitches running through her body occasionally. Jason sat down next to her, setting the food on the floor. He tried to pull her into him but she pulled away. Instead, he just sat next to her, her back pressed against his leg as he leaned against a wall. "The replacement.. er.. Tim's going to be alright. The local Justice League has him. They're idiots but they won't let him die."
He ate the food, offering it to her again and again but she wouldn't take any. He'd get Rosie to cook the child something in the morning. Maybe the old motherly Mexican would have better luck then him. The parts of the child's hair that wasn't stiff with blood was quite soft. Very fine. Like spider webs. He stroked her head as he talked between bites.
The morning woke him to screams. Before he could even shake himself fully awake, he was already in the hall way. Rosie was there, babbling prayers in Spanish. Wren was in the middle, still covered in blood, eating something with her fingers out of a mangled can. She was just standing there, like a flamingo, her left leg held up. Damn. She'd probably really injured it.
"Dear Mother Mary, the poor child!" Rosie said, approaching the caped girl. Wren froze. Jason held Rosie back, guessing that Wren could be pretty dangerous when cornered.
"Rosie, what is it? What's wrong?" The one armed veteran that lived on the 4th floor banged into the hallway. Wren burst into action, flipping away from the threat. The can went flying as she tossed it and hit him in the head. The caped girl took a defensive position with two nightsticks in hand but quickly crouched. Her left knee had pretty much folded under her.
"Nobody move," he ordered. Jason wasn't sure how spooked the child was. He held his hands away from his body, showing that he wasn't a threat as he took cautious steps forwards, getting between her and his friends. "These are my friends. Abuilita Rosie and John Carter (Author: just saw the JC movie. AWESOME! I'd read the books years ago and was excited to see the movie.) They live here with me. They're good people. Just worried a bit about you. I don't know how aware you are but you look a fright. You're covered in blood and look like you wrestled an alligator. Your leg's hurt. You're safe here. I just want to get you cleaned up and take a look at your leg."
To the untrained eye, she still looked feral and ready to fight but Jason could see the tension in her body drain away. Rosie was reciting a blessing to Mother Mary to watch over and help the child. After a few lines, the child started saying them with her. Her voice melodic as she followed along.
"Come on, lets get you cleaned up," Jason said as Wren did something to the nightstick handles. The bars slid down with a click-clack till there was just the handles which she put onto her belt. Huh, pretty nifty. He was going to lead the caped girl into the restroom on this floor when Rosie pushed him aside.
"I'll take care of this," she said in Spanish. "She needs a mother's touch. Not some big olf like you."
"Be careful. No sudden movements or anything. Let her see what you're doing. She's pretty dangerous."
Rosie tutted him. The elderly woman probably knew better then anyone how to help a cornered human. A couple months back he'd gotten rolled by a mob from another city. They had thought that Bludhaven would be an easy target. He'd cured them of that. And cured them of their heads too. He'd spent the day after that, half out of his mind from the injuries in his 'apartment.' One of the kids had found him like that when they'd been playing hide and seek. Rosie had cleaned him up, bandaged his wounds, spoon fed him, and other motherly things for the next couple of days while he recovered.
She had also been there to hold him after his various nightmares. Holding him and rocking him and singing in her scratchy but beautiful voice. Holding and comforting like a parent with a child that was afraid of the dark. Rosie did the same for John Carter and a couple other residence of the building. All of them with their own problems and demons. Either with drink or tainted drugs or wars so long past that they were just shadows.
The bathroom was a one seater with a bucket shower hooked up. There was no hot water, as there was no gas in the building. No electricity either but they made due. The water was running and there was a roof over their head. That was all they really cared about.
They had co-opted the building one blistery winter when the cold was so biting, it seeped into the bones and you never, ever thought you'd get warm again. Jason had discovered two teens, huddled together for warmth under an overpass. The older, bigger one curled around the younger, smaller one. Both frozen solid. He'd broken into another building, leading his fellow homeless inside the abandoned structure like a pied piper. They'd nearly burned it down as they lit small fires in cans to get some warmth. He'd found this office building in his scouting for another place. There were several of them set up this way. Families living in corners of unused buildings. The owners or caretakers tried to put on better and better locks but Jason kept on breaking them. Finally, he'd taken a money run into Gotham. One of the few times he'd risked the unfamiliar Batman's wrath. This Batman was younger and sometimes used JL members on the heavies. People like him.
Red Hood had robbed the Maroni mob family of 3.7 million in cash, jewels, and drugs. He' used it to bribe the beat cops of the area. Depending on the owners of the buildings that his people were squatting in, they were bribed, extorted, or blackmailed. He moved between them all and several other places. Never in one place too long. Too many enemies. Too many who wanted him dead. He'd have to give this one up soon. But he'd be back in a couple of months, blending back in like he never left.
Several hours later, Jason found Wren chatting with Rosie's family in Spanish. When the old woman had taken the girl into the restroom to get cleaned up, he'd gone back to his room to sleep for another hour, knowing that it could take a while. He'd thought she'd send over someone to get him once Wren was taken care of but apparently had just kept the girl.
One of Rosie's young daughters was playing with Wren's hair, braiding it into dual braids with ribbons. Small, young hands quick and agile. The other young ones were acting out scenes from the bible, jabbering in Spanish so fast Jason had a hard time keeping up. Wren was jabbering right back, just as quick with a thick Mexican accent. The domino mask still on her face but she was now wearing an over large dress that probably belonged to one of the girls.
Rosie shoved a pan of food into his hands and made him sit to eat. The family had a few dishes and those were probably soaking in a bucket in the bathroom. The soup pan was large and doubled as a frying pan, since Rosie only had the one. He ate with the spachala spoon thing the woman used to cook with. He sat at the aged desk on the decaying office chair. Both abandoned along with the building. The food was still hot, which Jason was thankful for. Most of his meals were tepid. The microwave in his room didn't work, even if there had been electricity. The box pretty much kept the vermin and bugs out of the food so it still had some uses. Most days there was even a loaf of bread kept protected inside.
Wren was pretty silent. Only speaking when spoken to. When one of the children asked a question or something. Sometimes giving him quick glances as if checking if this was OK. Rosie's kids were in seventh heaven with the new girl, showing off their things and telling her stories. At one point the girls had dragged Wren away and had a fashion show with their meager selections of clothes. Jason and Rosie 'Oowing' and 'Ahhaing at the different outfits. They had tried to get Wren into makeup but she wouldn't take off her mask and when they tried to force the issue, Jason had to step in.
The whole time he watched her. There was something off and not just the problems with their night life activities. She pulled away whenever any of the kids tried to touch her. The children, having known many damaged friends who pulled away because their drunken fathers hit them, quickly spotted this and didn't touch her. She also spoke in an odd cadence, almost disjointed with her words. He could write it off as her trying to think up of a back story or how much she can say about being a costume. But it was something more. And she moved differently. Her hands giving twitches and she kept her gaze seemed off. Though that was hard to tell with the lenses but Jason had much experience reading the gaze a mask makes.
Wren was ninja quick too. At one point she slipped from the room without anyone noticing. Jason himself hadn't noticed her disappearance. He had only just noticed it himself before one of the kids turned around to ask Wren something and she was gone. They thought she'd gone to the bathroom but eventually it was too long to write off. He found her back in his place, curled under his jacket. When he pulled up to check, the kid gave a whine and quickly tugged it back. Rosie was willing to talk and entertain him until Wren had her moments to break down in peace.
It was getting towards evening, the sun leaving streaks of color in the sky when he returned to find her in costume and doing yoga poses. He silently put on his own. Or rather assembled. Everything checked twice because it was going to be a night. He was going to have to hijack a car to get to Gotham and one of the portals to League HQ. Being from a future time frame in this dimension, he had access to their computers and equipment. The various training he received allowing him to slip in and out when needed. Jason was looking forwards to rattling those sanctimonious twits by going to see Robin with Wren without them knowing.
"You're not the right Uncle Bluejay. How did you get into this dimension?"
"You changed dimensions, not me."
"But you told Red Robin last night that you came from an alternet dimension yourself. You come from a time frame before him and you smell funny. Tell me, is there a Batman and is he good and which Robin is he on?"
He ignored the stinker-ness comment, but her throwing it in there like that tugged at something in his mind. "The prick is here too. In his more idealistic, early days. Goldie, er, Grayson is the current Robin." She nods. "We should get our stories straight," he says.
"We both come from another dimension. Red Robin is a billionaire playboy that fights crime while you were a former member of the league of assassins that he's redeeming. The league sent you here, as punishment or to get you back. We fought the league until we got to the device that sent you here but were injured in the fight."
"And he has a bird-named sidekick." He snorted. "What's the truth?"
"Cleanup from a Alpha event. Several of our league members; Ultraman, The Amazon, Quicksilver, MerKing and the others had already swept the area. Red Robin was showing my team, Junior Justice, the battle when we were attacked. (Author: I have this idea for a character. Dean Winchester and Castiel have a girl angel who later joins the team as their magic user. I imagine her a stocky with HUGE wings that she can fold into a pocket dimension but they itch when she does so she prefers to have them out.) Winchester did a spell to get us out of there after he was hurt."
Jason didn't know how much of that story was true or fake. He knew it was a fabrication mess of truths blended to fit the situation. The fudging of the names was good, it meant he could mess with them as well. It was one of Batman's rules about dealing with time lines and dimensions. Wait... Rules. There was something that the alternate Robin had said last night. Something about, "You're retarded!"
The girl was against him like a flash, nightstick in hand, pressing against his throat. "Not retarded. Very smart. Autistic Savant."
It was easy to push her back but not easy to catch her. She was small and wiry and quick. She'd also received quite a bit of training. It was obvious in the way she moved.
"You're good, kid. But you shouldn't be in that cape and wearing that mask. You should be out living your life, not becoming a pawn in his twisted mission." Jason spat the words out, disgusted at his mentor for doing this to her.
"I needed to learn how to fight, how to defend myself. I never wanted to be a superhero," she said. But before he could say anything, she continued. "I did something extra ordinary, something amazing. She came for me in the night, to take me away." Wren said it all in a slow, stilted way with extra care. Not like she was reading from a script but more like the truth was being dragged from her. Like it was all important and needed to be emphasized. He asked who 'She' was, hearing the anger and disgust in the word. "Tah-lee-ah aah Gool. She wanted to take me but Batman made a deal. They would train me, they would make me ready and when I was of age, I would go to Her."
Jason snorted. "But you won't. By then it'll be too late."
"No. I may have to go soon. She has something I need. I will go. I will learn. I will be Her's for a some time. I hope that I will become strong enough to leave."
He didn't have anything to say to this. He, too, had been caught in her web once. Only leaving when he could be a weapon against Batman and his mission. It was only through luck and circumstance that he escaped. Mainly that portal that left him stuck here, away from her sticky webs of lies, manipulation, and deceit.
On the way to the tube, they played a little game with league members, making up crossover names. Some of them were just names the hero may have gone under at one point in their careers. Like Red Arrow and Arsenal. Or at least that it was that way in his time line. HE didn't believe her when she told him that he went by Buejay in the future. That he'd reformed himself and only killed when necessary. She told him other things about his future, alternate self. How he was part of the family and close to them all. How he mentored Junior Justice and was accepted by the Justice League again.
He didn't think the Bluejay thing was real.