The Death Knell

“In my last life, I was a homeless child who thought I had become the assistant to the world’s most notorious villain, a bird driven by revenge, an outlaw. people."

While Deathstroke and others were running wildly in the plane of the Speed ​​Force, such a conversation was taking place in the crime alley of Gotham City.

In this alley not far from the theater, there is almost no sunlight even during the day. There is only a bouquet of white flowers at the entrance of the alley, probably in memory of someone who died here in the past.

There were two figures in the alley, one almost melted into the darkness, and the other seemed emotionally unstable.

The latter, in the former's emotionless eyes, was talking about his own thoughts, not even caring whether the dark man wanted to hear it.

"But what now? Ha! God bless us, I have become a mercenary and you want me to help? But what else can you give me?! You abandoned me when I regarded you as family, and it was not easy for me to Crawled back from hell!"

"It's been so long and you've never said sorry to me. You still act like nothing's wrong. You always appear suddenly like this and make demands on me? Huh?!"

"I'm not Robin anymore, I'm the Red Hood, I'm Jason Todd, and it has nothing to do with you, Batman!"

The shadow in the darkness said nothing, but the red hood walking up and down the alley became more and more agitated, and even punched and kicked the trash can nearby to vent his anger, making the broken metal bucket bang and bang. It was like a gunshot.

This is Crime Alley, a place of great significance to both him and the other party.

Back then, Batman drove the Batmobile here to pay homage to his parents at midnight, and Jason, who was a thief nearby, quickly stole the tires of the Batmobile.

That's what happened when they first met.

So now, memories are flooding Jason Todd. He can remember Batman's past teachings and care for him, and his happy life in the Wayne Mansion.

But all of this turned into pain along with the memory of hitting his head with a crowbar.

The man once believed in Batman so much and believed that he was omnipotent. However, instead of saving him that time, he allowed himself to die at the hands of the Joker and quickly found the next Robin Tim to replace him. Location.

Why? ! ! ! !

Sometimes Jason would wonder if Batman didn't come to save him on purpose because the Joker was his real friend, he was just an insignificant tool, and his resurrection was an accident.

Whenever such thoughts appear, he will lie awake at night, burning with rage, wanting to destroy everything around him.

However, thanks to the friends of the 'Outlaws' team, Jason has finally overcome the psychological hurdle with their support in the years since his resurrection. He was even able to stay calm when he was able to visit Wayne Mansion not long ago. .

But he has been waiting for Batman to say sorry. As the former Robin, all he wanted was an explanation.

But the real Batman never explains his actions, because things in the past are facts and there is nothing to say.

So today, Jason thought that Bat invited him to Crime Alley to recall the happy beginning of the two of them and apologize to him at the same time, even a subtle hint of apology would be fine.

But that's not the case, Batman just wants to use him, just like in the past.

"Take me to the Hall of Creation."

The shadow of Gotham in the darkness said this without any other words. The eyes he looked at Jason showed no emotion behind the bat helmet.

So the Red Hood, who had endured it for a long time, was furious again today. He could only vent his anger by destroying public property.

"I won't accept your business. I will control the Blade of the Great Caste. My team of Outlaws will go with the Arsenal and Flash Wally to investigate the Hall of All Things. There is no place for you in this operation. Listen clearly. Is it? No, there is your place!"

The sky in Gotham is gloomy. Looking up from Crime Alley, it seems that you can only see a thin gray line, which still looks intermittent in the acid rain.

"You have no choice, take us to the Hall of All Things."

The bat walked out of the darkness, his black cloak dragging on the ground. The rain made him look even colder and terrifying. Silent footsteps approached step by step. He came outside Jason's punch and looked down at him condescendingly.

"Otherwise? Are you going to send me to the hospital? Oh, or send me to Arkham?" Jason knocked on his red helmet, craning his neck and getting closer to the bat: "Come on, do it, Am I an eyesore to you just because I'm alive? Am I an obstacle to you now?"

The bat in the rain didn't speak, just watched Jason go crazy quietly, as if everything was as he expected.

When Jason couldn't help but breathe while looking at each other, the bat raised his hand and said in a ghost-like voice after passing through the voice changer:

"The Joker's daughter, Dora Dent, you rescued her from the sewers. She lost her memory and forgot that she was responsible for 37 serial murders. She also forgot that she was a patient of Arkham and should be locked in a cage. , you placed her in the abandoned 'Mrs. Gunn's Orphanage' nearby."

"Enough! She is a patient. When I am also suffering from various mental symptoms, she is the only one who can understand me. She is my friend! I will decide how to treat her, but it will definitely not be Arkham. What do you think? She came to threaten me?!"

Jason's breastplate hit Batman's breastplate, and the blood-red bird hit the dark bat.

But the latter has completely grasped the weakness of the young man, and the two sides have completely different auras, like a predator who is bound to win, and a wretched creature who is incompetent and furious.

"Yes, I'm threatening you, take us to the Hall of All Things, or say goodbye to her."

The dark Batman gave a very dark answer. He could let Dora go for the sake of saving Jason many times, but the premise of this indulgence was that she really lost her memory and was always in a state of insanity. Under own surveillance.

In addition, Jason needs to be obedient, otherwise Batman will take away his adopted son's toys.

After the resurrection, Jason, or Red Hood, has never recovered. He thinks he is a normal person, but Bats and Gotham have already seen everything clearly.

Jason said he wanted to treat the clown's daughter, but he didn't. He just chained her up in an abandoned orphanage, fed her food regularly, and fed her some sedative psychotropic drugs bought on the black market.

Then the red hood sat in front of the smiling girl, chattering to her in the dark.

It's like she is not a person, but a tree hole that can be talked to, or some large doll.

But Jason firmly believed that she loved him.

However, anyone with a discerning eye can see that she is treated as a figure by Jason and is his own villain. The girl who wears the clown's former face as a mask is both his enemy and his friend.

Given his relationship with the Joker, what Batman sees in Jason is like another, younger version of himself.

And since he knows himself, he naturally knows all of Jason's weaknesses.

The dark man knew that the young man would inevitably compromise because there was no other answer to choose from, and he would not give his former assistant a chance to choose.

After all, in his opinion, Death Knell's methods from another world were too gentle.