Hell's Sniper | J. Todd

XVI - Ocean Eyes

You really know how to make me cry,
When you give me those ocean eyes
- Billie Eilish

I know why I'm running. I know why my hearts beating so loud that it's in my ears and in my head. But I can't stop for anything because if I do, this information never gets to my superiors and ten people will be lost to terrorists.

Jason's running beside me, but he shouldn't be. He's shouting at me as bullets rage behind us, things I can't understand.

I risk a glance behind me. Stupid, I know. It's the Joker, Black Mask and Lex all chasing after us and firing. But that's not right. And yet, I don't stop running. I run through the forest and the sky is getting dark and the air is getting cold and soon the snow will bury all five of us but for now-

A bullet strikes Jason in the shoulder and his scream, lost to the wind. I know how this goes from here, and I know that it doesn't end well. It never does. It never will.

But there's no snow. Only bright flowers and chirping birds and animals. There's no bullets and there's no people I've killed or people I want to kill and there's no Jason either.

The animals are so many of so many different kinds, surrounding me in a brightly-coloured forest clearing and nudging my body. Trying to get me to wake up.

There's a voice, ethereal and calm and beatiful. She sounds like honey and sweetness and all the good things in the world. She chants the same words over and over; "I am you, you are me, we are one. I am you, you are me, we are one."

The animals nudging me are no longer foxes and ferrets and squirrels but dogs. Six dogs. My dogs. And I'm not in a forest anymore, but I'm in Jason's safe house now. I'm on the floor, not the couch, and Ruby's nudging her face into my neck, Petrova in my hair, Simo in my upper back, Natayla in my lower back, Corvus in my thigh and Chief licking my face.

"Ew, gross, get off-" I try and push Chief away but he's adamant. Finally, I get him to stop. I get them to all give me space and I groan. "Why am I on the floor?"

"You rolled off the couch, like an idiot."

"Thanks, Chief. I totally needed that."

"You've got to go to work. Meet your new team."

I raise my eyebrow at Petrova, then at the bright sky through the bulletproof windows. "I have a night shift. Please tell me you didn't-"

"It's four thirty in the afternoon. Your shift is in two and a half hours. Are you sure you're up for it? Reckon you're safe-"

"I'll be safe enough, Jason. I've got eleven SWAT personnel backing me up and a gun or two of my own. I'm fine."

Jason sighs, turning to make his coffee. I don't know where Roy is, but I don't think he's in the house. Good. I can talk to Jason privately. "Are you mad at me?"

He stops mid pour. "No." He looks over his shoulder at me, sitting on the couch with six dogs piled up on the cushions. "You're mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you. Why would I be mad at you?"

"You slept on the couch. I offered for you to sleep in my bed and you slept on the couch."

"Yeah, 'cause you've been acting all weird since the gala."

Jason inhales, holds his breath and then exhales loudly in a sigh. "I just wish you told me about... about your dogs."

I exchange confused glances with my hellhounds before replying. "I only found out about them being hellhounds yesterday."

"You spoke with them telepathically before that, though," Jason points out, and he has a point. But I have a better point.

"I've known you for a week, Jay," I remind him. His anger visibly falters at the nickname for a moment.

"You knew I was Red Hood."

"Because I found out on my own," I point out.

Jason scoffs and finishes making his coffee, not saying anything more until he's done. He takes a sip and considers what to say next. "I just..." he clenches his jaw, gaze drifting to the window. "I don't know. I'm not really that mad about the dogs, it's... you just went after the Black Mask. You hardly thought it out, but you just went for him. You could've easily gotten shot."

"Wouldn't be the first time," I say with a shrug, trying to lighten the mood, but it only makes Jason's eyes widen in alarm. "You know what, forget I said that."

My phone pings, a text message popping up on screen. The names makes me smile- I haven't heard from him since last New Years.

"Who is it?"

"One of my old Special Forces buddies. My old team brings former and current members together for New Years. We can bring a plus one- we play airsoft and eat at our favourite pizza place. Wanna come?"

Jason sighs, looking out one of the windows. You can see only trees, but I now it's the direction to Gotham. "I'll think about it," he says after a moment. "But you've got to get ready for work, Sargeant."

I'm going to have to get used to that. Sargeant.