Red Hood: You Only Die Twice (ON HOLD)

Chapter 17: Tricked

The cold brisk air drifted gently through the blown off doors of the Wayne mansion. Jason hesitantly stepped through the place he had briefly called home, the once upkept marble flooring and pristine art lining the walls had been all but burned to a dark crisp. Not a single sound could be heard as he slowly walked through the halls. With no direction in mind, he continued down the mansion. As he approached the rear of the house, neon green graffiti sat on top of rubble and destruction. Reaching the frames of the now shattered glass doors, his icy blue eyes were greeted with the once peaceful garden now engulfed in hot flames.

"Jason?" Katherine's voice echoed from behind him, feeling a gently pressed down on his shoulder. Turning to face her, his face turned to horror as he faced the bloodied face of Katherine. A hundred slashes covered her neck and face, the raw crimson flesh open and exposed has long since become swollen. Blood trickled from each gaping cut. "Why did you leave me?" Her busted lips faintly whispered out. Her voice filled with an aching pain "You promised"

Jason bolted awake, his whole torso lurching forwards. His heart skipped a beat before realising where he was...He was still in the pit of the Bat plane, his clear crimson helmet resting on top of the controls.

It was just a dream

she's safe

He told himself repeatedly as he sat himself up in the now uncomfortable and stiff seat. It had taken them days to fly to the location set for the warehouse. Jason hadn't realised how little sleep he had gotten until he has slipped into a deep slumber. Bruce's gaze glanced towards him before continuing to mend and mess with his sturdy belt. Most of the journey between them had been silent. Jason preferred it to be silent, he rather have the comfortable silence than the discussion of everything that could await of them. Cracking the stiffness out of all of his joints he stepped out of the controls chair. His muscles gave a brief ache as they finally rejoiced in finally beginning to loosen the tension. Stepping the rear of the slim jet-black plane, Jason peered out of the window. Frost gripped the small edged of the glass. The endless white blanket of snow below looked back at him. Glancing at the small GPS, it showed they were in the middle of Moscow territory...They were a few miles from the warehouse, supposedly it was connected to a small village.

Jason brushed off the uncomfortably familiarity of the chosen location of warehouse, he tried and failed to consider what the warehouse would look like. This was the joker after all...he probably was doing everything to get under his skin.

"We're here." Bruce said, breaking the silence that comfortably filled the air. Snapping back to reality, Jason turned to him. The high-tech screen showing drone footage of a small, run down shack that was labelled as a warehouse...Yeah, the Joker has picked almost an exact replicate to that day...

Bruce carefully slipped on his helmet, already geared up he finally gave Jason his full attention. "We're going to have to drop in if we want the element of surprise" he said firmly.

Jason snickered to himself as he collected his discarded equipment. "A bat in snow is not exactly going to be surprising"

Before he could say anything further, he already knew what Jason's impatient plan was.

"What do you want to do enter through the front doors?" he asked, watching as Jason clipped his harnesses and belt onto his bullet proof vest.

"Exactly." He said firmly. "You can go through the back if you want to Bruce...I'm sick of the guy hiding"

Bruce approached, initially trying to argue but as Jason grabbed onto his helmet, he knew it would be useless. Through the front doors it would be. Instead, Bruce made it seem as though he was checking the layout of the warehouse. "There's an opening at the centre of the warehouse, it should be weak enough for us to breech through" Bruce said, Jason nodded to himself "It should be 30 meters falls, so watch your step". Jason reached for his familiar jet-black gun but Bruce's strong grip slammed his hand back down. He glared up at him. A moment of silence filled the air as the men bitterly stared each other down. Jason finally and swiftly snatched the gun away with the strength he could. Knowing nothing else Bruce could do, he turned to the slowly opening hatch of the plane. Jason slipped on his helmet. His vison being greeted with numerous stats and maps. A rush of freezing air invading the plane's once warm interior. Jason didn't bother to wipe away snowflakes that desperately flung themselves all of him. He swiftly approached the now open hatch, not waiting for Bruce, he jumped. Not caring how quickly Bruce would be following him. Gravity violently pulled his body down. The bitter cold tried it's best to bite away at any gaps of exposed flesh but failed. Free falling, the warehouse broken roof quickly came into view. Jason straightened his stature, allowing his feet to puncture the rotten and hole ridden wood. Bracing for impact, his body slammed into the wood. Ignoring the painful impact of the woos, Jason's hand swiftly pulled out his grappling hook. Before his body could be hurtled to the concrete flooring, the hook safely landed onto the exterior. Slowly the fall to a manageable jump. Retracking it, he managed to land on a singular knee. Rotten pieces of wood falling in after him, shattering the small flakes of oak clinging to his suit and jacket. Snow flakes drifting in through the now gaping hole above him. Before Jason could even pull out his gun and look around and prepare for the expected violence, he was met with silence. Looking up, he was greeted with an empty shell of a warehouse. Confused Jason looked up....nothing. There was nothing?

As Bruce finally made his grand entrance, Jason's tense shoulders slumped unnerved. His eyes suddenly caught sight of a neon green spray paint splatter, a messy but somewhat legible surprise was the only thing that decorated this all but abandoned warehouse. Getting a grip of the silence Bruce, kept a firm but emotionless expression.

"He's not here..." Jason muttered, his feet beginning to pace. He could hear his heart beat in his ear drums, curling his gloved hands into themselves his anger boiled. It was a trap..... "He's not here Bruce....NO ONE IS HERE"

"I need you to calm down." He said, Bruce's tone so flat that it was void of all emotion. Jason abruptly stopped his fast tempered pace. His anger and frustration slipped out from under his mask.

"You want me to be calm?" he snickered, "WE ARE ON THE OTHERSIDE OF THE WORLD. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HE WANTED!"

Bruce's heavy weight gloves lightly pressed against the coms of his sharp pointed helmet.

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Author Note:

um....hi?

This must seem weird. I haven't updated this story since November of last year. Honestly, I had given and pretty much forgotten about this story. You saw in my last note that my mental health was a great concern at the time so I had made the decision to take a step back....unfortunately as I was dealing with a lot of personal stuff, I also took a step back from writing. I lost a lot of passion for this and I viewed the work I had made as terrible. I deleted about half of the stories I had began to write and had planned. I had viewed my work as bad and that no one cared to read them. I viewed my work as a failure...I came back onto this account a few months ago completely by accident. Thankfully my laptop remembered the password and username for this account and....I was honestly blown away by how many of you were STILL asking for updates and wanting me to finish the story. I didn't realise how much people genuinely liked this story. The story that I viewed as garbage. I'm so sorry for leaving you hanging so long. I doubt any of you would have stuck around this long but if you somehow have still stuck with me....thank you. I have returned and I will work hard to make you all proud :)