Chapter 5
Jason woke up screaming again, though he forced himself to stop quickly. He snarled when someone banged at the wall between them, before acknowledging they probably had a point. Jesus. He’d been blown up. It hadn’t happened to him very many times before, but he’d like to think it was the type of experience that stayed with you in a way that wasn’t entirely unique to him. Weird that he’d died that way twice though. Jason rubbed his hands through his hair and stared at the bed.
“What the fuck am I doing?” he asked himself. Apparently hitting on some of the Avengers and getting too distracted by their bodies to realize there was a fucking bomb nearby. It had probably been a bomb. He couldn’t see them doing it though, at least not while they were in the blast radius. Team Good Guy usually had an issue with casualties, which bombs had in an area as densely packed as Crime Alley, and he couldn’t imagine either of them risking that the other one wouldn’t come back this time. He might’ve been projecting that, but…. Again the memory of Barnes’ rage. He wasn’t projecting. Barnes wouldn’t risk Barton dying like that, especially when they might actually stay dead. He wouldn’t risk that last time would be the actual last time.
And that meant that Jason had been a distraction in that situation. He’d kept the two of them from finding the magician just as surely as they’d kept Jason from finding him. Too many cooks in the kitchen. But, well, Jason could take care of that. Trying to ignore the memory of fire and the part of his brain that was stuck trying to find a countdown, Jason went to get dressed as he thought about which way to drive. He just needed to get out of town. He’d get out of their way and they were Avengers, so they’d handle the problem. Was it cowardly? Maybe. Was it lazy? Almost certainly. But those two were heroes and Jason knew he wasn’t really counted amongst their number, so that made this their problem.
Jason got up to take another shower, thinking about the self-care he’d recommended to Barton. The bed would’ve been nice, but… Well, Jason was probably just imagining the way it reeked of fear. Either way, he didn’t want to be in it while he took care of himself. If he spent the time in the shower thinking about the missed opportunity of yesterday, that was no one’s business but his own. If he was pretty sure he’d be coming back to that thought again soon, well, that was still no one’s business but his own.
It was short work after that to eat breakfast and head out the door. South, he decided. Away from town, away from where the Avengers would be going once they’d figured out whatever the magician was doing. They’d go back to New York and Jason would stay in Gotham and they’d probably never see each other again. They were geographically close, but it’s not like the Bats and the Avengers were exchanging Christmas cards or some shit. It was… actually weird that they were here at all, he considered as he hit the highway on his bike. Maybe they were here specifically for the magician. Jason had thought he was another homegrown lunatic, but if he’d come here from New York originally, it might explain why those two were hunting for him.
They had their own magic stuff going on, from Jason’s research. The witch girl and that literal Asgardian god. Give him Ivy or even the Scarecrow any day. At least they were human, even if they were freaks. The shit they pulled could be explained by science. Magic? Back to the part where that was supposed to be Constantine’s problem. And apparently also a problem for the Avengers. Either way, count him out.
The drive had been smooth, if aimless. A stop to buy a burger. Pulling off somewhere to piss. Seeing a sign that mentioned a lake and thinking stopping to read there for a while might be nice.
He had just gotten on the exit when everything went dark.