The Return Part 1
After a lengthy battle with some Church of Blood cult members , the Titans were able to subdue them and begin their cleanup effort of the battlefield. Smoke filled the air as the team began to shift through the rubble from the damaged buildings. Starfire was the first to notice the figure emerging from behind a cloud of smoke. Instinctively, her hands glowed green creating a starbolt as if to warn the stranger. The figure was unfazed by her starbolts and continued to trudge forward, gaining the attention of the other Titans.
“Stop right there,” Starfire commanded, “State your business.”
A low chuckle filled her ears. Who the hell was this guy?
“Forget about me already Diosa?”, the husky-voiced stranger spoke. “I’m hurt.”
Her eyes opened wide at the use of the nickname. Only one person ever called her Diosa and that person was long gone. While lost in thought, the figure took the opportunity to step into the team’s full view. Before them stood a man about 6 '4 " dressed in a brown leather jacket, military-style pants with gun holsters attached, a bright red helmet, and a dark shirt with a red bat symbol plastered across the chest.
“Who are you and why are you here?”, questioned Nightwing. His grip tightening around his escrimas. This earned him another chuckle from the man.
“Come on Dickiebird, use that training that Batman gave you.”
For a moment time stopped, everyone held in their breaths. This stranger knew Nightwing’s secret identity and it definitely caught the former Boy Wonder off-guard. Suddenly all the puzzle pieces started to fall into place. It started with how he first addressed her, then how he knew Dick’s name, lastly his voice. Although somewhat altered by the voice modulator, the underlying tone was unmistakingly familiar, but there was no way that this was possible. Absolutely no chance that the man that stood before her was the man whom she had befriended all those years ago. He was dead. The Joker in an act of revenge against Batman had murdered the boy in cold blood. Tears began to form in the corner of her eyes from remembering the pain and anguish she felt of learning that her friend had been killed. She nervously took a step forward ignoring the protests of her team and looked into the eyes of the mask.
“J-jason?”, she stuttered silently. Once again silence filled the air, the only sound being the hiss from the man’s helmet being removed. The tears that she was holding in began to fall as his face became exposed to her. He looked exactly like she remembered him yet so much different. He looked older and his face was scarred, even his eyes seemed to change from his typical blue to a vibrant green, but his stupid little smirk remained the same. Without thinking she threw herself into his arms and he caught her graciously, even lifting her off the ground and spinning her slightly as if this was practiced thousands of times.
Nightwing could feel the bile creep up his throat as he witnessed Starfire melting into this man’s arms, even more so he was unnerved by the fact that his dead brother is actually not dead or so he claims. Raven being an empath was thrown into a mild fit of turmoil herself from the abundance of feelings from her teammates and excused herself. Beast Boy and Cyborg just looked at each other in confusion, trying to make sense of the situation, but this was all too much for everyone to handle. Starfire quickly composed herself and freed herself from Jason’s grip and cleared her throat,
“How is this possible? How are you here right now? Why are you dressed this way? What were you even doing out here?”
“Woah woah woah, slow down there cutie. One question at a time. I know everyone is shocked to know that I'm in fact NOT dead.” He lets out another dry chuckle before continuing,
“After the Jo-” he hesitated to continue, a cold shiver running down his spine,
“After he killed me, Ra’s Al Ghul was kind enough to throw me into one of his lazarus pits, kept me as his pet for a while, then I heard about your little team and came to pay you a visit.”
Dick tried to hide his scowl, but it was showcased all over his face. He knew resurrection was possible, especially with the use of lazarus pits, but there was always a cost to using that kind of sorcery. More so, why did Ra’s Al Ghul save Jason?
“Have you made your return known to anyone else?”, he interrogated.
“No and I don’t plan on it.”, his face burning with a fit of anger
“He left me to die, didn’t even keep looking for me and I was RIGHT THERE. Right under his nose and then he wants to replace me as if I was nothing.” She knew better than to interrupt him, so she calmly placed a hand on his. Back when he was Robin, he rarely complained about Batman, only when he disagreed with the way things were being handled or if he was left behind, but this was a newfound rage. If what Jason said was true, the rage was rightfully placed.
“He never stopped looking for you Jason. B looked day and night, we all did. We didn’t know where you were until Joker sent us the video”, he frowned, remembering seeing the Joker deal the killing blow to his younger brother.
“Jay,” she hummed,
“Jace, listen to me. We can discuss all of this later, right now I believe that it’s best if we all head back to the tower to recover. As you can see it has been a long day for us all, y ya sabes cómo se pone Richard cuando está de mal humor.” He nods and lets his anger fade.
“Kory, we can not just bring him to the tower! We don’t know the full story and hello he is carrying guns!”, he grumbled.
“I hate to side with him, little lady, but we can potentially be springing a trap or something with him.”, chimed Cyborg.
“Hi, yeah, I’m right here in case anyone forgot. I can hear you,” Jason rolled his eyes sarcastically.
“Jason is not going to hurt us. Dick, he’s your brother, my friend. And if he tries anything-”
“She has fiery hands. Trust me I don't want to get burned… again” he snickers.
Dick lets out a tired sigh, “I don’t even know how or why you know each other, I’m going to let it go for now, but until we figure this out, you better be on your best behavior.”
“Aye aye captain”.
And with that they make their way back to the Tower to wash away the remnants of the battle.
“Diosa, a word if I may.” he pulled her aside into the kitchen, before she could make her escape.
“Yes?,” she mused
“I’m sorry I didn’t come find you sooner. When I was with the League they had me under mind control. I was so fucked up Kory I couldn’t-. Fuck. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I left you. I didn’t even get to say goodbye.” She touched his cheek gently,
“Jay, you couldn’t have known what was going to happen. I mourned you. I wanted to kill the bastard that harmed you, that took you away from us. What’s important now is that you’re here, alive.”
“I’m not the same person I was Kory. I’ve hurt people.”
“We all have Jason. We just have to learn how to do better, be better. We can figure this out together okay? Just please let me shower because I smell like shit.”
“You? Stinky? Never. ,” he chuckled as he stepped aside. “Go ahead Princess, we’ll catch up later”