Chapter 1
The first thing Jason noticed when he woke up was the smell. Gotham had a certain smell to it, not really pungent or disgusting, but how the air was thick with smoke and the taste of blood lingering in alleys and apartments. Wherever he had ended up, the smell seemed a lot cleaner. Not like the Sierra Mountains or anything, but definitely a breath of fresh air(literally).
The thought suddenly struck him. Why the fuck are you thinking about smell, Jason. He quickly stood up and scanned the terrain around him. He was in a city… obviously not Gotham or Bludhaven. He took in something in the distance. The shape of the buildings clicked in his mind. How'd he end up in New York?
The answer is actually pretty simple. Jason Todd had a bit of a history with hating his family, and then running in to help them anyway. They really are taking me for granted, thought Jason. His annoying ass brother Dick Grayson was being pinned down from machine gun fire, after going on his own to catch the Penguin. Yeah Nightwing was pretty skilled, but really? And because Batman was off planet because of a Justice League mission or some shit, Jason was the closest contact Oracle had. So there he was, dropping through a skylight and chucking a flashbang at the gunmen. He signaled at Dick to get his ass moving, and soon they were both on the ground, beating the goons senseless.
"Well, wasn't that a fun reunion! Haven't seen you in a while, Little Wing."
"Be grateful I even showed up. You know I missed a date for this shit? Really, going after the Penguin by yourself? Sometimes you make me wonder how I ended up as the dead Robin."
"Missed a date? With who, Artemis? Be real, Jay, you came because you missed me."
"Tell yourself that. We really should finish up here though. You think the Pengu-- … "
It's at that moment Jason looks up from one of one of the goons' unconscious bodies to see a burly man carrying some kind of laser gun. Or really, anything that wasn't a bullet shooter. And of course, as it charges with a bright glow, it's aimed at Jason. All he can see is a flash of light, Dick running to push him but being too late, and a whole metric fuckload of pain. Agony even. Whatever he said later was a lie, the first thing he thought of on that rooftop in NY was his aching bones and searing flesh. Yeah, that was gonna leave a scar.
Back to present, Jason decided that whatever teleportation gun was used on him was obsolete in comparison to his old flip phone. He dialed up Barbara's number and waited. And waited some more. Ok, she wasn't gonna pick up. Even if she was a little busy, it's kinda her job to watch computer screens and take phone calls. Even more interesting, nobody else in his contacts did. Not Dick or Tim or Damian. Not any of the girls either, Steph and Cass didn't pick up. He tried some of his less moral buddies, like Connor or Anastasia. Well damn. Clearly something happened that was more than just teleportation.
That's when he sensed it. He doesn't know how, maybe a Lazarus side effect, but his blood runs cold and his eyes instinctively narrow. He glances behind him and sees a figure unsuccessfully trying to hide on a rooftop across the street. He can't make out much of the guy from where he's at.
But that was the least of his problems. The main focus was the red and gold metal suit that just landed right in front of him. The helmet of the suit opened up to show a rather old dude. Jason thought he recognized him from a movie, but kept that to himself. "So, what are you? Alien? Space time continuum traveler?"
"Uhhh… not an alien? And just who the hell are you and your friend back there?"
Jason could hear the young sounding dude across the street exhale. He swung across the street with some sort of string or rope and landed close to the metal man.
"Uh, hi, I'm Spid--"
"Stop talking. Listen Buckethead, you're not asking the questions here. You showed up in our city, clearly with guns that are probably not licensed, and have the audacity to--"
"Ok, I've heard enough. You two can go do whatever it is you do, and I'll be finding my way home now."
"This isn't your home. You came here from a different universe."
"Pardon me, but what the fuck are you talking about."
The spider kid stepped forward and kept talking.
"We came here after Iron Man sensed a tear in dimensional reality around here. And then we showed up and here you were."
"Thanks for the play by play Spiderboy, but Red here is gonna come to Avengers Tower with us and y'know, answer a few questions."
"Like hell I am… actually y'know what?"
Jason's idiotic idea took form and he quickly unlatched and jammed a shock charge into this 'Iron Man's' armor. Surprisingly enough, it actually made the guy recoil as he easily crushed the charge. But Jason had already taken the chance and started sprinting from rooftop to rooftop. Right behind him, he heard some quick thwips of Spider string followed by the roaring sound of Iron Man taking to the skies. Jason quickly pulled out his pistols and fired off a few rounds at the armored man, with no success. And of course the Spider kid was catching up now. Jason did what he usually did in these situations, and resorted to explosives. To say Iron Man was pissed off when Jason attached rockets to a vacant garbage truck and sent it careening into him was an understatement. It was a little trick he learned from Batman a year or so back. He threw a concussion grenade at the spider kid to slow him down and sprinted off as fast as he could.
So far, he seemed to be gaining some ground on the two. But any distance he gained was negated by the fact that the flying suit of armor could easily go 200 mph and find him in a second. Jason didn't know for sure what kind of technology was packed in that armor, and he wasn't thinking about staying around to find out. He did notice that the Spider kid wasn't on his tail anymore, which was definitely a relief. But Jason could see that he was definitely running out of rooftop to jump on.
"You really think you can outrun a jet Red? Cause that's what you're trying here."
Iron Man landed hard right in front of Jason. And Jason wasn't exactly looking forward to a one on one fight with this guy. So he did the only thing he could think of, and made use of his momentum. He charged into Iron Man, somehow knocking him backwards, into the alleyway between the two buildings. He attached a rocket to the armor's chest, sending him plummeting into the alley while jumping off onto the next roof. Immediately instinct kicked in. He needed to hide, since there was no way he could take on Iron Man. Even the Red Hood knows his limits.
He pulled off his shining red helmet and slipped it into a trash bag he saw. He could only hope some homeless person doesn't wander around and steal it. He also threw his leather jacket in and luckily found a raggedy old jacket nearby to put on. He zipped it up, concealing his jet black body armor and hid his pistols and knives he still had into the inside pockets. He put on an old Mets Cap he found on the ground and yanked his jacket's hood up over it. And with that, he wandered back into the street.
Even though it was night, there were still some people around. So as Jason walked aimlessly down the street, he was alarmed when Iron Man went soaring above. The metal armory hovered above the street for a second, and clearly didn't find Jason or any one else out to be his target. Jason let out a sigh of relief as Iron Man rocketed away, seemingly headed towards the tower he mentioned before.
Jason waited a second, and headed back, grabbing the black trash bag and throwing it over his shoulder. He did what any good vigilante would do, and found a dumpster a little further away from the crime scene. Thankfully he had it all to himself, and laid back. If what the guy from before had said was true, ie dimensional travel or some shit, then Jason was probably fucked. He started trying to make a plan in his head, but ended up with nothing. All he could hope was to not run into any other 'heroes' during his hopefully short lived stay.