-Athena's POV-

I sat in the basement of one of Jason's safe houses. I blasted classic 80's hits as I did some research on his computer. Because of the fire Jason started in my house, the heat had damaged my computer's circuits. I was able to salvage my data, but my computer was completely trashed.

Jason had felt so guilty about destroying my relatively cheap set up that he promised he would buy me a newer, better computer and allow me to use his until then. Despite the closeness that had developed between Jace and I, I was still cautious when researching on his computer. I covered my tracks and made sure that nothing could ever be found. It was a habit of mine, I guess, never trusting anyone or anything all the way.

As far as I had discovered, all the drug cartels were blowing up over Black Mask's incompetence. Everyone was pissed off that Red Hood had threatened them and that Black Mask still hadn't done anything about it. Mr. Mask, of course, wouldn't ever admit to the fact that he couldn't do anything about it. Actually, according to a Deep Web Gotham blog, Black Mask informed one of the Mafia Godfathers that he had a plan to handle Red Hood and his, quote, "mother fucking bitch of a wife."

I leaned back in Jason's chair, holding my chin in my hands. What could Black Mask be planning? It wasn't anything we couldn't handle. So far, Blackie was only sending us small inconveniences. I could fight every single adversary he sent after us with my eyes closed. At first, most of the goons that chased after us targeted Jason and ignored me. Now, I had become just as big of a target.

That made me smile.

While I did more research, I found I became a very popular subject among drug dealers. Even the ones that worked under Red Hood gossiped about me. In fact, they gossiped about me more than Black Mask's people did. All the people did was talk trash about me. They didn't like Red Hood to begin with, but they really didn't like me. Some of the criminals that now worked for Jason actually had grown pretty attached to him. The ones that had been forced to work for Black Mask -- and therefore, hated him even more than Red Hood -- respected Jason and saw him as their leader. So, when I was brought into the mix, I was instantly accused of being a traitor.

Because of my past involving the Bat Family, the Red Hood worshipers were convinced that I was working with Batman as an undercover agent. As far as I knew, Jason hadn't heard any of these accusations. And if he did, he didn't seem to listen to them or bring them up to me. He didn't seem to think I was traitorous and seemed to be putting his trust into me.

But, we were two birds of the same feather. I didn't trust Jason completely and if he was smart, he didn't trust me completely either.

Just as an image of Jason's bright smile popped into my mind, I heard a knock at the garage door. Puzzled, I chuckled and flipped a switch that opened it. I looked outside to see that it was pitch black outside and raining. I hadn't even noticed the sun go down. Or how long Jason had been out on a "interrogation" mission.

As the garage opened, there seemed to be no one standing there. The soft pitter patter of the rain made the mood of the room shift into something ominous. BOOM! A strike of lightning. The bolt struck a building about a mile away, illuminating the entire night sky. The bluish white flash behind the opened garage revealed that there in fact was a person standing there. Their entire body was thrust into a sudden spotlight, every detail of them fleshed out broadly.

Jason met my eyes right before the darkness took over again. In that second, a smirk crossed his face. His lip was bleeding. Again. With another strike, Jason winked. I rolled my eyes. "Get your ass in here, lover boy," I groaned. He swaggered in.

Coming towards me, his eyes locked on my form, he reached out and pulled me into him. I could feel his muscles as they squeezed against me. "Off, off, off!" I squealed like a school girl. The rain had soaked him all the way through his clothes. And now his sopping body was being pressed against me.

Unlike Jason, I wasn't wearing my uniform. I was in a pair of shorts and a cropped t-shirt. I had a fluffy robe draped over my shoulders. It's not like his body was exactly making me cold, but he was destroying my clothes. I put my hands on his solid chest and shoved. He gripped onto me like his life depended on it.

"Jayyyyyyyy," I whined, trying to wedge him off of me. His fingers dug into my arms. "Jason, come on. You're getting me soaked." That's when I noticed. His breaths were choppy and he was making tiny, high pitch sneeze sounding noises. He clutched me tighter. I ran my fingers through his hair and cradled his head, lifting it up. His cockiness had vanished, leaving a sad frown in its place.

My face contorted into one of confusion. "What happened?" I asked, unfamiliar concern swelling up in my tone.

Jason finally let me go and straightened up his spine. Shaking his head, his wet hair flopped onto his forehead in a soggy mess. He sighed softly. "I got into a fight, obviously." I didn't know why he was telling me that. Getting in a fight wasn't something to be upset about. We both were constantly fighting.

I waited patiently for him to continue. When he saw the look I was giving him, he did. "Bruce confronted me after an interrogation of one of my deviant employees. We got into a little spat and I decided it was time for Phase 2 of my plan." I had been briefed on Jason's entire timeline -- so I knew all about the phases -- but I couldn't put together why now was the perfect time to tell Bruce who Red Hood really was.

"Jesus, Jason," I turned away to gather my thoughts, "Why would you do that?"

He shrugged. "I was in the moment, I guess. Bruce and I were trading punches and then I tore off his mask and...I took my helmet off. I just felt compelled to do it," Jason admitted, lowering his head. Once again, his hair flopped over his eyes. A slight OCD impulse kicked in and I reach forward, smoothing it out of the way.

"What do you think he'll do now that he knows?" I continued the conversation like nothing happened.

Jason smirked again. Apparently, his personality returned. He put his hands on both of my cheeks. His single white curl dangled in front of his eye. I pouted my lips. He pushed his hips against mine and leaned back. "Everything is going to be alright, Theeny," he teased. I rolled my eyes at the nickname.

"Where'd you hear that one?" Flashbacks of Dick zipped through my mind. I pushed them down and forced myself to stay in the moment.

"How about we go out?" Jason suggested, "I have a lead I think I want to follow."

"If you'd let me go, sure."

He grinned. Leaning forward, he squished my cheeks together and kissed me. I didn't miss a beat. I snaked my arm around his neck and quickly tugged him into me, shocking him. I deepened the kiss and pushed us as close together as possible. Then, I jerked back and snatched my uniform off the counter. Jason stumbled, his eyes glazed over and his cheeks rosy.

I changed as fast as possible and we exited on Jason's motorcycle. On the way, Jason briefed me on the mission. "We just need to scope out the docks and see what Black Mask is bringing in. If its dangerous to us, we'll destroy it," he explained. I nodded my agreement.

As we rode through, I felt we were being watched. More than once, I instructed Jason to take some turns out of our way to avoid being chased. Jace told me he didn't see anyone and that I was being paranoid. But, as we continued, the feeling was so strong it felt like someone was breathing down my neck.

We turned the final bend towards the docks when my suspicions were confirmed. I heard the sound of the bullet leaving the barrel. As it whizzed by, I took control of the handlebars and turned the bike sharply. Both of us were ripped off the bike and tumbled onto the asphalt.

"What the hell!?" Jason shouted. I shoved him back into the ground and stood up over his body. Pulling out my own sniper off my back, I took position and scanned the skyline. Sure enough, I saw a male body pulling up his large gun and jumping down towards us.

"Assassins," I growled, offering my hand to Jason. I was angry and my face showed it. Red Hood, however, was probably smiling. I could feel it. He liked the fact that he was scaring Black Mask so much that assassins were needed. I was mad that Black Mask dared mess with us.

"Red Hood!" The assassin screeched, dropping down, "I will claim you and your woman's life!"

He laughed and fired a bullet out of one of his guns. The assassin jumped to the side. I was concealed in the shadows. After all, the guy was hired to kill Jason, not me. I was content to let him handle it, even though I really wanted to show the assassin just who he thought he was messing with.

The assassin was slow and not very bright. It made me sad to see just how badly trained bounty hunters were nowadays. Back in my day as an assassin, hit men were actually educated in combat and weapons. This guy seemed to barely know the basics. He was decent with a sniper, I'd give him that, but not much else. He could take a punch, but each attack Jason laid on him obviously diminished his energy.

He got lucky. As Jason loomed over him, he managed to slice Jason's already exposed side. His fight with Batman had ended up in a loss of body armor. Red Hood called out in pain, alerting me to help. Like a fierce lioness defending her cub, I pounced forward and head locked the assassin. My momentum took us both to the ground.

I kept the assassin pinned with one arm and tore all his weapons away with the other. I had to release him to unclip his gun, giving him the opportunity to head butt me. I didn't even recoil. I removed his sniper and tossed it to the side. The assassin came feet first, but I moved out of the way. He missed every single attack. Squaring my jaw, I kicked out his knee and shattered his collarbone. He crumpled to the ground in a heap.

Jason was on the sidelines, patching himself up, but he could still hear me. "Who hired you?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"I won't tell you!" At least the new generation of paid killers still had honor.

I took his hand in mine tenderly. Smoothly, I captured one of his fingers in mine and twisted. The bone snapped with a satisfying crunch. "AH!" The assassin screeched. I grabbed another one but he cried out. "Okay, okay! It was Black Mask!"

"Why did he want to kill Red Hood?" I ordered, gripping his ring finger.

"Black Mask has been putting hits on the both of you for days now," the assassin whimpered, "Everyone is too scared to do it, so he raised the price. Especially for Red Hood. His head is worth over three hundred thousand now." Tears began to roll down his cheeks. I looked over my shoulder at Jason, who looked just as angry as me now.

I bit my lip. "You were very foolish for coming after us. Tell your friends that and show them your fingers," I threatened, snapping another finger. The assassin looked up into my face for the first time. Admiration and fear crossed his features.

"Y-you're the Nightingale!" He stuttered, "You're one of the most famous assassins of all time!"

I was too pissed at the man for attempting to kill my boyfriend that not even a sliver of pride rose up. "Damn straight," I replied, kicking his face in. He passed out and I jogged over to Jason.

He glanced at me. "Its not anything we didn't already know," Jason reassured, "or prepared for."

~~~~~~~~~It's been days! Hey guys, its me, your favorite inconsistent author! How's everyone's life going? Fall is approaching and I am in the minority that isn't excited. I HATE fall and winter. I am a summer baby, what can I say ;)~~~~~~~