-Dick's POV-

It had been about forty eight hours since Red Hood's last appearance.

While Bruce and I were both surprised by his sudden disappearance, neither of us were naive enough to think he was gone for good. I could think of several reasons why he had fled, with Bruce probably conjuring up even more.

He had fled the confrontation with me for seemingly no reason. From what I had seen from Red Hood, I had to admit, he wasn't a coward. He didn't leave because he thought I was going to win or because he was scared. But, his escape left Nightingale open for us to take.

With his partner seemingly compromised, Red Hood might've fled, thinking she had blown his cover to us. Of course she didn't, but how would he know that?

It was up to Batman and I to either find out his secrets while he was gone, or to prepare defenses against him when he returns.

I flew around the city on stakeout, waiting for any reports back from Bruce back at the Batcave. Ever since Athena had walked out, Bruce had been obsessively scouring every ounce of evidence he had on Red Hood. I still wasn't sure how Jason played into the whole thing. Bruce was basing his research off of the lies told to him by Human Play-doh. Clay face -- along with all the other big baddies in Gotham -- was just doing whatever it took to play with and corrupt Bruce's mind. So far, it had never worked on him before. But, suddenly, he seemed to be slowly loosing his sense of logic.

I passed by the Wayne Enterprises building. Thinking of my hard working girlfriend, I climbed up the side of the building, peering into every window until I found her floor. Just I expected, Barbara sat at her desk, pouring over stacks upon stacks of papers. Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun and a pair of hipster looking glasses slid down the bridge of her nose. She was wearing a white button up blouse and a long pleated navy skirt. Despite the conservative nature of her outfit, she still managed to look very high fashion.

From outside the window, I waved, hoping to get her to look up. Across from her desk sat Luke. He also looked just as Tumblr-chic as my girlfriend. Neither of them looked up at each other. I smiled.

Eventually, Barbs stood up to drop some papers off on a different desk. As she passed, her gaze shifted to the window and then away. She took a double take, her eyes filling with surprise.

I grinned and waved again. She strode to the window. I put my lips to the outside of the glass, making her softly chuckle. She tried to say something, but I couldn't hear anything through the thick, bulletproof glass.

When she repeated herself, I studied her lips. "What are you doing?" Her lips read.

I nodded and grinned. "Just checking up on the best girlfriend in Gotham," I mouthed back. A soft pink blush stained her cheeks and nose.

"I have work to do and it looks like you do too."

Barbara's face still reflected her affection towards me, proving that the seriousness she was trying to convey was not what she was truly feeling. That was a con about Babs. Just like Bruce, she was all business most of the time. Even when we would be having fun, she still had to analyze and plan. Her strong sense of responsibility did come in handy sometimes, but it also seemed to get in the way of her truly getting to let loose.

"One kiss for the road?" I said, shrugging my shoulders and batting my eyelashes under my mask. Barbs rolled her eyes, but she checked over her shoulder at Luke anyway. He kept his head down. I wondered if he had even looked up once the entire time I had been hovering outside. Or even the entire time they had been working.

With the coast clear, Barbara pressed her glossy lips to the inside of the glass. I pressed mine again to the cold outside. Despite the lack of actual contact, I still felt connected to her. The gesture still made me feel fuzzy.

Allowing Barbara to go back to work, I zipped away. It had become routine for her to stay after hours at the office. A lot of Wayne Enterprises workers did. With a company as big and as rich as Wayne Enterprises, there was always tons of work to do there. That had been the main reason I always turned down a job to work alongside my mentor. But, Barbara liked feeling productive. We managed to still make our relationship work even with the limited hours we would see each other. I had been worried at first when Barbara had admitted that it was almost always just her and Luke in the office after hours. But since our recent discussion, I was assured that Luke wasn't a threat anymore to me.

I didn't know exactly what I was looking for as I grappled through the busy city. Gotham looked like it always did; it had the same glowing neon signs and yellow city lights that looked like the stars that were impossible to see. Even after hours, the city buzzed with energy. People still roamed and cars still drove. Gotham never stopped. Gotham never slept. No matter how many new buildings, shops, or roads that were added, Gotham still never changed. Not really.

I guess I had never been a small town kind of guy anyway. Bludhaven was still an urban city, packed to the brim with shopping centers and billboards. But, at least there seemed to be a time when even Bludhaven stopped. That's what I loved about it. Living in and protecting Bludhaven wasn't so exhausting. Around three a.m., the activity was low as people actually went to bed. In Gotham, three a.m. just seemed to bring even more people out from the shadows.

I gently landed on top of a building. It was in the perfect place. Snuggled right between two even taller buildings with no street lamps, the entire thing was shrouded in the night shadows. The cool late August air blew past my face, bringing a sort of calm to my mind.

As I made my way to the edge of the building, I realized I wasn't the only one who was finding solace in the shadows. "Oh, sorry, I guess I didn't see you there," I called, walking towards the figure. They had one foot on the roof with the other on the ledge. They seemed to be watching the city, leaning on their elbow.

My voice and sudden appearance had startled to person, making them flip around to stare at me. As they did, I instantly realized exactly who it was I was dealing with.

Even in the shadows, this was still Gotham, and there was enough light to glint off the red tint on his helmet.

"Its you!" I shouted. Red Hood dove off of the building and grappled away. I quickly gave chase.

Red Hood was an expert at chases. He had evaded Bruce and I countless times. But I was determined to capture him. He wasn't going to get away.

I had cut his grapple before and I was prepared to do it again. I got in range, threw a WingDing, and snap went his line. However, it seemed like he kind of steered into the skid. He dropped down like it was on purpose and began running in the opposite direction. It took a couple of moments for me to navigate back around with my grapple line, giving him time to disappear around a corner.

Not having the mindset to give up, I grappled around the buildings, looking for him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small flash of red as it went behind a building. I followed it and sure enough, he was still running.

To try to escape, he pulled his loop trick again and turned down a split in his path, straight down an alleyway.

This was my chance. I smirked. I had lived in Gotham long enough to know the entire layout of the city. Usually, Red Hood seemed to share that knowledge, but this alleyway was new. Either way this chase went, I would leave with new information from the Hood. If he could navigate himself out of the upcoming dead end, it proved he is and has been stationed in Gotham for awhile now. But, if he couldn't, it would prove that he lived in Gotham for awhile at one point, disappeared, and then returned. Both would prove helpful in searching through citizen databases.

As he neared the end of the path, he kept his present speed. His secret identity must be a track star because he was fast and had one of the best endurance I had ever seen.

To my delight, he skittered to a stop in front of a giant unfinished wall. I cornered him, just as I had cornered his accomplice not so long ago.

With his back to the wall, he turned to face me. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and tucked my grapple gun away.

"Hello," I said, "you know, it's rude to run away when someone is speaking to you." Teasing, I could see him rolling his eyes.

"Just get on with it," Red Hood replied, crossing his arms.

"Where have you been, buddy? Your friend really needed you back there," I sympathized, trying to test just how close Red Hood and Nightingale were. If they were truly close, he would know that, due to the Batfamily's personal connection to Athena, we would never hurt her. If their relationship was strictly business, his worry would show through for his partner.

Red Hood chuckled. "She doesn't need any help." Uh oh. Bad sign. The answer could've been coming from either side. Anyone who worked with Nightingale knew she was stubborn when it came to asking for help or even needing it.

I pressed on with subtle questions. "We really missed you these past couple days. In fact, I've been worried about where my favorite Marksman had gone off to." My sarcasm dripped off of every word. My amusement didn't seem to be shared, however.

"You really think I would tell you?" Red Hood leaned his back against the wall, one leg up, "I know neither you nor the Bat underestimate me that severely."

A muscle in my jaw ticked. I didn't know why, but the fact that this man thought he knew anything about Bruce or me was infuriating. "We interviewed your friend. She told us some things about you."

"No she didn't," Red Hood answered immediately, catching my bluff. Even through his mask, I could see a devious smirk.

"I can assure you, she did. Batman has ways of getting the information he wants."

A hearty and loud laugh erupted into the night air. "You and I both know that neither you nor Bruce would hurt Athena. And we also both know she would never give me up." His voice was heavy with cockiness and smugness. The mention of Bruce's name caught my surprise, but his remark about Athena's devoutness towards him was really struck me. It boiled my blood, forcing me to drop my joking mood.

A sudden and unpredictable wave of protectiveness washed over me, consuming my entire body. Blame started to fall off of Athena's shoulders and onto his. She had been acting like her past self more and more ever since she united with Red Hood. Killing, stealing, and blowing things up were things I had thought Athena had left behind. But, Red Hood had brought it back out. Despite my cold resentment towards her, I could see just how bad of an influence he had been on her. A part of me didn't want to see him corrupt her or even worse, hurt her.

"You stay away from her," I growled, speaking in a voice that I didn't even recognize.

Red Hood wasn't laughing, but he wasn't threatened either. He seemed...angry? It was like I was looking into a mirror. We both seemed to reflect each other's emotions. We were both mad and protective. "Me stay away from her? I'm the only one not ignoring her."

How did he know about that? How much had she told him? I suddenly felt slightly jealous, knowing she had been open to him about what had happened between her and me. Why had she opened up to him? They had been working together for little more than three months and she had been more honest with him about her past than she had been with me after half a year!

"You're corrupting her, turning her into a criminal like you," I snarled, "You're manipulating her. And if you don't leave her alone, I will make sure you can't breathe without assistance." My threats sounded oddly grounded, giving even me goosebumps. I didn't know where the man talking had come from, but it did scare me a little. The darkest parts of myself had clawed their way up through me and had now taken control of my tongue.

Red Hood glared at me. He didn't reply back. Instead, he pulled out a bomb from his jacket and tossed it on the ground, blowing up the wall behind him. Escaping through the smoke, he manged to get away without me being able to chase.

I stood there, staring at the destroyed wall in front of me for a while. I replayed the situation over and over in my head. Each time I reviewed exactly what I had said, I got shivers. I had learned quite a bit about Red Hood, but I had learned some dark things about myself as well.

As I stared at that torn down concrete wall, I forced the ferocious side of myself back down, promising to never let it come back up.

~~~~~~Guys, I changed my room up and it so legit the best thing ever. I don't want to brag, but I'm actually obsessed. I have a wooden loft bed with those cute little globe string lights and a hammock and beanbag underneath. I got so much writing and reading done today because of how peaceful my room has become. I have a 24/7 chill & study radio on on youtube as I chill in my beanbag. My room is officially aesthetic as fuck!~~~~~~