-Athena's POV-

"Are you sure we don't need what's inside?" I inspected the boat, taking note of every cargo crate that it held. This was a direct shipment that Black Mask had seen delivery on himself. His ex-wife had assured us of that when we held her out the window. There could be a lot of very important things in there.

Jason shook his head, placing his arm on my shoulder so he could lean out further over the edge of the building. "No. The shipments are just useless building supplies. It's important to Blackie but not to anyone else. If we steal it, we'll just have a bunch of dry wall," Jason smirked, turning his gaze to me, "unless you need dry wall."

I shook my head, biting my lip. My eyes quickly ran to his lips. I immediately averted my gaze once I realized where it had shifted. A blush stubbornly crept to my cheeks. Jason continued to look a me. His smirk grew and I knew he had seen my blush. He turned back towards the boat.

"So, um..." I cleared my throat, "how are we going to get rid of this thing?"

"Oh that's the easy part," Jason replied, pulling out a bazooka that I hadn't even noticed. It was loaded. I smiled, obsessed with the power that it held. I had always loved using shoulder mounted weapons. Especially Rocket Launchers. They could really cause some damage. I loved it.

Jason say me staring. He gently lifted it off his shoulder. Thrusting it toward me, he said, "Wanna do the honors?" I took it out of his hands like it was a newborn baby. My fingers caressed it.

I put it on my shoulder, loving the heaviness of it. Aiming it towards the boat, I took a deep breath. "Fuck you, Mask!" I exclaimed, firing a missile straight towards the boat. It went up like a firework. Pieces of boat and cargo splintered, littering the water.

The fire contrasted against the night sky. It reflected in Jason and I's eyes. The brightness of the flames was nothing compared to the shine that was in my irises. The rush that came with blowing something up was unlike any other.

When I turned my head, I noticed Jason had been watching me. He quickly turned his head, pretending to be looking off into the distance. I mentally made a note to ask him about it later.

Fire engines and police started to show up. Jason grabbed my arm, gesturing that we had to leave. I agreed and off we went.

I followed behind Jason without knowing where we were going. He had received a call and insisted that we go talk to the person on the other line. So, we were aimlessly flying through the city. When we came upon a familiar skyscraper, I knew what was happening.

Jason kicked open a window, scaring Black Mask out of his office chair and onto the floor. I giggled and came in after. Black Mask's guards flooded in. They pointed their guns at us, draining the smile from my face. I pulled out my katanas. Jason didn't reach for his guns, to my surprise.

Black Mask hesitated. But, as he locked eyes with Jason, he gestured for his guards to leave. Jason nodded his approval. However, I still kept my weapons armed and ready. Black Mask glared at me then at Jason. Jason just shrugged.

"Alright, Mr. Mask, you wanted to talk. Here I am," Jason said. He took a seat at Black Mask's desk, mockingly locking his fingers out in front of him. Mask sneered. The fact that he didn't have skin on his face made him look even angrier.

"Well, you're a gigantic pain in my ass and--"

"If you want to negotiate, I have a strict no insult policy," Red Hood interrupted.

"Yeah, jackass," I grinned, making Black Mask glare even harder. Jason tossed a smirk at me over his shoulder, chuckling lightly.

He returned back to his serious, dead panned face. "Anyway, what are your terms?"

"How about you stop stealing and blowing up my shit," Mask growled, "and I won't kill you and your little bitch where you stand."

I stepped forward, my arms tensed and ready to strike. Jason put his arm out to stop me, his fingers grazing the top of my thigh. The contact calmed me down. I rolled back my shoulders and sat on the corner of the desk.

Red Hood glared, but his voice remained professional. "I'm going to give you some free advice," his tone suddenly turned protective and ferocious, "don't fuck with Nightingale if you want to keep your life."

"Fine," Black Mask sassed. I snarled at him, making him flinch. Happy with my position, I stood up and stood behind Red's shoulder. Almost instinctively, his fingers grabbed my wrist and guided my hand onto his shoulder as he talked.

"If you give me all of your north and south land, me and my partner will leave you alone," Jason said. I liked the way 'me and my partner' sounded. His wording just further proved to me that his confession meant that we had a true partnership.

Mask gasped. "I can't give you that!" He shouted, looking like he was going to tear his own eyes out, "The North and the South are the richest and most protected sections of Gotham! They're god damn gold mines!"

Jason leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. "That's really too bad," he replied. He wiggled his finger at me. I placed my hand on his other shoulder and leaned down, our heads right next to each other. I turned to the side to look him in the eyes, my braid flopping down onto his chest.

Our lips were inches apart. Jason whispered to me, "I want you to intimidate him." I smirked and nodded, standing up.

I stalked towards Black Mask, my katanas gently scraping the floor. The blades were so sharp, they left streaks on the wood even without pressure. I swiveled my wrist, making the blade spin just for extra scariness.

Black Mask backed up slowly until his back was pressed against his office door. Which we had locked. He tried to fiddle with the knob, but it was no use. I raised one sword to his face. I dragged it across slowly until the blade rested against his chest. I held the sword out straight, the point barely touching him. I had it directly where his heart was.

"You can't kill me," Black mask said, his voice shaking and giving away his tough guy act.

With a smirk, I commented, "I assure you, Mr. Mask, I can." I dug my sword into him harder, puncturing the bulletproof vest he wore.

Before I could continue to bury my sword into the little rat, a bomb exploded. Jason dove from behind the desk, launching a chair flying towards me. The chair pinned Black Mask and I underneath it, blocking us from the blast. Unfortunately, it hit me in the head and knocked me out.

A few minutes later, I came to. I was being carried. My arms were swinging around and my legs were still numb. My ears were ringing and my skin still felt like it was on fire. Slowly and carefully, the pair of arms rested me on the back of a motorcycle. I sat up, shocking my savior. Jason turned around.

I cringed. He looked bad. Very bad. His skin was pink in most places. But, there were a couple large sections -- like on his bicep, leg, and shoulder -- that were burned much worse. The spots were bright red with yellow blisters and skin peeling away. I had no visible burns, but Jason was covered in black ash and his Red Hood uniform was torn to shreds.

He asked me something, but the ringing in my ears was too loud for me to hear it. I read his lips. He was asking if I was alright over and over again. I sighed. I mimed back that he should take me back to my safehouse.

When we arrived, I dragged Jason in with me. The ringing in my ears had calmed down to a slight hum. I pulled out my computer chair, forcing Jason down into it. "Stay here," I ordered, running to my medical cabinet. I pulled out my burn kit and returned.

"Are you okay?" Jason asked again, his green eyes serious. I groaned.

"Jason, I'm fine. You're the one who is all fucked up," I stated, reaching for the first burn on his shoulder, "you know, it's a good thing you wear that stupid helmet. You could've ended up like Black Mask just now."

He smirked, leaning in towards me. "So, what you're saying is...you are happy that my face wasn't destroyed?" He wiggled his eyebrows at me. I rolled my eyes, but I couldn't help but grin. I was glad Serious Jason Todd was gone and his usually cocky self was back.

"I'm just saying that I'm glad my partner in crime didn't die by explosions. You know, again," I joked. Jason chuckled deeply.

I carefully popped one of his blisters, swabbing out all the puss and water that squirted out of it. I guess it was a good thing that Honor Island trained the squeamishness out of me. I poured alcohol and aloe vera into each sore. I peeled away all the burned off skin and picked out all the tiny bits of debris that collected in the spot. I disinfected the wound before wrapping it in sterile gauze.

I continued along treating his other wounds for about an hour. That included: individually wrapping and treating the major burns, pulling off the other skin that was slightly burned, picking out broken glass, stitching up any small cuts, and making sure there was no bits of wall or furniture hiding on his body.

Jason sat still the entire time, not making a peep. It really helped me concentrate. Once I finished, he stood up and took off his shirt. Even though nakedness never really bothered me, I felt the strong urge to look away anyway. An annoying blush made me cheeks hot as I averted my gaze.

"What is it, Nightingale? Don't like what you see?" Jason flirted, running his hand up and down his many, many abs. I peeked out from behind my fingers before jerking back around.

"N-no, I-I..." I tripped on my own tongue, fumbling my words.

Jason laughed softly. He nodded. "Yeah, my adopted brother would be pretty pissed if he knew his girlfriend saw another guy with his shirt off in her safehouse."

I almost choked on my own laughter. He couldn't be any further from the truth. I whipped around, getting over my own modesty. I had to force myself to keep my eyes locked with Jason's and not from drifting down ever so slightly. "Dick and I aren't together," I asserted.

A small smile tugged at the side of his mouth. He stepped forward ever so slightly. "But you guys used to be the superhero power couple of Gotham," he said, faking sympathy, "or so I read."

"Well, that's over now. I fuck everything up," I tried to keep up with Jason's laughing attitude, but everything I said came out sounding solemn. Jason recognized the slight pain that haunted me. He raised my chin with his burnt fingers.

"Hey, that's not true," Jason reassured me. I focused on the color of his eyes. They were so vibrant. The color reminded me of freshly cut grass or drifting sea weed. What really caught my attention was how there seemed to be tiny flecks of gold snuggled between his pupils and the green of his irises. There also seemed to be a wild and passionate feel inside his gaze. It made my heart beat quicker every time.

Remembering our conversation, I snapped back into the moment. "What?"

Jason chuckled again. "I was saying that you don't fuck everything up. In fact, I don't think I would've been able to make it this far without you."

"Damn right," I smacked his bicep, "but, I mean, I have never been good at relationships. I've only really had two serious ones. My first boyfriend was executed because of me and the second one hates me."

"Boys, am I right?" Jason smiled, patting my shoulder. I laughed and nodded.

"So, what happened with you and Dick anyway?" He asked. I could tell that he wasn't prying. He was just curious. I respected that.

"We dated for about a year but then I left Gotham and I told him that our whole relationship was just an alibi," I sighed, "not really the kind of thing that can be forgiven very easily."

Jason shrugged. "Well, Dick was never the smartest. He's missing out." Jason didn't even ask why I left. He wasn't interested. I felt my body warm up. It was nice to be with someone who was in a third party. Jason wasn't around when everything happened, so he didn't need to take sides. It was a nice, refreshing feeling.

"He's dating his ex now."

"He and Barbara got back together?" Jason said, "Babs could do much better."

While Jason's talk was helping me, I felt uncomfortable trash talking Dick. Actually, I felt uncomfortable talking about him at all. I swaggered over to my tiny fridge. Luckily, I had restocked it a couple of days ago. I cracked it open, pulling out Jason's favor beverage.

His face lit up once I handed him his beer. He kissed it, coating his lips in condensation. "I seriously love you," he jested, twisting off the top. I followed his lead, sipping from my ice cold drink. The cold from the beer couldn't get rid of the hotness in my cheeks, unfortunately.

~~~~~~~Aww bonding! I don't know if you guys have noticed, but my favorite thing about writing is building relationships. And destroying them ;) I am so evil lol. ~~~~~~~~