-Athena's POV-

Despite how badly I had wanted Red Hood back in town, we hadn't talked, really talked, for several days. We weren't ignoring each other. Not really. We just were ignoring the problem at hand.

I hadn't stopped thinking about what happened between us. And telling by the way he snuck glances at me when he thought I wasn't looking, it seemed like he hadn't either. It was just like a dumb high school romance. Both of us liked each other, then something happened, and now we were avoiding it like it was the plague.

I was getting tired of it. I always thought it was so cowardly, dodging the tough things that needed to be addressed. It was immature. Jason and I were both adults. We should act like it.

So, when I arrived at the address where he had ordered me to meet him, I swallowed down my pride and prepared to speak to him.

"Athena! Hey! Over here!" Roy's voice called out above the crowd, beckoning me over. The lobby wasn't very crowded, but there was enough people for me to have to strain to see where they were sat.

I squared my jaw and straightened my spine. I was going to do it.

Jason turned his head, looking up smoothly. His single white curl fell into his face, covering one of his eyes. His lips were slightly parted. I wasn't sure if he was purposely smoldering at me, but either way, it made my knees weak.

The confrontation died on my lips.

I took a seat on the other side of Roy, smashing him into between Jason and I. I could feel Jason's gaze lingering on me. A burning sensation rippled through me and I was acutely aware of his eyes on the side of my face. I turned, pretending to look at Roy, but sneaking a peek at Jason. He was staring into the bottom of his glass suddenly.

I bit my lip. "So, is he here then?" I asked, glancing around the lobby. People in fancy suits -- businessmen -- were holding shiny glasses of brandy as gold diggers and escorts clung to their arms, flaunting the golden bands wrapped around their fingers.

"Oh, he's here," Roy answered, patting Jason on the shoulder, "we've already managed to talk to him, too. Everything is up to you."

Jason glared at Roy's hand before his eyes slid to me. It was the real time we held each other's gaze before quickly looking away. He pressed his lips together into a line. With a curt nod, he seemed to whisper "be careful."

I fiddled with the coat I was wearing. I needed a drink. Roy had a dark blue margarita in front of him. I rolled my eyes. He always liked the sugary stuff.

Standing up, I leaned over Jason's shoulder, my arm brushing back his hair. I pulled his glass straight out of his hands. As I did so, our fingers touched, sending a jolt of electricity through me. I tipped the glass back, draining the entire glass of whiskey in one gulp.

"Don't wait up," I burped, winking at Roy and once again, avoiding Jason. I climbed the carpeted stairs to the elevator.

As I went up to the eighth floor, I unbuttoned my coat. The coat dropped to the floor, taking all the warmth and comfort with it. Not that I wasn't comfortable with my body, but, it was just so soft.

The eighth floor was a penthouse suite, so the elevator stopped directly in the middle of the room. I stepped out. The lights were all dimmed down. I could hear soft, sensual music as I strode through the suite. Everything was tidy and displayed power and money. It was, in theory, a girl's perfect date. But, I didn't care for the money. Or for this man's fame.

"Hello," the smooth and hyper manly voice of Tyler Martins welcomed me, "make yourself at home." I put on a smirk, my red lips twisting up into an expression I didn't care for. Tyler's presence seemed to fill the whole room, as to be expected from a politician's son. He didn't demand attention, his personality just had a way of attracting it.

So, there I stood, in black lace lingerie drinking champagne from a crystal flute. Tyler's fingers slid down the exposed flesh of my arm, guiding me to sit beside him on the couch. I followed, matching the energy and lust that he was putting off. I wasn't truly feeling any of it, of course, but this wasn't the first time I had done a mission of...this kind.

I politely finished off my fizzy drink, my lipstick staining the glass. Tyler watched me with a deep hunger in his eyes. Inside, I sighed. Not that I expected much, but I was really hoping that the Governor of Maine would have a much better behaved son, if I was being honest.

He scooted closer to me, his index finger drawing lazy circles on the upper part of my thigh, just below my black guarder. "You know, your friends down there talked you up quite a bit," he said, his voice so low it sounded like a whisper, "but, I never imagined just how gorgeous you'd be in real life."

I smiled. "Well, you have to be pretty to be a model," I lied, raising my head so our faces were close together, "but, I didn't know you had to be pretty to be a politician."

Tyler bit his lip, his hand hiking up my leg to rest on my waist. "God, I want you so bad. Is the couch okay? I don't think I can wait a minute longer." His words were now more hurried. They didn't sound as smooth or as practiced as before. His lips crashed down onto my neck as he urgently tried to push me back.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted two security guards outside on the patio. That won't do, I thought. Putting on my best porn star imitation, I put my hands on Tyler's chest, shoving him roughly off of me. "Ty," I said, purring, "not with them watching."

"Anything for my biggest fan," Tyler said, standing up and whispering something in his guard's ears. They looked angry and tried to say something back, but eventually they turned around and took the elevator down. Tyler turned back to me, his eyes raking across my body. I was groaning inside. How long did it take for two guys to take an elevator? This lace is getting itchy.

As Tyler started to press kisses down my stomach, a knock at the door startled him. "Ugh! I told those guys to leave!" Tyler shouted, standing up to answer the door. I couldn't see what was happening from where I was sitting.

I heard the door open. "Um...what're you guys doing here?" Tyler asked.

A voice, unmistakably Roy's, answered, "We were just wondering if we could join you."

"Uh, I don't know what kind of vibes I was giving off, but I'm not into that," Tyler mumbled. I heard a shove and Jason bounded in. Roy came afterwards, tucking the fuming Tyler behind him.

I stood up, stretching my arms. "Finally," I sighed, standing up from the cushiony white couch. A look of confusion crossed Tyler's generically handsome face. His arm snaked around my hip as if claiming his property. Jason raised an eyebrow at this. I dug my nails into his skin, ripping his arm off of me.

"We're just going to ask you some questions," Roy said, crossing his arms. Tyler glared at the two men. His eyes left them to look at me.

"These guys are your friends?"

I nodded. "Though, I would say more of partners. If you comply, we won't have to hurt you."

Tyler gasped, shoving me gently. Jason tensed. "You're a cop!?"

"Fuck no," Roy replied for me, "Vigilantes is more accurate."

A silence filled the room. Tyler glanced at all his exits quickly. We were all holding our breaths, waiting for him to make a move. And he did. He dashed toward the glass door leading out towards the patio. I tackled him down. "I bet this wasn't how you expected this night to go down," I whispered in his face, kissing his nose.

I stood up, my limbs gliding like a snake. Roy tugged Tyler up to his feet and threw him onto the couch. "Now that you've failed to escape, tell us, what does your dad want with the Joker?"

Even the mention of his name gave me shivers. Memories zipped through the back of my mind and suddenly he was standing in front of me again. My fist relentlessly pounded his teeth in as he coughed through blood that he was my uncle. I felt dizzy, but managed to keep my heels balanced.

Tyler's cry brought me back to Earth. "I don't know, okay?" He exclaimed, his eyes glued to my lower half. I frowned and wrapped my arms around my abs.

"I think you do," Roy grinned, squatting down like Tyler was a kid who dropped his ice cream, "if you tell us, you get to go free. If not, well..."

I reached up behind my back, slowly sliding Thalia's dagger out from in my bra. It was tucked between my shoulder blades, hidden by my long hair. It was a trick I had seen Wonder Woman do from time to time.

Tyler gulped as I ran my finger along the edge of the blade. "I-I swear I don't know anything. He never tells me anything!"

"Tell us, you motherfucker!" Jason growled, getting up in his face. Roy and I both stepped back. We had never seen him get like that during an interrogation. At least, not so early in an interrogation. I realized it had been the first time he had talked throughout the entire day.

"I don't know!" Tyler screeched back, leaning as far back against the couch as he could without falling. Jason punched him across the face. Blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth.

Jason walked between Roy and I to go outside. He slammed the door behind him, almost cracking the glass door. I took a step forward. "Tyler, listen. We aren't blaming this on you." Yes, we were. Everyone in the room knew Tyler Martins was just as bad as his dad. "If you just tell us what you know, we can get you out of here," I said, trying to play the good cop. I wasn't very good at it. I was rarely good cop. In fact, between Jason and I, there never was a good cop.

"I..." Tyler paused, his eyes searching mine desperately. He sighed. I guess he found what he was looking for in my vacant expression. "My dad wants to try to frame a Joker attack. He heard what happened with Ethan Haynes and his dad in Gotham and few years back and it has been his strategy to get reelected ever since. He wants to hire Joker to try to kidnap me to get the sympathy back from the citizens."

I rolled my eyes. I remembered the whole Mayor's son thing. Joker had tried to kidnap Ethan -- a sixteen year old boy who had a crush on me -- before Mayor Haynes sacrificed himself. Turns out, Uncle Joker did it all just to have a quick discussion in private with me. It was so stupid and naive for a politician to want to willingly deal with the Joker.

Roy voiced my opinions. "Your dad's a fucking idiot!" He laughed. We both did. Tyler didn't.

"Just let me go. That's all I know," Tyler whimpered.

"Did they find the Joker? Where is he?" I asked, stepping forward.

Tyler shook his head. "No one could get a hold from him. He's still locked up in Arkham."

I sighed in relief. Although I knew it meant the world for Jason to get revenge on his murderer, I was happy that Joker was still rotting away in that prison cell. I knew it was a matter of time before he got out. I was just glad that that time wasn't here. Yet.

After knocking Tyler out and leaving evidence that he had been drugged out, the three of us left. Roy and I briefed Jason on what we heard. He didn't look too happy, but he accepted it nonetheless. We thanked Roy for his help before he left to return to his city.

Jason and I stopped at a coffee shop before returning to Gotham.

I sat across from him in the booth, both of us staring into our coffee cups in silence. It was suffocating. "Why did you get so angry?" I finally asked, deciding to focus on Jason's white strand of hair to avoid direct eye contact.

He took a few minutes to respond. He didn't even look up. "I don't know. Just the way he was talking...staring..."

"At me?" I choked, a little giggle slipping in. I immediately regretted laughing when I saw Jason's face.

"I'm just tired of criminals like that, you know? They'll never get caught for the bad things they do. Not when they can afford the best lawyers and afford to bribe all the judges," Jason sighed, running his fingers through his wavy, ebony hair, "I'm just sick of it."

"Isn't that why we do what we do?" I watched as my hand, with a mind of its own, inched it's way across the table to grab Jason's.

He looked up at me. "Yeah, I guess," He grinned slightly, his fingers tightening as they intertwined with mine.

Another long silence stretched out between us. Neither of us moved an inch. It felt wrong, holding his hand like that. I needed to say something. We couldn't pretend anymore. We needed to talk it out.

I cleared my throat, pulling back my hand. Jason pulled back, refusing to release it. The gesture made me smile, despite me trying to fight it back. "Jason, listen..."

"I know," He finished for me, his green eyes once again piercing straight through me, "Things have been awkward since we kissed. I'm sorry I've been ignoring it, but I just don't want our partnership to get messed up."

A rock sank through my stomach. I swallowed down all the words I had wanted to say and nodded. This was best. Why would I want to get involved with another one of my partners? That had worked out so well last time.

I was glad that Jason had a clear head. He wasn't like Dick in that respect either. Dick got so clouded by feelings that sometimes he lost judgement. Jason was like I was. He knew what path he wanted and he knew not to let things get in the way of that. I had momentarily lost that side of me, but Jason's confession got me straight back to my old trained ways.

"I agree," I said, trying to grow into my words and truly mean them, "we're better as partners. We don't need to be all tied down."

Jason took a sip of his coffee. "So...still partners in crime?"

A brief flash of his lips on mine. His hand cradling my head. His fingers in my hair.

"Of course."

~~~~~~~~~Oooooh I'm soooo tired! It's midnight here so I have officially not slept in two days! I have been reading so many books non stop that my nights are usually filled with more and more books. I hope my sudden peak interest in books is making my writing better!~~~~~~~