The Red Hood

It was one of those nights right after a heavy rainstorm when the cracks in the pavement were flooded and the street lights flickered off of the surface as the constant sounds died down to whitenoise of tires and sirens; and his heart ached in a nostalgic way he did not think he could ever feel. Had he been back a year earlier- Hell, a few months earlier before he had gotten side-tracked, there would have been no trace of sick beauty in the ambience of the moon interlaced with harsh neon, and it would not have been something he missed deep down at the bottom of his stomach. The looming anger and betrayal that had sat there dissolved suddenly with the smell of the breeze, and the people, people he had once lumped as all cruel, had some undertone of innocence to them; ants in the farm too busy to notice they were living in the densest city in the country as they rushed to and fro. It felt like weakness, softness in sympathy, something Jason could not let himself have.He had a job to do, and do it he would. No mess, no fuss. Then he would leave to plan a real reunion for him and Gotham.