Post by The Wonderful Wachter on Apr 26, 2013 20:35:12 GMT -5
Last Time on Ultimate ‘Haven
The infamous Cluemaster, broker of information to the good, the bad, and the ugly distracts Batwoman and Redbird with the confounding case of the White Rabbit as he meets with a suspicious man on the other side of town. Staking out the docks, Redbird is alerted to a break in at a nearby storage facility where he finds himself face to chest with the sexy bunny girl. Seemingly working with a partner, White Rabbit knocks the young sidekick out with an attack from behind, leaving him to be found by Batwoman. As the night ends, Rebird has one last task ahead of him on the outskirts of town…
Ultimate ‘Haven #3
The Red Pill Pt. 2
Creep Along
Ghosts fill this city.
Ghosts that I’ve come to know.
The three of us haven’t seen each other since the ceremony. Well, the two of us. The third would think it’s the highest disgrace to be found mourning but I know she was there. I’ve been working to protect ‘Haven. Can’t say my father approves. Can’t say my teachers do either. ‘course, I don’t know what happened to Wildcat. And Richie? I think he might have taken off for that Nanda Parbat he always speaks of. Jason’s death hit them hard enough to make them run.
So here I am… Alone… A girl in the big city that just got bigger.
Someone has to step into the Red Hood’s shoes. Someone has to take charge of the gangs now that we’re free of Gotham’s leash. It’s all just started.
And I have to continue the fight.
Outskirts of Blüdhaven
Jason never was a fan of déjà vu so finding himself on his back for the second – or was it third? – time that evening really galled him. In the darkness above, all he could make out were his assailant’s eyes. They shined in the night, a cold blue that seemed almost unreal. And they were all he needed to see. He knew exactly where his target was. Knew exactly where to attack and what to do.
“Disgraceful,” the voice in the shadows muttered, “I thought I trained you better than that.”
A cocky laugh vibrated Jason’s chest and made his shoulder ache just a little. “Check again, Master.”
Without moving his lower body, Richard Dragon reached over to click on the desk-lamp located beside the window. He was an older man with the appearance of a younger one as strange as that sounded but Jason had seen and heard stranger. His face unwrinkled, his jaw and upper lip shrouded beneath a closely cropped blond beard. That same blond hair covered his head in a scruffy mess that could have been considered bed-head but he knew better. The rest of his body was lean, as sharp and honed as a weapon. He wore only pajama pants at this time of hour, granting Jason clear view of abs he trained for.
More measured movements on Richard’s part. He glanced down only with his eyes. A habit that Jason had noticed since he started living with the man; he never moved more than needed, least of all to move his head. He saw Redbird’s feet near his own. Nothing more. The cold eyes narrowed in threat then disapproval as he realized his mistake.
He assumed.
Jason stretched his left leg out, tilting his foot away from Richard’s ankle. A twitch of his toes and the telltale snikt of a blade springing forth showed just how far Jason had been willing to go to win. The light from the lamp reflected off the shiny knife built into his boot. He waved it with a snarky smirk before twitching his toes again to sheath it.
“You would not have lived to regret the act.”
“But I’d have taken a piece of you with me.”
Richard nodded, not in approval but acceptance of the fact.
“Do not forget to use the solvent on your hair before you turn in for the night,” the man stepped over Jason without bothering to help him up. “I will not replace the sheets for a third time.”
“Yes, Master.”
He heard the click of his bedroom doorknob. “You will suffer the hundred thrashings at five as punishment for your intent. Then our daily sparring and I will check your homework before school.”
Jason craned his neck to look at the alarm clock before groaning at the hour. “I was shot tonight, y’know.”
“Oh?” Jason could imagine Richard tilting his head with those narrowed eyes. “Perhaps I should make it two hundred for being too slow.”
“Understood, Master.”
“Goodnight, Jason.”
The door closed, leaving Jason alone. He rose wearily, his body aching more than he cared to let on, and took a look around. His room was sparse. Sure, it had more space than the one he had in the apartment back with his deadbeat stepfather, but there was nothing to call it his own. Shelves filled with books that his teachers considered required reading; chemistry, physics, forensics, even a few detective novels… That sort. No television at all. Richard allowed only one in the entire studio and it was in the common room. Meant when he wanted to play games not on his computer, he had to go visit Ted or Artie. And of course, the computer… well, computers. Two laptops. One from the school in the bag hanging off his chair, the other for personal use atop the wooden desk… both probably monitored by Cluemaster.
Nothing to call his.
Just stuff. He bet Richard would say something along the lines of possessions only serve to anchor you to the ephemeral.
Jason sighed and pried opened a trick board from beneath his bed. Time to go back to being normal.
Lair of the Cluemaster
Blüdhaven
A very different Jason than that of Redbird reclined in a desk chair situated before Cluemaster’s secondary mainframe. True, he wore similar colors of red and black but that’s where the similarity ended. He was very much the redheaded bastard – as clichéd as it sounded – his stepfather had called him. And that red hair went well with Elliot Academy’s uniform or at least it didn’t clash as much as it could. The black blazer hung off the chair behind him, the scarlet tie loosely fell from his neck, and off course the dark dress shirt remained untucked.
His body still pulsed with aches from the morning exercises that had been inflicted more than twelve hours ago and just as he had predicted, his shoulder suffered a very nasty bruise that could have been much, much worse. All in all, it had been a long day that if not for the case at hand, could have been longer. He shivered at the thought of more training at the hands of his guardian as punishment.
Footage from the night before played across the monitors. Five cameras in all, three from the storage place itself and two he had placed. Not too difficult to guess which had the better quality. They were all synced up to same exact time and he’d been watching them over and over again. There had been something not right about the whole thing and Cluemaster proved it when he showed Jason and Kate the image of a single White Rabbit walking away from Redbird’s unconscious body. There was no trace of the partner.
So he watched, searching for answers.
“ ♫♪♪♫ What doesn’t kill you,
Makes you stronger,
Stand a little taller
Doesn’t mean I’m lonely when I’m alone
When I’m alone…♫♪♪♫“
Except the music did make it a touch more difficult to concentrate.
“And there you have it, Kelly Clarkson’s Stronger coming in at number two in this week’s Top 20. We’ll be back after the break with the highest requested song of the week.”
“Do we really have to listen to this crap?” called Jason towards Artie pitter-pattering among his collection.
“What do you have against Ryder’s 20?”
“I just don’t see how he has the time for it. He has like what… a dozen jobs and two TV-shows?” Jason focused in on two cameras showing the same picture from different angles. Had a decent view of the row where the White Rabbit he’d been chasing had vanished down. He set it up to go frame by frame.
Cluemaster chuckled from somewhere around the dummy. “I’ll admit, he does seem to be phoning it in lately. Quite literally. All pre-recorded. But radio gave him his start and holds a special place in his heart.”
Jason saw the flash of a muzzle in the night at the moment he was shot. Too far. Back up just a little… a little more. “Booyah!”
“Figured out she was a meta?”
The boy spun in his chair to see Arthur replacing the wards on the case that must not be touched. “You knew?”
“Of course I knew. It’s my job to know.”
“Then why didn’t you tell us?”
Arthur rose and stretched, his eyebrows never changing position. His look was one of bemused arrogance. “I’m sorry but was the list you gave me yesterday meant to pay for that information? I can reverse the order if it was.”
There was a long silence between the pair as Jason worked up some sort of retort. The silence grew when he realized he had nothing. Nothing solid anyways. Nothing that Arthur didn’t already know.
“You brought us the case though. I figured you’d help a bit more.”
“I am helping,” Cluemaster brushed his hands together to clear off the nonexistent dust and made his way to the main set of computers. “As much as I’d enjoy sifting through thousands of photos of a rather attractive brunette half my age for a mole on her left breast that may or may not be there… I am a married man and the computer is faster.”
Now Jason had something. “Riiiiiight. Like you have a healthy marriage. You never go home.”
“She’s a doctor with a private practice and I’m a seller of information. We make time for each other at least once a week.”
No mom and no dad at home. No wonder Stephanie spent her free time trying to figure out if he was leaping about the city in brightly colored tights. If she was anything like her father, Jason really couldn’t fault her even if he found it more than a bit annoying. And a pinch sad.
“ ♫♪♪♫ But there's a side to you that I never knew, never knew
All the things you'd say, they were never true, never true
And the games you'd play, you would always win, always win ♫♪♪♫“
If Jaina was a meta-human capable of making duplicates of herself, it explained how she could be in two places at once. It also gave her all the more reason to make public appearances during some of her more high profile heists. Who would think she was guilty when she had a flawless alibi? There still wasn’t a perfect way to prove one possessed whatever it was that made them meta after all. And you certainly couldn’t properly profile it.
The mole had to be the key.
“Hey, kid.”
“Huh?”
“White Rabbit just popped up on one of the cameras in a shop belonging to the Deevers.”
“Lunchmeat’s?” Jason glanced over at the alert on his screen where the bouncing platinum haired beauty was currently breaking into a safe. “He handles cleanup for the Desmonds, right? Something about feeding people to pigs leaves no trace.”
“Good memory. Also delicious irony – pun not intended since he later sells the meat – whenever he feeds them the rare clean cop.” Arthur scratched his head with a perplexed expression twisting his features. “I think I’ve had it before.”
The phone in Jason’s pants pocket remained silent and still. Kate was supposed to be at a charity event hosted by her family alongside Jaina. If she didn’t call or a second alert didn’t go off then that meant Jaina was still there. Everything was starting to prove his theory. His fingers twitched towards his cell to make the call he knew he had to make.
“The mole is the key,” recited Cluemaster like he read Jason’s mind.
Jason slowed his reaching for the cell.
“It’s the clue,” Arthur hit a few keys to send the clearest image of White Rabbit that Jason had ever seen. A picture that showed the beauty mark. “All I need is confirmation and I can make the call to the right people to bring her in.”
His hand slowed nearly to a standstill.
“How do you look in a tux?”
It stopped completely. This was gonna be fun.
“That’s the Top 20 where we always end with the best and we’re ending with your pal Jack Ryder so count the days until next week when Jack’s back but if you can’t count that high, don’t forget to tune into So You Think You Can Be A Pop Star every Tuesday and Wednesday on your local GCB Network.
“Ride On.”
March Plaza
Blüdhaven
“I feel ridiculous.”
“Don’t.”
“I hate wearing my hair up.”
“You look gorgeous.”
Not even the compliment could stop Renee from pouting which made her ever more beautiful in Kate’s eyes. The detective looked absolutely stunning in a strapless St. Cloud original. The Beige dress suited her skin tone perfectly and no matter what she said to the contrary, Renee cleaned up quite nicely.
Those eyes that Kate so loved staring into during the rare moments they could find alone together dared to create frown lines. “Where’s your sister? I only agreed to come dressed like this because you wanted me to finally meet her.”
“You say it like I guilted you into spending time with me.”
Renee’s silence spoke volumes.
“Okay, I did,” Kate leaned forward to give her a light peck on the cheek, careful with her lipstick. “I’m sure she’s around here somewhere.”
Over her date’s shoulder, Kate maintained line of sight with her target. Jaina Hudson, age twenty-three, daughter of a diplomat and a Bollywood starlet. All this information and more had been memorized. At this distance, she certainly looked nothing like the White Rabbit. Maybe it was the fact she had clothes on, maybe not. Jason’s dual colored hair was proof that technology exited in which to change one’s hair and skin tone. All thanks to experimental products from Janus Cosmetics.
Jaina currently socialized with Kate’s own baby cousin. A cousin that, at the moment, turned Kate’s pert lips upside down in a frown. She found herself more confident that the glass in Beth’s hand was a beverage that she shouldn’t drink at her age than the tie between Jaina and the White Rabbit.
“Katie…?”
“Hmm?”
Renee followed her gaze, taking in the crowds and had the confidence to not disapprove of Kate’s staring. They were at a charity gala for the Safehaven group filled to the brim with people who truly didn’t care that it was a fundraiser event to help the mayor’s efforts to clean up the Gallows. A mayor they helped elect yet was strangely absent this evening. Gotham’s, Blüdhaven’s, and even some of Metropolis’ most influential people all decked in their best clothes and fanciest jewelry.
Kate wasn’t anymore more comfortable here than her date. She was simply more used to it.
“What’s wrong?”
“Do you think you can put a minor in lockup for the evening for me?”
“Your cousin?” the detective grinned with sparkling teeth. “I’m sure I can make arrangements for her to be put in a Scared Straight program,” her hand slowly rubbed Kate’s arms, “but your father might have better luck. God knows the scum we have in Blackgate are terrified of ever coming back to Lockhaven.”
“She’s throwing her life away,” Kate sighed and leaned in, “Did you know she’s been selected to go to the Games this summer and her mother almost refused to accept because it’d interfere with her show’s shooting schedule?”
“Some people aren’t fit to be parents.”
Kate’s eyes twinkled playfully. “Only some people?”
“Hey…”
Even as the pang of guilt and impossibility – improbability, she corrected herself – ate at Kate, she couldn’t help but want to stay like this forever. Renee’s arms held a future she didn’t see. It wasn’t that being Batwoman didn’t leave Kate fulfilled and a part of her loved showing Jason the ropes, teaching him the right way, but it was a role and a mission she had inherited. As much as the Kane’s publicly did their duty in protecting their interests, her mother’s family had served in the shadows since before her birth.
Evil existed at the core of Blüdhaven. An evil she could never hope to erase in her lifetime. And it was a lifetime she could only share with a teenage boy and old men.
The corner of her lips twitched at that last train of thought. It sounded so very wrong. Good thing she didn’t say it aloud.
Kate turned to give Renee more attention, maybe even escort her to wherever her twin was, when she saw a young man approach Hudson and Beth. Describing him as a man was being generous. Barely out of boyhood. His red hair was scruffy and familiar. Beth certainly reacted to him as such. Both girls laughed at something he said, Jaina going so far as to bend over in an unladylike manner and in that moment, Kate noticed what was off. The glasses atop his nose prevented her from immediately recognizing him.
Jason.
She was moving before she knew it. What the hell was he thinking? He couldn’t possibly be here. She had to get him out of here before –
– the commotion started. The thought process mirrored what she saw. The massive form, in personality if not physically, loomed up behind Jason. Her uncle, Robert Kane. His mustache quivered in rage that would be spoken in seconds.
“Who let you in here!?” Robert growled low enough to not make a scene but loud enough to be heard.
“He’s my,” Kate glanced back at Renee who was having trouble keeping up in heels, “plus two, Uncle Robert. Remember, he’s Jason Todd. I sponsor him in the Little Sister Scholarship to keep him off the streets and educated.”
“I know who he is,” fumed the man, “what I want to know is why you would bring this lying, scheming piece of –“
“Papa!” Beth interrupted, her tone every bit that of her mother’s. “We’re in public.” She turned towards Hudson who had watched the exchange completely perplexed. “Jay is really not as bad as my father is trying to make him sound. He just had a harsh life.”
Jaina smiled politely and spoke with the hints of an English accent. “It is fine. I find him to be quite the charming boy.”
Boy didn’t leave Jason looking too thrilled.
“Well, it’s getting late,” Renee said in her best speaking to crazy people negotiator voice, “I have an early shift tomorrow and Jason should probably get home too. Katie and I will take him and go. No problem, okay?”
Kate mouthed thank you a second too early. Her uncle moved to grab Jason, calling for the boy to turn out his pockets. A bad move. A really, really bad move. Jason’s instincts took over and in an instant; Robert was doubled over, clutching at his face as blood seeped through his fingers.
Knowing it was better to beg forgiveness later than to accept punishment now in this situation, Kate silently pleaded with Renee while her uncle screamed indecipherable words better left unrepeated. Her date nodded reluctantly and moved to intercept any oncoming trouble. Within minutes, she had dragged her idiotic sidekick down to the street and found herself waiting for the car to be brought around.
“You are going to be very lucky if he doesn’t press any charges.”
Jason loosened his tie. “Please, what grown man is going to admit he got his face turned to mush by a boy my size?”
“That’s not the point. Why were you –“ His negligible shaking of the head made her stop midsentence. Instead she waited until they were in the car and had turned on the music incredibly loud as they took off. “Out with it.”
He said nothing and handed her the glasses he had been wearing. She didn’t need his pointless warning to wait until they stopped to put them on. Kate was familiar with how the technology worked. When she finally did, Kate saw Hudson from Jason’s perspective… specifically when he had made her bend over with laughter and had a perfect view down the neckline of her dress.
“I found the clue,” he said sheepishly in the midst of getting undressed and opened the secret compartment beneath his seat.
“I could have found that clue,” Kate muttered as she handed the glasses back and her engine roared.
“I knew you could but it was better for me. This way Renee can’t get jealous.”
Kate knew what way it was better for him. Just as she knew who put him up to it. She sighed… Men.
Desmond Estate
Blüdhaven
Roland Desmond did not have the look of a gangster. He didn’t scream mob boss or don like the heads of the Falcone or Sabitino Families. Nor did he look like any business man with a rich heritage such as the Kanes or the Elliots. Roland was normal. Bland really. Average stature, not so decent in the way of looks. By all outward appearances, he was the caretaker for his mother and brother and had been ever since his father died. Not threatening in the least.
Inspector Arnot, an officer in the B.P.D., knew such an assumption to be a mistake. He had known Roland well enough to be frightened of him. You didn’t need muscles or a brain to keep control of the Haven. You needed to be ruthless. And Roland was certainly ruthless. Using his own brother to… If he could do that then it wasn’t much a stretch to think he’d murder anyone who would get in his way.
That’s the attitude it took to stand up to the Gotham Crime Families and to sell the Haven scum to them for a decent price.
“I need your contacts,” Blockbuster said as if he was placing an order at a restaurant. “The ones in Gotham.”
“I wouldn’t think someone like you would ever have need of my contacts given your own,” Arnot replied.
Roland sat a tea tray gently into his mother’s lap. This was yet another peculiarity that the Inspector had grown accustomed to. The senile old woman always seemed present whenever they met. Sometimes she drooled, sometimes she slept… Sometimes she did both. Hard to believe the most powerful man in the Haven was such a Momma’s Boy.
“Dynamics are shifting. Jersey is changing.” The crime boss wiped some of that very drool from his mother’s cheek. “Allegiances are dissolving as we speak and I can’t be associated with Gotham, at the moment, if the rumors about the Bertinellis are true.”
“And if they are?”
“Then you could find yourself in for a pay raise.”
Arnot tried not to seem too eager in forming a proper response. “What do you need?”
Desmond met him straight in the eye. “I need a certain Doctor. . . “
Gotham
Robert Kane was still a quivering mass of rage the following morning as he sat waiting for the doctor to show up. That niece of his… after everything he’d done for her. His fists clenched. That dirty thief. Robert had caught him stealing once. Took his best watch. And now his daughter, his own daughter, was defending the little punk.
This was not good for his blood pressure at all.
The door clicked open from behind him. Robert slowly rose to his feet and started to turn around.
“My deepest apologies, Mr. Kane, but I’m afraid your insurance doesn’t cover the damage done to your mustache.” The doctor was all smiles and chiseled good looks, his elaborately furnished office designed to complement his auburn hair perfectly. “I can however recommend the perfect waxer who also happens to run a fantastic massage service. I can assure you, you’ll leave happy.”
“Tommy,” Robert gripped the glib bastard’s hand in greeting. “You missed quite the spectacle last night. Only you and that blasted nephew of mine failed to show.”
Tommy smirked as he made his way around his giant desk to sit. “Well, Bruce is…Well, he’s Bruce. And given what’s going on with his company’s stocks and public opinion, you lucked out.”
“You’re probably right on that count but what’s your excuse? I held the fundraiser for your damn project.”
“Between breast augmentations and overhauling the city ordinances, who has the time to rub elbows with the rich and fabulous?”
Robert narrowed his eyes and found it more difficult to sit calmly than he thought he would. “You’d best make the time if you want to get reelected.”
Mayor Thomas Elliot, sole heir of the Elliot family fortune and renowned plastic surgeon gave a snarky smirk from ear to ear as he leaned back in his chair. “So tell me… did you like your nose or would you prefer something new?”
Cocky, little bastard. Robert returned the smiled. It took that kind of arrogance to get things done the way Robert liked down in the Haven.
Outside Kane Towers
Gotham
Foggy breath misted in the air before Jason as he stood huddled with the masses of paparazzi and reporters outside of Kane Towers in Gotham just barely being held back by a police line. It was an early Saturday morning when a report came in that Jaina Hudson had been found unconscious in her suite by a maid. Somehow, and Jason thought he knew who was to blame, everyone and their mom had known about it before the first responders had begun to show. He couldn’t believe they made him wake up this early and take the bus to Gotham just to see a bunch of shoulders.
He shivered, his ears a strange blue color beneath his beanie or so he believed, when he caught sight of a body being carted out of the towers by two EMTs so bland that Jason instinctively ignored their features. An alarm went off in his head in turn as he realized that was the response they wanted. Suddenly the bug he was told to plant in the ambulance made a lot more sense.
“There you have it, folks… Jack Ryder once again proving that You Are Wrong! Jaina Hudson, supposed goody two-shoes and daughter of former Ambassador to India Tom Hudson, was indeed found unconscious in her suite this morning after a night out on the town, taking part in an incident involving one Robert Kane and no doubt a suspicious concierge physician…”
Jason stifled a laugh and glanced to the side where cameras were on a geeked up Ryder with hair slicked back and horn-rimmed glasses sliding off his nose. He remembered his thoughts from the night before. DJ, Reality TV host, political satirist, youtube idiot and a gaggle of other things. The man managed to do them all and the public ate it up. Dumbasses.
Shuffling filled his hearing. Immediately, Jason tuned out his surroundings to listen in. The ambulance’s door closed, hiding what little of the scene he could see from his position but that was okay. He didn’t need to see.
”Great. The Wall is gonna love this. That was Jack Ryder out there.”
“Quiet…. on…. er.”
Jason hid the screaming whine of his earpiece with a hacking cough and hastened to put his hands inside his hoody’s pocket in search of the off switch. A jammer was in use. A hi-tech one too to disrupt his bug. Vision swimming from the sonic assault, he adjusted his threat assessment on the two EMTs. Definite spooks. Definitely the people Artie had called.
As the crowd started to disperse and the cameramen rolled up their equipment, beady black eyes met his.
Pay attention to class on Monday.
He was already on the bus back towards Blüdhaven when he came to his senses. His groan made his fellow passengers look at him in askance. There would be another bout of thrashings in his future. He just knew it. But for now, he’d find solace in wondering who or what The Wall was instead of how much he was gonna hurt come Monday.
White Rabbit woke up curled naked on the floor inside a house of cards. That was no metaphor. The walls were playing cards, some the usual size and some larger than life. She looked around skittishly much like her namesake would in the presence of a predator. Only the dull eyes of face cards stared at her; Kings, Jacks… Queens. It was a cell. She knew this immediately. So white… so eerie with walls covered in hearts.
She stayed curled, protecting what little of her remaining dignity.
”We thought you would last longer, our precious White Rabbit.”
The voice was everywhere and nowhere. White Rabbit caught motion in the side of her vision but saw nothing.
“I don’t know what happened… I… I suddenly lost contact with Jaina!” she cried to whoever was listening.
”We know what happened.” Sudden movement but where? ”You have served your purpose.”
The white faced Queen of Hearts stepped out from her card.
“Off with your head.”
Elliot Academy
Blüdhaven
Snoring.
That’s what Jason was pretty sure he was doing when a fellow classmate started poking him in the side. It had been a long weekend. A weekend that would never be over in his nightmares. First there had been the two hundred thrashings when he returned to Richard’s studio. Then there had been the hundred whackings that somehow seemed more like the thrashing punishment than real training. And finally, Wildcat put the nail in his coffin by taking the boy on a hiking trip through Slaughter Swamp… There and back again… On foot.
He wiped drool from the corner of his mouth and glared at the tan faced Garcia. Why would he wake him in homeroom? The bell for first block hadn’t ringed yet… had it? His friend could only jerk his chin towards the front of the class.
A raven haired beauty stood in stark contrast next to the increasingly bald Mr. Denny. “I would like to introduce you all to Elliot Academy’s newest student, Helena Bertinelli.”
Pay attention on Monday.
Damn.