Red Hood Volume 7 #69

The Flamingo had his head in his hand as he said,

 

“Jason…I can’t believe you…” Jason’s eyes darted from Flamingo, to Scarlet, to Mason and Deb. Mason had a large rifle pointed at Jason’s forehead, making the latter stutter as he said,

 

“I didn’t do it. I swear.” This felt strange for Jason to say, but when he searched himself for a reason why he simply had to look to the woman holding the sniper in the windowsill. Swearing, Flamingo said,

 

“I’m sorry it’s come to this Jason but until we find out what’s going on you’re going to need to go back to the tower.” Jason was sweating as he thought of what to do next. Before he could make a decision however, a rock was thrown through the window. The rock broke the already decrepit window before hitting the ground. Jason looked at it for a note of some kind but quickly realized the rock being thrown through the window was a message in itself. Looking out the window, Jason, as well as Flamingo, Scarlet, Deb, and Mason, saw Roy Harper standing alone in the snow with his middle finger facing the group. He yelled up to them,

 

“You guys took my bow. I would like it back. Also, turn Jason Todd over to me NOW.” The Flamingo laughed as he turned in his bed to see the lone figure of Roy threatening the group. As he did, two henchmen (Jack and another that Jason did not recognize) advanced on Roy’s position. For a moment, Jason waited for the three to begin fighting, then realized that the one he did not recognize was walking towards another target. Looking around, the group saw that Roy was not alone, and had hidden the prisoners Nikki and Kyle nearby. Nikki screamed as the unknown henchman raised a hammer and a pistol. All this time, there seemed to be a winding noise building in Jason’s ears. A ringing that was driving him to do something insane. So then he did something insane: shoving Deb and Mason aside, Jason dove through the broken window. Turning his body in midair to collide with the ground on his back, he found that the snow was packed lightly and surprisingly soft. Feeling only minor scratches from catching on stray glass from the window, Jason quickly sprang into action and managed to knock the unknown goon down with a leg sweeping maneuver. Nikki and Kyle retreated from the hiding spot to a space behind where Roy had engaged Jack. Dodging the unknown goon’s hammer attacks, Jason managed to knock the weapon out of the man’s hand as all heard the Flamingo yell,

 

“SHOOT THEM! KILL THEM!” For a moment, Jason thought this referred to the unknown goon with the pistol or Jack (who was currently using Roy’s bow and arrow), however he looked up to see Scarlet aiming down at them. She trembled as she did, and Jason could see Flamingo grabbing her arm from his bed and shaking her around as he called up,

 

“Scarlet! Hold on!” In this moment of distraction, the unknown henchman managed to fire off several rounds that nearly connected with Jason’s ear. The sound made the ringing in his head even worse as Jason grabbed the man by the forehead and slammed his head into the snow below. The force of slamming the man into the snow knocked him clean out as Jason turned his attention to Roy. Jack was slicing at Roy with a small knife until the latter managed to kick the former in the hand with such force that the sound of the bones breaking were audible. Screaming for a moment, Jack stumbled, allowing Roy to grab his bow with his good hand. Placing the bow around Jack’s neck, Roy began to pull hard, using one foot to hold Jack in place while planting the other firmly in the snow. After a short period of Jack struggling, Roy moved the bow quickly, snapping the man’s neck. Jason winced at the sound, but walked over to Nikki and Kyle in order to check on them as Roy put on the quiver Jack had been wearing. Turning to Jason and the couple, Roy said,

 

“Nobody touches my bow.” The couple nodded furiously as there was the sound of struggling from above. They all looked up to see Mason knock the sniper rifle out of Scarlet’s hands before grabbing her around the neck and forcing his gun into her face. As he did this, more and more Flamingo henchmen began to walk out from various places around Park City. Roy turned to Jason and quickly said, “Jason we have to go now!” Jason looked from him to Scarlet and said,

 

“No…no no no no no we need to save Scarlet that’s the whole reason I’m here!” Roy sighed and looked around as more Flamingo henchmen began to close in on them. Thinking quickly he picked up the gun that the unknown henchman had dropped and tossed it to Kyle. Then he grabbed Jason around the stomach and began dragging him away. The group broke into a sprint all except for Jason who yelled, “NO! SCARLET! NO!” as his feet dragged through the nearly unbroken snow. Mason pulled Scarlet away from the window as the group made it a block away, but Jason continued to scream and squirm. Attempting to push Roy away and yelling insults such as ‘cripple’ at him did not help anything except to exhaust Jason who eventually passed out due to lack of oxygen. The last thing he heard was several gunshots fired off by Kyle, then Jason succumbed to his exhaustion and wounds from leaping out the window, fading into unconsciousness.

 

 

 

Done