Red Hood Volume 10 #100

Jason crashed into the wall on the opposite side of the hallway but found that it looked strikingly different than when he had last seen it. Instead of the inside of Jay Greene’s lavish mansion, it was a steel-enforced wall adorned with dents and other marks. The effects of the drug Greene had given him were making it increasingly difficult to stand, so Jason placed his hand on the wall and used it to guide himself to the end of the hall. Once there, he heard a scream from the other end of the hallway. It was a female scream.

 

 

“Scarlet…?” Jason called back drowsily as he turned to face the other way. In reply, Scarlet’s familiar voice cried out,

 

 

“Somebody save me please!!” Clenching his free fist, Jason began stumbling back down the hallway, all the while yelling back,

 

 

“I’m coming Scarlet…it’s going to be ok…hold on…!!” The temperature of the room began to drop dramatically as he reached the origin of the cries for help, evident by Jason being able to see his own breath. Shivering for a moment, Jason looked down. Upon looking back up, the hallway had changed. He now stood in a very familiar room, one with ice caking the walls along with various bloodstains. Looking around, he yelled out, “Scarlet! Scarlet where are you! I’m here to save you…I promise I will-” Jason’s speech was cut off by a sudden loud human produced ‘oink’ followed by sickening laughter. He raised his taser gun and began firing off several shots but to his surprise the gun had turned into his old pistol. The bullets collided with the walls and although they were made of steel they all began to bleed where shot. Looking down at his gun, Jason then realized he was no longer in his faux-Batman suit but instead in another familiar suit: his first Red Hood suit, the one he had created from Ra’s al Ghul’s leftover robes and armor. Feeling his face, he even found his old domino mask. After a moment of this, Jason closed his eyes, saying, “It’s just a hallucination…this isn’t real…this isn’t real…”

 

 

“I’m afraid we’re very real kiddo.” The sound of this voice particularly made Jason freeze in his place. He slowly opened his eyes to see that several new figures now stood around him. The Flamingo held someone in Jason’s current Red Hood suit down as Black Mask beat them with a pair of iron knuckles. But the source of the phrase just uttered stood several feet in front of Jason: the Joker. The former shook his head, saying,

 

 

“No…you’re in my head…this is just because of that stuff Greene hit me with…”

 

 

“Of course you know that,” Joker said, playing with the knife in his hand, “But we’re all very real. That’s no joke I’m afraid, birdboy,” The Joker began to walk around Jason, who seemed to be unable to move, as he continued, “Let’s face it Mr. ‘Artist-Formerly-Known-As-A-Killer’, you’re a dropout of the Batman school of flying lunatics! You don’t belong on his crusade, you already know what happens to everyone who follows him firsthand. Remember? Or will I have to reintroduce you to Mrs. Crowbar?” As Joker passed, Jason watched as the beating of the man in his current Red Hood uniform intensified. His mask was beginning to break, to which Black Mask laughed,

 

 

“We should’ve done this years ago Flamingo, this whole team-up.” Flamingo replied,

 

 

“As long as we can have equal distribution of his limbs later you can call me up any time Sionis.” Shooting Flamingo a strange look, Black Mask said,

 

 

“‘the hell’s wrong with you?” Joker grabbed Jason’s face and forced him to look at where the former had been standing at this point, causing the latter to gasp. Scarlet was stuck on the same operating table he had met her on years earlier, but with no Pyg around he began to understand why he was there.

 

 

“Ah…there it is. You’re getting the bigger picture now,” Joker laughed as he tapped Jason lightly on the cheek and walked to Scarlet’s side, “Here’s the deal: either you kill her or I do. Afraid there’s no way out of this one even if it is all in your head!” The Joker was laughing uncontrollably now as Jason unconsciously felt the arm that held his gun rise to Scarlet’s head. She deliberately fought against her restraints as Jason said,

 

 

“No…I won’t do it…Never…” Joker shook his head,

 

 

“Oh no no no no no no no, my dear boy, don’t you see? You’ve already made the choice. You won’t be able to blame us at all! This is glorious! It’s the nature of you people to kill the ones you love and you don’t even realize you’re doing it!” Relaxing for a moment while Jason grit his teeth in an attempt to take control of his arm, Joker sighed and said, “It’s one killer joke, right?” From behind Jason the sound of a blade piercing skin suddenly caught his attention. Turning, he watched Flamingo fall to the ground while Ra’s al Ghul stood behind him, cleaning his blade while nodding to Jason. In the momentary confusion, Joker asked,

 

 

“Now how the hell are you here? You’re the one person we definitely didn’t invite to this rendez-vous!” Feeling control in his arm returning as he watched Ra’s stab Black Mask through the throat, Jason managed to turn his gun to the Joker while saying,

 

 

“Joker!” The clown turned to him as Jason fired off several shots into the former’s body, “I never found you funny.” With the hallucinations of Joker, Black Mask, and Flamingo dead, Jason found himself alone with Ra’s, the man dressed in the newest Red Hood suit, and Scarlet. After a moment, Scarlet disappeared, leaving Jason to ask,

 

 

“What now?” Ra’s pointed to the door he had entered, saying,

 

 

“I’ll keep you safe for now, but only until the effects of Greene’s drug wear off.” Now the man in the Red Hood suit disappeared as Jason continued,

 

 

“Before we go…what are you? What is all this? What did it mean?” Ra’s turned to Jason in the doorway to reply,

 

 

“Jason. I’m a part of your mind. I know you know the answer.”

 

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ISSUE 100! I never thought I'd reach 100 with any of the stories I wrote but here we are and I'm very proud of my Red Hood run. On that note, I will be continuing Robin shortly (I tried to get out up to Red Hood #100 before I left for college), and on the note of college I leave Tuesday and already have plans that I will discuss in a picture Monday or Tuesday morning. I hope you enjoyed and, as always, thanks for reading!

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