章 22: A Need for a Legitimate Identity
Away from Batman, and with no one from the Batfamily chasing after him, Red Hood finally relaxed. The pain all over his body made him inhale sharply, damn it, they all went pretty hard on him one by one.
Jantiss sat on the bike, leisurely sucking on a candy, enjoying the sweet taste.
Seeing this, Jason angrily poked her forehead, "What are you thinking? How many times have I taught you? I didn't allow you to go, so you should leave immediately."
"I'm useful." Jantiss mumbled indistinctly, but her tone was firm.
"Alright, alright." Jason rubbed his temple, this girl became harder to control the more she learned.
"Do you know you can't beat Batman? Do you know you'll get hurt?" Jantiss nodded, her tone still steady. "I know, I can't win, but I have to go."
"You know nothing!" Jason was both angry and amused. "You know it, yet you still want to go? I might not be able to save you."
"You got hit." Jantiss stated the fact.
He covered his face, "We don't need to go over that again."
"You got hit by someone else." Jantiss referred not to Batman but to another person in a black tight suit with a big blue bird on the chest.
"He's called Nightwing." Jason said, "...That's just me fighting him."
Jantiss calmly looked at him, "They have helpers, and so do you."
"No, I don't." Jason glanced at her.
Jantiss pouted, "Yes, you do! Me!"
"Behave, I won't allow it." Jason poked her forehead, the girl was forced to lean back, then sat back properly again. "You can."
"I showed up, they know I'm on your side." Jantiss's tongue wrapped around the candy in her mouth, then let go. Her tongue was full of sweetness as she said casually, swaying her legs and not caring about Jason's opposition.
"Alright, so you've planned it all along." Jason didn't think she was deceiving him, he felt only pride in his heart, my kid is smart.
Now that she mysteriously appeared in front of Batman and Nightwing, it confirmed her relationship with him, which means even if Jantiss didn't appear in front of Batman and Nightwing in the future, it wouldn't change this fact.
Pride filled Jantiss's eyes, she really was clever.
Jason clicked his tongue, "We'll talk about this later."
Jantiss immediately felt unhappy, she stood on the seat of the bike, intending to use her height to boost her morale. "No, now."
"You don't listen to me anymore? I'm not your parent?" Jason teased her, and as his mood changed, so did her expression, at least she wasn't expressionless.
"Teacher says parents shouldn't be authoritarian and should respect the child's wishes."
"This is for your safety."
"This is my choice, and I want to help you."
"I don't want you to."
"But I want to." Jantiss grabbed his hand anxiously. "Let me help you."
Jason smiled, satisfied to see the anxious look on her face. "Let's go, let's have a late-night snack."
"You haven't agreed yet!"
"We'll talk after dinner." Jason didn't want the little girl to get what she wanted so easily.
Jantiss crunched the candy in her mouth, feeling annoyed.
Listening to the crunching sound in her mouth, Jason felt even happier.
...
Jason naturally agreed to Jantiss's persistent pleading, and he also saw her eating the candy restlessly, not to mention, she even self-taught herself how to act cute, although it was not quite there yet.
He believed he would see it in the future, the little girl should be more lively.
But even though Jason agreed, Jantiss didn't have much time to help Jason recently. Her advanced English remedial class was about to take its final exam, and Jason told her to focus on preparing for the exam.
After some thought, Jantiss decided not to go with him. Jason had paid a lot for her courses, so she naturally wanted to show him good results.
Before Jason left, he specially encouraged Jantiss to study hard and promised rewards for good grades.
Of course, there wouldn't be any punishment for doing poorly either. Jason made it clear that he wasn't the kind of parent who used physical punishment to educate children.
Moreover, in Jason's opinion, a small English exam wouldn't stump her.
Jason also thought about letting Jantiss learn a few more languages, of course, provided she was willing. It would be best if she learned what she wanted to learn, but since she hadn't found something she was interested in yet, it would be good for her to explore everything.
Jason didn't expect that he would be found by Nightwing shortly after he went out at night. It seemed like this guy was specifically waiting for him.
"Red Hood, tell me about the kid with you," Nightwing asked the question Batman had been pondering for a while, of course, he had also notified Batman, who would soon arrive.
Red Hood sneered, "None of your damn business."
Both sides refused to cooperate, and Nightwing and Red Hood fought, even fiercer than before. Jason, because of the other party's interference and his past experiences, became more ruthless.
Nightwing was also angered, and both of them were covered in bruises.
But when Nightwing smashed half of Red Hood's helmet, his brain momentarily froze. "Who... who are you?"
Red Hood cursed and took advantage of Nightwing's distraction to escape.
When Jason returned that night, Jantiss smelled the scent on him and was about to ask what happened. However, she noticed his bad mood, furrowed her brows slightly, but didn't ask further. Instead, she quietly tended to his wounds and bruises.
Jason forced a smile, patting the girl's head to signal that he was okay.
Jantiss didn't know what had happened, but she could guess it had something to do with Batman and his people. She pursed her lips. "I'll help you fight back."
Jason chuckled softly and told Jantiss to go to her room and sleep.
As Jantiss went back to her room, she noticed the exhaustion in Jason's eyes, and perhaps he was also feeling sad. It seemed like every time they encountered Batman and his team, he would end up like this.
She didn't understand. They seemed to have enmity, but also not quite.
Jason didn't want her to get involved in his conflict with Batman and his team at all.
The next day, Jantiss woke up a bit earlier than Jason. His room door was tightly closed, indicating that he was taking a rare lie-in. She didn't wake him up and instead prepared herself, took some money from the piggy bank on top of the fridge with the help of a chair, and went out to buy breakfast.
As she quietly sat at the table eating breakfast, Jason still didn't stir. She frowned and went to knock on his door.
Normally, such a commotion would have woken him up, but this time it didn't. There was no sound coming from the room.
Jantiss silently stared at the closed door in front of her, then took out a spare key and opened it.
The room was very tidy, even tidier than Jantiss's room. Sometimes she would toss her clothes around, and if Jason didn't remind her, she wouldn't bother to clean up.
The person in bed didn't seem to be sleeping soundly. Jantiss heard his heavy breathing and quickly walked over to see Jason, who looked abnormally flushed. She reached out to his forehead, which was very hot.
"Jason?" She called out, and the person in bed weakly opened his eyes, only to find the girl standing at the head of the bed.
It took Jason a while to react before he weakly said, "Sorry, Jenny, you go to class by yourself today. I need to rest."
With that, he closed his eyes wearily.
Jantiss furrowed her brows but didn't say anything. Instead, she went to fetch the first aid kit from the safe house and took out a thermometer.
A few minutes later, after seeing the temperature displayed on the thermometer, Jantiss said, "Jason, you have a fever."
The person in bed was too out of it to respond.
If it were before, she would have been worried, but now she could handle such events calmly.
Jantiss first informed her teacher at the remedial class that she needed to take a leave, then focused on taking care of Jason.
Jason had said before that he couldn't go to hospitals or clinics when he was injured or sick because his identity was fake, so Jantiss initially ruled out that troublesome option.
The medicine in the first aid kit was quite sufficient, including fever-reducing medication. Jantiss fed him the appropriate dose.
When Jason laboriously opened his eyes, he only heard the smooth sound of a pen writing on paper nearby. He lifted his head slightly and saw the girl at the foot of the bed holding a book and drawing.
Sensing his movement, she turned her head, showing no expression but giving the impression that she had relaxed a bit. "You're awake."
Jason touched his head. It seemed like something was stuck to his forehead, and he was puzzled.
"That's a fever-reducing patch. You have a fever," Jantiss said.
A fever-reducing patch? Jason's mind started to work. Indeed, there were fever-reducing patches at home, but the only ones available were for children, meaning Jantiss's, and it seemed she hadn't used them, while he had.
Jason lay back down, his head still hurting. "Weren't you supposed to go to class today?"
"Taking a day off," calmly replied Jantis. She set aside her book, left the room, and returned a while later with some food for him. Jason didn't expect to receive care from this little girl Jantis. For a moment, he didn't know what to say—felt a bit helpless, yet also wanted to smile. Not because it was funny, but because he felt warm inside, even quite comforted.
"Jenny, do you like your life now?"
"Mm-hmm."
With just a single syllable, Jason understood Jantis's thoughts. Did she know what she would encounter by following him? Yes, she did. She had always been a smart kid.
"Even without a fixed abode?"
"Mm-hmm," Jantis nodded vigorously.
Jason thought, if possible, he didn't want Jantis to live this kind of life with him. She should have an open and honest identity walking in the sunshine.
"What did you say?" Batman exclaimed, eyes wide with shock. Upon hearing Nightwing's report, he clenched his fists tightly, suppressing his anger in his tone. "Nightwing! He's dead! Died in my arms!"
Batman couldn't tolerate anyone joking about his deceased child, a pain that he and Nightwing couldn't overcome.
Nightwing stumbled over his words, his frustration evident as he ran his hand through his hair, trying to compose himself. "I know! I know, Batman, I can't believe it either, but if he had reached this age, he must be like that! Absolutely like him!"
Jason Todd, the second Robin, he was his brother, someone he slowly accepted but never properly expressed his affection for. After hearing about his death, he fought with Batman, the fiercest fight they ever had. Later, he went to Bludhaven and didn't return for a long time, until Batman found another Robin.
Nightwing took a deep breath, then turned and left. "I'll find out what's going on."
Robin looked utterly confused. "Wait, who are you talking about?"
What had he missed?
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