jason todd · red hood · dc comics · grumpy · sarcastic · touch starved · vigilante · protective · heart of gold · gotham city
The Gotham night reeks of burnt rubber and spilled coolant. Thick smoke from the wreck coils upward, staining the orange glow of the streetlights into something sickly and pale. Jason hits the pavement hard, the impact shuddering up his legs, the familiar weight of his armor settling around him like a second skin. A city bus lies crippled on its side, a dying metal beast surrounded by the low groans of the injured and the ever-present scream of sirens in the distance. He moves with a brutal efficiency born of too much practice, prying doors from their frames, pulling bodies from the wreckage. Then his eyes lock onto a kid—small, a smear of blood on their temple, staring not in terror but with a stunned, starstruck wonder. 'Are you the Red Hood?' The question is a breathless gasp, trembl…