The rise in League of Assassins activity

"In the past couple weeks there has been a dramatic rise in activity from the League of Assassins," Jim sighed. Usually the kevlar laden freaks steered clear of Gotham since Batman was there to protect his city. What changed all of the sudden? Jim didn't like it one bit. "The weirdest part is they haven't killed anybody. Well, nobody that we can connect to them yet, anyway."

"Why now?" Jason frowned under his mask. He looked to Batman. "They know Gotham is off limits," the Red Hood gestured to the city. Jason had his own history with them. After the Joker brutally murdered him, it was Ra's al Ghul that resurrected him in the Lazarus Pit. Whether it was out of empathy or if he just wanted to turn Jason into the perfect killer, either way it didn't matter. Jason had forgiven Batman for failing to save him and as far he was concerned, Bruce's enemies were his enemies too.

"I don't know," words rarely uttered from the mouth of the Dark Knight. He hadn't fought Ra's since he tried to turn Gotham into a parking lot for being impure. He was partially trained by Ra's when he left Gotham for 12 years. The two had to part ways when Bruce was adamant to not become a killer. There was history there. Whatever Ra's was up to, it was undoubtedly to get **** on his star pupil. "Jim, gather me everything the GCPD has on the assassins. I'll begin a sweep through the city's surveillance systems. I'll track one down and bring them in for interrogation."

"Alright..." Jim was leaning on the Batsignal and took a sip of his coffee. "You got it Batma-" he turned around and saw Batman was gone. Red Hood was still standing there.

"Wow, that is actually really rude," Jason looked around. "See ya 'round Jimmy!" Red Hood leaped off the side of the building and his grapple hook carried him down to the Batmobile. He landed in the front seat and Batman took off.

LATER... IN THE DEEP DARK LAIR OF THE BATMAN...

"How's the search going?" Jason took his mask off and leaned against the computer.

"I'm having Brother Eye comb through every camera in the city limits. CCTVs, smartphones, smart TVs..."

"Hold on, isn't that an invasion of people's privacy?"

"You should see what the NSA gets up to," Bruce glanced over at Jason with his cowl off. "If there's an assassin in my city, we'll find them."

"Gotcha..." Jason looked at him for a second. "It's getting late. You should get some sleep. I'll keep an eye on this for now."

Batman furrowed his brows quizzically for a second. Jason had earned his trust back and slowly had been building on top of that for a while now. Bruce had no reason to worry but he still had that sneaking feeling in his gut to be cautious around his former boy wonder. If all of this was just an act to get close to him again just to exact his ****, Bruce would have no one to blame but himself. Still... every time he looked at Jason he saw two men. One was the happy go lucky kid he recruited to his crusade years ago. The other was a scarred, brutal, and vengeful man. The scariest part of it all was out of all his surrogate sons, Jason reminded Bruce of himself the most.

"Bruce are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Sure, you can have the first watch," he got up from his chair. "Just don't let me catch you on incognito mode again."

"Hey! THAT WAS ONE TIME!"

Jason turned almost as red as his hood. He plopped down in Bruce's chair and span around to face the monitor. He sat there for a good while, patiently watching as the multiple screens flickered from camera to camera all over the city. He wanted to help Bruce get some shut eye, sure. But he also wanted to be the one to bring in Ra's all by himself. Jason could tell that Bruce still didn't trust him fully. If he could pull this off, he could prove himself. He was more worthy to be the next Batman than anyone else. Dick and Tim didn't even want the mantle. Damian was too young and a little brat on top of it. Jason was the only real logical choice to continue Bruce's legacy. He just needed to get Bruce to see that.

Hours passed and eventually the screen blared with an exclamation point. "League of Assassins member spotted on a rooftop by Eleventh Street and Thomas Wayne Boulevard," the Batcomputer chimed. This was his chance. He put his mask on and stormed to the Batmobile.

Red Hood was on scene rather quickly thanks to the Batmobile's assisted driving program. Otherwise he probably would have driven through a building or two.

Jason leaped out of the car and found a place to perch himself as he scanned the area. Just like Batman would. He checked both his pistols, both loaded with rubber bullets. That was the only way Bruce was willing to let him keep using his guns. Bruce called them nonlethal, Jason called them pussified.

Low and behold, Jason's HUD picked up a hooded figure skulking in the shadows on one of the rooftops. He knelt down and was planting some kind of device on the support of the building. That didn't look good. "Hey asshole!" Jason shouted. He swung with his grapple hook and kicked the assassin off balance. As he expected, the assassin recuperated and landed acrobatically.

"You know better than to fuck with my city!"

"And you know better than to storm into a fight without taking in all of your surroundings first," a voice came from behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see Talia al Ghul standing proudly with several of her assassins behind her.

"Talia? What the hell are you doing in Gotham?!" He drew his pistols. The assassins readied their bows. Talia stood unfazed.

"The plan was to lure out Batman. With him out of the way, father will have no problem eviscerating this disgraceful city. But with you captured, he will have **** but to come to us instead," she smiled.

"Great plan, lady. Only problem is I'm not captured yet," he brandished his pistols.

"What are you going to do with those? Rubber isn't very threatening, darling."

"How did you-"

_"A good assassin analyzes her surroundings. Honestly, Jason, I'm very disappointed. Did you not pay any attention at all during your training?" She rushed him. Jason fired at her but she had already closed the distance and ducked under his barrels. She delivered a severe blow to his gut. He threw his guns aside and brought up his fists. "Think I won't punch a girl?"_

The two traded blows left and right until he sent Talia stumbling back. She wiped some blood off of her lip and giggled at the sight of it on her hand. "That's more like it, darling. There's no denying that you still possess the Lazarus Pit's blessing," she nodded to one of her assassins. Before he knew it, a dart whisked into his neck.

"You son of a..." he plucked it out. He fell to the ground.

"Save your strength, child. You're going to need it."

His vision faded to darkness.

When he awoke, he found he was restrained in a dimly lit stone jail cell. The only sources of light were the torch burning above him and the barred window that gave a view of the snowy mountains outside. He quickly realized he had been stripped of all his gear and shackled to the wall. The place was eerily familiar. It took him a second to recollect what had happened up to his capture. The League of Assassins... right. Part of him was really starting to regret not alerting Bruce before venturing off alone to take on an assassin. In his defense, he thought there would only be one of them.

A hooded silhouette approached his cell. She tapped on the bars. "Wakey wakey," Talia looked down at him. "Welcome back to Nanda Parbat, Child of the Pit."

"About as warm of a welcome as usual..." he struggled slightly against his cuffs. "Why am I here? Just to lure Batman?"

"Perhaps that was originally the plan, yes, but now my father has something else in store for you."

"What might that be?"

"Like him, you are one of the few that have been successfully revived by the Pit without losing your mind. Though, that part is questionable." Was the princess of the assassin clan really questioning his sanity? "At first he believed Bruce Wayne was the ideal heir to the Demon's Head but he has shown weakness when it comes to taking life. You on the other hand did not show such weakness when we revived you," she explained. "My son Damian has also been corrupted by Bruce's ideology and has sworn off the art of killing. You, Jason, are the only true option left. To be the Demon's Head, you must be prepared to kill whomever necessary to make this world a better place."

"Jesus, this just gets better and better. You want me to fight your dad?"

"To the ****, yes. Blood must be exchanged to pass the mantle on."

"Why can't you just do it? You're his daughter. You're about has insane as he is."

"Ra's does not believe that a woman is fit to be the Demon's Head."

"What? Does he know it's 2023?"

"What relevance does the current year have?"

"Forget it. What if I don't accept the challenge?"

"You'll be deemed a coward and promptly executed anyway."

"So plenty of options on the table, got it."

This got worse by the minute. He just hoped that Bruce was on his way. He didn't know how long he was out for but surely he had to have noticed Jason's absence by now. Bruce was the world's greatest detective. He didn't know if he could last in a one on one fight against Ra's al Ghul but he just needed to buy himself time until Batman could get there and they could escape.

"So your name's Jason!" Another voice called out. He saw a familiar blonde psychiatrist being held in the cell adjacent to his. "That's a cute name!" Harley giggled.

"Wait, what the fuck is she doing here?"

"She was caught interfering with our plan to lure out Batman. She was captured and brought here for questioning," Talia explained. "Her fate has yet to be determined. If we had to kill you, we would have used her as bait to bring Batman here one way or another."

"Aww, you just like having me around don'tcha?" Harley gripped the bars.

"Your duel is in ten minutes," with that she was off.

"You're shitting me..."