"Another gala? Are rich people obsessed with them or what?"

Watcher didn't work for Batman like most people thought. She worked with him. And she was not a fucking sidekick. But somehow being a close associate of Batman meant that she was a close associate of the Wayne family. Which meant invitations to any and all galas that they held. Which also meant having to come face to face with Jason Todd and not accidentally punch him in the face.

"Come on, it'll be fun, Grumpy," Dick Grayson was not a very convincing person. He was incredibly smart but sometimes it felt like he only had a single brain cell. "I can tell you that the food will be good."

"The food is always good," Skylar sighed as she sat on her bed, Watcher's costume laid out next to her. "Just the company is not and you know exactly who I am talking about."

"Well, he won't be there this time," Dick said, almost with a resigned sigh. "Bruce is still mad at him for that incident last week with Penguin's henchmen."

She raised her eyebrows and smirked in amusement. "As he should. He almost got me shot, you know?"

"Yeah, I do. I was there. And I saw you crush his gun like it was nothing."

"Whatever. I'll come. But the second I see Jason, I'm bolting. Can't stand the guy."

"See ya! And dress nice!"

"Whatever, Dick."

"Funny," He said, but then hung up. "Don't be late for patrol though."

Skylar tossed her phone to the side, half smiling, half tired but very ready to go on patrol and have a good time catching criminals. And not think about the stupid gala she was going to attend. Not that she wouldn't go though. She did owe a lot to Bruce Wayne and the Batman.

Once again, her mind slipped back to the years gone past. But there was no time to get completely lost. She had to get dressed to go on patrol.

*

Emotions swirled in Skylar's heart, but these emotions were not of a good kind.

She was angry. She was so fucking angry that she wanted to punch a hole in a wall and crush something to dust. With her inhuman strength, she could actually do it. She tore off her mask as she stormed into the Bat Cave.

Skylar was going to murder Jason Todd.

"I would ask what's going on, but you look like you're going to go on a rampage so I'm going to stay away from you." Dick Grayson, Nightwing told her as he followed her inside. Tonight's patrol had gone exceptionally well, all except for that one little fluke incident with Red Hood that had caused her to lose sight of the criminal they had been chasing.

"I'm going to kill Red Hood. I'm going to destroy him. I'm going to rip out his throat and,"

"There will be no ripping out of throats tonight, Miss Hannigan," Alfred interrupted her, announcing his arrival. He was holding a plate of snacks in his hands, sandwiches that he knew the Batfamily loved.

"Ooh, sandwiches!" Dick practically bounded over, tossing his escrima sticks to the ground. At the same time, there was a loud noise of an engine. The Batmobile was here.

As Skylar walked to Alfred, ready to grab her sandwiches, she took a cursory glance at the Bat Cave. The computers, the small armory, the place where all the Batfamily hung their suits and that weird statue of a T-Rex that no one would tell her where it came from. Four years ago, this was not the place she would have ever thought herself to be in.

But things...things had changed a lot. She was not that eighteen year old anymore. In the four years since everything in her life had gone to hell, things were finally looking up. They were relatively good. Relative being the keyword because she had to deal with Jason Todd, the Red Hood.

A year and a half ago; almost two years ago now actually, things had been a huge mess. The dead Robin had somehow come back to life and basically started taking over Gotham's underworld. Which in hindsight, was probably a good thing. There had been a lot of battles, a lot of fights between him and Batman, with the other Robins and her caught up in it. Tensions between the Red Hood and them were almost resolved to an extent, which was a huge improvement over how crazy things had been last year.

Oh yeah, after this happened, Bruce also discovered that he had a son, not adopted, raised by the League of Shadows and the son was a murderous eleven-year-old boy.

Damian was a brat and seemed to have a lot of fun attacking Skylar and Tim with a knife. Jason, in many ways, was just like him.

There was the loud noise of an engine followed by the rumbles of a bike. The first was the Batmobile. And the other, Jason.

Right. Time to make a quick escape then.

Skylar landed on the roof with a soft hud. Just three more roofs to jump through and she'd land right on top of her apartment building. The night sky was cloudy, as always and the moon was hidden, so there was little to no light. It was a good thing and meant Skylar could easily sneak back in.

The wind seemed a little too quiet. It always made some noise and with her enhanced senses, she always heard it. But not here. Not now.

At Skylar's waist hung a pair of small daggers. With a swift motion, she spun around and threw them right at the person following her.

He caught it between his gloved fingers and Skylar imagined if his mask didn't cover the entirety of his face, he would be smirking right now. The red emblem on his chest was clearly visible to her. "You missed."

"I wasn't aiming at you," Skylar walked to him, head held high. "Just practicing my throw and you happened to be there."

She plucked her dagger from his hand and hung it back on her waist. "What do you want, Red? Haven't I told you to quit following me around?"

"Do I look like I care what you tell me?" Red Hood shrugged as he stepped backwards, leaning against the entry door of the rooftop entrance. Thankfully it was locked, otherwise, she'd be kicking him down the stairs and calling it an accident.

"Then don't follow me, plain and simple." She looked at him, fixing him with a piercing gaze. After a slight pause, she asked, "So? You want something or..."

"As much as it pains me to ask you this," Jason said, his body language quite nonchalant. He took out his phone and opened it. He pointed the screen at her, revealing the face of a man whose face looked a little too familiar. "I need your help to catch this guy."

Skylar scoffed. "That is the most ridiculous idea I've heard this week and hear very ridiculous shit all the time. Why would you need my help? Why would I even agree?"

Jason groaned in annoyance and wrenched off his helmet. His hair was messy, black with a single white streak running through it. His cheekbones were sharp and his eyes were everything but kind and soft. "The guy's been dealing drugs to kids, middle school kids to be exact. You beat him up once, didn't you?"

"Oh fuck," Skylar cursed. Now she knew why the man's photo felt so incredibly familiar. She had busted him and his lackeys last year and thrown him out the ground floor window. It didn't cause any significant damage to him, but left him with a scar running across his left eye. "Why exactly are you asking me?"

Jason held up one finger. "Reason number one, he was talking about you stalling his operations when I was tailing him. Reason number two, he's hurting kids. Reason number three, he's encroaching on my territory. I also have reasons to believe that he is acting as one of Scarecrow's suppliers."

"Well, you should have led with that," Skylar stretched her arms. "I'll work with you, Red. But it's a one time thing."

"Of course, it's a one-time thing, Viewer."

"It's Watcher."

"Don't really care."

"Oh fuck off."

God, I love writing Skylar and Jason's dynamic. As you can see, they very clearly don't like each other. But eventually, we all know how things will turn out hehe. I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter!

Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments <3 <3