Brotherly Love [Red Robin]

[Red Hood]

Players: Red Hood & Red Robin
Location(s): A hotel
Plot Summary: Gunmen have taken one of Gotham's most prestigious hotels under their control with influential men and women as their hostages.

Jason couldn't really freely admit it to anyone else but he loved hostage situations. Not in the sense that he liked to see people terrorized and their lives in jeopardy, but the standoff against hostage takers was always something exciting. The challenge of penetrating their stronghold and picking the hostage takers off; thwarting their plans, it was highly enjoyable. But of course Jason knew it was serious business and that he had to be careful so that no one was hurt in the process of freeing the hostages. He knew what his responsibility as a vigilante was but that didn't mean he couldn't have a little fun along the way.

The men were reportedly on the tenth floor of the building with the ninth and eleventh floors boobietrapped as discovered by two unfortunate SWAT teams. The gunmen communicated with Gotham's police via webcam, making their demands known and showing every important figure they held bound in the room. Red Hood didn't have the best relationship with the police but even with that in mind he approached the uniformed men anyway.

"So what's the deal? How many hostages." The round detective known as Bullock turned, his face contorted in a frown, and looked Jason over in silence. "Batman's on vacation, you gotta deal with uh...4th string," He counted on his fingers, "Tonight." Bullock glared the masked man down but he knew Red Hood wasn't going anywhere. "Well if it means not risking any more of my men's lives. There's eight hostages, room 1022." "All I needed, thanks."

Jason had already cracked into the webcam feed and though he hadn't seen the hostages he did see the gunmen; they were armed with standard machine guns and thankfully no explosives or a detonator that Jason could see. As the Red Hood turned and ran off Bullock shouted after him, "If anyone gets hurt I'll have your head on a platter!" Jason didn't really believe the detective's words, because even if no one did get hurt GCPD would still be out for his head on a platter.

[Red Robin]

Perched across from the hotel, on a rooftop high above the city, sat Timothy Wayne with a pair of binoculars held to his masked eyes. Hostage situations were never easy. A simple robbery or whatever was a piece of cake, but when there were innocent people staring down the barrel of a gun, there was a whole new level of urgency added on. Allowing someone to be harmed wasn't an option, as far as he was concerned... and that included not only the hostages, but their keepers as well. A successful mission ended with every life saved. He expected nothing less from himself.

If he thought that the hotel hostage crisis was complicated enough, then the flash of red he had seen down below only made things worse. At first, Tim was sure that he had mistakenly identified the figure communicating with the police down on the ground, but as he started running away from the crowd it became painfully obvious who he was. Tim frowned and lowered the binoculars. Jason's presence always made things more complicated, either due to the emotional back-and-forth that came with clashing with his brother or the fact that Jason often liked to try and kill him. In fact, this was the first time Tim had seen him since the last attempt. His chest still ached sometimes where he had been stabbed.

The binoculars were returned to his belt, then replaced with his grappling gun. Tim couldn't be sure if Jason being there would make things easier or much, much more difficult. The fact that he was evidently coordinating with the police was curious, to say the least. Jason wasn't exactly known for having the best relationship with the GCPD. If anything, he was the one most infamous for playing to the beat of his own (very deadly) drum. While it was doubtful that Jason was suddenly best friends with a bunch of cops, it wasn't that long ago that it would have been surprising for him to have gone anywhere near them. Tim fired off his grappling gun, aiming a line for another nearby building that would allow him to swing down toward where he had seen Jason heading. Either he needed to find out how willing his brother was to end this situations without any blood on their hands (figuratively speaking), or he needed to get Jason out of the way. Much as he would like to believe that the first option was possible, he knew better than to get his hopes up.

Frankly, he would be lucky if Jason didn't try to shove a batarang into his heart again. Yay brothers.

Tim's cape billowed out behind him as he jumped from the rooftop and was greeted with the cool rush of air. He enjoyed the familiar feeling of free-falling for a few moments before the line pulled him toward his destination, and when he was low enough to do so safely, he retracted the line and landed with bent knees on the street below. He straightened, the scowl still on his face as he moved to follow Jason. "You got a plan?" he asked, assuming that the older of the two would have already noticed his presence... and that he would understand the unspoken without killing anybody that followed Tim's words.

[Red Hood]

Jason darted across the street away from the hostage building. Of course he couldn't just charge straight on into the hotel; that was no way to be sneaky or save lives. Instead he needed to....Jason's train of thought slipped for a moment as a frown darkened his hidden face. Up above he heard the distinct sound of heavy fabric caught in a nightly breeze. A caped crusader had made their way to the party a lot earlier than Jason would have liked and if his hunch was right they were going to be paying him a visit shortly. Red Hood just hoped it wasn't Batman, or that crazy ass Batgirl, or the new psycho Robin.

Jason trotted into the darker shadows provided by the high reaching buildings above and then came to a stop. From the sky fell a red and black figure that spoke in a very familiar tone. His replacement; Tim Drake. Or was it Wayne now? Tim had never once crossed Jason's mind in the "who's following me" category but the kid was certainly not on Jason's favorite list either. The fact that their last meeting didn't end too positively had to be a bit strange, to say the least. "Well this is awkward." Being that about a year ago Jason had driven a batarang through Tim's chest, quite happily at that.

But if the new Red Robin (another mantle of Jason's that Tim had stolen) wasn't going to mention the elephant then neither was Jason. "That building behind you," he directed with a jerk of his chin, "I got a line set up up there to shoot into the building next to the hotel. Those buildings used to be connected. After a fire the hotel remained a hotel but the other building was turned into a studio. The important part of this story is that the two buildings still share an old air system. So my plan is the oldie, but goodie, sneak in through the air duct."

Staring at Tim Jason raised a gloved hand and tapped the chin of his hood. "With backup here now though I think I have a plan beyond just the sneak in portion."

[Red Robin]

"Just a little," Tim agreed. Nothing like being reunited with the brother who wanted him dead, right? Though, he had to admit, he couldn't say that it was as awkward as he had expected. Things weren't like they had been when they had last met. He had changed a lot since the last time he had seen Jason, and for his brother's sake, Tim hoped he had as well. He wasn't sure that Jason was someone was someone he would ever trust, but he would rather work with him than against. Jason was smart. He was thorough, well-trained, and was always a few steps ahead of the rest. While his anger could get the best of him, he was a force to be reckoned with. Maybe it was just their familial tie, but Tim had always hoped that Jason, out of all of the criminals in this city (because that's what he was, however he might view himself), would manage to figure out what was right and act upon it.

With his arms folded across his chest, Tim glanced briefly in the direction that Jason gestured, though he was sure to keep the other former Robin in his peripheral. He nodded his chin slightly at Jason's plan. He had done his homework. It was a good idea; cliche, yes, but sometimes a method could be so predictable that it became unpredictable. "Smart." Surprisingly so, actually. Not that he doubted Jason's intelligence, but sometimes his brother could be so trigger happy that it was easy to overlook the fact that he had been trained by Bruce just like the rest of them. He wasn't always the sort to burst in and start firing. Situations like this required a little more finesse.

Behind his mask, Tim's blue eyes moved to focus back on Jason. Backup. Uh-huh. Unless Jason had some friends hiding in the shadow, he was getting a little ahead of himself. "You know there are strings attached to me being backup, right?" Tim reminded him, slightly lifting one brow. Either Jason could play by his rules, or he could get the hell out of his way. It was as simple as that. He would prefer to have Jason's help - so long as it was nonlethal - in a mess like this, but not if he was going to become more of a liability than anything else. If he had the choice, Tim would rather not waste time taking Jason down while those hostages remained in danger, but Jason rarely made things easy for him.

[Red Hood]

To Jason it was weird that they referred to themselves as a family, sure they all worked together to get the job done but what about the Bats actually mirrored a family? Bruce kept them all at a distance, and since being back had he reached out to any of them to mend wounds and rebuild bridges? As far as Jason could tell none of them really like the new Damian, and being that he was actually related to Bruce you'd think he would be treated less like an outsider. And of course Jason was the black sheep of this great big happy family, but after Bruce 'died' did Dick and Tim have their beef as well? Yeah, some family.

That being said Jason never really could pin which of them he disliked or hated the most. Tim was his replacement, the kid was pretty good at just about it all, but Jason still saw him as a downgrade. In the moment they currently faced though things weren't about either of them, it was about taking some gunmen out and keeping hostages safe. "Glad you think so." Jason couldn't tell if Timmy's 'smart' was genuine or not but he did know Tim wasn't one hundred percent on his side. He supposed that was fair, he wasn't really on Tim's either.

"Strings?" He tilted his head to the side, watching Tim close. Of course there were strings attached, clauses in Jason's nonexistent contract that meant absolutely no killing or maiming when working in unison with the righteous Batfam. "Well look who's a little Dick." What the hell was wrong with these people? They acted like Jason was some homicidal lunatic who ran around shooting up each and every person he came across. Okay, so maybe he was a little extra excessive in his short time as Gatman, but that was in the past! Jason raised his hands about shoulder level and waved them in surrender. "Alright alright, I won't kill anyone or draw too much blood or break too many bones. Happy?"

Everyone he came across felt the need to remind him that he couldn't just kill all willy nilly like. They sure knew how to be supportive of a guy already looking to make a few changes. Whatever, he'd play nice for as long as he could. "So you coming or what?" Jason dropped his hands as he walked past Red Robin and began trotting toward the building laying in shadow.

[Red Robin]

A subtle smirk appeared on his face. "Who're you calling 'little'?" The comparison to their oldest brother was a compliment, as far as he was concerned. As much as Tim aspired to be like Bruce in the detective sense, it was Dick whom he strove to imitate in just about every other area. That was how it had always been. Jason couldn't have been surprised by his words, though. Given how things had gone the last time they had met - and every time before that, really - how could he expect anything different? His actions had consequences and one of them was the distrust of everyone around him. That wasn't about to change anytime soon, even with Jason's apparent willingness to leave the deadly force at the door.

Tim had to admit that he was a little surprised that Jason would play nice so easily. That being said, he was pleased that this was the case; he wasn't going to nitpick over the details. They were on a time crunch here, so as long as he had Jason's word that he wasn't going to do some irreversible to the captors, they had to move. "Sounds good to me," Tim replied. He actually was happy with the response, given that even he, with all of his investigative prowess, hadn't seen that coming. Jason was unpredictable but usually not in this sense. What had made him change from trying to kill his younger brother to readily surrendering the methods he had used for years now? It was very promising, and despite himself, he felt a little optimistic. Tim was intrigued enough that he was tempted to ask, but again, there were other things more demanding of his attention in that moment. Questions could come later.

Part of him wondered if Jason was just saying what he knew Tim wanted to hear, but he dismissed the idea as he followed after the other vigilante. Jason had never been one to appease; if he didn't feel like playing along he would have probably kicked Tim in the face and been on his merry way. Or tried to, anyway. "I didn't realize you were buddies with Bullock," he remarked as he strode briskly to keep up with Jason. Not that anyone was really friends with Harvey Bullock, but if you could exchange more than three words with him without him cussing you out, threatening to arrest you, or just being a flat-out ass, then typically it was considered to be a pretty healthy relationship.

[Red Hood]

The comparison to their oldest brother was most definitely not a compliment, not in this instance. Dick had a thing for being judgmental also he was a manwhore - but that was a different topic for a different day. Dick Grayson's skills were good enough to be admired but the guy had the personality of a lima bean, but he was also the first Robin and Jason could remember how much he had respected that back when he was serving his time as Robin. That was a long time ago though, and things had obviously changed since then. "Banter-y like him too." Jason tilted his head slightly, his smirk hidden behind the red hood. Jason really wasn't sure who he had the rockier relationship with; Bruce, Dick, or Tim. He'd trying killing all three on various accounts so it was really hard to determine.

Maybe Jason was a loose cannon at times as the Red Hood, and maybe he could go overboard with the excessive force but could any of these guys really say the people they faced on a nightly basis didn't deserve it? It was more than annoying for Jason to swear up and down that he would be on good behavior whenever one of Gotham's other nightly crime stalkers ran across his path. Batman wouldn't budge in his approach to crime even if Superman stared him down with red hot Kryptonian eyes, so why was Jason always expected to change his methods at the request of others? If only he weren't desperately trying to prove his sanity to everyone then Jason would have stuck to his guns, literally.

Jason was scaling the hidden fire escape of their starting point when Tim mentioned Bullock. "Pff, he wishes. Bullock just needed someone to pin the blame on if this all went south and I knew I'd be just the man he'd be ready to throw under the bus. Weird that he's in charge here though, no sign of Gordon anywhere." That partially worried Jason but with Bruce, Oracle, DickBatman, and the entire Gotham PD to worry about him Jason knew his worry could relax a little. Climbing up the metal stairs of the fire escape Jason came to a stop four stories up, moving aside to make room for his sidekick. There was a metallic cannon-like device set up on the landing pointed across the street directly at the building next door to the hotel where the hostages were.

"You take the air duct, I'm gonna do a little work on the roof." Jason would let Tim worry about the hostages and their safety while he found a way to take out those gunmen terrorists. After laying the course of action Jason pressed a button on the cannon and a thick line shot out across the way and connected the two buildings, the sound of the fire suppressed to a dull whisper.

[Red Robin]

Okay, that was less of a compliment. He would probably never be as chatty as Dick was, though over time he had admittedly become more conversational while on the job. That being said, Tim didn't have his heart set on being as casual and talkative as Dick was during a fight. He preferred Bruce's methods in that regard; lurking, observing, and then waiting for the perfect moment to move in had become more of his style. "I'm not that bad," Tim muttered. Banter had probably been easier for him when he was younger, partially because he worked alongside Dick more often and because the world-weariness that came with this job over time had yet to sink in. Looking back, Tim knew he hadn't fully understood the consequences and sacrifices that this lifestyle demanded. He thought he had known, but he hadn't. Not really.

Tim's masked eyes didn't leave the back of Jason's head as they made their way up the fire escape. As encouraging as it was that Jason was apparently trying to help rather than kill him, Tim wasn't willing to lower his guard yet. This was still a man who had tried to murder him not long ago (and who had nearly succeeded). If it were anyone who wasn't his brother, Tim knew he wouldn't be so lax. But then, what was he supposed to do? Was treating Jason differently because he was family unfair or necessary? Tim wished he could be as impartial as Bruce could be sometimes - or at least pretended to be - but at the same time, he never wanted to turn against family. None of them really had anyone aside from each other. There was one thing that Tim had had to learn over the years: family was precious, it was sacred, and it could be erased in an instant with little to no warning. That point had been driven in even further after Bruce's apparent death, and now that he was back, Tim knew he needed to do a better job of appreciating the people he had in his life.

The question was, did he extend that sentiment to Jason, who had done little if anything to deserve it?

His observation about Gordon's absence was disturbing, at least, and Tim reminded himself to focus on the mission rather than dwell on what a really, really screwed up family he had. "It is," he agreed, frowning. "Not sure I like that." Bullock's character had come into question more than once, and while he was (usually) fairly competent, he wasn't nearly the cop that Gordon was. He may very well have just been on his way; even with sirens on his car, it wasn't like Gotham was always easy to navigate in a hurry. Tim hoped it was just that. When they reached the rooftop and Jason laid out his plans, his frown deepened. The air duct. Great. Tim had frequently ended up with the unpleasant task of crawling through the vents when it was deemed necessary since he had once been the smallest member of the group. Fortunately, he was often able to dodge such methods since he had grown quite a bit since his early days as Robin as well as the fact that he worked independently more often than not these days. If he didn't have to go through the air ducts, then he avoided it like the plague.

Now wasn't the time to be picky, unfortunately. Tim was still just glad he hadn't been shot or stabbed. "Should've seen that one coming," he grumbled as he retrieved his grappling gun from his belt. Part of him was tempted to drop one last reminder not to kill anybody before he departed, but really, what good would it do? Either Jason was going to murder someone or he wasn't. For the time being, Tim was going to just have to trust him... as incredibly uneasy as that made him. Instead, he settled for a brief, slightly bitter despite the sincerity, "good luck." He fired off the line and jumped, letting it pull him up toward the roof of the building adjacent to the hotel. Jason's cannon should be enough to distract the shooters from his arrival. Upon landing, he darted swiftly toward the opening to the air duct and, after utilizing several tools from his belt, removed the grate. He hated this part. After setting the grate aside, Tim allowed himself one quiet 'what the hell am I doing' sigh before he jumped up, gripped the top of the duct, and lowered himself inside. One hostage rescue, coming up.

[Red Hood]

A little work on the roof. It would allow Jason to stay out of sight much longer than Drake. While Tim was shimmying on the inside of vents Red Hood was counting on him to pop out and surprise the gunman, taking all their attention onto himself so that Jason could then make a quick play to clear the men out of the room and save the precious hostages that Bullock and his boys couldn't hope to save. Jason was going to try to not get too full of himself though, there were still lives on the sign and he had to handle this with the utmost caution; least he want unwanted deaths weighing on his conscious.

"Yeah," Jason nodded to the younger former Robin just as he slung away via grapple line. Skill and experience are what they depended on in their line of work but it never hurt to have a little bit of good luck in your corner as well. Pulling himself up onto the rail of the fire escape Jason stepped onto the cord that traveled across the street and briskly ran across the line. His balance was perfect and his speed was quick. Once he reached the end of his line Jason jumped off and pressed a key on a small remote he held in his gloved hand; the line immediately retracted.

Jason leaped toward the hotel and grabbed ahold of an iron ladder on the building's side. He glanced down below and saw Tim climbing his way into the vent, then quickly began to ascend the ladder. He climbed until he reached a caged in ladder that would bring him to the roof access of the hotel, carefully avoiding any close windows that the ladder came near. It took him a moment to assess the ninth floor and make sure that the hostage takers' booby traps didn't extend to the exterior of the building. Once he was sure he was in the clear Jason scaled the rest of the floors and finally pulled himself up to the rooftop, carefully surveying the area for any gunmen before fully standing and roaming the place.

Two floors above where the hostages were being kept Jason approached the ledge of the hotel and glanced over the side, mentally mapping out his next play of action. When he had a solid plan mapped out Jason took a knee and slipped out of his jacket. From a harness cast over his shoulders Jason unloaded five orbs from his person; one for each gunman. Tapping the side of his hood Jason tried to zero in on Tim's com frequency. "Give me a birdcall when you're in position."

[Red Robin]

Crawling through air vents was more difficult than most people imagined. It was claustrophobic, stuffy, unstable, and if someone heard him, he was essentially a sitting duck. Not to mention the fact that even when someone wasn't trying to kill him, Tim had no choice but to move very slowly through the vents, particularly if he wanted to stay quiet. To avoid having to go through more ventilation than necessary, he took a moment to pause and download the building's blueprints to his portable computer. The hostages should be several floors beneath him. Easy enough. He would be able to save time if he got to the nearby elevator shaft.

Tim drew in a deep breath and exhaled sharply, then replaced the miniature computer in his belt after memorizing the blueprints. Time to get going. He moved silently through the air vents, heading toward the elevator shaft that should be at the end of the tunnel further up and to his left. Another negative thing about air vents was that it offered far too much time for his mind to wander. Only a few weeks ago, Dick had warned Tim about the potential risks of trusting people too readily, and that he ought to be more willing to consider not trusting those around him. At the time, he had found the advice both unhelpful and a tad irritating, but since then he had come to question the legitimacy of his older brother's message. Was he trusting Jason too easily now? Tim had always thought he didn't trust people enough - though not to the level that Bruce did - and now he wasn't so sure. What would Dick and Bruce have done if they were in his position, faced with a room full of hostages as well as their estranged brother/son, who appeared to be willing to shelve the deadly force for the time being? Dick had always been more lenient toward Jason as well, but Tim wasn't sure that he would have agreed to work alongside him. Bruce, on the other hand... there was no question that he would have made time to take Jason down.

The elevator shaft was visible up ahead, and Tim's lips were twisted with uncertainty as he approached. He, out of all of them, had likely been the most tolerant of Jason, despite how many times his older brother had tried to murder him. Tim had even aided Jason's escape from prison, which hadn't had the best consequences. Dick might be right about him needing to be more like Bruce, but Tim couldn't bring himself to think that way. Upon reaching the opening to the elevator shaft, he threw himself from the vent and grabbed on to the thick cables holding the elevator up. Tim gripped the cables tightly and began to lower himself further down the shaft until he had reached the vents circulating the same floor as the hostages. Now was the part where he had to be perfectly quiet. Tim twisted his body up so he could press his boots against the cables, then pushed off, launching himself at the vent. His gloved hands caught the edge, and he pulled himself up and into the vent.

He paused, listening; there was nothing. Tim started to crawl through the next set of vents, and for a few minutes, there was silence. This was broken by the familiar voice coming through his earpiece. "Another thirty seconds," he muttered. The vents echoed the voices coming from the room with the hostages. Their keepers were probably talking to a negotiator. If only that worked more often. The voices grew louder, and finally Tim saw strips of light peeking through the grate at the end of the vent. He drew closer until he had a clear view of the civilians and the armed men holding them hostage. "Good to go."