//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14 
// Story: The Red Hood 
// by MorpheustheDream 
//------------------------------//

~~JT~~


"And then Red Hood came along and beat up the bad guy! He was all like 'Wham! Boom! Kapow!'" Said a rather excited Pinkie Pie, as she told what happened to her last night to her friends who were present at the lunch table.

"That's nice and all Pinkie, but are you doing alright yourself?" Asked Sunset, concern on her face after hearing what happened to her friend.

"Huh? Oh, I'm doing great now Sunny. I was scared when it was happening, but I had a feeling everything would work out in the end. And it did!"

As Pinkie continued being Pinkie, I noticed that Rarity had spent quite a bit on her phone for the most part of the day whenever she wasn't in class whenever I saw her. Leaving the others to their conversation, I turned to her and talked to her.

"May I ask what's got you so interested in your phone today?" Her head shot up as she looked around, eventually stopping on me as she realized I was talking to her.

"Oh, nothing really. Just a bunch of gossip and rumors that have seemingly taken over the entire city."

"Rumors, huh? I wouldn't take much stake in those to be true, as most of the time they're false from my experience."

"I know, Jason. I know. But what's weird is that the rumors are all about you.  Even if they do seem outrageous." She replied to me.

I let a small smirk reach my face, as I leaned back in the chair. "Alright then, enlighten me as to these rumors about me. Because I certainly haven't heard anything yet."

"The rumors are claiming that you're the Red Hood." That shocked me down to the core. Nobody in this city knows I'm the Red Hood. I never told anybody. The only people who know are Bruce and the rest of the Batfamily. Not even Sunset knows, and she lives with me.

I rack my brain over anyone else who could possibly know. None of the people in Bruce's rogue gallery know who I am. I haven't told any of the other heroes in the world. Talia Al Ghul knows, and by extension so does the League of Shadows, but they have no reason whatsoever to expose my identity, which takes them off the table of potential people.

That would bring me to the others in my crazy family. Bruce would never do such a thing, Dickybird is too much of a golden boy to try and sabatoge me. Replacement, or Tim would also have no reason to do so, despite how much I enjoy messing around with him. And the Demon Brat would be too high upon his pedastel on being better than everyone to stoop so low to reveal me. Barbara views me as a little brother, and as a result would never do such a thing to me.

And now, I am brought to the ones I'm trying to take down. Sombra would have all the wants to try and out me. Chrysalis likely could care less as I haven't gone after any of her Changelings yet.

Which ultimately leaves it as Sombra who spread the word. That leaves the question on how he figured out I was the Red Hood.

"-son? You still around in their somewhere?" I looked around and saw that Rarity was trying to get my attention.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But I gotta go. I'll see you all later," I reply, taking the apple left on my tray as I stand up from the table, putting the tray away and leaving the cafeteria.


~~SS~~

The rest of the girls and I watched as Jason left the cafeteria, with Rarity looking concerned. "Did I upset him?"

"No, I'm sure you didn't upset him Rarity. Jason wouldn't hesitate to tell you otherwise," Replied Rainbow, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

But the fact he walked off after having been told the rumors surrounding him being Red Hood, as well as him being out of the house reinforces my theory that Jason really is the Red Hood. If I straight up ask him, who knows what he'll do. Maybe when the rest of the girls come over for our sleepover at my place, and Jason goes out like he usually does, I'll be able to confirm my suspicions. But all of that will have to wait later on tonight.


~~S~~


"Dammit Sombra, I would've dealt with the rat in my ranks if you had just told me! But no, you just had to have Tirek try and find them himself!"

As I stood out looking through my office window, I had to also deal with a visibly and vocally pissed off Chrysalis. "That's because I had to deal with the problem as soon as possible, and trying to have it go through you first would take precious time away from other things. But the fact you know means that he failed, and the rat has gone into hiding, making them all the more of a problem to catch."

"Well of course he failed! My Changelings outnumber your main enforcer. And as a result of your orders and his actions, Tirek forced their hands as well as mine, and now he's dead." Tirek dead? That's news to me. And to think I thought him to be unkillable with his multiple cases of surviving against improbable odds. But he's no Meta-Human like I am, no matter how much he had others believe he was.

"Tirek is dead, huh? Well, I guess that's one less loose end to have to worry about."

"A loose end? After all we've been through, after all we've done, that's what we are? A means to an end?!" Chrysalis yelled at me, slowly beginning to grate onto my nerves. "If that's the case Sombra, then you can forget about whatever aid or support you were getting from me and my Changelings."

Once her voice had returned to a semi normal level, I smiled softly and stretched my hands that were behind my back. "Is that so? As sorry as I am to hear that, it is of no matter to me." Before she could register what was happening, I had my hand wrapped around her throat, slowly lifting her into the air as I turned towards her while she struggled in my grasp.

"You know quite well what I do with people who outlive their use to me, and know far too much about what I do." It was then her eyes widened in fear as she struggled more, trying to escape and get some air in her lungs. "Those who fit that category are disposed of, and are cast aside without a second thought." I squeezed her throat with a bit more force, and her neck snapped like a tree branch. Her struggling stopped as her limbs fell limp beside her, her head leaning off to the side just above her left shoulder.

I let go of her neck, and she dropped onto the ground like a sack of potatoes. Going over to the phone on my desk, I rang up my secretary, to which she answered immediately. "Get someone up her to take care of the body, and have them make sure it can't be traced back to us."

"I'll get someone on it at once sir." She replied, as I ended the line and went back to overlooking the city, silently smirking to myself knowing that things would be coming to an end real soon between me and Red Hood once the word spread of what happened last night and this afternoon. And I will do anything and everything I can to make sure I come out on top during our confrontation.