No matter how long ago it was, he was very grateful that he happened to pass through that dark and gloomy alley that day, and he didn't regret bringing her back.
Jason Todd, AKA the Red Hood, thought so.
Gotham always had a dark and decayed atmosphere, which made outsiders uncomfortable, and sometimes even the locals cursed its weather, along with its special breed of criminals.
But they all loved this city.
On a night when the moon was shyly hiding behind the clouds as usual, the Red Hood, who had been back in Gotham for over half a year, successfully avoided unnecessary trouble after eliminating a drug trafficking gang, evading the pursuing Batman, and beating up his new Robin.
Beating up Robin didn't put him in a good mood, and the Red Hood rode his motorcycle through the streets and alleys of Gotham, ready to return to his safe house, treat his wounds, and rest.
The Crime Alley in the East End was his main area of activity after returning, where he was using his power to clean up the various criminals, large and small. The progress was good. Those guys didn't deserve gentle words; they only deserved violence.
Thinking like this, as he passed through an alley with no surveillance cameras or lights, the Red Hood was about to speed past, but then he suddenly stopped.
The screeching sound of the motorcycle brakes was unusually harsh in the silent night. The Red Hood turned his head, furrowing his brow under his helmet. He seemed to have seen something strange just now.
With the motorcycle pivoting 180 degrees on its stand, leaving a perfect arc on the ground, the headlight shone into the alley. In a corner, next to a garbage can, a dirty child whose original features couldn't be discerned sat there, hugging his knees. The Red Hood got off his bike and walked over.
The bright light made the child shield his eyes with his hand. When the Red Hood approached, the child cautiously watched him, ready to run if he got too close.
There were many homeless children in the East End, and Crime Alley was one of their areas of activity. Some of them had lost their parents and had to fend for themselves, while others had never had parents from the start, or had been abandoned by them. The welfare homes and orphanages couldn't support them, so they had to rely on petty theft to survive. Some were lucky enough to get tasks assigned by the thugs, and the rewards they received after completing them weren't much, but it was enough for them to live on.
If Gotham's policies were a bit better, maybe their lives wouldn't be so hard.
The Red Hood had seen many such children. He had once been one of them himself, but he was much better off than them. At least he had a place to live back then, and he wouldn't have let himself end up like this. He was also lucky enough to be adopted when he was in his teens.
Some parts of Gotham's welfare institutions were still okay, and he had also been in a shady orphanage, but over the years, the childcare policies had improved.
With unclear thoughts in his mind, he reached out to stop the child.
He didn't know why he was doing this. He could just consider it an overflow of his conscience. Even if he didn't raise this child himself, he could send the child to a place where he could be taken care of.
The Red Hood thought he wasn't suitable for raising children, and he didn't have the quirks of the old Batman.
But he didn't easily grab the child as he had imagined. The other party rolled away from his hand as soon as possible, avoiding his grasp, and got up to run again, with concise and agile movements.
The Red Hood raised an eyebrow. If he let this little guy slip away from under his nose, he might as well not stay in Gotham.
After a few rounds with the little brat, successfully lifting him up, the Red Hood couldn't help but tease him, feeling proud, "Keep running, kid."
Forced to hang in the air, the child punched and kicked him for a while, realizing that he couldn't reach him, and stopped struggling, maybe tired. The child said angrily, "ばかやろう!はなして!"
Red Hood: ???
The future big shot naturally couldn't fail to understand what the child was saying. He was somewhat surprised. There was actually a homeless foreign child in Gotham?
After a moment of thought, he asked in Japanese, "What's your name?"
The child hesitated for a moment, not expecting to hear a familiar language here. Tears welled up in his eyes for a moment, but he still turned his head away without speaking.
The Red Hood thought, this kid is quite vigilant.
So he brought the child back to his safe house. But after bringing him back, he felt like his brain might be malfunctioning. Why did he bring this kid back? He could just toss him into an orphanage, right? What was the point of bringing him back?
But looking at the bewildered child standing in the room, curiously and cautiously surveying the surroundings, the Red Hood realized that the child was more vigilant than he thought. His demeanor, as if he dared to do something, made it seem like the child would kill him at any moment.
This was a fierce little wolf cub.
Jason looked at her dirty feet and the footprints on the floor, then he dragged her to the bathroom. He said, "Clean yourself up."
The child looked at him warily and asked, "What do you want?"
The Red Hood wasn't about to bully a child who couldn't understand the language. He patiently explained that the child was too dirty, and after cleaning up, he would decide what to do with him.
The child looked at him with a strange look in his eyes, then nodded.
He went to find a clean outfit that hadn't been worn much, and when he returned to the bathroom, he was surprised to find the child hadn't moved. He felt a bit at a loss. "Do you need help with bathing?"
The child's eyes remained wary, but there was a hint of grievance in them. "I don't know."
The Red Hood felt a twinge of annoyance. He had brought trouble upon himself! But then he realized that the child might not know how to use the things in the bathroom. The child seemed quite intelligent, so he wasn't a complete fool who couldn't even bathe.
The Red Hood: ...He's just asking for trouble!
After putting away the clean clothes, he explained and demonstrated how to use the various items in the bathroom, as well as the bath products.
He pointed to the clothes nearby and said, "I don't have clothes for children here, so just make do with these."
The child didn't have any objections. Jason closed the door, and after a while, he heard the sound of running water inside.
With this matter resolved, the Red Hood finally relaxed a bit. But with this relaxation, he smelled a strange and nauseating odor emanating from his own body.
The Red Hood's face alternated between pale and green. He cursed himself again for bringing the kid back half an hour ago. His brain must have been malfunctioning.
He hadn't taken off his mask since he returned to his own territory. Originally, he should have been relaxing, but now there was an extra child, and he couldn't let her know his identity, so he had to keep it on for now.
As he changed out of his dirty clothes in the room, the Red Hood thought he would have to wash his car later.
After about an hour of running water in the bathroom, Jason sat on the sofa feeling somewhat drowsy. Finally, the bathroom door opened.
The Red Hood didn't pay much attention, but the child had indeed washed herself clean. The child, who had been dirty beyond recognition before, was now clean and white. It was obvious how dirty she had been before.
The child had clean white hair, which was not a common hair color among ordinary people. At the moment, it was wet and stuck to her back, neck, and cheeks. The child was very thin, looking like the malnourished type. The short sleeves on her were down to her knees, and the small and thin child couldn't fill up the clothes at all.
The Red Hood clicked his tongue. The child stood hesitantly at the bathroom door, looking very uncomfortable. The vigilance in her eyes remained, and she still didn't fully trust him.
He didn't despise the child, but rather her previous appearance, which was too dirty to look at.
He was more annoyed with himself for being so mistaken. How could this be a boy? Even though the other party was still young and hadn't shown obvious physiological characteristics yet, Asian boys and girls could be easily distinguished at her age, not to mention her long hair. Clearly, she was an Asian girl.
He handed her the hair dryer and showed her how to use it. While she was blow-drying her hair, he dutifully handled her dirty clothes left in the bathroom. Even if they were washed, they couldn't be worn anymore; they already had quite a few holes.
After confirming with the girl, he threw them away. The Red Hood noticed that it was already getting light outside, so he brought back breakfast directly, and the girl had just finished blow-drying her hair.
He called the girl over for breakfast, and she sat not far from him, eating the food slowly. After a while, she whispered, "Thank you."
The girl's attitude softened, and the Red Hood took the opportunity to ask her what her name was, where she came from, and where her family was.
But the only response he got was the girl shaking her head in confusion. She didn't remember anything. She said she woke up in this unfamiliar place, and because she couldn't understand the people here, she hid.
The Red Hood: ...He really brought back a big trouble.
"Since you don't remember your name, but you should have a name to be called by now, how about I call you Jantis?"
"Okay."
As the girl ate, the Red Hood had already made up his mind. He was going to take care of her.
"Hello, my name is Jason Todd."
He took off his hood, ran his hand through his already messy hair, and took a bite of the sandwich on the table, saying arrogantly, "?"