#TIRED of the west getting painting as hypocritical about this shit

[party-gilmore]

“The Hypocritical West Didn’t Care About Palestine When Israel Was The Perpetrator But Now That Palestine-“

WE DID CARE!!! WE DID!! WEVE BEEN RAGING ABOUT THIS FOR FUCKING YEARS!!!!

JEWS HERE HAVE BEEN CALLING FOR PEOPLE TO TURN ATTENTION AND RECOGNITION THAT ITS ATROCIOUS FOR AGES!!!! URGING THEM TO CONDEMN THE ACTIONS AND STEP IN!! KNOWING SHIT WASNT GONNA CHANGE CUZ THEH HAVE TOO MUCH MONEY INVESTED IN ISRAEL AND WARNING THAT IT WAS GOING TO TURN INTO THIS KIND OF EVEN WORSE PRESSURE COOKER!!!

BUT THAT DOESNT FIT Y’ALLS OUTRAGE NARRATIVE SO NOW THAT SHIT’S ESCALATING AND GOING MAINSTREAM Y’ALL WANNA ACT LIKE WE’RE SUDDENLY BACKPEDALLING AND ONLY NOW “PRETENDING” TO CARE ABOUT CIVILLIANS IN THE CROSSFIRE!!!

You’re just seeing it MORE because now escalation, retaliatory escalation, is IMMINENT, and we have NO idea how far and how severe that is going to affect us on a global level - political and social and financial - and the fear is getting LOUDER.

[loxare]

Harm

Chapter 5 - Run In 2 and Invading Eggplant

More than a thousand miles from Bludhaven, Wally West was doing dishes. Linda was out doing a report on the new rail system, Jai and Iris were at a friend's and Wally had the day off. So he put on the news for background noise and made supper, a nice lasagna that was currently in the oven. (Well, three lasagnas.) He mostly focused on getting cheese off of the grater, only catching snippets from the TV.

“...and the mayor had this to say...”

“...a minor fire that could have been...”

“...still standing thanks to the Flash...”

“...other news, it appears Red Hood is back in...”

Wait, what was that?

“...more than two months of silence, criminals have started dying in Bludhaven, in methods matching some of Red Hood's previous victims. Red Hood, for our viewers who are unaware, is a vigilante of the worst kind, killing criminals instead of leaving them to the judicial system. It is unlikely he will leave Bludhaven, but it has happened once before.”

“Kind of makes you grateful to the Flash, doesn't it Karen?”

“It sure does Al.” The segment ended, but Wally had already left the kitchen.

He was halfway across the country when his phone alarm went off. Making a quick dash home, he pulled the lasagna out, left a note for Linda and the kids, then ran out again. Then ran back in to grab his costume.

Wally ran around Bludhaven for an hour before stopping to rest. He'd already refueled several times, at that hot dog vendor Iris had gone to last time she'd been here, but now his legs were tired. So he sat on a bench for a few minutes. He was just about to get up and start his search when his phone rang.

Iris's exuberant voice greeted him when he picked up the phone. “Hi Dad! I saw your note and I think I can help.”

“You're not allowed to run to Bludhaven.” She had tried, several times while Red Hood had been missing, but he'd always caught up to her. Wally knew his daughter was worried, but Bludhaven was dangerous and he didn't want her anywhere near it.

“I wasn't going to,” she said in that tone of voice she used that said she had totally been thinking about it, “but I'm in contact with a bunch of kids in Bludhaven, and they keep track of Red Hood. But first you need to tell me what you need to find him for.”

Wally shifted, uncomfortable. “I'm not sure. I haven't really thought about it.”

“Are you going to punch him or throw him in jail or leave him tied up for the cops?”

“No!” As bad a criminal as Red Hood was, he had saved Wally's daughter. And while he would take anyone else in regardless, there was something about Red Hood that made Wally feel like it wouldn't be worth it. “No, sweetie, I just wanted to talk to him.”

“Mmkay. I trust you. But if the other kids start freaking out, I'm not talking to you for a month.” Wally would take that threat seriously if he thought she could actually go through with it. There was a minute or two of silence, followed by keys clicking, followed by more silence.“The kids say he was last seen heading west on Blue Line North. Probably heading for the rail yards. He's going by rooftop, like the Bats do, so you'll find him up there.”

“Thanks Irey.” Wally smiled as his daughter signed off. He'd bring home some chili dogs for her.

He zipped off, running up a wall. At his speed, jumping the gaps between buildings was no sweat, and the roofs were almost as good a track as the street. He just had to be careful not to make too much noise. It wouldn't be good to startle the people trying to sleep in the rooms below him.

Wally had just passed the Littleneck bridge when he saw the distinctive red helmet, attached to the much less distinctive jacket and jeans. Red Hood was headed for the edge of a roof, jumping with a familiar flip and landing in a roll, using that momentum to get back on his feet and keep running. “Like the Bats do” indeed. Wally hadn't seen anyone outside the Gotham heroes who could do that so smoothly.

Racing ahead, he slowed down so Red Hood could see his approach. And see he did. He landed on another roof and came up in a defensive position, low to the ground with one fist raised in front of him, the other dropping to his thigh holster. Not touching it, Wally was pleased to see, but close enough to have the gun out in half a second if needed.

Not that it would ever come out fast enough if things got dicey. But Wally was really hoping that they wouldn't.

“I come in peace.” Coming to a stop with his hands raised and open was the best he could do to diffuse the tensions right now. “Seriously, I promise, I'm not here to take you to jail or anything. I just wanted to thank you.”

Red Hood twitched in surprise, but it was minuscule, controlled. “Thank me?” His voice was more than a little surprised.

“Yeah, for helping my daughter out that one time.” By this point, Wally was four steps away and Red Hood had nearly relaxed out of his crouch. Not fully relaxed; he would still be able to react if Wally pulled anything. “You bolted before I could thank you properly, so I'm doing it now.”

He let out a snort, which sounded weird through the voice modulation on his helmet. “What, and me being a mass murderer doesn't bother you?”

Wally crossed his arms, thinking. “It does, and next time I see you, I'll definitely take you in. But I promised my daughter I wouldn't, so today I'm not going to. I mean, I wasn't going to anyways. I really did track you down so I could thank you.”

“Huh.” With a quick shift in balance, Red Hood moved into a stance that looked completely at ease, but one Wally knew would still allow him to react fairly quickly. “Well, you're welcome. Gotta say though, you're the first person over the age of eighteen to thank me for anything in the past few years and it's really weirding me out.”

With a laugh, Wally leaned on an air conditioner. “Yeah, Iris said you didn't have many adult fans, even in Bludhaven.” Wally had been following that story, kind of. The months that Red Hood was gone – probably in the hospital – following Superman's uncharacteristic beat down, the violent crime rate had gone way up. The theories went flying, the crime rate was only up because Red Hood brought more trouble with him, like most capes did, that crooks were taking advantage of his absence to rule the Bludhaven underground, that the gang war that had started in the Projects had only happened because Red Hood killed the top brass in both and blamed the other. Which... that last one was probably true.

Red Hood snorted again. “Nope. They liked me for about a day and a half, and only to use as fodder against your Justice League.”

“Yeah.” He sighed. That particular media fallout had been brutal. “Sorry about that by the way. The media ripped you apart putting us back in the public's good books.”

“No problem. Not the first time I've been tossed under the bus. Oh, and by the way, you told me your daughter's name a minute ago. Isn't that supposed to be secret?”

Wally laughed again. “It would be, if she hadn't told you already. If I hadn't told you mine over the phone. I suppose I owe you another thank you.” For not spreading it around.

A careless shrug from Red Hood. “No reason to give you hero types more reason to come after me.” He didn't mention that if he did get arrested, he could use the information to bargain for his release, or get special treatment from other inmates. And if he did get arrested, but still kept quiet, jail would be hell on Earth. Every inmate would be gunning for that information. Wally didn't know what Red Hood would choose, but he would have to make sure the League had precautions put in place for both.

Because someday, someone would arrest Red Hood. Some hero would decide enough was enough and take him out. Or fail, bringing more heroes to Bludhaven to avenge his or her defeat. Honestly, Wally was surprised it hadn't happened already. “True. You're probably walking on thin enough ice in the community as is.”

Red Hood nodded, then gestured in the direction he'd been heading before Wally had stopped him. “Nice chat and all, but I was headed for something.” Wally gave him a look, which Red Hood noticed, of course. “Nothing lethal, probably, so don't get your tights in a bunch. There's a bunch of people in a warehouse planning on robbing a charity, so I'm going to break all their arms.”

Wally grumbled. “That's not much better.”

“Better than the charity getting robbed. The money from that goes to helping women in abusive situations, and it's one of the few clean ones in the city.” Red Hood shoved one hand in his pocket, the other lifting to wave goodbye. “If you're not going to stop me now, better take off. Some media dog might paint you as complicit otherwise.”

It was tempting, to run up and stop him. But he had promised Iris. And Red Hood said he wasn't going to kill anyone. Still. “Maybe only break one arm each?”

“We'll see Flash. Run along home before your daughter comes looking for you.”

Two days later, when Wally caved and looked up the arrest report, he spit out his coffee. Half of the potential charity robbers had both of their arms broken. The other half, one each.

Jason's night had been going pretty good. Right up until he saw some kid try and stop a mugging. With any other age group, he would be applauding the citizen for taking initiative. Good for them! But for whatever reason, the kids in this city thought it was a good idea to copy him and try and bust drug rings. He really needed to have a talk with them about that. And if that talk made him a hypocrite, well, at least he wasn’t a hypocrite with a bunch of dead kids on his hands.

For now though, he needed to stop this blonde kid from getting stabbed. Again.

He landed on one of the thugs, eliciting a startled “Shit! Fuck!” from the blonde girl. The man who had been getting mugged was busy cowering in the corner and probably couldn't be startled if Jason tried. He had to admit though, the girl was pretty good. Even with a deep cut in her shoulder, she was taking out thugs like it was her job. But her fighting style was more city dojo and less Bat-trained, so she was probably just some kid.

Finally, all of the thugs were lying on the floor groaning. The mugging victim had scarpered a while ago, so it was just the two of them standing. Jason was looking through his belt, and the girl was holding her arm and looking awkward. “Well. This was fun. I should probably g-”

“Crap.” Jason looked up at the girl. “Sorry, I forgot to restock my first aid stuff.” He crossed his arms as he thought. He'd been planning on taking the girl to a well lit rooftop somewhere, but without his first aid, that was not an option.

“No, really, I could just go.” She was from Gotham. Lower Gotham, judging from her accent. It was nice to hear again.

Jason frowned and walked a bit closer. “You have a hole in your shoulder. And trust me, those bleed a lot.” He sighed. “Look, if I take you back to my place to patch you up, are you going to rat me out to the cops? Because I just moved in and I like it.”

She snorted. “Pft. No. But really, I'm fine.”

Jason pulled off his helmet so she could see him raise an eyebrow at her. “The nearest hospital is a half hour walk, and trust me, you'll bleed out long before then. It's a five minute swing to my place, so come on. I promise I won't assault you if that's what you're worried about.” It was a legitimate concern, and if he thought that was the problem, he would just go to his apartment and bring stuff back. But she hadn't reacted when he'd moved closer, so he'd rather not risk her bleeding out while she waited. Still, he held out his hand and waited for her to take it. When she did, he pulled her in close and told her to hold on tight.

Five minutes later, they were at his apartment. He dropped her on the sofa – leather and black, so blood wiped off and didn't stain – then went to the fridge for juice. “Drink that, you'll need the fluids,” he said as he grabbed his medkit from behind the couch. Not a good idea to keep it too far away, especially when he couldn't find the energy to walk to the bathroom and back. The girl had already peeled off her coat. Luckily, she was wearing a tank top, so she didn't have to take off her shirt as well.

“So,” he ventured as he injected some pain killers into her arm, “what's your name?”

She seemed a little reluctant to answer, but eventually she said, “Steph. Stephanie Brown. What's yours?” Something about the name sounded familiar.

Jason just smiled, wrinkling his nose at the smell of the antiseptic. “Red Hood. But you can call me Red.”

Steph sat quietly for a few minutes while Jason worked. And while he worked, he started thinking up all the fun ways he was going to utterly destroy whoever had hurt this girl. She had almost as many scars as he did, and it looked like they were the result of torture. Recent too. Not much more than a year, year and a half.

“Is it true you were the second Robin?” She asked finally, breaking into his plans. “I mean, it's cool if you don't want to tell me.”

Jason tugged the last stitch through and tied off. “Yup. In the flesh.” He grabbed some bandages from his kit and started wrapping her injury.

“Hm.” She waited while he secured the bandages, using the excess as a sling. “I'm not here for long, just visiting for the weekend. Not really how I planned to spend it.”

“Yeah, getting stabbed will normally knock out your weekend plans.” He sat back, pulling her coat back on and buttoning it over top of her arm. “That's what happens when you try and fight crime without being ready though. I really need to sit you kids down and have a chat with you.” Jason sighed. The Red Kids, the ones who tried to copy him, do what he did, normally scattered when he jumped down. They knew he didn't want them fighting, but they refused to listen to his reasons why. “Oh well. Problems for another day. Do you have my number?”

She shook her head, so he grabbed a card from his belt and handed it over. Then she grabbed a pencil and his note paper from the coffee table and wrote her number down on it as well. “So you can call me. And make sure you do call me. I'm from Gotham, I know how you people work.”

Jason snorted. “Sure thing.” If it was an emergency.

Steph just rolled her eyes and stood up, pulling on her coat as she did. “Are you going to take me back down, or do I have to take the stairs?”

“No, the stairs are being renovated. I'll take you down.”

He put her down on the ground and then followed from the rooftops to make sure she got home safe. And then he went home and plugged in his flash drive for the first time since the hospital.

AN: Sorry this took so long! For more Flashes in Bludhaven, this chapter is your friend.

Oh hey, it’s that flash drive again. Weird. I wonder what he’s looking up on there? Mystery.

Read and enjoy you wonderful people! Loxie out!