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When the crew had been informed about a mission requiring them to journey into Gotham nobody was particularly happy. Apparently the man they'd been chasing had fled to the city and with him had taken the sculpture they'd been trying to procure. It made sense to send the Agent with the literal art expert of a CI, and so along with Neal and Peter, Jones, Diana and two other agents were sent to Gotham.
"Why Gotham, why can't someone ever run off to a beach or something." One of the agents complained, Agent Myers.
"The Sun?" Neal hissed as though the word was toxic.
"You don't like summer, Neal?" Diana asked carefully. Neal, Diana, and Myers had one vehicle while Jones, Peter and Agent Mattock followed behind.
"No, I burn easily." Neal offered up which surprised the other two.
"Really?"
"Yep." He popped the p, staring out of the window at the growing skyline, anticipation thrumming through him that Diana mistook as nerves, the tremble of his hands as anxiety and not excitement. Gotham might be a shit hole but it was Neal's home and God how he had missed it.
"Hey, don't be nervous, Neal, you might have heard bad things about Gotham but surely they can't all be true." Diana soothed while Myers tuned out and focused on driving.
"I'm not nervous." Neal shot back, why would he be nervous, actually scratch that he was nervous his dumbass siblings would show up somehow and embarrass him or make it hard for him to maintain his cover. Neal let out a long suffering sigh at the thought that had Diana frown. His cover wouldn't survive, he had no doubt.
"Are you sure you're okay, none of us will be upset if you need to sit this one out, I'm sure Lana can take over." Diana offered, naming Agent Mattock, who was the closest thing the White Collar had to Neal Caffrey in terms of art expertise.
"No, I can do it." Neal stressed, he was fine, Diana was just being too nice and perhaps trying to forget her own nerves. Neal had seen her biting her fingernails a few times on the drive.
"Well, let us know if you have any change of heart."
"Yes Ma'am." Neal teased with a lazy salute that Diana snorted at.
The rest of the drive was mostly silent, Myers had the radio on low, shifting stations as they reached the city line.
'Welcome to Gotham, leave while you're still alive.' The sign said, the additional information sprayed on in Red accompanied by a familiar bat logo. Neal smirked. That hadn't been here when he left to go undercover as Neal Caffrey but that was clearly Red Hood's logo accompanying the message. His smirk turned to a soft smile, the messy scrawl was Tim's and the message wasn't written by Hood but for Hood.
He let it a quiet chuff of laughter, ever the dramatic sibling… Then again maybe that title belonged to Dick…
"Something funny about an ominous sign like that, Caffrey?" Agent Myers asked. Neal shrugged, unable explain his siblings antics or the fact his little shit of a brother was the only one who joined in his death jokes.
"It's just up ahead." Diana pointed out, not questioning the exchange and instead pointing to a turning which Myers took, the vehicle behind following in suit.
When they pulled over and piled out, Neal could feel eyes on him, the lack of bloodlust made him relax though, it clearly being some member of the clan spying on him. When Peter and Jones ushered them into a block of flats, the FBI had procured three rooms for them to stay in while they tracked down their man and did any recon. For now, the group had to get settled, filling into the flats, bags in arms. Neal was the only one who spotted the figure on an adjacent rooftop, black and red and rarely seen in the daytime. Neal raised a middle finger at the shadow of a man who tipped his head back, laughed and saluted before jumping off the room to swing away. The exchange was missed by all the other agents.
"Neal you're with Peter. I'll share with Lana." Diana spoke, clearly pairing herself up with the only other woman. That left Jones with Agent Brad Myers.
The day was still early, only just after midday.
"Want to go get a lay of the land, see the sights?" Neal teased, watching as Peter stared out of the window, once they'd both settled into their room, shitty and basic but with a view of the city, having been on the outskirts of town.
Neal expected Peter to refuse, wanting to jump straight into planning or sleeping off the ride or anything besides a stroll around Gotham. His handler had self preservation instincts did he not?
Apparently he didn't.
"Yes. It would be beneficial to get to know the area, we can question some people while we're out." Peter nodded slowly, turning away from the view to look at Neal who didn't mask the surprise on his face.
"You want to… Go around Gotham?" Neal spoke slowly, Peter nodded.
"Yes, what's wrong with that?"
"You know Gotham hates outsiders, right?" Neal asked and Peter rewarded him with a frown.
"No?" Peter sounded confused and Neal could only sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose.
"Do you know anything about Gotham?"
"Beyond baseless rumours and clearly false information? No."
"What kind of rumours and information?" Neal asked, reaching to shut the window Peter had left open, locking it shut after because Neal wasn't an idiot.
"Uh, there's a bunch of supervillains? One's a clown, another's a flightless bird, a plant lady, a crocodile? And Gotham is practically a lawless battlefield?"
"Sounds about fair. I mean Ozzie might get sad you called him a flightless bird but whatever." Neal shrugged.
"Ozzie?"
"Oswald, Penguin, my brother lowkey adopted him as a like a weird uncle against his will and now we all torment him. It's good fun."
"Um…"
"If he didn't want dragging into the mayhem he should have stopped kidnapping my brother so much as a kid."
"I have so many questions."
"Yeah, no. Let's go for that walk you suggested and clear up some misconceptions. Jones and Diana can come along and the other two can watch the Fort or some shit." Neal shrugged and then winced at the swear he'd dropped, typically out of character for Neal Caffrey but so minor and mundane for Jason Todd.
"Okay." Because Peter had no need to reject the suggestion, clearly under the impression Gotham's terrible rumours were fake or exaggerated and there was no danger. Neal couldn't let him go out alone or at least without him because Gotham would chew them up and spit them out so quickly.
The four assembled, leaving Lana and Brad behind to make their way back down and outside before climbing into the car. The Drive to central Gotham was quick, roads eerily empty despite it being midday which left an uneasy feeling in Neal's bones.
"Switch on the radio." Neal asked from the backseat, relaying the channel frequency for Gotham's news channel.
"-Marks the third day since The Joker escaped The Arkham Asylum. So far there has been no sighting of The Batman but several other Bat Allies have been spotted, including during the day." The voice reported and Neal froze in his seat. The woman on the radio continued his report but Neal couldn't hear a word she said, his ears full of cotton wool. The Joker was out and they hadn't caught him yet.
The car pulled over once Neal's panic was spotted, Diana carefully taking his hands into her own, climbing from the passenger seat into the back to squat awkwardly on the seat in between Jones and Neal.
"Hey, Neal, C'mon, it's okay."
"Not okay." He mumbled out, because he was Neal Caffrey and he had nothing on him, not a single gun or piece of body armour and if the Joker got wind of some New York FBI agents in Gotham he'd surely take the bait. He liked toying with outsiders the most, they screamed more, cried more, begged more. Gotham's citizens were tough, predictable and despite still fearing the Joker, they knew their sounds and sobs wouldn't make a difference.
So yeah, Neal was allowed to panic. He couldn't fight the Joker with the one singular knife he managed to hide on his body, Peter being too eagle eyed for anything more.
"We need to leave-" Neal muttered, "Joker will kill us."
"What?" Jones asked, only the slightest bit of alarm in his voice.
"The Joker? What kind of name is that?" Peter scoffed, despite the worry in his eyes at Neal's state.
"S'gonna kill us all if we don't leave the city right fucking now." Neal bit out and the thud on the roof of the car made all four of them jump. Neal had his hand on the handle of the knife instantly, drawing it despite being surrounded, only earning a noise from Diana before the thud moved, the figure jumping down from the roof of the car and onto the sidewalk. Neal relaxed at the familiar red, yellow and green.
The door opened before anyone could react beyond Neal and his knife. He smirked and slashed at the figure who back-flipped and kicked the knife away, all in one fluid motion. The knife went flying into a nearby wall. The short figure turned back to the car, held out a handgun which Neal surged to take and then moved back, teeth on display in a mock of a smile.
"Akhi, welcome back." The bird offered as Neal hauled from the car, checking the ammunition in the gun before clipping it shut and tucking it into the back of his trousers.
Jones, Peter and Diana piled out of the car, Peter eyeing the bulge of the gun on his back.
"Neal, why do you have a gun?"
"Who are you?"
"You had a knife?!"
"One question at a time, and preferably not in the fucking open, Habibi please tell me you know where he is?" Neal asked and Robin nodded.
“Yes, Batman is currently engaging with him, Oracle and Nightwing are with him for any assistance. Myself and… And Red Robin.” Damian paused, a sneer at the name, because the two didn’t get along. “We're tasked with your safety.”
“Where did that little shit fly off to, he could have fucking come over and told me instead of just ditching.”
“Now, is that anyway to talk about me behind your back?” Tim asked and Jason jumped, turning and raising the gun in one motion, rolling his eyes and lowering it when he met Red Robin’s masked face.
“You fucking bitch.” Jason hissed out, earning a shocked noise from the Agents.
“Sorry for the Hijack, you’re not currently safe, at least until Joker is back in Arkham. We’ve been tasked by Batman to keep you safe, if you’d like to follow us.” Red Robin relayed to the agents who still seemed to be dying to ask questions. They held their tongues, didn’t protest and begrudgingly followed the two vigilantes.
Once they’d reached what appeared to be a safehouse in a rough part of town, Red Robin and Robin slouched onto the couches, Diana perching in an arm chair as Jones and Peter awkwardly hovered. Jason stretched his arms above his head and then headed out to one of the rooms as though he was familiar with the place.
“So can somebody please explain what the hell is going on?” Peter asked angrily.
“The Joker, arguable Gotham’s worst Criminal, broke out a few days ago. He has a tendency to know everything that happens in the city and you guys stand out like sore thumbs as outsiders. He likes Outsiders, thinks they’re…more fun to torment, shall we say.” Tim explained.
“And Neal? Why did you give him a gun?”
“He wouldn’t appreciate feeling unarmed knowing the Joker was loose.”
“Why?” Jones asked, the two vigilantes shared a look, Damian ending the shared gaze with a sneer that Tim rolled his eyes behind the mask.
“Because he killed me.” Neal announced, having returned, in a change of clothes, looking more relaxed than he ever did in a suit, cargo trousers, a baggy white tank, leather jacket and some clunky combat boots. The gun was tucked in the front of his waistband now and Peter could clearly make the shapes of two knives tucked into his boots and two more guns strapped to his thighs.
“What-” Diana spluttered.
“He killed me, little under ten years ago, I only stayed dead for about six months but y’know, trauma and whatnot.” Neal shrugged and took a seat in between the vigilantes, smiling to himself when both subconsciously curled into his sides.
“What the hell-”
“It’s a long story…”
“So you’re from Gotham?”
“Born and Bred.”
“And this guy just…. What? Kills people and nobody stops him?”
“I mean… I think you’re underestimating the guy…”
"Tt. Outsiders always lack common sense.”
"I think we need an explanation, please, Neal.” Diana implored.
“Okay… Okay… I was going to tell you anyway, it's hard to keep secrets in Gotham unless you’re the Bat… So, my names Jason, Jason Todd, it's lovely to properly meet you guys.” Jason reintroduced himself.
And then the story began.