ISSUE #1
Written by Jake Hawkins
January 2018
Written by Jake Hawkins
January 2018
Jason paced back and forth in the living room of Wayne Manor, a thousand variables running through his head, clashing with his conflicted feelings about being here. He hated being back at the manor; all it did was remind him of a time he wished he could have back. So many mistakes, so much anger clouding his judgement back then, it was hardly a surprise he ended up dead before eighteen. In hindsight, he wasn’t so different than any other kid born in the Suicide Slums of Gotham, just another child who lost their life far too soon. The circumstances, however, well that was a whole different tangent he was forcing himself not to think about.
“Master Jason.” Jason turned to see Alfred emerge from the hidden passage behind the grandfather clock, a tray of chicken and jalapeno sandwiches in one hand. “He has returned, if you wish to join us below.”
Jason merely nodded as he flicked away the toothpick he’d be gnawing on for hours and follow Alfred down the passage to the cave.
“May I say, sir, I was most surprised when Master Bruce informed me you would be visiting us this morning,” Alfred continued as they reached the massive cave, passing the fleet of Batmobiles.
“Yeah, me and you both.”
Jason paused in front of the glass case holding his former Robin uniform. A wave of emotions clouded his mind as he remembered the very last time he wore it.
“When you two had your…scuffle all those months back upon your return, I asked him if he would like me to remove that, in light of current circumstances.”
Alfred’s words shook Jason as he put a hand to the case, the sound of a building collapsing on top of him ringing through his mind from that fateful day. “Why didn’t you?” Jason asks without taking his eyes off the case.
“Because it didn’t change anything,” Bruce’s voice boomed from behind them as he approached, the iconic suit still on, but with the cowl down. He and Jason shook hands as Alfred set the tray of food down nearby and left them alone. “I know how hard it had to be for you to come here.” They began walking toward the large collection of screens that the batcave computer utilized.
“After everything in crime alley, I know you knew how to find me. You could have brought me in and thrown me in Arkham any time you wanted. Dick sure didn’t have any qualms about it. Heh, not that I can blame him. I figured I at least owed you the respect of showing up.”
“There have been several terrorist attacks in the last two weeks across Europe that have continued to escalate in severity,” Batman stated as he pulled up a map on the main screen highlighting the stricken areas.
“Any ideas who’s willing to cause this much noise? I heard Kobra had been rebuilding their forces somewhere near Florence of all places,” Jason suggested, but Bruce waved him off.
“The attacks seemed random at first, perpetrated by a force of well-known South-American militia groups who have banned together in the last seven months. However, nothing in the history of those groups has ever suggested they’d do something of this magnitude.”
Bruce showed Jason video footage of well-armed forces laying siege to entire towns throughout Europe. “Then there was the bombing of a Luthorcorp facility in Cape Town while these forces were taking over a small village in South France. I investigated personally.”
“Because the timing was just a little too convenient for it to be a coincidence? Yeah that makes sense. What’d you find out?”
“An army of Man-Bats. I intercepted a radio signal sending them instructions and have been working on tracing it back to its origin point since I returned, which brings us to why you’re here,” Bruce concluded, turning back to Jason.
“Listen, Bruce, I appreciate you having enough faith in me to ask me to tackle this for you—”
“I need you to do more than just some extra digging, Jason. I wouldn’t have called you here just to tell you that. When I needed to retrieve Psycho Pirate from Santa Prisca, I realized then more than ever that certain situations will require far more unconventional methods to handle. And despite my considerable efforts, I’ll never be able to be everywhere.”
“So, where do I come into all of this? As much as I’m enjoying the rare moment you admit there’s something you can’t do, I do have to say I’m missing the point of this soliloquy.”
“I’m reviving the Outsiders initiative for this investigation, and I want you to head up this team.”
Jason looks away from Bruce, hiding the shock on his face as he once again stared at the glass case holding his Robin suit. “Why me? Why not Dick, or Tim? Hell, why not Barbara?” Jason croaked.
“When I first brought you here, you spent so much time trying to prove yourself to me, prove yourself worthy of the mantle that had been passed to you, you never had the chance to realize just how great you have the ability to grow. Then I lost you, and in so many ways I failed you. You lost the opportunity to grow into the man I always knew you could be, even if you didn’t. When you returned, I thought I had lost you again, this time to the nature of the pit. Now this is my chance to try and make things right.”
Jason turned back to Bruce before turning his attention back to the computer. “Bruce, I don’t know if I’m ready to be back under your wing. It was a long road back, and sometimes I can feel my anger pulling me to the edge of somewhere I don’t want to be.”
“You’ve traveled down a path I can’t imagine. That’s why I chose you for this, not Dick or anyone else. I chose you to be Robin to give you a constructive outlet for your anger. You say it sometimes pulls you to the edge, and I’m telling you to let it, and use it to your advantage. You’re not a boy anymore, Jason, you’ve shown me you’re more than ready for this.”
Bruce handed him a prototype, newly built version of his helmet. Jason stared into the blank lenses of the helmet for a moment. “Who did you have in mind for the team?”
“I had a few suggestions, but ultimately I’d like you to build the Outsiders around what you think you’ll need. My private jet is fueled and ready to take you wherever you decide. I’ll upload my case files to the plane’s data drive while you’re in the air.”
Bruce pulled back on the cowl just as a priority message from Superman came across the computer. Jason nodded as he watched Bruce go to work and then he headed out of the cave.
# # # # #
Virgil Hawkins sat in Advanced Chemistry, drooling onto his already completed exam as the students around him worked furiously to finish theirs before the end of class. The bell rings, startling Virgil awake, who grabs his exam and shots it into the air, waving it frantically.
“I’m finished!” he yelled to no one in particular, causing the rest of the class to stare at him. He sheepishly darted to the front of the room before everyone else and dropped his exam packet onto the teacher’s desk before ducking into the hallway. Coming out after him was his best friend Richie, who quickly caught up to Virgil as they reached the stairs.
“Man, you know everyone in that class hates you right?” Richie said with a laugh as they headed toward the fleet of buses waiting outside Dakota High School.
“Look, man, I tried taking as long as I could this time. I even quadruple-checked my answers and edited my essay question. It’s not my fault the rest of y’all didn’t study.” Virgil exasperated. He was tired of trying to dumb himself down just to fit in, and even more importantly, he was tired of feeling like he had to.
“You coming by the restaurant?” Richie asked as they slide into a seat on the bus. “I’m out at five and I’ll slide you a few bacon cheeseburgers across the counter.”
“I can’t, man, I got that intake for the S.T.A.R Labs internship today. But bring a few by my crib later so we can get started on our senior seminar project.”
“Damn, I forgot all about that. How long’s that going to take anyway?” Richie asked.
Less than an hour later Virgil was in the sky on his newly built flying disk, soaring the skies of Dakota as teen hero Static. Plenty of time to make it across town, he thought, before he noticed the parade of police cars and fire trucks storming through downtown, their respective sirens blaring through the afternoon sky.
“No, yeah, it’s cool, it’s not like this couldn’t have happened after my appointment, but nope, sure, let’s just handle this and come up with excuses later,” He groaned as he took off in pursuit of the emergency vehicles.
# # # # #
Near the downtown area, Talon used her hypersonic shrieks to knock a police cruiser into the rest of the fleet of backup behind her with astonishing force. Shiv and Slipstream exited the back of an armored car, both carrying bags of cash.
“Damn, I thought Ebon said we had way more time than that for this job. They’re gonna have us boxed in!” Slipstream yelled angrily as he joined Talon in holding off the police, using his powers to generate a gust of wind as powerful as a small tornado that sent cars flying up and down the street.
“If you’re not thinking about food, you’re complaining about everything else. Just keep them off us and let’s get to the rendezvous point!” Talon yelled as she takes off into the air, releasing another scream at the SWAT team lining up against the road blockade they’ve set up. A truck was swept up by Slipstream’s wind tunnels and sent careening toward a nearby Burger Fool, when it is halted in mid-air by a stream of electricity. Talon looked over to see none other than Static, who used the line of lightning to set the car down safely before turning his attention to the three familiar Bang Babies.
“I’m sorry, did I hear you are taking advice from Ebon now? The criminal struggle must be real if we’re taking advice from professional high school drop outs now. What’s next, Slipstream, you gonna ask Donald Trump for tips on how to talk to girls?
Static didn’t have much time to enjoy his joke when Slipstream sent a parade of vehicles through the air at him. The near F-5 level winds sent Static careening through the air and off his disk, smashing through the upstairs window of an abandoned department store. Pulling himself free from the wreckage caused due to his abrupt entry, Static looked up to see the vehicles coming at him fast, and there were too many for him to stop at once.
“If this is how you respond to adversity, you’re going to need a lot more work than I thought,” someone said to Static.
Static looked bewildered as the Red Hood grabbed him by the back of his jacket and rushed him out of the way of the incoming vehicular onslaught. They both dove into the defunct elevator, where Red Hood wasted no time in attaching a small explosive device to the electric motor on top and dropping back down next to Static before detonating it. The elevator car dropped instantly, sending the two young men into a short free fall and out of harm’s way just as the slew of cars began to tear through the floor they just left.
The elevator slammed to the bottom and Red Hood and Static stumbled to their feet. “I don’t mean to sound unappreciative and all, because honestly my momma would kill me, but who the hell are you?” he demanded as Red Hood tried to pull the doors open to no avail.
“Yeah, we got time for that later. A little help here?” Red Hood asked as he pointed at the stuck doors. Static hit them with a blast of lightning that slowly pried them open, and the pair exited the elevator.
“I shouldn’t be surprised you survived all that, Static.” Shiv said as he stepped into the large lobby. “Survival is what roaches do best.”
“Ain’t gonna be no more of that today,” Talon barked. “I’m bringing this whole damn place down on his head. Ebon gave us permission to do whatever it takes to make it back with the cash. Boy, I ain’t playing around with him this time.”
She flew in, landing on a nearby counter as Slipstream came in last to surround the two young men.
“Alright, no better time for an open audition I guess. Let’s see what you got!” Red hood said to Static, a hint of excitement in his voice.
Static turned to Red Hood completely confused. “Audition? Who the hell are you?”
TO BE CONTINUED IN ISSUE 2!
“Master Jason.” Jason turned to see Alfred emerge from the hidden passage behind the grandfather clock, a tray of chicken and jalapeno sandwiches in one hand. “He has returned, if you wish to join us below.”
Jason merely nodded as he flicked away the toothpick he’d be gnawing on for hours and follow Alfred down the passage to the cave.
“May I say, sir, I was most surprised when Master Bruce informed me you would be visiting us this morning,” Alfred continued as they reached the massive cave, passing the fleet of Batmobiles.
“Yeah, me and you both.”
Jason paused in front of the glass case holding his former Robin uniform. A wave of emotions clouded his mind as he remembered the very last time he wore it.
“When you two had your…scuffle all those months back upon your return, I asked him if he would like me to remove that, in light of current circumstances.”
Alfred’s words shook Jason as he put a hand to the case, the sound of a building collapsing on top of him ringing through his mind from that fateful day. “Why didn’t you?” Jason asks without taking his eyes off the case.
“Because it didn’t change anything,” Bruce’s voice boomed from behind them as he approached, the iconic suit still on, but with the cowl down. He and Jason shook hands as Alfred set the tray of food down nearby and left them alone. “I know how hard it had to be for you to come here.” They began walking toward the large collection of screens that the batcave computer utilized.
“After everything in crime alley, I know you knew how to find me. You could have brought me in and thrown me in Arkham any time you wanted. Dick sure didn’t have any qualms about it. Heh, not that I can blame him. I figured I at least owed you the respect of showing up.”
“There have been several terrorist attacks in the last two weeks across Europe that have continued to escalate in severity,” Batman stated as he pulled up a map on the main screen highlighting the stricken areas.
“Any ideas who’s willing to cause this much noise? I heard Kobra had been rebuilding their forces somewhere near Florence of all places,” Jason suggested, but Bruce waved him off.
“The attacks seemed random at first, perpetrated by a force of well-known South-American militia groups who have banned together in the last seven months. However, nothing in the history of those groups has ever suggested they’d do something of this magnitude.”
Bruce showed Jason video footage of well-armed forces laying siege to entire towns throughout Europe. “Then there was the bombing of a Luthorcorp facility in Cape Town while these forces were taking over a small village in South France. I investigated personally.”
“Because the timing was just a little too convenient for it to be a coincidence? Yeah that makes sense. What’d you find out?”
“An army of Man-Bats. I intercepted a radio signal sending them instructions and have been working on tracing it back to its origin point since I returned, which brings us to why you’re here,” Bruce concluded, turning back to Jason.
“Listen, Bruce, I appreciate you having enough faith in me to ask me to tackle this for you—”
“I need you to do more than just some extra digging, Jason. I wouldn’t have called you here just to tell you that. When I needed to retrieve Psycho Pirate from Santa Prisca, I realized then more than ever that certain situations will require far more unconventional methods to handle. And despite my considerable efforts, I’ll never be able to be everywhere.”
“So, where do I come into all of this? As much as I’m enjoying the rare moment you admit there’s something you can’t do, I do have to say I’m missing the point of this soliloquy.”
“I’m reviving the Outsiders initiative for this investigation, and I want you to head up this team.”
Jason looks away from Bruce, hiding the shock on his face as he once again stared at the glass case holding his Robin suit. “Why me? Why not Dick, or Tim? Hell, why not Barbara?” Jason croaked.
“When I first brought you here, you spent so much time trying to prove yourself to me, prove yourself worthy of the mantle that had been passed to you, you never had the chance to realize just how great you have the ability to grow. Then I lost you, and in so many ways I failed you. You lost the opportunity to grow into the man I always knew you could be, even if you didn’t. When you returned, I thought I had lost you again, this time to the nature of the pit. Now this is my chance to try and make things right.”
Jason turned back to Bruce before turning his attention back to the computer. “Bruce, I don’t know if I’m ready to be back under your wing. It was a long road back, and sometimes I can feel my anger pulling me to the edge of somewhere I don’t want to be.”
“You’ve traveled down a path I can’t imagine. That’s why I chose you for this, not Dick or anyone else. I chose you to be Robin to give you a constructive outlet for your anger. You say it sometimes pulls you to the edge, and I’m telling you to let it, and use it to your advantage. You’re not a boy anymore, Jason, you’ve shown me you’re more than ready for this.”
Bruce handed him a prototype, newly built version of his helmet. Jason stared into the blank lenses of the helmet for a moment. “Who did you have in mind for the team?”
“I had a few suggestions, but ultimately I’d like you to build the Outsiders around what you think you’ll need. My private jet is fueled and ready to take you wherever you decide. I’ll upload my case files to the plane’s data drive while you’re in the air.”
Bruce pulled back on the cowl just as a priority message from Superman came across the computer. Jason nodded as he watched Bruce go to work and then he headed out of the cave.
# # # # #
Virgil Hawkins sat in Advanced Chemistry, drooling onto his already completed exam as the students around him worked furiously to finish theirs before the end of class. The bell rings, startling Virgil awake, who grabs his exam and shots it into the air, waving it frantically.
“I’m finished!” he yelled to no one in particular, causing the rest of the class to stare at him. He sheepishly darted to the front of the room before everyone else and dropped his exam packet onto the teacher’s desk before ducking into the hallway. Coming out after him was his best friend Richie, who quickly caught up to Virgil as they reached the stairs.
“Man, you know everyone in that class hates you right?” Richie said with a laugh as they headed toward the fleet of buses waiting outside Dakota High School.
“Look, man, I tried taking as long as I could this time. I even quadruple-checked my answers and edited my essay question. It’s not my fault the rest of y’all didn’t study.” Virgil exasperated. He was tired of trying to dumb himself down just to fit in, and even more importantly, he was tired of feeling like he had to.
“You coming by the restaurant?” Richie asked as they slide into a seat on the bus. “I’m out at five and I’ll slide you a few bacon cheeseburgers across the counter.”
“I can’t, man, I got that intake for the S.T.A.R Labs internship today. But bring a few by my crib later so we can get started on our senior seminar project.”
“Damn, I forgot all about that. How long’s that going to take anyway?” Richie asked.
Less than an hour later Virgil was in the sky on his newly built flying disk, soaring the skies of Dakota as teen hero Static. Plenty of time to make it across town, he thought, before he noticed the parade of police cars and fire trucks storming through downtown, their respective sirens blaring through the afternoon sky.
“No, yeah, it’s cool, it’s not like this couldn’t have happened after my appointment, but nope, sure, let’s just handle this and come up with excuses later,” He groaned as he took off in pursuit of the emergency vehicles.
# # # # #
Near the downtown area, Talon used her hypersonic shrieks to knock a police cruiser into the rest of the fleet of backup behind her with astonishing force. Shiv and Slipstream exited the back of an armored car, both carrying bags of cash.
“Damn, I thought Ebon said we had way more time than that for this job. They’re gonna have us boxed in!” Slipstream yelled angrily as he joined Talon in holding off the police, using his powers to generate a gust of wind as powerful as a small tornado that sent cars flying up and down the street.
“If you’re not thinking about food, you’re complaining about everything else. Just keep them off us and let’s get to the rendezvous point!” Talon yelled as she takes off into the air, releasing another scream at the SWAT team lining up against the road blockade they’ve set up. A truck was swept up by Slipstream’s wind tunnels and sent careening toward a nearby Burger Fool, when it is halted in mid-air by a stream of electricity. Talon looked over to see none other than Static, who used the line of lightning to set the car down safely before turning his attention to the three familiar Bang Babies.
“I’m sorry, did I hear you are taking advice from Ebon now? The criminal struggle must be real if we’re taking advice from professional high school drop outs now. What’s next, Slipstream, you gonna ask Donald Trump for tips on how to talk to girls?
Static didn’t have much time to enjoy his joke when Slipstream sent a parade of vehicles through the air at him. The near F-5 level winds sent Static careening through the air and off his disk, smashing through the upstairs window of an abandoned department store. Pulling himself free from the wreckage caused due to his abrupt entry, Static looked up to see the vehicles coming at him fast, and there were too many for him to stop at once.
“If this is how you respond to adversity, you’re going to need a lot more work than I thought,” someone said to Static.
Static looked bewildered as the Red Hood grabbed him by the back of his jacket and rushed him out of the way of the incoming vehicular onslaught. They both dove into the defunct elevator, where Red Hood wasted no time in attaching a small explosive device to the electric motor on top and dropping back down next to Static before detonating it. The elevator car dropped instantly, sending the two young men into a short free fall and out of harm’s way just as the slew of cars began to tear through the floor they just left.
The elevator slammed to the bottom and Red Hood and Static stumbled to their feet. “I don’t mean to sound unappreciative and all, because honestly my momma would kill me, but who the hell are you?” he demanded as Red Hood tried to pull the doors open to no avail.
“Yeah, we got time for that later. A little help here?” Red Hood asked as he pointed at the stuck doors. Static hit them with a blast of lightning that slowly pried them open, and the pair exited the elevator.
“I shouldn’t be surprised you survived all that, Static.” Shiv said as he stepped into the large lobby. “Survival is what roaches do best.”
“Ain’t gonna be no more of that today,” Talon barked. “I’m bringing this whole damn place down on his head. Ebon gave us permission to do whatever it takes to make it back with the cash. Boy, I ain’t playing around with him this time.”
She flew in, landing on a nearby counter as Slipstream came in last to surround the two young men.
“Alright, no better time for an open audition I guess. Let’s see what you got!” Red hood said to Static, a hint of excitement in his voice.
Static turned to Red Hood completely confused. “Audition? Who the hell are you?”
TO BE CONTINUED IN ISSUE 2!