Chapter Text
Jason was having one of those days in which everything seems to go wrong. He got on the bad side of Bruce and got in an argument with Alfred. Then he had to run away from Dick who had one of his wonderful bonding ideas, sarcasm intended. And finally he got notice of another smuggler trying to go big by marketing a new dangerous untested drug. No problem, he was used to deal with that kind of people. However he wasn’t ok with this smuggler using children to do the dirty job and he had to do something about it.
He needed a lead on the small smuggler and he knew where to get the clues he needed. He went to a neighborhood he was familiar with in the East End to find informants. But before he was able to talk to anyone, Jason stopped at a grocery store to buy cigars… God knew he craved them badly when he was this stressed.
Jason payed and left the store to light the first cigarette outside. Maybe he was too absorbed on his thoughts, but the thing is that he didn’t notice the girl coming to his way, so she bumped him. Jason came back to his senses to see the girl walking away and the lighter out of his hands. It was his luck that precisely this day, his lighter fell to the sewer. Great! I’ll need to buy a new one he thought and reached for his wallet on his back pocket.
However the wallet was gone. He was certain he had it with him after he pay for the cigarettes and it wasn’t on the street. That little rascal! The girl must have taken it when she bumped him. It took him a second to do a light recognition of the situation and in a secondhe was on his way to the last place where he saw the girl walking.
Lucky he was fast. Jason found her on an ally going through the content of his wallet. “Hey girl! What do you think you’re doing?” Jason called out loud surprising the girl. She looked at both sides finding herself trapped by high walls and far away from the fire escape.
Damn she thought. It was the first time she had been caught since she started pickpocketing a few years ago. She was trapped and in no possibility of escaping the broad guy in front of her. “Oh… I found your wallet and was checking where I could return it.” She was trying to sound convincingly innocent to make a clean exit without being taken to the cops.
“Nice try kid.” Jason knew she was lying, but she was so composed lying to his face that he was surprised. He took another look at the girl. She must be around 12 years old and although her clothes were not dirty or ripped, you could see how worn out they were. He recognized the signs, she lived in the streets. “Now, I have a question and I’m only going to ask you this once. You better give some serious thought to your answer.” He paused for a second trying to add drama to the moment “Are you hungry?”
The question took off guard at the girl. She was expecting a confrontation for saying the least, a treat to take her to the police station or something along that line. The man in front of her knew for sure that she tried to rob him and yet, he was here asking if she wanted to eat. She open her mouth and was about to tell him to leave her alone, but her stomach decided that it was the perfect moment to manifest itself and groaned so loud that gave Jason the answer.
And he just laughed out loud. The girl was mad at the timing of his stomach. She was about to deny her need for food in order to run away from the man. Yet he was there just laughing at her. She was huffing and frowning. It was amusing to see her expression. Before she got even angrier, Jason approached and took her by the shoulders. “Come, I know a place nearby.”
There was a burger place nearby. It was similar to the place where Batman bought two burgers the night he found Jason trying to steal the wheels of the Batmobil. He was surprised at the similarity to the moment now sitting in front of the girl.
“So… I’m Jason. What is your name?”
“Lina”
“Lina? That is an unusual name. Where do you live Lina” Jason asked as he took the first bite form his hamburger. He was staring at the girl that only looked down to see the really interesting spot on the floor. “mmph… I see, so, you don’t have a home”
Before he decided it was a good idea to take her to the cops or authorities, Lina hurried to give an excuse, she wasn’t going to childcare or to some foster parents. “I’m staying at this old lady’s place. She allows me to stay if I do a little housekeeping.”
“What happened with your parents?”
“I… I used to live with my mom… but I got lost when I was 6 and since then I have lived here and there.”
Jason knew the story quite well. It was a shame that Gotham had so many of these kids living in the streets and susceptible of crime. “I see… listen Lina, the truth is that I need help. Maybe you can help me and in exchange, maybe I can help you.”
“How?” She meant on both questions. How was this man planning to help her and what would he possibly want from her?
“Well, I need information about a guy that is trying to get kids to do the dirty job of selling his garbage… if you help me get the information, I can help you find your mom.”
“I’ll help you, because you’ve been good to me. But I doubt you can find my mom… she’s never looked for me.” Lina was ashamed to admit that she was abandoned. She had never told her whole story to anyone, nor the old lady she lived with or her friends.
Jason stayed in silence. It was rare that a mother would not look for a lost child. He was intrigued by the case that found him. He waited for the girl to provide more information about her decision.
“I may know about the guy you look for. I was with a friend… Tom… trying to…” She made a pause, she was not ready to admit that they were eying a victim that they planned to rob “… to make a living…” it was enough for Jason to understand what they were trying to do. He just nodded inviting Lina to continue. “He came to us and offered a job. I asked him what kind of job. He wanted for us to go with him to a warehouse that is three blocks from here. I declined his job and told him that Tom and I get enough money from our parents and he left.”
This was the information he wanted to receive. Jason couldn’t find the shine gleaming in his eyes. “Do you remember how he looked like?”
“He was small; he looked like a rat, like an anxious rat. Thin blond hair, chubby face… I think his name has a Zole in it. He later talked to another friend, Eddie, and convinced him to sell his stuff.”
The case became interesting by the minute. Jason started to think that this girl was sent to help him. “What I am about to ask you… you don’t have to agree to do it or anything… but… it would help me a lot if you could get me a sample of the goods this Zole is selling.”
“Sure thing!”
Jason wanted to offer something to the girl, in exchange for the information. Not money because he wasn’t certain how this could benefit her. “Now, about your mom...”
“Mr. Jason, you don’t have to…”
“Drop the Mr. and I offer. Now, how about you give me the details you remember and I check it with a database and find your mother?”
She sighted. For the last six years she had been convinced that her mother never looked for her. Perhaps it was a good riddance that she went out and got lost that august summer night.
Jason waited for her to say something about the story but she just look at him weary. Lina just narrowed her eyes suspiciously “Are you one of those undercover cops?”
“No, I’m not. But my brother is a cop and he could grant me access to his database to look about your mother.” For a moment Jason saw the scared expression on her face “But don’t worry, I won’t tell him what I am looking form. Alright? You are safe with me.”
Noticing that she wouldn’t give him more information, Jason went back to the drugs case. “Now… how about we meet here next Friday at 4 to update your progress? You tell me about Eddie and Zole and I buy you a meal again…” He smiled seeing that the smile retuned to the girl’s face. He understood that if he wanted to know about the girl, he had to search for himself.
He removed her hair from her face with the excuse of not wanting her hair to fall in her burger. Yet he got what he wanted, a strand of hair to get her DNA and find her mother. He did it so casually that the girl didn’t notice.
When they finished their meal, they parted ways. “Ok. See you next Friday! Jason… and thank you for not arresting me!” before he changed his mind, Lina ran away as fast as she could.