The Adventures of Martha Ridley Wayne

Chapter Ten: Reunion

      A few weeks later, Batman fought the Red Hood for the first time. I was with him when he figured out that it was Jason underneath the hood. He immediately grabbed me to stop me from running after him. Dad told me that Jason wasn't the same, that he was dangerous, and that he would try to hurt me. I pretended to understand to ease his worry while in my head I was planning on finding him.

I took a chance the next night, putting on a domino mask and following Batman out on patrol. To be honest, the domino mask was a little much given that Jason already knew who I was and secret identities were not at risk. Dad was already going to give me hell for being our in the first place, so I didn't need another reason for him to freak the fuck out at me.

Batman and Red Hood got into a fight in what must have been Jason's new apartment. If you could call it an apartment, that is. It was a shithole and the thought of Jason thinking he had to live there killed my already dead soul. After dad left Jason bleeding and visibly upset in his own apartment, I made my move. I snuck in through the window, removing my domino mask in the process.

Jason turned around the minute my foot touched the floor, eyes going wide and scared for a split second before slipping back into the expressionless mask. I didn't bother playing the 'I have no emotions' game because I had been playing it since he died. I wanted him to see how much it hurt me, how much it was still hurting me, I wanted him to see that someone did miss him more than anything.

"Get out of here, Martha. I don't want to hurt you," Jason said quietly.

"Then don't hurt me, Jay. I just want to talk, to see my brother again since he's been alive for years and I didn't even know it," I said.

"Oh, like you cared. Don't pretend like I was anything more than charity to you!"

"Get the fuck over yourself, Jason Peter Todd. You were my brother, you pulled me out of a dark place, and I loved you more than anything. I've slept in your room every night since you died, hoping you'd come back somehow. Now that you're back, you think I hated you all along. You have no fucking idea what I've been through, no idea. Nobody does, because I haven't had anyone to talk to since my favourite person died! I was so close to killing myself just to get away from the pain, I had sex with everyone who was willing, I drank, I got high, and I still missed you," I yelled, voice cracking several times.

"Marty," he croaked, shoulders hunching in defeat.

"Get your ass over here so I can hug you," I said.

Jason practically ran over to me and wrapped his arms around me and I reciprocate the hug immediately. It felt better than anything in the world, being able to hug my brother again. He was so much taller than he used to be, but so was I. Nevertheless he was still at least a foot taller than I was and I expected that he would make many a joke about it in the future. That was if he decided to stay in my life in the future.

I wasn't going to bring dad up in whatever conversation was about to take place, it wasn't the time. Believe it or not after everything we had been through, I didn't actually hate my father for what happened to Jason. I blamed him for not being on time and for replacing him with Drake, but I knew that he never stopped hurting over Jason. My anger was just easiest to take out on him, because he didn't even try to fight back.

"I missed you so much," I whispered.

"I missed you too, Martha. Sorry for making assumptions, darling, I should have known that you would have been so upset."

"No, you wouldn't have because you believe that you're unlovable. You're not the only one who thinks that these days," I said, guiding my still-injured brother to the couch.

I began to clean and bandage his wounds while he asked me questions about how I'd been doing. Part of me wanted to lie, to say that I had been doing well in school, to say that I had lots of friends, and to say that I hadn't totally fucked up mine and Dick's relationship. The other part of me wanted to tell Jason everything and cry while he told me everything would turn out alright. I chose the latter option.

"Why do you think you're unlovable, Marty? What happened to you?"

"You died, that's what happened. I've made a lot of mistakes since you've been gone and I don't know how to fix them," I said quietly.

"I doubt that. You couldn't fuck up if you tried, everyone looked at you as if you had hung the stars in the sky," Jason said with a grin.

"I fucked Roy Harper, I started self-harming, and I get drunk or high nearly every night. Is that what you'd call not messing up?"

"Marty, holy shit. You might be more fucked up than I am now. I'm gonna help you get better, I promise."

"We'll help each other, Jay. Don't be mad at Dick or Roy for this, they tried their best," I said.

"I'm still gonna kick Harper's ass for fucking my sister and I'm gonna give Dickiebird a hard time for not trying harder," Jason growled.

"If you're going to kill everyone I've had sex with, there will hardly be any young superheroes left. I told you I fucked everything that I could and I wasn't lying. Roy was the only thing that lasted."

"Nobody knows anything about this, do they?," Jason asked.

"No. Only Wally and Roy know, but Dick does know about the self-harming. I've stopped because of him, actually. He just looked so fucking sad when he asked me about it and I couldn't say no to trying to stop."

"You shouldn't be pushing everyone away, sis, you need people. You should have friends your own age, you shouldn't be hanging out with your older brother's friends."

"The only person around who's my age is your replacement and I certainly don't want to be friends with him."

            "Does B know that you're here?," he asked.

            "Not exactly, no. He forbade me from seeing you, had to literally hold me back from running to find you when I found out you were back."

            "Sounds like something he'd do. How is your relationship with him at the moment anyway?"

            "It hasn't been good in five years. On my sixteenth birthday, we tried to pretend that everything was alright but we knew the truth. I blamed him for your death and he blamed himself. I dyed my hair red when I was twelve and he freaked," I said.

            "This isn't how it's supposed to be, Marty. You and B were supposed to be fine, you were supposed to be unaffected by my death and my return. I never wanted you involved in all of this," Jason said, shaking his head sadly.

            "Well, too bad. When you died so did I, and now that you're back I can finally start living again," I replied.

            "You're too young for this."

            "You were too young to die, Jay. The world isn't fair and your death made me realize that."

            "So, I heard that the Joker was brought to Gotham General nearly dead a few years ago. What happened there?," Jason asked.

            "I got a crowbar and a mask, I was going to make him pay. If dad hadn't shown up, he would be dead right now. I'm sorry I failed you, Jase," I whispered.

            "You did not fail me, Martha. You were like twelve or thirteen at the time, killing him would have destroyed you. I'm touched that you tried, but I never want you to do something like that again."

            "If I had killed him then I might have felt better! I might have been happy. He deserves to die, he paralyzed Babs, and he killed you."

            "I know, but you could have been hurt. When I first heard that an unknown girl was with Batman at the time, I knew it was you. Do you know how scared I was even though I knew you survived?"

            "Okay, no more hunting down psychopaths, got it. Can I stay here tonight? Dad's gonna freak when he finds out I came to see you and I'm not in the mood to deal with such a thing right now," I said, shuddering at the thought of another argument.

            "Of course you can. You never have to ask, little sister."