"Fancy meeting you here…", Black Mask said to a frightened Darla Aquista.

He held a shinning silver pistol in his hand and lowered near his thigh. His light grey overcoat was slightly dirty and smudged from a night of failure and setbacks, but it was about to become a lot more pleasant. Pleasant for him, anyway.

"Stay back!", Darla quickly spat out as she raised her own pistol, shaking in her unsteady hands, and aimed it at Black Mask's deformed and charred skull. She took a scared step or two away from him. "I mean it!"

"Don't get cute with me, girly.", Black Mask said. "You've never even fired one of those things before, have you?"

Darla didn't say anything, just stared fixatedly at Black Mask while holding the gun aimed at him. From the look in her delicate eyes, it was easy to see her fear.

"Typical." Black Mask began to raise his gun. Suddenly a red blur flew past and knocked the gun out of his hand, with the high-pitched clang of metal striking metal, before flying off again. "Ah!", Mask yelped.

Darla followed the red object with her eyes as it curved upwards on it's trajectory, flew up and over her head, and right back into Robin's gloved hand.

Robin was perched on top of a fire escape like some sort of urban monster, with the bird-a-rang clutched in his hand and a slowly deepening glare that pierced the darkness with the white eyes of his mask's lenses. "Darla. Run.", he instructed her firmly and urgently.

Darla quickly nodded to Robin, and ran off down the alley away from Black Mask. The pistol was still clutched in both her hands and raised at hip level as she disappeared quickly down a corner.

"Party pooper.", Black Mask said with a mock-pout as he looked up at Robin. "Just had to ruin my big date, didn't ya?"

"If ya think he's bad-", Red Hood began quickly.

Then Black Mask felt both of Hood's feet slam into his back like twin sledgehammers.

"-wait till you see me!", Red Hood said.

Black Mask was smashed face down into the hard dirty floor of the alleyway, while Red Hood simply rolled to the ground gracefully.

"Hood!", Robin said to himself aloud before bolting from his perch. Mid-fall he launched the bird-a-rang at Red Hood. "This ends! Tonight!"

Hood rolled to the side to dodge the bird-a-rang and sprang to his feet just as Robin landed next to him and shot out a kick aimed for Hood's red metal mask.

Red Hood sidestepped to behind Robin, dodging the kick, and grabbed the edge of his cape. "Couldn't agree more!"

Robin yanked away and took a short leap back, landing between Red Hood and Black Mask. It was then that he realized that a thin cable was trailing away from his cape where Red Hood grabbed it.

Hood withdrew a smile rocket launcher-pistol from his jacket, with the cable leading from Robin's cape directly to the side of a small rocket in the launcher. "But you'll have to wait your turn." He pulled the trigger.

The rocket shot out of the launcher, then its engine kicked to life in mid-air.

Robin snapped his head around as he watched the rocket fly past him and over a moaning Black Mask. Then the cable went taunt. And Robin was flying off, being tugged away thanks to the cable attached to his cape by some sort of adhesive.

"Buh bye.", Red Hood smirked under his mask as he gave a pleasant wave at Robin.

"Ha.", Black Mask said as he groaned while getting up. "The bird boy went flying. Cute." He looked up from the ground, just in time to see Red Hood's gloved fist. "Umph!"

Black Mask's charred face slammed against the dirty brick wall of the adjacent building. He recovered quickly and darted for Red Hood, but Hood greeted him with a series of jabs and crosses to his skull, then a kick to his stomach that sent him back to the ground.

Red Hood loomed over Mask for a moment as he withdrew his knife from his jacket. "Oh… I'm gonna enjoy this.", Hood said as he stared down at Mask and spun the knife once in his gloved grip.

"YAH!" Robin, sans a torn away section of his cape, tackled Red Hood from out of nowhere.

Hood reeled backwards from the impact as Robin pressed forward.

Hood and Robin fell back into the open side door that Darla had just exited the building from, both now inside Red Hood's official headquarters. Dust poofed up from the hardwood floor as both of their Kevlar armored bodies fell to the ground.

The building had once been Harmon Dental, a dentist's office. Now the long ago abandoned building was Red Hood's.

Hood quickly kicked away Robin, and dived off on a roll. "Your letting the bad guy get away just to chase me?", he said as he quickly rose from the roll, and Robin rose from the ground too.

Hood opened a first aid kit mounted on the wall, not too uncommon in a dentist's office. Inside, instead of gauze and bandages, were two fully automatic assault rifles. "Some hero you are!" Hood grabbed them, spun on his heel, and aimed for Robin.

Ack! Ack! Ack! Ack! Ack! Ack!

Robin dived and rolled off, hiding behind the reception office's front desk. "Better then you!" From behind the desk he tossed a smoke bomb towards Red Hood.

Hood ran around the side of the reception desk before the smoke bombs could blind him. He expected a clear shot at Robin, but was greeted with a bird-a-rang in the face, followed immediately by another bird-a-rang with an attached line that wrapped around both Hood's guns.

Robin yanked the line, but Hood held firm and fired both tied together weapons.

Robin jumped up just in time. Then Red Hood dropped his tied guns, grabbed Robin, and threw the Titan against a closed and locked door across the room.

Before Robin could recover, Hood tackled into his stomach and the two masked vigilantes crashed through the crumbling door.

On the other side of the door was a staircase leading down into the basement.

Robin had to swallow a yelp and grab anything he could to stop his fall down the stairs, and the side railing possibly saved his life.

Red Hood, on the other hand, managed to lunge upwards, grab a well placed pipe that he knew was there, and swing from the pipe off into the rest of the basement.

With his fall stopped, Robin was thankful he didn't feel anything damaged. His red-breasted Nomex and Kevlar tunic had been more then adequate to absorb the force and protect Robin's very human body. He quickly pulled himself up by the railing, and then regretted falling into this basement.

The basement was lined with guns, ammunition, and explosives. Tables and benches filling up the basement's floor were scatted with tools and partially assembled weapons and bombs. This was Red Hood's workshop and armory.

Red Hood appeared from behind a table, and with a barely audible grunt, lifted up a Dillon Aero M134D gatling gun.

Robin's white eyes went wide and he quickly darted up the stairs.

Rat Tat Tat Tat Tat Tat Tat Tat Tat Tat Tat Tat Tat Tat Tat Tat Tat Tat Tat!

Robin scrambled up the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him, with bullets and splintering wood and cracking masonry nipping at his heels.

With a triumphant laugh, Red Hood bounded across tables while still firing wildly.

Robin was soon safe up the stairs and the first thing he realized was that he couldn't outrun bullets, especially bullet's fired by Red Hood. He's toying with me., he thought to himself. Or maybe he's really not trying to kill me…

"Where ya going?!" Red Hood ceased fire for a moment. "I was just getting to know you!" He emerged from the threshold of the basement's doorway and looked for Robin. Instead, he spotted a small explosive device mounted on the doorway threshold to his right. "Oh-" He quickly held up the gatling gun to shield him from the blast just as the explosive went off.

Blam!

Red Hood was slammed into the ground, and threw aside his uselessly damaged gatling gun; thankful he used the hunk of metal as a shield.

From above his head, gloved green hands grabbed him by his jacket's collar, lifted him up, and slammed him into the wall.

Robin growled at Hood as he held him against the wall.

"You do know Mask is getting away right about now, right?", Red Hood said casually, as if Robin's grip was of no concern.

"Titans. Should be here by now.", Robin said simply.

"Oh good… So it's just you and me now. This mean we can play Parcheesi? I call the red pieces.", he said in mock-excitement.

"You don't get it do you?", Robin said with a good deal less control over his emotions. He glared and tried not to grit his teeth at Hood.

"Oh no, I get everything just fine." Red Hood was switching over to a more confident, and maybe a tad bitter, tone. "You're the one who's got a few screws loose. You think you can just call 'Titans! Go!', beat up a monster, and say the day is saved?"

"If you're talking about Black Mask and his organized crime… We can handle him just fine."

"Then why am I here at all?", Hood asked.

"That's a good question." Robin pressed Hood into the wall harder. "Why did you come here?"

"Not a day goes by I don't ask myself that same question." Red Hood chuckled, then glanced off to the side and held up his empty hands in a shrug. "Oh… I don't know… Clean up the streets. Maybe make a little spending money in the process. Do your job for you."

"Do our job?! You started a gang war!"

"Yeah, and after I'm done, who's not gonna be fighting for control anymore?"

"The police! Us! The peop-"

"'Us? Us?!", Red Hood interrupted. "You're talking like you Titans are no better. Like the city is as much yours to control as mine!"

"At least I'm not a criminal!", Robin spat out.

"At least I'm not dumb enough not to notice when someone's hand is in my pocket."

Robin looked down and saw Red Hood's gloved hand remove itself from Robin's utility belt along with Robin's grapnel gun!

Hood fired it, and Robin heard the familiar loud report. He felt his tattered cape give a slight tug as the grapnel passed under it, then go slack again. He heard the whine of high-tension cable quickly unreeling and gears clicking into place.

The bird-a-rang flew up another flight of stairs behind them leading up to the next floor, trailing it's line behind it. The bird-a-rang anchored into the wall and before Robin could make a move of protest, Hood began to retract the line.

Robin and Red Hood flew up the next flight of stairs together, until they slammed into ground together just beyond the stairs.

Robin, being in front, took the brunt of the fall but his resolve was undaunted. He quickly kicked away Red Hood, who rolled away gratefully on the ground.

That's when Robin got to get a look at what this new floor was.

The entire second floor of the Harmon Dental building had been cleared away to mostly one giant room. Soft mats covered the floor. Manikins and crash dummies were covered in slashes, stab wounds, and holes from target practice. Heavy punching and kicking bags were placed sloppily here and there. There was a small rack of weights off to one side and a few exercise machines in the corner.

This was where Red Hood trained, worked out, and honed his combat skills in starch solitude. His gym.

Hood grabbed one of the smaller weights from his rack, a twenty-pound dumbbell, and hurled it at Robin.

Robin barely dodged that one, and the dumbbell punctured a wide hole in the woodened wall behind him. He quickly reached to his belt and withdrew then expanded his bo-staff.

He lunged towards Red Hood with a wide swing of his staff, and Hood responding by grabbing a bear bench press bar and blocking Robin's staff with it.

Robin pressed onwards with his staff and Hood planted his feet and pushed right back with his much heavier bar.

"You're wrong… ya know…", Robin said through grunts of effort.

"Yeah… Go figure.", Hood replied with a grunt of his own.

"About us… About Mask… About this city…"

"What do you know? Neither one of us are… exactly from around here." Red Hood began to gain ground and slowly push Robin back.

"I know enough.", Robin said firmly as he pushed back even harder.

-Under The Hood-

Hood's forces had gathered and converged. Some of Black Mask's forces had gotten past barriers and entered Hood's territory. Police of all kinds were swarming in like they should have done along time ago. And the four remaining Titans found their way into the thick of it.

When the Titans and the police had arrived and gotten serious, many of both Mask's and Hood's soldiers ran off to continue the fight elsewhere or hide in peace.

Of course, not everyone ran off. Some stayed to fight.

Starfire gave off a might warrior's roar as she pored a great deal of effort into a single incredible blast, which sent Mammoth flying across the street and into a building.

Mammoth crawled up to his feet, then tripped back onto the ground and passed out.

Just then behind Starfire, Gizmo ran up with a chainsaw.

Starfire spun around just in time to gasp before Gizmo was blown away by one of Cyborg's sonic blasts.

Gizmo landed on a postal drop box, and moaned in agony for a few moments before scurrying off with his spider-legs to lick his wounds.

"Don't worry, girl! I got your back.", Cyborg said as he ran up, sonic cannon charged and ready.

"Thank you for the assistance.", Starfire said as she hovered in the air. "Where is Robin? Have you seen him?"

"I think he's still with Hood in his headquarters.", Cyborg said. "Jinx and Private Hive and a few of Hood's better men are making their last stand to keep that place locked down tight."

"Not tight enough!", Starfire shouted and flew off towards Red Hood's rusty old headquarters.

But before she could get too far, Johnny Rancid's rebuilt robot T-Rex emerged from between two buildings and tried to swallow Starfire in one giant chomp.

Starfire had to quickly zip out of the way and then began hurling starbolt after starbolt at the mechanical dinosaur.

"What? Rancid?", Cyborg said with dismay. "I thought that guy got locked up already!" He continued to watch as a burst of green light bathed over him for a moment, which was followed by the sound of launching missiles and explosions.

He grimaced to himself then held up his sonic cannon. "Here I come, Star!" He ran off to join Starfire in battle.

-Under The Hood-

Wood cracked and exploded away as Red Hood's body fell back first through a wall.

He landed in the room that Darla Aquista had been kept in, the same room that had previously been configured to hold the cage that imprisoned Starfire.

Hood sat up on the floor and stared at Robin through the hole in the wall. "Not bad. And here I thought you were too much of a girl scout."

Robin stood through the gaping hole in the wall, his own cape tattered and his hair had a thin layer of dust and debris on it. The scow on his face was only intensified by his hard jaw, stiff lips, and glaring eyes.

"Ya know… I bet daddy would be so proud.", Red Hood said.

Robin lunged with a cry at Red Hood, but the jacket-clad crime lord quickly dived away.

Then Robin jumped in the air with legs chambered. Red Hood sidestepped to dodge his kick and punched Robin in the side of his face. Then Hood sprung away when he felt a sharp stabbing pain in his side.

Robin stood lurched on the ground, with a bird-a-rang in hand, it's sharp bladed wing pointing outwards where Hood had been. Robin smirked.

Hood instantly looked down and inspected his side, a tear in the outer fabric but not past the layers of Kevlar. "HA! Ha ha yes!", Red Hood looked up at Robin and clenched his fist. "You baited me with a punch just so you could stab my side? Now you're really fighting!", Hood said. And he was quite happy to say it. "Bought time you got some game!"

"I'm not here to play games.", Robin said as he held up the bird-a-rang higher to guard his face with it. "I'm here to put you behind bars."

"Keep fighting like that-" Hood narrowed his eyes just a fraction of a sliver. "-and you might have a chance. Might…"

Hood suddenly darted forward with new-found vigor.

-Under The Hood-

Gangsters, bangers, and general thugs of every kind were being hauled off by the busloads, all arrested by the city's police force or by Titans themselves. Some of the city's most wanted thugs and supervillains found themselves in cuffs simply because they couldn't pass up on the opportunity or couldn't escape the carnage.

If Red Hood really was planning on cleaning up the city one fair swoop… It was working!

And even now… As the Titans fought the remaining villains… As the police rounded up the remaining thugs, and felt for the first time like they made even a small difference in their city… As criminals and general evil-doers were foiled… As citizens cowered in fear in their homes… As the local media finally got yet another big story… The city was getting cleaned up. And it was by way of a metaphorical, and sometimes literal, controlled burn.

-Under The Hood-

The door to the roof top entrance of Red Hood's headquarters burst open, and Red Hood quickly darted out with his, now trademark, Kris knife held firmly in his hand.

Robin emerged after, with twin bird-a-rangs in hand and crossed over his chest in an X.

Robin slashed with one bladed wing, then the other. And Hood blocked and deflected with swift jerks from his knife.

Clang.

Clang.

Up on the rooftop, surrounded by the chaos and battles all around them, Robin and the Red Hood continued their fight. As if it was the only part of this whole gang war that truly mattered.

Metal met metal, as Robin's bird-a-rangs and Hood's knife clashed time and time again.

Clang.

Clang.

Ching.

Red Hood managed to snatch up Robin's right fist in his left hand, and Robin used his remaining hand and bird-a-rang to block a downwards slash from Red Hood's knife.

The superhero and the vigilante turned crime lord stood against each other, a battle of will and muscle rather then technique and skill.

They both knew the smart move would be to try and knee the opponent in the gut, but frankly… Both were tired.

Both broke away and darted backwards. Then stood and stared each other down again while they tried to catch their hard breaths.

"Looks like... their having a great block party down there…", Hood said as he gestured off the rooftop with a nudge of his head. "Think we should join them? Or invite them up to look up at the stars?"

Robin chuckled just once with a crooked smile. "Maybe we should turn on the music while they get soda?"

"I've got a few mixed tapes downstairs. I hear Cyborg just bought a new boom box."

"Starfire makes great punch."

"Can we play pin the tail on the Beast Boy?"

"After Raven."

Robin and Red Hood stood, almost sad and regretful that their little mock-scenario of friendship and alliance couldn't at least be a little bit true.

When they had last fought, Red Hood had needed a great deal of effort to defeat Robin. Now, built up by the shame of defeat and the obsession to become more impervious next time, Robin was serious, driven, and much better.

Red Hood's metal mask was scratched and his jacket torn. Robin's cape tattered, his tunic dirty.

Both breathed heavy and stared at each other.

"Why…?", Robin asked.

"Why?", Red Hood repeated, with a subtle tilt of his helmeted head.

"Why do all this…?" Robin, exhausted and sore, looked around briefly. "Why go through all the effort of taking over the city? And why fight me?"

Red Hood didn't answer.

"Why? Who are you? Someone who Black Mask hurt? Or someone we hurt somehow? Did your home get destroyed in a fight? Or did Mask or Slade or even Blood burn it and we didn't get there in time?!", Robin demanded. "Why? Why are you doing all this, Hood?"

"I need a reason?", Red Hood replied. "Like anyone needs a reason to want to take down a piece of scum like Black Mask?"

"But you're only replacing him!", Robin announced to Hood.

"Might seem that way at first! Who says I'm through with my plans?", Red Hood defended. "But if you really think about it, Bird Boy… Just really sit down to think about it…"

"I have! Every single day since we fought in the Tower.", Robin spat back. "You say you're going to clean up the city, the way I couldn't. The way the Teen Titans couldn't!" Robin paused, only to catch his breath and grit his teeth a little. "We've defended this city time and time again! Not just from monsters and supervillains. We've taken down Slade, got rid of Brother Blood-"

"Yeah!", Red Hood interrupted Robin. "And how long did it take you to do that?! Slade came back, and ya had to put him down again. And H.I.V.E. still has a half way decent grip on Steel City." He paused. "But I guess that's Titans East's problem, isn't it?", he said with a tint of sarcasm.

Robin was short on a reply for that one, and no less angry for it.

"And in the time it took for you and your friends to pull your head out of the sofa cushions, how many mistakes did you make?", Red Hood said. "You want another Terra? Another Red X?"

Robin's gloved fingers tightened around the bird-a-rangs a bit more. "You think we wanted that?", he said slowly, meditating on the biggest mistakes of both the Teen Titan's and his own. "You think we didn't even try? You think I didn't search for Slade every single day?! What else were we supposed to do?!"

"Hit harder.", Red Hood simply said.

Robin wasn't quite sure what he met, but you couldn't tell past the scow on his face.

"It's a war. 'War on Crime' or something like that.", Hood said. "Yeah, wars have casualties. They're ugly that way. But ya can't win a war by pulling your punches! You either get in there and give it everything you got, or you step out of the way and let somebody else do it." He paused. "War's aren't won with half-hearts. Not usually anyway."

"So what? The Titans get out there with machine guns? Start hiring up villains to take down other villains? Start blowing up everything in sight?!"

"Hey, never said ya had to do it my way." Red Hood tilted his head off to the side while he shrugged. "I just said that you needed to grow up a bit more and take off the kid gloves. Although… Blowing stuff up is a lot of fun."

Robin couldn't help but chuckle just once, and though for a moment about Hood's misplaced wisdom. "So where's that leave me and the rest of the Titans?"

"Listen...", Hood said in a more somber tone. "No one ever said you guys didn't do your job. This city's better with you then without you. You're all heroes and even I won't argue that." He admitted. "But you're too much of a kid at it. And you're a bit spoiled too."

"Why…", Black Mask said as he grabbed the back of Red Hood's jacket's collar, and kicked Hood's back. "…do they always monologue?!"

"Umph!" Hood stumbled forward as his jacket was pulled right off his arms, and he took just a nanosecond to curse himself for actually being surprised and disarmed. He fell on to the ground just before Robin.

"You!", Robin scowled as he threw one of his chipped bird-a-rangs at Black Mask.

Mask, who had his hand deep in the jacket, pulled his hand out and swung the jacket at the bird-a-rang to deflect the stray bladed projectile. Then he held up a heavy blaster pistol, that he had stolen from Hood's jacket just a second ago.

Hood was already getting back up onto his feet.

Mask aimed the blaster.

Blast!

Suddenly, Hood was in front of Robin, and took the blast strait to his chest.

"Hood!", Robin cried as the crime lord turned vigilante doubled over onto his knees. Robin quickly glanced at Mask and threw his second chipped bird-a-rang.

This time, the bird-a-rang hit its target, and impact to Mask's wrist was hard enough to cut the gangster and make him drop the blaster.

"Ah…", Black Mask hissed as he clutched his empty hand and glanced at his cut wrist. Then he quickly darted to the side as he pulled out Hood's other blaster.

Robin quickly withdrew a freeze-disk from his belt.

Then Mask and Robin stood still, each aiming their weapons at each other.

Robin's tattered cape blew in the wind, as did Red Hood's jacket that was clutched in Mask's hand.

"Looks like we got ourselves an old fashioned Mexican standoff, huh?", Mask said.

"Hood…?", Robin asked slowly without taking his eyes away from Mask.

"I'll live…", Red Hood groaned. "Armor." The fabric over his chest had been burnt away by the blast, exposing the Kevlar armor plates and Aramid fibers below that made Hood's under armor.

"Why'd you take the shot?", Robin asked.

Red Hood lifted his head and glared upwards at Black Mask. "Because… If something happened to you, the city and all your little friends would throw a hissy fit.", he said, half-bitterly and half-somberly. "But me…?"

Red Hood straitened his back and stood strait while kneeling, facing Black Mask and his jacket-less back to Robin. "No one's gonna cry over me!", he cried as his hand lifted from his belt and pointed it at Black Mask. Inside his gloved hand was a tightly clutched detonator, with a red button nuzzled under Hood's thumb.

"Hood, stop!", Robin said, taking his eyes away from Black Mask.

"Uh oh.", Black Mask said like a cartoon.

Red Hood's thumb pressed the button.

BLAST!!!

Sudden a huge blast was heard from inside Red Hood's headquarter's basement, and a concussion of sound and inferno ripped apart through the walls and shattered the windows, turning glass to powder and bricks to pebble.

The expanding inferno raised up through the rest of the structure, and flames and explosions ripped apart the rest of the old brick building. Flash firebombs strategically placed throughout Harmon Dental blew out windows. And a particular section of wall on the third flow was completely blown away, with blackened and fried computer components being sent through the air.

The supports of the building, virtually vaporized in the blast from the basement alone, quickly gave way to gravity. And what was left of the building that was left whole began to crumble and fall…

Up on top, the roof quickly began to fall downwards as the rest of the building collapsed below it.

"Agh!!!" Mask screamed as he latched onto a steam pipe.

"Hood!!!", Robin yelled as he and the Red Hood were both swallowed up in the dust and smoke, sinking deeper and deeper…

The building collapsed, and fell into what was once it's basement.

All around, Titans and police and villains all alike, had paused their fights and watched on as the building's basement exploded and collapsed into itself.

And it was then replaced by a billowing cloud of smoke and dust that rose into the air like a leper's begging hand.

"Robin!", Starfire screamed as she quickly flew over, before any villain could gather his wits to stop her.

The rest of the Titans immediately rushed for the wreckage, as did a few hired thugs and police officers. Mr. Li was rushing as fast as his legs could carry him.

Starfire landed on the wreckage and shifting rubble. "Robin! Red Hood! Anybody?!", she called out as she looked around.

She heard footsteps beneath shifting rubble, and spun around happily. Then frowned and gasped silently to herself.

Black Mask stood out from the smoke and dust. He shed his ruined coat, and clutched Red Hood's scuffed jacket as a trophy. He walked across of the carnage that had once been Red Hood's home.

"You! Where- Where is Robin? Where is the Red Hood?", Starfire demanded of him as he passed by her.

"Worm chow, toots!", he said happily.

Starfire stood frozen.

"Star…", a groggy labored voice said.

"Robin!", Starfire exclaimed as she rushed over and pulled Robin's bruised body out of some rubble.

Neither he nor Black Mask would have survived if they hadn't been on the roof, with nothing to collapse on top of them.

Robin leaned tiredly against Starfire, his sore arm wrapped around her shoulders for support. "Where… Where's Hood?", he asked with a slight growl.

"Gone!", Black Mask happily shouted as he climbed to the top of the highest pile of rubble. He happily giggled to himself. "Gone! Gone gone gone. Gone gone gone.", he sang to himself. When he reached to top of the pile he turned back to Starfire and Robin and said, "Ding dong the freak is gone! Ha ha! Whoo! It's about time, too!" Black Mask turned to the rest of the city and the crowed that had gathered.

Police were quickly arresting the last of the villains and thugs, but truthfully, most of them were more concerned about the building that just blew up and collapsed.

"Here that, City?!", he called out with outstretched embracing arms. "Red Hood's finally a red stain buried beneath lots and lots of rubble! I win! I am, and still am, king of the mountain, baby! Ha ha ha!" He laughed to himself grandly, drunk with the glory of victory.

"Psst… Hey, potato head!", Red Hood called out in a whisper.

"What?!", Black Mask spat as he snapped his head around and looked behind him.

Red Hood lunged at him, from out of seemingly no where, with a savage battle cry.

"Ack!", was all the dumbfounded Black Mask could say as he was tackled to the ground and slammed into the awkward rubble. "Umph!", was all the sound he made when Red Hood's gloved fist crashed into his jaw like a sledgehammer.

A wet Thump, was the sound of Hood's next fist slamming into the other side of Mask's charred jaw. Then another punch as Hood knelt perched and mounted atop Black Mask, beating his skull without mercy.

Thump!

Thump!

Punch after punch. Punch after punch.

Red Hood raised both his hands, and then clubbed Black Mask's face with them.

Crack!

Blood spattered against Hood's gloves, and lightly sprayed over the rocks and rubble that made Black Mask's bed.

Mr. Li, and each of the Teen Titans, all stood frozen as they stood on the rubble and watched. Police and bystanders watched from the streets.

Everyone watched. Some where too shocked to move. Others had no desire to stop it. Some were simply too tired or injured to move, their bodies protesting to any desire to move. And others still, were simply to ah-struck and caught up in the climax to move or even blink. Everyone watched.

Red Hood beat Black Mask, in a fit of rage and boiled up emotion.

"You!", Hood said.

Thump!

"Don't!"

Whack!

"Win!"

Hood raises his clubbed fists once more to swing down upon Black Mask's skull… Then paused.

Black Mask's skull was battered and bleeding. There was a gentle rise and fall to Black Mask's chest as his head laid limp against a pillow made of concrete and rebar.

Red Hood exhaled sharply and lowered his fists, exhaling the last of his primal rage.

He stood, and yanked his jacket from Mask's hand.

He plunged one arm through it's sleeve, swung it around, and plunged his other arm is. He heaved the heavy jacket back onto his shoulders, covering the holsters on his body that held his knife and a grapnel pistol. And with a brisk jerk of his fingers, he straitened his collar.

"You… You actually did it.", Mr. Li said.

Red Hood glanced up from his jacket and too Mr. Li.

"You beat him… You won. You own the city.", Mr. Li said in astonishment.

"Yeah… Guess I do.", Red Hood said vigorously. Then he looked out at the city, the same view Black Mask had just a moment ago, and held out his own arms in a sort of embrace. "I won…", he said with, for first the time, a certain sense of peace.

He paused, and savored the moment. The glory. The victory. Red Hood had taken over all of Jump City's organized crime, in record time. It was his. All of it, minus a little sliver that Aquista had for now. Jump City was his…

He inhaled. "Well! That was fun!"

Then he turned right around, skipped down the pile of rubble, and patted Mr. Li on the shoulder as he passed him by. "Smithers, you're in charge."

"What?", Mr. Li asked.

"WHAT?!", seemed to be the collective response from everyone else.

Robin's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

Beast Boy alone almost did a face-plant into the rubble.

Starfire hovered into the air and carried Robin with her closer to Red Hood.

"Hood!", Robin called out as him and Robin gently landed closer to Red Hood. "You can't be serious…"

"What?", Red Hood asked. "Think I'm crazy enough to hang around in this dump?" He chuckled. "I took over a city in less then a month. Who else can say that, hmm?", he said with a happy shrug.

Robin… was completely dumbfounded.

And so was everyone else.

Red Hood spun around on his heel and began walking off casually, as if strolling through the park instead of skipping across rubble. "Only thing that would make this day better was if I got a T-Shirt to match!" He laughed to himself as he passed right by the rest of the Titans and continued to trot right off merrily.

"You're… You're kidding me, right?", Cyborg asked rhetorically.

"Um… Shouldn't we… Um… Stop him?", Beast Boy asked.

Raven was too busy twitching to answer.

"Hey! Freeze!", a single white-armor clad police officer shouted as Red Hood passed by.

Suddenly, Red Hood broke from his trot and sprinted off to the side, with the officer giving him chase.

Red Hood gave a gentle wave to the rest of the Teen Titans, just before he disappeared beyond the mouth of the alleyway.

"Should we give chase?", Starfire asked.

"Don't bother.", Robin said.

Several other white-armor clad "Stormtroopers" followed in pursuit and entered the alley, but all they found the first police officer unconscious against a dirty brick wall.

And a sewer manhole was open, it's lid slid off to the side. Nothing could be heard from the darkness beyond and below the hole.

Robin, to even his own surprise, smiled.

-Under The Hood-

The next morning.

"Phew!", Mammoth said as he gratefully closed the main door to the H.I.V.E. Five's headquarters and rested his back against it. "Glad that's over."

"I'll say…", SeeMore rubbed his sore head.

"Home sweet home!", Gizmo said happily as he stepped into the living room.

Jinx slapped him on the back of the head.

"Ow! Hey! What was that for?!", Gizmo demanded.

"If you hadn't gone Benedict Arnold on us, we never would have wound up with that giant mess on our hands!", Jinx explained.

"Eh…", Gizmo waved off. "What good was that Red Hood anyway? We didn't even get our final paycheck from the barf-guzzler."

"Then what's that?", SeeMore asked as he stepped into the room and pointed to the couch.

"Eh?", Jinx looked over at the couch.

Five individual presents were laid out evenly across the seats of the couch. Each one had a tag with one of the H.I.V.E. Five's names on it.

"Presents!", Mammoth said as he rushed over, grabbed a box, and ripped it's top off and tore it's ribbon in the process. Then his eyes lit up.

"What is it?", Private HIVE asked as he stepped into the living room last.

"Money!", Mammoth said. "And lots of it!"

"Our paychecks!", SeeMore said as he rushed to the other end of the couch to grab his. "Oh yeah!"

"Hood came through!" Jinx jumped over the back of the couch and snatched up her present. "Told you!", she said to Gizmo.

Gizmo mumbled angrily to himself.

SeeMore, Jinx, and Private HIVE all opened up their presents.

Jinx got double what she had originally been promised by Red Hood, which she surmised must have been a reward for her loyal effort. Her bonus was a secret she decided to keep to herself.

"Alright, alright! Out of the way, snot munchers!", Gizmo said as he pushed and crawled his way through the happy commotion of villains getting paid. "Where's mine?!"

"I think that's it.", Mammoth said as he pointed to the last unopened package, with a tag that read "To: Gizmo" on it.

Private HIVE scoffed. "I can't believe a traitor like you still gets to be rewarded."

"Yeah…", Jinx said. "How come you still get paid when you snitched on Hood and gave us all that trouble?"

"I dunno.", Gizmo said as he picked up his present. "I must've showed him who's boss!", he cackled to himself for a moment. Then he shook his present up and down. "Ooo. Sounds really full." He sneered at the others, obviously savoring the thought. "I must have really showed him."

Jinx, Private HIVE, and the rest of the H.I.V.E. Five glared in annoyance or disgust.

Then he set the package back on the couch's seat and pulled open the ribbon. "Well I guess it serves the barf-brain, right. Teach him to mess with me." Then he lifted the lid…

And a swarm of very angry bees emerged from inside the box.

"Agh!", Gizmo screamed.

"Bees!", Mammoth yelled.

"Run!", Jinx yelled.

"AGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!", Gizmo squealed.

-Under The Hood-

Days later.

A green car parked on the side of a deserted road late at night, just outside of Jump City city limits. The driver side door opened and Red Hood, in a fresh and undamaged costume, stepped out.

"So you and your dad have a little play date tonight?", Red Hood asked into the cell phone he held against his red metal mask.

"Yep.", Darla Aquista said happily into her phone on the other side of the city. Safe in her own home again, she sat at the foot of her bed and looked at two dresses hanging from her closet door. She had to decide which one she'd wear to dinner with her father tonight.

"Guess the guy's trying to make it up to you or something.", Red Hood as he retrieved his own emergency duffle bag from the car, the one that Darla had kept safe for him until she gave it back to him a day later.

"Yeah? Well he's gonna owe me a lot of dinners and dresses before any of that happens."

Hood laughed. "Did you hear about Black Mask and Li?"

"Just bits and rumors."

"D.A.'s throwing the book at both of them. But first Mask has to finish having his jaw wired back into place.", Hood said as he closed the car door with a kick.

"Yeah. Everyone's talking about that beating."

"Be lying if I didn't say I didn't enjoy it."

Darla suppressed a chuckle. "What I wanna know is where that mountain of evidence that was dumped into the D.A.'s lap came from. Any guesses, Hood?"

"A little birdy told him?"

Darla laughed. "All that insider info? Not likely."

"Guess it's just one of life's little mysteries…", Hood said.

Darla smiled to herself. After a moment, she asked, "Where are you going?"

"Not sure.", Red Hood said as he stepped into the middle of the deserted road. "But I'm sure you'll hear about it when I do."

"Take care of yourself."

"You really outta see a shrink about that Stockholm syndrome."

Darla chuckled.

"Goodbye, Darla. You'll hear from me again."

"Bye, Hood.", she said almost sadly.

Beep.

Red Hood hung up, and then tossed the cell phone through the car's open window of the driver side door.

He held up a small remote control, looked at the car, and pressed a button.

A small blast inside the car started a wave of fire that quickly engulfed the entire vehicle. Previously soaked accelerants made quick work of the car and any evidence that Red Hood had ever been inside.

Just as the explosives and rubble had erased any trace of the Harmon Dental building ever once being Red Hood's headquarters.

Red Hood casually tossed the remote control detonator into the blaze, and looked off down the long road ahead.

He set down his bag, and took off his jacket. Then he hung the jacket over his left shoulder by a hooked index finger, and picked up the bag again with his right hand.

With jacket hanging over shoulder and all important items hanging from his hand, with the heat of a flaming car nipping at his back…

Red Hood walked off down the road. And, eventually, out of sight.

-The End-

………………………………………………………………………………...

"Do not hit at all if it can be avoided, but never hit softly."

-Theodore Roosevelt.

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Author's Note: Well… It's finally finished. Took me some time between updates, but I proudly finish the very first adaptation of Red Hood into the animated world of the Teen Titans. Or at least as animated as a fanfiction gets.

I had a lot of fun writing this one. It was hard to constantly find new strings of pseudo profanity for Gizmo to say. But it was fun to invent a bunch of phrases for killing, since I try to keep my TT fics the same rating as the show.

And, truthfully, I wouldn't mind working with Red Hood again, but only if enough readers ask it of me. Since I don't have many ideas for what I'd write about, I'd need some good suggestions and ideas.

Hope you enjoyed, Under The Hood.