Chapter Text
“But,” Superman stared at Batman, “Red Hood is a crime lord. How can you count him as a hero?”
Batman glared at him, “Am I happy he’s a crime lord? No, but graduation rates of the local high school went from seventy-one percent, the worst in the entire country, to eighty-six percent which matches the state of California. Fatal ODs by anyone under the eighteen have gone from common to non-existent. Child prostitution is non-existent. Deaths in prostitutes and the number of rapes in a month has also decreased significantly. I may not like his methods but I can’t deny they work.”
Barry frowned, “Doesn’t he traffic drugs? And why are the kids affected by him being a crime lord? He’s facilitating crime.”
“It’s called the Red Code. No one touches kids and lives. No one uses kids as drug runners or anything else. He’s actually set up, as in is paying for, tutors to work at libraries after school and provides funding for all of the food shelves as well.”
Diana tapped her finger on her crossed arm, “He gets the money from trafficking drugs and other crimes. How can you condone that?”
Batman sighed, “If he’s the main crime lord of Crime Alley I know what he will and will not do and even though he breaks, my personal most important rule for all the other heroes of Gotham, no killing, he has his own code that I can respect.”
“Um,” Barry scratched his neck, “Didn’t someone say something about Robin joining him and, uh, dealing with a trafficking group on a boat?”
“Robin was raised by the League of Assassins. Agent A decided that he had been chafing a bit too much in the role as Robin and set up a,” Batman laughed awkwardly, “Play date for Red Hood and Robin, in alternate costumes to keep the Prince of the LOA from being linked back from Robin.”
“League of what?”
“Assassins. Robin is,” Batman squinted, “Ra’s maybe heir? I’m not sure how Ra is really taking Robin taking my side. Although with Ra allowing that, incident, to be a League action, I don’t know. The most likely reason is the chance for Ra’s to interact with Red Robin. Ra’s has a worrying interest in Red Robin.”
Batman sighed, “You all saw Red Hood get hit by the pit rage when you threatened a younger member of his Batfamily. The way Red Hood was fully revived to full functionality was by being immersed in a Lazarus pit. He has improved greatly in preventing rages, his record since his last rage was over a year, which all of you destroyed that.”
Clark frowned, “We only said we wanted to talk with the person, who we thought, was hacking the watchtower.”
“You abducted him while he was actually not committing a crime but meeting up with a friend in a restaurant slightly outside Gotham so that they wouldn’t have to enter Gotham and risk the Lure affecting their child. Gotham loves Red Hood so his friend would be safe but neither wants to risk his friend’s daughter if they can it avoid.”
“Lure?”
“There’s a reason no one leaves Gotham, at least not permanently, Gotham holds onto her people so anyone who leaves doesn’t leave for long. There’s a reason Nightwing spends so much time in Gotham even though he’s now the hero of Bludhaven.”
Oliver blinked, “Wait… he was set up to meet up with a friend? Did you guys pick him up from a Perkins in Budhaven?”
Diana gave him a confused look, “Yes? Why does it matter?”
“He was meeting up with Arsenal, no wonder he was so worried about his friend missing a meet-up with him. It’s one thing for a normal friend to forget to call before missing a meeting, it’s completely different if your friend, a crime lord, misses a meet-up. God, he’s Uncle Jay.”
Oliver scrubbed his face, “Fuck, no wonder Arsenal is pissed with me. I might not have been involved but his daughter has been distraught. God, if he hasn’t already can you tell Red Hood to contact Arsenal? I think he has because she calmed down but I’d prefer to be safe. Shit, as long as he leaves the mask and such behind tell him he’s welcome to visit Arsenal in Star city. Preferably with giving me a heads up first, if he gives me a heads up he can use the zeta tube so he doesn’t have to deal with travel time.”
Clark looked confused, “That’s… nice of you.”
“I screwed up majorly with Arsenal, letting his friend visit, even one I’d normally not allow into my city but as long as he doesn’t do any,” Oliver narrowed his eyes, “Crime lord things during those visits it’s fine, might help me mend our relationship.”
Batman nodded, “I’ll tell him, he’ll likely take your offer soon. Everyone is a bit twitchy about him right now and a visit to somewhere safe like Star city should give him a chance to escape the hovering.”
Clark coughed, “Um, back to what we were actually talking about, so we are going to make it so that Batman is in charge of making sure Red Hood isn’t a problem we should address?”
Diana frowned, “Alright, but I don’t think we should list him as a hero outside of Gotham. Let alone a first line hero.”
Barry frowned, “What situations is he classified as a first line hero, meant to be the leader or one of the leaders of the situation?”
“Any situations that require modern weapons and fatal force, situations requiring any method and non-fatal force he is second line behind more experienced heroes.”
Clark nodded, “Makes sense. I think we can conclude that Red Hood is under Batman’s purview and know that he is a possibly willing to offer aid in lethal situations hero.”
After a quick vote Red Hood was left first line hero of any situation where there were no other heroes with knowledge of the weapon needed to fight the problem. Otherwise he was listed as a last line hero outside of Gotham until review in the annual hero level reviews, and that Batman was responsible for monitoring Red Hood’s more violent tendencies and activities during his… day job.