Jason Todd

Jason Todd grew up in Gotham City. His father was a small time crook who abandoned the family after getting arrested and subsequently getting released from prison, leaving Jason to deal with his drug addicted mother. Catherine Todd... meant well, and Jason did his best to support her, turning towards petty crime - basically ripping off car parts - to get by. Catherine died of an overdose not long afterwards, leaving Jason to completely fend for himself, which is not a good position to be in when you live in Gotham.

Still, he stayed alive, which was something. And things probably would have continued on in that general pattern of stealing stuff, selling it to sketchy guys, and living from meal to meal if he hadn't decided to rip off the tires of the Batmobile. The Batmobile. It had just been parked there innocently in Crime Alley, and the then twelve year old (estimation) decided well, why the hell not. The Batmobile's wheels would definitely go for way more than just some other random car, and the reckless kid decided to go for it.

But before he could make a clean get away, the Bat himself showed up. Jason had been scared, worried that he was going to get into some kind of trouble, but instead, he ended up taking the boy in, seeing that if Jason continued in this lifestyle, he'd just become another criminal, wasting all his potential. Bruce revealed his identity to the boy, adopted him as his son, and began training him as the second Robin. Jason took to the work eagerly, and after six months of training, he was finally allowed out to fight crime as the official partner of The Dark Knight.

The first few years were great. Jason was different from his predecessor in many ways, but still complimented Batman's style well. He was excitable, brash and fearless, always ready and willing to rush into situations without stressing about logistics first. This cockiness grew into outright recklessness as he got older, and eventually Jason turned into an angry, violent young man, often going just a little too far on patrol and sometimes blurring the rigid lines of morality Bruce wanted him to live up to, which led to tension between him and Batman.

But things still went okay, for the most part, until Jason was sixteen. Batman and Robin were working to stop R'as Al Ghul - again - and the ancient ecoterrorist hired the Joker as a distraction in hopes of slowing down the two. Against Batman's orders, Robin chased down the Joker, and things quickly fell apart. Joker captured the teenager, dragged him to a remote warehouse, and brutally beat him with a crowbar, breaking bones, puncturing a lung, all the while laughing and laughing. Even despite the pain and the fear that he was going to die - Bruce didn't know where he was, he was probably bleeding internally, couldn't breathe properly - Jason remained defiant, determined not to let the Joker see him break.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, he left. Jason had sort of been playing possum, and as soon as he was sure it was safe, he forced himself to get up, trying to find a way out, which is pretty hard to do when you've been beaten to a bloody pulp. After dragging himself across the floor only to find the door locked, Jason managed to settle against the door, adrenaline fueled mind racing, still trying to figure out what to do next, hoping that Batman would know where he was because there was no way he was going to be able to drag himself around in this state for long. But if Bruce was coming, he'd hopefully be there soon.

Of course, that annoying ticking noise and the rapidly declining timer was probably going to throw a bit of a wrench in things...

Canon Information
Abilities/Powers: Jason has been trained by Batman in a variety of martial arts and acrobatics, and as such, is an incredibly skilled combatant. That being said, Jason tends to favor speed and brute force, more of a brawler then either Dick or Bruce, but is still pretty talented at preforming the flips and quick judgments required of anyone hoping to be a vigilante in Gotham. He's not a natural like Dick, so he has to practice, but he's talented and knows it. However, considering the damage he's recently received to... everything, he's probably not going to be running around on rooftops for a while.

He's also been trained in various techniques to help him get out of tough situations, and has a basic knowledge of most of the detective skills that Batman uses to hunt down crime in Gotham. That being said, he's much more interested in hitting things than studying them, and could probably have done with a little more studying of some of Bruce's more academic skills. He knows his way around most weapons at least vaguely, can interrogate a suspect and in general, is a skilled if still learning crime fighter.

Strength: Jason's gutsy, and doesn't back down from stuff easily. He has a strong - if slightly different from Bruce or Dick - belief in and sense of justice, which means that generally he's tougher on criminals then most of his coworkers. He's a formidable physical combatant, fearless and confident. He's also very loyal in his own weird way, and if you hurt someone he cares about, he'll hunt you down and make you pay. Period.

Weakness: He's a much less experienced crime fighter then Dick was when he was the same age, and constantly feels like he needs to overcompensate to prove that he's just as good as him. This often gets him into trouble, and in general, although he likes to throw up a tough guy persona, he's actually pretty sensitive about certain things. His temper gets the better of him more often then not, and he is much more likely to blur the line of right and wrong then Batman. Push his buttons, and he'll hit you.

Personality: Jason is kind of a jackass. A generally well meaning jackass, but a jackass none the less. Growing up on the streets has given him a harder edge then his predecessor, and this is readily apparent to just about everyone within five minutes of meeting him. He's abrasive, harder to get along with, and carries a lot of anger and frustration with him, which often comes out really brutally while actually in combat. He's also got a smart mouth, always ready with a witty-but-obnoxious quip or just general snark, and speaks much more roughly then most of his family and coworkers, much to the chagrin of Alfred. He's generally obnoxious and rude, but has rare moments of being... less obnoxious and rude, generally with Bruce and Alfred (or, rarely, Dick), and is capable of putting up with signs of affection from people he cares about. In rare occasions, he might even go as far as to offer some of his own awkward and trying-to-appear-apathetic attempts of showing he doesn't hate these people either.

He's reckless, always rushing into situations without fully thinking through the consequences of his actions, and in general takes being Robin a lot less seriously than Dick did. He's got the typical teenage idea that he's invincible, and as such doesn't really consider that someday he can (and probably will) get seriously hurt and/or killed because he rushed into something without thinking about it. On top of that, he doesn't think through his specific actions in relevance to the case he's working on, just rushing in and kicking ass. He's more violent than Dick, and even than Bruce sometimes, using excessive force to subdue criminals because he doesn't feel they deserve to be treated any better.

He tends to blur Batman's black and white morals, and sometimes isn't really sure he agrees with his 'no killing, no beating everyone to a bloody pulp' policy. Again, they're criminals who had their shot, why bother being gentle with them? Although ultimately he follows Batman's rules and respects his mentor and surrogate father, he still questions his methods, which leads to friction between the two.

Jason does sort of feel that he's living in Dick's shadow, constantly being compared and measured against his predecessor, which has caused a relative amount of angst for the young vigilante. He wants people to appreciate him for who he is, not constantly compare him to Nightwing, and thus goes out of his way to prove that he's just as good as if not better than his "older sibling". He's stubborn, hates admitting he's wrong, and really, at the end of the day, incredibly brave. Aside from being willing to confront crooks armed with a lot more than a couple batarangs and their fists, he doesn't crack under pressure and can remain defiant and almost calm even when being brutally beaten.

Ultimately, he's loyal to Bruce (and the rest of the Batfamily), and even if he doesn't always see eye to eye with them, he'll do anything for them. Really, even if he's never going to admit it, all he wants is to be loved and accepted by the people he considers family. He's not great at expressing anything other than cynicism, anger, bitterness, disdain and basically any other obnoxious, negative emotion, but his actions speak pretty clearly of a teenager who's trying to figure out how and where he fits in.

Extra: Although Jason is now fully recovered from his injuries he'd sustained before arriving in Vertiline, he is still incredibly shaken up over what happened, and as such has been spending a lot of time retreating into himself and trying to shove everyone else away. He's incredibly far from "over" what happened, and it will probably be quite some time before he's back to his usual self, if he ever gets there. While he knows that Bruce and Terry are Batman and Dick is Nightwing, he doesn't know a ton of other people's secret identities, and he guards his own just as closely as any other member of the Batfamily.

Vertiline
Deaths: 0

Punishments: 0

Relationships
Dick Grayson: Pain in the ass, not!brother.

Terry McGinnis: The Pretender.

Bruce Wayne: Happy and therefore creepy not!dad.

Maxine Gibson: Surprisingly cool friend of McGinnis.

Harley Quinn: Psycho.

Other Stuff, Links
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