23 Chapter 22 - Deserved

A/N:

Here's the chapter for today. Please paragraph comment or normal comment any possible mistakes you can spot.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoy, and as always, thanks for reading!

Reminder: these --> "*example*" = emphasized words.

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The sun began its descent behind Tokyo's sprawling skyline, painting the city in warm hues of orange and pink. As the buildings grew dark, the sun set the sky ablaze with a kaleidoscope of colors.

[Uh, Jason… What are you going to do with this?] asked Wheatley as he hovered behind Jason on top of a rooftop, handing him a syringe filled with a clear orange liquid. Ever since Jason read that letter, he had been in a… foul mood, so to speak.

Clad in a sleek, red helmet with piercing, glowing eyes, Jason exuded a dangerous aura. His grey body armor, worn under a dark brown jacket with rolled-up sleeves, was made of a combination of materials able to protect him from most forms of damage, including gunshots and cuts. His pants were adorned with various pouches and holsters, all loaded with deadly weapons, ready to be deployed at a moment's notice. The only thing his attire lacked was the red symbol on the chest.

Before, that symbol used to represent his connection to his family, and its resemblance to the bat symbol served useful in sending fear into the hearts of many of Gotham's criminals. But now, that symbol served no purpose, so he had Wheatley remove it. Plus, he didn't think any of them approve of what he was about to do.

Jason looked at the syringe in his gloved hands and storing it in his ring, replying to Wheatley, "You'll see. What's the result of your scouting? Any traps or people hidden in the perimeter?"

[I found none at all. Though I do wonder why he would call you out to such an isolated location. There's just this big abandoned building in front of us.] Wheatley commented as he stared at the worn down building in front of them.

Jason narrowed his eyes. He had contemplated Hikaru's reasons as well, and the only likely possibilities he thought of were few.

First reason: No witnesses to see, hear, or find anything.

As someone in the entertainment industry, Hikaru wouldn't want anyone connecting him to a crime, ruin his reputation, and send him to prison. That was probably why he used the stalker as a murder proxy for Gorou, who was Ai's doctor, and almost Ai herself. Heck, maybe he had killed other people through a similar method and their bodies just hadn't been found yet.

A quick analysis of recent celebrity deaths told Jason just that. There was a spike in deaths involving female actresses and idols. All of them died because of accidents according to the media and police investigations, but how many of those were actually orchestrated by Hikaru?

Second reason: As an extension to the first reason, Hikaru might be the type to obsess or find pleasure and satisfaction in killing people without being touted as the one responsible. There may be some other reason, but it was likely based on some sort of obsession.

Jason encountered people with similar obsessive traits before. The Scarecrow being one of them.

Third and last reason: Whatever Hikaru planned aside from wanting to talk with him, he preferred doing it in a remote area.

In addition, how does Hikaru know his name and his origins? That was a question Jason wanted answered, so he analyzed the letter first.

Wheatley commented the letter was covered in dark energy before he extracted it, and that meant whatever being made that energy either purposely left it there, or it was tainted because Hikaru himself is possessed by it. The other significant clue he found were the initials Hikaru used. "C.K."

That meant something, but Jason didn't know what.

'I should be able to find out when I squeeze it out of him.'

Without further ado, Jason fired his grapple gun, zipping towards the structure as Wheatley returned to him.

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Found in the middle of the abandoned building was a wide open space filled with overgrown grass and broken furniture. Surrounding it were balconies with old and worn railings. The squeaks of rodents and the sound of crickets filled the abandoned building's halls.

The moonlight cast its gentle glow below, illuminating the surroundings, but the phone held by a smiling individual served as another source of light in the darkness.

The man possessed blonde hair that reached his neck and was of an average build and height. A black fur coat adorned his figure. His eyes were closed as he scrolled on his phone, yet he paused every few seconds as if he could see the screen's contents.

From the 3rd floor balcony directly across from Hikaru, Jason emerged from the darkness.

"Hey *bud*," Jason greeted with deep sarcasm in his voice. "It was sweet of you to send me a love letter, but sorry, I'm not interested in bastards who want to kill their own wife and kids."

Hikaru's smile widened slightly as he raised his head and, despite Hikaru's eyes remaining closed, Jason could feel his stare.

"Oh dear. Such hurtful words. But I'm sure you liked what I added at the end there. It must have sent your blood absolutely boiling," Hikaru said, as if he knew Jason personally. "I know you've had your fair share of hardships in the past, but think about how sad would your mother and father would be if they knew you've become a murderer. I'm sure they —"

A bullet whizzed right by Hikaru's ear, blowing multiple strands of his hair away. The bullet hit the ground behind him, followed by a muffled bang that stayed in the air for a small moment.

"Sorry, I must have missed the part where you became my therapist," Jason said calmly with his pistol in his hand before he returned it to its holster. Despite Hikaru's outward nonchalant manner, Jason heard his heart rate spike immediately after the gunshot.

The pistols he owned were some of the deadliest handguns known to mankind and have been heavily modified by him. So if Jason truly wanted to hit Hikaru, both Hikaru's chest and head would have been blown to bits and not just have a hole in them.

"I see…" The gunshot wiped the smile off Hikaru's face and he stored his phone, dusting off his clothes. He didn't even see Jason pull out his gun and shoot it. "You're much more violent than I thought. And here I was thinking we could have a civilized conversation. Very well. I'll let *him* handle this from now on."

Hikaru slowly opened his eyes.

[Oh… I don't think that's Hikaru anymore.] Wheatley nervously remarked.

'I'm thinking the same thing.'

Hikaru's presence was still absent, but Jason saw the way he carried himself suddenly change. His body language became more confident and proud. He emitted arrogance from every pore of his body. But the most noticeable detail was his eyes, blazing with an otherworldly energy similar to the one he encountered during Wheatley's past attempt to extract the energy possessing Ai.

Pupils in the shape of six-pointed stars, just like Ai and her children's according to Wheatley's testament, but Hikaru's was pitch black instead of white or pink.

"So, you mind telling me who you are?" Jason asked, his voice steady. He felt a pressure trying to crush him, but it wasn't as bad as the pressure he felt from Joe.

The figure smirked, as if amused by Jason's boldness. "I am the Chaos King," he said, his voice deep and ominous. "Lord of Darkness and Chaos, The Void before the Multiverse, Ruler of the Dead. And —"

"Before you continue, how do you know me?"

The Chaos King frowned at the interruption. "I am a being far beyond mortal comprehension and have sent fragments of my energy into this world for tens of thousands of years. You entering this universe sent tiny ripples through its fabric of reality, and I merely traced them back to its origin. But whatever method you used to steal the fragments of my energy is unknown, even to me, and is what first drew my attention to you. Does that answer satisfy you?"

Jason slowly nodded. It didn't completely satisfy him, but he had a feeling he should say yes and avoid annoying this 'Chaos King' too much before he could get more information. But at least he now knew what the 'C.K.' meant.

The Chaos King began exuding a dark aura. "Excellent," said the Chaos King as he smiled. "Jason Todd, I have a proposition for you."

Jason tensed. He had faced down his fair share of dangerous beings, but this... this was something else entirely. He could sense the Chaos King's power, even from where he was standing.

"And what's that?" he asked warily, his hand hovering over one of his guns.

The Chaos King raised his arms wide. "I have been searching for an avatar, Jason Todd. Someone who can embody the chaos and destruction that I seek to unleash upon the multiverse and beyond, returning all to nothingness. And I believe that you have the potential to be that avatar."

Jason narrowed his eyes. "I'm not interested in being anyone's puppet. Least of all yours."

The Chaos King laughed, his voice like thunder. "You misunderstand, Jason Todd. I am not looking for a puppet. I am looking for a partner. Together, we could rule worlds, bringing about an era of true chaos and destruction. And you would be at the forefront of that world order."

"I'll pass," he said coolly. "Your offer sounds good, but I've had enough of being a pawn in someone else's games."

The Chaos King's eyes narrowed, his patience clearly wearing thin. "You dare…" he growled. "I could break you, just as I have broken so many others, gods and mortals alike. You would be wise to reconsider, Jason Todd. I have the power to grant you unimaginable power you could use to save every innocent person in every world and kill any criminal you deem worthy of death."

The tension in the air rose, and both beings felt an imminent battle incoming.

Jason simply smirked, his fingers curling around the grip of his gun. "Fine. Since you're being sincere... You want to hear my honest answer? Here it is," he said. "I've faced a more powerful being than you, Chaos King, and I'm already working for him. So you can take your offer and *shove it*."

"You think you can *resist* me? I am the embodiment of chaos, the destroyer of worlds! Your will means *nothing* to me!"

The Chaos King's face twisted in anger, and with that, the battle was on.

With a roar of anger, the Chaos King waved his hand, sending a thick wave of spikes made of darkness towards Jason at blinding speeds. But Jason was ready for it, and he leapt off the balcony. The spikes passed over his head and cleanly pierced through the concrete and the walls behind it.

In the air, Jason threw a pair of Batarangs at the Chaos King and immediately began sprinting the moment he landed.

The Chaos King nonchalantly caught the Batarangs with both hands. "Foolish mortal. Such an attack will never —!"

The Batarangs exploded, and the Chaos King screamed in agony as the acidic shrapnel burned through his face, exposing the muscles and bones beneath and causing the godlike entity to reel in pain.

"What is this? What have you done?" the Chaos King bellowed through the human host's mouth.

"Surprise, surprise. Acid in the batarangs," the Red Hood said, smirking as he shortened the distance between him and the Chaos King. "I figured it was worth a shot to see if it would work on a god, since you still have flesh and bones as you are now."

The Chaos King growled, the human host's face contorting grotesquely as he did so. "You will pay for this insolence, mortal. You will regret ever crossing me!"

"I've regretted a lot of things in my life," Jason replied, his tone cool and collected. "But standing up to tyrants like you isn't one of them!"

The Chaos King's eyes narrowed, the otherworldly energy around him growing in intensity. "You are making a mistake. You are no match for me. I am a god, and you are a mere mortal with toys."

Jason grinned, summoning a wave of All-Blades in the air in a similar manner as the Chaos King attacked. "That may be true, but I've got one hell of a toy chest, and you're only possessing a human body. I don't think being in another multiverse is helping you at all."

Before Jason could continue, his sense of balance went haywire, and he tripped. He caught himself on the ground, but he was flabbergasted. He never stumbled, no matter how tricky or uneven the ground was.

'Chaos King, Chaos King…' Jason pondered to himself and connected the dots. 'Chaos… Was it probability manipulation?'

Jason attempted to stand up, but a blast of dark energy sent him crashing through the wall dozens of feet behind him.

The rocks and debris from the crash quickly formed into rings around his body and began applying a significant amount of pressure, crushing him and lifting him off the ground. He could feel his bones cracking.

"This is only a *taste* of my power!" The Chaos King roared with a hand raised in a grasping manner and with an almost fully healed face.

'Damn it! Need to distract him.'

Jason summoned even more All-Blades, draining himself of more stamina, and sent them towards the Chaos King at blistering speeds with a flick of his wrist.

The Chaos King formed a dome of darkness around him, defending himself from the barrage of blades and dropping his control over the stone rings.

'Now!'

When Jason's feet touched the ground, he summoned an anti-tank RPG from his ring and waited for the right moment. As soon as the dome began unraveling from the top, he pulled the trigger, launching the rocket.

The rocket swiftly shortened the distance, and before the Chaos King could raise the dome again, the rocket made contact. An enormous explosion took place, causing a strong shockwave that shook the entire building and sending a gigantic cloud of dust and debris into the air.

Furious, the Chaos King waved the dust clear, revealing his tattered clothes and grotesque figure. His left arm, most of his torso, and half his head were completely missing, but all of it completely regenerated in a mere few seconds.

"JASON TODD!" the Chaos King screamed while almost stumbling into the ground. "SHOW YOURSELF!"

"Doesn't look like you'll be able to possess him for long. You look like you're running out of energy."

Jason's voice suddenly emanated from every direction, causing the Chaos King to look around in confusion. The black stars on his face flickered every few seconds.

"Why don't you call it quits and end it here? Go back to where you came from and take all the energy you sent into this world with you. It'll save me the trouble of wasting time and ammo."

The Chaos King paused in thought, and instead of responding, closed his eyes.

Inside the building, Jason frowned. The Chaos King's silence was strange, and his instinct and intuition were telling him that something was wrong.

[JASON! An enormous amount of dark energy is incoming! More than we've ever seen before!]

'From where?'

[Up! It's already —!]

Before Jason could react, darkness suddenly and completely enveloped his vision. He could hear nothing, see nothing, and feel nothing.

"You *will* become my avatar. I have been dormant for far too long, and it is time for the multiverse to return to nothingness," the Chaos King's voice echoed in his mind and Jason felt a surge of chaotic energy flow inside him. "With my power, you will become my instrument to shape the multiverse in my image."

The Chaos King poured more energy into him. If the amount before was a mere trickle, the energy flowing inside him now was a large tide.

As Jason Todd resisted the overwhelming power of the Chaos King, he felt his mind being assaulted by a maelstrom of emotions and thoughts. Fear, anger, and despair threatened to consume him, but he refused to give in. He knew that if he surrendered, countless lives would be lost in the aftermath, and he couldn't let that happen.

In the depths of his mind, he recalled his past failures. But instead of letting those memories break him, he used them to fuel his determination to resist the Chaos King's influence. He thought about the family and friends he lost as well as the innocent lives he had sworn to protect.

The image of Ai, her children, and the Saitous immediately came to mind.

'Damn it… N-no. Snap out of it, Jason! This is *nothing* compared to the agony the Joker put you through! Resist it! Remember your training!'

As the Chaos King's power continued to assault him, Jason focused on his sheer willpower, honed over years of battling the most dangerous villains and overcoming impossible odds. He steeled his mind and body, refusing to give in to the Chaos King's temptations.

After an unknown amount of time, Jason felt his will wearing down under the Chaos King's power, yet through sheer determination and grit, he pushed on.

"How? How can a human — a mere mortal — possibly stand up to my power?! This is impossible!" the Chaos King's shouts reverberated in his mind. "It can't be! NOOO!"

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Jason blinked and found himself face-down on the ground and he shakily himself off until he stood upright. Despite not being out of breath, he felt fatigued in a way he had never felt before, even worse than what he felt after the All-Caste's fatal training that no one survived except him.

In front of him, the Chaos King stood. Pure frustration marred his face. The black stars in his eyes were now barely visible and repeatedly flickered in and out of existence.

"You… have defeated me. I do not know how you possess such strength of will, but you have earned my respect, warrior. For such impossible feats, accept the power within you as my tribute, but do not underestimate its potency. It is not something a mortal should wield. Have no doubt that I will show you my true power the next time we battle. And there is no question about that. We *will* fight once more, for our fates are now intertwined irreversibly." The Chaos King closed his eyes. "Til we meet again, Red Hood."

Moments later, he opened his eyes once more, but they were now absent of the black stars. The arrogance and pressure the Chaos King exuded vanished along with him.

Hikaru looked around in a daze before a look of realization came upon his face. He sneered at Jason, walking towards him slowly, "Oh my, oh my. What happened to *you*? You don't look too good there, Jason."

Hikaru picked up a rusted crowbar from the ground, dragging it through the rubble as excitement and anticipation grew inside him.

Jason waited with his head tilted down.

"Not answering?" Hikaru raised the crowbar. "Maybe you need some... persuasion!"

Just before the crowbard landed, a hand suddenly caught it, and Hikaru stared in confusion as the crowbar was slowly bent sideways with a slight twist of the hand. "…Ah?"

Jason growled, raising his head and glaring at Hikaru, "I *hate* crowbars."

"Urk!"

Jason's fist struck Hikaru's stomach, punching the air out of him and lifting him high off the ground. Hikaru coughed and gasped for air while hugging his stomach.

"But you know what I hate more?" Jason pulled out the syringe filled with clear orange liquid from his ring and stabbed it into Hikaru's neck, injecting the Scarecrow's fear toxin into his bloodstream. "Bastards like you."

Hikaru cried in pain from the stab before his vision slowly turned red, and his breathing grew rougher. His heart pounded in his chest. He raised his eyes in manic confusion and gasped in fright as the moon turned blood red, painting the world in blood.

"Aw, what's wrong?"

Hikaru turned to Jason and bolted, crawling away from him while shaking his head and muttering "demon" over and over again.

"Are you afraid??" Jason asked as he slowly approached Hikaru. "Good… Because we're just getting started. And remember, you brought this upon yourself. I'm just giving you what you deserve."

"No, no... Please, I won't — No! NOOO!"

*crunch*

"AAGGGHHHHHH!"