*Year: 1985*
*Location: San Francisco, General Hospital*
*3rd POV*
Screaming could be heard throughout the small hospital hallway, with a few nurses trying their best to ignore it, but well not even the best earplugs could work. One of them, wheeling in a tray full of various medical tools/supplies. As she went into the room, there were three other people inside, one being an older doctor who had a mask alongside a blue nurse's outfit.
Alongside the doctor, the presumed husband, a man in his early thirties with medium-length brown hair and blue eyes. He was currently holding his screaming wife's hand as she was giving birth. The nurse wheeled his cart in and placed it on the side, refilling her morphine bag as it lessened her pain, but by no means did it as she continued to scream out.
"AHHHHHH, get it out, get the little bastard out!" She shouted as she squeezed her husband's hand, causing him to flinch in pain.
"It's alright, Mrs. Todd, I can see the head now, so it shouldn't be long now." The doctor said as the nurse handed him a handkerchief.
He then began to wipe the sweat off his face as it dripped down rapidly, with the source of it being the stress or perhaps the fact that the hospital's heater was down, and it was the middle of winter.
Eventually, after a few more hours, the woman known as Mrs. Todd was tired, nearly passed out as the doctor held the baby in her hand, the nurse long gone to go to another part of the hospital for one reason or another. In his arms was a small baby boy with tuffs of black hair as black veins ran through him.. a clear sign of the child's superhuman nature.
Yet that wasn't the only special thing about the child, for two sets of memories resided in this child. One of the memories of an engineer from Earth, a regular old Earth with nothing special about but perhaps the stories it tells. The second, whilst not the personality of the individual, but rather his skills, his knowledge, and expertise of one Jason Todd, otherwise known as the Red Hood.
*Year: 2005*
*Location: New York City, Downtown Rat's Motel*
*1st POV*
Leaning back in my crappy motel chair, I starred up at the cracking ceiling as I grabbed hold of a knife, starring at my arm where the Vought tracker was. I discovered who I was a long time ago. My old name was Alexander Patrick, just an engineer fresh out of college, who died in a construction accident. Well, that wasn't the only thing I remembered; I remembered one of the most prominent Bat-family members' lives.
Red Hood.
Whose true name was Jason Todd, which, strangely enough, was the name of my current life. That and when compared to the two, not my original life, well, it wasn't that much better. As it turns out, my parents sold me out to Vought based on the fact, I had shapeshifting capabilities, well, to a certain extent, in my arms at the very least.
I discovered my abilities at age five, nothing really impressive to look at, I could shift my hands a little bit as what I thought were weird ass black veins in my body, grew bigger and took over half of my arms getting harder then steel. So I looked up anything regarding superpowers and well...when one of the first things you see when you open up a book is Soldier Boy, you realise what world you're in, well alongside Payback being a real thing alongside Black Noir.
Meaning I was a supe, as Vought, alongside the rest of the world, would call, and so I made sure to hide it from my parents. Let's just say we didn't live in a good neighborhood or house, everything was basically run-down and half-destroyed. With the money they were given from Vought being used for well, drug money essentially, for both of them, and I grew up resenting them, of course, but it eventually got to the point I stopped caring as I dived into engineering again.
This time, learning about Red Hood's side of the multiverse, I understand what Batman taught him, hoping I can put it into use. Honestly, though, at first I wanted to change the world not through violence or anything like that, but over time that changed, the more I watched the news, and Vought's lies spread. The more I saw gangs taking over the neighborhood, it got to the point where I couldn't stand it anymore.
So I went to work designing my first costume, I think I was fifteen at the time, and I went to work going for a black/gray thing. I used some basic white bandages to cover my face as I began to gather some tools. I got a couple of lead pipes together for basic hand-to-hand weapons in order to make use of Red Hood's training, which I always exercised for and practiced every day to the best of my ability, making it my own, letting my body remember it all.
I also may have stolen a few guns alongside some ammo from some gang members, I may have permanently paralyzed, I may have forgotten how strong I was thanks to Compound V. Soon enough, people started calling "The Shadow" with Vought having created a small toy series about me, making me a Punisher or well Red Hood esqiue character.
My parents, having discovered all of this, began to rake in the cash, only letting me keep about 20% of it overall. I twasn't much really just enough to let me pay for the shithole I now live in and to disappear after well I failed in taking control of the gang problem, another thing the Red Hood memories were correct about. You can't take out crime; you only hurt yourself in the long run, as the worst people take control, even if you kill off the leaders.
So I disppared into this shithole as I previously mentioned, faking "The Shadow's" death and putting a little makeshift faraday cage on my tracker, well until I can remove the tracker. I wanted to wait a little more, I needed way more time to prepare my body, practicing my marksmanship, the martial arts taught by Batman, alongside other skilled martial arts of the DC multiverse.
Well, that's besides the point as I held onto my knife tightly as I began to dig around in my arm, while I chewed down on a piece of leather, doing my best to ignore the pain. I yelped in pain as I finally found it, and I pulled it out, trying my best not to hit a vein in the process. Getting it out, I saw the small device that had a glowing green light on it, which I immediately shoved into the Faraday cage I constructed earlier for this exact situation, albeit modified into a box instead of a bracelet.
I also put it in a zinc box, knowing full well that Homelander had X-ray vision, couldn't see through it with it being a pain in the ass to make. So, getting out of my chair, I made sure to do all that and put it in the back of my dirty closet. Honestly, I probably could've done better than this place, but it was well hidden, and most people overlook it, going for something not so one-star.
Well, unless you were a prostitute, drug addict, or a whole assortment of illegal activities, perfect for a motel like this. Was it perfect, no, but the people here in this part of time knew they were protected, because the last time a gang tried to force their way in...well, it didn't end so well for them.
It didn't end there, though; more people swarmed this place thinking it was a hotspot or that a new gang was coming into town. Well, the Russian Mob heard the message loud enough as I used their own weapons to mow down their men and halt their operations on this street. Sure, it wasn't the entire city, but it was a good start and a good way to stop some distribution to kids. They deserve to live a good life free of all...this as I motioned to the entirety of my room.
Stretching, I went over to where my in-progress costume was currently, I only had an all-black suit for right now with matching boots/belt to match alongside the classic trenchcoat. The only thing left was the mask. I wanted a signature look, something that struck fear into people, and was intimidating no matter who I was looking at. That's when I had an epiphany, it didn't need to be completed, no, just something to strike fear into people.
I would be a black mask, a red diamond, and finally a white eye in the center of it all to complete it. So with that in my mind, I began to go to work, gathering up all the fabric I could and began sewing it. That part I had to learn myself, as I couldn't rely on Vought to create my costume, well, that and sewing any wounds I got in my fighting.
That, alongside the fact that most of my costume could be bought at the store of well any kind, doesn't matter where for a cheap price if you know how to haggle. It took me hours to complete, and once it was, I laid it down with the rest and with a smile on my face, I began to slowly put it on, letting myself rise as the Red-no, The Exterminator of this universe.