With the help of Roy and Kori, Jason reworked the plan for his mission. And unlike earlier, he was able to get the information he needed and get the crime lord arrested for his wrongdoings although his team had remained undercover and was not brought up in the mainstream media.

It took them less than a week to get done with that mission and finally, Jay was able to breathe in relief.

Those days, the Outlaws worked discreetly for a select few and although their motives weren't completely noble contrary to the Bat vigilantes, they completed their missions for the right price.

Their foremost priority was that no innocent people got hurt during their missions, other than that, they focused mostly on taking tasks to keep the crime world in control by eradicating drugs and illegal trafficking mafias.

However, as their methods were not falling right under the moral compass of Batman and his vigilantes, they named themselves the Outlaws and worked independently.

After completing that mission, at last, Roy and Kori were supposed to stay over at Jay's safe house for the night. He knew that his food supplies were running out so he had to stock up on a few things. He seldom stayed at that safe house so it was very bare and the last time he had been there was when he had unexpectedly brought back an equally drunk guest for the night.

A considerable amount of time had passed since then and he hadn't crossed paths with Valerie again.

But that was about to change.

He had given his keys to Roy so that he could take Kori to the safe house beforehand while he would come after a short stop at the supermarket. He knew the two would reach the house easily as Roy had already been there several times before as well.

So he went to the supermarket and took a basket, stocking up on only the necessary food and daily usage items. By the time he got to the payment counter and placed his basket, he was surprised to see a slightly familiar pair of grey eyes.

"That would be 30 dollars and 25 cents," she told him, packing his stuff and putting them in a recyclable bag.

Her face was covered with a mask but he had no doubt that those eyes and that gentle voice belonged to Valerie. She was dressed in the blue and white uniform with a name tag attached on which the words V. Kayes were written prominently.

Valerie Kayes, his brain connected the dots. He had come to the same supermarket he had dropped her off at that morning although he hadn't known prior that she worked there.

He paid the amount and got the receipt from her but then she spoke again, "sir, you forgot a package the last time you were here."

He didn't recall coming to the supermarket and meeting her there earlier but didn't contradict as she fetched another bag that she gave to him. 

He looked in and saw that it contained his hoodie and his cheeks tingled slightly as he took the bag, "thanks."

"No problem. Have a nice day," her eyes crinkled slightly as she was probably smiling under the mask but then moved on to the billing for the next customer.

He placed both the bags in his car and got in from the driving seat but then checked the one that contained his hoodie. The hoodie had been washed and ironed and a piece of paper was sticking out from it. 

Curious, he took the note out and it read Thank you in dainty cursive writing. He placed it back, not seeing that the piece of paper had something scribbled behind it as well.

By the time he got to the safe house, Roy and Kori were already there. Kori was watching television while Roy had been checking the empty kitchen cabinets in disappointment.

"Hi Jason," Kori spoke up, seeing him enter.

"Hi," he replied, taking both the bags to the kitchen, "and stop panicking, Roy, I have brought food."

"You have? Praise the lord or else I thought we would have to starve," he replied, immediately checking what he had bought.

"Says the one who raided the entire fridge," Kori remarked, "he ate everything up, not me."

"There wasn't much, to begin with," Roy protested, "and I was hungry, okay? You can't expect me to shoot all these arrows and not eat anything afterward. Also, Jay, when was the last time you bought peanut butter? I am sure this one is expired."

"You should have checked the date beforehand, I don't even eat peanut butter," Jay remarked, checking the jar Roy had given him, "and yes, it's expired."

He made a face as if he was about to gag, "dude, you have no credibility to cook our meals if you keep expired stuff in your fridge."

Kori rolled her wide green eyes, quite used to their banters by then. She attempted to prevent an argument by distracting Roy from one of her experiences on Tamaran, her home planet, "Roy, if you were on my planet, you would find everything there inedible. We have this dish called the fire pudding which if you eat would set your insides on fire. Super spicy but delicious."

Roy shrugged, "nah, I don't want to set fire to my insides. I find myself being stuck in fiery situations on the outside almost daily. Pass."

Jason seemed to have forgotten about the hoodie bag that was still on the counter while he proceeded to put the items he had brought in the fridge. Kori too was unbothered, switching channel after channel to find something interesting to watch.

"By the way, who's Valerie?"

Jay paused as if something cold had been stabbed through him and then slowly turned to see why Roy had asked that very specific question.

He saw that he had taken the note out from that bag as well as the hoodie and apparently, that note had Valerie's name and phone number behind it.

"Give it back," Jason took the paper from his fingers, highly aware that his friends would know immediately that something was up.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Kori asked, suddenly interested in what was going on, "I want to meet her."

"No," Jason remarked but Roy had started speaking and interrupted him.

"When did you get a girlfriend? Why do we not know?"

"She's not..."

"And that's my hoodie so this note must be for me," he remarked cheekily, trying to get a reaction out of Jason who looked as if he was fuming internally.

Those red cheeks could either mean anger or embarrassment; there was no in-between.

"Awww, you look adorable," Kori laughed, and that shade of red deepened, "your face almost matches my hair color now."

"Guys, if you have done annoying me now, I have to cook dinner for you lazy people," he remarked with a slight huff, "let it be."

"Nope, not until you tell us more about this Valerie."

"I love her name," Kori gushed again, "she must be beautiful."

She was not wrong, Jason thought but then brushed those thoughts away. "Both of you are going to stop talking about her if you want to eat dinner."

"Dude, that's unfair," Roy remarked, "you are no doubt the meanest person I have ever met."

"Same here," Kori added with a light chuckle, "the meanest but also the cutest."

"Stop calling me cute. I am not cute!"

"Yeah, whatever."

Roy piped up only to annoy him further, "maybe we should ask Valerie if he's cute or not."

"Hey, perfect idea. Let us just grab a phone and that note..."

"No," he remarked firmly, putting the note in his pocket so that they couldn't get it out of his hands and then stepping back, "don't make me go Mom mode on you two. Behave."

Usually, people would think Kori was the Mom friend in their trio but it was actually Jason who acted a lot like the mother of the two. The fact that Roy was just as dysfunctional as his family members and Kori was a Tamaranean princess who still hadn't gotten bored of discovering new things on Earth made both of them act like children sometimes so Jay had to step in and act like the responsible one.

Sometimes, he thought if the Lazarus Pit hadn't already given him a white streak he could have very easily blamed his hair going white on those two. But then, they were his best friends and even if they tended to get annoying, he couldn't imagine a life without them.

It was due to them he got out of the mess he had been in just a few days prior so he couldn't overlook that entirely.

But he knew they weren't going to let the topic of Valerie rest. He should have been more careful in putting the note away before it caught Roy's attention.

***