After the perishable food ran out at the Todd apartment, after the smell of her body had leaked out of the bathroom, permeating to the other rooms, Jason left. He put on the last clean clothes he had (blue jeans, a white t shirt, and a red long sleeved hoodie), packed a bag (peanut butter and a loaf of bread, a blanket, one picture of his mother, from when she was in high school, and a wallet full of money pilfered from the many, many men that Catherine had brought over in the last two years), and was gone before the landlord came knocking. 

The first night, he slept in a drainage ditch behind the grocery store. The second, a stoop in midtown. After a week, when the temperature dropped into the low 40’s, he’d convinced a nice lady that he was just lost, thank you, and could I please use your phone? He’d cut the line before he’d knocked, anyway. After that, he moved from neighborhood to neighborhood, perfecting his grift by the fifth house. 

All too soon, true winter was upon him. He needed shelter, and soon. No adult would take his money, so he learned to break into cars. He’d use the heater for a night, and leave just after sunrise. This got him through several hard weeks, although not before he was discovered three times (two times, an early commuter; once, an overzealous guard dog). He’d managed to escape, but those neighborhoods were unusable after that. 

After five weeks, he met a drug dealer named Johnny Zip, one who didn’t care that he was six years old. Johnny took Jason in, with the caveat that Jason helped him pull off scams and cons. He agreed, if for no other reason than he was hungry and cold. Soon, they moved up to stealing car tires, using Jason as a lookout. Who’d suspect a six year old in a crime, right? In any case, it worked, and Johnny Zip got rich, at least by his standards. Enough to move on, and leave Jason alone again-reinforcing his need for self reliance.

Zip had taught him enough to survive, however, as Jason now knew how to remove tires and steal cars. Soon enough, he found an unscrupulous chop shop that didn’t care where the cars came from, and Jay was in business. He brought them five cars a week, and they let him sleep in the garage, after closing time. The room wasn’t warm, but it wasn’t cold, either. The man who ran the shop didn’t like using a kid, but why should he care what happened to Jason? The kid was useful, that’s it. 

Like all good things, however, it came to an end. The garage was raided the second week of spring, and Jason escaped into the night, his jeans tattered, hoodie torn, and wallet still ensconced in his bag, albeit lighter.

Now that it wasn’t winter, he found himself able to sleep on the streets again. With no source of income, he again resorted to pickpocketing and stealing food, having mastered these skills before most children could read. Soon enough, with three weeks until summer, he found himself again working for a stolen parts garage, this one in uptown. Nicer cars here, and nicer people. Many of them left the cars unlocked, even! It almost wasn’t fair. 

Jason had grown by now, able to jack up the cars, loosen the bolts, and remove the tires by himself. This too, worked for him, although he demanded a 15% cut for the profits. They gave it to him, mostly because they felt sorry for him. 

They shouldn’t have. At seven years old, Jason was stronger, faster, and smarter than any other child his age. When the garage shorted him $250, he tipped off the cops. All fifteen employees were caught, and sentenced. After they had left, he used his (stolen) key to open the office. 
Hello, housing.

It was almost the end of fall when Jason ran out of money. He’d known it was coming, planned for it. Again, he was forced to steal cars to live, a decision that did not please him. The first car he took, this time, was a Rolls Royce, a silver model. He was already under the dashboard when a strong hand pulled him out, tossing him against a brick wall. Without thinking, he raised his fists, looking unflinchingly into the eyes of a tall, willowy woman with olive skin. Her expression was not of pity; this alone was why Jason didn’t strike at her. 

The woman was Talia al Ghul.