We're Both Just Broken Birds Aren't We

by TheEmpireAnt

Summary:

Jason had a perfect plan, he would get Joker and Bruce in the same room and after a debate Bruce would let him kill the Joker. After that monster is dead he could go home and be with his family again. It's why he never went after the brat who took a dead kid's uniform since he knew that he would have to coexist with the brat. Now lying in bed with a slash across his neck and covered in burn marks he needs a new plan. If Bruce didn't see him as a son, fine, it's not like he was his father or anything. This time around Bruce is going to have to kill the Joker to save his son.

And there is a little birdy all alone in Titans Tower for Bruce to choose.

This time around his plan is definitely not going to backfire.

Chapter 1: Blood Soaked Plans

A room covered in first aid supplies was the first thing Jason sees when he wakes up. He feels pain on his neck and he brings his hand up to feel bloodied bandages. It wasn’t a nightmare, it wasn’t a nightmare. “Fuck.” He screams out. Bruce fucking sliced open his throat to save the Joker. Left him into a building rigged to explode, he doesn’t get the excuse of being too late this time.

He didn’t see this happening. He planned on going home after the Joker was dead. It’s why he never went after the new Robin. Sure he stole the clothes off of a dead kid and then stole his family. He’s an entitled rich kid who holds some fancy fucking position at Wayne Enterprizes that he can’t remember the bullshit title of. He throws money at charities that don’t solve issues so they can pocket more cash. Bruce never listened to his plan to actually help Crime Alley and the other poor areas. He acts like some brilliant fucking detective and skips school. There are so many Alley kids who would love an education and he just throws the chance away. He has so many issues with new Robin, but he figured he would have to at least tolerate the brat when he went home. So he left him alone.

Walking into his living room he sees a note “Hey boss, hope you feel better when you wake up. I changed your bandages but you're still bleeding through em. Cleaned up your burns as well. You should visit Doctor Thompkins, let her run her miracles on ya. Anyways I’ve initiated the Redfall Contingency. I’ll kill a few rapists as Red Hood and as long as I stay away from people they shouldn’t realise I’m so much smaller than you. Like seriously I’m 5’6’ and you’re like what 6’2’, lucky bastard.”

He can’t help but laugh even as it hurts his throat. Who knew some brat who called him Robin on some rooftop would become his most trusted ally. He hates the Redfall Contingency, Red Hood is not meant to be a mantle. Red Hood is a monster designed to control and destroy the other monsters, it’s not something a street kid from Crime Alley should be. He needs to take the position back as soon as possible.

Well he needs a new plan since he’s not going home now. Bruce couldn’t have given him a clearer sign that he isn’t family anymore, if he ever was.

Dragging himself to a whiteboard, he lays out his options. He has no reason to leave the new Robin alone now. He could go and clip the little bird’s wings. But for some reason that doesn’t sound as good as it used to. There’s no satisfaction in the thought of the kid bleeding on the floor anymore. He just sees the Alley children he protects instead, and those images fill him with disgust.

Not to mention the Joker must die. So what if Bruce would rather he die than the Joker. He doesn’t care, it’s not like Bruce was his father or anything. His father who took him off the streets and swore he would never hurt him. The same father who accused him of murder and sliced his throat open. He doesn’t care.

He feels the perfect plan click into place. He never asked Bruce to kill the Joker, just to let him do it. But he’s not going to give Bruce a choice this time. Bruce won’t let the Joker die for Jason, fine it’s not like he’s his son anyways.

He’ll make Bruce choose between the Joker and his precious new Robin this time around.

---

Tim hates it when the tower is empty. He’s spent enough of his life in big empty places. But Bruce sent him away since he is concerned about Red Hood. He doesn’t understand, he doesn’t get that concerned about Black Mask or Falcone. Not to mention that Crime Alley has become safer under Red Hood’s rule. Rape is down massively, mainly because Hood killed all the rapists, drugs are kept away from kids and according to Barbara’s analysis his product is a lot safer and he sells it cheaper to undercut the market. Violent crimes haven’t dropped as much comparatively but most of those are committed by Hood himself against the worst of Gotham. He doesn’t think Red Hood is necessarily a good person, but his operation seems to be the vigilante side of being a crime lord. So he can’t understand why Bruce is so concerned.

But at the very least he can use Bruce’s paranoia as an excuse to work on new technology.

But as he is working, he hears footsteps in the tower. They are deliberate, the intruder wants to be heard. He puts on his domino and grabs his bo staff, he doesn’t have time to fully suit up.

When he sees the intruder, they aren’t in any kind of suit or gear. They likely disabled the tower's security and came in civies, why? The man’s tall and well built but he’s going against Robin, a hero.

“Identify yourself.” He demands shifting into a combat stance. The man looks familiar but he can’t quite figure out why.

The man snarls at him “You stole your costume from my corpse and you don’t know who I am, pathetic.”

Jason Todd, he looks like Jason Todd grown up slightly off. But is this man really Jason? He might be trying to use the fact that the second Robin died to catch him off guard. “You’re Jackson Tomas.” He exclaims confidently.

The man stares at him flabbergasted “So do you not know that my name is Jason Peter Todd or are you trying to get me to say it?”

So there’s a good chance this man is Jason. At the revelation Tim can’t help but stare at his burn marks, and the bandages covering one side of his neck. Those injuries don’t match the ones that killed him. The burn marks don’t match the ones that killed him. But a more important question emerges.

“Does Bruce know you’re alive? He’s going to be so happy and reliev” Jason? Starts laughing. But it’s not a happy laugh, he sounds depressed, hopeless.

When Jason? Stops laughing his eyes are green and he has a predatory grin “Of course he knows. You see, I had Bruce and the Joker in a room and gave him a choice. Let me kill the Joker, or kill me.” Jason? Throws a batarang next to him “He chose.”

Turning to the batarang it is covered in blood, too much blood. A batarang wouldn’t be that bloody unless it hit an artery. His eyes focus and become glued to the bandages on his neck. Bruce wouldn’t throw a batarang at someone's neck right? That’s a killshot. Bruce wouldn’t kill someone, especially someone who might be his son right? Jason? Must have seen his curiosity as he undos the bandages.

His heart drops. He’s seen plenty of injuries from batarangs and the wound on Jason’s neck matches them perfectly. The injury is still leaking blood and there’s no way in hell he’s letting Jason die here. He drops his bo staff as he pulls out a first aid kit. “Sit down.” He says while gesturing towards the nearest seat.

Jason stares at him perplexed “Your injury needs to be cleaned and rebandaged.” He explains.

Jason stares at him for a second longer “Let me make this clear.” Jason unzips his jacket revealing a device he hasn’t seen before “If you inject anything into my body the explosives will go off killing us both.” He nods and Jason sits down hesitantly.

Jason is apparently very paranoid. Who wouldn’t be after their own father tried to kill them. Tried to kill him to save the life of his murderer. Sure Jason could be bluffing but one according to Barbara he soaked up information like a sponge and could definitely design a device like that and two he wasn’t intending on sedating him anyways. He’s not handing Jason over to Bruce no matter what.

But he needs a plan. Reviewing the facts, Jason doesn’t seem to like him. It’s somewhat understandable, Jason likely feels unloved seeing another kid where he was. Not to mention since he tried to get Bruce’s permission to kill the Joker, it’s most likely more about how little his death changed and barely actually about him at all. Speaking of which, how is Jason alive? Someone coming back to life isn’t unheard of, but the method could affect Jason’s behavior.

“Fucking spit it out.” Jason snarls at him. Huh guess he was making a face or something.

“How are you alive?” He spits out. Something tells him beating around the bush isn’t a good idea.

“I woke up in my grave.” Jason says in an uneasy tone. He decides not to press further. Just waking up doesn’t match any form of resurrection he knows anyways.

With the state of the slash he should really be resting, not to mention the burn marks. Maybe the reason he’s an asshole is just that he’s suffering from blood loss. “Who patched you up, they didn’t do a great job.” He comments absentmindedly.

Jason responds without anger tainting his voice “Given the fact I don’t remember leaving the building before the explosives went off and I’m still alive, I think they did a bang up job.”

He hopes he misunderstood that statement “Are you telling me that Bruce not only sliced your throat open, but did so in a building rigged with explosives?”

Jason laughs, once again in a depressed tone “Of course he did, but it doesn’t matter since he got the Joker safely back into Arkham. Of course he’s willing to kill the boy who saw him as a father so the Joker can safely plan his next murder spree.”

That settles it. He’s going to do everything he can to keep Jason safe and to take Bruce down. He thought Bruce only ever came close to crossing his line because he was mourning his son. Now he tried to put that very son back into the grave to save the Joker of all people. Jason gave him the perfect out, Jason gets his revenge? Justice? He’s not sure, Bruce gets his son back without breaking his code and the Joker can’t hurt anyone else. Now the Joker is still alive, Bruce broke his code and Jason is unstable and hates him. Worst of all, Tim is certain it was worth it in Bruce’s eyes, the mission always comes first after all.

What hurts the most to think about is that Bruce tried to kill Jason the same way the Joker did. That he left him on the brink of death surrounded by explosives.

“Your neck is cleaned up, but it could benefit from some stitches. They aren’t necessary but it would help.”

Jason ponders for a second before answering in a neutral tone “Just do what you think is best.”

That’s good, at the very least Jason doesn’t distrust him. Hopefully he’ll be able to convince him to take the bomb off his chest soon. He also hopes that Jason will move his hand, since he’s obviously ready to reach for something at a moment's notice.

Then again, he’d also keep a weapon in reach if he was Jason. He’d have some contingency to make sure he wasn’t dragged back to Bruce.

If Jason feels safe here, maybe he’ll stop being so fidgety. His movements are just off, he can’t explain why. He wishes Cass was here, she could tell him exactly what’s off about Jason’s movements and what they mean. Then again, he is supposed to be the smart one and he doesn’t have a single explanation why Jason’s skin is so much colder than it should be.

“Are you going to fill me in on what shit you’re thinking so hard about or are you just going to keep making faces?”

“I’m sorry that I make weird faces when I’m thinking.” He exclaims slightly offended.

“Nice evasion, do you make those faces when out on the field as well? Do the rogues mock you for it?”

He yells back exasperated “What do you want me to say? The whole reason I became Robin was that Bruce was out of control, he was growing more violent. Not only with the rogues either, he was putting small-time criminals in the hospital. He put a purse snatcher in a body cast. He was going to kill someone. I became Robin to stop him from crossing that line and it worked, at least I thought it did. Excuse me for being a bit put off now that I’ve learned the one thing I tried to accomplish in my life was for nothing.”

An uncomfortable silence follows his revelation and he’s grateful for it. Everyone always tells him that it was a mature choice to do what he did, that he did the right thing. How Bruce is lucky to have him. But he didn’t become Robin for Bruce, he did it for the sake of Gotham.

But then he hears Jason speak up and he braces himself “You said that Bruce put small-time criminals into the hospital, people stealing to survive. But have you ever checked what happened to them, to their families after they crossed paths with Batman? Rumours have it that you are the so-called smart Robin, and I’m a good enough detective to figure out that between the loss of income and hospital bills, a lot of families would be put out on the street. They would have no safety or support and a lot of them would end up dead. So are you stupid enough not to have thought of that, or are you comfortable telling yourself that Batman didn’t kill them in the moment and what happens after isn’t his fault?”

He takes a relaxing breath, he knows the answer and in an odd way he’s somewhat happy that someone has asked him this question. “Gotham needs Batman, crime rate drops when he’s around and spikes when he isn’t. I assumed since he only crossed the line mourning you, he wouldn’t again. A miscalculation I won’t make twice.”

Jason stares at him for a second before giving him a nod. That’s probably the best response he could have gotten given the circumstances.

First things first he needs to ensure that Jason feels safe in the tower. Secondly he needs to secure the tower. If Jason can disable the tower’s security with one foot back in the grave then Bruce can as well. Third he needs to call in reinforcements.

Dick is the obvious choice. Although Dick once killed the Joker out of anger because of what he did to Jason and said he did to Tim. If he tells him the truth there’s a possibility he’ll go to take down Bruce straight away. Especially since it’s Jason and Dick has a lot of unresolved guilt since he blames himself for Jason’s death. So he needs to bring Dick here under false pretences. Which will be easy enough to do, Dick will take any reason to hang out of his siblings.

Cass is the next obvious choice. She’s the only one of them who could beat Bruce one on one in a fight and with ease at that. But Cass is very protective of her siblings, and while she hasn’t met Jason yet, she’ll hear that he’s her sibling and adopt him immediately. He remembers when Cass did the same to him. But when she learns that Bruce broke his code to try and kill her brother, she’ll likely try to arrest him right away. So he should bring her under false pretences too.

He should bring in Steph and Barbara too. Barbara loved Jason and saw him as her younger brother and will bring down Bruce for trying to murder him. But she knows how to play the long game to achieve her goals so he can tell her the truth. Plus she can ensure that Bruce can’t get into the tower. Steph will come to help no matter what and while neither of them will be much good in a straight up fight with Bruce, they can still help somehow .

His team are unfortunately busy and he can’t trust anyone else not to go to Bruce but that’s fine. Between the five of them they can keep Jason safe and come up with a plan to take down Bruce. Also they’ll have time to plan what happens after they take Bruce down. While current contingencies for this situation involve Dick taking the cowl, he believes that Cass is the better candidate.

But there’s something else bothering him “Why did you come here?”

Jason gives him no response. He doubts Jason knows either. He’s not sure how aware Jason even is. He doesn’t seem to have lost enough blood to need a transfusion, but he could have had one already as well. His burns and slash look to be a few days old.

He doubts he’s the right person to help Jason feel safe, Dick and Cass are going to be much better at that. So he needs to move on “Hey Jason, I’m just going to reactivate the Tower’s security so Bruce can’t get in okay?” Jason expectedly doesn’t respond but that’s fine. He’s going to grab his reinforcements as well but he doesn’t want to freak out Jason.

But as he’s heading to reactivate the security he feels something injected into his neck. He didn’t even hear Jason get up or move behind him.

“Sorry little bird, I’ll admit you’re a lot more likeable than I thought you’d be. But I have plans that involve you. Don’t worry you’ll walk away from this unharmed.”

That provides little comfort. He doubts he’ll like whatever plan Jason’s grief stricken mind has come up with. He imagines they also involve Bruce and the Joker.

The last thing he feels before he falls unconscious is Jason’s surprisingly gentle arms pick him up.

Notes:

So this fic will update slowly, I'm only writing this fic when I'm not in the mood to write my main fic.

I have to say I was somewhat tempted to have Jason not kidnap Tim in the end and stay in the tower but that's probably already been done before and I want to stick to my original plan.

Chapter 2: Blood Soaked Execution

Summary:

The Batkids notice that Tim is missing as Jason lures Bruce into a trap and forces him to choose, the Joker or his son.

As Tim comes to, he notices that he is restrained. He’s tied down too tight to try and get out of and gagged. Notably he is restrained to be as comfortable as possible. He’s also wearing his Robin costume now which is concerning. Jason said he was going to be unharmed, but he’s still not eager to trust the words of a man suffering from severe injuries and who just learned that his own father cares more about his murderer than him. With no chance of escape he looks at his surroundings.

He’s in some sort of chamber, there’s a release for something all around him and a closed door in front of him. To his side he sees the Joker in an identical chamber. Huh, Jason captured the Joker easily. There are cameras in the room they’re in. Apart from that there’s nothing else he can note and he can’t see Jason anyways.

If he were to guess, the chambers are set up so that if one is opened the other fills with some sort of chemical to kill the person inside. Or maybe not a chemical, the Joker has a history of surviving those. Maybe an explosive.

Is this really Jason’s plan? In a high stress situation Batman sliced his son’s throat open to kill the Joker. So he’s retesting Bruce in a low stress environment to see if he’ll make the right choice this time. From what he’s heard from Dick and Barbara, Jason wasn’t all that interested in science compared to other subjects, so why is he going through the scientific process here?

What does he even hope to achieve? In one scenario the Joker dies by Bruce’s hand, but that means that Jason lives with the knowledge that Bruce loves Tim enough to break his code for him and kill the Joker. But he still knows that Bruce would kill him to save the Joker, ultimately meaning that he knows that Bruce does not value him. In the other, another Robin dies which seems to be something Jason doesn’t want and the Joker lives, and Jason lives with the knowledge that Bruce will always put the mission and the life of a serial killer over his sons.

He doesn’t get it, Jason loses no matter what happens. This plan makes no sense.

Bruce would logically take the third option and save the both of them. But he’s going against Jason. His son who knows every trick he has up his sleeves. Who, while not the most intelligent naturally, made up for it through hard work, absorbing every bit of information he could and an instinct that kept him alive while he was homeless in the worst part of Gotham. He doesn’t believe that Jason is going to give Bruce a third option here.

Why couldn’t Jason just stay in the tower? Cass and Dick could have taken down Bruce, Barbara could have built a cover story to explain Bruce’s disappearance and why someone else is wearing the cowl and the five of them could have given Jason the help and family he clearly needs. But no, Jason just had to go on some deranged plan to what, prove that Bruce loves every one of his children but him?

But as he’s waiting he can’t deny he’s nervous. He’s always believed he understood Bruce’s actions, the method behind the madness. But right now, he can’t say for certain what choice Bruce will make, and that thought terrifies him.

---

To say he was freaking out would be an understatement. Dick was already concerned when Bruce sent Tim away to San Francisco due to the Red Hood situation. Surely Tim would be safer near them if Red Hood wanted to harm him, Red Hood is clearly very skilled but from what he’s seen he’s not skilled enough to go toe to toe with Bruce, Cass or himself.

But when he noticed that Titans Tower’s security system was disabled he rushed over and Tim was nowhere to be found. His suit was missing but his bo staff was left on the table. Apart from that a medkit was left on the table with a few bloody tools, bloody bandages and a bloody batarang. Those are the only leads they have.

Barbara is currently testing the blood samples in the hope of discovering something while all he can do is wait. Cass is sitting across from him, doing her best to comfort Steph. She’s doing a better job at putting on a brave face than he is. The Clocktower is nowhere near as cold as the Batcave, but he can’t stop himself from shaking.

All he can do is hope that Tim is alright, that he doesn’t have to bury another brother.

After waiting for what feels like days he hears something break in the room over. Running in he sees Barbara staring at the screens in shock “What’s wrong?” He asks before noticing the screens.

Every blood sample matches up with Jason perfectly. That’s not possible, Jason died years ago and these blood samples are fresh. “It’s the Joker, it has to be. Nobody else would have Jason’s blood.” Is this the Joker’s game, leave them the remains of Jason as a sign that he plans on killing the next Robin. Without thinking he slams his fist on the desk.

“It’s not the Joker, here.” Barbara hands him the bloody batarang. “Bruce didn’t use these batarangs until after Jason died. While I wouldn’t put it past the Joker to store some of Jason’s blood to mess with us, he couldn’t have with this batarang.” Barbara starts typing something, she’s typing so fast that she keeps having to double back and delete certain letters. It’s not like Barbara to make mistakes like that.

“What are you saying, that Jason’s alive and that he has kidnapped Tim?” He starts pacing back and forth. He knows he was dismissive of Jason when he first became Robin, too angry at Bruce to give him a fair chance at first before they became close. He hopes Jason’s isn’t making the same mistakes he did, being angry and feeling betrayed and taking it out on the wrong person.

“I don’t know Dick.” She huffs.

“Sorry, it’s just that Jason’s my brother. If he’s alive that’s great and I’m worried he might hurt Tim out of misguided feelings.”

Barbara turns to look at him “No I’m sorry. Jason’s my brother too you know. I tutored him weekly and watched him grow. But all we’ll be doing is hurting ourselves if we start making assumptions. If a batarang is involved Bruce is too, if I can just find the goddamn cowl footage we’ll know more. But for god’s sake sit down.”

As he sits next to Barbara still fidgeting he knows he has to distract himself “You know Jason never said much about you when I asked.”

“Well there’s a reason for that. Like you when I first met Jason I was rude to him. Since I tutored him though it didn’t last long before Jason wormed his way into my heart and I apologised. Jason found out we dated once and since this happened before your change of heart, he thought I was too good for you, a belief he held to even after you became close. He told me a lot about you though.” Barbara smiles slyly.

“HEY.” he yells out offended “He thought you were too good for me. Did all those times I took him trainsurfing mean nothing? What did he even tell you?”

Barbara’s typing slows down and she stops making mistakes, maybe he wasn’t the only one who needed distracting. “I think your ego has taken enough of a hit today Dick. If it’s any consolation you know what Jason was like, he valued safety and stability over enjoyment and I was his older reliable older sister who tutored him, kept him safe and hid all sorts of things from Bruce for him. You were his carefree older brother who got him into all sorts of trouble that at times he thought Bruce would throw him out for. He loved you dearly of course but naturally I was his favourite.”

He notices he’s not jittering as much as he was “Hey, I hid stuff from Bruce for him too. Anyways even if Bruce kicked us out one of us would have taken hi.” His mind wanders to voicemails on his phone from Jason. Voicemails stating that Bruce was going to kick him out and he was going to look for his biological mother. Voicemails that he didn’t hear because he was in space, that he didn’t hear them until after Jason was buried.

He feels Barbara’s hand on his shoulder bringing him back to reality. “Please tell me you have at least moved those messages to a device you don’t have constant access to.” He doesn’t answer and his silence is telling “You need to stop blaming yourself for what happened to Jason, you were on a mission with the Titans. I was in Gotham, if it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine.”

He pushes Barbara’s hand away so she could continue looking for the footage. “No it is, Bruce pulled the same bullshit with me. I should have known he would fire Jason and kick him out at some point. I should have stayed near Gotham so I could be there for him when it happened.”

Barbara sighs “And I should have paid attention. I should have done a better job ensuring Jason that I was there for him and that I would have chosen him over Bruce. Maybe then he wouldn’t have chased after some woman he was apparently related to. Maybe he would have come to me instead. But we can’t keep blaming ourselves for Bruce’s mistakes.”

He knows logically she’s right “Have you ever considered taking Tim, Steph and Cass and just leaving Gotham and Bruce behind?”

“Of course I have. I considered taking Jason and leaving before. But at the end of the day Bruce would just put another kid in a costume and the cycle would continue. We both chose that we would tolerate Bruce so we could look out for his flock.”

He hears Steph come up from behind them “Do you have anything?” Her voice is unsteady and he turns to face her and Cass. “Are you okay Dick?”

He notices he’s teary eyed but brushes past it. “We have more questions than answers I’m afraid. We found out who the blood belongs to.”

She reads the screen “Jason Todd, as in the second Robin?”

“The very same apparently.” Barbara replies.

Cass looks confused “How is he alive?” Steph continues “Why would he take Tim and why is there a batarang covered in his blood?”

He directs their attention to the screen “Questions that we all want the answer to. Once Barbara finds the cowl footage we’ll have at least one answer.”

“I’ve found something.” Barbara explains “But it’s locked down. I’ll need a minute to get through the security.”

It’s a silent few minutes. No one wants to break the silence.

He doesn’t know how long it has been when a video appears on screen and he sees Jason. Jason is really alive, he can't believe it. He looks over to Barbara and she’s just as shocked as he is. Sure Jason is so much bigger than he used to be, but it’s clearly him.

Jason has a gun to the Joker’s head and he’s standing across from Bruce. His fingers move across the blade of the bloody batarang, this won’t end well will it?

He hears Jason’s voice “Blindly stupidly ignoring the entire graveyards he’s filled, the thousands who have suffered, the friends he’s crippled.” He sees Barbara’s hands tighten “You know, I thought I’d be the last person you ever let him hurt.”

Is that what brought Jason comfort is his last moments, that after he dies Bruce would avenge him and the Joker can’t hurt anyone else? He knows first hand that Bruce wouldn’t kill the Joker, hell the bastard resuscitated him once.

“If it was you he had taken from this world, if he left you as a bloody mess, I would have done nothing but search the planet for this evil pile of death worshiping garbage and sent him straight to hell. And doing it … because he took me from you.”

“You know I can’t do that.” Bruce responds. He is finding this so painful to watch, Jason is pouring his heart out and Bruce is barely acknowledging it. And they haven’t gotten to the worst part yet.

“Well you’re not going to have a choice.” Jason throws another gun at Bruce. “If you aren’t going to kill this maniac, I am. If you want to stop me, you’re going to have to kill me.”

He knows how this is going to end, the Joker is in Arkham and the medical supplies covered in Jason’s blood tell the story after all. He wishes Jason pulled this with him instead, he would have no issue with Jason killing that clown if it meant he got his brother back.

“Jason.” Did Bruce just say Jason’s name in front of the Joker?

“I’m going to blow his deranged brains out.”

He sees a batarang fly and makes contact with what looks like Jason’s neck. “Reverse that.” He demands.

Barbara does and they can all see for certain that Bruce slashed Jason’s neck. Barbara gasps, Cass stares looking betrayed and Steph is shocked.

He doesn’t pay much attention as the rest of the footage plays. Joker activates the explosives in the building and Bruce leaves with the Joker. They don’t know what happened to Jason after Bruce abandoned him. He must have made it out of the building before the explosives went off.

But right now he doesn’t care about the semantics of how Jason survived. “Where is Bruce?”

“Dick.” He interupts her.

“Don’t start with me, where is Bruce?” Bruce always thought Jason was the angry one, and while he had his moments against rapists and human traffickers, his anger while it burned bright, burned quickly as well. His anger is so much worse and Bruce is about to find that out firsthand.

“I know what you’re going to do.”

“Do you really have a problem with that?” Barbara loves Jason, she wants revenge too right?

“No I don’t, I want you to go through with what you’re planning. But we need to be better. Look at me.” He looks her in the eye as she takes his hand. “We are going to take Bruce down for this, but we are going to do this because Bruce broke his code, because we take down murderers. We’re doing this for justice first, and revenge second.”

Revenge second, he can work with that “Bruce always told me if he ever broke his code, that he expects me to take him down with whatever force necessary. I’m going to give him what he wants.”

Steph speaks up “We still don’t know why Jason took Tim though, or how he’s alive.”

They don’t know for certain if Jason took Tim, they might have left together willingly. There was no sign of a fight or anything. Who is he kidding, he’s not that optimistic “As I said, more questions than answers.”

He looks over at Cass and sees her blank look as she stares at the screen. He needs to put his anger aside until he’s face to face with Bruce. He stands up and wraps his arm around her shoulder. “How are you doing?”

Cass turns and looks at him “Promised he would be better.” She replies with no emotion betraying her voice.

“No matter what Bruce does, Cass, we will always be here for you. Listen to me, we’re going to find Tim and Jason and bring them home, and we’ll make sure Bruce doesn’t hurt anyone else.”

Cass nods “Follow the symbol, not the man. Make that mistake once, never again.”

Good, that’s the start of solving one of the problems Bruce caused, now he only needs to work on the other hundred.

“What the hell.” Barbara suddenly exclaims.

“What’s going on?”

“Someone’s in my systems, but they aren’t trying to gain access to anything. They’re giving me access to something.”

He could theorize why someone’s doing that, but he has enough questions on his mind. He’s just going to wait for the answer.

“Huh, they seem to be giving me access to cameras.”

Four pairs of eyes look at a screen as multiple camera views pop up. There’s so much to notice at once, he sees Tim and the Joker tied up in identical chambers, Tim is thankfully unharmed while the Joker is badly injured. But the Joker is meant to be in Arkham right now, how did Jason capture him without them noticing?

But he can see Jason in a separate room. There’s a slash across the neck that has been stitched up. God Bruce really tried to kill his brother. He doesn’t think he’s fully processed that yet. Jason is covered in burn marks as well, did he not make it out of the building in time?

But the worst part is how pale Jason looks. He looks like he’s halfway dead, all the life he had in the video they have just seen is gone. He must still be suffering from blood loss. The way he’s standing is off as well, he’s off balance.

“Tim is terrified, Joker is happy.” Cass states.

Barbara sighs “Of course the Joker’s happy. If I were to guess, if one of these chambers are opened, the person in the other dies. The last time Bruce was forced to choose between his son and the Joker, he chose the Joker. Just what are you thinking Jason?”

He stares at Jason through the screen “I doubt he is thinking much given the state he’s in. Cass, can you read his emotional state?”

Cass moves next to him and stares at Jason for several minutes before speaking “Not well, difficult through screen. Sad, hopeless, desperate I think.”

Steph speaks up “Can you find the location Babs?”

“No I can’t. Jason knows how I operate and has ensured I can’t get through his countermeasures.”

“So we can’t do anything to help Tim? Because we need to do something.” He notices that Steph is starting to fidget.

He takes a deep breath “I think we can assume that Jason doesn’t want to hurt Tim, and if not, at the very least he wants the Joker dead.”

“That’s not much comfort.” Steph whispers, and he’s well aware of that. He’s still not sure if he’s more or less concerned that it’s Jason that kidnapped Tim and not someone else.

They talk among themselves to try and think of a way to rescue Tim. But they don’t have long enough to make a plan before he sees Batman enter Jason’s trap. “Barbara, pull up Bruce’s trackers.”

“Already on in.” Barbara replies before pulling up Bruce’s suit diagnosis “Goddamnit, Bruce has turned his trackers off, I can’t get anything off of his suit.”

He sees Bruce talking but he can’t hear anything. “Why didn’t Jason set up cameras with audio? He clearly wanted us to see this.”

Steph glaces at him “I thought we gathered that Jason is too injured to think things through. At least Bruce is there now, that’s good right?” It sounds like Steph is trying to convince herself more than anyone else. He doesn’t blame her, so much has happened in the last few hours.

He turns to Cass and she hasn’t moved in the last few minutes. He doesn’t have the words to comfort her, he doesn’t even have the words to comfort himself, so he moves closer to her. A gesture he thinks she appreciates, he can’t read her emotions whatsoever.

Jason is saying something to Bruce as they all watch in silence. Bruce is looking for a situation where he can save both Tim and Joker, but he clearly isn’t finding anything. Jason was taught mostly by Barbara, with Bruce and himself helping out. Even with his injuries Bruce is likely going to have to choose.

And he sees Bruce head towards Tim. Maybe Bruce didn’t intend on trying to kill Jason, maybe the high stress situation got to him. If he saves Tim so easily maybe they didn’t have to be so harsh with him. He can’t be Batman after this of course, but maybe he can rebuild his relationship with his children. Hell maybe Jason will forgive him one day as well.

But he doesn’t release Tim from the chamber he’s stuck in, and instead says something to him before walking towards Joker’s chamber instead. Jason’s face falls.

“No.” Steph exclaims, horrified.

He watches helplessly as Bruce chooses to save the life of a serial killer over his son. But as Bruce types into a keypad to release the Joker, flamethrowers go off burning the Joker to a crisp and Tim’s chamber opens. Bruce starts wailing on the Joker’s chamber trying to break it open.

He stares shocked for a few seconds before Barbara speaks up “Jason rigged it, Tim was going to survive and the Joker was going to die no matter what Bruce chose.” He breathes a sigh of relief, thank god Tim was alright.

He watches as Jason enters the room and unties Tim, who stares for a few seconds before leaving with Jason.

Steph has never looked more relieved “Okay I’ve held my tongue about Jason’s actions since it seems like you both love him dearly, but I understand now. How soon can you find them Babs?”

“I’m no closer to finding them than before, I still have no idea if they are even in Gotham, since we don’t know when Jason contacted Bruce. I’ll do my best to find them tomorrow.”

“There’s still Bruce to deal with.” He growls out. That’s two of his brothers Bruce has tried to kill now, and he’s aware his relief is already being replaced by anger, and he doesn’t care at this point.

“Tomorrow Dick.” Barbara chides “We’ve all had a long day and we aren’t going to make good decisions right now.”

She’s right of course, but he doesn’t want to be alone right now, he doubts any of them do. He’s also concerned by Cass’ reaction. The rest of them are relieved, but the Joker’s death likely isn’t sitting well with Cass. But Bruce choosing to kill Tim also likely isn’t sitting with her and is probably worse in her mind since Bruce is their father, or at least he was. A father who promised to treat his children better than Cain treated her. She’s always been so staunch against killing and everyone of her beliefs has been tested today.

He isn’t sure how much time passes before they’re all huddled up together in the same bed. When he was younger he always dreamed of having siblings to cuddle up with at night, like how he had at the circus. But right now there’s no comfort in this.

---

“I’m sorry Robin, but I have no choice. Only one of you is making it out alive. You knew you might die in the line of duty when you put on that costume, and the Joker isn’t capable of making that choice. I can’t in good conscience choose to save some who knew what they were signing up for instead of someone who didn’t. Forgive me.”

Bruce’s words echo in his head. He expected this choice and at the same time didn’t expect it. All he can do now is await his death, he wonders how his siblings react to this. He hopes they don’t blame Jason too badly, he clearly isn’t well.

But the doors to his chamber open as the Joker burns to death beside him. Fire huh, it’s a good choice. The Joker isn’t walking away from that.

Jason rigged it so he would live and he’s not sure how he feels about that. Bruce was willing to kill him to save the Joker. Right now he wants Bruce to prove he loves him. Huh if this is how Jason feels his actions make a lot more sense.

He sees Jason untie him and ungag him before helping him to his feet. “Come on little bird, there’s nothing left for us here.” Jason says, and he’s more than willing to leave this room behind.

As he enters the garage, He sees Jason pull explosives out of a helmet before placing it over his head and he notices that it’s Red Hood’s helmet. Jason is the Red Hood but he’s too … everything to process that information right now. “I know you don’t want to be seen in that, but it’s the only helmet I have at the moment. If we crash, well it’s better if you're wearing it.” He doesn’t care enough if he’s seen in Red Hood’s helmet at the moment.

Climbing onto Jason’s bike and holding on onto him for support they eventually reach his safe house. They both sit down on his sofa and stay there. Jason is clearly just as shell shocked by Bruce’s choice as he is. At the very least Jason has his answer now, even if neither of them are happy about it.

He knows he should come up with a plan, call for backup, something. But he’s just so tired. So he stays sitting next to Jason.

He feels Jason’s jacket wrap around him. It has far too many weapons brushing against him to be that comfortable, but he can’t help but wrap it around himself for comfort.

He slowly leans into Jason. Jason’s body may not be soft, his body has muscles that could rival Batman, but he’s so soft regardless. He doesn’t understand it.

Jason wraps his arm around Tim pulling him closer. He feels safe, like the world can’t hurt him. He only felt this way a few times as a child when his parents cared enough to hug him. He only feels this way when he’s hugging Cass nowadays, her grip so strong yet so soft and gentle. Jason’s grip is weirdly similar, just a lot rougher. He knows Jason kidnapped him not too long ago, but he still feels safe.

He knows he should be doing something else, to continue the mission. He knows he should have helped Bruce try to open the other chamber and save the Joker.

But for now he just sits there, contemplating how Bruce was willing to kill him and staring into nothing.

Notes:

This fic is already growing longer than I expected. This was meant to be a little fic I write on the side but eh, I'm commited.

Chapter 3: Questions and Hypotheticals

Dick woke up in the early hours in the morning. Too much was going on for him to get some proper sleep, too many questions, too many hypotheticals. But when he woke up he noticed that Babs was already out of bed. At least Steph and Cass are still asleep, they look quite cute cuddled up with each other. They deserve their sleep anyways, this isn’t their mess to clear up. Hopefully by the time they wake up they’ll have found Tim and they won’t have to worry anymore.

Walking out of the bedroom he finds Barbara at her computers. He walks up next to her “You know you’re the one who told us we needed rest, hypocrite.” He says in a joking tone, trying to lighten the mood.

Babs smiles slightly “C’mon Dick, you’ve known me to know long enough to know I don’t listen to my own advice. Besides, the rest gave me time to think.”

He pulls up a chair next to her and sits down, he’s not shaking as much as he was earlier but he’s still nervous “What have you got?”

“Well a detail I didn’t pay attention to before is that Jason kidnapped the Joker out of Arkham for his little experiment.”

“What of it? Any of us could break into Arkham, it’s not a secure facility and the staff are easy to bribe.”

“Exactly, Jason would have no difficulty breaking into Arkham. But he would still need money to bribe the staff and equipment to kill the cameras since I can’t access them and transport to move the Joker. He has to have someone either in or near Gotham to supply him with the equipment.”

While he’s happy with some progress he has to admit this doesn’t really get them anywhere. “Good start, but with how much stolen Wayne tech is in the underground anyone could have provided him with the tech and transport, and he could have gotten the money from anywhere.”

Babs shakes her head “No he couldn’t have. Whatever he used is far beyond whatever Wayne tech is around since I’m completely locked out of Arkham. I’m nearly certain I’ll need access to their systems in person to restore my access. And it’s not only that. Look at this” She loads up a video he never wants to see again and points to the gun Jason has to the Joker’s head. “How well do you know your guns?”

He can’t help but scoff “You know how Bruce is with guns, I can tell you the different types of guns, I need to know that so I can tell them apart on the field. But I can’t give you any specifics.”

“Of course.” She says under her breath before she continues “The type of handgun Jason is using is very high quality and very expensive. You wouldn’t find it being used by police or even the military. The only people I can think of using such a gun are high end mercenaries and assassins. But there is only one person in Gotham who would use such a gun.” She pulls up a grainy picture of Red Hood holding what looks like the same handgun but it’s hard to tell.

He doesn’t like what Babs is implying “So what are you saying, Jason is working for the Red Hood?”

“That’s what I was considering, but I couldn’t see Jason ever working for a crime lord.” He couldn’t either, Jason has always despised the crime families murdering, exploiting and ruining the lives of every innocent person they could. After what happened to his parents that horrid day, it’s something the two of them always had in common.

Then again, if Jason was going to work for a crime lord, Red Hood would be the most likely. The Red Hood’s take over of Crime Alley was brutal, cutting off the heads of the most prominent drug dealers to threaten the rest. He keeps drugs away from kids and his product is nowhere near as addictive or unhealthy as the others in Gotham. In general it seems he has a soft spot for kids. He guns down rapists without remorse. Crimes have gone down immensely in the Alley and the people are safer than they have been in a long time.

And if Jason was working for the Red Hood it would explain why he seemed to be so familiar with their tactics and equipment, and why he was able to keep one step ahead of them. Red Hood is well trained in general, and his fighting style is very similar to theirs with some techniques similar to the ones Deathstroke taught him and Cass’ techniques thrown in.

Oh “Jason is the Red Hood isn’t he?” he asks in a defeated tone.

Babs smiles sadly as she puts her hand on his shoulder, grounding him “I hope not, but the evidence points to that being the case.”

Well at the very least, if Jason is Red Hood then he shouldn’t hurt Tim since Red Hood doesn’t hurt kids.

But Bruce didn’t seem that shocked that Jason was alive, or that he was willing to kill the Joker. He removes Barbara’s hand from his shoulder and stands up in anger “Bruce knew Jason was Red Hood didn’t he, the bastard.”

Babs looks like she wants to say something but he continues “Bruce wasn’t at all surprised to see Jason alive or willing to kill Joker so he must have already known. That’s probably why he sent Tim to Titan’s Tower.”

“He thought Jason might try to hurt Tim.” Babs realises horrified.

His voice grows louder “He fucking knew, and he still kept us in the dark so he could ‘handle’” he can’t help but scoff “it himself. Not only that, he left Tim alone and mostly defenseless, he trained Jason, he knew Titan’s Tower wasn’t enough to stop him. Especially with all that assassin training he seems to have now. Hell maybe Bruce wanted Jason to hurt Tim,
so he can put another fucking case next to his computer, another a thing for the bastard to blame himself for.”

He feels Barbara’s hand take his “Dick, I know Bruce is an asshole but you need to calm down. This line of thought isn’t going to help us. We need a plan to find Jason and Tim, to help them and a plan to deal with Bruce.”

“I know how to deal with Bruce, he has made it abundantly clear throughout the years that if he crosses the line he expects me to take him down. I’m going to give him exactly what he wants.”

“What are you two yelling about now?” He hears Steph’s voice behind him and turns around to see Steph stretching her arms and Cass walking behind her.

He focuses on his breathing Idiot, he must have woken them up with his yelling. He’s supposed to be responsible for them, they should be peacefully sleeping. Now they’re stuck cleaning up this mess too.

Babs sighs “We’ve still got more questions than answers, but we’ve got theories, and we’re about to put a plan into place.”

Cass seems to notice their emotions all over the place as she rests a hand on both of their shoulders trying to calm them. He has to admit it helps. She smiles seemingly so easily “How can we help?”

He takes a deep breath trying to shut off his emotions, he needs to be a detective right now. “From where the evidence points, we believe Jason is the Red Hood. Given his distaste of crime lords and rapists from when he was younger as well as his passion and love for the innocents of Gotham, him using what might be the same handgun when he confronted Bruce as Red Hood uses and him having the resources to capture the Joker from Arkham point to that being the truth.”

He takes another breath before continuing but Steph interrupts him “You’re not sure if Red Hood is Jason’s baseline.” He nods, Steph’s medical is always impressive.

He sighs “I could see Jason being Red Hood. I don’t want to believe it with how violent Red Hood is, but the violence is targeted. Red Hood has slaughtered pimps who use underage prostitutes, drug dealers who deal drugs to children, and child rapists. All groups of people that Jason didn’t pull his punches against.” He sees no judgement from Steph or Cass, to be fair none of them really pull their punches when fighting people who prey on and hurt children. “Not to mention that Red Hood seems to be protecting the people of Crime Alley. Members of his crew patrol the Alley like police to keep it safe, and I doubt it’s a coincidence a new charity opening soup kitchens and shelters entered the Alley shortly after Red Hood did.”

Babs continues "Continuing from Dick’s points, during Red Hood’s war with Black Mask, he mostly only killed the higher ups Mask’s crew and left the thugs and muscle alive. If Jason is Red Hood, that would make sense given his father.” Of course, how did he miss that? Steph and Cass look confused so Babs clarifies “Sorry, I forgot you don’t know Jason. Jason’s father, Willis Todd, was a small-time crook working for Two-Face. He didn’t want to but he had a family to support and there wasn’t any other way for a man like him to make money in Gotham. He was absent through most of Jason’s childhood because of his ‘work’, before he was tragically killed in a gang hit.

“Unfortunately, Willis Todd was just one of many people in Crime Alley stuck with joining a gang and likely dying simply because they have no other choice. Even Jason believed that he would be forced to join a gang and die in a gang war before Bruce adopted him, which he technically did in the end.” She takes a breath and smiles slightly sadly. “Sorry I’m getting off topic. If Jason is Red Hood, he could hire these people, giving them better pay, safer jobs and more time with their families so that children like him can have their parents around.

“With everything we said, combined with the trauma he faced with his death and whatever happened, I can see Red Hood being an older Jason, disillusioned with Bruce’s methods, and since he’s never trusted the police, he decided to fight for his own justice.”

Cass looks very conflicted, she probably wants to protect her new brother but is conflicted knowing he possibly has killed a lot of people. She speaks up “Do you have any videos of him fighting?” That’s not what he expected to hear from her.

Babs looks just as shocked but complies, loading up two videos. One of them is when he and Bruce followed Red Hood through the city, the other of when Jason and Bruce fought before the incident.

He can’t watch the second video, Bruce is being so aggressive with Jason. He set the jacket he was wearing alight to disarm him, smashed his head into the sink so hard it broke. It’s like he was trying to kill Jason before he even knew about Jason’s ultimation.

Cass stares intensely “I think I know him.” The room falls silent. If Cass has met Jason, the only time that would have happened is in the League of Assassins. Are the al Ghuls involved in this. Both Ra’s and Talia would have motivations in using Jason to manipulate or undermine Bruce.

“He reminds me of the person who broke out of the League of Assassins with. He was the one who told me to find Nightwing or Oracle, that they can help me. He didn’t give me a name or alias, not like I could call him anything back then anyways.” Cass speaks calmly, and it warms his heart to know that Jason trusted them enough to help someone. If only he trusted them to help him too.

“But I think I met him again when I was in Hong Kong last. The triads had grown even stronger. I believe you got my reports.”

Those reports were some of the most disgusting things he ever read. The way the triads got children addicted to drugs and then forced them to have sex with either members of the triads or their business partners for their fix is horrific. He planned on petitioning the Justice League to greenlight a Titans mission to take them down if the mercenary the government hired to help didn’t beat him to it.

“The mercenary they hired reminds me of the man I broke out with. He fought so similarly. The viciousness he fought the triads with, especially with the sex trafficking side is similar to Red Hood. I tried to track him down to talk but he was working too closely with the police for me to approach him, and then he disappeared once the triad’s leaders were arrested or killed.”

Jason working as a mercenary would explain how he had resources before becoming Red Hood. But they still don’t know for certain that Jason is Red Hood, or if he was the one who left the League with Cass. He’s sick of hypotheticals.

Especially the hypothetical in the back of his mind, asking again and again what he will do if Jason hurts Tim. He doesn’t want to answer that hypothetical, he doesn’t want to think about it.

“Right.” He claps his hands “We can’t keep thinking about hypotheticals. We have theories but it’s clear we don’t have all the information we need.”

Babs nods and continues “Right now we need to find Jason and Tim, assess their mental state and deal with Bruce, and we don’t know where he is either. When Jason kidnapped the Joker he also locked me out of Arkham and it needs to be restored in person, meaning someone will need to talk to the staff there. The last thing we need right now is an Arkham breakout without us knowing about it before anyone else.”

He speaks up “Bruce is.”

Babs interrupts him “Our lowest priority right now, his trackers are off and he’s dangerous to engage at the moment.”

He raises his voice “I can take him.”

Babs raises her voice in return “Maybe you could, but he tried to kill Jason and he was willing to let Tim die, the last thing we need right now is to bury another brother.”

The words hit him like a truck, and it shuts him up. “When we take down Bruce, and believe me Dick he’s not getting away with this, we will do it with every advantage we can.”

She’s right, he knows that, and hearing her say that Bruce won’t get away with this helps calm his nerves.

Steph speaks up “I can approach Red Hood’s crew. I’ve interacted with them a few times on the border between the Alley and the Narrows. They’ve helped me apprehend a few suspects who tried fleeing into the Alley. They should be amicable and will hopefully trust me that I have no ill intentions in meeting some of the higher ups to try and find Hood.”

Babs smiles, happily for once “Good call Steph, Dick and I will go to Jason’s grave, I’ll call my dad too if he’s free. It’ll be better if we turn it into a crime scene through the police and do this as concerned siblings instead of vigilantes. Right now I’m concerned that either Talia or Ra’s resurrected Jason to try and win favour with Bruce if he’s the man you left the League with.”

It’s a good plan “It will also possibly confirm a shapeshifter in the very unlikely chance his body is still at rest.” he adds

Cass nods along “I’ll head to Arkham and talk to the staff to regain our access, I’ll see if I can find who helped Jason as well.” She walks up to him and pokes him in the chest “Don’t you dare go after Bruce without me.”

He chuckles, touched by Cass caring, but he can’t promise that “Don’t worry Cass, I promise that you won’t have to bury me by the time this is over.”

She raises an eyebrow at his wording, but doesn’t say anything. He sees Babs pulling out her phone to call Gordon. He turns to Steph and Cass. “Alright, gear up. If you encounter Bruce do not engage and call for backup. We don’t know how compromised he is so stay away. If he becomes an active threat, communicate with me and I’ll call Clark, Diana, Barry, anyone who can get there quickly to restrain him. I’ll keep my comm on.”

“Got it.”

“Will do.” They answer. He doesn’t like them going out on their own right now, but he knows they can take care of themselves. Now that they’re up there’s no way they would stay out of the case anyways.

He can only hope they’ll find their answers, and Jason and Tim quickly.

---

As Tim comes to, he notices that he is warm and comfortable. The jacket was replaced with a blanket and a pillow was placed under his head. He smells some delicious food and turns to Jason to see him putting down a plate and a glass of water. The food looks like a full English breakfast.

Jason crashes on the sofa next to him before speaking up “come on little birdy, you need to eat. It’s been a while since you’ve eaten and that isn’t good for a young man like you. Trust me I know from experience.”

His body feels weak as he lifts the blanket off of him and sits up. He picks up a forkful and meekly says “Thank you.” before putting it in his mouth. It tastes amazing, not much worse than Alfred’s food.

They sit in silence as he eats and drinks and his body feels a bit less weak after eating. Jason suddenly speaks up as he finishes his food “I could have lived being the exception you know.”

He doesn’t believe that. Maybe Jason thinks that if Bruce loves all of them but himself would be enough for him. Probably a desire from the younger part of himself that still sees Bruce as the father who loves him. But Bruce failing all of them is probably the best case scenario for him at this point. If Jason was the exception the rest of them might justify Bruce’s behaviour by seeing Jason as the problem, none of them are infallible and they trusted Bruce to try his best.

But now that they know he isn’t the exception, he’ll have a family to fall back on to help him.

He knows he should ask Jason for a laptop, so he can cut Bruce’s access to Wayne Enterprises and contact one of the bats, Gordon or even Lucius or Leslie so they can start getting Jason the help he needs.

But his body still feels so heavy and he feels like he’s crashing even though he just woke up. Dick always tells him he needs to rely on others to help him more, and for once he thinks he has to listen.

He rests his head into Jason’s chest, and he isn’t pushed away.

He hopes they find Jason quickly.