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So far, Artemis' day off has been decisively meh. She'd wandered around the Watchtower for most of the morning. She'd been bored enough to resort to cleaning, at which point Mal showed up out of nowhere, took the broom she'd been sweeping with and checked her for a fever. He'd even looked at the records for the last time she'd been exposed to magic or any type of toxin. (It's been two weeks, man. Come on. Besides, she's mildly offended, now. She's not that crummy.)
Everyone else is either out on a mission or has downtime, as well. Bart's in Central City, hanging out with the Flash clan for his dad and aunt's second birthday party (and boy, is that still the weirdest thing ever.) She knows that she'd be welcome if she joined them, but she still finds it hard to look Mr. and Mrs. West in the eye. She finally decides to head to Gotham and drop by to see her mother. So it's fairly typical that she finds the house empty and a text from her mom informing her that she's spending the weekend with Jade, Roy, and Lian. Come to think of it, she needs to go visit them soon, too. She hasn't seen Lian in ages.
Not now, though. Now she's tired, hungry, and more than a little lonely and mopey. So she orders pizza and pulls up Lord of the Rings on their crappy old DVD player. She's getting up to throw her paper plate away and switch discs when there's a knock on the window.
She's across the living room in two strides, snatching a collapsible bow and quiver of arrows from the umbrella stand behind the door and nocking an arrow to the string. She freezes when she sees a black-gloved hand waving at her, displaying a lack of weapons to signal that they're not an attacker. She steps forward, and can just make out a silhouette with light glinting off the blue bird on his chest. She lowers the bow and sighs, stepping forward and opening the window. "What the hell? I have a door, you know. If Bats hasn't taught you to use one, surely A has."
Dick leans forward on the fire escape and smiles up at her sheepishly. It's a bit half-assed and clearly strained, but it still has the desired effect. "Sorry about this. I remembered your place was close by."
"Just be glad my mom's not home," she says, leaning back to let him in the window.
"I already knew," Dick says, turning away. Artemis arches an eyebrow. "How?"
"Roy sent me a pic. He probably sent you one, too." Artemis pulls out her phone and mock-glares out the window at Dick when there is indeed an unread message. She pauses, shocked, when she sees Dick pulling someone else in the window behind him. She can see Tim outside, helping guide the man's feet in. Boy, now that she really looks--the kid's a good five years her junior. Which is sad, when did she get this old?
But that's not the most startling thing about him. No, even with a domino mask, she'd recognize this kid anywhere. You don't easily forget the face of the fourteen-year-old you failed to save who nearly tore the team apart by his absence and was Wally's main reason for leaving the hero business.
"Jason," she breathes, dropping down next to Dick, who's supporting the younger boy while Tim climbs in the window. She'd suspected something was up when Tim had been attacked; the close-mouthed hostility from Bruce and Dick and the shell-shock from Tim had screamed wrong. But she'd never suspected this. She can't stop staring at him, alive and breathing--and bleeding. There's a bullet hole in his abdomen and a hastily-applied bandage is soaked with varying layers of fresh and drying blood. Dick's gloves are tacky with it where he's putting pressure on the wound.
"Sofa. Now." she orders. She pulls one of Jason's arms around her shoulder and Dick grabs his other arm. She can hear Tim closing the window behind him. He's locking it and drawing the curtains, too. "Tim, there're towels in the hall closet. Grab a few for the sofa, please," she calls. Even her former assassin mom would freak out if there was blood on the couch when she got home.
"Got it," Tim says, and she can hear his footfalls in the hallway. He comes back with them within a few seconds, spreading them out carefully and crouching next to the couch to help them lay Jason down. Dick stops at the head of the couch, and Artemis winds up next to the longer side. Tim takes Jason's legs--with some difficulty, as Tim is small and Jason's legs are long and heavy and when did that happen--and Dick slowly lowers him onto the couch, Artemis stabilizing him on the side. Jason moans a bit when he's jostled, tossing his head, and Artemis flinches. He quiets once he's settled, and Artemis turns to go dig the first aid kit out of its cabinet in the bathroom. She hasn't needed it for so long, she'd almost forgotten where it was.
When she comes back, Tim is carefully pulling back the pressure bandages from Jason's stomach, cutting what little remains of his shirt off, and Dick is crouched by the boy's head, cradling it with one hand and carding back his bangs with the other. The wound looks ugly, and Artemis cringes slightly in sympathy as she hands the kit off to Tim. The current Robin cracks it open and pulls out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. He glances up at Dick, their masked eyes meeting and holding for a second before Dick turns and whispers something in Jason's ear. Artemis can't hear a response, if there even is one, but Dick glances back up at Tim and nods. Tim tips the bottle onto the wound, and there's a stifled hiss of agony. The sound makes Artemis study Jason's face again. She'd been distracted by the wound, but now her attention is back on the former, somehow-not-dead Robin.
He's older, now--how the hell does that work, she wonders--and harder somehow. But at the moment his face is scrunched up, body tense and eyes clenched shut, sweat breaking out on his forehead, and Dick is shushing him and murmuring reassurances. Artemis heads back to the bathroom, grabs a washcloth and runs it under the sink. She wrings it out and hurries back to the couch, handing the wet cloth to Dick. He shoots her a grateful smile and begins wiping down Jason's sweaty face with the cloth. Tim is busy stitching the wound shut, and Jason's breath is coming in harsh pants.
Artemis isn't quite sure what to do at this point. The boys seem to have the first aid well in hand; though she has a feeling Jason might be needing some saline or a blood transfusion, judging by his pallor and the amount of blood on the bandages. She gathers the discarded bandages up and goes to throw them away, wrapping them in newspaper on principle. There's still most of a pizza in the freezer and various beverages, but she isn't sure if any of the bats will be hungry after this. She digs through the medicine basket on the counter until she finds some of her mother's heavy-duty painkillers. She grabs a couple of them, knowing her mom will understand, and gets a glass of water from the sink.
She steps back into the living room cautiously. Tim's finishing the stitches in Jason's stomach, and Jason looks semi-conscious, cheek resting on Dick's arm and eyes half-lidded. It sends a jolt of panic through her at first, because he looks so similar to that awful night in Ethiopia. But she shakes her head. He's alive, here and regardless of how, and that's what matters.
She touches Dick's shoulder lightly, extends the pills and the glass to him. He takes them and turns to Jason, setting the glass on the floor for a moment so he can shake his brother's shoulder with his free hand. "Hey, little wing, wake up. Jase."
The boy's lashes flutter before his eyes blink open slightly more. "Hmm?" he rasps, and Artemis feels a pang at how low his voice is now. He had a high voice way back when--not quite as high as Dick's, but close. "Pain meds, Jay. Think you can keep them down?" Dick continues.
"Yep," Jason mumbles, and Dick helps him sit up enough to swallow them down. Dick slowly eases his head back onto the arm of the couch, and Jason turns wearily. His eyes meet Artemis' gaze; cloudy, but she can see a glint of recognition. "Hey, 'mis." he grunts. "Sorry for...messin' up your couch."
She gives a vaguely watery laugh. "It's seen worse."
"Mm." Jason's eyes roll back into his head for a long moment. While he's still trying to pull himself together, Tim speaks up. "Done with these. Can we turn him over without hurting him too much? The exit wound needs stitching."
"That alright?" Dick addresses Jason. Jason grunts and shifts one shoulder slightly in a shrug. His face looks oddly tight--but then again, he did just get stitched up without anesthesia. Dick carefully grasps him under the arms, and without being asked Artemis hurries next to him to help stabilize him again. Tim grabs Jason's legs and they manage to turn him without too much trouble, though Jason's gasps of pain are a bit disconcerting. Artemis helps settle Jason's cheek back onto the arm of the couch. Dick goes back to combing through Jason's unruly black curls; now that she looks closely, she can see that he has a white streak in his hair now, just above his forehead. She assumes it's a side-effect of something, because he hadn't had it before. Tim catches his breath a bit at the foot of the couch, and both she and Dick glance at him. Then they see what he's staring at and they pale.
Jason's skin is marred with dozens of fresh scars; knife wounds, bullet wounds, and other, less-recognizable injuries. There aren't any scars from his murder, oddly enough. These must have been accumulated afterwards.
No scars from his murder. That thought is truly awful, and Artemis swallows hard, feeling sick. Jason. The poor, poor boy. She can't even imagine what he went through, and her childhood was nowhere near a cakewalk. She wonders what the hell happened and whether Bruce knows about this or not.
Bruce. None of this makes any sense. Bruce loved Jason. Loves Jason, she amends silently. He'd actually wept when they found him. She'd seen it. He'd refused to let go of his body for hours. They'd had to call Superman and Wonder Woman in to get him to release Jason's corpse, and even then they only did it to make arrangements for burial. She staggers backwards a step, sinking to the floor and pulling her knees beneath her chin. How did this happen? She'd been at Jason's funeral, and he'd been well and truly dead. Pale, unmoving, in a tux, make up covering his horrific burns and injuries, the whole shebang. So how'd he become...not-dead? What had happened to him? Where had he been? Why is he back now? And most importantly, why isn't he at the Manor right now? Why hadn't Bruce withdrawn from League business to take care of his adopted brood in this crazy situation? Why in the actual hell is Jason Todd bleeding on her couch instead of at home, in his own bed with his family around him? Judging by the tension in both Dick and Tim, she can guess that something's majorly screwy with the Bats. Well, she'll be damned if she lets this lie.
She shakes her head, glancing up. Tim is cutting the excess thread from the end of the stitches, and wrapping Jason's torso in bandages with Dick's help. She's glad Dick's preoccupied, because otherwise he would doubtless have noticed her little meltdown and would be staring at her in concern right now. Which would be utterly ridiculous, given the circumstances. Sometimes she thinks he needs someone to tell him when to be concerned for himself. Jason's clearly barely clinging to consciousness, lashes fluttering over eyes cloudy from pain and blood loss. Tim, having finished with the wound itself, gets to work on starting a blood transfusion, Dick rolling up his right sleeve without either of them saying a word. Artemis boosts herself up from the floor, grabs a microfleece throw blanket from the chair and tucks it around Jason. It's a bit too small for him, so his toes are sticking out, but he curls tighter against the arm of the couch. He grunts something incomprehensible, his shoulders relaxing slightly as he drifts off to sleep.
The other boys release a collective breath, though whether it's really relieved or not is hard to tell. Dick curls up next to the couch, mindful of the tube in his right arm, his left hand planted firmly in Jason's hair. Artemis grabs Tim's arm, pulls him toward the kitchen. "Come on, let's go get your hands washed." Tim must hear something in her tone, because he says nothing and follows. When they've rounded the corner, she whirls on Tim. "First of all, go ahead and wash your hands, because no point in standing around in the meantime. Secondly, spill. I wanna know what happened."
So Tim runs through what he knows of the situation. And Artemis gets more and more angry the more she hears of it. "What. The actual..." she trails off, growling. "What the hell was Bruce thinking!?"
"I don't think he was," Tim says quietly. "I think it still hasn't quite hit him, yet. Or it hit him too hard, and he can't accept that Jason hates him, now. But honestly, from what Dick's told me everything was building up, even before he..." Tim's voice falters. He sighs. "Bruce didn't want to address Jason's problems with his own inconsistencies, even back then. And then I had to come in and make things worse."
"No, Tim," Artemis insists. "Bruce needed you. He still needs you. You saved him, and Dick. You have to know that."
"Batman needed a Robin," Tim says, "but if I'd had any idea that Jason was alive..."
"If any of you had, you would have brought him back if it was the last thing you did," Artemis says. "But you didn't, and here we are. So now all we can do is try to salvage what's left of this mess before it all breaks apart completely."
Tim smiles. It's faint, but there. "We?" he asks hopefully.
She smiles, too. "Yeah. Baywatch would have my hide if I let you all go down in flames."
At the mention of Wally, Tim's face falls a bit, and Artemis feels herself deflate. It's nearly midnight, she can see by the clock on the oven, and she sighs, massaging her temples. "I don't know if you'll even be hungry, but help yourself to whatever you can find. There's a bathroom down the hall with a shower in it. You're welcome to it if you want. I think I still have some of Wally's clothes somewhere. Might not fit great, but..." She sighs. "Best I can do."
Tim nods mutely. "Thanks."
She turns to go back into the living room. "We will find a way to fix this, Tim," she tells him fiercely. "I promise."
Tim meets her gaze for a moment before nodding again, subdued, and then turning back into the hall. Artemis watches him go, then heads back into the living room.
Jason's still asleep, breathing soft and even, and Dick is slumped over next to him, dozing, his chin resting on his arm. Stifling the bit of alarm at seeing him out, too, she leans down and pinches the tube to stop the blood flow, shaking his shoulder lightly with her other hand. "Hey, Dick. Wake up."
He blinks a couple times before sitting up a bit, rubbing at his eyes. "Mm. What's up?" he mumbles.
"Tim's showering, but you're welcome to do likewise after he's done," she says, voice low in consideration of Jason. She carefully extracts the needle from Dick's arm and covers the pinprick with a piece of gauze. "There's food if you want it. I'm assuming you and Tim are at least staying the night."
"Yeah," Dick mumbles, rubbing his forehead with his good hand. "I should probably send something so B knows we're not in danger, though, or he'll come after us."
"I almost wish he would, so I could chew him out," Artemis says tightly, and Dick shoots her an odd look. "Tim told me," she grits out, and Dick's face falls. "Damn," he mutters, rubbing his temples. "Disaster, heavy on the dis, huh?"
"I'm fully tempted to call Dinah and Diana and give him a nice long talking-to." Artemis says. "I won't, though. At least, not now."
Dick sighs. "Thanks. I guess I'm gonna go change." He gets up carefully, mindful not to wake his estranged brother, and the look on his face as he caresses Jason's hair once more before pulling away makes Artemis want to curl up and cry. Without being asked, she sits down in one of the other chairs to keep watch. Dick gives her a weak smile before he heads off down the hallway. She listens to his heavy footfalls and hitching breaths for a long while.
***
Even though she knows for a fact she won't be able to sleep, she still winds up in her bed, staring at the the lights from outside dancing back and forth on the ceiling and on the old Cheshire Cat poster. She's curled up in one of Wally's old jerseys, her hair loose and pinned beneath her shoulders. She's doing better lately, with everything involving Wally than she had been, but tonight loss seems to weigh far too heavily on her; on the whole house, for that matter. Finally, unable to take it anymore, she climbs out of bed and pads silently out into the hall. She leans into the living room. Tim is in one of her t-shirts--none of Wally's fit him at all--and he's perched in a chair next to the couch in a position that looks incredibly uncomfortable to her. He seems fine with it, though, fast asleep. Dick's apparently slipped off the corner cushion at some point, and is sprawled out on the floor next to the couch, limbs splayed everywhere. One of his legs is twisted around so that his foot is on the coffee table, and Artemis snorts. Acrobat. Jason's still on the couch, but the look on his face makes her start. He looks anguished, his entire body tense, curled in a fetal position, and she can just hear his breath hitching. He's flinching as if he's being hit. Apparently he's not a screamer.
She creeps up next to the couch before she can stop herself, careful not to step on Dick's hand or foot by accident. She isn't sure if it's the best idea to touch him, so she doesn't, speaks softly instead. "Jason. Hey, Rob II. You're okay. You're in my apartment, remember?" Jason tenses when he hears her, completely still, and then one eye opens cautiously. When his gaze lands on her, some of the tension eases. Not all of it, though. He's still on guard, and she can't blame him.
He grunts, shifting slightly. "S'rry," he slurs, and she rolls her eyes. "This is the house of two assassins, a super-villain, occasionally a rapid-aged clone, and a hot mess blonde." she reminds him. "Nightmares are nothing new or weird."
He snorts, not quite derisively. She watches him scan the room. When he sees the boys perched in the living room around him, he gives a half-groan and slumps back against the arm of the couch. "Great," he mutters. "It's a regular family reunion."
"Anything wrong with that?" Artemis asks, and Jason scoffs. "I'm surprised Bats isn't here. But, I suppose if he was, I would be in handcuffs or a straight jacket."
"I don't know what the hell he was thinking, pulling some bullshit stunt like that," Artemis bites out, and Jason stares at her--as well as one can with half-lidded eyes from a drug-and-blood-loss-induced haze. "If I had known, if any of us had known we would have stopped him."
"Yeah, well, my fault, I guess." Jason says, self-deprecating and far too quiet. She knows the only reason she's hearing this is his injury, pain-killers, and late-night vulnerability...and maybe just because she's here and listening, and no one else has done that for him so far. "I thought I mattered to him. I guess I was wrong."
"Well if you do, B's got a hell of a way of showing it." She grumbles. Jason chuckles humorlessly, the mirth giving way to a flinch as he agitates his wound, and Artemis swallows hard. "Can...can I ask you something? If you don't wanna answer it, now or like, ever, just tell me and I'll shut up and go away, I swear."
Jason snorts quietly. "You did let them drag my worthless ass in here at some stupid hour on a Friday night. I think you're owed an answer. Plus," his voice dips, "you've always been...decent to me. Fair. I appreciate that. And...they just don't get it. Like you and I do, I mean."
Artemis nods. She knows what he means. Bruce, Dick, hell, even Ollie really aren't used to being in trouble constantly, one foot in juvie hall, one step away from jail. Roy was a bit closer, but they'd had too explosive of a relationship to ever really get past their tempers and be friends...at least till he married my sister, she thinks, snorting. That's one couple that still cracks her up. She realizes Jason is still watching her expectantly, and swallows, meeting his gaze. "Why did you do it? Attack Bruce, I mean."
His face hardens, and she begins stammering, "Not that I think it was a bad thing to do. I don't know. I just...you don't have to defend yourself to me, I just wanna know what..." You thought you were going to gain. She swallows and looks away, feeling sick.
She's shocked when Jason actually answers, voice steady but far too quiet and just...off. "I thought...I thought I could get him to see. That I didn't want him to die, not really. I just thought that I...mattered to him." She opens her mouth to respond, and Jason cuts her off, continuing. "When I...when I first met him, and Dick, I was so sure that there had to be a reason that they...kept me, I guess. I figured I was just another child-soldier, that I--I could be useful. That was it. Then I thought it was just because they were rich, and...nice but stupid, ya know? Naive, I guess." She nods. He continues, "Deigning to help out some poor idiot street rat. And then, I hoped that...maybe...somehow, they really cared about me."
"Dick does." Artemis says without hesitation. Jason closes his eyes tightly. "He was crushed when you died. Completely. Bruce...was too, or at least he looked like he was. I don't know how to account for his behavior now."
"And you?" Jason asks, still looking away.
"I...didn't know how to react. It was too much for me to think about. You--you were Robin. In my mind, that made you immortal. It hit everyone hard, being reminded that--that this was dangerous, and we could die anytime...well, a lot of talk went on about what we were going to do in the long run. And that's when Wally started talking to me about quitting. And I didn't have the heart to say no."
Jason blinks. "Speaking of which, where is KF? Did he finally tick you off enough to get himself grounded?"
Artemis closes her eyes against the sudden stab of pain. It hadn't even occurred to her that Jason didn't know...
The lack of sound on her part makes him look up, and his already pallid skin pales even further. "No." he says blankly, and her eyes burn. "He...he didn't--how?" he finally breathes, and she lets out a shaky sigh, and tells him everything. He doesn't cry--they're a lot alike in that way--but by the end of the whole greek tragedy he looks devastated and guilty. "Artemis," he says desperately, reaches for her wrist. His hand is so cold it startles her, like ice where it touches her skin. "I'm so, so sorry. I never meant..."
"It's not your fault," she says, taken aback. "You had nothing to do with it."
"I know, I just...I'm sorry I came back."
She gapes, and he goes on, "Just my luck that I can't even die right--" His face crumples, and he turns his head quickly, but she can see that his eyes are red. "--and other people die and I'm the one that gets to come back, and no one wants me. No one needed me--"
"No," she hisses vehemently, pulling her wrist away. "No, Jason," she insists, like steel. "I loved Wally. I still love him, and I miss him so damn much that it hurts, but I never needed him. I can and have lived without him, and I can still help people. I would never, ever deny you a second chance if it would bring him back, because that's not fair to either of you." He stares at her in shock, and the fact that she can tell she's gotten through enough to reach him makes her brave enough to go on. "And you do have people who...who want you, Jason. Dick loves you, Babs misses you, Alfred misses you. Tim has looked up to you for years and tried to make you proud..."
"Yeah, and look what he got for it," Jason mumbles, and Artemis barely restrains herself from slapping his hand. "You stop that. He doesn't blame you at all for what you did. That doesn't make you attacking him okay, but just the fact that you know it was wrong speaks volumes. Tim doesn't talk about his own doings or talk badly about his family much, but I can tell that he's massively ticked at Bruce for what he did to you, and Dick is, too. I'm willing to bet that whenever Alfred finds out, he'll be livid."
Jason chuckles quietly, probably at the mental image of the old butler truly furious with Bruce, and Artemis allows herself a smile, too. "Point being, you have a family if you'll accept them. Hell, I bet even Damian will put up with you in time."
Jason arches an eyebrow. "Damian?"
"Oh, uh, yeah." Artemis says a bit sheepishly. "Did I mention that Bruce has a nine-year-old biological son, and he's an absolute brat?"
Jason blinks at her. "Who...?"
"I'm...honestly not quite sure, but I think it's Talia al Ghul. Ollie and Roy were talking about it one time..." she trails off at the look on his face. "What is it?"
"Nothing," he says a bit distantly, eyes cloudy. "Nothing."
"Uh...okay," she says slowly. "As I was saying, I bet even Bruce will come around eventually. Not that he necessarily deserves your forgiveness, but...I don't know. If you can't get along with him, you should at least try with them." She gestures with her shoulder to the two other batboys. "And if no one else is," she finishes quietly. "I'm glad you're alive. Really."
Jason blinks, lashes wet. His breath hitches a bit. He shakes his head weakly. "It's not that simple."
"Of course not. Or it is and it isn't."
"No, I..." he heaves a frustrated sigh. "The Lazarus Pit...severely fucked with my head. I don't know if I can...be around them, without..." Hurting them, she realizes, horrified. "And I don't necessarily want to fight, to...to hurt anyone, but part of me does, so much that I don't even want to fight it. It's why I stay away, aside from the fact that if I saw Bruce I think I really would kill him."
No, you wouldn't. But she says out loud, "But you came tonight."
Jason looks away.
She tries to digest what she's just heard. "They...put you into a Lazarus Pit?" she asks, voice soft in horror, and Jason's lack of a response is a response in of itself. "Who did it? Why?"
"Ra's," he says. "Or, Ra's put me in, but I think Talia at least partially put him up to it. As to the why..." he shrugs. "That whole incident wasn't supposed to go the way it did."
"No shit," she mutters. Jason rolls his eyes. "No, seriously, me being..." he stops, looks suddenly wrecked and angry "...wasn't part of Ra's plan. He only wanted to get Bruce to come to him, and apparently Bruce was ignoring him. So he intended to give him some incentive. But he..." Jason swallows convulsively. "He underestimated the Joker. I guess he felt...mildly guilty or something, because it was easy for Talia to convince him to. To bring me back."
Artemis blinks back tears. "How long? How long ago was that?"
Jason shrugs. "A year or so. Actually, I was alive before they found me." He casts a sidelong glance at her. "Woke up in my coffin."
She swears. "Jason..."
"They told me I was...brain dead, or something. Not quite, I guess. I never spoke, didn't react except to defend myself when I felt threatened. Ra's thought it was unfair to deliver me back to dear old dad brain-damaged, so he put me in the Pit." He scoffs. "It backfired. So Talia took charge of me in secret. Five months ago, she took me aside and showed me photos of the new Robin."
Artemis doesn't do a thing about the tears that are streaming down her cheeks.
"I saw that and I just...hated him so much," Jason croaks out. "Tim, definitely some. A lot. But mostly Bruce. For...for replacing me, for not killing the Joker, for letting someone else put themselves at risk all because he's too weak to do what needs to be done. The cops do it. Why can't he?" he demands desperately, his blue-green eyes pleading. She doesn't have an answer.
Jason glances at Dick and Tim, who are either somehow still asleep or are doing a phenomenal job of faking. "They're both so...eager. And it's only gonna hurt them in the long run." The unspoken It's only going to get them killed is clear. He sounds so miserable that her heart clenches. There's a beat of uncomfortable silence, broken only by a distant siren. Artemis watches Jason warily. He seems exhausted, still paler than he should be. But mostly he just looks tense and miserable, like he's waiting for things to backfire on him. She knows that feeling all too well, hates it with a passion. She hated being helpless, wanting her family back but unable to sway them or convince them to quit hurting her. Dick and Tim and Alfred--and Bruce--were all easily ten times better people than her father. But that could actually be a problem in this case. She hates to admit it, but Bruce's recent treatment of Jason--leaving him alone, at least--was probably the closest to helpful any of them had come so far.
Maybe that was deliberate, on Bruce's part. She could hope. As it is, she needs to do something. She swallows before addressing Jason again. "What would...what would make it easier for you? Is there any easier? Is this a..." Temporary thing? She swallowed again.
Jason sighed. "I did some research, when I was with Talia. The Lazarus Pit is kind of a scientific unknown. Repeated exposure to it is known to change personality and drain empathy...it does so after the first few dunks, as well, but those times it...wears off, after a while." He wets his lips. "I honestly don't know how much of what I'm dealing with is the Pit, and how much of it is just...me." Dick shifts and mumbles in his sleep, and the two of them freeze, watching him carefully. He eventually relaxes again, and Jason heaves a watery sigh. "I don't want to hurt him. What Bruce did isn't his fault, but there's no way he'll leave me alone. He's been following me for weeks already. Replacement's probably been stalking me electronically. I don't...I don't know what to do."
Artemis doesn't, either. If he's in Gotham, he's going to be living under the Bat's shadow--not the best thing when you're trying to avoid him. Dick and Tim might understand his position...but then again, they might not, and they can be incredibly over-protective. The Team is down most of the original members, and though Conner, M'Gann, and Kaldur had been fond of Jason, they hadn't known him well, and were all too by-the-book nowadays for his situation. Frustrated, she yanks her phone out of her shirt pocket to check the time...and starts when she sees the unread message from Roy. "Of course," she says out loud, facepalming.
"What?" Jason asks warily.
"You remember Roy, right? You guys got on fairly well," she says quickly, switching apps on her phone.
"Yeah..." Jason blanches. "He didn't die too, did he?"
"No," Artemis quickly corrects, flushing a bit at her screw-up. "Let me just pop him a message here..." She quickly types out, you up for a visit from an old friend?
An answering text pops up within thirty seconds. So long as its not ur dad or ollie, sure.
Trust me, its not, Artemis types back, smirking. Cu in fifteen. She sends it off, then grabs Jason's boots from the floor and hands them to him. "You up for a walk?"
Jason takes the proffered boots with a slightly confused expression. "Are he and Cheshire still a thing?"
"Yep," Artemis says, grabbing her jacket.
"Ugh. I can't stand your sister, 'Mis," Jason groans.
"Don't worry, motherhood's toned her down a bit."
Jason's jaw drops. "Say what now?"
Artemis laughs quietly. "Nothing. Come on, it's getting on to morning."
Jason nods, sitting up slowly and carefully placing his feet so as not to step on his estranged brother. He looks a little guilty as he glances at the other two Robins, but shakes his head and steps up beside her a bit shakily. "Zeta tube?" he asks.
"Zeta tube," she nods.
***
Artemis barely taps on the door, but Roy opens it instantly anyway. He looks wary, but not hostile. "So, who's your big surprise, Artemis?"
She steps aside so that he can see Jason standing behind her. She'd grabbed him a pair of sunglasses before coming--she knew the Bats' identities thanks to Wally, but it wasn't common knowledge otherwise. She knew that Roy would recognize him, though.
Sure enough, his face falls and he takes a step forward. "Rob II?" he says disbelievingly.
Jason meets his gaze with a sardonic smirk. "Still not as good as the original," he says dryly.
Roy stares for a moment, and Artemis begins to worry that they've broken him. But suddenly he laughs and takes two strides, grabbing a very surprised Jason in a hug. "It's good to see you, man."
Artemis stifles a beam as Jason smiles, returning the embrace a bit less enthusiastically.
"How? When...?" Roy says, pulling back.
"Long story," Jason says a bit sheepishly.
"...The Bats?" Roy asks, turning to Artemis.
She grimaces. "Long story, too. Can we come in?"
"Sure," Roy opens the door and stands aside to let them both into the house. Artemis hasn't even taken two steps in when a small shriek greets her. "Auntie Artie, Auntie Artie," Lian squeals, running towards her. Artemis crouches down and opens her arms, shocked at how big her niece is. It really has been too long since she's visited.
"Lian! I thought it was past your bedtime," she shoots a look back at Roy, who shrugs.
"Oh please. Like we would have anything as normal as bedtimes." Jade snarks, stepping out of the living room and scooping her daughter back up. She's wearing yoga pants and what is clearly one of Roy's t-shirts. Her big sister is full-on domestic and it makes Artemis smirk. "Besides, you both work night shifts," she shoots back.
"Smart a--lec," Jade says, rolling her eyes. Jason steps up behind Artemis, looking decidedly uncomfortable.
"Why are you wearing sunglasses? It's dark out," Lian asks pertly, and Jason looks startled for a moment. He recovers quickly, though. "Well, I'll let you in on a secret," he says conspiratorially. "These are actually special sunglasses that give me superpowers. I can see all the way to Kansas with these things. I can even read your mind."
Lian doesn't look convinced. "Oh yeah? Then what am I thinking?"
Jason studies her overly seriously. "About how weird I am?"
Lian giggles, and Jason grins.
Artemis chuckles, too, before Roy pulls her into the kitchen. "So, what is the deal? You wouldn't be bringing him here if things were okay in Gotham."
She fills him in, and he looks just as pissed as she was. Still is, actually. "He can spend a few days here, at least. Get his feet back underneath him. I'm assuming you're dealing with the Robins."
She nods. "Come to think of it, they're probably waiting for me in Mom's apartment right now."
"Better not keep them waiting, then." Roy says, and she agrees.
"Sorry to drop in so quickly, but I have to head back to Gotham. I will be coming back next week, though, Lian, promise," she says when the little girl's face falls. "You may send your mama after me if I don't."
"Careful what you ask for, baby girl," Jade says coyly. Artemis sticks her tongue out at her. Ignoring Jade's laugh, she turns to Jason. He looks mildly terrified, and she doesn't hesitate to throw her arms around his shoulders--she has to stretch to reach him now, and for some reason that makes her sad and happy all at once. "It'll get easier," she promises. "You'll be...somewhat close to okay. Someday."
He smiles into her hair. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, 'mis." He pulls back. "And...for all the other stuff, too." he finishes quietly.
"You're welcome." she says seriously.
***
She decides to get donuts on the way home, because food is always a good idea in tense situations. She's not surprised when Dick and Tim are both awake, and gaze at her expectantly when she steps into the apartment. She proffers the box, eating a donut herself. "Morning?" she tries.
They both keep staring at her evenly. "Oh, forget it," she mutters, dropping the box onto the coffee table and sitting heavily on the couch.
"You talked to him," Dick says tonelessly.
"About time someone did," she says, and Dick's face hardens. "I tried," he insists hotly, and she groans. "Look, Dick, leaving him under B is just asking for things to go colossally wrong. And it did. Already. He needs time to himself, without the two of you on his heels the entire time." They both have the grace to look a bit ashamed at that, though still defiant. "How's he ever going to get better if he doesn't let us help him?" Dick asks.
Artemis rubs her forehead. "This isn't about you, Dick. It never was. This is about him and Bruce. Tim just got caught in the crossfire. Don't tell me this hasn't been building since before." Dick opens his mouth to argue, but seems to think better of it, and sits back.
"So what do we do, then?" Tim asks quietly, and Artemis glances at him, still perched carefully on the chair. She shrugs. "Keep on as you have been. Leave Jason be for a while, unless you absolutely have to intervene. If you do, keep B from going after him. And for heaven's sakes, get Alfred to visit him. There's no way he's mad at Alfred, and it'll show him that not everyone agrees with B. Okay?"
Both Dick and Tim reluctantly nod. "We'll try it your way." Dick says shortly, getting up from the chair, heading for the door.
"Dick," she says. He pauses, not turning. "He doesn't blame you." she says quietly. She doesn't need to explain what she's referring to.
Dick says nothing for a long moment. "But I do," he finally says, barely a whisper. He leaves without another word, and Tim, shooting her a helpless glance, follows.
She sags back into the couch, scrubbing her hand through her hair. She needs a vacation from her days off.