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Tracking his quarry was insultingly easy. He’d wanted Batman to make it a challenge, show he’d learned what happened when you leave fledglings to fly on their own.
But no, Batman sent Robin to patrol alone. He didn’t even have the little birdie return to the roost. The Batcave had security, had alarms, and had Alfred. This pathetic children’s clubhouse, Titans Tower- stupid name- didn’t even have upgraded codes! It was all the same as his time. He listened to their comms, expecting to have to drug the other ’Titans’. After all they were kids, he didn’t want to hurt them. Instead, they went off on a mission, leaving Robin on his own.
He’d take Replacement apart, clip his wings for good, leave a message in blood and broken bones, make sure…
“YAAAAHHH!” Jason shouted as something caught him, pulled him up, bound him tight, slammed him against the wall. The lights he’d disabled turned on, blindingly bright. He blinked and began cursing. He couldn’t see what held him. All the metal he was carrying was stuck to the wall, including his helmet and body armor. Talia had said this baby bird was clever, but all he’d seen through the green was something fragile and fancy, a bright plumaged, spoiled upgrade to fit into Bruce’s social circles, a bird who wouldn’t embarrass him at galas.
“Are you done, now?” Robin entered the room, limping and using his bo staff as a cane. He was pale and thin, dressed in a Wonder Woman t-shirt and khaki shorts that didn’t quite hide the thick bandage around one inner thigh. No mask, not even a domino.
“Fuck you, Replacement!”
Robin pulled over a chair and sat. “Huh, that’s new. Usually it’s something like ’Interloper’ or ‘Usurper’.” He tilted his head. “Look, let’s not waste time. I know you’ve been hired to kill me. Robin tried…” He gestured at the bandage. “Nightwing had already given him Robin, but that wasn’t enough. He wants me dead. I suppose he thought he’d be scolded for breaking the ‘Batman doesn’t kill’ rule so he outsourced. I doubt he’d even be sent to bed without supper. He’s Batman’s ‘blood son’. Emphasis on blood. The prince can do no wrong.”
Jason blinked, glad his helmet hid his face. None of this made sense. “Robin tried to kill Robin?” He decided to start thinking of this Robin as Drake, because the confusion was making his head hurt.
“Robin’s a title, not a person. The second Robin was the best. He was magic.” Drake scowled. “‘Blood son Robin’ shouldn’t have disrespected his memory by giving you his codes. Batman was great when he had that Robin. But then we lost him.” His voice lowered. “Gotham needs Batman, but Batman without Robin is a loose cannon. I tried to get Nightwing to come back, but he was mad at Batman for how he treated Robin, how he…” Drake shook his head. “So I stepped up and pushed my way in, and forced Batman to take me on. I hoped a real Robin would turn up one day, but I couldn’t wait. Batman was going to kill someone who didn’t deserve to die.” He looked up at Jason. “He was going to break his own rules. The Red Hood can kill, because his rules are different.”
“I’m a murderer.” Jason said, feeling really weird that Drake had apparently admired Robin him. He hadn’t meant to kill Robin, but he wasn’t planning to hold back. So he might have… and Drake… without the costume, Drake looked very young. Very young and very tired. The green receded further. It didn’t seem that Batman gave a damn about this Robin, so it would have been a wasted message.
“I’m not a stickler for the law,” Drake said, “not when it’s on the side of the bad guys. What good does it do putting the Rogues in Arkham? Everyone knows they’re going to get out and keep doing what they want. When you kill a career murderer, they can’t kill again, so you’re saving future victims. Everyone knows you have rules, you protect the people who are just trying to survive and you don’t hurt kids.”
“I was going to hurt you. You’re a kid,” Jason said, finally admitting to himself how fucked up his plan was. It made him feel a little sick to think of it, now.
“Not really,” Drake said. He got up. “But if that means you changed your mind, great. You can refund Robin’s money. I’ll reimburse you. Once I finish one last mission, I’ll be leaving Gotham, so hopefully he’ll be satisfied with driving me away.”
“You’re letting me go?”
“I don’t want Crime Alley to lose you,” Drake said. He picked up his bo, and settled into a stance. “I hope we don’t have to fight.”
Jason didn’t know what Drake did, but whatever was holding him to the wall released, and he dropped to his feet. He stretched. “I’m not going to fight you. I wasn’t paid to come here.”
“Something personal?” Drake stayed tense.
“Against Batman,” Jason said. “Not you. He… I didn’t want any more dead Robins.”
Drake blinked, looking confused. “Oh. Ok, then. You can see yourself out.”
Jason turned away, but then he turned back. “You said you had one last mission. Maybe I can do it for you. A favor for a favor.”
Drake smiled. It didn’t reach his eyes. “This is personal. I had a plan, but Batman wouldn’t let me do it. He threatened to put me in Arkham, as ROBIN, if I did.”
“Well, shit,” Jason said. “Bye bye, birdie. What the hell were you planning?” Jason had obviously not been disillusioned enough about Batman.
“Nightwing beat Joker to death…”
Jason was startled by that. He hadn’t thought Dick cared, he hadn’t even shown up for Jason’s crappy funeral. “But Joker’s alive, isn’t he?”
“Batman resuscitated him.”
So much green. Jason stopped breathing. “What.”
Drake said, “Batman always follows his rules. I’m not Batman.” He barked out a short not-laugh. “So Joker went to the hospital, bills paid by Batman to make sure he had the best of care. Joker killed my Robin, and Batman saved him. I was going to bribe a doctor at Arkham to implant a bomb in Joker’s chest when they were doing follow up care.”
“A bomb.”
“Remote detonated,” Drake was quick to add. “I was going to wait until the next time he escaped, make sure no one else would be hurt, and set it off.”
“Huh.” Jason took off his helmet. He enjoyed the wide-eyed look of surprise as Drake stared at him, eyes moving rapidly. He could almost see the gears moving as Drake figured it out. Jason had changed but a true fan wouldn’t be fooled. “I like the way you think. Welcome to the Dark Side. We have cookies.”