Chapter Text
“NO!”
“Thr–“
Instinctually, a batarang left Batman’s hand, he’d only meant to reach out in a panic but maybe it could stop this. It hit the exposed pipe to the right of the two figures in front of him and flung backwards towards them.
“–ee”
BANG! Batman’s ears rung and he suddenly felt distant from his body, even more so than before.
The scene before him could only be described as graphic. Blood and brains were splattered across Jason’s face, repainting the shattered half of his already red domino mask and running thickly down his cheek. He couldn’t see its bright hue in the shadows that enveloped them but he was familiar enough with the sight of it to imagine. The coppery taste and emetic scent that filled the room and slid into the back of his throat was something he knew intimately too. However, the one thing that did terrify him about this sight was the manic glint in the eye he could see. It was filled with an animalistic intent that made even the Dark Knight feel like cornered prey.
Jason still held the limp body for a moment, as if in shock himself, before blinking hard and throwing it harshly on the ground. The ratty carpet muffled the sound of impact into a soft thud. Then he started laughing, cackling even. The way it rung through the space was a sick subversion of the joyful giggles he had when younger and even felt like a perversion of the bitter huffs and mocking chuckles he gave Batman these days. And Bruce could only watch, separated from his physical form and stuck in a freeze reaction to fear that he thought he’d trained himself out of years ago. A reaction he most prominently remembered having to a sickeningly similar situation.
This laughter continued for what seemed like hours; Jason seemed so horridly amused that he physically hunched over and rested his hands on his knees, gun still in hand. It was like he was asphyxiating, desperately huffing out breaths whilst tears tried to wash the blood away from his cheeks in an exercise of futility.
When he’d finally had his fill of this he straightened up, gave an inscrutable glance at the body at his feet, kicking it lightly as if checking if it would wake up, then continued to gaze at his surroundings. He paused for a moment at what Batman guessed was the batarang lodged into the wall to his left before looking back at him with a sadistic, determined expression.
“I guess old habits never die, Bruce. You’re still that same kid in that alley just beside us, aren’t you?”
He wiped a bloodied glove roughly across his face then pulled a detonator out of his pocket.
“Jason…”
He only flicked idly back and forth the cap of the detonator in response.
“Well I’d have to thank you anyway, even though you did nothing. Take this warning to get out of the building as a token of my appreciation; you wouldn’t want to join me and Dickiebird so soon in the ‘died via explosion club’, would you?”
He gave one last sardonic grin before leaping out of the building into the night so quickly Batman could not process enough to stop him.
Not wasting a second more in the silent building, Bruce left to go find his son in Blüdhaven.