Chapter Text
Kori had been checking on him ever since she heard of his confrontation with the league. The man wanted to snap at her that she wasn't his mother, but he lacked the bite right now. He was drained from everything that had happened and even a little shaken from what he found out. All these years, Jason had assumed everybody knew the truth about Bruce. That they were bystanders who didn't care that the man was taking kids off the streets and out of their homes to become soldiers. This belief drove him to bite, kick, and spit whenever the Justice League came near him.
So, for that belief to not only be proven wrong but shaken completely left him lost for words. The looks of shock and disbelief the league showed him when he came, guns blazing, were hard to see as fake. Not when Diana used that goddamn whip on him and forced him to his knees as she demanded that he tell her the truth. He would pay a million dollars to see that look of distraught on her face again when she realized her so-called "ally" was as crooked as they come. They hadn't known they were working with a villain this entire time. How fucking pathetic. He chuckled.
Kori overheard this and came out with a wooden tray in her hand. "What are you laughing about?"
On the tray were two mugs, and he grabbed one to drink from as he responded. "How my so-called siblings are going to react when the entire league comes knocking at their door."
He sipped from it and recognized the taste as green tea, spiked with some liquor. It was delicious, but he couldn't sit and savor it too long as he caught the look on his friend's face. Kori had made it evident she had a lot of mixed feelings about everything. She had a history with Dick, and even if they ended on not the best of terms, she had said numerous times she didn’t want the man hurt. Jason was putting her in a difficult spot by doing this, but she knew he had to, and he at least appreciated that. So did Roy, whom he had confided in more about everything Bruce had done to him.
They both understood what the end goal was. To stop Bruce and punish him for everything he had done. Dick was helping the bastard, so if he was collateral damage, so be it. It didn't have to be this way, but when he came to Dick, he had lied to keep Bruce safe once again. He knew the bastard was in the cave, but he wanted to see if his brother would tell the truth, and of course, he didn't. To Jason, that was the nail in the coffin. He would wait for his other siblings, but eventually they'd be next on the chopping block. His eyes flashed green in agreement as he sipped some more.
The redhead noticed this and stood there with a saddened expression on her face. "Jason..."
The man huffed and glared back. "What?"
"You are going down a dark path, friend. Your siblings care about you. Including Richard." Kori struggled at the mention of his older brother and hugged herself as old feelings came up.
Jason wanted to yell at her, but he knew Kori just wanted the best for him. The way he was going about this was destructive, but that's what kept him going. Knowing that if he went down, Bruce was going down with him. And Dick would be forced to watch his precious father be torn to shreds. The public and the superhero community would see him for what he was. They would take him out without him even having to lift a finger, and then the golden boy would have to face the music. He would have to confess all the lies he spun for the man and all the dirty work he basked in.
The man wasn't going to let anyone take this away from him. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and took it out with a smug grin. Duke had taken him up on his offer to see his side. The newest member of the so-called owl family was someone he barely interacted with. However, when they did manage to talk, he felt that the boy wasn't duped like the rest about Bruce. He knew that beneath all that glamour and old money was a snake. Which left him as a potential ally or at least, someone he would spare if it came down to the worst option.
Jason wasn't surprised when it wasn't Duke waiting for him in the manor, but the mother hen himself. He kept a good distance away from his older brother, who noticed his tense behavior and pouted. This drove the man mad. Dick hadn't used Duke to set up this meeting for a simple talk. The older man wanted something from him, and he was playing the clueless caretaker role to get it. The man decided it was better to fight back with his words instead of a bullet for now and laughed.
"Hm? Is Dicky mad I went and told his daddy's secrets to his so-called friends?" Jason asked as he looked around the seemingly empty room.
He did not doubt that Bruce had the entire place bugged; the paranoid bastard was such a control freak. One or two of the kids were probably waiting for Jason to take out his weapon to then subdue him. He wouldn't put it past his siblings to fight him at this point. They had made it very clear in their texts and calls to him (those who weren't blocked) that they were pissed he told. Tim in particular had sounded like he wanted to skin him alive, especially with Jason brought up his boyfriend being a potential target for daddy.
Dick looked at him with disappointment and sighed. "Jason, I get why you did it. But I cannot support how you went about it."
"Spare me the bullshit, Richard. We both know you have a lot to lose if I spill the beans, so I don't believe you. Let's cut to the chase– I am not taking back anything I said, and you will just have to live with the fact that everyone knows you aren’t some golden boy. You aren't a good person, but you're just like me. A killer. Scum." Jason's eyes twitched as he tried to keep it together.
Being around Dick was a huge trigger for the part of him that was still the pit. All that self-control he had developed was stripped away when he was faced with his former idol turned enemy. Seeing Dick with that fake gentle appearance made him want to puke. They both knew that under all that sweetness and loving nature was a man who was just as bad as he. Jason just wore his heart on his sleeve and bore his sins. Dick hid from them by playing along with Bruce and his insanity. This drove Jason up the wall, and he hated it.
His brother had the nerve to look hurt from Jason's obvious assumptions about him, and his lip trembled a little. Like always, he didn't crack and instead continued to look at Jason as if he were the crazy one here. His eyes widened as every word hit him, his pity towards the scorned man growing more and more as the seconds passed. Jason grit his teeth to know that Dick thought of him that way. As someone who was pitiful when, in actuality, he was the only one who had seen the light. Who else had the guts to try and take Bruce out?
"Jason. I love you, and I know you hate me."
The man squinted, unsure if what he heard was the truth as Dick's smile strained. He stood there with a faraway look in his eyes that made Jason wonder if he was even sober. He instinctively put his hand on his gun, and Dick noticed. In his ears, he heard blood pumping a mile a minute as the older man stared at his weapon, then him. Dick dared to look in pain after everything he'd done. It was an insult to everyone who was truly hurt by Bruce and his mechanisms. Jason wanted to scream at him that he had zero reason to be upset because everything he said was the truth.
Dick opened his mouth, a meager croak coming out before he closed his mouth. Another sign of the man's cowardice. Jason gritted his teeth as he tried to figure out what to do. He could attempt to shoot Dick right now and had Tim slam his staff into the back of his head. He could hear the man somewhere in the house, waiting to strike. Or, it could be Damian, Dick's little angel, lying in the shadows. That boy was born from two devils and would slice his arm off whenever he had the chance. The man cursed and tried to keep his mind from running wild with ideas on what to do.
"Jason, please. You're going to hurt yourself. Let's just...let's sit down and talk this out. I mean it." Dick's voice was hard to hear with how badly his heart was thumping in his chest.
"Oh fuck off, Richard! You're one to talk about hurting people when all you do is cheat and lie." It felt nice to see him begin to choke at the cheating part; serves him right.
Jason hated how the older man pretended he actually gave a damn about him. They both knew if it came down to protecting Bruce, he would throw Dick down a flight of stairs. He dared to act like a loving, sweet person to all his worker bees, but to someone like Jason, he showed his true self. He remembered the callous way Dick would speak to him all those years ago. How he would sneer at him when he came near the teenager and his friends out in public. Dick hated him, hated that he was alive, and hated that he was working against his bastard of a father. He slammed his fist down on a nearby table, and its leg snapped.
This made his brother's eyes go wide as saucers, and he took a step forward. The man's body tensed once he saw this, and he immediately took out his gun, causing Dick to stop. Jason's arm shook as he felt a migraine begin to hit him full force. Fuck. He didn't want to talk to Dick! He was the reason all of this was even happening. The gun shook in his hand, leaving Jason to growl in bitter rage. He normally could shoot a bastard in the head without a second of hesitation. For some reason, he couldn't see straight, and his hand wouldn't listen to his brain. A brain that was banging itself against the walls of his skull.
The sensations were overwhelming the man, and he stumbled as he tried to steady his aim, nearly falling into a nearby chair. Dick was watching him with that faux worry beaming in those big eyes of his. Jason wanted to grab the gun and hit him with it until all that sweetness washed away to reveal the angry brat that he had met all those years ago. The one who told him that he would never replace him. That rejected him at every turn and probably didn't even bother to go to his funeral. Because why would he? Dick didn't want a brother; he wanted Bruce and his riches all to himself. He was just some bastard giving all his love to Jason's replacement and a bunch of mindless soldiers.
"Jason! Wait– fuck no Tim stop!"
Dick screamed as Jason heard something cut through the air behind him. He barely had a chance to move and aim his gun at his new attacker when someone hit him right in the head. His vision became blurry as he fell against some furniture and dropped his weapon. The figure then kicked it away and stood over him with whatever they used to hit him, clutched tightly in their hands. It was long and metal...a staff. Of course, his little replacement had come swooping in to save his big brother once he got news of his arrival. Jason laughed. He laughed, even his eyesight became distorted to the point that Tim went from a blob to completely illegible to him. He laughed as he knew, even as he lost consciousness, that those rat bastards had lost.