Chapter Text
Jason wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. He separated from Crane after they escaped the police and the Titans, at Crane’s instructions. The doctor thought they’d attract less attention that way. The younger man knew they’d attract attention either way, considering what just happened, and the city’s curfew had long since passed. If any police officer spotted him, he’d be in trouble.
Thankfully, he had no problem getting to the new location Crane had directed him to. Surprise, surprise, it was another warehouse. As he made his way inside, he wondered how many random, abandoned warehouses there were in Gotham. He had mentioned it to Bruce before, back when he was Robin, and Bruce said that while the city would try to clear some of them out, they were often bought by crime organizations through shell companies. They needed places that no one would use or go to for their illegal activities. And since many of the politicians were dirty, they let them do it.
Jason expected to find the place empty, but he was wrong. At the far end of the large room, he saw Crane standing in front of a metal table, typing away on a laptop. He left the alleyway before he did. He would’ve thought he’d beat the older man here.
“What are we doing here?” Jason questioned as he made his way over to him.
“Regrouping, and setting our trap,” Crane informed him, keeping his focus on the laptop.
“What trap?”
“For the Titans,” Crane answered, then looked over at him incredulously. “Did you not understand anything from earlier this night?”
“Sorry, I must have missed it due to all the drugs you pumped me full of!” Jason shouted.
Crane stared at him. Not in anger, not in shock, not in fear, but in annoyance. It seemed akin to a parent who was waiting for a toddler to finish their temper tantrum. Oddly enough, it actually reminded him Bruce.
After a long moment, Crane turned back to the screen and resumed typing. A few seconds later, he asked, “Do you still know how to get a hold of the Titans?”
“What?” Jason responded. Crane groaned and lowered his head. A move that Jason had seen before, but always with a glass wall between them.
When the second Robin first went to the scientist for help, back when he was still in Arkham, it took a while for Jason to understand Crane’s drug formulas, and to make it. He had thought that Bruce was an impatient teacher, until he started working with Crane. Sure, Crane at first seemed to understand that he was teaching someone who didn’t know much about
“Do you still know how to get a hold of the Titans?” Crane repeated, lifting his head up but not looking at him.
“Yes,” Jason answered slowly.
“If my sources are correct, the cops should take care of Dove, and possibly Nightwing. Maybe even more. That will leave us with the younger ones to deal with,” Crane said. “Once our helpful officers take care of the Titans from their end, we’ll take out the others from ours. You will get in touch with them and lead them into trap, and we’ll end them. For good.”
“And, after that?” Jason wondered, trying to hide how nervous he suddenly felt.
Crane finally turned around to fully face him. He walked over, coming to stand right in front of Jason, then said, “After that, we mass produce our drug and distribute it among the people of Gotham.”
“Which drug?” the second Robin asked. “You made more than one.”
The psychologist smiled, but before he could answer, the large bay doors opened, capturing their attention. Jason didn’t recognize the person who opened the door wide enough to allow a semi-truck to drive inside, but Crane seemed to. He was smiling at them.
“Ah, you’ve all finally arrived. Let me show you how it needs to be set up,” he said as he strode over to them.
Jason didn’t move. He didn’t want this, didn’t want any of this. The drug that he used originally helped him not be afraid, but the other drug, that one caused pure chaos. So many people had been killed and hurt that night, and that was only when about ten people had taken it. What would happen if the whole city took it? He didn’t know, and he didn’t want to find out. He wanted to make Gotham better, not worse.
Taking advantage of Crane being distracted with his other allies, Jason slipped out the back door.
2018TITANS2018
Dick stood in the doorway of the living room, or ‘entertainment room’ as Bruce called dubbed it, given that it had the largest TV in the Manor, along with the video game set up. Inside, Gar, Conner, and Tim were sitting on the couch playing Mario Kart. It was past midnight now. He really should be taking Tim home, but something in his gut screamed that it was a bad idea. It shouldn’t be. The cops wouldn’t have any reason to target Tim, and they didn’t know that Dick Grayson was Nightwing, so they shouldn’t have a reason to take a shot at him like they did Conner. And it wasn’t like he was going to drop him off in his Nightwing uniform. That would be insanely stupid. No, it should be completely safe to take the teenager home.
Unless Jason and Crane told the gangs and dirty cops their identities.
If Dick was being honest with himself, he was still p****d that Jason revealed to Crane that he was Robin, that Bruce was Batman, and that Dick was Nightwing. He wouldn’t be surprised if Jason also exposed the identities of the Titans to Crane, but he hoped that they kept that information to themselves. The last thing they needed was the police knowing who they were. Vigilantism was still illegal, regardless of Batman working with the police. With any luck, Barbara will figure this mess out.
Ultimately, Dick decided to leave the boys be for now. It would be safer to wait and get the ‘all clear’ from Barbara before going out. Besides, Tim had texted his parents that he would be out late, or maybe even the whole night. His parents wouldn’t be freaking out over him.
Heading to the kitchen for a late-night snack, Dick was surprised to find Hank in there, rummaging through the fridge.
“Find anything good?”
“Not sure,” Hank said, his head still buried in the fridge. “Can’t always tell what’s people food and what’s Krypto’s food.”
“Sometimes I think Gar and Conner care more about what Krypto’s eating than about what we’re eating,” Dick revealed with a smile.
Hank chuckled. “Teen boys aren’t that picky when it comes to food. Give them a pizza and they’re happy. And I mean real pizza. None of that cauliflower crap that you tried to get them to eat.”
“Hey, healthy food is important. I was trying to be a responsible adult,” Dick protested. He no longer hoped that people would stop bringing that up. It was clear that no one was going to forget his well-intentioned attempt at getting his kids to eat more vegetables.
“It’s a bit hypocritical from you though. If I recall correctly, our diet as the Titans wasn’t the perfect picture of balanced or healthy,” Hank pointed out.
Dick groaned but didn’t respond. He didn’t have much of a defense for that. Back when he, Hank, Dawn and Donna were the Titans, they practically lived off fast food. Dawn and Donna were the ones who did try to get them eat some fruit and vegetables, but not that hard. After all, they loved the fast food too. But they didn’t have growing kids with them at that point. Now they did, kids that he was responsible for. Sue him for trying to take proper care of them.
Dick didn’t say any of that though. He just grabbed a glass and went to the sink to fill it up. As he was doing so, he head Hank ask, “You okay?”
“Just worried about Gar, Conner, and Tim,” Dick replied, turning around to face the blonde, who was looking at him with a concerned expression. The brunette took a small sip of his water, then added, “I don’t know if there has ever been a time when there weren’t corrupt cops in Gotham, but they haven’t gone after vigilantes in years. I never actually had to deal with a cop taking shots at me when I was Robin. I wouldn’t have let Gar and Conner come if I knew that was going to happen.”
With a snort, Hank said, “I don’t think you could’ve stopped them if you tried Dick.”
“He’s right about that.” Both men jumped slightly at the voice before their eyes darted to the doorway, just in time to see Kory enter the room.
“They were already a bit upset that you left San Francisco without us when you found out that Jason died. Or, not died, I guess. Even if you didn’t ask us to come, we all would’ve rushed over the second we saw on the news what was going on here. And you know that Gar would’ve been stalking every news channel and website,” the redhead revealed as she strode into the room, stopping only a foot away from Dick.
Dick nodded. She was definitely right about that. There had been a time or two where he’d tried to keep Gar and Conner out of cases he was working on, thinking they were too dangerous for them. Sure, Conner was bulletproof, but that didn’t mean Dick wanted him around human traffickers. However, Gar and Conner had a tendency to eavesdrop, snoop, and sneak out to follow him and Kory, so it never worked that well.
“Hey,” Kory said, placing a hand on Dick’s shoulder, “we’ll figure this out.”
Dick didn’t have time to respond before his cell phone started ringing in his pocket, which caused Hank to smirk.
“5 bucks it’s Barbara with the answers.”
2018TITANS2018
It was becoming a habit, meeting in the living room of Wayne Manor whenever Dick had to fill them in on news from Barbara. After he got the call from her, he immediately had everyone meet there, despite it being so close one in the morning now. They didn’t mind though, as no one had actually managed to go to sleep yet, with the exception of Komand’r. She was the only one who had fallen asleep and was not happy to be woken for a team meeting, especially since she was technically not part of the team.
“You think Scarecrow planned this?” Conner questioned from his spot on the couch once Dick finished filling them in. Tim and Gar sat beside him.
“Three weeks ago, I would’ve said that Scarecrow wasn’t smart enough to come up with something like this. Now, I have no idea,” the Titans’ leader answered, his arms crossed as he stood in front of the room and the team.
“I should’ve just stayed put,” Dawn muttered angrily to herself. She was sitting on the sofa beside the couch with Hank. The former football player reached over to grasp her hand. Not only did she let him, but she also gripped his hand back.
“They would’ve found some other way to go after us. Don’t blame yourself for this,” Tim tried to assuage her guilt.
“And Barbara can’t get us out of this mess?” Gar spoke up, finding it hard to believe that the police commissioner couldn’t pull some strings to get them out of this mess.
“Not without breaking some laws herself, which she will get in massive trouble for,” Dick replied.
“But the other cops breaking the laws don’t get in trouble?” Komand’r asked, leaning against the doorway to the room.
“I’ll explain that later,” Dick promised, then turned his attention to former ballerina. “Right now, I’m going to go through your phone records Dawn, do what I can to hide everything important and leave the number that Jason called you from. I’ll give them that as proof that Jason called to make the blackmail demand.”
“Couldn’t they just say that Jason calling is proof that we are working with Jason and Crane?” Gar inquired.
“They could try, but since the phone call wasn’t recorded, they don’t have proof of that.”
Hank frowned at the detective. “Is that all it’s going to take?”
“No. I’ll give them a tracker that Batman uses to track criminals and tell them that I had it in my utility belt and was going to place it on the truck, but when I arrived at the location, I heard fight going on in the barn where Dove and Red Hood were, and I went to go help. The Gotham PD have used Batman’s trackers as evidence before, they’ll recognize them. And since there were no cameras at that location, they can’t see that there was no tracking attempt, or that we willingly gave the truck to the Red Hood,” the Titans’ leader told them.
“They still have evidence of her stealing the truck in the first place,” Kory pointed out, leaning forward in the chair beside the large couch where Gar, Conner and Tim sat. “What are the odds of getting her out of that, even if we do prove that she was blackmailed?”
“If I needed to be arrested in order to clear all of you any crimes, I’ll let them take me in,” Dawn stated, looking up at the team.
“No,” Hank immediately objected.
“Hank,” Dawn started, but he cut her off.
“We’re not leaving you to the mercy of Gotham’s corrupt police force.” His forceful tone made it clear there would be no further argument.
“Hank’s right, Dawn,” Dick spoke up again, then added another detail of his plan. “I’m also going to give them the device Jason put on Hank’s chest, our notes about disabling it, and see if I can find any footage or audio recording from that night. That will prove Jason’s method of blackmail. It will be difficult for those cops to argue that we were working with Jason and Crane when they tried to kill Hank.”
“Will that be enough?” Conner chimed in. Tim, who was still sitting beside him, shook his head.
“There won’t be a trial. It won’t get to that point. They want to get rid of you guys. They’ll use this as an excuse to arrest you all, and once you’re all in custody, somehow, you’ll all have an ‘accident’. Then, no more heroes in Gotham.”
The room fell silent at Tim’s words. It sounded insane how quickly everything could go wrong for them. In San Francisco, the police officers they worked with were extremely cooperative and seemed to enjoy the unofficial partnership. Gar and Conner had never thought about what it would be like the have the police be against them, even though Dick had warned them about all the corruption with the cops in Gotham.
“For now, let’s all get some rest. We all need it,” Dick told them, breaking the silence. “And let’s be honest, tomorrow is going to be crazy.”
2018TITANS2018
Jason walked as casually as he could, fighting the urge to again, look around to see if anyone was following him, or noticed him at all. He had already checked just a minute ago and there had been no one. It was extremely early. The sunlight was just starting to peak over the horizon line. Nobody was out and about just yet, but they would be soon. It would be easily to hide amongst a crowd, but it would also be harder to tell if someone was tailing him.
He didn’t have a plan as to where he was going. He moved completely on autopilot. In the back of his mind, a voice told him that it was time to get back to Crane, that he was probably late enough as it is. Late for what, he didn’t know, but ever since he broke Crane out of prison, the man wanted him to stay close. Despite not really wanting to go anywhere or do anything lately, Crane’s control was starting to get annoying. Annoying enough that he didn’t want to go back right away. It reminded him of Bruce honestly, but unlike Bruce, Crane didn’t have any trackers on him to know exactly where he was and what he was doing. So he just kept walking until he found himself standing outside of a familiar apartment building.
He hadn’t visited Molly since that night he brought that boy to her. He had thought that would be his last visit for a while. He didn’t want to get her involved in any of this, but he wanted to see her. Whenever he was struggling with something, or if he just needed a break from whatever he was dealing with, he went to Molly. He wanted to go to her now, but he couldn’t He needed to keep her safe. But she wouldn’t be safe in Gotham, not if Crane released the drug that made people violent, or his fear toxin.
Not thinking twice, Jason pulled the burner phone from his jacket pocket and dialed a number that he had long since memorized.
“Who’s this?” The voice of his oldest friend answered after only one ring.
“Molly? It’s me,” Jason said quietly, still staring up at her apartment building.
“Jason?” Molly whispered and turned her light on. He could see it through the window that he knew would look into her living room.
“Yeah. I know you probably didn’t want to hear from me, but I need you to listen to me.” He took a deep breath, preparing for an argument, then made his request. “You need to get out of Gotham.”
“What? What are you talking about?” She asked with a confused and nervous voice.
“Something is about to happen. Something bad, and I don’t want you to get caught up in it,” he told her.
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t tell you,” Jason answered with a grimace. He literally couldn’t tell her. He didn’t know what exactly Crane had planned, though even if he did, telling her could put her in danger if Crane ever found out. The less she knew, the better.
When she didn’t respond, Jason pleaded, “Please Molly. I know this might not make much sense, but I need you to trust me. Please.”
“Okay,” she finally agreed.
“Thank you,” he said, relief flooding his body to the point he felt his eyes prickle with tears. “I’m sorry Molly. I’m sorry for everything.”
“Jason, talk to me.” She sounded so close to begging and is just made him feel worse.
“I can’t. I’m sorry,” he apologized again. He was about to hang up when she spoke up again.
“Jason, please be safe,” the brunette requested. At that moment, Jason spotted her silhouette in front of her window, as though she was searching for any sign of him. It was time to go.
He hesitated for no more than ten seconds before he hung up and started walking away, dropping the burner phone into the trashcan as he passed it before disappearing into the city.