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Dick
It was a normal op, nothing that should have caused concern. The drug running operation in Crime Alley normally wouldn’t be something that we dealt with, since Jason usually took care of it, but he had called in about a week earlier and asked for a bit of assistance with this so that none of the people involved would slip through the cracks.
It was a nasty one, even for Gotham’s standards. The drugs were laced with dangerous additives, though for Crime Alley that wasn’t particularly noteworthy. What made this so terrible was that the drugs also included elements that made you attack people who weren’t under the influence. The big reason for tonight's raid was that Jason had found where they were mixing the stuff up.
B had insisted on coming, even if his relationship with Jason was still a bit rocky, even though Jason had technically only asked for one helper. I wasn’t going to let Bruce go alone, not when their relationship was one disapproving look from exploding most of the time. Hell, Jason had even promised that he wouldn’t kill anyone today. Though we would have to keep an eye out for the leader of this little drug ring so that we could apprehend them before Jason gave him a nice new souvenir in the form of a bullet between the eyes.
While Jason had come a long way in terms of coming home to the family… He still refused to budge on his ideas about killing criminals. Bruce and I met Jason on the roof of the adjacent building. The lab was located in an old apartment complex that fits every seedy description of Crime Alley.
“Thought I told you I just needed one extra set of hands.” Jason had his face turned towards me, but I could tell he was looking at Bruce.
“Well, you know us. Always overprepared.”
Jason took a deep breath, seemingly steeling himself, before finally sighing.
"Fine. Let's get this over with." Jason outlined his plan, which, admittedly, only really needed two people. We crashed in through multiple windows, blocking off the exits and fire escape. Dodging the bullets that a few of the guards shot at us was child's play. The workers who were actually making the drugs were subdued just as quickly as the guards.
It looked like it was going to be almost boringly easy until one of the workers near B shifted. It happened almost in slow motion. The worker lunged, a syringe filled with pale fluid in their hands. I was going to shout a warning, but Jason tackled Bruce out of the way before I could. They clattered to the ground in a heap of kevlar and muscle and I rushed to pull the offending worker off of them.
When they both stood up I breathed a sigh of relief and secured the worker again. Examining the lab for clues didn’t yield anything new, but After a call to the police we grappled to the roof nearby.
"You two alright?" I asked.
Bruce, naturally, just grunted. Jason however, was uncharacteristically quiet as he examined the syringe. The… now empty syringe.
"Hood?" Jay began to sway dangerously. Bruce caught him and the syringe.
"Call the Batmobile. I've got Hood." I nodded and rushed to follow through.
When we arrived at the cave Alfred had prepped the medbay, helping us transfer Jason with a worried look. Taking his helmet off was a bit of a challenge, his failsafe being a fucking bomb. We’d be talking about that once he wakes up. Seriously, who puts a bomb on their head.
Once the helmet was off we saw that there was a light sheen of sweat covering his face. Jason’s brow was pinched in discomfort, and it hit me just how young he was, barely twenty, if it even counted due to however long he was dead.
Damian is at Jon’s for the weekend, which is good. If he saw Jason like this we might need to lock him in a cell because even if he’ll deny it, he looks up to Jason. Maybe even more than he looks up to Bruce. They don’t talk about it much, but Tim and I think that they maybe knew each other in the league.
Tim had snagged the syringe to test it for whatever Jay had been dosed with and was running tests over by the Batcomputer.
Once we had him stripped out of his jacket and kevlar top (which had a taser in it?) It was clear that he probably should have taken today off, even if this was the bust of one of the worse drugs we’ve dealt with.His insane amount of scar tissue aside, he has stitches from a couple slashes from knives and a bullet graze. Par for the course in our line of work but he still should have taken a day off with the number of injuries he has healing currently.
A hiss from Tim has my gaze snapping from Jason to him. From the look on his face I won’t like what comes out of his mouth next.
“What.” Bruce demands.
“So… He was hit with a mix. There’s a mild sedative that he should shake off in a few hours, what I’m actually concerned about is the other additive.”
“What is it?” I asked, already dreading the answer, to say nothing of the fact that Tim looked like he’d swallowed fifteen lemons.
“Amatoxin. Enough to down an elephant.” It felt like the air had been sucked out of the Batcave.
Amatoxin.
One of the deadliest poisons in the world, and incredibly painful for whoever was unfortunate enough to get dosed. What’s worse is that there’s no known cure.
Bruce stood and began heading for the Batmobile.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going, B?” I demanded.
“To talk with Ivy.”
Oh.
That made sense.
Amatoxin originated from mushrooms, so it stands to reason that she could help.
“Do you want me to come help?”
“No. Stay with him. If this doesn’t pan out we’ll need a plan B.” I nodded, noting the tense set of Bruce’s shoulders. He needs to be alone right now.
Tim and I spent three hours throwing ideas back and forth, trying to find a way to get the toxin out without killing Jay.
We got nothing.
With every agonizing minute that ticked by I watched Jason. His brow was still pinched and the sweat was rolling down his face as slowly as the seconds ticked by.
When the Batmobile roared into the cave I leapt up and over to meet Bruce, hope rearing its ugly head, but the minute I saw his face I knew that Ivy could do nothing. The painfully slow shake of his head only cemented that fact.
I closed my eyes and began to pray to gods that I’m not sure I believe in anymore.
Gods, please don’t take him from us again. We only just got him back.
“How long do we have?” I whispered. Hoping no one would hear. Hoping that if no one answered it couldn’t happen.
“With a dose this big? A few days.” Tim spoke softly, but the words still hit as hard as any supervillain we’ve fought.
At least this time you’ll get to say goodbye.
A horrible little voice in the back of my head taunted. I squashed it quickly, determined not to focus on it. We all looked terrible, the hard reality crushing whatever hopes we carried.
This was supposed to be an easy night!
Another voice screamed at me.
A groan came from the medbay and we all dashed to see Jason with an arm thrown over his eyes.
“The fuck I get dosed with this time?”
This time?
Jay shifted his arm and peered at us through squinted eyes.
“... How bad?”
“Bad.” My voice cracked a little on the word.
“Aw fuck. I was hoping to at least make it to drinking age this time around.”
I wanted to grab him by the shoulders and scream at him for being so relaxed about this. From the clench of Bruce’s jaw he shared that sentiment.
“We’ll figure something out.” Tim’s voice was shaking a bit, but he looked determined to make his statement true.
“Timbo, if that were possible you wouldn’t all be looking at me like I’m going to disappear if you breathe wrong. Lay it on me. How long have I got?” Jay rolled his neck and squared his shoulders. The determined look on his face, a brave attempt to hide the fear and resignation in his eyes.
“A few days.”
“Ah, great. Time to write my will.” Jason’s voice didn’t shake, didn’t so much as waver. He leaned back on the medical cot with his arms cushioned beneath his head.
“Jason…” Bruce had that guilty look on his face, the one that usually leads to Jason swan diving out of our lives because neither of them know how to deal with the other’s emotions.
“Don’t. I made my choice, so deal with it.” Silence filled the cave, Bruce and Tim walking out of earshot to discuss alternatives to Jason legitimately dying. I took the seat next to his bed.
“Is it gonna hurt?” The question is so quiet for a moment I think I imagined it but as my eyes search Jason’s face I know I didn’t. His expression lacks all of that calm, relaxed demeanor from before. His eyes now open wide, staring at me, the teal looking so scared and so, so young.
I want to lie. I want to tell him that it’ll be quick and painless and everything that his first experience with death wasn’t. But that wouldn’t be fair to him.
“Yes.” Jason’s eyes close in resignation and I would say that I never want to see that expression again but that wish might actually come true and I can’t… I can’t…
God. We just got him back.
The silence stretches and it feels like a shroud. Not that I would ever speak that aloud, but it does.
Tim and Bruce’s conversation isn’t going anywhere, I can tell even without hearing it. Bruce looks like he wants to punch something and Tim looks like he wants to curl up in a corner and cry.
I’m shocked out of my thoughts when Jason suddenly sits up and grabs his helmet.
“Where are you going?”
“No fucking clue.”
“Jason, you need to stay here.”
“Why? So you can torture yourselves over my fate with mystery drugs? So you can see my painful final moments? Maybe I want this to be private.”
“Jaylad we need you here so that we can help you.”
“I thought we already went over this. There’s no way to save me. Just let me go already. I need some space.”
With that he shoved his helmet on and rushed out of the cave.
“I’ll follow him.” I say before dashing after him. I trail him into Gotham, though he doesn’t stop at any of the safehouses I expected him to.
He just went straight for the cemetery.
My heart sank as he neared his grave, worried for a moment that the earth would just swallow him whole. He passed his grave with a kick to both his tombstone and the one marked Sheila Haywood for some reason.
He walked until he reached Catherine Todd’s grave, then sat in the grass facing the headstone. Suddenly I didn’t want to be here, but someone had to watch over him.
“Hey mom… I’m dying again… Funny, drugs are gonna kill me too.”
My heart sank. This is private. I backed out of earshot, more than content to watch.
Jay talked for a while before he bowed his head and his shoulders shook with silent tears. He fell asleep curled up on her grave as the sun rose.
After I got him back to the Batcave and got him hooked up to an IV I sat in a chair and just studied his face. Every freckle, every wrinkle caused by his slight frown, even in sleep. I’m not gonna forget it this time.
When I woke up Jason was looking at me.
“You are going to have such a crick in your neck.”
I straighten and, yeah, ow. That sucks. I really wish yesterday was a dream.
“Is it too much to ask for yesterday not to have happened?”
“Yeah, sorry Dickiebird. I don’t think that’ll fly.”
“How have we not prepared a cure for amatoxin yet?” I muttered, more to myself than to anyone else. But Jason and his freakishly good hearing evidently picked up on it and he straightened suddenly.
“Wait. Amatoxin?”
“Yeah, you got hit with it mixed with a mild sedative last night… Do you not remember?” I wracked my brain to see if amnesia was a symptom of amatoxin.
Jason suddenly threw back his head and laughed.
“Here I was concerned I was actually gonna bite it!” That… Is not what I was expecting to come out of his mouth. My confusion must have been evident on my face as he continued.
“I’m immune.”
“What.”
“Yeah, amatoxin is in a bunch of different torture cocktails, in France especially, and that’s where my trainer for poisons was. He liked to dose me with minor bits of whatever he was working with so that I could build up immunity. He had this weird thing about how if a poisoner is killed by poison then he was never worthy of the art to begin with.” I stared dumbfounded as Jason jumped up and whooped,
“I’m not gonna die!” Before running up the stairs to the manor.
“What just happened?” I muttered to myself before letting the horror of what he just told me combine with the relief of my little brother not being taken from us again. The relief lasted for all of thirty seconds. Which is when I saw his helmet.
“Jason, get back here! Explosives do not belong anywhere near your head!”