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The roar of Jason's bike echoed through the Cave and a few moments later he was stalking over to the Batcomputer where his family was huddled. "Okay, I'm here," he announced, arms crossed. "What is this about Black Mask and why do you need me."
"Hello, family, nice to see you," Dick said in a gruff voice mocking Jason's tone. "Hello, Jason, nice to see you, too. We haven't seen you in a while, we were starting to get a little worried." He switched back to the growly voice. "I'm sorry, brother, I'll make sure to start keeping in better contact so you know I haven't been eaten by Killer Croc."
Damian snickered and Tim gave Jason a once over. "You're keeping your helmet on in the Cave?"
They could all sense Jason's heated glare beneath the helmet. He didn't budge from his position, arms crossed, stance wide. He stayed silent.
"Oookay," Dick said. "Somebody's cranky."
"When is Todd not in an insufferable mood?"
"Boys," Bruce interrupted. "Focus."
"Sorry," Tim said. He looked over at Jason. "B was just briefing us. There have been rumors that the Lucky Hand Triad are making a comeback. Sionis is not happy. His men have been shaking down Chinatown, and if the Lucky Hand weren't already coming back, they sure will be now that he's pissed off the entire community."
"Great," Jason grumbled. "The Lucky Hand pushes heroin like nobody's business."
"That's why we called you," Dick said. "We assumed you'd want to be a part of this."
Jason hesitated for a few beats. "Thanks," he said.
"Masters."
All five of them jumped and spun around, even Bruce. They'd always sworn that Alfred must have been the one to teach Bruce his teleporting tricks.
"It has been far too long since the five of you have been home at once. I have just prepared dinner, and I think that this briefing can be safely put on hold for an hour or so."
"That sounds like a great idea, Alf," Dick agreed. "I'm starving. And we have a rare Jason in our midst, you're right."
"Sorry, Alfie, I have somewhere to be, I only stopped by because B said it was important."
"You need not stay for long if you do not wish to, Master Jason, but I insist that you come upstairs and have a quick meal with your family. I will prepare a light plate for you so that you may finish quickly."
"Alfie—"
"Go clean up and change, the lot of you. I will see you all upstairs in fifteen minutes."
Dick clapped Jason on the shoulder as he walked past him toward the showers. "You should know better than to try and argue with Alfred, Jay."
Jason shrugged him off and stomped off ahead of him.
"Definitely cranky."
——
When they all reconvened in the dining room, everyone quickly noticed why Jason had kept his helmet on in the Cave.
"Todd, you look like you never rose from the dead."
"Damian!"
"He's rude, but he's not wrong Dick," Tim said. "Are you feeling okay, Jason?"
"Fine," he said gruffly.
They all sat in an awkward silence for a few moments, no one daring to challenge a cranky Jason, until Bruce cleared his throat.
"Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to have Alfred look you over, Jay-lad? You do look a bit ill. Have you been sleeping?"
"You know what? I'm leaving. Tell Alf I'm sorry."
Bruce was opening his mouth to protest as Jason pushed his chair back and stood, but he didn't get the chance to speak. Jason stepped away from his chair and suddenly staggered. Damian was the nearest to him and lunged to keep him from collapsing.
"Todd! What's wrong?"
"Jason!"
"S'nothing." Jason shook Damian's grip from his elbow. "M'fine, leave me alone."
"You're going to the medbay and getting looked over," Bruce ordered. "I am not asking."
"Bruce, I'm fi...I'm—"
Jason's eyes rolled back and he went boneless. Damian was still too small to catch him fully, but he did manage to keep him from hitting his head on the floor.
——
"You have a stab wound from a sword?"
"Ouch," Tim said. "Been there."
"And you took care of it yourself?"
"How'd this happen, Jay? Your run-of-the-mill thug isn't necessarily running around Gotham with swords."
"Well. I mean it has been known to happen."
"Not the point, Tim."
Jason sat on a cot in the medbay, surrounded by interrogators. Alfred had finished patching him up and had gone back upstairs to let the others have their go at him after giving Jason his own sharp rebukes. "Look, I don't want to talk about it, okay? I took care of it. It's done and over with, and there isn't anything to follow up on."
"When you say you took care of it—"
"Are you seriously fucking asking me that?"
"No, Jay. We trust you." Dick shot Damian a glare. "Damian knows you didn't kill whoever it was. But can you fault us for being worried about you?"
Jason looked away. "No one needs to worry," he murmured.
"Can you just tell us what happened, Jay-lad?"
Jason scrubbed his face and sighed. "It's the League. Talia's been bugging me about coming back. I declined. Apparently it wasn't a request."
"What on earth could mother possibly want you back for?"
Jason glared at Damian and bared his teeth. "Mind your own business, brat."
"Damian," Bruce warned. "Stop antagonizing your brother." He turned his attention back to Jason. "Jason, do you know if there's some specific purpose Talia has in mind for you?"
"It doesn't matter." He slid off the cot and tried to stand, but his knees buckled and Bruce caught him.
"Jason, you're in no condition to leave," he said, lowering him back down on the cot. "You're staying here for the night at the very least.”
"I'm not a child, Bruce," Jason spat.
"Then stop acting like one."
Jason growled, but he'd already proven he wasn't much of a threat right now, and Bruce was right. He couldn't leave under his own power.
"I'll stay, but I'm not having this discussion right now."
Bruce studied him for a long moment, his forehead pinched. "Okay," he conceded. "We can table this until you're feeling better, but we're talking about this later. If Talia's threatening you, we need to know all the details. I'm sorry Jason, but if she's a threat to you, she's a threat to all of us, you can't keep us out of the loop now."
Jason's shoulders sagged. "I'm not staying in the Manor, then. I'll sleep down here."
Bruce sighed, but he knew he needed to pick his battles with Jason. "That's okay. I'll have Alfred bring you dinner and we can get you set up more comfortably."
——
Jason was still sitting on the cot, legs dangling over the edge and shoulder resting against the wall at the head. His eyes were unfocused as he stared off in the middle distance. He looked up when Dick approached.
"Alfred's bringing you food. Anything in particular you want?"
Jason stared at him for a minute before looking away.
"Not hungry."
"Those words don't work on Alfred."
Jason didn't respond. He kept his eyes locked on nothing.
Dick frowned and dropped down on the cot next to him. "Okay. Now that we're not surrounded by a bunch of bloodhounds, can you tell me what's going on with you?"
Jason blinked and shifted his eyes to Dick. He let his head rest against the wall.
"Talia."
Dick tilted his head and stayed patiently silent, giving Jason time to continue without being pushed.
Jason's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. "She's always had an interest in me."
Dick's brow furrowed. "That's not exactly a revelation, considering she kidnapped and spent years training you."
"No, I mean...nevermind."
Dick's eyebrows shot up. "Oh." He narrowed his eyes, his next words careful. "By always, you mean… Jay, she mostly knew you when you were a teenager."
Jason shifted his gaze away and didn't respond.
"Did...how exactly do you know she was... interested?"
Jason was still quiet.
Dick's face fell. "Shit."
"It was consensual."
"You were seventeen. And absolutely not in your right mind."
"Whatever. Anyway, she wants me ‘by her side.’ In more ways than one. She wants me to come back and be her second or some shit. To help her lead some kind of assassin army she's raising to usurp Ra's or something, I didn't listen all that hard. She wants other stuff too, as usual. I never figured out if she's genuine or she just thinks she can wrap me around her finger."
Dick sighed. "Knowing Talia, it's probably both."
"Anyway, when I told her to fuck off, she sent some of her minions after me. Thinks she can take me by force. Hence the stabbing. Still won that fight, though."
Dick ran a hand over his face. "I thought you said it was 'over and done with.' You may have fought off one kidnapping attempt, but she's still out there and I doubt she's going away anytime soon. She's just as bad as Damian when she's determined."
"It's fine, Dick, it's Talia. I can handle her."
"Jay…" Dick made an exasperated sound and ran his hand through his hair. "You got stabbed. You almost collapsed over dinner and you can't even stand up right now. Talia could literally have you carted away and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it."
"Well I've been grounded until I'm better, so I'll be fine once I'm back out there. Seriously, I regret even saying anything—"
"If you didn't want help you would have lied to me. You won't admit it to yourself, but you need us and you want our help."
Jason bristled. "I don't need anyone—"
"It's called backup. We all ask for it, even Bruce, it's suicidal not to. You don't have to act so tough all the time."
"I'm not acting tough, Dick! I've always had to take care of myself. There has never been anyone in my life that I could safely rely on."
"That's not—"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence. You know it's true. Who, Dick? Who in my life do you know who hasn't constantly let me down. My parents? Bruce? You? Talia?"
Dick didn't respond.
"Yeah. That's what I thought. Get out and let me sleep. I'm leaving in the morning."
"No, if you go out there like this she'll get what she wants. Just...at least stay here until you're in fighting shape. I'm sorry... I'm sorry I pushed."
As soon as Dick was gone, there was a quiet knock, knuckles rapping against the door jamb.
“Hey.”
Jason looked up and glared at Tim. “You were listening.”
Tim winced. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to. I was coming in when I heard you talking to Dick. I should have turned around and left. It was none of my business.”
“What do you want? Come to badger me like everyone else?”
“I...yeah, I guess that’s why I came down here. I guess Dick and I had the same idea. Wanted to catch you on your own instead of joining in on another group interrogation. We’re just trying to help. We care about you, and we don’t want to see you hurt, but we shouldn’t hover so much. I won't hound you like Dick, I can leave if you want, but I think I have some advice that you might want to hear.”
Jason glared at Tim for a few more beats before he grunted and twitched his head toward a chair nearby. Tim walked over and lowered himself into it, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. Jason just watched, waiting for him to speak instead of giving him verbal permission.
“I’ve been in this kind of situation before.”
Jason shot him a skeptical look. “You.”
Tim nodded. “Like father, like daughter,” he said bitterly.
Jason’s eyebrows twitched and his eyes widened a fraction. “Ra’s?”
“Ra’s. He’s...pretty much obsessed with me...in all the ways Talia’s obsessed with you. Look, I can tell you from experience that if Talia’s anything like Ra’s, she’s going to make it very hard to say no. She’ll threaten everyone you love and she’ll try to destroy you once she realizes that she can’t have you. My feud with Ra’s ended with him kicking me through a plate glass window from the top of a skyscraper. If Dick hadn’t caught me, I wouldn’t be here right now. And the only reason I let myself get close enough to Ra’s to get into an actual hand-to-hand fight was because I needed to distract him long enough for my family and friends to do what they needed to do to stop his plan from succeeding, I didn’t expect to be able to win an actual fight with him. I had a lot of help, Jason.
“I’m not going to try and tell you what to do, I’m just telling you how I was able to deal with it. You can do whatever you want with that information.”
“I don’t have any friends left. They’re all dead or gone.”
“But you have us. I’m sorry that we haven’t been reliable for you, I know what that feels like. I didn’t have anyone like that until I became part of this family. I think it would be good if you gave us another chance, but I understand why you don’t want to. Just know that if you need us, we’ll be here, even if that’s not something you can trust to be true.”
Finished with his speech, Tim got up to leave, but Jason stopped him.
“Tim. I know we haven’t always gotten along, and that’s my fault, but you don’t have to apologize for the rest of them. You’ve never done anything to betray my trust, got it? I just don’t know how to…” He made a frustrated sound. “Everyone always lets me down.”
“I know. But I’ll be here if you need me, I hope you can believe that. The others will, too, but I won’t try to convince you of that if you’re not ready to hear it.”
Tim turned his back and left. Jason shifted and lay back on the cot, staring at the ceiling. It was only due to exhaustion that he was able to fall asleep.
——
The next afternoon, Jason was recovered enough that he could walk around without collapsing again, and he found himself knocking on Damian’s bedroom door. The boy cracked his door open and glared at Jason through the narrow gap.
“Todd.”
“Demon.”
“What do you want?”
Jason shifted self-consciously. “I wanted to ask...I need some help. With your mom. Got a sec?”
Damian stared at Jason for a long moment before taking a step back and opening his door fully.
“Come in.”