Chapter Text
Bruce knew that Jason had been tracking his biological mother recently— since he used the Batcomputer to search, and even if he had deleted all of the traces after investigating, the whole system was built by Bruce himself, after all. He didn’t ask, he didn’t want to push over the line or make Jason misinterpret that he didn’t approve it. Hence, Bruce pretended that he had no idea what Jason was busy with, waiting for Jason to tell him willingly. He didn’t expect that Jason would just drop a note and then disappear.
They weren’t in Gotham but in Ethiopia, for the sake of love! Of course, Bruce trusted Robin’s training and ability, but he would still, and always, be worried about his son’s safety as a father! He blamed his sons if his hair had all gone gray before he had even hit forty.
Well, you’d ask why were they in Ethiopia in the first place? They were on a case, there were rumors that some gangs were planning to traffic. It could be drugs, weapons, or something from the sky, well, since the aliens weren’t anything out of ordinary anymore on Earth now. Anyway, they followed their trail and ended up in Ethiopia. They just needed to intercept whatever the gangs were planning to traffic before it transported into Gotham, and found out who was behind it. Easy peasy.
Bruce and Jason had already gotten wind of when the merchandise would be transported, which was the day after tomorrow, but they were still working on the whereabouts and the headman of it. Jason, obviously, found other information, about his bio-mom, than the trafficking, and deemed that he could handle it all by himself.
Bruce drew in a deep long-suffering breath, he was not only irritated at Jason’s recklessness but also felt a bit hurt. Was he really that unreasonable that Jason wasn’t even willing to tell him about his mother or want his help? He shook his head with a sigh, that could wait until he found Jason and make sure that he was unharmed. Now, the most important thing was to locate where Jason was. For some unspeakable reason, Bruce had an ominous feeling ever since they had left Gotham to Ethiopia.
He checked the tracker in Jason’s belt first, and pinpointed it at an abandoned warehouse. Bruce swept up the whole warehouse warily, found nothing but some struggling sign on the ground and Robin’s belt in a corner. Bruce’s heart missed a beat at the discarded belt, that was never a good sign. He also found traces of a vehicle driven away outside the warehouse, but they had mingled with other tires once they drove onto the main road.
Although there was still a nano clip embedded in Jason’s arm, he didn’t have a qualified tool to locate it at hand. Bruce tapped the comm on his cowl twice anxiously, “Penny One, pinpoint Robin’s location.”
“Nightwing at your service! Penny One is unavailable right now.” Dick chirped cheerfully into Bruce’s ears. “So. What’s this about Robin’s location? Is everything alright?” He was quiet for a beat before he replied, “Nightwing. I thought you were off world.”
“Well, yes, but the mission ended earlier than expected. I just got back a few minutes ago. Now, what happened to Robin?” Dick replied with some clicking on the other side.
“He… he snuck out to investigate by himself. I followed the trace of his tracker in his belt to a warehouse, but I just found his belt here.” Bruce hesitated for a moment but remained silent about Jason sneaking out to find his bio-mom.
Dick chuckled, “It seems that sneaking out is a basic skill for every Robin.” But he sobered up soon after that. “I found him, I’m sending it to you. Do you need backup?”
Bruce didn’t reply immediately. He glanced at his gauntlet for the coordinates and moved to ignite the Batcycle. His gut felt a constant tug uncomfortably despite the fact that he had got Jason’s location. He opened his mouth, eventually, and demanded, “There’s something wrong but I don’t know what yet. Meet me there with the Batwing. Batman out.”
-
It was the Joker.
Bruce should know better. The Joker’s distinctly high-pitched laugh echoed in the air with a dull sound of someone being beaten and a painfully familiar voice. Jason. The father half of Bruce wanted so badly to rush into the warehouse and beat the shit out of that bastard, who dared to harm his son. Yet, the Batman half of him, on the contrary, snarled at him to stay the fuck calm.
Eventually, the rational side overshone the protective instinct. He couldn’t save Jason, after all, if he had run into the warehouse without any plan, he would make it worse for the already bad situation. Batman thanked whoever the deity was watching that he had called Nightwing for backup beforehand. He gave a quick check around the warehouse. Thankfully, he didn’t find any of the Joker’s goons. There were only three people in the warehouse— the Joker, Jason, and a woman. Bruce couldn’t be sure if she was kidnapped with Jason by the Joker, or she was the reason that led them to this predicament.
He hoped it was the former. If she really was Jason’s bio-mom, Bruce didn’t want to see Jason to be disappointed.
Bruce tapped his comm again, repressing the anxiety and anger in his voice, “Nightwing, how long will it take you to arrive?”
“ETA thirty minutes. Did you find Robin? Is he alright?” Dick asked.
“Yes, but he’s hurt. It’s the Joker. There’s one more hostage other than Robin.” Bruce grunted grimly. He couldn’t stand anymore just listening to the psychopath torturing his son and doing nothing. He had to interfere, now. He just had to distract the Joker and prolong long enough before Dick arrived. “I’m getting in now. I’ll try to distract the Joker, just get here ASAP. Batman out.” Bruce cut off the comm before Dick could say anything.
-
Bruce circled the warehouse a few times, trying to find an entrance to land between the Joker and Jason. It was futile, so he chose a window closest to them in the end.
He rushed through the window, glasses shattered around him and when he got up from his landing, everyone’s attention was on him. Good, at least him distracted the Joker from torturing Jason.
“OHHHH! Look who’s here!” The Joker shouted with glee and stopped from beating Jason. “Finally! Batsy! I’m so glad that you’ve made it! To be honest, I was a little worried if you would even come.”
“Joker.” Bruce growled.
“Alright, alright! Don’t be upset! I was just entertaining myself and your little bird waiting for you! Now, now, I’m all yours!” Joker threw the bloody crowbar away, and separated his arms widely like he was welcoming a dear old friend as he waltzed towards Bruce.
The Joker rummaged through his jacket for something as he said, “Hnmm, what should we play? Any suggestions, Batsy?” When he pulled out of his hand, there was a gun in it. He tipped it at his jaw a few times like he was really considering.
“Your aim is me. Let them go.” It was most useless, but it never hurt to try.
“Ah-uh! No, nope, not gonna happen!” The Joker shouted as he gestured the gun around dramatically. “You won’t stay without them! I’m not an idiot, Bat!” He said with an exaggerated pout.
But then, the Joker dropped his voice and, impromptu, he dragged Jason up with one of his hands fisted in his hair, and the other held on the gun to point at his head. “You’ve changed, and that’s all these stupid birds’ fault! You and I, we are no different! WE ARE BOTH MAD MEN WITH A CLOWN SUIT! We are born in the dark, and we should live in the shadows. You’re supposed to be my partner rather than run after some birds, and play some damn father-sons game!” He snarled with a manic look.
Bruce tensed at the Joker’s sudden anger, he didn’t dare to move an inch nor say anything. He didn’t want to risk what the Joker would do in his outrage, and he wasn’t sure if there were any more traps in the warehouse yet.
The Joker glared at him with irregular panting for a moment, then he dropped Jason as suddenly as he grabbed him, which made the boy hit the ground with the chair he was tied to. That abrupt motion evoked a surprised yelp from Jason.
“Hush, little Robin! Adults are talking.” The Joker tutted impatiently. The next moment, though, he seemed to get a good idea that his face split up with a huge bloody grin. “OHOHOH! I have a good idea!” He exclaimed.
First, the Joker grabbed the chair Jason was sitting on, and placed it on the ground properly, he then moved to cut the rope on his hands. After that, the Joker pulled out another gun from his jacket, and put it in Jason’s hand. When that was done, he bounced happily to the other side, where the mouth-taped woman was tied on a column, and pointed his gun at her head.
He then turned to Bruce and demanded, “Ah, you’ll have to remove your suit and belt first. No cheating!”
Bruce remained still.
The Joker rolled his eyes with annoyance and he threatened, “C’mon, now! Or I’ll blow her beautiful head up! You don’t want that, do you?” He waved the gun dangerously and poked it at the woman’s head warningly. She let out a terrified shriek, her whole body was trembling with fear.
Bruce could do nothing but remove his armor and belt resigned, as the Joker asked. His intention was to prolong as long as possible until Dick arrived. He threw them onto the ground.
The Joker nodded satisfyingly as he watched Bruce do just what he demanded. “Now, now! Lil Birdy! Let’s play a new game!” He exclaimed excitedly. “Would you rather shoot this lovely lady who said she was your mother,” he gestured to the poor woman with his other hand, and then gestured toward Batman. “Or our dear old Bat Daddy there?”
The cruel torture seemed to affect Jason’s brain seriously, his reaction was much slower than usual as he fumbled to ask, “What?”
The Joker didn’t snap this time, instead, he clarified patiently, “Choice, little bird! You have a gun and, it’s only loaded with one bullet inside, by the way, you have to choose whether to shoot your Daddy or not! Well, if not, I’ll have the privilege to shoot!”
“What are you playing, Joker?” Bruce growled, he seemed to know what the Joker wanted. And he needed to stop… whatever this was. He just needed a few more minutes.
“Oh, shush, Batsy!” The Joker turned back to him and, without any warning, fired a bullet at him. Bruce couldn’t dodge fully in time and the bullet grazed his calf, which caused him to falter and fall on one of his knees.
“Tick tock! Little bird! I don’t have a whole day just to wait for you! I’ll give you one more minute, or I’ll choose for you!” The Joker hurried.
Bruce knew that it was a cruel and difficult choice for Jason, anyone actually, to decide. One was his bio-mom, one was his adopted father. Whichever he chose, it would definitely cause Jason some mental problems. But they were Batman and Robin, after all. They couldn’t let any civilian get hurt. Thus, Bruce opened his mouth to call, “Robin.” He kept his voice smooth and steady as he ordered Jason, “Shoot me. I’ll be fine.”
“Are you fucking crazy?!” Jason widened his eyes at his words, and stared at him like he was suddenly growing two heads.
“Shoot me. Our goal is to save civilians rather than to put them in danger.” Bruce said evenly. It was best for all of them, it was the only option. If Jason didn’t shoot him, the Joker would probably just kill the woman. But if he was the one to be shot, he’d had the confidence to dodge the fatal point at least.
Bruce could almost see the gears turning in Jason’s head, he was conflicting. “Fuck! I can’t!” Jason shouted.
The Joker, that fucking nut, was beginning to count-down, there was no time to hesitate. Bruce had to force Jason to shoot at him, even if that meant asking his son to shoot at his dad. They could deal with whatever trauma it would cause after everything was settled.
Bruce stared at Jason with determination and commanded unyieldingly, “Just pull the trigger, Robin! I trust you, and you should trust me, too!”
“I don’t fucking trust myself!” Jason cried with tears starting streaming down his face.
The Joker was counting down to ten now. “That’s so sweet! Awww, Bat Daddy trusts his little bird! Uh-oh! Time’s ticking! Ten, nine…”
This time, Bruce commanded with a hard voice, which the Robins would subject without second thought, much more urgently. “Just pull the fucking trigger!”
Bang—
Bruce tumbled backwards as the bullet hit him with impact. White-hot pain bloomed in his chest and he could only blink rapidly to clear away the black spot in his vision. His brain was blank for a few seconds, and when he came back to himself, the first thing he saw was the Joker’s pale face. “Little Robin just shot his Bat Daddy! Little Robin just shot his Bat Daddy!” He singsonged with obvious glee.
The Joker tilted his head and examined the wound on Bruce’s chest, the bullet didn’t tear through his heart, but it was still a serious gun-shot. He looked down at Bruce with mocked sympathy. “Well, how do you feel about it, Bat? Your dear bird just chose to shoot at you rather than the lady! What a bold and hurtful betrayal!”
Bruce tried to get up, but the Joker beat him with a foot stomping on his wound. “Ah-uh! Watch your movement, Bat! The bullets are blind!” He waved the gun with emphasis.
Bruce strained himself from struggling, he gritted out through his teeth, “S-Satisfied? You’ve made me wounded. Is that what you want?”
“What?” The Joker gasped in mock-offense and surprise. “Of course not! I’m not that cruel!” However, he grinned widely at him and bent down to whisper word by word by his ears. “What I want is to prove that no one in the world, including your precious birds, is all good, kind, and selfless.”
“See what just happened! Your bird just chose the woman, who claimed to be his mother but never showed up in his life before now, over you. The man who gave him a home! And that, Bats, is the reality. The world is a damn hell, people are evil and selfish. No one is an exception, there’s no good guy or bad guy, everyone is just a hypocrite with a damn mask.”
“It’s about time for you to accept the truth, now isn’t it?” He patted Batman’s face a few times and then straightened up. He clasped his hands once and said, “Alright, then! The show is over now, and that’s my cue to leave!”
Bruce was about to say something when the Joker stomped his foot harder on his chest once again. That elicited a pained groan from him and silenced him.
The Joker lifted his hand unaffectedly, pretended to check the time with a non-existent watch on his wrist. “Oh my! It’s this late already! I have to go now, Bats! See you next time!” He exclaimed.
He sauntered cheerfully to the exit but turned around just as he was about to head out like he was reminded with something. “Ah, I forgot to mention that you have to survive from the explosion first, of course!” He left with a manic laugh.
-
The Joker was long gone when Jason finally snapped back to reality. He began to fumble with the rope still bound him on the chair while he shouted incoherently toward Bruce, “Bruce… Bruce! DAD! I’m s-sorry! I’m sorry! Dad! I-I…” Jason cried.
Bruce was still coughing and tried to breath through the pain before he finally was able to placate his son. “I-I’m fine, Robin. Calm… calm down.” He tried to brace himself up from the ground. The bullet had probably punctured his lung, since he could taste the sickly rustiness every time when he breathed. He hoped that his lungs wouldn’t collapse, at least, before they were safe. It’s nothing serious, he might need medical assistance as soon as possible, but it wouldn’t kill him instantly. The most important thing right now was the words the Joker left. He had said “explosion”, so that meant that he had planted a bomb somewhere around. He had to find out its location or get the three of them out of here in time.
Jason was already disentangled from the rope and was stumbling toward Bruce at the time. “Dad! I-I’m… I’m so sorry…” He mumbled incoherently as he threw himself on Bruce.
Bruce stifled a groan as the sudden weight hit on his wounded chest, he soothed Jason with a soft voice as he hugged him. “Shh… shh, it’s alright, Jay, son. I’ve got you… it’s fine.”
He kissed Jason’s head while he rubbed circles on his back. “Hey, hey, Jaylad, I’m fine, it’s okay. Shh, it’s alright. Jason, hey, Jay? I need you to take a deep breath, okay? Can you do that for me, Jaylad?”
Jason was still trembling but nodded nonetheless. Bruce instructed his son, and waited till he stabilized his breath. “Good, you’re doing great. Now, I need you to undo the lady’s bind and take her out of the warehouse, okay?”
“Wh-what about you?” Jason asked hesitantly.
“I’ll catch up with you later. I still have something to do.” Bruce smiled reassuringly at his son. He didn’t dare to underestimate the Joker, he doubted that the bomb was not just a general one but geared with the Joker toxin or some other poisonous gas. He had to check it by himself to be sure.
Jason took another deep breath and nodded at Bruce. He then stood up and walked towards his “mom”.
Bruce tapped his comm after Jason was out of earshot. “Nightwing. Report position.”
“Jesus fucking Christ! Bruce! You can’t just hang up after saying that you’re going into a trap! What the fuck?” Dick’s complaints bursted into his ears as soon as the comm was connected. Bruce knew that his eldest was just nervous and worried, so he didn’t scold him but repeat again.
“I’m almost there, just gimme another minute! Where’s the Joker? Is Jason alright? What the hell is going on?! What about making plans before you act, huh?! You’re the freaking Batman! Goddamnit!” Dick was practically yelling now.
“The Joker escaped, and there is a bomb in the warehouse. Robin’s injury is bad but he could still walk on his own. The hostage is fine despite being terrified. I’m going to find and disable the bomb. Your prime attention is to assure Robin’s and the hostage’s safety.” Bruce responded as he pressed a hand on his wound. He tried to get up from the ground carefully without aggravating the injury.
“What about you? You’re hurt, aren’t you? Or else the Joker wouldn’t have gotten away. Tell me what just happened, now!” Even if Bruce had tried to keep his injury from Dick, he was raised and trained by Bruce himself and knew damn well about him. Bruce heaved a sigh, wondering if he should be proud or annoyed.
“I’m fine. Just a scratch…” But he was cut off by some unsealed cough with blood, he really wished that his lungs didn’t just collapse.
“Bruce? Bruce, are you okay? Just how bad is your injury?! Just hang on for another minute, damn it! I’m almost there!” Dick shouted into Bruce’s ears.
“I-I’m fine…” Before Bruce could hang up, Dick interrupted him.
“Don’t you dare cut the comm off again! Keep it connecting, in case you pass out! You’d better be conscious when I arrive, you asshole! Or I swear to God, I’ll beat you up myself!” Dick threatened through gritted teeth.
Bruce sighed but kept the connection without further argument. He noticed that Jason had already released the woman and helped her out of the warehouse. He was relieved at the sight and thought that even if he didn’t disable the bomb in time, at least Jason wouldn’t be trapped in the warehouse.
-
When Bruce had finally found the bomb, the count-down on it only had three minutes left. The good news was that there wasn’t any other gas-released device. The bad news was that he didn’t have enough time to retreat, he also didn’t have enough consciousness to deal with the bomb. He was pretty sure that he had pneumothorax now, his breathing was shallow and he was becoming more and more suffocated as time passed. What’s worse, was that his vision was starting to blur around the edge. He heard someone calling his name distantly, he wondered if it was his illusion or not…
He realized that it was real when he felt someone was slapping his face. And when he tried to concentrate and opened his eyes, he didn’t even remember when he had closed it, he found that it was Jason hovering anxiously above him. Oh, and Dick was yelling and cursing in his ear. “Jay…? Y-Ya s’dn’t be ‘er… the, the bom’…” Bruce slurred. He didn’t have enough air to breathe, let alone speaking. Plus, he had probably lost an alarming number of blood, hence the light-head feeling.
He couldn’t make out what Jason was saying but felt that he was being grabbed up and moving. After several seconds, Bruce then realized that Jason was dragging him. His Robin was still trying to save him despite there not being enough time for both of them to escape away from the bomb safely. If it was only Jason, he could already run away from the warehouse. But as he carried with most of Bruce’s weight, they made only little progress.
Bruce tried his best to wriggle out of Jason’s grasp, but failed whether he’d lost too much blood or Jason was driving by high-adrenaline. Bruce could only choke out, “Jay… l-leave…”
“I’m trying! Shut up and save your strength!” Jason spat.
“No… ya… ugh, d’nt s’ me… j’st go…”
“I ain’t gonna leave you ‘ere! I’m Robin! I’m… I am Batman’s Robin! I…” Jason started sobbing again, “I-I won’t leave my Dad! Just shut ya mouth an’ move! I… I-I’ll get both of us out of ‘ere, ya hear me? Just… just stay with me, ‘kay? Please, Dad…” His voice was already trembling in the end.
Before Bruce could reply or argue again, he felt, more than saw, a blast from behind. At that moment, he felt his strength come back and, suddenly, he became conscious, like a dying person gaining his second wind just before he died. Without thinking, he enveloped Jason into his arms with his cape, trying his best to shield his son from the explosion.
And the next second, he was unconscious.
-
Bruce could hear faintly that someone was crying and cursing around him, but he couldn’t recognize them. There was some weird sound buzzing in his ears. He felt like he was under water, everything was in a blur. He couldn’t recall why or how or where he was.
But then, he felt that someone was pressing his chest, which seemed to be CPR. CPR? Was I experiencing an accident? Was I drowning? But he didn’t feel anything wet.
No… he could feel the wet now, but that didn’t feel like water… It was a bit sticky. Gradually, he realized that he was suffocating, so he tried to take a deep breath but was only choked by something. He started to cough and felt the hands pressing on his chest stopped.
And then, Bruce’s sensations recovered one by one, which made him realize that he was choked by his own blood instead of the water. That reminded him that he was shot in the chest and had pneumothorax, that was why he had difficulty breathing. And after that, there was an explosion. He tried to open his eyes, but could only crack a thin line.
The first thing he saw was Nightwing’s, Dick’s, face. He could see the knotted brows even through the mask. That’s my son. Bruce thought. Where’s my other son? Where’s Jason? He opened his mouth and struggled with the words, but he could only choke out some ragged sound. Thankfully, Dick had seen his panic in his eyes and read his lips. He quickly comforted him with a soft voice, “Jason is fine, he’s alright… See, Jay is here.” He moved a little and pulled someone into Bruce’s sight.
Bruce turned his head slightly to see Jason was staring back at him with tears covering all over his face. He relaxed at that. Jason’s fine, my son is still alive. His eyes began to flutter to shut again, he felt tired and he wanted to rest. “Hey! Bruce! Stay awake, Dad! We’re heading home now, you hear me? Stay with me, please! Bruce?! Dad!…”
His voice was fading away and the edge of his vision started to blur again. His eyelids were heavy. Someone was slapping his cheeks again, but, to be honest, he couldn’t feel much of it. He began to feel numb, even his wounds weren’t hurting anymore. Did Dick give me the good stuff? Hnm… maybe… He was really tired now, stopped waking him… His sons were all safe now, just let him rest…
This time, Bruce embraced the dark with satisfaction. I can finally take a rest now. He thought before the dark swallowed him up.