Chapter Text
Somehow, he is Iphigenia and Clytemnestra both.
Bruce is Agamemnon. Is his father. ( Is was his partner, maybe.)
To whom was he sacrificed?
To Gotham. To the Joker.
Gotham demands that parents sacrifice their children on her altar- that Batman sacrifice his children on her altar.
Let him see what he is doing. Let him look . See, you are letting children die, you are letting them be murdered. See, you are letting your own child die.
Are you willing to let families be destroyed? To let parents and siblings grieve their loved ones? To let innocent children be beaten to death?
Do it to your own, first. No, not first. Do it to your own as well . You are not the first to lose a child to this. Will you be the last, or will you let it continue?
Let your family be destroyed. Let you, a parent, grieve your innocent child. Let your son grieve his brother. Let your loved ones be beaten to death.
Do you understand yet?
Oh, but Jason is sacrificed to the Joker too. The Clown Prince of Crime.
The Joker looked at Batman and asked: will this be enough to stop you? will you stop this war? will it break you?
if you let me do this, I will continue to ruin people's lives. I will do it joyously. if you let me do this, you will ruin lives. you will hurt people because your own pride has been wounded, because you have failed to protect the ones you care for. and you will hurt people through inaction, because you are letting me hurt people, and you don't have the guts to stop me.
Unless-. Unless Batman stopped the cycle. If he did not allow the Joker to sacrifice children upon the altar. If he did not allow his child to be sacrificed upon the altar.
(And maybe Agamemnon hadn't had a choice in Aulis. He had to sacrifice his daughter in order to get to Troy. To avenge his brother's violated honour, and to give all his men the chance of glory. To accede to the demands placed on him.
And maybe Batman hadn't had a choice in Ethiopia. He had to leave Robin behind in order to go defuse a bomb. To save lives.)
But he did not stop the Joker.
(It was Batman's name that killed Robin, even if he did not wield the knife. He was to blame. He was tainted: Robin died because of him and his partnership to Batman, the victim of terrible, unendurable suffering, of an outrage so unjust it defies imagination.)
Not before.
And not after .
Except- Sheila is Agamemnon too. She lied to him. Agamemnon said: come to sheltered Aulis. you shall marry Achilles. we shall sing your wedding song and when she arrived he bound her hands, led her to the altar, and slit her throat. And Sheila said: come with me. the Joker's long gone. there's nothing to worry about. just step over here and you'll understand everything and when he did as she asked, she pointed a gun at him and watched him die. And so she sacrificed Jason on the Joker's altar.
And in this, Jason is not Iphigenia. She walked willingly to her slaughter. Jason did not walk willingly to his. But he held his head up high, like she did. He had a brave heart in silence. He didn't scream. (he couldn't, by the end. he had a collapsed lung.) He did not give his mother his tears. (he was afraid, so damn afraid, but he didn't let it show.) But he did not offer his sacrifice. The Joker dragged him to his death. He didn't go willingly. He is not Iphigenia. Not for Batman, not for Gotham. Not for anyone.
No, Jason is more… Clytemnestra.
Jason rolled out the crimson carpet, spread before Batman's feet, red with the colour of blood -he had store of crimson, enough for an outpouring- welcoming Batman to his home, his altar-hearth, to Crime Alley, the place the Bat was born-.
He told him: this is what you have done. You sacrificed me to the Joker. You sacrificed child after child to him. You sacrificed your own child to him.
Bruce should have been Achilles at Aulis, defiled his sword with murder and stained it with blood, become an all-powerful god, before letting Jason die. Before letting anyone hurt Jason.
Except-. No. Even that is too prideful. Jason doesn't want that. Killing anyone who would hurt Jason? No.
But killing the Joker alone? The man who led his child to the slaughter? Yes. That is something Jason has the right to demand.
The Joker killed Jason. And Iphigenia would not take revenge for that, but Clytemnestra would . So he draws them in, Batman and the Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime, the Prince of Gotham, twinned, both of them Agamemnon.
And he looks at Bruce, and he is Iphigenia, asking his father to act justly, to not sacrifice him to Gotham. And when Bruce refuses, he is Clytemnestra, and he demands justice. He would pour this blood in payment, here on Justice' altar.
And if Agamemnon will not give it to him, he will take it. He raises the axe, ready to slaughter Agamemnon, defenseless and bound.
But then-. Because he did not act in a way that was entirely beyond reproach, because he had killed to soak the welcoming carpet red, Bruce strikes him down.
Iphigenia had acted without fault, except perhaps naivety, in trusting her father. But Clytemnestra had not been without fault. She had taken Aegisthus as her man, and flaunted her indulgences openly. Jason as Robin had been naive in trusting his parents, but as Red Hood had openly indulged in murder.
So-. Batman strikes to kill.
And Jason is Iphigenia once more, sacrificed upon the altar of Batman's war against crime, against the Joker. It is a fine thing to pay for a bad man with the life of a child. (he's not old enough to drink, when he dies for the second time. not even close)
Do you understand yet?
Your child lies upon the altar, throat cut open, dead. With your sword you have stained the wretched child's white neck with blood.
Do you see? Your child has gone to Hades. You have surrendered him there.