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“Do you ever get tired of twisting that story around?” Jason says, interrupting the man’s shallow and asinine tirade. In the wake of the most recent Arkham breakout and the deaths that followed Zsasz and Joker’s escape and their captures, Jason is in no mood to hear it. Hear how ‘they (the family, of course) are better, they have a code, they don’t kill’ and ‘that is why I could never do what you asked, Jason’ and on and on and on. He turns from the screen to face Batman. Or Bruce. Or Brucie. Or whoever the fuck he is with the suit on and the cowl off, tonight.
“What?” the man asks. Like he hasn’t been changing details and erasing context and aggravating factors of Jason’s whole life story since even before he went into the ground. Like he hasn’t got the whole family all convinced about what he is; too lazy to do the actual detective work they are supposedly trained to do, to realize what complete bullshit Bruce spouts out about him on a general basis.
“I never asked you to kill him. Even at my worst, mad out of my mind and drowning in green, I knew you would never do it. Not for me. I never asked you to kill him, I just asked you to not stop me! ” he ends up shouting at the end of the sentence, which is not at all what he wants. Jason knows that being ‘emotional’ around the Bats is a mistake. Anger is only allowed for Bruce; any and all other emotions openly displayed just make Batman and the others dismiss you.
The Cave goes silent. The ones that have seen the footage of that night (locked behind layers upon layers of coding and restrictions) are now remembering the exact exchange of words and realizing Jason is right. Wondering if it even matters that he is. The ones that haven’t are trying to parse out the meaning behind the difference Jason is remarking upon.
“But stop me, you did. You refused to use the gun I gave you but were willing to kill me to save him anyway. You slit my throat. You left a building collapse on top of me . You the saved the fucking Joker and left me there to die .” He’s crying now, teal eyes shining as drops go down his cheeks, damn it all. But his voice is even, and strong and loud and that's all that matters. “And it’s not even the damn batarang. Mistakes happen in the field. But you didn’t make a mistake, you made a choice . And that choice was to leave me, your son, to bleed out buried in rubble ... . just like the psychopath that killed me when I was a child.”
Bruce is standing still, not a single expression on his face. His fists are closed tight but that means nothing when he’s always wound up when someone questions him. His head is held high but his eyes aren’t looking at anyone, they are just staring off into space, glancing at that damned memorial once in a while.
“That night, you became an ungodly amalgamation of Haywood, Willis and Joker to me. A mix of fake family, violence and betrayal all twisted together to hurt me in the worst ways possible.”
When Jason sees Bruce isn’t even glancing at him, is just looking at the fucking case like waiting for a tantrum to end; he looses it. Says the words he knows that might, maybe , hurt the man inside the Mission. And Jason says them with all the vitriol he’s been keeping a lid on, for the sake of “the family” . He knows they won’t ever side with him, so why bother? He finally writes them off as they’ve done to him ages ago, unless they have needed him.
He walks up to his bike, passing the memorial and spitting on the ground beside Batman’s boots. He waits until the man locks eyes with him and then points at the wrecked suit with his helmet.
“That kid, the one you worship so much but despise and belittle when it serves you; he would hate you . Even before dying he would be disgusted by what you’ve become. Or by what you’ve always been and don’t bother to hide anymore.”
He mounts the bike and puts his helmet on.
“Don’t bother contacting me again, we’re done. Put one foot inside of the Alley and lose it.”
His bike roars out of the Cave, leaving a stifling silence behind. The actual bats are the only ones making any noise, and even they are subdued.