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Selina rested her hand on her cheek, the claws on her glove gently caressing her face as she looked blankly at a wall. Silence. This was becoming her normal, after Riddler kidnapped her a few hours earlier. What a shitty Halloween, she thought. “To think I was planning on robbing Bruce too. Least he can do to make up for Damien,” she hissed under her breath.
She was laying on her side, but found it to become uncomfortable quite quickly. Selina slowly moved to lay on her back, looking at the ceiling. It was still the original ceiling from the Orphanage, which was surprising. Eddie had coated just about every wall in that building with green spray-paint. Green spray-paint that screamed of a manic episode, random question marks and crazed frantic doodles. Seemed like he was trying to get out whatever was in his head, and it was an urgent message.
CRASH
“What the hell?” Selina jumped upon hearing the loud crash. “Eddie? Was that you?” she called out. She rose from the floor, her heels giving her extra height as she’d peek over the ledge. “Batman?” she called once more.
No answer. Silence, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. She was scared, who was there?
Who knew she was there? Who cared that she was there? Harley was to caught up in her “Joker’s dead woe is me” dilemma, and Poison Ivy would rather stick a shot gun in her mouth then help Selina, Damien was back at the mansion with Alfred (and a child), Dick was busy, Jason was dead, Tim God knows what—
“Selina?” A robotic voice called out.
“Who the —“ Selina whipped her head up. She squinted her eyes, hard, and saw the Arkham Knight looming over her.
He stood as tall as he did in the initial meeting, his chest puffed out and his shoulders tensed. Crossing his arms over himself, breathing hard, feet carefully spread apart… and then he wasn’t. Arkham Knight suddenly jumped down from the ledge, and now was inside the ring with her. Was the Arkham Knight going to kill her?
But he didn’t move. He just stood in front of Selina, big and tall, imposing on her. Looking, his expression covered by the headpiece. Selina looked up at him, holding her breath, waiting for him to make the first move.
Slowly, he raised his fingers to his cowl and pressed a button on the side of it that slowly released compressed air and revealed the man behind the mask. Arkham Knight, was Jason Todd.
The world stopped turning, the air went dead, and Selina’s jaw hung open. This boy she had met just a few years prior, happy as can be, eager to be Batman’s sidekick, was now standing in front of her, bruised and battered. The once bubbly, endearing look in his eyes was just filled of exhaustion and sadness. His eyes were watery, and he grit his teeth as a tear fell down his right cheek, the one with the branding.
Selina slowly lifted her hand to caress his face, specifically the branded cheek. Wiping away the tear, the story slowly started to put itself together and make sense. “Jason…” she whispered. “What happened to you?”
Jason frowned, the tears coming more rapidly now, burning his cheek. “I’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t mean to disappoint you.”
“No, no no no,” Selina quickly pulled Jason into an embrace. “You didn’t disappoint me. I’m not upset,” she lifted her hand and quickly ran fingers through his greasy hair. The best she could anyways. “I missed you. Alfred misses you—“ she bit her tongue.
“I miss him too, Ma,” Jason choked back his sobs. Holding the one who he felt safest to call his Mother, the first time he’s seen her since he was a teenager. “I missed you. I hope you’re not mad at me.”
“Jason, why would I be mad?” Selina pushed him out of her hug, holding his shoulders and looking in his eyes.
“What I’m doing here…” he extends his arm and motioned around him. “I did all of this.”
“Correction, Crane helped,” Selina interrupted.
“That’s irrelevant, and you know that. You know what I’m doing is wrong. I’m making innocent people suffer, making you suffer. I didn’t want you wrapped up in all of this, not you, not Babs, no one. This was supposed to be between me, and Bruce. Not you. No. Not my family.”
Selina looked a bit confused at the mention of Barbara, but kept her compassionate expression. Soft eyes, as she grazed Jason’s cheek delicately. “You’re a good boy, Jason. Despite what you’re doing. I know you’re still you. Somewhere in there,” she points to his chest and smiles. “You’re still Jason Todd.”
Jason almost pushed Selina’s hand off his chest, but choose to snicker and roll his eyes. “Joker killed him. I’m not that little boy anymore.”
Selina kept her silence, choosing instead to rest her hand on his chest. It would be another moment before she spoke again, “but to me you are. You’re not the Arkham Knight, you’re my sweet little Jason Todd.”
He looked at her, broken, desperate. “I don’t know why I’m doing this, Mom.”
“You’re angry,” Selina responded immediately. “I can’t blame you. Anyone would be angry.”
Jason ground his teeth, squeezing his hands so hard they begun to dig into his skin. His hands would start bleeding if it weren’t for his gloves. “Why… why didn’t Bruce look for me?”
Selina seemed to be hurt by the words Jason spoke, her brows furrowing and swallowing her saliva. “He didn’t just not look for me, Mom,” Jason continued. “He replaced me. Why!?”
“Baby… he did look for you.”
Those words seemed to break Jason, he began to sob once more and fell into Selina’s arms. “I was RIGHT THERE! I was there! He could’ve — no, NO! He SHOULD’VE looked harder. Just a bit longer, a bit fucking closer! Maybe be more observant!” Jason gripped Selina’s suit, careful as to not tear it. “The only fucking person to show me an ounce of compassion was Jonathan fucking Crane!”
The pieces of the puzzle came together more, her questions being answered by Jason’s sobs. She shushed him, slowly removing his cowl from his head and stroking his hair. She let him cry in her arms.
A few minutes would go by, sobs turned to cries, cries turned to sniffling. He lifted his face from her chest, his hair a mess and his eyes red and puffy. Jason wiped his face, looking longing at Selina. “Selina, can I ask you a question?” he asked.
“Of course. You can ask me anything you want, anything,” she gave a pained smile.
“Does Bruce still love me?” Jason asked.
“Yes. He always has. He celebrated your birthday with Alfred, you know. Bought you a cake, lit the candles, and we would sing happy birthday for you.”
Jason and Selina stood in another round of silence, pained, long, silence. “Am I making a mistake?”
“That’s not for me to decide,” Selina shook her head.
“I don’t know if I can do this, Mom, I-…I wanna come home.” Jason confessed.
“We all want you home, Jason,” Selina held his hand. “That’s all we’ve ever wanted.”
“I can’t go back. I’m in too deep,” Jason croaked. “I can’t.”
“I wish I could save you, but I can’t…” Selina looked down. “You finish what you need to finish, okay?”
Jason looked towards the floor for a moment, before looking back at Selina. “Promise you won’t be mad at the outcome?”
“I promise. I won’t be mad. After all of this is over, you can come back home.”