Work Text:
The Replacement was babbling about something or another, he had tuned him out the moment he’d opened his mouth. Anything the third Robin would say could only enrage him more.
Replacement looked up at him before his eyes darted away again, back over to his desk, where his emergency com still was beside his desk.
He was aware of how cruel it was for him to take joy from the fact that Replacement’s reinforcement was only a few feet away, inaccessible by his design.
Robin’s breath was speeding up, though he didn’t move, the knife holding his neck in place, pushing his chin up to avoid it digging further into his skin.
He couldn’t even meet Jason’s gaze, eyes darting to his com over and over, as if any plan he could make would succeed against Jason. It almost made him laugh. Jason had spent days planning this, had found every weak point and moved details around until he was left with something even the third Robin couldn’t escape.
Jason wasn’t ignorant to his replacement’s training, or rather, he wasn’t ignorant as to who he’d been trained by. Lady Shiva didn’t tend to mentor just anyone, after all. Between Shiva, Nightwing, and Batman’s training, the Replacement might have stood a chance.
If Jason hadn’t been trained by Talia herself, come back with the pit in his veins, strengthening him and his resolve.
Hell, the Replacement almost made Jason reconsider his mission a few times, though the crux of his problem was still there, hidden behind a domino and wearing the colors he had died in.
There would be no more dead Robins, and if that meant clipping the kids wings, well, he supposed it was a necessary evil.
He knew Robin would not quit of his own violation, knew Robin was as steadfast in his mission as Jason had been.
Knew that Batman evidently didn’t see a flaw in that.
So he pressed the knife a bit deeper, barely enough to cut through the very top layer of skin.
“You’re done, Replacement.” He spoke, the kid’s eyes flickering to him briefly before focusing back on his desk, as though staring would turn his com on and save him.
“Let me go.” Robin spat, wriggling his lower body, careful to keep from moving against the knife further. “You don’t understand--”
Jason snapped, just a bit. “I understand perfectly.” He laughed, moving to block the kid’s view of his desk. That finally seemed to cement to him that help wasn’t coming, and he began to shake, though the gleam of determination still glazed over his eyes. “I understand exactly what you’re going through,” Jason’s voice had darkened further than he’d intended. “I was exactly where you are now.” He pulled the boy up, his upper body leaving the ground as he was pulled deeper into the knife, a single trickle of blood flowing down to the hilt of the knife before dripping off onto his Replacement’s sweater. “And you remember what happened to me, don’t you?”
“I’m not you, Jason.”
He scoffed. “You’re just like me, Replacement.” And he was, at least. Like Jason had been before he’d realized how pointless Batman’s crusade was. The Jason who believed Robin was magic.
He opened his mouth, his next words on the tip of his tongue--
The kid’s eyes widened, flinging himself sideways enough to look behind them, pushing the knife deeper. It still wasn’t deep enough to truly scar, but if the kid moved anymore, Jason would have to switch from telling the kid off to keeping him from bleeding out. But he was Robin, and he had better self-preservation skills than that,
“No!” The kid wailed, as though finally understanding the position he was in. “It’s--” He gasped and flung himself out of Jason’s hold, the knife slicing neatly through his skin as he lunged for his com.
Not his com.
His computer.
Where Mine Craft was up and running, a creeper about to blow up a hard core world.
“No, no, no, no.” He gasped out, blood flowing barely slow enough for Jaosn to believe an artery might not have been nicked.
He got to the computer mouse a moment too late, the death screen flashing.
His Replacement collapsed to his knees.
Jason, more confused than anything, stepped over slowly, putting his knife back into its holster on his hip.
Robin turned back to him slowly, rage written on every feature.
“Do you know how long I’ve spent on that?”
Jason didn’t expect the fucking lunitic to lunge at him without a weapon, his nails pulling his skin free from his face where he fucking clawed at him. What were they feeding this kid? Holy shit.
He almost reached for his gun, but he could feel the way Robin was already fighting to stay in control of his limbs, several wounds dripping, not to mention the jagged slash across his neck.
“Holy fuck, kid, calm down, it’s just a--”
That was apparently the wrong thing to say.
“If you say it’s just a game I’m gonna kill you a second time and this time I promise you, you will stay dead.”
Huh.
What?
He batted away the kids claws as they aimed for his eyes like he was a feral cat. Or ferret. Yeah, way more like a ferret, too stuck in his own head to respond verbally.
“I’m gonna have to recreate the entire set up so my subscribers don’t notice this--” He complained, more in a slap fight with Jason than a real fight at that point. “And it’s gonna take days, you absolute piece of shit--”
His voice was barely there, and Jason struggled to understand what he was actually saying, that didn’t stop him from wondering how the fuck this kid hadn’t passed out yet from the bloodloss.
“You’re right, kid.” He found himself saying, unable to think of anything else. “Why don’t we get that neck stitched up and you can tell me all about it.”
Tim leveled a glare at him before promptly collapsing in his arms.
Jason hadn’t planned to stitch the kid up, but when he’d said ‘no more dead Robins,’ he’d meant it.