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“R-iko’s dismantling the secondary bombs right now, Red Robin and Spoiler are on standby to release hostages.”
Izzy’s voice was like a cool hand on the headache that was Joker’s monologue. Something something kid in danger, yadda yadda “when I press this button they’ll be dropped into the vat of fluoroantimonic acid”, bla bla.
Duke had realized this was a distraction when he only saw one living light source before entering the abandoned warehouse on the outside of Gotham, some old farmlands that looked to be evacuated. He had Izzy and Riko call for backup and track down the real bombs that the detonator in Joker’s hands would set off.
His job was just to keep him distracted until Batman arrived.
Easy peasy.
Just try not to listen to any shit the Joker’s spewing.
Lemon squeezy.
“Ya know,” Joker leaned against the rusty railing of the ledge they stood on, licking his teeth. “It’s a shame you were never one of Batsy’s little robins,”
He dragged the crowbar in his hand against the ground, the sharp, crusty sound of rusted metal on metal making Duke’s ears twitch
“Although! You were in that cute little group, maybe I’ll just dress you up and give the big bat another little rewritten memory, hmm?” He snickered, “He didn’t really like the last one though did he?!”
Joker's cackles got louder, cutting into the hissing of the acid and the cries from the child-like doll tied up above the vat.
Duke tensed, standing stock still, eyes unblinking as he glared at Joker, mind flashing to that moment in the alleyway before Batman arrived.
“I’d, hehA, I’d retry that one but-, haHAAA-, I guess a couple of the actors are on a bit, HAAAHEE-, of A HIATUS HA HAH HAAAAAHAHAH”
The Joker’s jaw cracked as he cackled maniacally, head tilted back and eyes wide and red. He barely registered the railing breaking off and falling into the sizzling acid, and didn’t notice the crowbar slip out of his hands. Doubled over and cackling on the edge of the platform.
“Hell no, absolutely not. Signal, I’m connecting your comms to Oracle. Batman is 30 minutes out, so you should just leave outta there okay?”
Duke barely heard Izzy’s panicked breathing, the deep ones she did when she was trying to stay calm.
“Duke? Can you hear me?”
“Are the hostages out?”
“What? Yes. Yea they’re all out and bombs are disabled, no other connected dangers in the area.”
Duke felt his body relax. That strange relaxation when you’ve been super anxious about something and then you calm down right before you do it. The realization that once you do it, it’ll be over.
Like when he moved into Wayne Manor.
Like when he confessed to Izzy.
Like when he had his first formal introduction to the Justice League.
Like when he performed with the W.A.R band in front of an audience.
Like when he visited his parents for the first time.
Like when he decided he was going to kill the Joker.
Today. February 3rd, 4:08pm.
“Signal? Are you responsive? Batman is 27 minutes out. All hostages are secure. Get out of there.” Oracle’s calm voice had an undertone of concern as she spoke through the comms.
“Signal. Retreat immediately. Oracle, vitals report?” Batman asked gruffly.
Duke processed nothing other than his own deep breathing and the hiss of the acid. Joker’s cackles muffled behind the ringing in his ears as he removed his helmet and comms, and dropped it on the platform, the metal rattling.
The Joker didn’t notice. Too busy laughing.
Laughing and laughing, and making everyone laugh with him.
Duke took a step towards him, ignoring the muffled shouts from his helmet.
“I hate you.”
The Joker’s laughs started to slow as he finally looked at Duke, who had stepped closer, now only a couple feet away. His eyes widened in confusion as he glanced down at the discarded helmet.
“I want you gone. No corpse to bury, no body to burn. No one will hear you scream, and no one will miss you.”
Joker’s laughs petered out into chuckles, brows furrowing in confusion
“Wha-“
“They won’t miss you. There will be no afterlife for you. You’ll just be gone, by a death of your own making, at my hands.”
Duke watched the Joker begin to glance around, searching for a way out. His hand tightened on the detonator as his lips twitched, and he opened his mouth to speak again.
Duke cut him off before he could.
“It’s already written in fate, Jack Napier. There is no possibility in this universe that you escape this.”
Joker began frantically clicking the detonator button. That wicked smile finally off his face
“Because I, hate you.”
Duke felt a small grin form on his own face
It felt like slow motion as Duke lunged towards him pushing them both off the edge. Duke got out a couple chuckles at the pure fear in Joker’s eyes, before they hit the acid.
Joker fought against him, but with Duke’s muscular frame and meta strength, it was for naught. If Joker was only in the acid for a bit, maybe he’d be able to rebuild himself when he got out, with whatever freak biology he had going on. So he needed to stay in that acid until he melted away, and Duke would make sure of it.
He watched the muffled screams of the Joker bubble up.
It reminded him of when he was 7, and tried to swim in the shallow end of the apartment pool. He was so scared when his head kept slipping under, only focused on breathing in air when he could. It was only about a minute but it felt like longer before his dad pulled him out and helped him puke up the water. Duke sat in a towel in his moms lap as she kissed his forehead and read him the book she was reading. A Sherlock Holmes one, he can’t remember which though. After 30 minutes he calmed down and went back in the water with his friends again.
“He’s always been such a resilient little boy, huh Doug?” he heard his mom chuckle quietly. “So stubborn. It scares me sometimes.”
He ignored it then, he didn’t really know what she meant. He did now.
He thought of Jason, how the Joker loved to mock him. How he would sing a quieter version of “Sir Duke” to Duke whenever he had to get stitches, or a blood transfer. He did a really bad mouth trumpet to make him laugh when he wanted Duke to stay awake.
He thought of Barbara, how she was so calm in situations where everyone would panic. The Joker was the reason she was in a wheelchair, but her voice was steady when she delivered him information. Every Sunday, Duke would bring brunch to the library on her lunch break and they’d eat and gossip.
Sleepovers with Stephanie, dance lessons with Cassandra, basking in the sun while watching Damian paint. Movie nights with Bruce, skateboarding with Tim, game nights with the Foxes, every moment with the Robins, date nights with Izzy.
He still hasn’t forgiven Dick Grayson, can’t get the image of his smirk out of his mind as he leapt off the building and left him to the cops. He wants to forgive, he has so many things he hasn’t forgiven in his life.
He doesn’t want to die.
It doesn’t hurt anymore, it only hurt for a couple minutes. Joker is gone, he can’t see him anymore. He can’t see anything anymore. Nothing but light, in so many colors. Beautiful colors, ones he’s never seen before.
His mom will wake up and her son will be dead. She’d be so upset. He hates it when she cries.
He doesn’t want to die.
Bruce will get to the warehouse, and his son will be dead. Again. With only his helmet left to bury. Bruce told him something once while he was dazed from painkillers, watching Duke laugh about a story from that day, as he tucked the man in so he could rest.
He said, “sometimes you remind me of Jason, when he was younger. So bright and magical..” before blinking off to sleep.
Duke cried when he went back to his room. Bruce would cry when he got to the warehouse. Jason was 15. Duke was 17. He didn’t wanna die.
He doesn’t want to die.
He can’t die, not today.
And then it burned, but he felt it. He hadn’t felt anything and then he could feel it all at once. His body reforming, the acid merging with his blood, his bones, his muscle, his skin.
His body building itself back bit by bit. He breathed in the acid when he could, it didn’t burn. Even if it did he doesn’t think he’d notice beyond the pain of his skin mending itself together. He heard the Batmobile’s engine rumbling outside, heavy boots on the ground sprinting towards the door.
He heard a motorcycle screeching against the dirt like 10 miles away. He heard the voices from his helmet all talking over each other. Everything was so loud and quiet at the same time. Gave him a headache. Or maybe that was his body being rebuilt.
“DUKE!! DUKE ARE YOU HERE?” Bruce’s voice was rough with worry.
He spotted Signal’s helmet on the ground and ran over to pick it up, the rusty platform Duke and Joker were on snapped off of some of its hinges, hanging be a thread.
Wait how did Duke see that? Oh, x-ray vision, duh. Why was his x-ray vision activated? God thinking is so hard right now, he wants to go to bed.
Duke swam up a bit so he could grasp at the edge of the vat. Batman froze at the sound and whipped around to the vat, hand on a batarang and eyes wild.
“Joker?”
Oh no. Did his skin come back white?? Pleaseeee don’t let that be a side effect.
Duke finally got both hands on the rim of the vat and slowly hefted himself up, his sore muscles shaking. He probably looked like the nightmare of a drowned sailor, or something.
“Rude. I hope I don’t look like the joker.” Duke let his body curl over the side and fall to the ground
Once Batman shook out of his initial shock, he ran towards him catching Duke in his arms. Dukes face scrunched as he heard the hiss of the acid against the Bat’s armor, and he tried to wiggle out of his hold.
“No, no, acid. Burns you.”
Duke probably didn’t make any sense at the moment, and he also didn’t notice how the acid was absorbing into his skin like a high quality body oil faster than it was corroding Batman’s armor. Batman shushed him as he unlatched his cape and wrapped him up like a burrito.
“Immort’l pow’rs don’ work on clothz” he slurred.
“Duke, stay awake for me sunshine” Bruce pat his cheek as he carried him outside to the Batmobile.
The motorcycle arrived and he heard Jason’s familiar heavy boots running in. He started to doze off again while they were talking.
“What happened? Where’s Joker?”
“Contact Oracle, tell her…”
———
Duke woke up, blinking in blinding leds. He groaned at the pounding headache that started and shuffled against the pillows and blankets. His whole body ached, like he just finished an Olympic marathon by himself and then rolled down a mountain.
“Careful, Duke.” Cold, rough hands helped sit him up. He squinted at the owner of them. Leslie Thompkins. He tried to speak, throat too scratchy as he coughed, ribs aching through the fit.
She held some water to his lips and helped him take some sips. He licked his chapped lips and swallowed.
“Hi Leslie.”
“Oh no, you can call me Leslie when you stop jumping into vats of acid young man. Was being a vigilante not daring enough for you?”
“That wa-hrk-“ Duke entered another coughing fit, sipping at his water while Dr. Thompkins glared at him disapprovingly. “That was one time man, you act like that’s all I’m doin’! I’m not even gettin’ into fights anymore”
Leslie shook her head in disbelief as she started to switch out his IV.
“I’m giving you a stronger pain medication now that you’re awake and clearly responsive. The acid seems to have completely bonded with your DNA, and Tim’s been begging for blood samples.”
Duke watched her work around the room, blinking slowly, and coming back to himself, realizing the events from before very much did happen and it wasn’t some fucked up dream.
“But! You’re body is completely healthy, besides some quote unquote growing pains, and you’ve only been out for a day. Would you like me to let your family in? I can practically hear them breathing through the door. Miss Ortiz brought some flowers from your friends yesterday, she said she’d be back tonight.”
Duke hummed and nodded, smiling into his Dixie cup of water.
She pat him on the leg and went behind the curtain. He could hear the immediate questions she was bombarded with as soon as she opened the door, and her telling them they could go in and to not overwhelm Duke. He looked out the window, rays of sunlight hitting his face.
A second later Bruce was pushing aside the curtain, pausing to stare at Duke in relief.
“Move your ass B, I wanna see himmm!” Stephanie whined as she kicked Bruce farther into the room, and the batfamily filed in, and soon they were all staring at him in silence. Like if anyone spoke he’d fade into dust.
“Uh, good morning? Wait what time is it-“
And just like that they were all talking over each other, asking him questions, touching his face. Actually it was just Stephanie touching his face as she squealed about his brand new baby soft skin. And Cassandra and Bruce were silent. Cass setting a small vase of sunflowers on the bedside table, and Bruce pulling up a chair on his other side, watching Duke carefully.
“What in the hell is your problem? Jumping into acid for what?? Are you crazy?” Jason was near tearing out his hair in concern.
“Can I please, please, pleaseee take some blood samples? Dr. Thompkins wouldn’t let me without consent even though you’re technically Bruce’s dependent, but he said no too…” Tim rambled, pacing around the room with hands flying.
“Foolish, completely foolish Du-, I mean, Thomas.” Damian’s faux anger barely covered his concern as he gripped Duke’s wrist so he could be sure of a pulse. “You’ve got everyone else worried sick, not me of course. I knew you were fine.”
“Don’t ever scare me like that again! Going quiet on your comms like that with the Joker genuinely gave me a heart attack!” Barbara pinched his ear while she scolded him, a worried furrow to her brow
Alfred set some containers of food on the table, and Duke internally groaned. He knew it was probably super healthy and protein rich since he was recovering, but he was craving some oxtail, Mac n cheese, ooh maybe some collard greens.. Duke almost drooled thinking of it.
“Hey, Duke, um..” Dick sat on the edge of the bed, fidgeting with his hands. “If you ever need to talk, about anything on your mind, we’re all here for you, ya know? And Bruce can get a counselor easily with his insurance and..”
He tried to keep his voice low, but in a room of Bats it was easily heard. Duke processed his words, looking around at everyone voicing their agreements.
Oh my god they thought he was trying to kill himself.
I mean he wasn’t planning on living exactly but it wasn’t in a suicidal ideation way? I guess people with normal mental health don’t decide to shove their opps into a vat of acid and die along with them, but like c’mon.
Duke snickered, then chuckled, then cackled. Snorting his way through a fit of laughter, riddled with coughs and occasional “ow ow my ribs HAHA!”
His family stared at him in disbelief as he wiped away tears. “You thought, HA, sorry sorry no I, *snort* I just wanted to kill the Joker, hehe”
The disbelief shifted into shock as they stared. He couldn’t look Bruce in the eyes, and stared in front of him, at Tim, who had procured a notepad with notes apparently.
He watched him look down and cross something out, and rewriting something. Mouthing the words ‘Where is Joker? Dissolved in vat of acid…’
He built the courage to turn his gaze to Jason, whose brows were furrowed. He had a faraway look, before grinning, and chuckling.
“Holy shit. Well I’ll be damned, Duchess 86’d the fuckin’ Joker!”
He heard Cass start to giggle, “And we’ve already disposed of the acid”
“Luke owes me 20 bucks” Barbara snickered behind her hand.
Soon they were all laughing, not the maniacal, uncontrolled, laughter of the Joker and his victims. Joyous, relieved laughter, okay yeah a little maniacal but that’s just cuz of the disbelief.
Duke laid back on the pillows, the painkillers finally kicking in. He glanced at Bruce, who stared back at him, looking exhausted. The boy glared at him, a look that stubbornly said he didn’t regret anything. Bruce sighed and rested a hand on his arm.
“I know chum” he kissed Duke’s forehead, “I’m just glad you’re okay”
Then Bruce lips twitched in almost a smile, “You’ve gotta get your piercings redone though, it’s like they were never there”
Duke gasped and rubbed his ears, brow, and under his lip, frantically searching for even a hint of a hole, and groaned when he found perfectly smooth skin, just like Steph was waxing poetic about.
Leslie re-entered the room with a tray of soft foods and another cup of water
“Alright everybody out, he’s gotta eat and rest.”
The bats began to pack up, giving long goodbyes and hugs.
Duke forced himself back up as the doctor laid the tray over his lap. Damian clicked his tongue at the meal, and signed to him a promise to grab him his favorite meal from Ms. Shirley behind Alfred and the doc’s back. Duke gave him a grateful smile and a half a finger heart, and Damian glanced around before completing the other half and scurrying out the room.
When it was just Bruce fussing over Duke and making sure he doesn’t need anything, and Dr. Thompkins trying to usher him out, Duke heard a familiar voice, and the familiar jingle of bangles and waist chains.
Izzy Ortiz pushed aside the curtain with her hip, carrying another vase of flowers with both hands. She almost dropped them when she saw Duke awake on the bed.
“Oh my god” she scurried over, Thompkins taking the vase from her before she did actually drop them. “Holy shit holy crap you’re okay! You’re okay, no?”
Izzy grabbed his face in her warm hands, looking him over. Bruce and Leslie left, but Duke didn’t notice, too busy staring into Izzy’s face, remembering every feature.
“Duke? Are yo-“
“I love you”
Izzy paused her fussing and stared at him, wide eyed. Neither of them had said the L word before yet. They’ve had a kind of on again off again relationship, really only due to the chaos of their lives, but they’ve both been too afraid to really commit, even though things have died down.
Turns out those dramatic books and movies where they say having a near death experience really makes you rethink your life were right on the money.
“What?”
“I..” Duke laid a hand over hers, which were still cradling his face. “I love you. So much. Like so much it’s crazy”
Izzy’s thumb swiped at a tear he didn’t know fell
“It’s okay if you don-“
Izzy pulled him close and kissed him, like they’d never kiss again.
“I love you too.”
Duke gave her a boyish grin.
“And I’m so mad at you, what is your issue dude!” Izzy shook him, tears smudging her eyeliner, “I mean like, I’m at a loss for words! A vat of acid??”
Duke let her scolds go in one ear out the other, just grinning and watching her yell. Throwing in apologies here and there.
“And I’m not letting Damian sneak you good food either, you deserve to eat hospital mush only, pendejo”
Duke’s smile fell. “Ay wait wait wait, what? I kill the Joker and you’re gonna force me to eat mushy peas??”
Izzy paused, eyes widening. He swore he saw a vein in her temple bulge.
He’s never gonna live this down.
But at least he’ll live.