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Jason hadn’t let himself hope in a long time, not when his father abused him and his mother. Not when his ma died of an overdose only for Jason to find her body. Especially not when foster care let him slip through the cracks and into the hands of a bastard villain.
But Jason still knew the values of hope, especially when it comes to kids like Steph and Duke, just nine and eight. Jason could be the almost teenager, he could be the one to reassure them that Batman will come for them, that Robin has a kid sense that will track them.
Most of all Jason had to protect the two younger kids. When they got food that was barely enough for one person combined, Jason would say he wasn’t hungry. When the villain, The Doctor or whatever pretentious name he gave himself, wanted one of them to jab needles into their arm, Jason would make himself a nuisance in hopes he would be picked. When either of the kids grabbed his arm, Jason hoped they didn’t notice the way he finched, the rapidly spreading black crawling up his back and onto his neck.
There was only so much Jason could do, and he wasn’t able to help them.
Steph had those blank eyes when The Doctor finally pushed her back into their small room. Her face was streaked with dried up tears and the fight Jason was always so proud to see in her was gone. Needle marks covered her inner arms and bruises ran all up to her neck.
She fell into Jason’s arms, a routine when one of the kids came back from the horrific torture. Jason ran a hand through her dull hair, avoiding the matting. Steph pressed her face into Jason’s chest, hiding away from the clinical overhead lights that never turned off.
Jason wasn’t quite sure how long they had been trapped, but he did know this was only the fourth time Steph had been taken. When the older boy looked to his side, his blue eyes met frightened brown. Duke had only been taken in twice, but he had been here the shortest amount of time.
Sixteen times. That’s how many times Jason had been poked, prodded, had his blood taken, shocked and poisoned only to be given an experimental antidote. Sixteen times. Jason couldn’t be sure, but he did know it was over a month of this hell, and he didn’t think he was going to be able to go on much longer.
All three of them jumped when the door slammed open once more, panic clawing at Jason as he shielded Steph away from who he knew was there.
This wasn’t a part of the routine. The Doctor only ever took one of them every second day or so, but never twice in one day. Even when food was delivered it came in through a slot in the bottom of the door.
Jason’s eyes flickered to the youngest in the room just in time to see Duke shuffle closer to Steph’s side, a hand curling in her tattered Wonder Woman shirt.
“You.” The Doctor said in a deep monotone, pointing at Jason. A sick sense of relief came over Jason. “Come.”
There was no point in arguing, so Jason moved to untangle Steph from him, moving her catatonic form to Duke, letting the two huddle together. Fuck– theyre so small.
Pulling himself onto shaky legs, Jason steps forward and allows The Doctor to grip his upper arm, wasting no time in pulling him out of the room.
The walk is familiar, hallways lined with sterile and polished metal plates, clear enough for Jason to catch a glimpse at himself. He looked skinnier, and his breath hitched at the risen black around his neck. Not good.
Before he knew it, he was back in the lab, a metal table in the middle of the room and pieces of medical technology all around them. If Jason got out of here alive, he didn’t think he’d ever be able to visit Mrs Thompkins again.
“Take off your shirt.” The Doctor busied himself with something on his computer, not even looking at Jason as he commanded him.
Bile rose in Jason’s throat, arms wrapping around his chest as he glared at the man. He didn’t say it the same way the creeps in the alleyways and outside the bars would, but Jason knew you didn’t have to say it in a smarmy way to be a creep. “What if I don’t.” He growled, mouth dry.
The Doctor’s head slowly turned, the dumb clinical mask only showing his eyes. They were dangerous, calm but with a glint of craziness Jason saw in the rogues when they showed on the tv.
“Then I will cut it off and you won’t have a shirt ever again.” His voice was a calm facade, but there was a hint of glee. “In addition, you and the other two will miss out on meals for however long I see fit.”
Jason gulped, stepping back involuntarily. Punishing him was one thing, he was strong and he could take it. But Steph and Duke…? With a sick feeling and humiliated tears, Jason pulled his shirt off.
There were no words of praise or hum of satisfaction from the man, instead he just clinically circled Jason, eyes lingering on his back and chest. It was disgusting, humiliating and demeaning. He’d had men look him up and down before, make comments and on occasion graze his shoulder, but never anything like this.
A gloved finger jabbed at Jason’s back and he flinched violently, head spinning as it seemed like the walls were pulling closer and closer.
“You,” The Doctor said, voice low and intrigued, “will need to be quarantined.”
Head snapping up at the masked man, body tense and blue eyes boring into the eyes not even looking at him. “What? What the fuck are you talking about.” Jason couldn’t take the shake out of his voice, but all he could imagine was the broken, shaking bodies of the two kids he left behind in that room.
The Doctor stepped away, turning his back to Jason as he trailed a hand over the instruments on the metal trolley. “I don’t have the answer of whether your… affliction is contagious or not. If I’m not careful, I might ruin two perfectly good subjects.”
“So what, I’m just going to die then?” Jason spoke in a horrified whisper, arms pulling around his middle, like it could protect him. The pounding in his ears got louder and faster, a buzz under his skin sending a certain chill down his spine.
The man hummed, turning around with a needle in his hand. “I do have a concoction that will help the spread and even heal some of the new growth. However,” He took a menacing step towards Jason, a smile in his eyes. “I have… other plans.”
The buzzing under Jason’s skin turned into a need to move, fight, do something! When The Doctor snatched his arm forward, it was pure adrenaline that inspired Jason to cock back his and slam his fist right into The Doctor’s face.
Like there was fire on his heels, Jason scrambled to the door, heart soaring as it opened without resistance. Boots on the metal behind him had Jason’s heart hammering faster and faster as he sped the only direction he knew.
Jason’s heart sank as he realised the issue with this plan. The room at the end of the hallway, the one he needed to get to, was the cell in which he’d just be trapped again. However, even despite that reality, Jason knew being in there with the kids was better than out here with The Doctor.
Almost slamming face first into the door, Jason swung the door open, ready to slam it behind him before he froze.
Gone. Steph and Duke were gone.
A hand reached his shoulder and Jason was turned around and had his back slammed into the doorframe. The furious, manic eyes of the Doctor met Jason’s. A crawling terror threatened to overwhelm him before it was anger bubbling up instead.
“How dare you—“
“WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?” Jason screamed, cutting the man off. His breaths were heaving and Jason found the strength to grab the bastard by the coat. “I’LL KILL YOU, I’LL—“
Something made Jason stop in his tracks. The way The Doctor’s head moved to scan the room, shock in his eyes and confusion written all over his face. Hands loosening their grip, Jason’s mind began to whirl.
If he hadn’t—
It looked like a shadow residing demon appeared in front of his eyes, materialising out of his worst nightmares. But this wasn’t a demon, at least not an evil one.
Choking on the rise of desperate hope, Jason felt tears drop down onto his bruised face. “Batman?”
The moment was shattered when the arm on his shoulder gripped at his neck instead, pulling Jason to press uncomfortably against a body. Jason goes incredibly still when there is the sickeningly familiar feeling of a needle at his neck. “One step and he dies. This is poison, no antidote known.” The Doctor growls.
Jason expects Batman to stop, to stay still, to do something other than launching himself at inhuman speed towards The Doctor. The split second there’s the slightest prick in Jason’s neck, he flinches, just in time for the needle to jolt up with The Doctor’s own flinch, leaving the needle to clatter to the floor uselessly.
A pained noise escapes the man whose hold on Jason lets go with one shoving movement. The boy’s balance fails him and Jason falls to the floor, wincing when he hears a crack from his wrist. The movement in front of him draws his attention back on the man, a clear winner between the two figures.
Batman has a fist raised while The Doctor has his arms up, like a pathetic bid for mercy. As Batman’s first comes down, as one last try to win, The Doctor grabs onto his cowl.
With widened eyes, Jason watched in shock as, just as the Doctor’s eyes slipped shut, not even a millisecond after, Batman’s cowl was pulled off.
Jason’s hand raises to cover his eyes, but pain shoots up his hand, not fast enough to block his vision as the man turns his head.
Blue eyes meet blue.
Holy shit. HOLY SHIT—
By some sheer force of misfortune, Jason Todd, street kid was furthest thing from ‘in the loop’ of Gotham's elite. However, as the face of Bruce Wayne stares back at Jason, he distinctly remembers the one face that stared up at him as he used newspapers to make his sleeping nook that tiny bit warmer at night. Curse him for reading the damn things when boredom took over.
Holy shit Batman was going to kill him—
“Hey there…” A deep, rumbling voice coaxed Jason out of a full blown panic attack. His mouth was still dry and chest was rising and falling with rapid breathing.
Jason looked Batman over, seeing he had come closer and was kneeling on the polished floors. Even though Batman had his cowl clutched in his hands, he made no motion to put it on.
“I’m not going to hurt you, you’re safe.” Batman rumbled, slowly reaching into his back pocket. Jason’s eyes lock onto the movement, ready to bolt at a moment's notice. Pulling out a weirdly shaped object, Batman held the thing out to Jason, like he was offering him to take it. “I know you don’t trust me yet, so you may carry this. Be very careful, it’s sharp.”
Eyes widening in realisation, Jason almost entranced as his uninjured hand slowly reaches out to grab what he now recognizes as a batarang. When his eyes flicker back up, he twitches to see Batman’s eyes are also on him.
There’s a softness in his eyes that wasn’t there before— or maybe Jason just hadn’t seen. Swallowing, for once Jason decided to hope, pray that Batman would help him, would save him. The memory of the kids flashing in his head made Jason jolt, eyes widening.
“Where are Duke and Steph?” He bites worriedly at his lip, thinking of all the worst case scenarios.
A reassuring smile automatically has Jason’s shoulders lowering. “The two children in the room are currently in the Batmobile, awaiting our arrival. Because of their injuries, they’ll need to be treated for their injuries, along with you.”
Furrowing his brow, Jason knew neither of them had any sign of the infection. The Doctor also insisted on not wanting the kids to be infected, which was a… good sign.
However, that left Jason. Jason whose back was covered, who was probably too far gone.
Seeing Jason’s face fall, Batman hesitantly placed a hand on Jason’s shoulder, the weight comforting. It was so different to how The Doctor prodded and poked.
“What’s wrong son?”
That nickname, the infection, the entire time he spent trapped. It was beginning to form cracks in Jason’s composure. He fought the tightness in his throat, a losing game.
“I—“ Jason choked on the words, a hopelessness falling over him again. “I don’t know if I can be fixed, not fully at least.” The words The Doctor has spoken rang in his mind. Even if the spreading could be stopped, what long term consequences would the infection have? How could he ever live knowing that at any moment the dormant disease could flare up.
Batman’s hand brushed gently at Jason’s matted and greasy curls. He brushed hair away from Jason’s face, a soft but determined look in his eyes. “I’m familiar with the concoction he used, saw the room he used to synthesise the chemicals. It’s a fully curable substance, one I’ve been infected with before and made a full recovery from.”
That, that was the last straw. The last thing Jason was worried about, scared would never be able to be fixed.
A whimper escaping him turned into sobs wracking his body. Jason was so tired, he just wanted to sleep someone safe, knowing the two kids he tried so hard to protect were also safe. The loving, fatherly look in Bruce’s eyes was what sealed the deal. His hand let the Batarang slip and clatter to the floor, not that either of them noticed.
Jason let himself fall forward into waiting arms.