Chapter Text
The motorcycle roared into the Batcave, carrying Jason Todd in what could barely be called a uniform. He had his helmet on, and his leather jacket, but the rest were the clothes he’d been wearing when Bruce had called him to the cave for an emergency. He had figured he could steal some of Bruce’s gear if the situation called for it—if this was a sit-by-a-bedside emergency, he’d rather be comfortable.
It was neither, Jason realized as his eyes fell on the looping footage of him, Wielding the All Blades in a reverse grip, decapitating a demon he’d found skulking around Crime Ally. He hadn’t even been sure that they would work on anything not untitled; Druca had been clear the all caste’s fight was only with the untitled, so he wouldn’t be surprised if they’d never thought to tell him.
The kill had been clean, body crumpling into shadows at his feet, head dissipating into black smoke. Then, the blades blinked out of existence.
Bruce—Batman, really—was seated in his megalomaniac-sized chair in front of the computer, manually dragging the footage back to the beginning every time the blades disappeared. “I warned you, Hood.”
“What?” Jason bulked- Clearly, Batman was upset about him killing the demon, but Jason had hardly been warned against killing nonhumans. “You’re pissy I killed a demon?”
” Was it a demon?” Batman’s voice was like ice as the cursor drifted across the screen, hitting the pause button just in time to capture the swords halfway through the admittedly very human looking neck of the creature.
“It was. Maybe if you spent some time expanding your horizons, you’d know disappearing into shadows isn’t a human trait.” Jason suddenly wished he’d gotten completely dressed and at least brought his armor.
“Would they have if you hadn’t killed them with Magic?” Batman turned the chair to face Jason. The older man’s body was tense, ready for a fight, face grim without hinting at the fatherly affection he’d held for Jason a few years ago. He stood then, using the height of the platform the bat computer was on to tower over Jason. “When I told you to never kill in my city again, I didn’t mean just by Guns and Knives and bombs. I meant never.”
Jason’s throat was tight as he stumbled backward towards his bike. Fuck fuck fuck, His mind screamed- He wasn’t ready to fight Batman. He hadn’t had any time to prepare.
“Batcave? Lockdown conditions MISOL 2.39.” The words echoed like a death sentence, Punctuated by the thump of Batman’s boots as he stalked closer.
“Yes! They were a demon!” Jason scrambled to explain, “They- The Blades! They don’t work on anything that isn’t Evil! I can’t even summon them!” Batman was four feet away and still coming closer, so Jason stepped around to put his motorcycle between them. Make space and give yourself room to work. The words from some years old training session came back to Jason.
“Hood! Why do you always lie!” Batman accused, “All I ask is for you to follow one rule, and you can’t even have the decency to pretend! You’ve killed another civilian.”
“No, Bruce-!” Jason abandoned explanations, clearly, Batman wasn’t interested in them. So Jason instead tried to appeal to some dormant emotion.
It was pointless in the end. Batman launched himself forward, tackling Jason clear over the motorcycle. Jason threw himself sideways, trying to twist out from under his former mentor, but Batman had armor and a leverage advantage on his side as he pinned Jason to the ground, hand coming down to wrap tightly around Jason’s neck. It wasn’t quite a stranglehold but enough to be more than uncomfortable as Batman yanked his head up by the neck and slammed him down again. His head bounced off the cold stone beneath them. “- Dad?”
That seemed to give Batman pause. He leaned his weight back slightly, taking some weight off Jason’s diaphragm and loosening his grip by decimals. “No son of mine would do this.”
” Ask,” Jason coughed harshly at the air suddenly available- clearly Batman had done more damage than even he thought, “Constainte- or Zatana! Please, B.”
“Decitiful to the end, aren’t you, Hood.” Bruce sneered, gripping suddenly tightening and bringing Jason’s head down once again.